Additions will be checked before being published on the website and where possible will be forwarded to the person who submitted the original entries. Your contact details will not be forwarded, but they can send a reply via this messaging system.
please scroll down to send a message
Pte. Robert Goldie
British Army 8th Btn. Seaforth Highlanders
from:Hurlford, Crookedholm
(d.19th Jan 1915)
My Great Uncle Robert Goldie, was born in Liverpool in 1887, due to the fact that his father was playing profesional Football for Everton F.C. after having been transferred from Celtic F.C. about a year earlier. On moving back home to Scotland in 1898 due to his father being transferred to Dundee and then Morton the family eventually settled in their home town of Hurlford/Crookedholm which, like to day, is a suburb of Kilmarnock. Robert, like most young boys, took part in many organisations including the Boys Brigade and football with the local team, Hurlford. In his early teens he was an apprentice at Glenfield and Kennedy (water valve makers) as well as playing occasionally for Kilmarnock F.C. as a reserve player.
When war broke out he pestered his parents to such an extent that they eventually gave in and allowed him to join up. He was only 17 yrs old and like most young man who were eager to join up lied about his age stating he was 21 yrs. He joined the 8th Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders in September and was transferred to Aldershot for training. It was during this time that he sustained a bayonet wound which eventually led to septicemia and pneumonia. He succummed to his injuries on the 19th January 1915.
He was given a full military funeral on his return home with the whole of the populations of Hurlfiord, Crookedholm and most of Kilmarnock attending.
Letter of Condolence to my Great Grandparents on the death of their son Robert.
He is buried in a quiet corner of Kimarnock Cemetery along with his grandparents. He was fortunate he did not befall to the horrors that were about to be unleashed on his Battalion later that year.
