The University of St Andrews has created a virtual museum to remember the war dead who studied at the ancient institution in north-east Fife.
The School of Computer Science has worked in collaboration with The Royal Scots Museum to create a digital roll of honour to mark the centenary of the First World War.
The university is also taking part in Poppy Scotland’s national Light Up Red campaign. The famous St Salvator’s Quad, the Gateway Building overlooking the Old Course Hotel and the Students’ Association building, has been lit up red in recognition of the First World War generation who served, sacrificed and changed our world forever.
Every member of The Royal Scots who died in the war is included in the University of St Andrews’ new virtual museum. The roll of honour contains information on the soldiers’ lives, deaths, medals, graves and any available photographs.
Among those who died were former students and graduates from St Andrews. Ten per cent of all St Andrews graduates who were killed in World War One served with the Royal Scots.
Charles Yule, pictured inset, was killed near Vermelles in France on May 11, 1916 when he was 27 in a direct hit from German artillery.
He achieved a first-class honours degree for his MA in classics and economic science, then a BLitt postgraduate degree.
After graduation he went to work at General Register House (now the National Records of Scotland) as assistant curator before being commissioned in 1914 as a second lieutenant in The Royal Scots.
He was rapidly promoted to lieutenant, and in the autumn of 1915 became a temporary captain. Yule fought courageously in the Battle of Loos and was recommended for the military cross.
The Reverend Matthew Marshall was also 27 when he was killed in action on August 11, 1918 at Paravillers-sur-Somme in France, during the early phases of the Battle of Amiens, a decisive battle which is often seen as helping secure the allied victory over Germany.
He had completed his MA at the University of St Andrews in 1911, where he was also a member of the OTC and went on to become assistant minister at St Giles’ Kirk in Edinburgh.
Another former student, George Philp, from Dunfermline, was just 33 when he died at Gallipoli in May 1915. He had graduated with an MA in 1904 and was a member of the university battery – a group of artillery volunteers.
He was dux of Dunfermline High and after graduation became a teacher at Regent Road School, Abbeyhill, in Edinburgh.
John Alexander Hay Smith was only 24 when he was killed in action at Festubert, France on August 14, 1915. The son of a Dundee jute merchant, he attended the same school as Field Marshal Douglas Haig – Clifton Bank School in St Andrews.
The full roll can be viewed at straylight.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/royalscots
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