The stories of four Ayrshire war heroes on Remembrance Day

In the spirit of Remembrance, we have gathered the stories of four Ayrshire war heroes.

Lest we forget.

Ross Tollerton VC (1890-1931)

Ross Tollerton was born in May 1890 in Hurlford and raised in Irvine. 

Aged 15, he joined the 1st Cameron Highlanders. He served in South Africa, Hong Kong, China and in 1911 was stationed in India. On leaving the army in 1912 he went to work in Irvine Shipyard.

However, when war was declared in 1914 he was reenlisted.

He was awarded the Victoria Cross - the highest award offered to the British Armed Forces - after he heroically rescued a wounded officer.

Tollerton carried the injured officer under heavy fire for as far as he could and to a place of greater safety despite he himself being wounded and returned to the firing line.

He never fully recovered from his injuries and sadly died in 1931, aged 41.

His bravery has not been forgotten and an Irvine street - Tollerton Drive - is named after him.

Robert Shankland VC (1887-1968)

Robert Shankland was born in Ayr in 1887 but emigrated to Canada in 1911.

During the First World War he returned to Europe as part of the 43rd Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

He was awarded the Victoria Cross for the bravery he showed during the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917.

In danger of losing position Shankland crossed ground under fire from the Germans and successfully made it back to the battalion headquarters where he gave a report of the situation and offered a plan on how to beat the enemy before returning to the frontline to lead the forthcoming attack which led to the capture of the the Bellevue Spur.

His courage undoubtedly saved a critical situation.

He died in 1968 aged 81 but has never been forgotten. His hometown of Ayr honoured him with the unveiling of a commemorative paving stone in Rozelle Park in 2017 as part of a nationwide programme to recognise those who received the Victoria Cross during the First World War.

Lyn Seabury (1923-2014)

Flight Lieutenant Lyn Seabury was a well-known Saltcoats hotelier and a hero in the skies during the Second World War.

Born in 1923 in England, he moved to Ayrshire in his younger years and attended Ardrossan Academy.

Upon leaving school he joined the RAF and survived a tour of 34 RAF bombing missions during the war. He then joined an electronic warfare squadron that wreaked nightly havoc on the Germans with their aim to harass and confuse the enemy.

On one occasion he and his team fooled the Germans into switching on the floodlights at a top secret airfield which they duly bombed to destruction.

After the war he worked for ICI in Ardeer and Glasgow and then opened the Stanley Hotel in Saltcoats.

He was a keen actor in the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Players and supported his local rugby team Ardrossan Accies and was a committed Christian.

He died aged 91 in Largs in 2014.

A year before his death he was honoured for his services during the war when he was awarded the Bomber Command medal clasp.

Kenneth Campbell VC (1917-1941)

Born in Saltcoats in 1917, Kenneth Campbell, was a flying officer for the RAF’s No.22 Squadron during the Second World War.

He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross - the highest award in the British honours system - for his bravery during a torpedo attack on a German battlecruiser in 1941.

Campbell and his team attacked the German ship Gneisenau in Brest Harbour, France, on the morning of April 1941, in which he made a direct hit leading the ship to be badly damaged and out of action for more than half a year.

Sadly, the mission cost Campbell and his crew their lives just two weeks before his 24th birthday but their heroic actions and ultimate sacrifice are not forgotten.

In 2000, his hometown of Saltcoats honoured him with a memorial plaque and bench.