I have known since the age of nine that my Grandmother’s brother, James Buchanan Stewart, was killed in action during the First World War.  It has only been in the last ten years that the detail of my Great Uncle’s death have become known to me and who his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren are and the effect his death had on my family.

He was named after my Great Grandfather, also called James Buchanan Stewart and the family lived at Mansfield Terrace from sometime before 1900 until 1940 when my Great Grandfather moved out.  I can only imagine the grief and shock the family must have felt when he was killed in action at the Somme on 6th November 1916.  To this day there are still children called James Buchanan Stewart in my family and the name lives on.  The Memorial card was created by my cousins in New Zealand in memory of their Grandfather.  In the Summer of 2015, three Great Grandchildren of James Buchanan Stewart from New Zealand visited New Cumnock and stayed at Lochside in one of the original cottages.  Their Great Grandmother had lived in one of the cottages after WW1 for some years.