Ninety nine years on from the start of World War One there is a group of men who’s service has long since been forgotten about, these men were Eastern European immigrants from Russia and the Baltic States who had settled in Scotland.
So how did these men come to settle in Scotland?
Many of them were escaping the clutches of Czarist Russia’s Army, where they would serve many years for little reward. In the 1890s many decided that enough was enough and left Russia, Lithuiania, Latvia and Ukraine with the intention of moving to the United States.
At this time there was an active trade between German and Baltics ports and British ports such such Leith ,on the east coast of Scotland, with coal being a prime export from Scotland. One of the main exporters was the Lothian Coal Company with numerous ships to and froing.
Rather than come back empty, the filthy coal ships offered immigrants cheap passage to a new life, which the immigrants thought would be in the USA. To their horror they were deposited in Leith (port town of Edinburgh) without a job and homeless.
The Lothian Coal Company was not slow to take advantage of their situation, the Lady Victoria Colliery had just opened in Newtongrange, many men were needed to man it’s new and highly productive coal seams. At first Scotish families moved through, mostly from Lanarkshire, however their numbers were insufficient and the Eastern Europeans were offered a job and and a house, many, especially those with a wife and family,had little choice other than to accept.
They settled in two main areas, the bulk in Bellshill, Lanarkshire and the rest in Newtongrange, Midlothian. Most came from Suwalki which lies in the NE of current day Poland and SW Lithuania.
And so my village of Newtongrange became home to several hundred ‘Russian Poles’ as they were christened. Coming from all walks of life, few if any had ever been down a coal mine, most spoke no English, and a number were illiterate. Most settled in their new home and by 1906 there were around 200 Lithuanians as well as a number from Latvia and Ukraine living in the village, by the outbreak of war that number had increased to around 600 ,and about 1 in 5 of the population of Newtongrange were immigrants.
Technically they were Russian citizens at this time, and as such ‘friendly Aliens’ who had to register with the Police at the outbreak of the Great War, and had certain restrictions on their movements. Unlike the Germans and Austrians in the community there were still free to live and work in the village.
Many men from the village enlisted in the Army, including a group of around 25 Lithuanian miners, who wished to join the famous McCrae’s Battalion, the 16th Royal Scots. They were initially accepted by were sent home shortly after as they could not read or write in English.
Not all were rejected however, men such as the Mikolajunas brothers Jan and Stanislaw were accepted into the Royal Scots and the Lancashire Fusiliers, Ukrainian Vasily Nikitenko boarded the bus into Edinburgh where he enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery. This pattern continued through 1916 with the occasional man enlisting, but most remaining in the coal mining industry.
This was about to change however, conscription had been introduced in early 1916 for British citizens, ‘Russian’ citizens were not subject to conscription, at least that was until 1917 when a treaty was signed between Russian and Great Britain allowing both to conscript each other’s citizen into their Army.
An ultimatum was issued to the Eastern Europeans, they were to make a choice, enlist in the British Army or return to Russia to fight for the Czar. Around 2/3rds of them decided to return, believing they were fighting to preserve their national identity. Not a single man who chose to fight for Russia was ever seen again, shamefully their families were evicted, rounded up and deported, again many never to be seen again.
As the for the others, well most were sent in job lots to Infantry regiments, from my research I have identified groups sent to the Royal Scots, Kings Own Scottish Borderers, Scottish Rifles and the East Yorkshire Regiment, My theory is that they tried to keep the men in groups to overcome the language barrier, with an English speaking man in each group.
In 1917 the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia sent shock waves through the Allies and many of the ‘Russian Poles’ were viewed with much suspicion as potential ‘Reds’ and were removed from Infantry battalions and sent to unarmed Labour battalions. However many of the men who had proved themselves reliable under fire remained with combat units until the end of the war.
Inevitably some became casualties and a number made the ultimate sacrifice, mostly in 1918.
