Ralph Erskine, second right, with the boxing team in New York
I wrote about John Little who was the first Clydesdale Harrier to be killed in action in the Second World War and could have written about several others but for sheer tragedy and number of Harriers who died in the First War was even worse. Worse for the country as a whole of course but we should remember that as a club we had many who died at that time. Men such as Wilfred Cramb who lived at Roselea, Radnor Park, a medical student who gave up his studies and joined up. He fought at Loos and the Somme as a member of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders before joining the Royal Flying Corps and was killed in the skies above Arras in 1917. Men Like Pat Younger’s Uncle Alex who was killed in Poziers in March 1917 or many others.
But for the sheer scale of the tragedies that many families suffered we must look at the Erskine Family. James Erskine (above) was a founder member of the Clydesdale Harriers and worked as a stockbroker’s clerk. He had five children: Their first child, James, died aged six months and they had a second child, Margaret, who also died young – just one year old. Two boys – Thomas Barrie Erskine and Ralph Erskine – followed and there was a second daughter – Nancy – born. While she was an infant her mother died of consumption and James had three children to bring up. Both boys were sportsmen of high quality. They were of course Clydesdale Harriers and Ralph in particular was a gifted athlete and boxing champion. Two silver medals at the 880 yards in the SAAA championships testified to that and he also won the Public Schools Boxing championship before going to America and winning the World Featherweight Boxing Championship at the age of 17. Thomas was also a very good athlete and also worked on the club committee as joint assistant secretary right up until the war started. They both enlisted when the War started and Thomas was a competitor in the Rangers Sports in 1914 but was dead, killed in action before August 1915. Details and picture below:
Ralph was on a hiking holiday with a friend when war broke out and immediately headed back to Glasgow to enlist. He had been a medical student at Glasgow University, an athletics blue, was sports secretary and secretary of the athletics section. In December 1915 he joined the RFC. But like his brother, he was not to survive the War:
He had been married in Match 1917, two weeks after his death his son was born.
Ralph’s grave
The official obituary is below:
The story for James does not end there. He had lost his wife and four children but his remaining child, his daughter had to be told of her last remaining brother’s death. There were no telephones to use he had to write to her and tell her that Ralph too had lost his life in the War. A dreadful task and the letter is shown on the family website. James survived the war and attended the club’s first committee meeting after the War and served as Secrteray and had several years with the club thereafter.
So when you read, as I did this morning, of the sacrifices made by the footballer soldiers of McCrae’s Battalion, remember the Clydesdale Harriers who lost their life or were seriously wounded during the War. The service, the march past, the bugle playing – they commemorate among their number members of your club – runners like you who wore the vest with the big black C. The club motto is Excelsior, it means the Best. Let’s get to being there again because iut’s where we belong.
