Alan Mcilwraith

Last updated

Mcilwraith with the Parachute Regiment uniform and assorted medals he purchased online. The image was uploaded by Mcilwraith for use in the original version of his Wikipedia article. MilitaryPro userpage photo.jpg
Mcilwraith with the Parachute Regiment uniform and assorted medals he purchased online. The image was uploaded by Mcilwraith for use in the original version of his Wikipedia article.

Alan Mcilwraith (born 3 March 1978) is a Scottish former call centre worker from Glasgow who was exposed as a military impostor by a tabloid newspaper after he passed himself off as a much-decorated British Army officer.

Contents

He convinced a number of charities and media outlets that he was "Captain Sir Alan Mcilwraith, KBE, DSO, MC". The National Children's Home charity invited him to the Women of Influence Awards at the Barony Halls. Celebrity magazine No1 carried a picture of him which was captioned "Lady Shona [McLaughlan] and Sir Alan McIlwraith", showing him wearing the dress uniform of the Parachute Regiment with medals.

Wikipedia entry

An article about Alan Mcilwraith was created on Wikipedia on 5 October 2005:

Captain Sir Alan Mcilwraith, CBE, DSO, MC (born 3 March 1978) is a British army officer, currently serving with the Scottish TA. Special Force's Force's[ sic ] Trained Capt Mcilwraith is know throught[ sic ] the military world as a man that can get things done and thought of as a hero that the United Kingdom and NATO can look to in times of trouble.

Mcilwraith's father was an Engineer. Mcilwraith went to Shawlands Academy, in 1994 he went to Glasgow University. Mcilwraith was commissioned into the Parachute Regiment aged 18 finishing top in his class at Sandhurst Military Academy, specialising in the threat from Terrorism. Serveing[ sic ] in Northern Ireland, he spent two years commanding a parachute company in Northern Ireland, and later the Balkans.

In 2000s, Mcilwraith served in the NATO chain of command as an Advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Wesley Clark. He is best known for risking his own life when his company was attaked[ sic ] by a battalion to protect his men he took charge of a general purpose machine gun and held off the enemy long enough for his men to retreat. For this action he was awared[ sic ] the DSO. He was also badly injured protecting a young woman from an angry mob without any weapons to hand he placed himself between the young woman and mob this act of heroism made him a hit within the political world. There have been rumours that Mcilwraith stop a act[ sic ] of terrorism in the heart of London but these rumours are denied by both the British Goverment[ sic ] and Capt Mcilwraith alike however he was awared[ sic ] the CBE for services to the United Kingdom

Very few Photos of Capt Mcilwraith are in circulation he is very camera shy but a splendid soldier says General Mike Jackson Chief of the General Staff.

When the article was created, Mcilwraith was described as a CBE, but by December 2005 he had purportedly been elevated to the rank of KBE. On 4 October 2005, MilitaryPro added the name of Alan Mcilwraith to the List of honorary British Knights on Wikipedia. [1]

Exposure

Mcilwraith's double life was exposed by the Scottish tabloid newspaper the Daily Record in an article on 11 April 2006 which described him as "Sir Walter Mitty". The newspaper contacted the British Army and Buckingham Palace during its investigation into Mcilwraith's status, but both denied knowledge of him. An Army spokesperson was quoted by the newspaper as saying, "I can confirm he is a fraud. He has never been an officer, soldier or Army cadet. May I suggest you try the space cadet organisation." [2] Mcilwraith later said that "the lie had just gone too deep, it's like a weed that invades your life. Once it's taken root, there's nothing you can do about it." [3]

In December 2007, the Sunday Mail reported that Mcilwraith had reinvented himself as a magician. When confronted by the Sunday Mail, he said: "I've been very stupid. It was all lies and for that I apologise. I should have stopped lying after I got caught last time but I just really wanted to be taken seriously as a magician. I won't ever do this again." [4]

In June 2009, Mcilwraith received fresh coverage in the Daily Record, which reported that he had been passing himself off as a millionaire property tycoon and charity worker to students at Strathclyde University. The paper also claimed that Mcilwraith had asked some students for disclosure documents and taken their National Insurance numbers and other details after duping them into filling in recruitment forms. [5]

