To mark the centenary of the First World War, GSA Archives & Collections and Exhibitions have worked with Louise Welsh, Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow and Edwin Pickstone, GSA Lecturer, to create a memorial to GSA students, staff and governors who undertook work on the home front.

Consisting of three panels with text written by Louise and letterpress prints created by Edwin, the memorial has been informed by archival research. Text taken from correspondence held with GSA archives meets an original written piece by Welsh. The design, informed by the process of selection from the archives is was arrived at by a careful study of letters and other documents from GSA collections and uses traditional craft techniques and materials analogous with the time period in combination with contemporary digital techniques.

This memorial is a partnership piece to GSA’s WWI Roll of Honour, created in 1925 by Dorothy Doddrell to commemorate students, staff and governors who had served in the armed forces.

The project has been generously funded by Mr James McBroom whose father James Nicol McBroom was a prize-winning student at the School and who undertook munitions work during the war.

The First World War had a significant and lasting impact on families, organisations and communities. In the years after the war a huge number of memorials were created to commemorate the sacrifices of those who fought and those who fell including the GSA’s own memorial created by Dorothy Dodderell.

At the same time thousands of people undertook vital work on the Home Front and this work is much less frequently remembered. On Armistice Day 2019 the GSA unveiled a memorial recognising the work of its staff and students who dedicated their lives to serving on the Home Front during WWI. With text by the acclaimed writer, Louise Welsh, and typography by Edwin Pickstone the three-panel work is inspired by material held in The Glasgow School of Art’s Archives and Collections.

“For some time we had felt the GSA should mark the contribution of our staff and students who served on the Home Front,” explains Susannah Waters, Archives and Collections Manager
at The Glasgow School of Art. “We began our research in earnest in 2016 looking though our Archives to find out what we could about GSA staff and students who remained in the UK during the First World War and undertook home front activities.”

“We were delighted to be able to work with the acclaimed writer, Louise Welsh, who is a former Writer in Residence at GSA, and Edwin Pickstone, lecturer, Typography Technician and Designer in Residence at GSA, to make this new memorial which will complement the Dorothy Dodderell memorial to all the GSA staff, students and governors who fought in WWI”

“We are also very grateful to James McBroom who has generously supported the creation of the Home Front Memorial.”

“The Glasgow School of Art, Home Front Memorial is inspired by GSA archives for 1914-19,” adds Louise Welsh. “The archives for those years are interspersed with letters and death noticed on black edged paper. Nevertheless the voices of students and staff of the era feel alive. The people of the Home Front lived in desperately challenging times. They responded with courage, gravity, hard work and imagination. Their hopes and dreams mirror those of staff and students I work with today. It has been a privilege to read and respond to their words.”

The memorial was unveiled by James McBroom whose father had been one of those GSA students who had worked on the Home Front in WWI. James Nicol McBroom, had been a student at the GSA from 1914-1917. Unable to go on active military duty due to ill health, James was assigned to munitions work during the war.

“My father was a student at The Glasgow School of Art from 1915-1917and also served on the Home Front during the first world war,”says James McBroom. “His health wasn’t good during the war and he wasn’t accepted for military service. Instead he was redirected to munitions work at Alexander Finlays, so he helped from the Home Front.”

“I’ve been following the Archives work on this project for the last five years and I’m delighted by the memorial. I think it is a fitting tribute to people from The Glasgow School of Art who were involved on the Home Front like my father.”

The Home Front Memorial will be on show initially in the chapel at Glasgow University where Louise Welsh is Professor of Creative Writing. It will then come home to The Glasgow School of Art as a partner to the Dorothy Dodderell memorial.

To mark the centenary of the First World War, GSA Archives & Collections and Exhibitions have worked with Louise Welsh, Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow and Edwin Pickstone, GSA Lecturer, to create a memorial to GSA students, staff and governors who undertook work on the home front. Consisting of three panels with text written by Louise and letterpress prints created by Edwin, the memorial has been informed by archival research. The frame was designed and made by Steven Higgins with lettering from Erin Bradley-Scott. This memorial is a partnership piece to GSA’s WWI Roll of Honour, created in 1925 by Dorothy Doddrell to commemorate students, staff and governors who had served in the armed forces. The project has been generously funded by Mr James McBroom whose father James Nicol McBroom was a prize-winning student at the School and who undertook munitions work during the war.