Airbles Road Cemetery is located on the outskirts of Motherwell, near the River Clyde. Historically, Motherwell was the centre of steel manufacturing in Scotland. The variety of headstones in the cemetery reflects the social hierarchy of the heavy industry that once dominated the area. Among those buried there is William Carrigan, a resident of Motherwell. He passed away at the Edinburgh Military Hospital on December 17, at just eighteen years old. After suffering from influenza for twelve days, he ultimately succumbed to pneumonia and heart failure. His grave is marked by a headstone from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
William was born on August 11 1900, in Dalry, North Ayrshire, to John, a labourer, and Sarah (nee Connor). He was the couple’s second child and first son.
The Census was taken the year after William’s birth. The family had left Ayrshire and lived at 3 Francis Street, Shettleston. The couple’s third child and second daughter, Elizabeth (known as Ellen), was born on July 3 1909, by which time the family were residing at Miller Street in Motherwell. Tragically, Sarah died three weeks later on July 28, likely from complications attributed to Elizabeth’s birth. She was aged just thirty. John, who was employed as a coal miner, a profession with a strong masculine culture, was put in the difficult position of a single parent to three children.
In 1911, the Census recorded the Carrigan family as residing at 116 Watsonville, Motherwell. John had not remarried, and the children were all attending school. In July that year, John married Elizabeth (Lizzie) Fitzpatrick, and William and his siblings gained a stepmother. Devastatingly, history would repeat itself. Lizzie died on April 1 1917, from heart disease, aged twenty-seven, leaving John to raise the couple’s children, Peter and Maggie, as a single parent, albeit likely with support from their older half-siblings.
William would turn fourteen mere days after Britain entered the First World War. I expect he will have finished his formal education and be ready to start his employment. William would find work in Motherwell’s numerous still mills. The 1916 Military Service Act introduced mandatory conscription of able-bodied men aged eighteen and over. By his age, William would have been exempt from conscription until 1918. He joined the Labour Corps, though he may have done so voluntarily without being drafted.
The Electoral Register indicates that William was living at 2 Salmond Place, Edinburgh. This is likely accurate, as he died in Edinburgh; however, his death registration lists 108 Brandon Street, Motherwell, as his usual residence. He passed away three days after the 1918 General Election. Due to his age, he was under twenty-one and thus ineligible to vote. His Sergeant Major registered his death. William’s body was repatriated to his hometown for burial, likely with military honours. Since he was unmarried, the income he earned in the Labour Corps was passed on to John.
The Carrigans resided in Motherwell at 44 Hope Street in 1921. Elizabeth had moved out; however, Sarah Jr., his eldest daughter, still lived with her father, Peter, and Maggie.
Sources: Ancestry, Find a Grave, Scotland’s People, Wikipedia
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