Friends of the Somme - Mid Ulster Branch  
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106464   Corporal Henry McDonald Glasgow
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Dated added: 30/12/2015   Last updated: 07/06/2024
Personal Details
Regiment/Service: Gas Section, Royal Engineers (British Army)
Date Of Birth: 20/02/1897
Died: 24/07/1917 (Died of Illness)
Age: 19
Summary      
Henry McDonald Glasgow was the youngest son of William James and Rebecca J. Glasgow of 52 James Street, Cookstown. William James Glasgow managed the Post Office in Cookstown. Henry was a Scholar of the Royal College of Science and was attached to the Royal Engineers (Gas Section) in France from August 1915, where he was involved in the maintenance, inspection and production of gas materials. He died of illness at home on 24th July 1917.
Further Information
Henry McDonald Glasgow was the youngest son of William James and Rebecca J Glasgow. William Glasgow and Rebecca Moore were married on 6th April 1891 in the district of Cookstown.
Henry was born on 20th February 1897 in Cookstown. He was one of four children, three surviving.
Family: William James Glasgow, Rebecca J Glasgow, Allan Pattison Elanor Glasgow (born 21st March 1892), Ernest Moore Glasgow (born 6th July 1893), Henry MacDonald Glasgow (born 20th February 1897).
The 1901 census records that the family were living in James Street Cookstown. Henry was 4 years old. His father was Clerk (to Clerk of Union). His parents managed the Post Office in Cookstown.
The 1911 census shows the family were still running the Post Office in Cookstown. Henry was 14 years old and still at school.
Henry attended Cookstown Academy. He won a scholarship to the Royal College of Science in Dublin, valued at £280.
1914
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 26th September 1914: Cookstown Academy
Royal College of Science, Dublin: Henry McDonald Glasgow – Scholarship, with the highest marks in Mathematics, value £280.
Intermediate Examinations, Senior Grade - Henry McDonald Glasgow – Exhibition in Mathematical Group, value £20. Also £3 prize in Science Group.
1915
Henry went on to be a scholar of the Royal College of Science in Dublin.
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 3rd April 1915: (Private Allan Glasgow, Brother of Henry Glasgow)
Amongst the Colonials home for Easter is Mr Allan Glasgow, eldest son of Mr W J Glasgow and Mrs Glasgow, of the Post Office. When he left the Academy, Mr Glasgow entered the board of Commerce in Canada. At the outbreak of the war he was at a little town of 700 inhabitants in Saskatchewan. He volunteered with another man – the only volunteers out of the town – and was assigned to the 81st Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, which is now in Shorncliffe camp as reinforcement to the first contingent, and he is looking forward to taking his place very soon in the ranks at the front.
Henry McDonald Glasgow enlisted for the period of the war in the Chemistry Corps of the Royal Engineers.
Medal card
From the Belfast Newsletter dated 31st July 1915:
Mr Henry McDonald Glasgow, youngest son of Mr W J Glasgow and Mrs Glasgow, postmistress of Cookstown, has enlisted for the period of the war in the Chemistry Corps of the Royal Engineers. After obtaining an exhibition in the senior grade at the Intermediate examinations, he prepared for the Royal College of Science scholarship examination and was successful.
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 31st July 1915: Cookstown Student’s Patriotism
Mr Henry McDonald Glasgow, youngest son of Mr W J Glasgow and Mrs Glasgow, postmistress of Cookstown, has enlisted for the period of the war in the Chemistry Corps of the Royal Engineers. After obtaining an exhibition in the senior grade at the Intermediate examinations, he prepared for the Royal College of Science scholarship examination and was successful. He has, up until then, been specialising in chemistry, and with three other students at the end of the course, he volunteered for service with the Chemistry Corps, and on Wednesday reported to ??, having enlisted in the Royal Engineers, His brother who came over with the Canadian contingent, has been with the Canadian Infantry in the trenches for a couple of months? Rest unknown.
Henry Glasgow then became attached to the Royal Engineers (Gas Section) in France from August 1915, where he was involved in the maintenance, inspection and production of gas materials.
