1940 - 1949 - An Arbroath Timeline
1940 - 1949
1940s ('early') A coastal defence battery is positioned in West Links beside Kerr's Miniature Railway. 1940 The 'Palace Cinema', James Street, is rebuilt & opened by ABC as the 'New Palace Theatre' on May 6. 1940 (Feb 9) The hopper barge 'Foremost' is attacked by bombs & machine-gun fire from two German aircraft. Lifeboat 'John & Wm Mudie's Coxwain, Wm. Swankie, is awarded a bronze medal & the Brit. Emp. Medal for rescuing seven from the attack, in which two seamen have died. The survivors are safely landed at Arbroath. 1940 (Jul) Charles Tassie recalls a walk with his wife Betty on this month near the Seaforth Hotel when the road & the Common are strafed by machine gun fire from a German aircraft which results in the deaths of some Polish soldiers playing football on the Common. Another individual approaching on a bicycle has to take swift evasive action by a speedy entrance into 'Tutties Neuk' pub. 1940 HMS Condor is commissioned. 1940 (Oct 31) The Bell Rock Lighthouse is machine gunned by a German aircraft. 1940 A Crimean cannon, a feature on Boulzie Hill, is melted down for munitions manufacture. 194? Lunan Bay is used by the RAF for bombing practise. 194? One of the very few German bombing raids on Arbroath causes little damage to the tar works at Elliot. 1941 (Mar 5) William Briggs officially thanks employee David Aitken Leadingham for the extreme bravery displayed in rescuing two fellow employees during 'a deplorable accident' some weeks ago. (Click here: ) 1941 Arbroath's Gordon Neill is struck by shrapnel whilst encountering German aircraft, regaining control from the cockpit floor of his Spitfire to land on only one mainwheel. He had first flown a Spitfire in November 1940 & has joined 603 Squadron this year. Mr Neill will return to Arbroath on demob in 1945 after 6 years as a fighter & bomber pilot to resume his legal career. He will retire in 1985 when Neill & MacIntosh come under Thorntons umbrella. In 2008 and aged 89, Mr Neill will renew his aquaintance with a Spitfire at Leuchers Air Show. 1941 (Mar 30) The Bell Rock suffers a 2nd aerial machine gun attack. 1941 (Apr 1) A German bomb explodes 10 yards from the base of the lighthouse. 1941 (Apr 5) A 3rd machine-gun attack occurs on the lighthouse. WW2: During the war years flax is once again grown in Angus to meet the demand for canvas. It is required for tents, stretchers, uniforms, gun covers & fire hoses etc. Polish Troops are billeted in Windmill House. 1942 (May 30) Spitfire 'Red Lichtie', (Mk Vb EP121), sponsored by local people raising £5,000 (= about £180,000 in 2010), enters service with No.50 Squadron RAF (County of Gloucester). It serves in Sept '42 with No.39 Sq. (MU Colerne), Oct '42 with No.38 Sq. (MU Llandow), Dec '42 with No.131 Sq. (County of Kent), Jan '43 with No.610 Sq. (County of Chester) in this period probably destroying a Focke-Wulf 190 German fighter near Boulogne, Mar '43 with No.602 Sq. (City of Glasgow), Apr. '43 with No.412 (RCAF) Sq. at Perranporth, June '43 with No.416 (RCAF) Sq. at Digby and that month stalling on landing approach and spinning into the ground. 1942 Merilyn Smith is born in Arbroath & educated at the High School & trained at Edinburgh School of Art. She will spend 2 years teaching in N. Nigeria then found & manage the Ceramic Workshop in Edinburgh 1970-74. After 2 years in Italy, she will be Head of Ceramics at Liverpool School of Art. She will exhibit throughout Europe & in 1989 be awarded the 30th Anniv. Prize at the Concorso Internazionale della Ceramica d'Arte in Gualdo Tadino, Italy. Her bronze 'Cutty Stool' commemorates the riot in St Giles Cathedral when Jenny Geddes' stool was aimed at the minister's head on the introduction of an an angicised prayer book by Charles 1 to Scotland in 1637. 