Alexander Douglas Glennie
(18/12/1890 to 29/10/1933)[adg]
Alexander (Alick, Alec or Sandy) Douglas Glennie was the oldest of four children (Alick, William, Mary & Jean) of William Glennie and his wife Mary (Edwards). William, born in Glen Buchat, had been a carrier when living in Logie Coldstone, Dinnet during the last decade of the19th century and first decade of the 20th. He later returned to his farming roots variously at Marywell, Lumphannan, during the first world war, The Lochans, Lumsden in the 1920s and early 30s, and Burnside, New Machar in the late 30s until his death in 1941, when Mary, his wife, and daughter Jeannie & her husband Jock moved to Johnstone Cottage, Skene (above the golf course of what is now the Aberdeen satellite town of Westhills. Alick was born on 18/12/1890, a year before his parents were wed, either in Logie Coldstone or perhaps at Foggieley, Corse, where Mary had lived with her elder married sister since the early death of her own parents at nearby Tillycroy croft. Alick died in a Reading nursing home 29/10/1933 as a result of war wounds received in France in 1915, while serving as a lance corporal with 60th Queen Victoria Rifles.

At the age of 15, Alick joined I.& R Morley, 18 Wood Street, London, EC2. He had been 'recruited' by the managing director, Lord Hollenden, who had been looking for 'lively lads' when on holiday in Logie Coldstone. Thus Alick joined Charles Farquharson of Loanhead, Logie Coldstone, who had been recruited in a similar way two years earlier. They partook in many of the Company's recreational activities (e.g. rowing) and were members of the Company's part-time fire brigade. Alick also joined a wrestling club. Together, he and Charlie joined the London Scottish when the Territorial Army was instituted around 1908. Alick resigned in the Spring of 1914 because of the pressure of work (Charles Farquharson remained in the London Scottish, was mobilised at the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, and was soon in France with his batallion, where he became a prisoner of war later that year. Charles was the father of two sons, Alan, born 1924 and Donald [later Sir Donald] born 1928).

Because the London Scottish were already up to full strength on the day war broke out, Alick Glennie could not get back into the Regiment; instead, he went around the corner to the nearest recruiting office and joined the 9th London Regiment (Queen Victoria Rifles). The letters to his mother outline some of his experiences over the next few months. When finally discharged from hospital in 1918, he returned to I & R Morley where he was soon appointed a Commercoal Traveller. He married Lizzie (Elisabeth) Farquharson of Loanhead, Logie Coldstone, in1920, having refused to do so earlier until he had saved £1000, thereby ensuring that he could maintain her. An average labourer's income at that time was some £50 to £75 per year. They had two sons, Douglas (Dougal) Farquharson, b. 7/5/1922, d. South Africa 17/8 /1996 and Kenneth William, b. 19/02/1926.