Seeking “Higgie”

[seekingHiggie]

Hi,

Please help!

I’m trying to get in touch with a “HIGGINS” who was from Gorbals and thought that I’d try contacting a few folk in the Gorbals / Glasgow area in the hope that I might find him or perhaps someone in his family.

The person I’m trying to find is Alec or Alex Higgins, (not the snooker player!)
It's possible that he didn't return to his home city after his National Service had ended. It’s quite possible that he isn’t around any longer.
He was born around 1938 or 1939, (would now be aged around 74 if still alive).

My mate, Brian, served with him in Cyprus, (amongst other places), during the EOKA campaign during the late 1950’s / early 1960’s. They were Royal Artillery / Para’s. Brian, had to come back home ahead of his brigade and lost touch. Over the years he has often spoken of “Higgie” or “Jock” as he was also known to his comrades.

Brian isn’t in good health himself and it would be really nice if we could find out something about what became of his old army pal, particularly if they were able to get back in touch if he's still about. Brian doesn’t know I’m searching.

Alec / Alex would have know Brian as “Taff” or “Bomb” (Bombardier).

I know they got into a lot of scrapes together. When they had leave passes, Brian visited Glasgow & Gorbals with Higgie once or twice and they got into some hot water when they were there.

If you know anyone of that name or know any Higginses you can ask, I’d be really grateful.
We have tried to get the Glasgow papers to run something in the past but they wouldn’t.

I just need to find one of the ‘right’ Higginses to strike lucky!

I’m only online now and again so I’ll apologise if anyone replies and I can’t get straight back to you.

All the best,

Taffs mate, ( Chris )
(West Glamorgan)

[Granny911]

Hi Chris
Sorry I have no information to offer you, but hopefully someone on here will answer your post and be able to help you. Such a nice thing you're doing for your friend Brian and I wish you the very best and hope you get a result on here.
Cheers, Sheila

[seekingHiggie]

Hi Chris
Sorry I have no information to offer you, but hopefully someone on here will answer your post and be able to help you. Such a nice thing you're doing for your friend Brian and I wish you the very best and hope you get a result on here.
Cheers, Sheila

Thanks for the comment Sheila,

Looking at all the topics & discussions on this site it seems as though there's a nice online community up there in Gorbals.

Hopefully someone will speak to a Higgins & it will jog their memory and I'll find a family member in that way, (or even the man himself if he's still about).

All the best!

Chris

[accobra]

Hi, Chris
I would reiterate Sheila 's comments and wish you well in your Quest in finding Higgie !
I came onto this site and my first post was triggered by my quest to find information on my
older brother s friend "John Pettigrew and two years done the line i have had a link from Frank in
Australia who knew him but i still do not know his whereabouts ??
However I have read some fabulous posts and seen a few pictures of where i lived in the Gorbals
in the early to mid fifties. "Priceless.!!
When i moved to to Knightswood there was a neighbour across from me called
Frank Kilpatrick and he joined the "Paras" but I think it may have been about the time of the
Aden conflict.? Frank would be about 69 /71 about six years older than me and he is theonly person I knew that joined your Regiment .

But best of luck with your search. Reg

[tweedlie5]

Hi there It might jog some memories if you knew where in the gorbals Jock lived and mabye what school he went to.....that usually jogs memories....did he have brothers or sisters, how old is he now. Hope you find Higgie for him it would be so nice.............keep looking

[seekingHiggie]

Hi, Chris
I would reiterate Sheila 's comments and wish you well in your Quest in finding Higgie !
I came onto this site and my first post was triggered by my quest to find information on my
older brother s friend "John Pettigrew and two years done the line i have had a link from Frank in
Australia who knew him but i still do not know his whereabouts ??
However I have read some fabulous posts and seen a few pictures of where i lived in the Gorbals
in the early to mid fifties. "Priceless.!!
When i moved to to Knightswood there was a neighbour across from me called
Frank Kilpatrick and he joined the "Paras" but I think it may have been about the time of the
Aden conflict.? Frank would be about 69 /71 about six years older than me and he is theonly person I knew that joined your Regiment .

But best of luck with your search. Reg

Hi Reg,

Many thanks for taking the time to post.

I know that before EOKA they went 'all over the shop' - Egypt, Burma, and lot of other places in the middle-East towards far East. If there's one thing I've found out by researching this for him is that there was a hell of a lot of para brigades!

One of the problems is that Brian's memory isn't as good as it was a few years ago and when I asked him recently what brigade it was he gave me a load of numbers which I'm pretty sure aren't the ones he was giving me about 4 years ago.