1942 Mr Tommy Knox recalls his family moving from Dundee to 14 East Mill Wynd this year. Names of his East Mill / Cross Mill Wynd neighbours include: Sid Lyndsay, Nicol, White, Easson, 'Oily' Burns, Wallace, Proctor, Cruickshank, McPhail, Law, Allan, Fairweather, Sheriff, Glen, Kelly, 'Sally' Forbes, Andrew Knox, McPhee, Jocky 'The Dodger' Donaldson, Munro, Hood and Bannatyne. " Quite a few families from the Wyndies later moved to Strathmore Ave. & Airlie Crescent ". 1943 (Feb 27) Two airman from HMS Condor die during a training exercise when their Fairey Swordfish aircraft crashes into a field near Gask Farm, Letham. 1943 The crew of the Arbroath Lifeboat 'John & William Mudie' rescue 3 airmen from a dinghy in the North Sea. 1943 Coplands Garage is founded at the corner of Lochlands Drive & Cairnie Street by Bert Copland. 1943 Servicewomen of the armed forces have their club room & canteen at 105 High Street. 1943 A 15 year old girl earns 15 shillings (75p) per week in Webster's Millgate factory. (See 1986) 1943 David Meek, 19, brought up in Arbroath's Wyndies, takes part in the Arctic Convoy runs. 1944 Marion Corsar of Rosely House dies. 1944 Davida Crammond is born in Arbroath. She will become a writer. 1945 (Sept) The 12th Polish Field Ambulance erect a stone on the High Common in gratitude to the people of Arbroath. 1945 (Oct) Arbroath harbour welcomes the first shipment of coal to the town for six years. The 230 tons aboard the Dutch vessel 'Cateli', are bound for Arbroath Gas Works. 1946 Matthew Kerr almost doubles the length of the miniature railway. 1946 (Apr) Reverend P.F. Black is appointed minister of St Ninian's Church. 1946 'Cafe Kit Kat' is open at 84 High Street. 1946 'The Elms' mansion house is purchased for £3,000 & becomes home to children of missionaries serving the evangelical movement abroad. 1946 Aberdeen born poet Marion Angus (1866), whose 'Selected Poems' will be published in 1950, dies in Arbroath, the town where she was raised. (listen to the song on page 2010). 1946 W. Osler Nicoll, Abbey Church's Minister, resigns to take up that post at Riccarton Parish Church. 1946 New houses at Grant Road, Airlie Crescent & Strathmore Avenue are being constructed. 1946 Pre-fabricated homes (the Prefabs) are being erected in Elmfield Avenue, Elm Hill, Hercules Road, Elm Grove, Elm Path, & Elmbank Crescent. They will exist for about 20 years. 1946 (-1975) Adam Cargill is a Town Councillor. 1946 (Dec 9) Arbroath born Logie Danson, Primus of the Episc. Church in Scotland since 1943, dies. 'after WW2', Hepworth tailors are trading at 142-144 High Street. 1947 (Feb) Arbroath Musical Society this year present 'The Belle Of New York'. 1947 (Mar 27) Arbroath Dramatic Society's first production, 'Outward Bound', at Webster Memorial Hall. 1947(-60) Singer Sewing Machines have premises on Kirk Square. 1947 Ian M. Fraser aquires a 1915 built Marshall steam tractor which he names 'Jingling Geordie'. The big traction engine will become a familiar sight in Arbroath. 1947 (May 2) Lynda Myles is born in Arbroath. She will direct the Edinburgh Film Festival '73-'80, be Curator of Pacific Film Archive, California '80-'82, work for Channel 4 & Enigma Films, co-produce 'Flight To Berlin' ('84), produce 'Defence Of The Realm' ('85), 'The Commitments' ('91), 'The Snapper' ('93), 'The Van' ('96), 'When Brendan Met Trudy' (2000), & co-produces ''Killing Me Softly' (2002). She becomes the recipient of a BFI special award for services to the film industry. 1947 (Jun 25) Windmill House is opened as a hotel by Will Fyfe. 1947 D. Adam & Co. Ltd, electrical contractors, open for business at James Street. ( See 2013 ). 