Soldier Record

Daddy Tom and Daddy Jim

As a child growing up in Scotland in the 1950s my aunts (Joan, Elizabeth, Anne) used to refer to my grandfather as Daddy Jim. My grandfather Jim had two brothers (Tom and Alexander) who I never met because they both died on the Somme in WWI. It became clear later in my life that Tom [who died 30 April 1917] had been married to my grandmother and they had had one daughter, Elizabeth (my auntie Bettey), before going to war. Of the three brothers who went to WWI in the Gordon Highlanders, only Jim returned and he later married Tom's widow by declaration on 29th June 1923. They had three children, Joan, Anne and James (my father). So as children growing up together they made the distinction between Betty's father who was Daddy Tom and their father who was Daddy Jim. This year we visited their graves in France which are beautifully maintained by the War Grave Commission.