Roll of Honour

Signalman

James Barr

Student

James Barr was born 9 August 1898 to Reverend James Barr, B.D., M.P., and Martha Wilson Stephen Barr. He had a brother Allan who also served, a sister Mary and a sister Elizabeth who died aged 4 in 1893. The family lived in Dennistoun and later at 198 Wilton Street, Glasgow.

Memorial chapel at the University of Glasgow
The Memorial Chapel at the University of Glasgow

He was a medical student at the University of Glasgow but never completed his studies. He was a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and served on H.M.S “Vivid” as a Convoy Signalmen during World War 1. While on service he contracted an illness of which he eventually died 22 July 1918 in hospital at Granton-on-Spey. He was 20 years old.

He is buried at Fenwick Cemetery, Ayrshire with his family. The loss of James Barr prompted his father to turn to activism. He was part of the 'No More War' Movement of the 1930s, campaigning on the position of "real security would only come when war had become a lost art".

Comments and Citations

CWGC entry

findagrave

"No More War" speech, The Scotsman, May 11 1931.