1947 Morris Pert is born in Arbroath. He will become an internationally respected composer & percussionist, graduating B.Mus. from Edinburgh University in 1969 & studying composition & percussion at the Royal Academy, London. He works 2 years with Japanese percussionist Stumo Yamash'ta then forms the experimental music group 'Suntreader'. In the 1970s he is commissioned by the BBC for large-scale orchestral works & becomes a prominent percussionist in rock music. He writes 3 symphonies: 'The Rising Of The Moon', 'The Beltane Rites' & 'The Ancient Kindred'. Morris works for 18 years as session musician, recording with Paul McCartney, Andrew Lloyd-Weber, John Williams, Kate Bush, Mike Oldfield, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins & Brand X. In 1977 Billboard magazine votes him No.4 jazz & Rock percussionist in the world. His works include an electronic Balletscore 'Continuum' for the London Contemporary Dance Theatre at Sadlers Wells. His music is much inspired by the symbolism & mystery of Scotland's ancient inhabitants. He settles in NW Scotland, and dies in 2010. 1947 The first Arbroath Abbey Pageant. 1947 East Coast Enterprises opens on Millgate Loan. 1948 (Feb) Geo. S. Robertson, Principal Classics Teacher at AHS, is appointed President of the Institute of Scotland. 1948 (Feb) Arbroath Musical Society's production this year is 'The Arcadians'. 1948 'Arbroath Football Club - The Story Of The Maroons Past & Present' is published. 1948 The first dwellings in the Hayshead Housing Scheme are occupied. 1948 (Jul 27) David Laing, doctor in Arbroath for 59 years (retired 1946), dies aged 86. 1948 Alan Irons, who opened his Hamilton Green shop in 1922, dies. Bob * * * & Charlie Irons as partners, continue the business. They trade under the name 'St Ruth's ', taken from Sir Walter Scott's use of the name for Arbroath Abbey in 'The Antiquary'. 1948 (Nov 11) Armistice Day - At the Arbroath War Memorial, the names of the fallen are unveiled, on the 30th anniversary of the ending of the 'Great' war. 1949 The Burns Federation suggest making a copy of the Arbroath Declaration available to every secondary school & training college. 1949 George S. Shepherd joins the Arbroath Herald. He becomes editor & later buys the business. 1949 Forbidden Cave is excavated by D.A. Gardner and F.W. Thornton, revealing a large quantity of bones, some showing signs of being worked. 1949 The Arbroath Burgh Police are merged with the Angus County Constabulary. 1949 Edmund Laskowski buys the 'Red Lion' garage on Dundee Road. 1949 (-1954) John F. Webster is Provost.
Oh the auld Boulzie Hill is aye dear tae us - some dinna like it, but ithers like us does, wi the singin o the lintie or the scrauchin o the gull, oh whit a paradise the auld Boulzie Hill.....
Lunan Bay air gunnery chart
The locally sponsored Spitfire 'Red Lichtie' enters service 1942
(above) Arbroath High School remembers former pupils who did not return from the 1939-1945 war. ( image courtesy Patrick Anderson )
An Arbroath foundry worker in 1946
Taken by a trainee RN Air Observer from HMS Condor
Merilyn Smith's Cutty Stool
The Wyndies - from a 1901 map Click for a larger image
1943 Rail ticket for forces personnel on 'furlough' ie leave of absence
A thank you from Poland
How the neglected
'Elms' will appear in 2007
A post war family look to the future in Elmfield Avenue 1947. The smallest human is the editor.
Lynda Myles - international film producer
A 1948-49 photograph of Arbroath fishwives on a bus trip. (back row) Jean Cargill, Betty Cargill, Jessie Beattie, Mary Duff, Mary Marshall, Ella Ross, Barbara Rose (front row) Kitty Smith, Jean Swankie, Mary Smith, Nellie Yarrow, Isa Doyle, Jean Spink (Source: The Arbroath Herald)
Ian M. Fraser & Jinglin' Geordie
Conder Mess Hut
HMS Conder around 1949
- by permission of the Condor 49ers
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