When a journalist from the Record met Mcilwraith at Glasgow Central Station, he was wearing "striking blue" contact lenses. Mcilwraith claimed he was working for an agency that housed asylum seekers, denied passing himself off as a student and said that the stories of his latest tall tales had come from students getting confused after too many drinks. He stated: "I have been trying to recruit people for the company I work for but I have not been trying to do anything other than help. It's true I asked one girl about getting a disclosure but I was genuinely trying to help her along too." [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Dargie</span> Australian painter (1912-2003)

Captain Sir William Alexander Dargie was a renowned Australian painter, known especially for his portrait paintings. He won the Archibald Prize, Australia's premier award for portrait artists on eight separate occasions; a record held since 1952.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)</span> Infantry regiment of the British Army, 1881–1968

The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) was a rifle regiment of the British Army, the only regiment of rifles amongst the Scottish regiments of infantry. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 26th Cameronian Regiment and the 90th Perthshire Light Infantry. In 1968, when reductions were required, the regiment chose to be disbanded rather than amalgamated with another regiment, one of only two infantry regiments in the British Army to do so, with the other being the York and Lancaster Regiment. It can trace its roots to that of the Cameronians, later the 26th of Foot, who were raised in 1689. The 1881 amalgamation coincided with the Cameronian's selection to become the new Scottish Rifles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Alexander (Glasgow MP)</span>

Brigadier-General Sir William Alexander was a British businessman, British Army officer, civil servant, and Scottish Unionist Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Central between the general elections of 1923 to 1945, when he stood down.

The 1937 Coronation Honours were awarded in honour of the coronation of George VI.

The New Year Honours 1952 were appointments by King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire and Commonwealth. They were announced on 1 January 1952 for the British Empire, Australia, New Zealand, Ceylon, and Pakistan to celebrate the past year and mark the beginning of 1952.

The Queen's Birthday Honours 1963 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made "on the occasion of the Celebration of Her Majesty's Birthday", and were published in supplements to the London Gazette of 31 May 1963.

The 1935 Birthday Honours for the British Empire were announced on 3 June 1935 to celebrate the Birthday and Silver Jubilee of King George V.

The New Year Honours 1923 were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by members of the British Empire. They were published on 29 December 1922.

The King's Birthday Honours 1950 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of the King, and were published in supplements to the London Gazette of 2 June 1950 for the British Empire, Australia, Ceylon and New Zealand.

The 1949 King's Birthday Honours were appointments by many of the Commonwealth Realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made "on the occasion of the Celebration of His Majesty's Birthday", and were published in supplements to the London Gazette of 3 June 1949 for the British Empire, New Zealand, India and Ceylon.

The New Year Honours 1926 were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by members of the British Empire. They were published on 29 December 1925.

The Livingstone Medal is awarded by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in recognition of outstanding service of a humanitarian nature with a clear geographical dimension. This was awarded first in 1901.

The 1943 New Year Honours were appointments by King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 29 December 1942.

The 1942 New Year Honours were appointments by King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 30 December 1941.

The 1926 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King on 3 June, but it was announced on 20 May that due to the national strike, the King had approved the Prime Minister's recommendation to delay the publication of the list until 3 July 1926. The honours were effective to 5 June 1926. Per standard practice, Sir Paul Chater, who died 27 May 1926, still received the honour of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire as he would have received the honour if he had survived.

The 1928 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 30 December 1927.

The 1929 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 26 February 1929. The announcement of the list was delayed two months by the health of the king, who fell ill with septicaemia in November 1928. There were no recipients of the Royal Victorian Order and only two recipients in the military division of the Order of the British Empire.

The 1936 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 31 December 1935.

References

  1. ↑ "List of honorary British knights and dames: Difference between revisions". en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  2. ↑ "Latest Scotland, UK & World News – The Daily Record". dailyrecord.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
  3. ↑ Gillan, Audrey (24 July 2006). "My great escape from Glasgow estate: fake army hero tells story". The Guardian.
  4. ↑ "War Hero Imposter Tries A New Trick As Magician", The Sunday Mail.
  5. 1 2 McGivern, Mark (20 June 2009). "Fantasist Alan McIlwraith back up to his old tricks.. now he's a 'millionaire property tycoon'". The Daily Record. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.