William Neve Monteith

Mentioned in Despatches

BA BD

William Neve Monteith was the second son of Reverend John Monteith and his wife Ellen Maria Neve. He was born at Glencairn in Dumfriesshire on 22nd August 1878. He was educated at Cargillfield, Magdalen College Oxford and the University of Glasgow. All three brothers, John, William and Hugh were academically minded. William took a BA at the University of Oxford before studying Theology at Glasgow, where he first matriculated in the autumn of 1901.

Memorial chapel at the University of Glasgow — The Memorial Chapel at the University of Glasgow

In his first year he took fourth place in three of his classes - Divinity, Junior Hebrew and Church History. In his second year he gained merits in Divinity and Biblical Criticism and Hebrew, as well as a special prize for Hebrew recitation. In his final year, he excelled again, placed third in Divinity and Biblical Criticism, seventh in Church History and gained a merit for his efforts in the Syriac class. He graduated BD in April 1904, with the Jamieson Prize, worth GBP 10, for excellence in examinations for the degree.

After graduation he served as Assistant to the Reverend Dr Playfair of St Andrews before getting his own parish in Elie in 1907. He married Muriel May on 30th March 1915, by which point he was a soldier. In early September 1914 the St Andrews Presytery granted him leave of absence for the duration of the war, he was one of the first ministers to enlist as a combatant.

He signed up first as a trooper for the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry but obtained a commission as a Lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade on 22nd January 1915. Initially serving in the 6th (Reserve) battalion, he was transferred to the 2nd (Regular) after that battalion suffered heavy losses at Fromelles on the Aubers Ridge. He arrived in France at the end of May, 1915. He was Mentioned in Despatches (MID) posthumously by General Douglas Haig.

Lieutenant Monteith was killed in action near Loos on 25th September 1915 and his brother, John, was killed in action at Loos just a few days later, on 1st October. Another brother, Hugh served with the RAMC and gained the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).

Muriel Monteith gave birth to a son on 31st December, three months after his father's death. He was named William Neve Monteith and grew up to carry his father's name in a distinguished career. Like his father he was a graduate of Magdalen College. He served as Consul-General in Oman from October 1958 to May 1960 and also became the Reverend Monteith. He died in 2004, the best part of a century after the father who never knew him and who is remembered at the Ploegsteert Memorial in Belgium.