Capt Arthur de Bells Adam (MC)
1885 - 1916
CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916
Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916
Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916
Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918
1885 - 1916
CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916
Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916
Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916
Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918
Lieutenant William Alexander Ross Logan
- Age: 27
- From: Ayr, Scotland
- Regiment: MGC
- Died on Wednesday 19th February 1919
- Commemorated at: Ayr Cemetery
Panel Ref: Wall 92
William Alexander Ross Logan was born at Ayr on 22nd June 1891, the only son of William Logan and his wife Mary Bell (nee Park). His father was born in Ayr, and his mother was born in Ceylon to a Brithish civil servant, but lived in Ayr from early childhood. William had an older sister Jennie.
The 1901 Census finds the family at 23 Whitletts Road, Ayr (a four-bedroom semi detached) with a domestic servant. William is 9 and lives with his parents and sister. His father 40, is a traveller in the timber trade, his mother is 37, Jennie is aged 13 and like William was born in Ayr. There is also a domestic servant listed at the property Kate McCulloch a 15 year old girl.
Unfortunately, the 1911 Scotland census is not available.
William joined the 19th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 21417. His regimental number suggests that he enlisted in September 1914. However, no 1914-1915 Star medal roll has been found and his Liverpool Pals record shows that he went overseas sometime after the 31st December 1915. It is therefore highly likely that he remained in England, in Officer Training, when his battalion shipped to France in November 1915.
Some of his military records show him as W. R. Logan:
London Gazette on 7th March 1917, Machine Gun Corps - Temp 2nd Lt. W. R. Logan from Liverpool R (attd), to be Temp 2nd Lt. 14 Feb. 1917 with seniority 2 June 1916.
He later earned promotion to Lieutenant and transferred to the Machine Gun Corps .
London Gazette on 7th March 1917, Machine Gun Corps - Temp 2nd Lt. W. R. Logan from Liverpool R (attd), to be Temp 2nd Lt. 14 Feb. 1917 with seniority 2 June 1916.
He later earned promotion to Lieutenant and transferred to the Machine Gun Corps .
When he was 25, William married Edith Helen Whitwell, in the March quarter of 1917 in Ripon, Yorkshire. No records of children born to the marriage have been found. William made a will dated 14 February 1917, around the time of his marriage.
He survived the war but died of pneumonia on 19th February 1919, aged 27, at Grantham, in Lincolnshire, possibly at the Auxiliary Military Hospital there.
His body was returned to Ayr, where he rests in the family grave in Ayr Cemetery.
IN SACRED AND LOVING REMEMBRANCE
OF
WILLIAM ALEXANDER ROSS LOGAN
LIEUTENANT M.G.C.
ONLY SON OF
WILLIAM AND MARY BELL LOGAN
BORN 22ND JUNE 1891
DIED AT GRANTHAM 19TH FEBRUARY 1919
INTERRED HERE
The 1914-1918 War burials are scattered over all parts of the cemetery and 1939-1945 War graves are in several special groups. A War Cross is erected in the Old Ground, near the main entrance.
There are now nearly 90, 1914-1918 and nearly 120, 1939-1945 Commonwealth War casualties commemorated in this site.
Edith announced his death in the Yorkshire Evening Post on 27th February 1919:
“Logan - At Grantham (suddenly, from double pneumonia), William Alexander Ross (Lieutenant, Machine Gun Corps), dearly loved husband of E.H. Doris Logan, 11, Hollins Road, Harrogate, and only son of Mr. and Mrs. William Logan, Ayr, Scotland.”
“Logan - At Grantham (suddenly, from double pneumonia), William Alexander Ross (Lieutenant, Machine Gun Corps), dearly loved husband of E.H. Doris Logan, 11, Hollins Road, Harrogate, and only son of Mr. and Mrs. William Logan, Ayr, Scotland.”
When probate was granted, effects of £703-15s-8d to his widow, Edith was living at 11 Hollins Road, Harrogate. His probate record states that he was a “sometime clerk or timber merchant”, of 19 Bellevue Road, Ayr (his father is shown at this address in the 1908-09 Ayr directory, employed with Alexander and Sons).
His mother died on 26th February 1927 and his father on 04th January 1936 (his obituary states he was a senior partner in William Alexander and Sons, timber merchants, Ayr).
His widow never remarried.
In 1939 Edith, 55, is still at 11 Hollins Road, with Emily Whitwell, her widowed mother, 77, and aunt Gertrude Brown 71, all living on private means.
In 1939 Edith, 55, is still at 11 Hollins Road, with Emily Whitwell, her widowed mother, 77, and aunt Gertrude Brown 71, all living on private means.
Edith died in Harrogate in 1977, at the age of 94.
William is commemorated on the Ayr Park Obelisk, Ayr, Strathclyde.
He is also commemorated at Ayr Cemetery on the Screen Wall. Screen Walls are a type of memorial for Commonwealth war dead, they are predominantly used to record the names of individuals who have a known grave, but where it is not possible to erect a CWGC headstone or the exact location of the grave is no longer known.
We currently have no further information on William Alexander Ross Logan. If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.
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