1914 - 18 The Great War

The second decade in the new premises was not less eventful than the first. The period was primarily influenced by the Great War. There was hardly a family in Milngavie who were not affected by it.
The Guild did not meet for years, but did not stop being very active. About a hundred ladies worked regularly in aid of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Fund (nearly 6,000 articles were sent and hundreds of pounds were raised!). The Guild's faithfully contribution to the funds of the New Church Hall with sales and bazaars, and the allocation of an amount for the brass War Memorial in the church were also substantial. Because of the war effort and later the economic depression, the planned tower of the church was never completed, despite the efforts of the minister and office bearers.

Mr. Edgar's ministry encouraged active patriotism and comforted the suffering in the parish during the war. He was also very keen to serve on the front; finally he had two opportunities in 1917 and 1918 to serve in France.

Photograph of Milngavie in 1919, taken by Mr.James Thomson,  father of one of our present members.

The Sunday School

The Sunday School was busy, sometimes having about 200 children or even more (!), thanks to the faithful ministry of the Superintendents and teachers!  The picture on the right shows (?some of) the Sunday School setting off for their 'Sunday School Trip' on 5th June 1923.  Mr. Higgins and Mr. Chesters were long-serving Sunday School Superintendents.

The War Memorials

The community and the Parish Church dutifully remembered those whose sacrifice secured their liberty. The War Memorials in the Precinct and in the church faithfully testify to this.

The Memorial Stained Glass Window, which occupies the middle of the three windows on the north wall and the commemorative plaque on the north-west wall, under the organ loft, were unveiled and dedicated on Sunday 1st October, 1922. The window was designed and executed by Alexander Strachan of Edinburgh.  The inscriptions read: above left, 'Who died for us that we should live' ; above right,'Who loved me and gave Himself for me'; below, ; above right,'Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends'

Earlier, on Sunday 17th September that year, there was the Commemorative Service and Unveiling of the town's War Memorial, (which Rev. Edgar was unable to attend because of illness). The unveiling was carried out by Rev. D.H. Hislop, minister of Cairns Church. The memorial was designed and erected by Mr. G.H. Paulin, A.R.S.A, Glasgow and Mr. James Gray, Milngavie.

In the brochure to accompany the service, it is noted that '... from our small community of some five thousand souls, no less than five hundred men were on active service and, of that number, one hundred and ten laid down their lives'.

The memorial in its original setting (left) and as it is to-day (right)

Church Jubilee and Rev. Edgar's Semi-Jubilee

In 1923 also, on October 5th, there was an 'historic gathering' in the Burgh Hall when the church celebrated its Jubilee as a Parish Church and Rev. Edgar celebrated 25 years of ministry in Milngavie Parish Church.

It must be understood that the old church had existed from 1840, as described by Rev. Edgar - and reported in 'The Herald'(Milngavie & Bearsden Herald) of the day.
'...(the famous) Thomas Chalmers, (who, in 1843, led the 'Disruption' when 474 ministers (one third of the total) left the Church of Scotland and formed the Free Church of Scotland) with some members of the Glasgow Presbytery, came out to Milngavie and inspected the district. ...seeing that the (Relief) church was not quite adequate for the district, went back to the Presbytery of Glasgow and reported that souls were perishing for lack of sustenance and, accordingly, they set out in Glasgow and prompted the Presbytery of Dumbarton and the Parish of New Kilpatrick and they proceeded among them to set about the building of a Parish Church in Milngavie. Accordingly, in 1840, there was built the old church which stood along the way in Station Road. ...for the first 33 years, however, down to 1873, it was a great struggle. The minister's life was not a happy one. He had his own cares and troubles that were the portion of all ministers in every parish but, over and above that, the care and trouble of feeling that he never knew how he was going to make ends meet. ...The treasurer in those days would hand over the money to the minister in little handfuls, now £5 and now £10 ...Then they came down to 1863. Mr. Bell (the Rev. Robt. Bell, minister at the time) set himself to the task of getting £1500 in order to endow the church and after much struggling he succeeded in doing so and the feu was handed over by Mr. Ker (as a free gift) and the church was declared a Parish Church (in 1873). At that time the population of Milgavie numbered something like 2,200 and the communicants of the Parish Church numbered 320. They would therefore see that things had doubled (since then).

Rev. Edgar received a presentation of a wallet containing a cheque for £260 and Mrs. Edgar received an 18-carat gold wristlet watch.

Death of Rev. John Edgar

Mr. Edgar had a further ambition for the congregation: to convert and equip the old church building to an appropriate suite of halls to serve the Sunday School and other church organisations. However, his health was increasingly failing in the last period (1920-25), and he died before the halls were completed and dedicated. He was fondly remembered by all for his faithful ministry.

The 'Herald' (Milngavie & Bearsden Herald), on 10th July 1925, began a long obituary thus:

'It is with deep regret that we record the death of the Rev. John Edgar, M.A., minister of Milngavie Parish Church, which took place at the Manse on Friday last, after a painful illness. Mr. Edgar had been in indifferent health practically for the last five or six years but, despite the great physical disabilities under which he suffered, he managed to carry on his ministerial duties until the 14th of last month. On that day, he conducted the service in his church at noon, at which four new elders were ordained: in the afternoon he presented the prizes gained by the Sabbath School scholars in the religious knowledge examination; and in the evening he preached what proved to be his last sermon in the church. Since then he had been more or less confined to bed with a very acute and painful malady, so that his death on Friday was not altogether unexpected'.

Rev. Duncan McCorkindale

The congregation stepped into the Third Decade under the guidance of a new minister, Rev. Duncan McCorkindale, B.D., and with great hopes. Despite the difficult and painful period the congregation and her minister proved to be faithful disciples of Christ, devotedly serving the needs of the parish and also creating the Church Hall to facilitate the progress of the ministry of His Gospel.