If you take a walk through Newtongrange Park you will come across the war memorial on which are these names
Pte Klemis Poliskis, Scottish Rifles, Pte Juozas Sanalitis, Kings Own Scottish Borderers, Gnr Stanaslaw Scortolskis, Royal Field Artillery, Pte Justinas Tutlis, Royal Scots all of whom were Lithuanian.
In 2007 I successfully campaigned to have another name added to the war memorial, it was that of Gunner Vasily Nikitenko, who if you recall, volunteered in 1916.
In 1918 Vasily was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry during the German Spring Offensive, sadly he did live long after the award, on the 28th May, 1918 he was manning his gun when a stray shell landed killing him and wounding a number of others.
I was also able to assist Geraldine Bruin, the Great Neice of Zigmas Vilkaitis to have his name added to Glenboig war memorial in Lanarkshire, you can read his story here
After the war most of the Lithuanians moved away from the area, mostly to the United States, the majority of those that remained took British nationality and adopted British names, men such as Jan Mikolajunas, who became John Nicol. There is now little trace of the Lithuanian community in Newtongrange or elsewhere in the district, I estimate that 50 to 100 Eastern European men from Newtongrange served in the Army and would welcome contact from anyone related to them.
John Duncan – Honorary Board Member of the Scottish Lithuanian Community
my grandfather served in the army from 27.4.18 until 7.12.19
in theLabour Corps.
I am trying to trace where he came from
Dear Sir,
we would like to republish your story about Scottish Lithuanians in WWI in http://www.LTUworld.com. Do you mind?
No problem, if you could put an acknowledgement with the article I would be grateful. Thanks for your interest.
Greetings,
I would love to further discuss this area of fascinating military history. I have been researching Lithuanians who have served in many foreign militaries through different periods of history. Your efforts are to be commended. Please contact me.
Thanks for your comment Arunas, and thank you for joining Newbattle at War website, if you drop me an email via the website, happy to discuss this with you.
John
Hello John,
Having a keen interest in military history and being a Lithuanian-American, I have been amazed that Lithuanians have fought in many wars and offered the greatest sacrifice for their adopted countries. My great uncle Kastantas Steikūnas came to America from Balninkai, Lithuania in 1912. Until recently all I knew of “Uncle Kostas” was that he died on the Western Front. With a lot of digging, we literally found a photo of him in a relative’s drawer in Lithuania. Eventually more information came in and I found out he was killed in the Battle of the Meuse-Argonne on 11 Oct. 1918, only a month before the war’s end. He was in the 33rd Division, 129th Infantry. My brother found his grave at the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery three years ago. It was a stunning find for our family.
My grandfather and great grandfather were conscripted into the German army as they lived in Lithuania Minor (Plicken) which was a stone’s throw from Lithuania which was then Czarist Russia. My great grandfather was taken POW on the Eastern Front in March 1915 and my grandfather who was only 16 was seriously wounded. Both survived the war. Another grandfather served as an officer in the Czarist army and commanded a machine gun unit in Estonia. After Russia’s withdrawal from the war, he came back to Lithuania and was one of the first volunteers in the new Lithuanian Army.
My relatives in Lithuania this summer mentioned that some family members emigrated to Scotland for the purpose of avoiding Russian military conscription. I would love to see a list of Lithuanians who served in Scottish units in WWI, This would be interesting information provided that their Lithuanian names were preserved in official records.
Arunas
My Grandfather who’s name was Martyn Zytkievicz, was one of the ‘Polish’ Lithuanian Miners who left the Bellshill area of Lanarkshire in 1916/17 to go and fight with his brothers in (I believe) the ‘White Army’. He came from the Suvalki Region of Lithuania. He may have been one of the 900? men deported to Archangel in 1917. My grandmother only ever received one letter from him and a photo in which he was wearing a white helmet with an eagle badge and also a vertical ‘plume’ sticking up at the front. She never heard from him or any of his four brothers again despite appeals to the Red Cross. My Grandmother was thrown out of her lodgings with her baby (my Mother) and managed to make her way to London where she ‘Luckily’ found employment.
