His Life

John Allan MacDougall was born on 15th June 1882 at 5 Lyle Street, Greenock, Renfrewshire, the sixth of a family of eleven (nine surviving) born to John MacDougall, a doctor of medicine from Jura, Argyll and Martha Park, from Greenock, who had married in Greenock West on 22nd April 1875.

In 1881 John (42), Martha (28), and four of their children Dugald, Matthew, Mary and Isabella were living in 5 Lyle Street, Greenock. The family had two domestic servants; Catherine Taylor (25) from Campbelltown, Argyll and Elizabeth Love (16) from Bathgate.

In 1891 the MacDougall family of ten was at 9 Lyle Street, Greenock. The eight children, including John A (8), were at school. Catherine Taylor was still employed as a general servant.

In 1901 the MacDougall family, now of eleven, was living in 2 Shaw Place, Greenock. By then Dugald was a commercial traveller, Matthew a shipping clerk, Mary and Ella were teachers, Nellie an arts student, and John junior (18) was a shipping clerk.

By 1911, Martha (58) was a widow, living with seven of her children and the faithful servant Catherine Taylor (54) at 2 Shaw Place, Greenock. Matthew was still a shipping clerk, but John junior (28) was now a law apprentice. May and Helen were teachers of dressmaking, Isabella a music teacher, Janet an elementary school teacher and Robert a student.

Sometime later, Martha, probably with the family, moved to Locksley, a 10-roomed villa in Ranfurly, Bridge of Weir.

John MacDougall enlisted in the territorial battalion, the 1/6th (City of Glasgow) Highland Light Infantry which came under orders of 157th Brigade, 52nd (Lowland) Division. On 26th May 1915, the division sailed from Devonport to Egypt, guarded the Suez Canal for a few weeks, then sailed again to provide reinforcements for Gallipoli, which was not going well for the British and Commonwealth forces. John first joined a theatre of war on 2nd July 1915 when he landed at Cape Helles. He was posted missing, presumed dead on 16th August 1915 (although the Scottish National War Memorial records his date of death as 12th October 1915). His name is recorded alongside 21,000 of his comrades with no known grave on the Helles Memorial.

Entry at Bridge of Weir War Memorial site

Memorial stone in Greenock cemetery.