I recently purchased the book, ‘They Shall Grow Not Old, ‘ by The Men of Falkirk Parish Church and Erskine Church, Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice in the First World War. Produced in 2014 by researchers for Falkirk Trinity Church of Scotland, this book catalogues the war dead from the congregations of the churches acknowledged in the title. James Cowan’s name is the first.
James died on October 28 at the King George Military Hospital in Dublin aged twenty-eight. His death was attributed to pneumonia following influenza. He lies in Section 11 of Camelon Cemetery. His resting place is not marked by a Commonwealth War Grave Commission (CWGC) headstone, though the former likely care for the grave.
James was born on November 2, 1889, at Langlands, Dunipace. He was the second child and eldest son of farm grieve John and Janet (nee Black). During the 1901 Census, the Cowan family lived at Carmuirs in Falkirk. In 1911, James worked as a coachman at the Crown Stables and resided at 9 Melville Street, Falkirk. He later changed careers and joined the Northern Division of the Glasgow Police Force.
James joined the Scottish Horses following the outbreak of war. According to the Falkirk Herald on November 2, he was the first in his police division to volunteer. He would reach the rank of Sergeant. He served in Gallipoli before being transferred to Egypt, Macedonia and eventually to Salonica, Greece, in 1916. In February 1917, he was awarded the Military Medal. After receiving his commission, he was sent to Ireland, where he fell victim to the Spanish flu pandemic. In correspondence with his parents after his death, the chaplain to the Scottish Horses Brigade, the Reverend J Reid Christie spoke of his “shock of surprise and grief” that James would survive harsh conflict only to succumb to disease in Ireland.
James was afforded a military funeral. His coffin was borne on a gun carriage from the King George Hospital to the train station for his final journey home to Falkirk. At this funeral, a second gun carriage drawn by two horses carried his flag-draped coffin from his parent’s home at Hall Glen to Camelon Cemetery. Alongside representatives from the armed forces, former colleagues from Callander Estate and Glasgow Police Force also attended. The Reverend Alexander Loudon officiated at the funeral.
He was unmarried and had no known issue. Following their deaths in 1940 and 1946, His parents were buried with him in Camelon Cemetery.
Sources: Ancestry, British Newspaper Archive, ScotlandsPeople, Mitchell, B., McPherson, W., Hamilton, E., Laurie, B., (2014) They Shall Grow Not Old, The Men of Falkirk Parish Church and Erskine Church Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice in the First World War, Falkirk, Falkirk Trinity Church of Scotland
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