WWI Airedale Monument

We are raising money to erect a monument at the East Haven Beach Area in Angus, Scotland in honour of the Airedales that served in WWI.

Thousands of Airedale Terriers were used in World War One.  They were used by the British Red Cross and by The British Army to locate injured soldiers on the battlefields, for sentry work, to carry messages through the trenches and to carry first aid supplies and to transport the carrier pigeons on crates on their backs.

The training of these Airedales began in Angus, Scotland.  Lt Col. Edwin Hautenville Richardson married Blanche Bannon and they set up home at Panbride House, near Carnoustie.  They purchased a small farm and set about training Airedale Terriers. The first four Airedales they trained were presented to the Glasgow Police in 1905 and were stationed at Maryhill Police Station and Queens Park Police Station in the city. These were the first official police dogs in the United Kingdom.

The British Red Cross asked the Richardson's about training Airedales to locate injured soliders on the battlefields and when World War One began the British Red Cross started to use Airedales for this purpose and also to carry first aid supplies.

The Richardson's were then asked to train Airedale Terriers for The British Army  to carry out duties for them and in no time the first Airedales were on their way to participate along with The British Army in World War One.  The British Army were so impressed with the determination, intelligence and the tenacity of the breed that they opened a war dog school in Shoeburyness in Essex and the Richardson's moved there to manage the training of the Airedales.  Airedales were recruited from all over the UK and some pet owners donated their Airedales to the war effort.

Many of the dogs did not survive the war.

Our Asociation would like to erect a monument in the area where the dogs were initially trained. They trained on the beaches of Carnoustie, Barry and Easthaven in Angus. Many of the local people joined in with the training and would lie on the beaches and sand dunes to be located by the Airedales.

The Community Council of Easthaven have offered our Associated a place beside the beach at Easthaven, looking out over one of the beaches where they were trained, for a memorial to the Airedales and we think it is very fitting that a memorial to the lives of these dogs should be commemorated in the area where it all began.

This project has been approved for funding through the Heritage + The Crowd match funding. It has received a bridge of 50% towards its fundraising target from Heritage Lottery Fund.