2560 Leithers lost in Great War revealed

FOR a young wife it offered a stark reminder of a tragedy so narrowly avoided. For Margaret Dick's brooch was fashioned from the very bullet which was pulled from her husband's neck in the aftermath of a bloody First World War battle.

Leither Albert Dick was shot during the Battle of Gaza in 1917, but lived to have the bullet which so nearly took his life plated in gold and inscribed with his wife's initials.

It was made into a brooch which has passed down the generations.

Albert's story and many like it have been unearthed by former merchant seaman turned historian Andrew Grant as part of a massive project to discover the history of every Leither killed in the First World War. The project started as an attempt to find out more about just one fallen soldier - Albert's brother - but quickly snowballed into a three-year labour of love.

Mr Grant, 73, started researching the war record of his wife's uncle, John Dick, who was killed in preparation for the battle of the Somme.

Little did he know that, three years later, he would be handing over a massive folio containing the history of all 2560 soldiers from the former municipal burgh of Leith who died in the Great War.

The fruits of his work are now available for public viewing at the Capital's Central Library, and will be handed over to Leith Library once its refurbishment is complete.

Mr Grant said: "While researching details of my wife Molly's uncle we discovered he died on June 26 1916, and found where he was buried.

"Some three years ago we visited his grave in the village of Ville-sur-Ancre.

"He was a Sapper in the Royal Engineers He was killed when a shell fell into his barracks."We subsequently found he had five other brothers who were also involved in the war each one receiving injuries."

His research led him to the Leith Roll of Honour, five leatherbound volumes of names of 2206 Leithers who fell during the conflict which was held in the Lothian Health Services Archives.

He also discovered details of a further 354 fallen Leithers whose names were left out of the roll. Amongst the stories he uncovered was the tale of a soldier who happened upon a photograph of two girls blowing through the sands of Egypt.

On the back was the inscription 'William Paterson, Burgh Studio, Great Junction Street' indicating that the girls may have been Leithers, and a campaign was launched in the Leith Gazette to find the girls. It is unknown whether the campaign was successful.

Mr Grant added: "At the end of the war Leithers and others donated funds for the construction of the Children's Wing of Leith Hospital as a War Memorial to the dead.

"The Roll of Honour was kept in this wing. It was completed and opened in 1927. The hospital was closed in the 1990s. I decided to find out where all of those named were buried or commemorated - a bigger job than I thought.."

Laura Brouard, assistant archivist at the Lothians Health Services Archives, said: "Andrew's work means others will now be able to discover more about their relatives who died in the First World War."

• Do you want to know more about an ancestor who died in the First World War? Contact Andrew at [email protected].