Harry Muir McCreath  married Jessie Douglas Crawford at Crossmichael, Castle Douglas on 15 October 1924.  They had three children:

Margaret Douglas McCreath born 18 October 1925

Janet Douglas McCreath born25 March 1927

Thomas (Tom) Crawford McCreath born 28 June 1929, Broughton Mains, Whithorn.

“Harry McCreath completed his B Sc. degree at Glasgow University in 1914. At University he was in the Officers Training Corps.

He joined up in 1915, and was posted to the 6th/7th RSF near Ypres. The 7th battalion had suffered horrendous casualties, (including the brother of John Buchan) at the battle of Loos. The 6th & 7th battalions were amalgamated, brought up to strength with reinforcements and posted to Ploegsteert, Belgium, with a new CO – Winston Churchill. Immediately punishments for misdemeanours were substantially reduced. Then the first campaign was on lice. Out came boards and with the sound of lice popping, as the hot irons ran down the seams of uniforms, their numbers were much reduced. Battalion HQ was at an old farmstead. In the evenings, Winston would bring out his pocket Shakespeare ‘Now listen to this boys’, followed by a text of the best of English language. The front line of 1,000 yards was quite quiet, but soon ‘hotted up’ thanks to the new CO! Resting at night they could hear the Germans tunnelling underneath and soon after the battalion was transferred to Bethune on the flank of the Somme, the HQ was blown up. Harry must have been traumatised as he got invalid leave in June 1916 and was then posted to 1st Bn Seaforth Highlanders to go to Salonika as Garrison Battalion. In time, they were needed at the front in Macedonia to face the Bulgarians when they joined the war. In autumn great flights of wild geese came down the valleys of the Struma and Virdar valleys. With an army rifle he shot five geese with seven shots and got a severe dressing down from his CO which ended ‘Anyway McCreath, bloody good shooting!’

After a career in Agricultural Colleges, he married the farmer’s daughter from Broughton Mains and farmed from 1924 as tenant of his father-in-law. My mother, Jessie Crawford, had been brought home from school to run the farmhouse, feeding old men and soldiers released from army duties to get in the harvest in 1917 etc. She and her sisters trained as nurses and had duties at Glendarrock House near Kirkcowan in the wartime convalescent hospital. She often mentioned how terrible was the daily list of casualties in the papers (and now on war memorials).

Adapted from ‘World War 1 – Family and other local connections’. T.C McCreath in Wigtownshire U3A Newsletter No 12, May 2014