Glasgow's School of Art is seeking to find out more about the life stories of its former students and staff for its World War One roll of honour.

Commissioned in 1925, the memorial bears the names of more than 400 staff and students of the GSA, men and women, who fought and served in the war, recording the regiments and if they were killed in battle.

The memorial, whose historic home is the currently fire-damaged Mackintosh Building, has recently undergone conservation work and been installed in the new GSA Reid Building where it will remain until its home is restored.

Now the school is undertaking a major research project to find out more about the names on the memorial.

Unlike many memorials of its kind, it records the names of people, men and women, who served and survived, as well as those who perished.

Peter Trowles, the Mackintosh curator for the GSA archives and collections, said: "Over the years the GSA lost touch with the majority of the students and staff who are remembered on the memorial.

"Whilst we know what became of some of them, for the majority we do not know what impact the conflict had on them, whether they completed their studies after the war and went on to make careers as artists, designers and architects or followed very different paths.

"We know for example that many Scots emigrated to Canada in the immediate post war years and some of our alumni were definitely among them.

"Through this research project we hope to enrich the Roll of Honour collecting and telling the stories of the people whose contribution it marks."

The research project has already begun to reveal a number of stories including that of Tom Gentleman, who attended evening classes at the GSA between 1905 and 1911 before becoming a full time student.

Receiving his Diploma on the eve of war he also won the Haldane Travelling Scholarship, but had to postpone the trip due to the outbreak of hostilities.

Immediately mobilised for war service in August 1914, Tom remained in service right through until the end of the war.

After demobilisation he returned to Glasgow to continue day classes in drawing and painting at the GSA, and the following year was at last able to take up the Haldane scholarship travelling in France, Italy, Corsica and Spain from 1920 to 1921.

He taught briefly at Coatbridge Technical School before moving to London where he married Winifred Murgatroyd, a fellow GSA student, and began a long career as a commercial artist working for a variety of working of companies ranging from London Transport to Shell and BP.

He retired from his post as Head of Design for Shell Mex in 1952.

Tom Gentleman died in 1966 at the age of 74.

His son, Hugh, now 80, said: "Both my parents studied at The Glasgow School of Art which had a great influence on them.

"It’s lovely to know that the GSA is researching information on the Roll of Honour so that future generations can know more about the people whose service to their country is marked on the memorial."

The majority of the names on the GSA’s Roll of Honour are men but it does commemorate the service of twelve women, most of whom were Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurses deployed by the British Red Cross.

Maja Shand, who is leading the research project, said: "Their inclusion in the Roll of Honour, which was commissioned at a pivotal time in the history of women’s suffrage, reflects a considerable shift in attitudes towards feminised labour.

"After a bit of digging into the histories of the twelve women we have unearthed some compelling stories of women who waged another kind of war: a war against conservatism, against the prevailing attitudes of the day, against expectations – against all odds.

"There were many extraordinary women on this period many of whom have faded into obscurity. Some, however, have left a paper trail that is enabling us to piece together their stories, stories which demand to be told."

The WWI Roll of Honour is digitised, and over time the GSA hopes to build it into a rich archive of the students, staff and alumni who served their country in WWI both in the trenches and at home