AN HISTORIC medal gifted to a high-achieving Yoker school pupil 125 years ago has sparked a campaign to find a relative of its recipient ahead of the school’s closure.

Staff at Yoker Primary School were stunned by the discovery of a medal for the “best scholar” in 1892 from the former Yoker Public School which was handed in to head teacher Anne Taylor.

The medal was a prize for then 10-year-old James Horn, however, the school discovered the pupil died at just 19 and is now hunting for an ancestor to come forward.

Ms Taylor said: “I got as far as finding his death certificate and I managed to find out his older brother died in 1952 in Paisley.

“His brother took over the family business of brick and tile making. They lived in the area.”

The medal turned up as part of a search to uncover memorabilia from the school’s past ahead of its move to the new Clyde Campus in August after 47 years on Craggan Drive.

Ms Taylor discovered James had been the son of a local tile and brick maker, while his mother worked as a farmer.

When the teen died of pneumonia on September 11, 1901 the family – including elder siblings William and Isabella and younger siblings John and Janet – lived in a property in Millbrae Villa, which Ms Taylor believes to be close to the site of the new multi-million pound Clyde Campus.

Eldest brother, Robert, registered the death and stated he lived in Clydeview Terrace in Scotstoun at the time.

The head teacher was able to track Robert to Paisley, where he died in 1952, however, his son who registered the death left an English address and that’s where the trail goes cold.

Leads on the other four siblings have also fallen through, leaving the school without any information on James’ descendants or his family.

Ms Taylor added: “I really hoped that we would find a direct descendant and we could say this belongs to your family.

“It would have been really nice but possibly there had been other siblings who stayed in the area and those families are here now.”

Staff have urged former pupils and residents to share their past photos, events and memories of their time at Yoker and are looking for everything from old class photos to school show programmes, to sports day memorabilia.

Children and staff alike are also taking to the Yoker stage one last time to perform the final ever summer show titled Yoker Primary School and the Great Decade Debacle, on June 12 at 1.30pm and June 13 at 6.30pm.

Kacey, a primary seven pupil at the school, added: “It’s been so much fun acting with the teachers, they are much worse at remembering their lines than us.”

Meanwhile, former staff, pupils and parents will also have the chance to return to the building and walk the beloved halls one last time before it closes its doors at an open evening on June 15 from 4pm to 7pm.

Tickets to the show are available via the school for £1.

To share memories of the building, contact headteacher@yoker-pri.glasgow.sch.uk or visit the school’s Facebook group, I used to go to Yoker Primary, or Twitter.