Day 73
Leith Roll of Honour
Passing through the entrance to the Leith Community Health Centre there are a number of plaques fixed to the wall, and by the door a cabinet containing the Leith Roll of Honour 1914-18 (L.R.o.H). Created by a resolution from Leith Town Council in their final year of governance in 1920, the Roll of Honour comprises five volumes, containing the names of more than 2000 men and two women who died during the Great War - World War 1. Originally these were held in the Childrens’ Wing of Leith Hospital which was (is) the Leith War Memorial. It was one of a few ‘living memorials’ built after the war.
Image copyright retained by Andrew Grant
The original five volumes are now held by the Lothian Health Service Archives and are available online (the volumes held in the health centre being reproductions). However there is a much higher number who perished during this war whose names were not recorded. Following extensive research more than 400 names have been added by local amateur historian Andrew Grant, including a few more women who served aboard merchant ships or in hospitals at the front lines. A revised Roll of Honour is now available and includes a wealth of detail not previously recorded - including where individual casualties lived in Leith, as well as where they are buried or commemorated, where information has been uncovered.
In addition to the names of those who perished, there is an extensive analysis of the casualties including obituaries for around 1000 individuals along with images and much more. Only two hard copies of this revised Roll of Honour have been printed; one is held in Leith Library, and the other by the Living Memory Association in Ocean Terminal - both are available for viewing on request.
“There is a place in a foreign land which is forever Leith.”
War Portraits Photographed from the Leith Observer or other newspapers of the time. Copyright of all images retained by Andrew Grant
There are five cemeteries in Leith and in each there are a number of headstones erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. These are not solely commemorating Leith casualties, including as they do honorary Leithers of many other nationalities who died of injuries in Leith and were buried in these cemeteries. During the research Andrew has photographed the majority of these, in addition to family headstones with inscriptions to those who were killed in the various battles during the war. These images are included in the L.R.o.H. materials.
Gravestones photographed from cemetaries in and around Leith. Copyright retained by Andrew Grant.
On the centenary each week of war at least one article from the ‘Leith Observer’ has been transcribed giving information on the on-going action at the front, at sea and on the home front together with numerous images from the newspapers of the time. These are also available in folders in the Leith Library and like the L.R.o.H. are available to view on request.
The research which has accumulated this historical record has occupied Andrew for over thirteen years. Many people tracing family trees and seeking information about family members have found this record incredibly useful.
Our sincere thanks go to Andrew for sharing his research with us and providing the content and permitting us to use the images in this post. Andrew is happy to be contacted by anyone undertaking research into family connections, or by organisations wishing him to speak about this era. Contact can be made through Leith Library.