The Reverend William Thorburn Elmslie, M.A. was born on 24 June 1894 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, the son of Leslie Cruickshank Elmslie (1852-1922) and Catherine Elmslie, née Thorburn (1860-1941). His father was a ship owner and marine insurance broker. The 1901 census shows him living with his parents at 51 Bidston Road, Birkenhead and they were still there at the time of 1911 census.
He married Mairi McLeod Shaw and they had one son, Leslie John Elmslie who was born on 9 June 1935 in Leeds, Yorkshire. He is listed in 1936 in the Post Office telephone directory as living at 12 Newton Grove, Bedford Park, Chiswick and it was here that he was still residing with his wife at the time of his death. UK Passenger Lists show him departing Southampton, Hampshire travelling to New York, U.S.A. on 16 June 1937 as a 3rd class passenger aboard the 'Queen Mary' of the Cunard White Star Steamship Line, arriving on 21 June 1937. He returned aboard the same ship from New York arriving in Plymouth, Devon on 2 August 1937. The 1939 England and Wales Register, that was compiled for the issue of National Identity Cards, shows him as a minister of religion at Westminster College, Madingley Road, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire.
He was the General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church of England and was attending a conference in Church House, Tavistock Place, London, WC1 on 9 February 1945 when it was hit by a V2 rocket and he was killed, aged 50 years. He is buried in Grange Cemetery, Grange Road, Edinburgh and when probate was granted to his widow his effects totalled £32,173-0s-11d. He is also commemorated in the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour, located near St. Georges's Chapel in Westminster Abbey, London.
See Find a Grave for his gravestone.
2022: The photo was kindly forwarded to us by Stephen Reid who also informed us that Elmslie was an avid hill and mountain climber. He joined the Fell & Rock Climbing Club in 1921 and the Alpine Club in 1926. At the time of his death he was living at 12 Newton Grove, Bedford Park. He left a widow and two children.
