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Old 09-04-14, 11:48
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Shona Shona is offline
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Default William McIsaac and Malcolm McIsaac

This is the story of two of my grandfather’s nephews - William McIsaac and one of his younger brothers, Malcolm.

I'm breaking the rules covering them together because they were killed on the same day while serving with the same gun battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery.

The 1911 census recorded the brothers, their siblings and parents living in Shieldhill in East Stirlingshire. The majority of the male workers on the census page were coal miners.

Malcolm McIsaac, head, 44, general labourer, b Campbeltown, Argyll
Mary McIsaac, wife, 42, b Campbeltown, Argyll
Duncan McIsaac, son, 20, coal miner, b Campbeltown
William McIsaac, son, 19, coal miner, Muiravonside, Stirling
Malcolm McIsaac, son, 13, scholar, b Grangemouth, Stirling
John McIsaac, son, 10, scholar, b Grangemouth, Stirling
Flora McIsaac, dau, 3, b Grangemouth, Stirling

The previous census revealed the family living at Crosshall in the parish of Shieldhill and Blackbraes near Falkirk in Stirlingshire.

Malcolm McIsaac, head, 37, dairyman, b Killean, Argyll
Mary McIsaac, wife, 30, b Campbeltown, Argyll
Duncan McIsaaac, son, 11, scholar, b Killean, Argyll
William McIsaac, son, 9, scholar, b Falkirk
Malcolm McIsaac, son, 3, b Falkirk
John McIsaac, son, 2 mo, b Falkirk
John McIsaac, boarder, 25, coal miner, b Killean

Malcolm senior was the illegitimate son of farm labourer, Duncan McIsaac, and farmer’s daughter, Janet Sheddon. John, the coal miner mentioned in 1901, was Malcolm senior’s half-brother. There's some info about Malcolm McIsaac senior on this thread:

http://www.genealogistsforum.co.uk/f...alcolm+mcisaac

Malcolm McIsaac senior and his half-brother, John McIsaac, the coal miner, were typical of young men and their families who left Gaelic-speaking rural Argyll and headed east, drawn by work in the mines, steel works and other heavy industry in the central belt of Scotland.

Malcolm and Mary's first son, Duncan, was born near Campbeltown. The first of their children born in Stirlingshire was William McIsaac, born at 10pm on 20 March 1892 at Burnsfoot, Muiravonside. His birth registration named his parents are as Malcolm McIsaac and Mary McCaig, who had been married on 25 July 1890 in Campbeltown. When William was born, Malcolm was working as a coal miner.

There were more than 250 coal mines in Stirlingshire at the time, with more than 50 in the area in which the family lived.

Malcolm and Mary's third son, Malcolm McIsaac, was born at noon on 1 January 1898 at Avondale Cottage, Polmont. By then, father Malcolm was working as a cattleman. Why? The work was less well paid than mining. Was there an accident?

William McIsaac enlisted in Falkirk in October 1915. At the time, he was a coal miner at the Carron Company’s Guardrum Colliery.

Younger brother, Malcolm, was grocer at the Shieldhill branch of the Redding Co-operative Society when he joined up in February 1917, also enlisting in Falkirk.



Both William and Malcolm served as gunners in the Royal Garrison Artillery’s 149th Siege Battery. Given they enlisted a 18 months apart, I wonder how they ended up serving together.

The bothers were both killed on 11 April 1918 – allegedly by the same shell. Malcolm (number 168448) was 20 and William (number 59189) was 26 when they died.

They were buried side-by-side in the Faubourg D’Amiens Cemetery in Arras.

Faubourg D’Amiens cemetery began in 1916 behind a French Military Cemetery. It was used by field ambulances and fighting units until 1918. The cemetery was enlarged after the Armistice when casualties were brought in from the battlefields and from the clearance of other smaller cemeteries. The cemetery contains 2,679 casualties of which 250 are from the Royal Field Artillery and 145 from the Royal Garrison Artillery – a high number of artillery casualties.

Framing the cemetery is the Arras Memorial on which other members of the extended McIsaac family, are commemorated.



The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records the brothers as sons of Malcolm McIsaac and Mary McIsaac of Bellsdyke, Bothkennar, Falkirk.





Families could pay to have a message added to the headstones. Both of the headstones carry the same inscription: Gone but not forgotten.

I read that the odds of two brothers being killed on the same day are more than two million to one. In fact, 161 sets of brothers were killed on the same day in the First World War. However, I don’t know of any other set who were killed by the same shell.

Two other members of the 149th Siege Battery were also killed on 11 April 1918 – Gunner William Heynes, age 20, from Manor Park, Essex, and Gunner Robert Cowburn, age 22, of Wharles, Kirkham. They were buried beside William and Malcolm.

My grandfather also served in the Royal Garrison Artillery – in the 147th Battery. Did the batteries with similar numbers serve in the same area and see the same action?

Spring 1918 saw the German ‘Big Push’ in a last ditch effort to win the war. From 9 to 29 April, the Germans bombarded the British lines and managed to create a 30-mile hole in the British defences.

Following the death of the two brothers, various notices were placed in The Falkirk Herald.



MCISAAC – Killed in action on 11 April, Gunner William McIsaac, RGA, aged 26, second son of Mr and Mrs Malcolm McIsaac. Deeply mourned.

MCISAAC – Killed in action on 11 April, Gunner Malcolm McIsaac, RGA, age 20, third son of Mr and Mrs Malcolm McIsaac. Deeply mourned.

Resting from their cares and sorrow
Resting from fatigue and pain
Faithfully they fought their battles
Death to them was endless gain
Not dead to us, we love them still
For memory’s golden chain
Doth link our hearts to them on high
Until we meet again

Inserted by their father and mother, brother and sister, Crosshall, Sheildhill.
They took their stand beside the best
Of Britain’s noblest sons.
Two soldier brothers laid to rest
Amid the roar of guns.

Inserted by Malcolm’s chum, A Wright, Brightons, Polmont
MCISAAC – Killed in action on 11 April, Gunners William and Malcolm McIsaac, RGA, aged 26 and 20 respectively, beloved brothers of Mr and Mrs Duncan McIsaac, 30 South Row, Shieldhill, deeply mourned.

I do not forget them, nor do I intend
I think of them daily, and will to the end
I miss them, mourn them in sorrow unseen
And dwell on the memory of days that have been
Nameless their grave on a battlefield gory
Only a cross o’er a mound of brown earth
Dead in the pride of their youth and their glory
Far from their friends and the land of their birth

William and Malcolm are commemorated on the Sheildhill War Memorial.







William was awarded the Victory and British medals:
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/12...l=ReturnRecord

Malcolm was also awarded the Victory and British medals:
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/12...l=ReturnRecord

Malcolm and William's uncle, John McIsaac, who appeared on the 1901 census married Lily Beattie in Polmont in 1905. Perhaps Lily was related to the William Beattie recorded on the Shieldhill memorial?

Last edited by Shona; 09-04-14 at 13:17.
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