November 1915 In November 1915 the weather was starting to turn, with various reports of children drowning while playing on frozen lakes and ponds, as well as the first snow storms of the year. In the weather was so bad a bridge was blown away with 100 people on it! Therefore it is maybe not surprising that at Hamilton Barracks there was a spate of thefts of blankets, as well as other garments. The missing blankets were found at a local stable, covering horses in the cold weather. The owner said that recuperating soldiers had been frequent visitors when they were in Hamilton, on leave from duty and had donated them to him. He said he made no attempt to hide the blankets, proving his innocence. But the court found him guilty of having stolen goods as the soldiers did not own the blankets, so were not theirs to give away. The fiscal proclaimed 'the amount of pilfering at the barracks was deplorable'. Some other interesting local titbits reported were that the intake of students at University had halved, down almost 1,000 entrants. There was a scarlet fever outbreak in local schools, which is known to cause rashes as well as 'strawberry tongue', fever, hallucinations and paranoia. Tragically a local boy working in a Low Parks Road butchers lost four of his fingers in an accident with a gas powered mincing machine. And two local miners were charged with assaulting police officers with bottles. A most fascinating piece is a press release about the proposed mining under the Hamilton Palace which reported: The leasing of part of the minerals under the Hamilton Palace has been subject of a sensational report during the week on the impending doom of the Palace and Mausoleum being hinted as a result of the subsidence consequent upon the removal of the coal, although the report containing a modicum of fact is almost wholly conjecture in character. Any possibility of the palace being affected a possibility however which is meanwhile remote and could not occur for three or four years from the commencement of the mining operation. So far as damage to the Palace is concerned it is well known that it has ceased to be the Residence of the Hamilton family and is only used for brief periods or recurring ceremonial functions…on the other hand there is an immediate fact that the works [are more plentiful and easier to access] than those currently worked. Most locals will know the end of this story, and that the 'sensational report' was an accurate one. Many rumours were reported from across Britain, one was that Kitchener had resigned, which would have been ironic as he was the main face and force behind the recruitment campaign. Others were that the UK was bankrupt and that then that the Germans were routinely torturing prisoners of war. The Government also began restricting the sales of British newspapers abroad in neutral nations. They could only be exported directly by the publisher or by a newsagent on behalf of them. Another newspaper was stopped from publishing for two weeks as there were concerns about its content. Some startling facts had come to light though, confirmed by the House of Lords, which estimated that fifteen million people had already been killed in the conflict, and that the monetary cost for the UK had already passed the £400 million mark - around £2.7million per day!

Various charitable collections were in place for the soldiers, and for those who had lost their homes due to the fighting. One advert read: Refugees and social workers urgently require large quantities of good cast off clothing. Fullest value at advanced war prices in return for – suits, overcoats, waterproofs, costumes, coats, shirts, fur, underclothing, blankets, boots and shoes. Make it up and sent parcels at once! Soldiers were appealing for 'thick black' tobacco to be sent to the front. In a crazy coincidence a local girl sent a gift package to the front marked 'To ' and nothing more. It was received by a soldier who was once her next door neighbour! The coincidence is a remarkable one and the youthful sender this week was made glad by the receipt of a cheery letter of acknowledgement from her soldier neighbour. Two local soldiers were honoured this month. Firstly a Motherwell man from the 6th (Lanarkshire) Scottish Rifles. Captain James Lusk won the French for his activities in bringing back the dead and wounded men among the losses at the Battle of Festerbert.

Brave, capable and modest withal, Captain Lust thoroughly deserves the high honour conferred upon him and which had brought added distinction to the Battalion, he is a director at Colville Steel works at Dalziel, and this is one of Frances highest honours.

Colonel Douglas Hamilton, of the 6th Cameron Highlanders, who was killed at Loos was awarded the VC, served in and South Africa and was cousin to the Duke of Hamilton. Another local retired soldier, described as a local curio died this month, Sergeant Smith of Motherwell who was famed because his head was held together by a silver clamp after he was badly injured in a battle. He was born in 1833 and wrote his own epitaph. This stone is the property of Archibald Hamilton Smith, a Sergeant of the 34th Regiment and Agnes Forrest, his spouse. The remains of him who lie under this mass of clay was once a brave soldier who often fought for his country in foreign lands…

Winston Churchill had resigned his senior Government role as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in order to play a more meaningful part of the war effort at the front, a Belgian Member of Parliament said that "he performed a most important service to Belgium and through Belgium to the Allies". In a touring lecture an academic claimed that had three goals in the war, Petrograd, Paris and "while it could not be said that Germany was defeated there was more than sufficient evidence that she had already tried her best and that best had failed". Production and motivation of workers was evident in a report that two men who worked at a munitions factory were fined, not for bad behaviour, time keeping or output levels but for refusing to work overtime. In an attempt to outdo the trade restrictions caused by the submarine warfare and blockades, as well as to undermine their war competitors, the Government set up a travelling exhibition of German and Austrian goods, in the hope that local companies would be able to copy their designs. It had visited Glasgow that month. Danger in shipping was further highlighted by an Austrian U-boat reportedly sinking an Italian steamer, with all 500 passengers lost. A show of force and possible intent from America was shown when they commissioned two new vessels to be built, called Super Dreadnoughts, and described as "the last word in naval architecture with mounted anti-aircraft guns". The effort from the Imperial dominions had also seen an increase, with having already sent 300,000 men to help the Allies' cause. Closer to home, plans were firmly in place to issue men who had been rejected from enlisting on health grounds or those who had been accepted but yet to enlist to be given a Khaki armband. This was to show that they had done so and reduce stigma of men who remained at home. Further to this, the plan was to target all men who were not married, to have them registered and evaluated before the wedded men would be considered.

Albatross, German Bi-plane

Another example of a local area doing its bit was in Cambuslang where the newly built Gateside Primary School was to be converted into a military hospital for men injured in Flanders and France. Lastly a few a bone chilling stories. One of early aerial combat comes in a report from Russia: Near Dvinsk, a Russian aeroplane cut off an Albatross [German army bi- plane] which they had allowed to cross Russian lines. The Albatross rose high and circled frantically about for half an hour, attempting to escape. Finally it landed on some frozen marsh lands. The search party later found the plane undamaged, but the pilot and the observer were frozen solid! In another, at least two groups of missionaries and explorers have been murdered by 'Eskimos' on their journeys.