Revealed: Scotland's Saving Private Ryan

Published on Wednesday 10 November 2010 18:06

IT IS a remarkable story of wartime sacrifice that reads like a Scottish version of Saving Private Ryan. With three sons already killed in the First World War and another badly injured on the Western Front, grieving Glasgow mother Elsie Cowie begged a military tribunal not to conscript her fifth son Frank.

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And in a rare example of mercy, the military authorities allowed the youngest brother to remain at home during the war due to the family's "exceptional losses".

The heart-rending story is contained in previously secret files released by the National Archives of Scotland (NAS).

Records of thousands of Scots who appealed against conscription during the First World War - including a future Secretary of State for Scotland and the famous Glasgow entertainer Will Fyffe - have been made public for the first time.

The files of the Lothian and Peebles Military Appeal Tribunal contain 6,400 cases of men who appealed against their compulsory call-up for military service following the introduction of conscription in 1916.

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But it is the case of Ms Cowie that has prompted an appeal from historians at the NAS to find out more information.

They are particularly keen to hear from any offspring of Frank, the young brother spared from military service due to the supreme sacrifice of his three siblings.

The case has many similarities to Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning film Saving Private Ryan, where a crack unit is sent into France to rescue an American soldier whose three brothers have been killed in action.

Tristram Clarke, outreach worker with NAS, said researchers had been taken aback by the story when they uncovered it.

He said: "Everyone knows the story of Saving Private Ryan. This seemed like a similar story, and it was remarkable that Frank Cowie was exempted from military service.

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"This was extremely rare. We know of cases where one or two brothers had been killed, but the authorities would not exempt the surviving brother. So for them to show mercy in this case is unheard of.

"Sadly, these records paint only a partial picture, and we do not know what became of Frank Cowie. He could have gone on to live a long and happy life with a family. We just don't know. We have carried out various searches but there is no death certificate for him in Scotland, so it could be that he emigrated.

"We would really love to hear from anybody who knows what became of him."

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The records show how Ms Cowie, of John Street, Glasgow, pleaded for Frank, a warehouseman, to remain at home.

In a section on "grounds for appeal" she wrote: "Family Hardship - Our five Sons who have joined up at the commencement of the War we have already lost three. The fourth has now gone to France for the third time. Having been twice previously wounded there.

I appeal that Frank our fifth and youngest be put to some national Service where he could be at home."

In their ruling on 13 March 1916, the tribunal officers wrote: "Grant Exemption for the Period of the War; on the Ground that serious hardship would ensue, if he were called up for Army service, owing to his exceptional domestic positions. Further, recommended that if practicable he be discharged on account of exceptional losses of his family."Ms Cowie's three sons who lost their lives were:

• Private John Cameron Cowie, who died in France on 28 February 1915, aged 22, while serving in 9th (Glasgow Highlanders) Battalion, Highland Light Infantry on the Western Front.

• James Williamson Cowie died on 31 July 1915 while serving as an able seaman in the RNVR Nelson Battalion, Royal Naval Division. He is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Turkey.

• Private Lindsay Cowie died in the Battle of Loos on 25 September 1915 fighting in 7th Battalion, The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders.

• The fourth brother seriously wounded was Norman Maitland Cowie. He survived the war and became a book keeper.