Seven Scots public servants to receive posthumous Elizabeth Emblem

A Glasgow firefighter who died in one of the city’s worst peacetime tragedies is among the first recipients of a new posthumous royal award honouring public servants killed in the line of duty.

William Crockett was one of 14 men to lose their lives following the blaze at the Cheapside Street whisky bond in March 1960.

His son, William Cruickshank, will receive the newly-created Elizabeth Emblem from King Charles in his memory at a ceremony later this year.

The award, named after the late Queen Elizabeth II, is the civilian equivalent of the Elizabeth Cross, given to military personnel who have died in action.

Almost 500 firefighters were called in to tackle the Cheapside Street fire in the Anderston area on the evening of 28 March 1960.

At the time, the building held about 4.5 million litres of whisky and more than 140,000 litres of rum.

Mr Crockett was among the responders on the scene. He died when an explosion caused the bond’s 20m (60ft) high walls to collapse onto the street below.

Falling masonry instantly killed three firemen in Cheapside Street and 11 firemen and fire salvage men who were tackling the flames at the rear of the building in Warroch Street.

It would spread to a nearby tobacco warehouse, an ice cream factory and the Harland and Wolff engine factory.

In total, 14 firefighters and five members of the Glasgow Salvage Corps lost their lives in what was the British Fire Service’s worst disaster since the end of the World War Two.

A large memorial service was held for the fallen following the tragedy.

Mr Cruickshank, 71, was just six years old when his father was killed.

He recalled how his family were forced to move out of their “fireman’s flat” in Easterhouse in the following weeks, moving to Carntyne.

He said his mother struggled to talk about it afterwards, but that she would be “quietly pleased” about the award.

He told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland: “The actual fire could be seen from all over Glasgow. There was something like 500 firefighters went out that particular night. You can’t begin to imagine what it was like.

“There’s all these barrels of whisky blowing up all over the place and eventually two of the walls fell down. Glasgow was known as the tinderbox city at that time, it was a disaster waiting to happen.

“When I think about my mother, I can’t imagine what it must have been like for her. The grief that she had to carry.

“All of Glasgow was watching all those wives when they had that massive ceremony. I don’t know how she held it together really, so it was really tough.”

Mr Cruickshank said he heard about the Elizabeth Emblem through his sister, but later found she was ineligible to apply as she was not the first-born child.

The next of kin of more than 30 former public servants will receive the Emblem following a campaign by the fathers of PCs Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes, who were murdered by Dale Cregan in Greater Manchester in 2012.

The silver Emblem features a rosemary wreath and a Tudor crown alongside the words “for a life given in service”.

Mr Cruickshank said the award was as much to pay tribute to his mother as it was his father and said it would leave a legacy for those who had lost their lives in the line of duty in the future.

“I think my mum would have been quietly pleased and to know that my dad had been recognised,” he said.

“I’m not so sure it is just about him really, it is about all the others and in future – this was 64 years ago for Cheapside Street but ultimately there is going to be others who lose their lives in public service.

“It is going to happen again and although you don’t want it to, it will happen and because of that, for them I think it is going to be even more important because it Is going to be a lot more fresh and real.

“The fact that the king is actually going to give us these awards is really incredible.”

Seven of those honoured with the Emblem lost their lives in Scotland.

Sally Taylor will receive the award as the widow of PC George Taylor, who was killed while on patrol on 30 November, 1976.

He was attacked by two men dressed in prison uniform who had escaped from the State Hospital at Carstairs in Lanarkshire.

The award will also be given to Archibald MacLellan, son of Neil MacLellan, a nursing officer who was on duty at the State Hospital that night.

He was killed, along with a patient, by the two men who escaped.

The family of Hamish Grant, a firefighter killed when their appliance overturned en route to a farmhouse fire in Aberdeenshire in April 1965 and PC Edward Barnett, shot and killed in Glasgow in January 1970, are also among the recipients.

The award will also go to the family of Det Sgt William Ross Hunt who was killed while on duty in June 1983 after being stabbed while attempting to arrest a suspect in Larkhall.

Meanwhile, PC Lewis Fulton, whose widow Christine has fought for those who kill emergency workers to receive mandatory life sentences, will receive the honour 30 years on from his death as the result of a stabbing in Glasgow’s Gorbals in 1994.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “We must never forget those who have given their lives to protect others in the line of duty.

“While families will never be able to replace their loved ones, the Elizabeth Emblem pays tribute to the sacrifice they have made.”