My Grandfather

This 2000th blip is the story of how taking a photo can lead to a satisfying and emotional journey of discovery.
I decided to do a macro photograph (as a competition entry) of a piece of World War I shell fragment that my Mum had always carried in her jewellery box (pictured above). She told me that it had injured her Father during the war. On holding and photographing this shell fragment I felt I wanted to know more about it and where my Grandfather might have served.
My Grandfather died 11 years before I was born so although I knew he had been Burgh Surveyor in Oban for his working life I knew very little about his time at war. As you know, my brother died in February and he had lived in the same house as my Grandfather till he was 3 (he is in his Grandfather’s arms in the small picture) so I thought he might have known more. When I looked through the emails Ian had sent me there was one where he mentioned Grandpa David being at Gallipoli. I checked with my cousins (we share the same Grandfather) and again they knew about the works he had built in Oban but not the war record, apparently their Father had said his Father never talked about the war.
I decided to look through some of the paperwork I took from my Mum’s house and there were some old birth and death certificates and there I found his obituary from the Oban Times. I almost felt like my Mum had put it into my hand when I came across it. Here I learned he had volunteered at the outbreak of the War, 26 years old,  and had served in Gallipoli and France and that he had been mentioned in despatches and received the Croix de Guerre. Then I looked up people who had received this medal and found his name in a list and discovered his battalion was called the Nelson Battalion and was part of the Royal Naval Division. The RND fought at Gallipoli and then was renamed the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division and fought with great distinction and success with the BEF in France and Belgium.
I then bought the book you see in the picture which I have yet to read in full but I have such detailed information about the battles and the campaign in Gallipoli and France, it is fascinating. This led me to the National Archives and I now have his War Record and see that he served most of the War in the Nelson Battalion and was slightly wounded in 1916 in France. It was after this he received the medal, he was second in command of the Drake Battalion for a few months  but ended up as CO of the Hood Battalion and was seriously injured in France on September 2nd 1918, the record reads “Dangerously ill at No 2 Hosp Havre”. That line sent a chill down my spine even though I know he survived the war. He was then invalided to England.
My Mum talked a lot about her Father as her Mother had died when she was 12 and having been sent away to Aunts for 4 years, she then came back to Oban at 16 and lived with her Father. She talked about his involvement with the local amateur operatic society and his building work in Oban and what a loving Father and Grandfather he was. This paragraph for me stands out in the obituary….
“His outstanding virtue was his generous character, for he was a man who would not criticise his fellow man harshly and did not like to hear others doing it. His favourite comment if he overheard any personal criticism was “be charitable” and he was all the more liked for that attitude”.
I would not have done any of this research if it was not for deciding to photograph a  WWI shell fragment and I very much doubt if I would have done it at all, if it wasn’t for lockdown and having time to spare. But this research has been very special to me and twelve years since I last saw her I have felt my Mother’s presence, standing at my shoulder, encouraging me and thanking me for keeping the memory of her dear Father alive and I now feel a connection to the Grandfather I never knew.