FEBRUARY 1915

'Welcome little stranger within our gates' read a headline 100 years ago this month: one of the Belgian refugee families (staying at Glenlee House since fleeing their war- torn home), welcomed a baby boy! Another story featuring expatriates of a different type was also published: in a tradition followed every New Year’s Day in Sydney, , Scots who had emigrated would gather to meet, celebrate and welcome any new 'kent faces' who had arrived, and have a gala day celebration.

Though not everybody was neighbourly as shown by a spate of crimes (maybe sounding a bit odd nowadays) which were recorded with horses and postmen featuring prominently! One drunk postman burned 50 letters in a local children’s bonfire and was later sent to prison for a month. Another was fined £1 for spreading fake rumours regarding the war effort. A carter working for A G Barr (an aerated water bottling company now more famous for ’s other national drink), was imprisoned for five days for being abusive towards his horse. A second man was jailed for two months for convincing a horse dealer to bring the sale price down as he worked for the Government and the animal was vital for the war effort.

Another noteworthy example of law-breaking involved the gentleman son of a French schoolmaster who was jailed for three years for bigamously taking a second wife. A less serious offence that children from Blantyre were warned about was playing on moving tramcars: parents were to be held responsible and fined 10 shillings for "this irregularity which is both a danger to themselves and annoying to the tramcar officials". That said, the crime rate was down in the area by around 1,000 crimes compared to the previous twelve months - though with fewer people in the country, this could be expected.

In Britain, a debate had begun over the supply of food, prices for basic items, and wages in a more general sense. The House of Commons discussed the matter and decided that it would not be able to fix prices (which had been called for by Trade Unions), stating that wages and prices for staple items were still better than they were in 1885. Two reports highlighted this issue and the real life consequences. In Leith, six sailors were sent to prison for refusing to go to sea as their wages, they claimed, were not enough to offset the perceived danger. Secondly, the Navy began to intercept American food ships headed for , taking their cargos and paying for them and sending the ships back to America. As can be read, food and wages, on top of the loss of loved ones, meant that no member of society could avoid the ill effects of the conflict.

A couple of more harrowing stories were also covered this month, one of which involved a mining family. A mother left her son in the house playing with a whip and top then "went out for some messages". On her return, she "found the lad with the whip around his neck and hanging from a nail on the mantel piece. Life was extinct". A more curious case was that of a Hamilton schoolboy who was labelled as having "word blindness" due to him not being able to read or remember words - even with intensive tutoring, he was only able to handle three letters. His grandmother claimed that his parents would "box him around the ears" to reprimand him and doctors thought his symptoms could be sign of a subsequent brain injury. The Advertiser notes that "the boy was considered by his teachers to be defective" – not at all politically correct by today’s standards!

Lectures, talks, rallies and meetings which took place around various churches and halls were an important way in the past to spread news and information. The Cambuslang area hosted one such talk on tuberculosis and its links to living conditions. Another talk in Hamilton (billed as "a subject of much importance to ladies") was "Nerves in Relation to Health". However, one such meeting at Hamilton'’s Hippodrome cinema was criticised in the Advertiser for being too quiet for the audience – a possible solution being the sale of "cheap ear trumpets". One lady remarked that she was glad she took her knitting so her afternoon was not "totally worthless!"

At a far more serious meeting held in Edinburgh, fears were raised about the potential collapse of the medical profession: with the war, many health practitioners were serving abroad. It was suggested that as many as one sixth of the profession were out of the country at the time. These types of events were cheap and self- improving, and allowed people to engage within their community and in the wider society; speakers would travel the country and share their views, political or otherwise, or their research, with the masses.

On to more military matters, and in February, a unanimous decision was made by the local councils which would amalgamate the Citizen Training Forces of Cambuslang, Motherwell, Uddingston, Burnbank, Blantyre, Wishaw, Strathaven and Hamilton, making a combined total of over 600 volunteers. Further appeals were made to individuals to donate any unwanted materials to men who were recovering in Hamilton Garrison Hospital, specifically magazines and writing material. More men who were injured and unable to return to combat were sent home in an exchange programme recently agreed with the Germans. Those returning home, however, told about the brutal conditions they left their near-starving brothers in.

In contrast, German and Austrian Prisoners of War would be issued a selection of daily newspapers, hinting that the Allies maintained better standards for their captives. Meanwhile, British soldiers had access to their own newspaper published on the front line: one ex-journalist who was working as an interpreter and topographer put his spare time to good use by summarising the German and Austrian press reports for his fellow soldier each day and delivering them through the ranks. "It has been his fate up until now to wield the pen rather than the sword," said the Advertiser.

In terms of hard numbers, the British Military was said to number three million men by this stage, including those from the colonies. However, there were just over 100,000 casualties, although, of those injured, 60% were able to return to service. To put this into national perspective, Scotland’s entire population in 1914 was around four million, with around 800,000 eligible to vote in elections.

At this stage of the war, many men had been reported missing. The Highland Light Infantry and the Royal Scots had almost 500 men unaccounted for, presumed dead, all over . Even to this day, lost men are found in unmarked graves. Indeed, the Belgian Government has recently introduced a law that makes excavation of proposed new sites a necessity before any building work can begin.

Another startling figure is the cost of the conflict. It was reported that the Russians were spending 14 million roubles a day on the conflict, which would total 3,020 million roubles to date. This would translate to £1.5 million a day or around £320 million in total for the six months of combat. Some remarkable tales from the trenches were also reported. Norman Thomas Duncan, First Grade Military Officer, originally from Biggar and fighting alongside troops from the Punjab, received the King's Medal for "coolness and pluck in the face of adversity" when a tank attack killed and wounded many of his fellow men.

Less lucky was the story told by a man recovering from injuries. In a letter to his parents, he told of being in the trenches when a single bullet caught him in the neck, killed another man and injured a third.

It was not just men’s contributions to the war that were honoured though. A mother of three sons on active duty, Mrs O'Halloran, was given a military funeral, with banners and wooden rifles, for her and her family’s contribution.

In February the German military began an unrestricted policy of submarine attacks of any vessel, including merchant ships travelling into British waters, yet asserted that submarines would not be pivotal in modern warfare "will have no real effect upon the war, it is murderous and unscrupulous but futile" he said. He suggested that the effects could be nullified with self-sufficiency, a merchant submarine fleet and a channel tunnel. The major military offensive this month was the beginning of attacks by British and French naval forces on the , a narrow strait in , and a vital naval route for the Russians. This was part of the wider Gallipoli Campaign which was headed by Winston Churchill with the eventual aim of capturing Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman capital. While high ranking and influential Italian General Giuseppe Garibaldi II said that he was sure that the Italians would join the allies soon and help bring the war to a close, he was open to leading men. He was the grandson of one of ’s founding fathers.