William Burke

29/06/1926 – 31/07/1945 – aged 19

William Burke was born in Glasgow on the 29th June 1926, one of three children. He enrolled at St Bede’s on the 7th September 1936 as a Boarder. William threw himself into almost every area of College life: he was a member of the Rugby team and an enthusiastic member of the gardening committee. He also worked as a stagehand, later becoming Stage Manager. At Christmas 1941, at the school Prize Giving, he was awarded the ‘Form Prize’ and was appointed Prefect in his final year.

Burke left the College in 1943, aged 16, planning to train as an accountant, but was immediately conscripted into the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm based at HMS Condor RN Air Station, Arbroath near Dundee. His plane appears to have crashed on the 31st July 1945, resulting in the death of Burke and two other crewmen. William was nineteen years old.