Imagine my surprise when Mr Archie Burleigh contacted me to say that my column about Bennet Burleigh was, in fact, his grandfather.

I had mistakenly assumed that famed adventurer and war correspondent Bennet Burleigh, who was involved in escapades during the American Civil War in the mid-19th century, was a great-great uncle of the local Burleigh brothers.

However, Archie, eldest of the four Burleigh brothers of Largs, has informed me that his grandfather, born in 1840, died in 1914 and his own father, Bertie, was born in 1898 in Battersea, London, the youngest of four. Robert, James and Bennet Junior all died in the first world war.

His dad, Bertie George Starr Bennet Burleigh lived from 1897 to 1963. Remarkably, he fought in the first world war as a corporal in the 23rd London and was wounded in action in September 1916 in France. He survived and became a Wing Commander in the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, latterly stationed in Greenock in charge of Air Sea Rescue. He had four sons, Archie (living at The Meigle) being the eldest, born 1949, folllowed by Bertie in 1951, and the twins John and Peter born in 1953.

When we published the picture of Bennet Burleigh, friend of Winston Churchhill and Arthur Conan Doyle, among others, I did think there was a remarkable likeness with John Burleigh in particular. Now I know why.

Drew Cochrane