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- About the AuthorThis website aims to create a database of men and women who served in the armed forces with the Wishart surname in the years up to and including the First World War. Although it’s author Scott Wishart, has never served in the military, his family has been involved with both World Wars and more widely with the militia andconflicts during the Georgian and Victorian periods. Both of his grandfathers served with the RAF during WWII (Battle of Britain & Malta, India & Burma respectively) and one of his maternal Great Grandfathers served in Gallipoli, France & Flanders and The Balkans, where he was killed in action during the Second Battle of Doiran. Scott has always been fascinated by the lives of seemingly ordinary men, who are plucked from everyday life and thrust into the extremes of human experience, often with courage and tenacity that they might never have realised had they stayed labouring in a small countryside hamlet. This site seeks to recognise and honour those who, often at the expense of their own lives, have fought for their beliefs and of course their countrymen. This project is a ongoing and made all the more possible with the assistance of…
- ContactIf you are descended from, or have further information about any of the individuals on this site, then feel free to get in touch. [hr] [contact-form 1 "Contact form 1"]
Wisharts in the Great War
Wisharts were involved in a wide variety of roles during the Great War. Many enlisted on the outbreak of war in 1914, whilst others formed part of the general conscription under the Military Service Act of 1916. Roles ranged from clerical workers, labourers and drivers to front line infantry and officer duties.
Being a predominantly Scottish surname, many Wisharts were attached to Scottish regiments, however there were also strong contingents from Canada, Australia and New Zealand – with several men also coming from South Africa and Tasmania. The number of American Wisharts who served overseas isn’t currently known. Several hundred filled in draft registration cards although not all would have seen service. Where identified, I have listed those who were known to have served with the American Expeditionary Force.Of those that saw front line action, a number distinguished themselves in the field and were subsequently merited for their actions, some even had their heroic deeds reported widely in the press yet others weren’t so fortunate. One man, despite proving himself in the trenches and earning an unblemished service record, found himself court-martialled and executed at dawn for desertion.
Wisharts were not only confined to the land, a healthy number of men served with the Royal Navy and several eventually joined the Royal Flying Corps from the army (latterly the RAF).Overall the vast majority of individuals probably came from very humble backgrounds and it seems very likely that engaging in service overseas would have been the first time they’d have left the immediate area in which they lived. Of the three to four hundred who were in the forces, about eighty didn’t return (excluding Americans).
To see a list of Wisharts with a particular forename please select one of the following buttons.
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Featured Soldiers
Piper Andrew Wishart
Bayonets fixed, the men yelled and dashed into the open to face withering enemy fire. The German trenches were three-hundred yards away across ploughed land, and heavily protected by barbed wire. Andrew strode out in front of D company and along with the other pipers, struck up a tune of Highland Laddie – an old charging tune of the regiment. This was met with loud cheers from the advancing Highlanders who until that point in the war, had not experienced an assault accompanied by pipes.Read More
Cpl. David Wishart
In 1915 a twenty-eight year old Private by the name of David Wishart left Devonport for the Mediterranean. A native of Pennsylvania he was no stranger to the ocean; as a young boy he had crossed the Atlantic bound for a new life in his Scottish ancestral homeland. Ten days later after leaving England, David arrived in Egypt and embarked upon over three years overseas service that would take him from the murderous Gallipoli Peninsula, to the deserts of North Africa and Palestine before culminating in the Hundred Days Offensive on the Western Front.Read More
Pte. John James Wishart
Shortly before dawn at 3:58am on Friday 15 June 1917, a young Private of the 7th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers became the 190th casualty in what would eventually become an ill-fated group of 306 men of the British Expeditionary Force who would never return from overseas service, whose providence had been pre-determined by those superior in rank, and in this instance a man who was to pay the price of his actions that had been borne out of desperation for news of a sick child.Read More
L/Cpl. William Wishart
The Scotsman first listed William as ‘Missing in Action’ on the 14 June, 1917, whilst the German Red Cross eventually supplied a list dated 18th July that William had died on 2nd May at Kriegs Laz Gef Lag, St. Clotilde, Douai. It seems likely that William had been admitted to a war prisoner military hospital, possibly suffering from wounds received on the 28th, and died as a result. The Scotsman eventually reported as such several months later on 25th October.Read More
Currently Available Profiles
In The News
Kerang Times (20 July 1917)
Our Soldiers Word came through last night from the Defence department officially notifying Mr David Wishart, Macorna, that his son, …
The West Australian (24 May 1918)
War Casualties Miss Wishart, of Ralaclava, Victoria, has been notified that her brother, Corporal Norman Wishart, of Perth, was killed …
Evening Telegraph (12 May 1916)
Blairgowrie Man Falls At The Front Intimation was received this morning in a letter from Mr Cameron, late of the …









