Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Gordon McLeish
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
c. 1893-1918
History
Gordon McLeish was born around 1893. After education at Harris Academy in Dundee, he enrolled at the Dundee Technical Institute to study Electrical Engineering in 1909. He undertook a course of study that included Maths, Machine Sketching, Engineering Geometry and Drawing, Electricity, Chemistry, Mechanics and Steam. He won the Armitstead Prize 3 times, also winning the Armitstead Medal in 1914 after completing his last course.
On the outbreak of War in August 1914, he joined the Scottish Horse (later 13 Battalion Black Watch), but in 1915 he was transferred to Elswick Ordnance Works in Newcastle to work in munitions using the skills he had gained at the Technical Institute. For the next 2 years he served as a plant electrician gaining a good knowledge of plant machinery and also high calibre naval and military guns.
He contacted the Principal of Dundee Technical College and School of Art in 1917 to request a reference for a transfer to become a sub-engineer in the Royal Navy and also to apply for his full Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Certificate. A note in his student record shows he was given the full certificate in October 1917, but later events show that his intentions did not go to plan.
At a date after October 1917 he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force, and was stationed at 51st Training Depot Station, Training Squadron based at Shotwick. He died on 31 July 1918 when his aircraft a Sopwith Camel, E9973, crashed following a flight test.
Places
Dundee - birth, education, and service in armed forces: c. 1893-1915
Newcastle-upon-Tyne - work at Elswick Munitions Factory: 1915-1917
Shotwick - service and death in the Royal Air Force: 1917-1918
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
Student: 1909-1914
Soldier: 1914-1915
Plant Electrician: 1915-1917
2nd Lieutenant, Royal Air Force: c. 1917-1918
Mandates/sources of authority
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Relationships area
Related entity
Identifier of related entity
Category of relationship
Type of relationship
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Description of relationship
Related entity
Identifier of related entity
Category of relationship
Type of relationship
Dates of relationship
Description of relationship
Access points area
Subject access points
Occupations
Control area
Authority record identifier
Maintained by
Institution identifier
Abertay University Archives
Rules and/or conventions used
ISAAR (CPF) 2nd Edition
Status
Final
Level of detail
Full
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
2019/11/15
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
Sources
Letter from Gordon McLeish to John S Lumsden, 4 July 1917
Entry about Gordon McLeish on Great War Dundee Roll of Honour - https://www.greatwardundee.com/entry/mcleish-gordon/ (consulted 15 November 2019)