Lochhead, A G

Person

Lochhead, A G

Alfred George Lochhead was born in Greenock on the 30th of December 1887, one of five children of Jemima Baldarton Lochhead, (née Dickie) and Robert Lochhead, a sugar merchant. Lochhead attended The Glasgow School of Art from 1906 to 1911 as a student of architecture whilst articled to Thomas Graham Abercrombie of Paisley. The Dictionary of Scottish Architects website provides a detailed account of Lochhead's life. He also studied at the West of Scotland Technical College under Charles Gourlay, Alexander McGibbon and Eugene Bourdon, as well as studying in Italy for three months. Lochhead joined Gourlay as an assistant in his evening classes from 1910 to 1913 as he was an outstanding student, earning several distinctions. Lochhead then worked for John Burnet & Son for over a year where he befriended James Shearer and Herbert Honeyman. Lochhead is noted to have emigrated to Canada to work for Ross & MacDonald and tried to enlist there for the Canadian Army when the war broke out but was not accepted for overseas service. Lochhead travelled to Canada on the Letitia ship on the 5th of April 1913 from Glasgow. He returned to Scotland where he joined to serve in the army as 2nd Lieutenant of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, later becoming Lieutenant. Lochhead heard that his friend Bourdon was serving within the French Army and wrote to him to meet but he did not turn up, as he had tragically been killed in battle at the Somme. Lochhead was later shot through both of his knees and was reported missing on the 13th of November 1916. He became a prisoner of war at Holzminden camp where a German military surgeon repaired his knees. As Lochhead was fluent in German, he became a well-known forger of identity records. Lochhead survived the war and was repatriated on the 18th of December 1918. He returned to work in an office in Glasgow. In 1919, he applied for admission as ARIBA under the War Exemption Scheme. He went on to work on war memorials and for the Scottish National War Memorial. In 1943, he married Helen Frances Wingate, a surgeon, in Ayr. In the 1950s Lochhead became unwell and retired from work. In the 1960s Lochhead suffered a stroke but made a full recovery. He later died of a heart attack in 1972. Lochhead is commemorated on The Glasgow School of Art's First World War Roll of Honour. He also appears on the Glasgow Institute of Architects Roll of Honour (Student).

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Sources: Ancestry: http://home.ancestry.co.uk/; Scotland's People: http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk; The Dictionary of Scottish Architects: http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=200297

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