Links & Contributors

LINKS & RESOURCES

The following are a list of web sites, resources, books and people I have consulted to help pull this blog together:

Individual Contributors

Ruth Minnery & Scott Minnery:
Following John's death in 1971, Mary Minnery returned home to Ohio, USA and lived the rest of her life out there with her sister Anne. She passed down John's Medals and Glengarry hat and these are happily still in the family in the keeping of Scott Minnery.  Scott's mother Ruth has been a strong contributor to the history of John and Mary as she has in her possession hundreds of photographs of John and Mary in Arusha, Tanzania which she has very kindly shared. (To see all of these pictures please click here)


Jim Muirhead & John Crawford:
My uncle Jim Muirhead very kindly passed on to me the military records his nephew John Crawford had obtained from the UK Army.  Many of the records have confirmed what research I had already completed - however many more of the records have plugged gaps I had hit.  Piecing these records together into the jigsaw has been great fun.

Gerry Minnery
Gerry is the son of John Minnery's brother, Robert. Robert was John's elder brother (by 6 years). Robert also served in WW1 - initially joining the same regiment as John, but quickly transferring to the Army Supply Corp where he served in France from 1915. When he was demobbed in 1919 Robert was in the Army of Occupation in Cologne.  Gerry very kindly passed on to me John's Service binoculars as well as his father Robert's demob paperwork, WW1 Medal and a souvenir cigarette case from Cologne.

Teresa Rarogiewicz

Teresa was born in the Polish Refugee camp in  Tengeru near Arusha, Tanganyika.  Her parents Stanislaw and Zoifia along with her sister Alice had escaped Siberia through Persia and ended up in Tanganyika at the Refugee camp there.  Teresa was born in the camp in 1944.  Her father Stanislaw was the manager of the co-operative store, cinema, club etc within the camp and worked closely with John. John and Mary stood as godparents to Teresa when she was christened. Teresa has kindly shared her and her family's story, as well as pictures - you can see these on the site. Teresa now lives in Italy and is an artist.  Her work can be seen by clicking here.

Web Sites
Scotland's People -  Scottish birth, death, marriage certificates.  Invaluable resource for tracing your Scottish ancestry

The National Archives - Medal Cards, War Diaries and much much more

The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Museum - The Regiment's Museum based in Stirling Castle

Army Service Numbers - A fantastic website detailing the allocation of Service Numbers within Regiments

The Long, Long Trail -  everything WWI

British Battles - For a more in-depth look at any of the Battles the A&SH were involved in, look here.

Neilston War Memorial Association - Neilston is a town a couple of miles from John's hometown of Barrhead.  It is one of the very very few British towns to have no war memorial and this society are currently fundraising to rectify that dreadful omission. In addition Matt Drennan of the Association has very kindly located and forwarded on lots of the news articles mentioned in the Blog.

BOOKS
"Goodbye To All That" - Robert Graves.   The autobiography of the  poet and writer Robert Graves.  His Regiment, the Welch Fusiliers, were in the same Division as the 2nd A&SH and fought in the same trenches.  If you want to understand what John and the 2nd A&SH men experienced then read this book - it gives you a fabulous insight into the battles, the men, the area, the triumphs and tragedies  of that period.

"Le Cateau (Battleground Europe)" - Nigel Cave.   A thorough description of both the battle itself and the days and weeks leading up to it.  This is the book to read to understand the battle that John was wounded in for the first time.