Hawick and the Great War

[scott_dog]

Derek Robertson, a keen historian of Hawick’s place in the Great War, pays homage to the men, women, and indeed the town itself, that were affected by the greatest war the world had ever seen.

Prior to the war Hawick was greatly influenced by the enormous military camp that sprung up at Stobs – as well as bringing trade its inmates had an influence on the towns morality as soldiers arriving at Hawick station marched to the camp and sought entertainment in town, the Callants’ Club being formed as one bastion against their influence.  Stobs morphed into a civilian internment camp, and subsequently a prisoner of war camp by the time the war had ended.

In the course of the war Hawick’s young men, some already regular soldiers, many more volunteers and latterly, conscripts, marched away to serve King and Country in what they clearly saw as a necessary fight to halt the spread of evil.  In doing so many lost their lives, many a family lost a son,  father or husband.  To the farthest reaches they went, Africa, Arabia, the Balkans and of course the Western Front in France and Flanders.  Most infamously Hawick lost many sons in a single day, the 12^th July 1915 at Gallipoli in today’s Turkey.  The torch of remembrance of these particular men is still carried today by the Callants’ Club, whose story is told here.

All these people, the soldiers, the families, the widows, the internees, the POWs, and the town have their story told in this chronicle of the war.  Set against a timeline of the war, Derek Robertson sets the scene of the war in each chapter before telling the story of the Hawick boys who were there, from their letters, testaments and memories, and those of their loved ones.  We also get to hear about those reluctant to serve. The reader is taken from the “big picture” of the war’s events down into the trenches, into the flying shrapnel and bullets, the blood, injury and death with Hawick’s men as they play their part.

We are reminded that emigration played a big part in Hawick, as it did in Scotland generally, around the turn of the century and that Hawick men returned to serve in Scottish regiments, but also with Colonial forces – Australian, New Zealand and Canada – where unlikely meetings in unlikely places brought Hawick men together, if briefly.  Hawick’s diaspora had spread throughout the world and their story is told in full here.

In addition to the chronicles of the men and the war, there are contributions about the war’s effect on the families, Hawick Rugby Club’s men, and “weel kent” personalities.  All are moving in the telling and the waste of war, no matter how great the cause, is more than apparent.  The author has spent years chronicling and researching the men of Hawick and the surrounding parishes to learn their war story and their pre-war history.  This extends into the Hawick diaspora, if a man was born, related or worked in Hawick or had a different link of some sort the reader will find him here in an extended catalogue of those who served and died in a comprehensive reference.  As are those who died in internment or as a POW in Stobs – the Germans were men too.

If you have an interest in the Great War this book adds a considerable Hawick dimension.  The Pals Battalions are well known, this book chronicles Hawick’s Pals and provides a wonderfully complete window on Hawick’s Great War.

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DECLARATION:  I was privileged to get a pre-publication manuscript of this book to review.  In addition DR is a friend, but that wouldn’t influence my review.  Lastly this is my review and I’ve received no consideration for doing it.  (That last for the sceptics!)