University finally sets the names of 19 Great War heroes in stone

THEY were the doctors, sportsmen and family men who gave their lives for Britain during the First World War.

But for a century, the sacrifice made by 19 brave men killed during the conflict has remained unrecorded on a memorial at their former university. Now, after painstaking research by academics, their names can join hundreds of others in the University of Glasgow’s official roll of honour to the fallen.

The university originally appealed in 1929 for the names of students, staff and alumni lost to be added to an official memorial.

Though a list of names was compiled at the time, not all of those killed during the conflict were recorded.

Researchers at the university recently identified the 19 additional names and confirmed their connection to the institution using student records held by the University of Glasgow archives.

Their names will be carved in stone alongside those men and women already remembered in the university’s Memorial Chapel.

One of those being honoured is Captain William Campbell Church, a rugby player who was capped for Scotland. He enrolled at the university in 1905, taking a class in mercantile law and playing for the rugby team before enlisting with the 8th Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles).

Captain Church was 32 when he was killed by machine gun fire at Gully Ravine, Gallipoli, in 1915.

Katie McDonald, researcher at the College of Arts, University of Glasgow, said: ‘We are still piecing together the stories behind the names of the fallen and ask anyone who has any information about them and any pictures of them to get in touch.

‘In 1929, when the university originally called for names to be inscribed in the Memorial Chapel, it widely advertised in newspapers, asking families to come forward with names of the fallen.

‘Many families found it terribly hard to talk about their losses and may have found it too painful to come forward.’

University chaplain, Reverend Stuart MacQuarrie, said: ‘It’s right to honour all of our fallen with their names engraved on a stone panel in the Memorial Chapel.’

John Briggs, clerk of senate and viceprincipal of the University of Glasgow, said: ‘The stories that have been uncovered about our fallen are both inspiring and profoundly moving.

‘We are humbled and deeply honoured to be able to commemorate their lives.’