Casualties & Deaths in the Great War (SQA National 5 History): Revision Note

Summary 

About 135,000 Scots are commemorated for World War One in the Scottish National War Memorial Rolls of Honour. It is challenging to give an accurate figure on deaths and casualties. A simple "rule of thumb" used at Edinburgh Castle is, “one in five Scots who enlisted never came home.” War memorials were built across Scotland to commemorate those who lost their lives during the war.

Casualties and deaths

• The Royal Scots alone recorded over 40,000 wounded and 11,213 killed during the war

• Shipbuilding areas such as Clydeside, mining areas such as Fife and fishing ports such as Aberdeen experienced heavy losses 

  • This meant many homes were missing breadwinners, and there was a skills shortage after the war ended

Commemoration in Scotland

• War memorials were built to commemorate the fallen and these included statues, museums and monuments

• Almost every parish, school and workplace create a memorial or roll of honour, so the dead were named locally

  • Inverness War Memorial commemorates Edith Cavell, a nurse and matron who became a powerful symbol of courage and compassion

  • The Glasgow Cenotaph in George Square was unveiled by Earl Haig in 1924 as a national-scale city memorial

  • The Scottish National War Memorial at Edinburgh Castle opened in 1927

    • It houses the Rolls of Honour (names recorded for those who died between August 1914 and 31 August 1921)