| Notes |
- According to The Stewarts of Ardvorlich, Vol. 3, p. 56, Robert Fisher lived at Edraleachdach and died unmarried.
There is absolutely no doubt that Robert was a larger than life character in Perthshire and surrounding counties. Robert was affectionally known as ‘Uncle Bob’ to all friends and family - albeit being a little scary sometimes with his steely blue eyes and the physical strength that none could better when he was on the hill, at the gatherings or in the middle of a sheep pen.
He was a very well-known figure in the West Perthshire sheep farming community and was recognised through-out the country as an expert on Blackface Sheep, frequently called upon to judge the blackface section at shows, including the Royal Highland Show. At the sheep sales in Stirling he would stand with his shepherds' crook raised above the auctioneer's head telling him not to let them go at a price he thought not enough. His likeable personality made him a popular figure and his fellow sheep farmers looked forward to his sense of fun and antics.
He was by all accounts an excellent shot with both shotgun and rifle - winning prizes for both, including a clock from the Balquhidder rifle club and also medals for ploughing. His success always influenced and celebrated by a wee dram or two or three. On one occasion he told his terrified housekeeper that he was fed up of feeding her hens, so he sat outside the henhouse door and instructed her to throw them out one by one when he shouted ‘pull’.
Bob was an accomplished fiddle player and it was once remarked at a recital he was better than the revered Scott Skinner, and together with his sister playing the piano, there was no way one could not learn to dance. Also a very keen curler, the ice was never broken until the brother curlers had a ‘sook’ from ‘Bob’ Fishers well-filled flask.
When Roberts’ mother died in the 1930, he moved across from Balliemore to Edra Farm in the Trossachs, a sheep farm overlooking loch Katrine, and he lived there until his death on the 8th September 1955, aged 74. He was laid to rest in Balquidder Churchyard and his funeral was one of the biggest held in area for many years.
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When the First World War broke out in 1914, Robert joined the 1st Scottish Horse, a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army's Territorial Army, which was head quartered at Dunkeld, Perthshire. The Scottish Horse had been reconstituted as two regiments by the Duke of Atholl, both claiming descent from the original Scottish Horse, a British Army Regiment and a volunteer Regiment in the Transvaal Army, which had been disbanded after the Boer War. The regiments were trained and equipped as dragoons. Coming from Balquhidder, Robert was assigned to D Squadron, making it to the rank of Sergeant.
Perhaps whisky fueled, Robert decided that it was a good idea to gallop into the town square of Crieff and demanded to take over the Drummond Arms Hotel in the name of his Colonel, the Duke of Atholl. It would also be the same Duke who would demote Robert in rank because he told the Duke ‘to go to hell’. Although the Territorial Army was intended to be a home defense force for service during wartime and members could not be compelled to serve outside the country, the outbreak of war soon had the 1st & 2nd Scottish Horse dispatched to fronts in France, Egypt and Turkey (Gallipoli)
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Robert was dispatched to France and was deployed until badly wounded at the battle of ‘High Wood’. Bois des Foureaux - ‘High Wood’ is not large, but was of tremendous strategic significance during the Battle of the Somme and was the last of the major woods in the Somme offensive of 1916 to be captured by the British. The British had first tried to take High Wood in July but it would not be until September that it would finally fall, with the aid of tanks, but at a huge cost of lives. Robert was incredibly lucky with his injuries - a bullet hitting his silver cigarette case in his breast pocket, deflected but ripping into his shoulder. He would return from the war and later joined the 6th/7th Battalion, Black Watch.
In the group photo Robert is standing in the middle of the back row
(Callander Heritage Society)
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1881 - 1955 (74 years)
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