Gilchrist, Alex

Person

Gilchrist, Alex

There are two entries for an Alex Gilchrist in the student registers of The Glasgow School of Art. Both entries record "Alexander P. Gilchrist" who studied painting and printmaking. There are two separate entries of Alex Gilchrist on the Roll of Honour, of which one of these students, a Captain, is noted to have fallen in the war, the other, a Corporal, did not fall. It is possible that this could be a mistake on the Roll of Honour. Alexander Paterson Gilchrist was born in Glasgow on the 2nd of July 1894 to Elizabeth Gilchrist (née Paterson) and Frederick Duckworth Gilchrist, a restaurant cook. Gilchrist attended The Glasgow School of Art on semesters 1914 to 1915 as a part time student of drawing and painting. He is noted to have resigned from his place on the course to serve in the war. An Alex P. Gilchrist later appears on the student registers as a full time student of drawing and painting from 1924 to 1925. It is unclear whether this entry notes the same student or two similar students. An Alex Gilchrist recorded as a Colour Sergeant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 9th battalion. During the First World War, an Alex Gilchrist served as a Corporal in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders 1/9th battalion. The Mitchell Evening Times Roll of Honour 1914-1915 notes that a Sergeant Alex Gilchrist from Bonhill, part of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders 1/9th battalion, was wounded in battle on the 19th of May 1915. In 1932, an Alexander Paterson Gilchrist was recorded as living in St Pancras, London, though he may not be the GSA student. Alexander Paterson Gilchrist was recorded as an outward passenger on a ship called the Empire Abercorn to Australia from Liverpool on the 7th February, 1946. An Alexander Paterson Gilchrist died in Bournemouth in March 1981, aged 86, though it is unclear if this is a match for GSA's Roll of Honour. Gilchrist is commemorated on The Glasgow School of Art's First World War Roll of Honour.

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Sources: Scotland's People: http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/;The National Archives: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/; Ancestry: http://www.ancestry.com; Otago Daily Times, Issue 16923, 8th February 1917, Page 6: http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=ODT19170208.2.56; The Evening Times Roll of Honour 1914-1915: http://www.glasgowfamilyhistory.org.uk/Documents/ETRollofHonour191415.pdf

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