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Bridge of Weir
Memorial

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PTE WM G CANDLISH A.&.S.H.

220044 Private William Gordon Candlish

Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders
6th Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders

killed in action 24th August 1917

aged 24


Tyne Cot Memorial
Glasgow Academy Memorial
Ranfurly Church Memorial, Bridge of Weir



Son of James Candlish and Mary McGill Lennox
Benvue, Bridge of Weir


His Life

William Gordon Candlish was born on 3rd September 1892 in Cora House, East King Street, Helensburgh, 30 minutes after his twin James. Their parents were James Candlish, a cashier from Glasgow and Mary McGill Lennox, from Duntocher, Dunbartonshire who had married in Glasgow on 11th December 1891.

In 1901 James (47), Mary (34), and their three children James, William and Mary were living in 185 Clyde Street East, Helensburgh. The family had a domestic servant, Margaret Ferguson (21) from North Uist. James was by then a grain merchant.

By 1911, the family had moved to an 8-roomed apartment in 21 Queensborough Gardens, Kelvinside, Glasgow. James senior was a corn factor, James junior was an accountant's clerk, William (18) a shipping clerk, and Mary at school. They employed a domestic servant Jane Smith (20) from Mossend, Lanarkshire.

The family moved to Benvue, Bridge of Weir, probably in 1912. The house had been previously occupied by James's brother George, a measurer, and his family who emigrated to Canada in 1912. George appears to have sold the house to his brother James.

William enlisted at Stirling into the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, service number 202751, but he later joined the Cameron Highlanders. His Medal Index Card does not record when he first joined the theatre of war but he was not awarded the 1914-15 Star.

The 6th Camerons came under orders of 45th Brigade, 15th (Scottish) Division. In August 1917, the Division was in XIX Corps in Gough's 5th Army engaged in Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele). William had survived the opening few weeks at Pilkem and Langemarck, but was killed on 24th August 1917 in subsequent operations between Vampir and Beck House. His name is recorded on the Tyne Cot Memorial, one of four memorials to the missing in the Ypres Salient.

Battle of Third Ypres

The field of battle where William Candlish fell. The 6th Cameron Highlanders had advanced to attack Beck House and Borry Farm. On the night of the 23/24 August 1917 the battalion retired from Low Farm to Cambridge Trench. William was killed on the 24th in that area.


Siblings

1901 Census 1911 Census Birthplace
Name Age Name Age
James8 James18 Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire
William G8 William18 Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire
Mary G4 May14 Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire

Sources

TO CITE THIS PAGE: MLA style: "Bridge of Weir Memorial". Date of viewing. http://www.bridgeofweirmemorial.co.uk/profile-candlish.html