St John’s Kirk, Perth, lies in the centre of the city. It is the site of the city’s War Memorial, which I shall feature later. There is a newer, indeed relatively recent, war memorial to the exterior of the Kirk in St John Street.

This is dedicated to all who gave their lives in the service of their country:-

The Kirk had an open day last September so we took the opportunity for a look around. Model of Kirk:-

Different angle. Pity about the reflections:-

The font:-

This pew had unusual dog-shaped finials:-

The Hauntings is a sculpture of a soldier, made from scrap metal. From 1/7/23 to 12/11/23 it was in the grounds of The Black Watch Museum in Perth but has since moved on. (The museum, housed in Balhousie Castle is a regular haunt of ours as it has a very good café.)

The sculpture was commissioned for the centenary of The Great War and made by metal sculpture specialists, Dorset Forge and Fabrication, “a combination of the talents of blacksmith Chris Hannam and artist Martin Galbavy.”

Sculpture with Balhousie Castle in background:-

Side view:-

Reverse view. The memorial in the background here I featured in 2019:-

I noted the jerry can on the soldier’s right hip. Jerry cans were a World War 2 phenomenon. Not that that matters.

Crieff is a town in Perth and Kinross, almost 18 miles due west of Perth.

Its War Memorial is a stone cross on a hexagonal column above a hexagonal base situated on a triangle of land by the A 85 beyond the east end of the High Street.

Circumscribing the stone above where the name plaques are is inscribed, “In proud and grateful memory of those who fell in the Great Wars 1914-1918 1939 1945.”

Names for Great War, Korean War and Malaya:-

Great War name plaques:-

Names for World Wars 1 and 2:-

World War 2 name plate:-

The Great War Graves in Jeanfield and Wellshill Cemetery, Perth, can be found scattered through it, mostly in its older parts.

Boy A A Cowper, RAF, 24/11/1918, aged 17:-

Private J F Michie, Highland Cyclist Battalion, 27/12/1916:-

Private J Macdonald, 31st Battalion Canadian Infantry, 24/1/0/1916, aged 28:-

Canadian Great War Grave. Private J Heron, 52nd Battalion Canadian Infantry, 4/10/1916, aged 33:-

Private W J Martin, The Black Watch, 17/8/1915, aged 53. It’s unusual even in a cemetery in the UK (overseas it would I suspect be impossible) to have other members of the deceased’s family commemorated at the same burial site:-

“Buried in this cemetery” Fireman J King, MMR, HMS No 12, 30/7/1915:-

Private T Birch, The Black Watch, 24/10/1917, aged 18. This also designates the resting place of “His Father, Thomas Birch.” (Same burial site commemoration is not unique then, even in this cemetery.)

Private J Lumsden, The Black Watch, 9/4/1919, aged 31:-

Private H Kennedy, The Black Watch, 31/1/01914:-

Private Andrew Muckersie, Highland Light Infantry, 31/8/1918, aged 37:-

Private D Whyte, 5th Reserve Regiment of Cavalry, 13/4/1915, aged 25:-

A dual commemoration. Lance Corporal A Gray, Gordon Highlanders, 11/10/1915, aged 19. Private T McColl, Gordon Highlanders, 26/3/1915. Commonwealth war dead headstones with more than one name are fairly common in Belgium and France, less so in the UK:-

Private A Rodger, The Black Watch, 7/11/1918, aged 21:-

Driver P Hodge Royal Field Artillery, 18/12/1919, aged 26:-

Private J Campbell, Royal Army Service Corps, 20/9/1919:-

Private C S Robertson, Army Service Corps, 13/11/1918, aged 38:-

Four of the individual war graves in Jeanfield and Wellshill Cemetery commemorate World War 2 dead.

Serjeant J Walker, Royal Engineers, 23/1/0/1944, aged 28:-

Private J Logan, The Black Watch, 24/8/1944, aged 42:-

Private H Clark, Royal Army Service Corps, 12/11/1942, aged 32. Another inscription tells us that Private H Clark’s nephew, John Macdonald, of HMS ‘Matabele’ was lost at sea 17/1/1942, aged 20:-

Flight Sergeant J B Forbes, Air Gunner, RAF, 1/2/1946, aged 33:-

There is a large part of Jeanfield and Wellshill Cemetery, Perth, given over to graves of Polish people whom I presume came to Britain in 1939 after Poland was overrun by Nazi Germany (and the USSR.)and their descendants.

This grave is of a former artilleryman in the Polish Army, Eddie Sylwester Nowak, 1912 – 2014:-

Wider view of Polish graves:-

Looking back down to Polish Memorial. Some Commonwealth War Graves are in the foreground here:-

A large section of Jeanfield and Wellshill Cemetery, Perth, is given over to graves of people from Poland (most of whom presumably came over to fight in World War 2) and their descendants.

This grave is of a former artilleryman in the Polish Army, Eddie Sylwester Nowak, 1912 – 2014:-

General view of Polish section:-

Looking back downhill towards the Memorial to te Polish war dead. (Some Commonwealth War Graves are in the foreground here):-

Memorial and Dedication stone behind:-

Lower section:-

Looking east:-

From memorial stone:-

A few graves were in smaller groupings:-

B M P Pawłowski, 28/7/1946, aged 53 and W Kowłowski, 14/9/1946, aged 48:-

RTM Z Cuzek, 6/3/1947, aged 57, Captain J Kopeć, 21/4/1947 aged 53, Lt-Colonel L A Beldowski, 11/9/1947 aged 48:-

Two sets of seven Polish War Graves. The three plots to the right all contain two burials:-

Two sets of eight Polish War Graves, Again two burials per plot:-

Jeanfield and Wellshill Cemetery, Perth, contains over 350 burials of Polish nationals who died in the 1939-1945 war.

Cemetery gates from the inside:-

Polish War Graves sign by gates:-

Memorial Stone and Dedication, “Eternal Glory to the Polish soldiers who died in 1939-1945 for our freedom and yours.” (alos rendered in Polish.)

Information Board:-

Polish War Graves in setting:-

We were in Perth at the end of last year and for the first time took a stroll beside the North Inch on the Rose Terrace side.

There we discovered Perth Academy’s Old Building, a fine imposing edifice, used as the school from 1807 to 1932:-

Attached to its wall is this plaque dedicated to those former pupils who fought and died in the Great War:-

On the wall of a building in High Street is this plaque, presented to the people of Perth by the 1st Polish Army Corps in appreciation of the friendship extended to them in the city and county during World War 2:-