Seeking information about Douglas Alexander Holland
 

I'm seeking information about my maternal grandfather Douglas Alexander Holland - b. 28 June 1899 in Glasgow and d. 20 December 1967 in Glasgow. He would have been 15 years old at the outbreak of WWI.

I've been told he was in the Army, but have no details at all.

If it helps, his wife (my grandmother) was Nancy Gordon Holland (nee Armstrong) b. 5 July 1908 and d. in June 1991 in C Cleveland, Cleveland (actual date unknown).


Any information, or pointers in the right direction would be most gratefully received.

Thank you

R Bowden

You need to use ScotlandsPeople to find his birth registration.

https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/?...FRMRtAodETkA_g

Hopefully this will give you his mother's maiden surname.

If you can find him in 1901 and he is with his parents then you should have enough info to find his parents marriage. In general, Scottish BMD records have more information than those from Eng/Wales. To download the info, you need to buy credits for the site and then use those credits to get the certificates etc that you need.

Do you think his army service was for WW1 or after?

If he was in service when he married or for the births of his children then you may find useful info, such as regiment and army number on the marriage/birth certificates.

He was actually listed on the 1921 English census, rather than the Scottish one, so if you go onto Findmypast and search the 1921 census for Douglas Holland born 1899, he will come up and it will show you his rank. You don't need a subscription to view the image as they do pay per view, but you will need to make an account if you don't already have one. Then when you are viewing the image, click where it says Extra - Address and it will show you the name of the regiment (also shown on the original image) and where he was.

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/1921-census

This could be his medal index card - on Ancestry:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageview...ce&pId=4193820

and on TNA (will be free on there if you sign into your account): https://discovery.nationalarchives.g...ils/r/D2918428

Private, no 9423, in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. It doesn't show his middle name though so I can't be sure it's the right person. (The 1921 census doesn't show his middle name either but it says born Govan so I am sure that one's him.)

As his service continued after 1920, his service papers are not with the WW1 records but will be among those transferred from the MOD to TNA and not yet online. There is some information here about how to order them:

https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military...-serviceperson

Thank you Merry.
Yes, I've used ScotlandsPeople to obtain his birth certificate - and am now awaiting the delivery of his parents marriage certificate.

FYI his mother's maiden surname was Lamberton. This matches nicely with my mother's name which was Agnes Lamberton Morton Holland. It's so useful and interesting that the Scots have the tradition of using family names as middle names (only for girls?).

Thanks again, Bob

Thank you Kiterunner - I appreciate that link for medal index card.

Regards, Bob

Bob

The maternal side of my tree is Scots. Male and females alike have surnames as middle names and very useful that has been. The most amazing one was a brother of my mother whose middle names were Charles Smith. I was stunned when Charles Smith proved to be my mother's 6 x great great grandfather, born in 1698. They were basically an uneducated family and I often wonder how the knowledge was passed down the generations.

OC

Dear OC,

Thanks for telling me of your experiences. On a similar vein, my great grandmother turns out to be called Douglas Seaton Lamberton. When first researching my family tree I suspected this was an error, but now realise (and have proof) it's correct.

A takeaway lesson from this is too not judge what seems odd today with names/matters in history, when researching family histories.

Thanks, Bob