What do they say about old age? It's not much fun but better than the alternative!

All best wishes,

Chris

[seekingHiggie]

Hi there It might jog some memories if you knew where in the gorbals Jock lived and mabye what school he went to.....that usually jogs memories....did he have brothers or sisters, how old is he now. Hope you find Higgie for him it would be so nice.............keep looking

Hi,
Thanks for your input and, (very sensible), suggestions.

Unfortunately I don't think Brian had much contact with any family when they visited Glasgow / Gorbals, plus in between times his memory has become so ropey that I wouldn't trust most of what he remembers these days as it's 60% likely to be a misremembrance.

The lady he's married to now is wifey number 2, (Yvonne). His first wife may have had some fresher remembrances but she's been dead a couple of years.

You have given me an idea though, I'll have to pick his sons brains, (Andrew), he's a pretty level-headed guy with a good memory so he may recall things that were mentioned when he was a littl'un.

Cheers,

Chris

[margaretmcgettigan]

Hi Chris..I have a friend living in Canada and he was in the Para's and I was telling him about you looking for this person "Higgie" Higgins...He gave me this e:mail address and said maybe this person could help you.
His name is Davie Howie...www.d.howie@ntlworld.com. He said the 15th Scottish Para Btn, which is in Glasgow, could possibly help...I think this Davie Howie is associated with the above battalion.

Good Luck in your search

Margaret
gbya

[seekingHiggie]

Hi Chris..I have a friend living in Canada and he was in the Para's and I was telling him about you looking for this person "Higgie" Higgins...He gave me this e:mail address and said maybe this person could help you.
His name is Davie Howie...www.d.howie@ntlworld.com. He said the 15th Scottish Para Btn, which is in Glasgow, could possibly help...I think this Davie Howie is associated with the above battalion.

Good Luck in your search

Margaret
gbya

Hi Margaret,

That's really helpful, I'll certainly give it a try!

The problem is that this wasn't a 'normal' Parachute Regiment, it was created from volunteers amongst a group of Royal Artillery. I have researched it in the past and couldn't find one mention of this particular Para brigade, (and it wasn't a Scottish brigade in any case). The problem with Brian's memory means that if I asked him the same question on days in a row he'd give me 10 entirely different answers.

But it's certainly going to be worth a punt, if Higgie did return to his home city, he may very well have got involved with veterans organisations like this.

Many thanks,

Chris

[seekingHiggie]

Hi Chris..I have a friend living in Canada and he was in the Para's and I was telling him about you looking for this person "Higgie" Higgins...He gave me this e:mail address and said maybe this person could help you.
His name is Davie Howie...www.d.howie@ntlworld.com. He said the 15th Scottish Para Btn, which is in Glasgow, could possibly help...I think this Davie Howie is associated with the above battalion.

Good Luck in your search

Margaret
gbya

Just as a follow up, I did email Davie and he replied straight away. I've given him a fair bit more info and he's going to try to get some form of contact feature run in the ex-paras magazine, Slipstream.

I am grateful for your help.

Chris

p.s. for anyone who is interested, (and understands it because I certainly can't make head nor tail of most of it), I'll pop a few more details on here about the history;
Brian has always said he was in FIVE NINE Independent Parachute Brigade, (I don't know if this was 59 or 5-9), having volunteered from the Royal Artillery.
(Again, not knowing how these things work, I don't know if the five nine bit is the RA or the paras specifically).
**Davie Howie, who should know what he's talking about, tells me that the WAS NO SUCH parachute brigade. That would also explain why I've never been able to find anything about this brigade online**
His basic training was at Rhyl C'57 where he trained as a wireless operator.
I know from stuff he's told me in the past that he became personal driver for his Brigadier for quite some time.
He attended Abingdon for Para training '58.
His 'squad' or whatever, (the thing he identifies as five nine independent para), he describes as consisting of between 30-40 men. I'd reiterate that I'm entirely ignorant of these things and don't know a Battalion from a Brigade.
He says they were sent all over the shop at the drop of a hat to fill in where needed and to be at hand in places where things looked ready to 'kick-off'.
During his time in the forces, they were repeatedly in Cyprus during the EOKA campaign up until the point he was returned.
They were sent to Germany to guard General Staff HQ, (months).
They were sent to Hong Kong in a 'policing' role, (months).
They were sent to Burma on standby, (weeks).
They were sent to Malaya on standby, (weeks).
They were sent to Singapore on standby, (weeks).
He also spent time in Gibraltar & Malta in transit / training.
He was involved with local TA's after his return to UK, (?leading / training?)
He also led local Sea Cadets & Army Cadets.