Lyon Street Glasgow, Memorial to those who died Options

[Dimairt]

I'm looking for information about a Roll of Honour that commemorated the men of Lyon St. (off the Garscube Rd.) who died in WW1.
Made by a local man, it was kept in Kiernan's Bar(?)and brought out each Armistice Day when a small troop from Maryhill Barracks would attend to play 'Flowers of the Forest' and sound the Last Post. This description comes from a book about Bantam regiments.
I have a clipping from the Evening Times of October 1962 marking the demolition of the pub/street/area which asks who will take the Roll into safe keeping. It seems to have gone missing at this point.
I know that a commerative postcard was produced and believe that minuture versions of the Roll were made, perhaps to be sold as souveniers or as copies for the bereaved families.
I'd be grateful for any help on this one.

Le durachd,
Dimairt

[Heather]

Damairt, you asking about this Roll of Honour is very interesting.

I am originally from the Garscube Road, left there as a school girl in 1953, and just yesterday I heard for the first time about the Roll of Honour regarding the men of Lyon Street who died in the 1st world war.

Yesterday one of my aunts and I went to visit my mum who is in hospital and they started to talk about the old days ( Mum is 93 and my Aunt 86 ). My aunt asked mum if she remembered that Lyon Street lost that many men in the 1st world war, that a Commemorative Plaque was made and kept in St. Joseph's Chapel in North Woodside Road. When the Chapel was demolished the Plaque was given to a woman who's name I cannot remember. I phoned my Aunt just now but she is out. I do remember she said there is a notice in the libraries in the Milton area given details about this Plaque.
Here is a phone no. for a library in Milton 0141 772 1410.

Let me know how you get on as I can phone my aunt again and get the name of the woman for you.

[Dimairt]

Heather, thanks very much for the prompt reply. I'm grateful for any help with this, so a name to follow up would be be great.
It's interesting that you mention it being kept in st. Joseph's as this enquiry was started by a parent with children at St. Joseph's Primary in Raglan St. I work in the Mitchell Library and will contact Milton in the morning.
I look forward to hearing from you with the woman's name.


Le durachd,
Dimairt

[Heather]

Dimairt, I phoned my aunt and she cannot remember the second name of the woman who is said to have the Plaque. She thinks the first name was Rosa. When you phone the Milton library they should be able to give you the information.

My aunt told me that this Plaque was made because there were more men from Lyon St. killed in the 1st world war than from any other street in Britain. She said there were a lot of single end houses in Lyon St. with big families living in them, so I suppose this accounts for the loss of so many men in the war.

Good Luck with your search. Let me know how you get on.

[Dimairt]

Thanks again Heather. I work for Community Learning Serivce in the Mitchell Library - 0141 287 2840 is my direct line. My name is Eddy.
I was giving a talk and slide-show at Woodside Library's centenary on Maryhill in the 50s and 60s when I was asked to help look for information about Roll of Honour.
Like you,I'd never heard of it though my father had as we lived in the area until 1963. I spoke to a friend, another local historian, who told me that he'd just bought a old postcard with a poem commemorating the soldiers from Lyon St. I checked through our newspaper archive and found a story from the Evening Times in 1962 which confirmed the existence of the Roll but gave no clue as to its whereabouts.
(If you'd like a copy of the article let me know.)
It is hoped that the Roll, if found, can be rededicated in St. Joseph's Primary or, failing that, that the names of the men can be confirmed to allow a new Roll to be commisssioned.
You're right, by the way, about the Lyon St. losses and the living conditions; it was , by all accounts , a tough area.
I'm going up to Miilton Library today,I 'll let you know how I get on.
Thanks once again.
Dimairt

[jimmyd]

Dimairt and Heather,I can't help you in your quest,can only say that I feel so sad that,memories of those who gave their lives,get lost.I frequent antique shops and it always gets me ,when I see pictures of servicemen and women,I think to myself,who are they and what are their stories .There must be families ,who would love to have those pics the words of a song always come to mind " or are you a stranger,without even a name,enclosed forever behind a glass frame,in an old photograph torn and tattered and stained,and fading to yellow in a brown leather frame" .So Sad !! I do hope you find the roll of honour Dimairt ,they deserve to be honoured .Heroes one and all !!

[Heather]

Dimairt, you have me so curious about this now, I hope you find it. I would be interested in seeing it, if found.

I went to St. Joseph's Primary when it was in North Woodside Road, many years ago

Jimmyd, I am sure you know that the song you mentioned is called ' The Green fields of France'. It is on a Corries video I have. The name of the video is: Flower of Scotland, A vision of The Corries.

[rosie-k]

I also attended St.Joseph's Primary School in North Woodside Rd. I was baptised in the church and made my Holy Communion and confirmation there and my children were baptised in St.Joe's as it was affectionally known, I don't ever remember anything about the plaque at all. It would be very interesting to find out more about this.

[kmacc]

The Plaque used to be above the gantry in the garscube bar,
when the building was demolished nobody knows what happened to it ,St Joseph`s was looking for it to put it on display at the school,as the school is in Lyon St now,don`t know if they ever got it.

