Killed in action aged 23
No known grave
John Young was the son of Professor Archibald Barr and Mrs Barr, of Westerton of Mugdock, Milngavie, by Glasgow. He was educated at Rossall 1907-1911 where he got Fives and Gym colours, and was School Captain.
At Christ Church 1911-1914, he was a member of the University Contingent of the Officers’ Training Corps prior to 19. He commenced Service on 5 February 1915, Lieutenant 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He served in France, was killed in action at Ypres, and is commemorated on Panels 42 and 44 on the Menin Gate, and on the War Memorial at Strathblane, Stirling.
Professor Archibald Barr, John’s father, was Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics at Glasgow University from 1889 to 1912. He had already formed a design consultancy business with William Stroud, the Professor of Physics in Leeds, and the two men formed a successful company, Barr & Stroud, designing and later manufacturing rangefinders and other optical equipment for military and naval use. Barr became the senior partner and the head of the design team at the firm's Anniesland factory, and in 1912 he resigned his chair to focus on the firm's development.
“ONE honour which many were surprised to see the partners reject was that of a knighthood for services to the allied war effort. They said they had merely done their duty and felt others had given so much more in the service of their country without recognition. They were perhaps thinking of the 35 Barr and Stroud employees who had been killed in action. Or in Barr's case, his son Jack, a lieutenant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders who lost his life at Ypres in April 1915.” Milngavie Herald 14 December 2006.