William Cullen

Bank: The Royal Bank of Scotland

Place of work: Edinburgh Hope Street branch

Died: 31 July 1918

William John Kirton Cullen was born in 1899, the only child of William Johnstone Cullen, a postman, and his wife Elizabeth. In May 1915, when he was 16, he went to work for the Royal Bank of Scotland as an apprentice at its Edinburgh Hope Street branch.

In March 1917, shortly after his 18th birthday, Cullen joined the army, initially as a Private in the Lothian and Border Horse. In April 1918 he transferred to the Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) and was posted to the Western Front. He was killed there on 31 July 1918. He was 19 years old.

William Cullen is commemorated on a bank war memorial at 36 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh.