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Bridge of Weir
Memorial

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GUNR ANDW HOUSTON R.F.A.

22182 Gunner Andrew Houston

58th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery

died 5th June 1918

aged 37


Pernes British Cemetery
Freeland Church Memorial, Bridge of Weir



Son of Alexander Houston and Ann McNaughton
The Wheatsheaf, Bridge of Weir


His Life

Andrew was born on 24th April 1882 in The Wheatsheaf Inn in Bridge of Weir and was the seventh son of Alexander Houston , an innkeeper from Kilbarchan, and Ann McNaughton from Kilmichael, Argyll who had married in Bonhill, Dunbartonshire on 29th December 1865.

In 1871, Alexander (31), Ann (30) and their first two sons, David and Dugald, were living in the Toll House, Bridge of Weir. Alexander was a spirit dealer. Alice McNaughton (15) from Kilmartin, Argyllshire was a general servant.

In 1881 the Houston family of eight - Alexander, Ann and six sons, was in The Wheatsheaf, Bridge of Weir, where Alexander was proprietor. The family had a domestic servant, Elizabeth Rob (16) from England.

In 1891, the family, now of seven including Andrew (8), were still in The Wheatsheaf. Dugald was a joiner and the others were still at school. The eldest son David and third son Alexander were not in the family home.

By 1901 Andrew was 19 and working as a butcher. He and his brother William, a grocer's assistant, were boarders with the family of Robert Millar in Gryffe Place, Bridge of Weir. Donald (25), a shirt salesman, was boarding with the Fleming family, also in Gryffe Place.

Andrew volunteered for active service at Bridge of Weir on 12th September 1914 when he was 32 years old and was enlisted into the Royal Field Artillery.

Gunner Andrew Houston first joined a theatre of war in France on 13th July 1915.

He survived the war for almost 3 years, and enjoyed at least one return home on furlough in January 1916 when he was based at Armentieres in France. The 58th Brigade of the RFA was attached to the 11th (Northern) Division. His time and location of death suggests he was killed during the German advance of Spring 1918. In June 1918 the 58th Brigade of the RFA was stationed at Philosophe, between Bethune and Lens in the Pas de Calais and records the 5th June 1918 as a "quiet day" with one Other Ranks wounded in D Battery. If this was Andrew, it was to be a very quiet day for him. He is commemorated in Pernes British Cemetery in the Pas de Calais, some 25 miles south-west of Armentieres.


Siblings

1871 Census 1881 Census 1891 Census 1901 Census 1911 Census Birthplace
Name Age Name Age Name Age Name Age Name Age
David2 David12Mary W21Renfrew
Dugald1 Dugald10Dugald21 Glasgow, Lanark
Alexander8Bridge of Weir
Donald5Donald15Donald*25Bridge of Weir
James3James13Bridge of Weir
William11 moWilliam 10William*20 Bridge of Weir
Andrew8Andrew*19Bridge of Weir

* = not in Alexander and Ann Houston's family home - see text for details


Sources

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