The Larbert Parish Churchyard is impressive, standing in the shadow of the neo-gothic splendour of Larbert Old Parish Church. The remains of numerous local industrial magnates rest within the Churchyard, their graves marked by grand monuments. Established in the mid-18th century, the nearby Carron Ironworks was at the forefront of heavy industry and industrialisation in Scotland. The Carron Company closed only forty years ago in 1982, leaving few surviving physical remains of the mighty industrial titan. The monuments in Larbert Churchyard memorialise the people buried there and the district’s industrial heritage.
William (Willie) Kemp rests among the industrial giants of the Carron Company. He died on February 17th, 1919, at the age of nineteen, from influenza and bronchopneumonia in the 4th Northern General Hospital in Lincoln. His modest familial headstone is easily missed and sadly lies broken. Fortunately, his details are still legible.
William Kemp Jr. was born on June 17, 1899, on Church Street in Stenhousemuir. He was the eldest child of William Kemp Sr., a pattern maker, and Isabella (nee Roughead). In 1901, the family still lived in Church Street. Sadly, Isabella died suddenly that same year at the age of twenty-seven. She was buried in Larbert Churchyard in the same grave where William would later be buried.
The 1911 Census indicates that William, now eleven and attending school, resided with his maternal grandparents, aunts, and uncles instead of his father, who lived nearby with William’s paternal grandfather.
After leaving school, William pursued a career in engineering, although I’m not sure what type. William did not enter military service until March 1918, at which point he served as a second-class air mechanic in the 33rd Squadron of the Royal Air Force. His obituary was published in the Falkirk Herald on February 22nd. The loss of his only son would have been utterly devastating for William Sr.
In December 1922, William Sr. remarried his sister-in-law, Janet Jr. (Jessie). He died on January 29th, 1931, at the age of fifty-nine. He was laid to rest with Isabella and William. Jessie later joined them after passing away on July 9th, 1944, at the age of sixty-three.
Sources: Ancestry British Newspaper Archive, CWGC, General Register Office, Scotland’sPEople, Wikipedia
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