James Lusk

Born in Lanarkshire on September 19, 1878, he was educated at Uddingston School and the West of Scotland Technical College in Glasgow before going on to St John's College, Cambridge. He trained as an engineer and was later associated with the Institution of Civil Engineers.

His surviving reputation now rests mainly on Letters & Memories, published after his death in 1916. The book gathers his correspondence and memorial material, giving readers a direct sense of his character, education, and service.

He died of wounds received in France on December 29, 1915, during the First World War. Because reliable modern biographical sources on him are limited, the details most often repeated come from memorial and library records connected to that posthumous volume.