William Farquhar Ireland

He was born in Glasgow on the 29th May 1894 to Matthew Hendrie Ireland, an Inverness agent, and his wife, Margaret. The family lived at 28 Gardner Street, Glasgow.

After leaving school, William enrolled as a part-time student of the Glasgow School of Architecture. Established in 1904, the Glasgow School of Architecture was jointly financed and administered by the Glasgow School of Art and the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College (later known as the Royal Technical College, now the University of Strathclyde). As it did not have its own staff or premises, students of the School of Architecture attended some of their classes at the School of Art and others at the Technical College.

The Technical College student registers record William’s occupation as ‘Architect’ – he was probably serving an apprenticeship with an architectural firm - and confirm that he took evening classes there from session 1911-1912 to session 1914-1915. He was an excellent student, obtaining first-class certificates of merit for six out of his eight subjects taken at the College. Between 1910 and 1915, William similarly took part-time classes at the Glasgow School of Art. He qualified for the Junior Certificate of the Glasgow School of Architecture in session 1914-1915, also winning the School’s Travelling Bursary and Silver Medallion. He probably intended to use the money to further his studies and progress to the Senior Certificate of the School of Architecture, but war intervened.

William served with the Gordon Highlanders; the University of Glasgow’s Roll of Honour lists William as a Lieutenant with the 11th Battalion, and the Common Wealth War Graves Commission as a Second Lieutenant with the 8th Battalion. He was killed in action on 9th April 1917, the opening day of the battle of Arras. He was 22 years of age. Second Lieutenant William Farquhar Ireland is buried at Roclincourt Valley Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, where the inscription on his headstone reads: ‘A noble life nobly given’. He is also remembered on the Rolls of Honour of the Royal Technical College of Glasgow and the Glasgow School of Art.