[flam]

Hi All..Here is a photo of St Josephs Primary at 39 Raglan St,which ran I believe parallel with Lyon St,I,ve heard about this Roll of Honours for years,But nobody has ever found out where it disappeared to,hopefully it will be found and placed with Peoples Palace/Maryhill Community Centre or something similar Cheers Flim

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[Heather]

See what you have started Dimairt. We are all curious to see the Roll of Honour.

Rosie-k, I was also Baptised, made 1st Communion and was Confirmed in St. Joseph's.

About 10 yrs ago I went into town and walked right up the Cowcaddens and Garscube Rd. along North Woodside Rd to visit St. Joseph's Chapel. I stood there almost in tears when I saw the Chapel had been demolished. It was like a part of my childhood had been taken away.

Rosie, do you remember the letters AMDG that were above the Chapel door. As children we used to say they stood for: Auntie Mary's Dumpling's Good.

[rosie-k]

Yes Heather we all said that about AMDG. I stayed in Braid St. and was at the School in from about 1939 or 1940 we had a Sister Mary Gabriel at the time, I was terrified of her, she used to scare me to death. I remember going to the high playground and it was so reassuring as I could practically see where I lived from there. My son who is a bus driver in Glasgow had to go to St.Joseph's a few years ago to get a copy of his baptismal certificate and he ended up having to go to St. Columbus in Hopehill Rd. as all records had been transferred there. I was also married from this chapel and I found a photo of the inside of St. Joseph's Chapel on the virtual Mitchell.I hope we can all find out about the plaque --a very interesting story.

[Heather]

Rosie, I was a couple years behind you, lol but I remember Sister Mary Gabriel, my older sister had her. I had Sister Mary Bernadette and loved her so much I took her name as my Confirmation name.


I also had Miss Donnachie and I can say to this day as an adult, she should never have been teaching young children. She used to slap us on the face and left me so marked that my Mum went up to her and very quietly told her never to put a finger on me again, she never did, but used the belt in future. I was terrified of her.

Do you remember Sister Mary Baptist?????


Talking of the name Bernadette, I got the DVD of "The Song of Bernadette" from Amazon on the Internet. I have been trying to get it for a long time and my son told me to try Amazon and was delighted to find they had it. I ordered it last Sunday and it came on Wednesday and on Friday night my 7yrs old g'daughter, my husband and I sat and watched it. My g'daughter is away home with it to watch it again.

Dimairt where are you, I am anxious to know how you got on and if you found the Roll of Honour?????????

[liz39]

i am the parent of st josephs school who has been researching the lyon st roll of honour for two years now i would like to give every one information of what i have and hope maybe someday the roll will appear again in 1962 when lyon st came down st josephs was built our playground still has a portion of lyon st still there left as a memorial to the men who died we got a fence put around it and hope to either get a replica of the roll or the original if this cant be done the beautiful poem that dimairt has given me i will get this turned into a new memorial before the garscube bar came down a major hawley was offered the roll i got major shaw of royal highland fusiliers to phone him he said he never got it now iwas told the peoples palace had it but fiona hayez the curator has been looking for it all this time she cant find it i was told it was on display there during the sixties but still no luck this plaque was made in 1919 by an unskilled man it was about five feet long with a gold frame and it has pictures of soldiers faces on the front the picture i have is very fuzzy i wrote to the herald and asked for the original photo taken by dave gibson in 1962 the herald phoned me and said they could not find it now lyon st claim to fame was that it was the only street in uk that lost so many men from the same street it was also the most decorated it also had its own armistice day for 20 years after great war where a buglar and piper came from the barracks the roll was taken out for the day and the people from lyon street honoured there dead now i was also informed by two pastkeepers of st josephs chapel that the parishoners got a marble plaque made with all the soldiers names on it in 1985 the same two pastkeepers watched the plaque getting taken down from the wall and put into a van along with other items it was supposed to go to the peoples palace but suprise suprise the plaque dissapeared i have on numerous occassions spoke and practically begged the curator of the archdiocese in clyde street for help i have been told they no nothing about it wich is a load of rubbish as they had a huge memorial service in st josephs where im told the place was crowded with people i contacted old preists from st josephs and the said the marble plaque was beautiful so how can clyde st say they dont know anything about it the lady in question who supposed to have got the plaque she never did as i have spoken to the family about this they asked and received permission from clyde street to have the plaque when the went to collect it it could not be found so by right two of these plaques were made i have one major problem glasgow great roll of honour book in the mitchell library has only has 7 of these soldiers registered dead major shaw of the fusiliers in sauchihall street said most of this was part of folklore but i dont believe him as i have went pub crawl after pub crawl and spoke to a lot of old lyon st people who have said there were so many killed i think every one will agree it is very sad and heartbreaking that so many men have not been honoured from it is important that this roll will turn up or like i said a new one made on april there one of my neighbours said his friend saw the original roll the wooden one on the telly it turned up in london somewhere he said it was the bbc news i phoned all the stations in london but no luck with everyone help hopefuly a pemanent memorial can be made

[Heather]

Liz39, as I said in a previous post, my aunt who lived in Braid St. knew of this Roll of Honour and is quite clear in her mind that there was one in St. Joseph's and she also mentioned Keiran's Bar and the Armistice Parade.

It is really sad that it seems to have disappeared.

This is just an idea, but have you asked at St. Columba's in Hopehill Road as that is where all the data concerning the Parishioners of St. Joseph's was sent.

Please keep us up todate on how the search is going.