Bridge of Weir
Memorial

SAPR WALTER M^cWILLIAM R.E.

172262 Sapper Walter McWilliam

Army Signals Company G.H.Q., Royal Engineers

died of heatstroke 11th July 1917

aged 33


Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery



Windsor Place, Bridge of Weir
Son of Archibald McWilliam and Annie Graham
Husband of Jessie Robertson Urquhart

His Life

Walter McWilliam was born on 26th December 1882 at 196 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, the third of a family of four born to Archibald McWilliam, an office porter originally from Ireland and Annie Garland Graham, from Campsie, Stirlingshire, who had married in Campsie on 15th December 1871.

In 1881 Archibald (33), Annie (32), and two of their children Archibald Alex and James G were still living in 196 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. Archibald was a mercantile office porter.

In 1891 the McWilliam family of six was at 6 Cambridge Street, Glasgow. Archibald (17) was a postman and James (14) was an office boy. Walter (8) was at school.

By 1901 Annie, head of the family, was living "on her own means" at 62 Garthland Drive, Springburn, Glasgow. Archibald and James were no longer in the family home. Walter (18) was a railway ticket collector and Jessie was a pupil teacher.

In 1911, Annie, a widow, was living in a 3-roomed flat in 330 Cumbernauld Road, Dennistoun, Glasgow, with three of her children, all single. James was a grocer, Walter (28) was an Inspector with the National Telephone Company and Jessie was a teacher.

Walter McWilliam married Jessie Robertson Urquhart (32), by Declaration at 9 East John Street, Glasgow on 29th April 1916. Jessie was a domestic servant and one of twin daughters born to William Scott Urquhart, chemist, and Jeanie Robertson at 10 Middle Street, Dundee on 9th May 1884. Jessie's residence at the time of her marriage was 88 Agnes Street, Glasgow and Walter was still living at 330 Cumbernauld Road. There is a documented link to Bridge of Weir through Walter's older brother, James Graham McWilliam, whose Army Service Record with the Royal Army Medical Corps has his home address as 330 Cumbernauld Road when he took his Oath of Allegiance on 25th November 1915 and as 3 Windsor Place, Bridge of Weir on 28th May 1917 when he was transferred from Army Reserve, and later again as Morton Terrace, Bridge of Weir when he signed his disability clearance form on 26th July 1919. The Freeland Church Record of December 1916 shows that Mrs and Miss Janet MacWilliam [sic], Windsor Place, were received into the Church by transference.

Sapper Walter McWilliam's Medal Index Card does not record when he first joined the theatre of war but he was not awarded the 1914-15 Star. He died of heatstroke on 11th July 1917 serving with the Royal Engineers in Mesopotamia. Fatalities from sickness in that campaign outnumbered war casualties by three to one. He is buried in Baghdad, Iraq, formerly the headquarters of the Turkish Army in Mesopotamia. The city finally fell to the Indian Expeditionary Force 'D' in March 1917, but the position was not fully consolidated until the end of April. Nevertheless, it had by that time become the Expeditionary Force's advanced base, with two stationary hospitals and three casualty clearing stations.

Siblings

Sources

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• Scottish National War Memorial
• Wasted Journey, The Buddies who never came back. Paisley Library. 940.467; PC17430: O/S.
• Walter McWilliam birth certificate,. 26th Dec 1882. Regd. Blythswood, Glasgow 10th Jan 1883.
• Jessie Robertson Urquhart birth certificate, 9th May 1884. St Andrew, Dundee. Regd. 19th May 1884.
• Walter McWilliam and Jessie R Urquhart marriage certificate, 29th April 1916, Camlachie, Glasgow. Regd 29 April 1916
• 1881 UK Census: Parish: Glasgow Barony; ED:59; Page:2; Line:22; Roll: cssct1881_231.
• 1891 UK Census: Parish: Glasgow Barony; ED:56; Page:1; Line:24; Roll: CSSCT1891_269.
• 1901 UK Census: Parish: Glasgow Springburn; ED:47; Page:26; Line:22; Roll: CSSCT1901_275.
• 1911 UK Census: Parish: Barony, Glasgow; Ward: Dennistoun; Page 14; lines 13-16. 644/04 036/00 014.
• James Gee [sic] McWilliam Army Attestation Papers and Service Record. 25th Nov 1915 - 31st March 1920:
• Freeland United Free Church. Record Since July 1916. Pub. December 1916.
  Members received at last Communion. By Transference. Mrs. and Miss Janet MacWilliam, Windsor Pl.
• The Long Road to Baghdad Edmund Candler, 1919 Vol II pp 179 and 183
  Another hot weather lay before us, for most of us the second summer in Mesopotamia, and for a few hardy veterans the third. The sun was more malignant in 1917 than it had been in either of the two previous years, and the dog-days began a month earlier. According to the Baghdadia it was the hottest season in the memory of man. Most things were too hot to touch. The rim of a tumbler burnt one's hand in a tent. The dust and sand burnt the soles of one's feet through one's boots. Even the hardy Arab and Kurd made such an outcry that one had to water the ground where they worked.
  In July the temperature rose to 122.8 degress in Baghdad and 122 degress in Basra. In tents and dug-outs it was often ten degrees higher than the standardised official reading. And I gathered a great deal of collective evidence, from persons otherwise normally truthful, of even higher readings. But these I will not record, for it is hard to believe that anything save a salamander could live through such heat...
  ..On July 8th we advanced our line on the Euphrates from Feluja, a few miles upstream, to the high ground on the right bank at Dhibban, which dominates the left bank of the river at its junction with the Saklawie Canal. This move was necessary for the control of irrigation and inundation. The enemy at the time were holding Ramadi lightly with a force estimated at 1,000 rifles and some Arab irregulars, and as the advance to Dhibban brought us within striking distance, General Maude thought the opportunity favourable for attacking him with a view to covering our forward movement. But the elements defeated us. Our column was in touch with the Turk early on ht emorning of the 11th, and had made some progress in the assault, when, on account of a duststorm which interrupted communications, both wire-less and land line, the order for the attack was cancelled. The day marked the beginning of an abnormal heat wave, abnormal even in a land where the sun is an habitual scourge. Men in camps and officers leading sedentary lives were struck down with sunstroke or heat exhaustion; to march or fight under these conditions was to invite disaster.
  On the night of the 11th-12th the force withdrew to the river bank at Mushaid, and as the Turks showed no signs of evacuating their position, they fell back on Dhibban on July 14th. The casualties from the heat were almost as heavy as in the bloodless, but costly, occupation of the Sinn position in May, 1916. The moral drawn from the frustrated advance on Ramadi in July was that nothing save the very gravest military urgency justifies an offensive in a Mesopotamian midsummer.
• Medals: Victory, British War.

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