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 4th December 1915: (brother of Henry McDonald Glasgow)
Mr Ernest Moore Glasgow, second son of Mr W J Glasgow and Mrs Glasgow of the Post Office, has volunteered for service in the Royal Marine Artillery, and has been sent to Portsmouth for training. He was five years in the Belfast Bank, and was in the Bangor branch recently. He volunteered early in the war but was unable to pass the medical examination. On the second attempt he has been successful. His elder brother, Allan Patterson Glasgow, came from Canada, where he was in the bank, with the 1st Canadian Division and for seven months he has been with the grenade company in the trenches in Flanders or France, while the youngest son, Henry McDonald Glasgow, who held a scholarship in the Royal College of Science, is in the Chemistry Corps of the Royal Engineers, and is for four months at the front. The three brothers therefore (the whole family) have left safe and comfortable jobs to help defend the Empire.
1916
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated Saturday 22nd January 1916: (Private Allan Glasgow, Brother of Henry Glasgow)
Newspaper Report
Private Allan Glasgow, eldest son of Mr W J Glasgow, Cookstown Post Office, is home on a short furlough from the Western Front . He is looking well - evidently life in the trenches and the exercise of throwing hand grenades is conducive to physical development and mental alertness.
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated Saturday 20th May 1916: Local Soldiers (furlough)
Newspaper Report
During the last ten days, quite a number of soldiers have been home on furlough. Mr Henry McDonald Glasgow (younger son of Mr W J Glasgow, Cookstown Post Office), who was a scholar in the Royal College of Science, and joined the Royal Engineers as a corporal, has been in the trenches since August making gas.
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated Saturday 28th October 1916: (Private Allan Glasgow, Brother of Henry Glasgow)
Allan Pattison Glasgow, Canadian Infantry, eldest son of Mrs Glasgow, postmistress, Cookstown, and Mr W J Glasgow, assistant Clerk of the Union, wounded by shrapnel in the thigh on Sunday, the 15th October, and at present in Highfield Military Hospital, Liverpool. He came over with the first Canadian Contingent, and has been at the front for the past eighteen months, taking part in many engagements. In a letter home on Friday he says he is getting on well. His brother, Harry, who is on the Royal Engineers, has been out for 14 months, having escaped uninjured so far.
1917
Corporal Henry McDonald Glasgow died of illness at home on 24th July 1917. He was 19 years old.
From the Belfast Newsletter dated 26th July 1917:
Corporal Henry M Glasgow, Royal Engineers, son of Mr W J Glasgow, Cookstown, died from illness contracted on active service in France.
1918
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 28th December 1918: (Allan Glasgow, Brother of Henry Glasgow)
GLASGOW – MONTGOMERY- 20th December, at Upton Presbyterian Church, by the Rev Benjamin Bell, M.A., B.D., Allan Pattison (Lieutenant, 51st Canadian Reserve Battalion), son of Mr and Mrs W J Glasgow, Cookstown, County Tyrone, to Lucy Heloise, daughter of Mr and Mrs J Montgomery, Tir Owen, Frankby, Cheshire.
Memorials
Corporal Glasgow is interred in Derryloran Old Cemetery, Sandholes Road, Cookstown.
The Commonwealth War Graves headstone is now lost and missing from the cemetery.
Henry McDonald Glasgow is commemorated on Cookstown Cenotaph and on First Cookstown Presbyterian Church Roll of Honour.
Also interred in the family plot in Derryloran Old Cemetery is Ernest Glasgow, who served with the Royal Marine Artillery. He died on 21st August 1923, aged 30.
The CWGC record Corporal Henry McDonald Glasgow as the son of William James and Rebecca J Glasgow of 52, James Street, Cookstown.
Read more
Relevant Cookstown Area Locations
No Location Region Location Notes Longtitude Latitude
1 Cookstown Post Office Cookstown Central Census listing in James Street 54.645426 -6.745066
References and Links
No Link Reference Map Doc
1 1901 Census lists Glasgow family 1901 census lists Henry Macdonald as age 4 at house 36 in James's Street, Cookstown
2 1911 Census lists Glasgow family 1911 census lists Henry Macdonald as age 14 at house 18 in James's Street, Cookstown
3 National Archives UK Medal card can be purchased here
4 War Graves Photographic Project Photo of Ernest Glasgow's grave can be purchased here
5 War Graves Photographic Project Photo of Corporal Henry McDonald Glasgow's grave can be purchased here
Cookstown District's War Dead Acknowledgements 2010-2023