New book on local war memorials tells story of 'The Unreturning Brave'

A new book listing details about local casualties of World War One will be launched at an event in the Nethercliffe Hotel in Wick on Saturday, April 15.

Caithness Family History Society (CFHS) has published the book by Kathy Wares entitled The Unreturning Brave (Volume 1) which covers three war memorials – Thrumster; Ackergill and Hempriggs Estate; along with Staxigoe and Papigoe – and the men whose names are inscribed on them.

Kathy said that the book was created during the lockdown period and, though not directly related to it, was influenced by her reading of a book by teacher Caitlin Morrison and her Wick High School pupils called They Never Returned detailing the lives of the servicemen from 1914 to 1918 recorded on the Wick war memorial.

Kathy said as a family historian she found that book to be "a very useful resource" and it spurred her on to research other war memorials near Wick. "As I gathered the information my project grew to include names from other war memorials in Caithness – 19 in total," she said.

"I wanted to know who those brave young men, and one woman, were. What were their backgrounds, who were their families, what jobs did they do? Where did they die and how and where are they commemorated? I used a variety of sources detailed in the back of this book and have used the same template throughout to make the information easier to access. When I had completed my research, I showed it to the committee of Caithness Family History Society. They kindly agreed to print it in a series of booklets."

Kathy continued: "I have enjoyed being immersed in this project which, of course, far outlasted all the lockdowns.

"I now have to let 'my boys' (and one girl) go, back to their communities and to their descendants and families. An obituary in a local paper described one soldier as one of the 'Unreturning Brave' and this gave me the title for the books.

"They came from farms, from coastal villages, from shops and banks, from towns and cities and also from the colonies where they had settled, to fight the great war in muddy fields, in desert arenas, and on the high seas. Now they lie on the sea bed, in graves across the world or have no known grave. Their names are etched in stone on monuments across the world and now they are gathered here in these books. I hope family and local historians can find something useful in this book series and learn a little more about Caithness’ Unreturning Brave."

The book is the first volume in a series which will cover all the WW1 service personnel on Caithness War Memorials – apart from the Wick one which is detailed in They Never Returned.

The Unreturning Brave is aimed at those with an interest in family history and in military history. It has photos of people and gravestones, extracts from the Groat and Northern Ensign about the service personnel and information about their families, occupations, where they lived, war service and death.

The CFHS intends to have an informal event in Nethercliffe Hotel on Saturday, April 15 from 11am till 1pm. The public can come along and have a chat with Kathy about her research and buy a signed copy of the book.

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