Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser - Saturday 11 September 1920
ARNISDALE, LOCH-HOURN
'in the course of erection'
Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser - Saturday 30 October 1920
GLENELG WAR MEMORIAL.
THE UNVEILING CEREMONY.
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The Scotsman - Friday 29 October 1920
WAR MEMORIALS.
GLENELG.
Scots Magazine June 2004
Journal: Western Ross Life, Issue 12. Article by Louise Boreham.
Buildings of Scotland by Gifford, John H & I (1992), pp. 46, 535, pl.59 Source: Image Library
Dundee-Courier and Advertiser, Thursday 21 October 2004
More on Valentine Fleming- 1 of the WW1 casualties-Born in Fife, Scotland, Valentine Fleming was the son of wealthy Scottish banker Robert Fleming, founder of merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co. He was married to Evelyn Ste Croix Fleming (née Rose) and was the father of Peter Fleming, Ian Fleming (the novelist who wrote the James Bond books), Richard Fleming and Michael Fleming.
From 1906 to 1911, the family lived at Braziers Park close to Wallingford. On election to parliament, they moved to Pitt House on Hampstead Heath in 1910. He was a Member of Parliament for Henley from 1910 to 1917. In 1914 they built a house at Arnisdale, near Kyle of Lochalsh in the Scottish Highlands.
In 1914, Valentine joined the Oxfordshire Yeomanry, rising to the rank of Major.
During World War I, he wrote to close friend Winston Churchill in 1914. The following is an excerpt:
Imagine a broad belt [of land], ten miles or so in width, stretching from the Channel to the German frontier near Basle, which is positively littered with the bodies of men…in which farms, villages, and cottages are shapeless heaps of blackened masonry; in which fields, roads and trees are pitted and torn and twisted by [artillery] shells...
He was killed by German bombing in Gillemont Farm area, Picardy, France on May 20, 1917. For his service, Valentine was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Order.
Fleming's obituary was written by Churchill.
BLAIRGOWRIE ADVERTISER: 26.05.1917
GLENSHEE
The many friends of Mr Robert Fleming, financier, a native of Glenshee, will regret to hear that his elder son, Major Valentine Fleiming, M.P., has been killed in action.
Born 35 years ago at Newport, Fife, before Mr Fleming removed from Dundee to continue his financial career in London, Major Fleming, along with his brother, Major Philip Fleming, who is serving in the same regiment in France, assisted his father in the development of his great business.
He enetered the House in 1910 as a Unionist member for South Oxfordshire, and was a popular, though unobtrusive member of the party.
Major Fleming had been serving since the early days of the war. He was home on leave quite recently, and attended the private sittings of the Commons. It was his intention to resign his seat in Parliament at a convenient early opportunity. His uncle, Sir John Fleming, also a Glenshee native, the new member for South Aberdeen, has three sons on active service.
Carter Postcard Collection