Stoneyburn History

I had it reported to me that this shell had damaged the house belonging to Mr and Mrs Frame. In fact the shell had damaged Mrs Reid's house at 15 Muir Terrace. Her future husband was on night shift at Loganlea Colliery when it happened and she was still living in Edinburgh, so no one was in the house at the time. The incident occurred in the early hours of the morning of the 7th May 1941. The shell exploded two feet from the ground at the rear of the house and blew the wall inwards. All their furniture and wedding presents were destroyed and they had to live for three weeks with her husband's sister in Strathie Terrace, a room and kitchen which already had his sister and husband, two children and a grandfather living in it. The Reid's had to wait until the end of the war before compensation was paid to them for all the damage, and that amounted to the princely sun of Ł15/6/6 (Ł15.35).




Very little is on record about how the First World War affected Stoneyburn except that, as in all towns and villages, large numbers of the men volunteered - mainly for the army. The first contingent were called 'The Stoneyburn Territorials', among whom was John Connell from Loganlea, who was killed in action within three weeks of being sent to France. Many such volunteers never came back, ten of whom came from this village. I make no apology for listing them here as an extra tribute to their sacrifice.
James Allan, John Connell, William Thomson and Samuel Warren - of The Royal Scots. William McGuire and John Orr - of the Cameron Highlanders. Robert Dougan - of The Seaforths. Alexander Daly - of The Royal Scots Fusilliers. John Lally - of The Scottish Horse. James Garleton - of The Royal Army Service Corps.
One outstanding item of news in March 1920 was when the King of Serbia presented a silver medal for Zealous Service to Private William Dewar of the R.A.S.C. who had joined up in 1916 and was immediately posted to serve on the Eastern Front until demobilisation.
With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, many of the village men folk were again called to the armed forces. Initially many of the miners were called up but later it was realised that, without their production of coal, industry would come to a halt and the munitions factories could not keep up production. This situation was unthinkable and so miners became exempt from active service. They did, however, become the backbone of the newly formed Local Defence Volunteers, more affectionately known as 'The Home Guard'. In 1940 this unit had 60 members under the command of Platoon Commander Alec Boyd.
On the 26th January 1040 the news was received that the first villager to be wounded was Andrew McAllum who was somewhere in France.
The first village casualty of the war, although not in action, was Dan Malloy, who was killed in an accident whilst driving a lorry on the 29th March 1940 and, on the 30th August of the same year Private James Strickland, Seaforth Highlanders, became the village's first prisoner of war, somewhere in Germany. William Higgins of the Royal Scots was the first villager to be killed in action on the 24th December 1941, and Pat Gillon, in the Merchant Navy was lost in the Atlantic through enemy action in May 1943. The first villager to be taken prisoner in the Far East conflict was James Wilson of the Royal Scots. It was, of course, a time of sorrow and distress to so many people, whether in action as prisoners and for their relatives back home. There was an unexpected blow to the family of Pilot Officer James McLean who was returning home with his damaged Mosquito bomber in terrible weather conditions after a raid on Germany. As the plane was limping home it struck the steeple of the All Saints' Church in Bawdeswell, Norfolk, killing all the crew and severely damaging the church. In 1989 the congregation of the church managed to contact James' sister to ask if they could erect a plaque in the repaired church in memory of James and his crew - and this was duly done.
More pleasant memories of the war were possibly the shelter and support that the villagers gave to the evacuees from 1940 onwards. Many of these children would have known only of city life and the rural pleasures of Stoneyburn must have been a vastly different experience for them. The village also ran many concerts and dances for the benefit and entertainment of the war-wounded who were based at the nearby hospitals of Bangour and Drumshoreland.
One incident which really brought the war to Stoneyburn was when a badly aimed artillery shell went astray and arrived in the village, striking Willie Frame's house in Muir Terrace and very luckily failing to explode.
