Peter Brawley was born on 9 January 1903 in Newmains, Lanarkshire. He was born in the family home at 12 Manse Road, the 7th child of Peter Brawley and Catherine Keenan. 7 seems like a lot of kids but Peter was the middle child. Catherine and Peter had 13 children born between 1891 and 1916.

Peter was baptised at St Brigid’s RC Church in Newmains on 21 January 1903. His godmother was his Auntie Ellen who was Catherine’s sister and married to Peter’s brother Daniel. Auntie Ellen is my great grandmother. She had given birth to her own Peter in 1901, the 8th of her 12 children!

From 1903 we jump to 1972 when Peter died. His birth, baptismal and death records are the only records I can find relating to Peter. There are no newspaper reports that I can find and no military service records. His death record shows that he was a crane driver.

There’s a poem called The Dash that is often read at funerals that talks about the dates on a headstone separated by the dash, like you see at Peter’s name in the title. The part between the dates is the important part and, of course, in his 69 years Peter would have interacted with so many people. He would’ve had friends as well as his huge extended family. There would have been happy times like the 1921 football match that I am sure Peter would’ve been a part of. There would’ve been sad times like the loss of his parents and siblings. He lived through two world wars and would have known hardship.

I hope that someone who knew Peter might read this and reach out with further information so that I can really tell his story.