Roll of Honour
Ordinary Telegraphist
Alexander Gillespie Wardlaw
Student
Alexander Gillespie Wardlaw was born on the 8th July 1895 in Alloa, Clackmannanshire. He was the son of James Taylor Wardlaw, a local Bottlemaker and Mary Hutchison Wardlaw, who were living at 15 Coningsby Place, Alloa, at the time of his death. He had four brothers and four sisters.
He joined the University in 1913 studying Arts for the first two years and additionally Pure Science in his third year. There is no record of Alexander's graduation and it appears he left University early for the war effort, joining the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in June 1916. He served as an Ordinary Telegraphist and Wireless Operator; his service number was CLYDE Z/8170.
On the 20th May 1917 he was aboard HMS Paxton, a heavily armed Q Class Merchant ship operating in the Atlantic off the South West coast of Ireland, when she was torpedoed and sunk by submarine U46. Ordinary Telegraphist Alexander Gillespie Wardlaw was drowned at sea aged just 21. His name appears on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial which was introduced after the war as an appropriate way of commemorating those members of the Royal Navy who had no known grave, the majority of deaths having occurred at sea where no permanent memorial could be provided.
Comments and Citations
University of Glasgow Registry records (GUAS Ref: R8/1/14).
Memorial Place: Commonwealth War Graves Commission - Find War Dead