If anyone knows (or thinks they maybe related to one of the Zytkievicz brothers) I would be overjoyed to hear from them. Does anyone know if the list of the deported Miners exists? I would also welcome any information as to the identification of the ‘Plume’d eagle Helmet’ ..which regiment etc. Thank you for sharing the interesting information above.
Thanks for getting in touch, do you have this picture at all? Thinking it may be a French Adrian helmet which they sold ‘rebadged’ to the Russians.
Thank you for your kind reply. I apologise for my belated response. I’m afraid that sadly the photograph of my Grandfather in his uniform wearing the ‘White Plumed’ Helmet Vanished many years ago, as so many precious possessions tend to do. All I can remember my late Mother explaining is that it was a tight fitted Helmet emblazoned with the Imperial ‘Double Headed’ Eagle with a large white vertical Plume. I would love to know what rank or regiment (if any)this would suggest. Lastly, the last letter (also missing) that she did receive from the front confided that their situation was now dire and perilous. This Letter is believed to have been sent from either ‘in’ or near to the Port of Archangel in either 1917/18. Thank you again for your comment and interest.
I have been searching for the list of the Lithuanians who were “deported” – I have found the name of the ship that they sailed upon – It is in the National Archives at Kew, London, ref HO 162/66 f.100 – a copy of a letter from the secretary of the Home Office to the Secretary of the War Office dated 2nd October 1917. It says that 1,100 Russian subjects disembarked from Liverpool on the 30th of September aboard the SS Porto but that it was seriously damaged by a collision in the Mersey. The men were removed and temporarily interred at a War Office Camp near Oldham. Letters in the same file describe that the men were later successfully deported on about the 19th of October 1917 from Newcastle.
The ship was the SS Czaritza (Tsaritsa)
Found in book by Shukman in “War or Revolution: Russian Jews and Conscription in Britain 1917” regarding Russian young men repatriated to Archangel.
“Those who came later on the Tsaritsa’s second voyage in late october had a tale to tell. About 1,000 of them had been waiting in a camp of Lancashire, their earlier departure having been postponed through damage to their ship »
Tsaritsa (or Czaritza), russian passenger cargo, built in Britain 1915, 6598 GRT, was requisitioned by the British Gouvernement in 1917 and thereafter sailed under Cunard management.
According to Shukman, the Home Office reported in mid-october 1917 about other transports :
Pollern (august 15) : 45 men
Bienvenue (august 31) : 94
Kursk and Stenkov (september 10) : totalling 1700 on both ships
Umgeni (september 19) : 56 (Umgeni was damaged and turned back)
Tsaritsa (september 29) : 200
Porto (september 30) : 1050 (Porto was damaged and turned back)
Birth records for
ZYTKIEWICZ BRONISLOVOS M 1914 626/B 278 Calderhead (Died 1915)
ZYTKIEWICZ ALEKSANDRA F 1916 626/B 166 Calderhead
Marriage
ZYTKIEWICZ MARTIN 1913 626/B 59 Calderhead married to STABOLEWSKA KATARZYNA
Dear Paul, I have just received from you an email referring to the Birth/Marriage records of my both my Grandparents/Mother/ and great Uncle in Calderhead.
This is very exciting! Is there any more ‘Detailed information’ to these references available? If so, I would be very grateful for any more information in regard to your post. Thank you so much for this.
Michael, I found these records on the Scotlands People website. To find the records is free. if you want a digital copy, it costs £2 approx. per record and a paper copy costs £12 per record. The marriage certificate will list the groom and bride’s parents respectively. You can find the website here – https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/search-our-records
https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/search-our-records – you can find the online records here – cost about £2 per record or order paper copies at £12 per record
Hi Paul,
This is Fantastic info and news for me and my whole family!!
Our deepest regards and respect goes out to you…THANKYOU!
We will never give up the search for what happened to our Grandfather and his Brothers on the Russian Front. This information may well provide links back to our long lost relatives over in Suwalki County and ultimately…open up some passed down history. I will continue to enjoy this precious site and keep you posted on any break through.
Respect Forever!
Michael W