The Story of the Men of Lyon Street
On one street in Glasgow, which has long since demolished, a story of the true grit and courage of the men our city can be told.
Over 200 men emerged from a mere half dozen tenement closes in Lyon Street off Garscube Road to enlist in almost every Scottish regiment that fought in the First World War, over 100 in the Highland Light Infantry.
It is said that Lyon Street became famous as the most decorated street in Britain.
A simple Roll of Honour was created by local people to bare witness to the bravery of the men. It listed the bare details of the 211 who enlisted. It included 16 names of men who never came back; the 27 who were wounded, and two were simply marked missing on the roll.
Every Remembrance Day until shortly before the Second World War a piper and bugler from the Highland Light Infantry at Maryhill Barracks marched smartly up the street under the fluttering Armistice flags and streamers hauled from the trunks for this one day a year.
The piper played a lament, there was a short service attended by all the street . Then the bugler sounded the Last Post.
The roll hung in a local pub - the Garscube bar - until it was demolished in 1962. However the roll disappeared and today its whereabouts are unknown. Like the Garscube and the Roll of Honour, Lyon Street too is long demolished and its residents scattered. In its place now stands St Joseph's Primary School.
As a mark of respect Oakgrove and St Joseph's RC primary schools carried out their own project to learn more about the Men of Lyon Street. You can read about what they learned by following the link to the project website - Oakgrove and St Joseph's Schools Project.
A small Roll of Honour has been created which was taken from various sources of some of the men from Lyon Street who never came back taken from the 1922 City of Glasgow Roll of Honour and from records held both by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Scottish National War Memorial at Edinburgh Castle.
If you have a family connection to Lyon Street please send the details to us so we can record their name as a fitting replacement to the lost Lyon Street Roll of Honour. Or if you know of the whereabouts of the roll please contact us on FirstWorldWar@glasgow.gov.uk.
Links:
Image:
- Plaque. Image Credit: The Scottish National War Memorial.
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