Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 5:17 pm on 31 January 2007.
Dr Jean Turner
Independent
5:17,
31 January 2007
I thank Murdo Fraser for tonight's debate. I should explain how I got involved in the issue. Evelyn McKechnie, who is a great historian on the subject of the Somme, was working with me. She told me about the monument and I could not believe that no monument had been erected to Scottish soldiers in particular. My first step was to lodge a motion to highlight the work of the campaigners for a Scottish monument in Flanders. It was lodged in April last year and received wide cross-party support. Many dedicated people have been involved in the campaign, as Murdo Fraser has mentioned, and their work on the project has been outstanding.
I commend the excellent work carried out by Erwin Ureel from Flanders. He is coming to Scotland next month to conduct seminars in Glasgow on the monument campaign. He is also coming to the Parliament on 28 February for a lunch time meeting that I am hosting. I hope that many people here will find time to come to that occasion.
I would also like to thank the local authorities of Passchendaele, as Murdo Fraser has done so fully.
The Celtic cross monument is entirely neutral. It is neither pro-war nor anti-war, and the campaigners do not want to dictate how people should interpret it. The monument seeks to commemorate a nation and its immigrant people, and the campaigners would like it to be accepted by all Scots. This is not about taking a stance in discussions—and there have been many—about the great war and later wars. I know that the campaigners would appreciate it if the monument could be accepted by the whole spectrum of opinion, from service personnel to pacifists.
We are talking about remembering the sacrifice of Scottish soldiers, many of whom lied about their age. My grandfather did that, but he returned. Many of those men lie in unmarked graves in Flanders field. We could walk along the front line on the western front and every six paces, we could be walking on the body of an unknown soldier.
The monument idea initially came from the burial of Private John Robertson Thomson from Lochgelly in Fife. He was a Gordon Highlander who went missing in action on 4 October 1917 and was reburied in October 2004 after being
The 2nd Gordon Highlanders was one of many Scottish regiments that were involved in the horrific slaughter of Passchendaele. However, apart from monuments to the Liverpool Scottish and the London Scottish, no monument remembers the Scottish involvement on the Salient. Soon after Private Thomson's funeral, some Scottish Flemish people decided to organise a campaign to raise a long-overdue monument to the Scottish soldiers in the great war, whatever their regiment.
I was very grateful to have been able to help them in some small way and I am hopeful that they will reach their financial target so that, in August of this year, the monument can be unveiled halfway along the ridge at Frezenberg, in sight of the spires of Ypres and north of Passchendaele. I hope to attend the unveiling weekend and look forward to it immensely.
When I wrote to the First Minister to find out what support might be given to the monument, I was informed that the issue was a reserved matter as it came under the Ministry of Defence. I was surprised to learn that the Scottish Executive did not want to set any precedent, as I was aware that the United Kingdom Government had given £400,000 to the Somme Association in 2003 to purchase Thiepval wood—I hope that I have pronounced the name correctly—which is sacred to the memory of the 36th (Ulster) Division. When Thiepval wood came on the open market, the Secretary of State, Paul Murphy, said that it was a golden opportunity and he was delighted to help. However, the Scottish Executive has been a wee bit slow in helping the project, although I am reliably informed that €8,000 might now be set aside to help with the unveiling weekend in Flanders this August. That is wonderful.
I cannot finish without mentioning Stobhill hospital, which is both dear to my heart and the main reason that I was elected to the Parliament. Immediately following the outbreak of the first world war, on 4 August 1914, Stobhill was requisitioned by the military authorities for the care of wounded servicemen. Patients were brought by rail directly to the hospital grounds. As early as September 1914, wounded soldiers were brought to Stobhill. As Stobhill Hospital was now devoted to military purposes, a temporary railway platform was erected in the grounds and trains from London were diverted from the main line at a point in the suburbs of the city so as to proceed direct to the hospital. So many soldiers came back with injuries from that horrific war that Stobhill had to run at full capacity to cope. I wish that our health
I am fully supportive of the campaign and wish it every success. The monument in memory of the Scottish soldier will be a wonderful testament from the people of Flanders.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The House of Commons votes by dividing. Those voting Aye (yes) to any proposition walk through the division lobby to the right of the Speaker and those voting no through the lobby to the left. In each of the lobbies there are desks occupied by Clerks who tick Members' names off division lists as they pass through. Then at the exit doors the Members are counted by two Members acting as tellers. The Speaker calls for a vote by announcing "Clear the Lobbies". In the House of Lords "Clear the Bar" is called. Division Bells ring throughout the building and the police direct all Strangers to leave the vicinity of the Members’ Lobby. They also walk through the public rooms of the House shouting "division". MPs have eight minutes to get to the Division Lobby before the doors are closed. Members make their way to the Chamber, where Whips are on hand to remind the uncertain which way, if any, their party is voting. Meanwhile the Clerks who will take the names of those voting have taken their place at the high tables with the alphabetical lists of MPs' names on which ticks are made to record the vote. When the tellers are ready the counting process begins - the recording of names by the Clerk and the counting of heads by the tellers. When both lobbies have been counted and the figures entered on a card this is given to the Speaker who reads the figures and announces "So the Ayes [or Noes] have it". In the House of Lords the process is the same except that the Lobbies are called the Contents Lobby and the Not Contents Lobby. Unlike many other legislatures, the House of Commons and the House of Lords have not adopted a mechanical or electronic means of voting. This was considered in 1998 but rejected. Divisions rarely take less than ten minutes and those where most Members are voting usually take about fifteen. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P9 at the UK Parliament site.
