Helensburgh Heritage
Helensburgh Heritage Trust
THE VIEW down Charlotte Street in Helensburgh and across the Clyde must have been a very welcome change for a World War Two soldier hero when he returned from captivity.
The Helensburgh and Gareloch Times reported his return to the burgh in the early summer of 1945 with the headline ‘Repatriated’.
A YOUNG Helensburgh naval officer who was a nephew of Andrew Bonar Law was shot by a sniper in a World War One trench battle.
Sub-Lieutenant John Pitcairn Robley, whose aunt Annie was the wife of the future Prime Minister, was the younger son of dairy proprietor William Pitcairn Robley and his wife Edith.
AN OVERNIGHT stay in Helensburgh in 1941 would have seemed a very welcome contrast to spending countless hours in Catalina seaplanes searching the grey Atlantic for U-Boats.
Alas that is not how it turned out, retired Merseyside newspaper editor Robin Bird — an expert on the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at RAF Helensburgh — has discovered.
THE NAME of John Muir is now synonymous with the John Muir Way, a picturesque coast to coast walk from Helensburgh to Dunbar.
The route is named in memory and honour of Dunbar-born conservationist John Muir.
A HELENSBURGH man who made a dramatic escape from a mini-submarine in Loch Striven serves as an example of the talent to be found in the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at RAF Helensburgh during World War Two.
Joiner’s son Duncan Gay was born in Helensburgh on March 15 1913, and educated at the then Hermitage School in East Argyle Street. He started his career in dental mechanics and prosthetics.
A HIGHLY respected World War One officer from Helensburgh who was a nephew of Lord Strathclyde died in strange circumstances in Italy early in 1918.
Captain Ian Ure MC, of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders died of accidental injuries when a bomb exploded on February 2 1918 at the age of 32.
HELENSBURGH will host a major centenary commemoration of the famous World War One naval Battle of Jutland on Saturday May 14.
Now the search is on for stories of local involvement in the famous battle, and it is hoped to stage a one-day exhibition of First World War artefacts and hold a parade through the town and a drumhead service.