More about John Marshall

Although John served with the British Army John is listed on both the Canadian Vitual War Memorial and Wigney’s C.E.F. Roll of Honour.

“John Marshall was born in Monifieth, Forfarshire, near Dundee, in 1875 or 1876, son of Archibald and Margaret Marshall. The family lived in and around Dundee during his youth. He had at least four siblings, one of whom may have died young. In 1881 his father was a coal retailer, but by 1891 and from them on he was a coachman, as was his oldest son. The daughter of the family was a draper’s assistant at 13, and in 1891 John was listed as a 15- year-old law clerk. Ten years later, 25-year-old John Marshall was living in Perth, as a “coachman domestic” according to the census, as a “cabman” according to city directories a few years later. On December 6, 1901 he married Catherine Nicol Birss, who was born in 1874 or 1875 in the tiny hamlet of Birse, which is just off the road from Aberdeen past Balmoral and about 5 km. from the eastern boundary of the Cairngorms National  Park. John and Catherine lived in Perth and had a daughter Margaret in 1905. Five years later they immigrated to Canada, arriving on June 27, 1910 in Quebec on board the passenger ship Dominion out of Liverpool. The passenger list recorded that John Marshall
intended to work as a chauffeur in Ottawa. Why he was destined for Ottawa is not clear; we have not been able to trace any family connections. Though he may have started out in Ottawa (and an obituary in 1918 said he had lived in the capital for many years), the 1911 census shows him and his family in Whitby, Ontario, where he was employed as a chauffeur earning $360 a year, with $50 in life insurance. A second child, John Roy, was born in 1913. The first definite record of him in Ottawa is his appearance in New Edinburgh about 1913, again working as a chauffeur. He was living on Vaughan Street, which was then just opening up. The Marshalls joined MacKay Presbyterian Church, Ottawa by certificate on 26 June 1914.

In the fall of 1915 Marshall enlisted, in Ottawa, in the British Army Service Corps. Why the Imperial and not the Canadian army? The British were the most mechanized of the armies on the Western Front and according to the recent research of Richard Holt they were in desperate need of “skilled driver-mechanics, wheelers, fitters, electricians, or blacksmiths” for the Mechanical Transport Section of the British Army Service Corps. As they had done with the Royal Flying Corps, the Canadian government gave the ASC permission to recruit in Canada. An elaborate system was set up to test trade proficiency, though further tests in
England weeded out many of these men; and although the British had hoped for 2740 men, only 1100 enlisted. As an experienced chauffeur, Marshall would have been exactly what they were looking for. His British service number M2/152731 indicates that he was in the Mechanical Transport Company and had not previously served in the British forces. Though
he never served in the CEF, Marshall is listed in the Canadian Virtual War Memorial because he was considered a Canadian and had attested in Ottawa.

John’s wife returned to Scotland in January 1916 and went to live with his father at 28 Balfour St, Dundee. Following his training John was posted overseas and sent to Egypt in early 1916. and served there with the Army Service Corps. As we have said, we do not know what role Marshall played in all this. What we do know is that at some point he suffered a sunstroke, was evacuated to Scotland, and died in March 1918 at age 42. Medical evacuation from Egypt to Britain was not routine as it was on
the western front; the trip was longer and more dangerous and Egypt had full medical facilities. A sunstroke severe enough to justify evacuation, but not enough to kill the patient outright, would have been improbable in Cairo or Alexandria. Given that Marshall was by now an experienced desert hand, it would likely have been the result of a military operation, emergency, or accident, rather than mere carelessness. It is thus most probable that it occurred during the Sinai campaign in the fall of 1917.

Following his medical evacuation John was sent to The Dykebar Military Hospital in Paisley where he died. At the time of John’s death his wife and children were living at 67 Methven St, Perth.

On July 7, 1918 Catherine Marshall received John’s personal effects and back pay of £25 15s 1d, and on February 22, 1919, £10 war service gratuity, in addition to whatever pension she was entitled to as a widow and for the children. She also received his war and victory medals. In April, 1918, only a month after John’s death, she was granted a certificate of disjunction from MacKay Presbyterian. Perhaps they had intended to come back when the war was over. On July 18, 1919, at the age of 45, she remarried, to James Clark, 42, of Canal Street, Perth. We know nothing of him, his occupation, or what their connection was. They moved to 2 Hill Street, Cranstonhill, Glasgow, in the Anderston district, and lived there through the1920s. We are unable to trace her movements after this, or what happened to the children. She and her family fade out of the MacKay’s Church story of which they had been a part for less than two years.”

Alan Bowker.

For more information on John, visit, John’s Memorial

For reasons unknown John Marshall is not included on the original Dundee City Roll of Honour. John’s actual cause of death is recorded on his attached Pension Record.