I had it reported to me that this shell had damaged the house belonging to Mr and Mrs Frame. In fact the shell had damaged Mrs Reid's house at 15 Muir Terrace. Her future husband was on night shift at Loganlea Colliery when it happened and she was still living in Edinburgh, so no one was in the house at the time. The incident occurred in the early hours of the morning of the 7th May 1941. The shell exploded two feet from the ground at the rear of the house and blew the wall inwards. All their furniture and wedding presents were destroyed and they had to live for three weeks with her husband's sister in Strathie Terrace, a room and kitchen which already had his sister and husband, two children and a grandfather living in it. The Reid's had to wait until the end of the war before compensation was paid to them for all the damage, and that amounted to the princely sun of Ł15/6/6 (Ł15.35).
During the war years the village did its utmost to raise money for the war effort and to be able to send some comfort to the men in action. There were dances, concerts, raffles, sales of work, street collections and various military and youth organisation parades. Amongst these were 'Warship Week', 'Wings over the Navy', 'Wings for Victory', 'War Weapons Week' and 'Salute the Soldier'. An organisation called 'Jocks Box' was set up in 1940 and ran all through the war, raising funds to send little gifts of comfort to the servicemen. Within a month of the start of this scheme it had raised enough to send socks and a Postal Order valued at 5/- (25p) to 70 local lads in the forces. It is hard to believe that at a time when the average wage for a man was not much more than Ł2.00 per week, this small village managed to raise the fantastic sum of Ł12,268, the Public school alone raising Ł2,366 in 1943.
Most of this money was channelled along with collections from the other towns and villages to represent what was called the 'Landward' part of the County and was used to finance the production of tanks, guns and aircraft. It is reported that the money that Stoneyburn raised purchased a bomber and two Spitfires, and what was left went towards the total County target, to sponsor or adopt a Destroyer, H.M.S. Wallace, named after the Scottish Patriot, in 1944. This ship became famous as 'One Round Wallace', because her gunners brought down the first enemy aircraft with the first shot she fired in conflict.
There was great rejoicing when the conflict ended. Bonfires were lit in the streets and Victory dances and parties were held in every available hall. The jubilation was further heightened with the return home of the prisoners of war, the first of them being Private James Strickland who had been a prisoner for four years and 10 months, almost the whole duration of the war. By the 18th May 1945, five other prisoners were home. They were Private Alex Thomson of the Gordon's, Private William Paton of the 51st Division R.A.M.C., Private Archie Cowan and Corporal D. Cummings of the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders. Honour was brought to the village by the valiant actions of several of its combatants. Flight Sergeant Robert Christie, RAF, was awarded the D.F.M., and Petty Officer Telegraphist William Chisholm, RN, was awarded the D.S.M. Both these men were decorated by the King on the 2nd March 1945.
As a tribute to those who did not return to join in the Victory gained by their effort and sacrifice. I also list their names:
David Anthony, RAF Anthony Cassels, KOSB James Curran, RAC Charles Fairley, Scots Guards Hugh Gibson, Scots Guards John Hughes, Scottish Horse Alex Morris, RN James McLean, RAF Alex Wilson, RAF	William Adamson, RASC Thomas Curran, Royal Artillery John Dymock, RAF Patrick Gillon, Merchant Navy John Harvey, Scots Guards William Higgins, Royal Signals Daniel Malloy, Royal Artillery William Paton, RAF Alex Wilson, North Staffs Regt.
There are no details found about any of the village lads being involved in any of the actions in the later conflicts of Korea, Suez or the Falklands, but with the start of hostilities in the Gulf War in 1991 no less than eight young men from Stoneyburn were involved. Thankfully none of them went into direct action and all returned home safely. For several weeks a Gulf Action Committee was set up and collection boxes were placed in the pubs and shops. The money collected was used to send weekly parcels of sweets, biscuits and other home comforts to each of the lads, who were:
Alan Hood, Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Kevin McLeod, Royal Engineers Tommy Watson, Royal Scots Callum McCreadie, Royal Scots	George Meek, Royal Ordnance Corps Graham Hunt, RAF Keith Young, Royal Scots Gordon McCreadie, Royal Scots
Some of these lads have also completed the equally dangerous tours of duty in the troubled province of Northern Ireland. The village is just proud of them all.
Webmaster: Although not living in the village at the time, I was involved in, and have been presented with, medals for, the 'Malay Peninsula Conflict' (1965-66), 'Northern Ireland' (1970-74) and the 'Falklands Conflict' (1982) during my twenty-two years service in the Royal Navy.