Roll of Honour
Lance Corporal
William Watson
Student
William Watson was born on the 19th April 1892 in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, to Joseph and Janet Watson. Joseph was an Engine Fitter by trade and sent his son to be educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School in Glasgow, where William completed the three-year Junior Student’s Certificate course in 1912. This involved approximately 200 hours of practical instruction in the art of teaching, and was a standard qualification for entry to teacher training college. William received a grade of ‘Very Good’ for teaching, but his certificate was granted ‘with some hesitation owing to his weakness in English’.
In the autumn of 1912, William enrolled at the Glasgow Provincial Training College (forerunner of Jordanhill College of Education, now the University of Strathclyde) for a four-year course of teacher training offered in conjunction with the University of Glasgow. Students on this course were required to matriculate and study concurrently at the University. If successful, they would obtain two qualifications: the Teacher’s General Certificate, entitling them to teach in primary schools, and an Arts degree.
At University, William passed exams in Latin, Logic and Metaphysics, Political Economy, Mathematics and Education. However, war intervened and he did not complete his studies. The Glasgow Provincial Training College student registers indicate that he withdrew on the 2nd September 1915 to take up munitions work. He subsequently enlisted for war service on 19 February 1917.
William joined the Royal Dublin Fusiliers as a Lance Corporal. Lance Corporal William Watson was killed at the Battle of Passchendaele on the 18th August 1917, aged 25. The Rector of Hutchesons' Grammar notified the University of William's death on the 26th September 1917.
Lance Corporal William Watson is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium, on the Roll of Honour of the Glasgow Provincial Committee for the Training of Teachers, and on the Glasgow Provincial Training College war memorial, located in the David Stow Building on the former Jordanhill Campus.
Comments and Citations
University of Glasgow Registry records.
Biographical information: Records of the Glasgow Provincial Training College, forerunner of Jordanhill College of Education - now the University of Strathclyde). Information provided by Dr An