Robert Park

Robert Park enlisted at Glasgow on 7th August 1914. On the 27th August he arrived at Glencorse Barracks, Edinburgh and became Private 12395 in the 12th (Service) Battalion, Royal Scots. The Battalion was attached to 27th Brigade, 9th (Scottish) Division and moved to Bordon near Aldershot for training at the end of August. In January 1915, Park applied for transfer to the Army Cyclist Corps and, on this being approved in March, he became Private 4721. Thus he did not go to France in May 1915 with the 12th Royal Scots but was instead at Hounslow, Headquarters of the Army Cyclist Corps. He was finally posted on 20th October 1915 though he didn’t rejoin the 9th Division until 25th December 1915 as part of its Cyclist Company. Instead he spent much of November and the first half of December in and out of hospital in Boulogne suffering from deafness and cellulitis.
In his 20 months service Park did not prove to be an asset to the army. He accumulated a list of misdemeanors (absent from Church parade, from Roll Call, overstaying his pass, drunkenness, swearing) which resulted in regular confinement to barracks and occasional loss of pay.