Son of David & Marion Cranston, 16 Belmont Dr., Giffnock, Glasgow. Grandson of Thomas Cranston, navigation teacher in Greenock
William Weir Cranston was born in Helensburgh in 1883, and educated in China, and at Greenock Academy. He attended the Royal Technical College in Glasgow while serving his apprenticeship with Messrs. Robertson & Co., civil and mining engineers, St. Vincent Street, Glasgow. When the war broke out he was employed by the Canadian Northern Railway, and after coming home at Christmas 1914, he enlisted in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders as a Private. A few weeks later he received a commission with the Royal Scots Fusiliers, and later transferred to the Royal Engineers. Lieutenant Cranston is buried in Canada Farm Cemetery, Belgium, Grave
His brother John Arnold Cranston was a noted Research chemist. In 1915 he locked up his laboratory and notes and went to join the Royal Scots Fusiliers in France, and was attached to the Royal Engineers, specialising in training in gas warfare, and rising to the rank of Captain. He later named one of his sons after William
III. F. 39, and is also commemorated on the Greenock and Giffnock War Memorials, and on the Scottish National War Memorial.
