Scotland’s War reopens as charity
The future of the Scottish First World War research project has been guaranteed thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund
A project telling the story of Scotland’s contribution during the First World War has reopened as an education charity.
Scotland’s War began in 2008 as Edinburgh’s War, run by the University of Edinburgh. It then expanded its remit to become Scotland’s War in 2014 after receiving a £75,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The project worked with partners including the National Library of Scotland, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and local authorities across Scotland to gather records and photos and speak to people whose relatives fought in the war.
“We built up a really sound collaborative project,” said Dr Yvonne McEwen, the director of Scotland’s War. “It was a major, major success.”
Despite this, the University made the decision to close the project when the initial Heritage Lottery Fund grant ran out last year. Dr McEwen applied to turn it into a registered education charity, Scotland’s War 1914-1919, with the support of many of the project’s original partners, including the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Dr McEwen said the project would run until 2019, and she hoped it would continue its work beyond then. She added that she saw the project’s aim as “telling the story of Scotland’s contribution to the First World War and post First World War through letters, documents, family memories, photos, publications”, as well as the contribution of the Scottish diaspora.
One of the project’s biggest successes has been uncovering the forgotten stories of Scottish war veterans. For example, in 2013 Scotland’s War received a request from the Brighton Cemetorians, an Australian community group, to help find out information about a Joseph James Mair buried in an unmarked grave in Brighton Cemetery, Melbourne. Researchers found that Mair was born in Stornoway in 1886 and fought in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve Bridging Train before dying of Spanish flu in 1919. The Brighton Cemetorians used this information to request a grave marker for Joseph from the Office of Australian War Graves.
A University of Edinburgh spokesperson said: “We are proud to have been part of the Scotland’s War initiative, and all that it has achieved, since its launch in 2014.
“The funding generously granted by the Heritage Lottery Fund ended in September 2016, therefore the project drew to a close at the University last year. Its legacy will continue to provide an invaluable resource for generations to come.”
To find out more, go to scotlandswar.co.uk.
One of the project’s biggest successes has been covering forgotten stories of Scottish war veterans