University War Memorial to have new names added

Among the 19 names are a successful rugby player who was capped for Scotland, a respected doctor and a grocer's son who cut short his studies to join the war effort.

A century after the end of the war their names will be carved in stone alongside those of the men and women already remembered in the University Memorial Chapel, with descendants invited to memorial services on Remembrance Sunday.

Researchers identified the 19 additional names through digital resources and confirmed their connection to the university using student records held by the University of Glasgow Archives.

One of those being honoured is Captain William Campbell Church who played rugby for Scotland against Wales in 1906.

He started studying mercantile law at the university in 1905 and became a stockbroker, but enlisted with the 8th Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) during the First World War.

Captain Church was 32 when he was killed by machine gun fire at Gallipoli in 1913. His body was never found but he is remembered on the Scottish National War Memorial, Kelvinside Academy War Memorial, Glasgow Academy War Memorial, Scottish Rugby Union Memorial and the Wellington Church War Memorial.

Captain William Turner was a doctor in Saltcoats, Ayrshire after gaining a first class degree in surgery at the University of Glasgow.

When war broke out, the father-of-three joined the Royal Army Medical Corps but he returned home to fight the acute pneumonia he had contracted on active service, and died in April 1918 at the age of 43.

His name was not recorded originally because he died in hospital in England rather than being killed in action.

Private Archibald James Shanks Morrison from Whithorn, Wigtonshire, was the son of a grocer who matriculated in 1916 aged 17. He studied for one year before joining the King's Own Scottish Borderers.

He was killed in action in May 1918 and his memorial is in Tannay, British Cemetery in Thiennes.

Katie McDonald, a researcher with 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, the University widely advertised in newspapers, asking families to come forward with names of the fallen.

'Some people may not have seen the advertisements, or they could have assumed their son or brother or father's name was already on record. Also, many families found it terribly hard to talk about their losses and may have found it too painful to come forward.

'Where students studied at more than one institution, some have been remembered in one and not the other. Perhaps an assumption was made by those providing the information that it would be shared, or perhaps it was too hard to relay the news repeatedly.

'Now, thanks to digital resources, online research, and collaborations with both local projects, such as the Scottish War Memorial Project and the Inverclyde Great War Project, and national initiatives such as the Imperial War Museum's 'Lives of the First World War' project, we have been able to add more names to the Memorial Chapel.''

University Chaplain, Reverend Stuart MacQuarrie said: It's right to honour all of our fallen with their names engraved on an additional stone panel in the Memorial Chapel, which was built to remember the great sacrifice made by the University's students, staff and alumni during the First World War.

'We invite all the families, schools, and communities related to the fallen to join us for the memorial services on November 11.'