Roll of Honour
Lieutenant
Walter Scott Burns
Walter Scott Burns was born on the 12th April 1891, to William Burns, a Merchant and Toymaker, and Agnes Burns (nee Osborne), who had married on the 24th December 1886 in Haddington, East Lothian. He was born and brought up at Nettlehirst, the family home, near Barrmill in the parish of Beith, Ayrshire and attended Spiers School in Beith, where his name appears on the Roll of Honour, followed by Allan Glen's School in Glasgow. Walter went on to study engineering at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College (known from 1912 as the Royal Technical College, now the University of Strathclyde). A day student from session 1907-1908 to session 1911-1912, he qualified for the Diploma in Mechanical Engineering in 1911, thus becoming an Associate of the College (AGTC).
He subsequently worked as an engineer with Yarrow & Co. Ltd., Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotstoun. In February 1911, Walter was appointed as an Evening Assistant in the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College’s Natural Philosophy Department, and was still in post when war broke out in 1914. He also attended evening classes at the GWSTC for his own interest and improvement, enrolling for a course in Electrical Engineering in session 1912-1913, and another in Zoology in session 1913-1914.
Although he never studied at the University of Glasgow, Walter Scott Burns was a Company Sergeant Major in the University’s Officer Training Corps from 1909-1913. Upon the outbreak of war he was gazetted to the Lowland Divisional Engineers as a Lieutenant. Lieutenant Walter Scott Burns died of wounds received at Gallipoli on the 1st July 1915, aged 24, and is remembered on the Helles Memorial.
Comments and Citations
Memorial Place: Commonwealth War Graves Commission - Debt of Honour Register.