James Lusk: Letters & Memories

by James Lusk

PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE

James Lusk was the elder son of the late John Lusk, Dunavon, Strathaven, Lanarkshire, his mother being a daughter of the late David Colville, Motherwell. He was born at Broomhouse, Lanarkshire, September 19th, 1878, and received his early education at Uddingston School and the West of Scotland Technical College, Glasgow. He entered St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1903, and took his degree in the Mechanical Sciences Tripos in 1905. He rowed in several Lady Margaret Crews.

After taking his degree he returned to Scotland, and entered the Firm of Messrs. David Colville and Sons, Ltd., of the Dalzell Steel Works, Motherwell. At first he occupied the position of Assistant Works Manager, and later became one of the Directors of the Firm. Those associated with him in a business capacity have characterized him as 'an exceptionally able and clear-headed man of business.' In collaboration with Professor Barr, he carried out an important and valuable series of tests on High Tensile Steel in the Glasgow University Engineering Laboratory. He designed a Slide Rule for the calculation of weights and areas of steel, which is of great assistance to those employed in Rolling Mills. In the designing of new Plant his experience was of great benefit to the Firm. He was a member of the Iron and Steel Institute, and an Associate member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and a member of the West of Scotland Iron and Steel Institute, of which at one time he was a Vice-President. His relations with the men at the Works were always of the happiest, and one of his colleagues wrote to Mrs. Lusk on the night when the news of his death reached home,—'There will be many sad hearts in the Works tomorrow.'

James Lusk was not a man who liked publicity in any form, nor yet one who cared to talk much of the deepest things. But after his Father's death in 1913, he loyally tried to carry on the tradition of service which was handed down to him. The Council of the Lanarkshire Christian Union passed the following minute in February, 1916:—'We desire to minute our great sense of loss which we have sustained in the death of our esteemed member of Council, Captain James Lusk. He was a man of the utmost integrity, who at all times exhibited a true Christian character. His was a life not of words but of deeds, and he made the great sacrifice on the field of battle in the performance of his duty. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."'

In the Obituary columns of the Temperance Leader of January 15th, 1916, it is noted that 'Captain Lusk .... has been a life-long abstainer, and a member of the Scottish Temperance League since his boyhood.... In the case of Captain Lusk and that of other brave lads who have fallen in this cruel war, it has been clearly demonstrated that a man may be a brave soldier and an efficient leader on the battle-field without the taint of alcohol.'

James Lusk probably felt that the young men and boys of the great busy town of Motherwell had a special claim upon his time and thoughts. He was President of their Dalzell Highland Pipe Band, and also a Director of the Junior section of the Motherwell Young Men's Christian Association. What his fellow-workers thought of him must be told in the words of a fine 'Appreciation,' contributed by one of them to their Young Men's Magazine, January, 1916:—

'Some years ago, when we had erected our suite of rooms for the working youths of the town, and had chosen about a dozen of these youths to act as Directors of this Junior Section along with several of our Senior Members, we looked around for two or three gentlemen who could be invited to join this newly-constituted Board, and who would bring distinction and character and personality with them into the midst of these working lads.

'Greatly daring, having heard of his interest in such work, we asked Mr. James Lusk, B.A., Cantab., to come and help us. He readily consented, and to all our subsequent meetings he brought in rich abundance the qualities and influence we so much desired. Our members came at once in contact with a very perfect Christian gentleman. His gentlemanliness, his courtesy, his kindliness, and a certain air of courtliness with which he surrounded himself as with an atmosphere, all exerted a pervading influence on the lads in the section.

'There always are and always will be certain qualities, as Arnold of Rugby told us long ago, to which we must ultimately stand cap in hand; and to the fine distinctive character of James Lusk our members rendered instant homage. His personality, as we have said, had its influence. The football-loving Juniors who thronged our rooms grew up, and many of them migrated elsewhere, where the conditions under which they played their game were not so wholesome as in the Institute of the Motherwell Y.M.C.A. It is within the writer's knowledge that many of these young fellows found it very much easier to resist the temptations to which they were subjected, just because at an earlier period they had been permitted to associate to some extent with such a man as James Lusk....