A SERIES of exhibitions to mark the centenary of the First World War, including a touring exhibition, has been unveiled by Scotland's National Museums.

A show, Common Cause: Commonwealth Scots and the Great War, will be on at the National Museum of Scotland from July to October next year and will explore the stories of the Scottish diaspora and the war experiences of the Commonwealth during the First World War.

An exhibition, Next of Kin, will begin at the National War Museum in Edinburgh Castle before touring to eight venues in Scotland until 2018.

Next of Kin will present a portrait of Scotland during the war through personal mementoes and family treasures.

In 2018, the centenary of the end of the war will be marked with an exhibition at the National War Museum looking at poppies, the symbol of remembrance.

The original inspiration came from Canadian Scot John MacRae's 1915 poem 'In Flanders Field', in which he wrote of the poppy growing in profusion on the Western Front.

Dr Gordon Rintoul, director of National Museums Scotland, said: "The First World War affected millions of Scots, whether at home or in service, and people of Scottish descent all over the world. Behind the bare statistics of war, there are countless individual stories of heroism and loss, triumph and tragedy."