GEORGE Barker, headmaster of the Fishergate Council School, had good reason to be proud of his former pupil John Peacock.

The only son of an Aldwark assistant brewer, John was a clever boy who did well at school and seemed set on a legal carer. On leaving school he got work as an articled clerk for a firm of solicitors in High Ousegate, then worked at the York Records Office.

In 1915, aged 20, John volunteered for active service, and joined the Black Watch. He rose quickly to the rank of sergeant, and then in May 1917 came the news he had been promoted to the officer class.

"York soldier granted a commission: an old boy of Fishergate School' ran the headline in the Yorkshire Herald.

Mr Barker carefully cut out the story and pasted it into the Fishergate School logbook. "Second Lieutenant John Thomas Peacock, who has been gazetted to the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, is the only son of Mr and Mrs John Peacock of 27, Aldwark, York, and an old boy of Fishergate Council School," the clipping said. "After passing his musketry and gymnasium tests he was recommended for and granted a commission and served his officer's course at Trinity College, Cambridge." Not bad for the only son of a York assistant brewer.

There was more to come. Before long, John had been attached to the Royal Flying Corps where, still a second lieutenant, he became a navigator with the 49th squadron. It was a glamorous but dangerous job: as navigator in a two-seat biplane, he'd have flown on low-level bombing missions in order to support troop movements on the ground. As well as navigating, it would have been his job to manually drop bobs over the side of the plane.

Early in 1918, he was injured in an accident which left him in hospital for four months. He re-joined his squadron in July, and on July 16, while his DH 9 biplane was flying low over enemy territory, it was shot down. John himself received a wound to the head, and was killed. It was just three weeks since he had left hospital. He was 23.

On August 18, 1918, Mr Barker pasted another clipping from the Yorkshire Herald into his school log book. "York Airman Killed: An Old Boy of Fishergate School," ran the headline. It was just 15 months since Mr Barker had proudly pasted into his log book that earlier clipping about John's promotion.

No fewer than 86 young men who had gone to Fishergate County School lost their lives in the First World War or its immediate aftermath. Mr Barker posted cuttings about many of them in his school log book. The names of all 86 are listed on the memorial tablet which hangs in the porch of Fishergate School to this day.

Members of the Fishergate, Fulford and Heslington Local History Society have been researching the lives of the 86 men as part of a project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the war. And their resulting 250-page book - Fishergate School Great War Memorial: Remembering the 86 Former Pupils, published with the help of a Fishergate Ward Committee grant - will be launched at a special event at the school on November 10.

York Central MP Rachael Maskell and Sheriff of York Verna Campbell, together with members of the school staff, former pupils, parents and other local people, will give readings about the war, read aloud details of some of the men's biographies, and also give descriptions of the school itself during wartime.There will also be an exhibition of photographs and other memorabilia.

"Many of the Fishergate pupils were killed on the Western Front in 1917 and 1918, when thousands of lives were lost in the slaughter of Ypres, Passchendaele, Arras and during the desperate fighting of the final months of the war," said Chris Rainger, the local history society's chairman.

"We believe it is important to remember what happened in communities like Fulford, Fishergate and Heslington, and (to) empathise with the enormous grief felt by families and friends, (caused) not only by the loss of these men, but also the physical and psychological injuries suffered by a significant proportion of the survivors. The political consequences of the war lasted throughout the 20th Century and continue into the 21st."

Fishergate School Great War Memorial Event, Fishergate school hall, Saturday November 10, 2pm to 4pm. All welcome.

The local history society's book remembering the 86 former Fishergate School pupils who lost their lives in the war will be available to buy on the day, priced £10.

Some of the other young men commemorated in the Fishergate School Great War Memorial

Arthur Bycroft

'Another York soldier falls in battle', ran the headline on a clipping from the Yorkshire Herald pasted into the Fishergate School log book at the end of 1917.

"Mrs Bycroft, 24, (of) North Street, York, has received official intelligence that her husband, Pte Arthur Bycroft, was killed in action on November 22 last," went the news item underneath. "The deceased soldier was 25 years of age; he joined the West Yorkshire Regiment in September 1914, was wounded on September 23, 1916, and only returned to the front on October 29 last. He was for ten years in the employment of Messrs. Rowntree, Ltd."

Harry Cambage

Harry was the third child of self-employed greengrocer Alfred Cambage and his wife Emma. The family lived at 134 Walmgate, and all the children went to Fishergate Council School. At the age of 13 Harry was working as a paperboy for the Yorkshire Herald, which was in Coney Street. He then joined the newspaper's print department.

In 1915, at the age of 18, he enlisted with the Nottingham and Derby Sherwood Foresters. His unit landed in France in early 1916. Harry was reported missing just after the battle of Bazentin Ridge (part of the Battle of the Somme) on July 17, 1916. In October that year, yet another cutting from the Herald was pasted into Mr Barker's log book.

"York soldier killed in action," it read. "Private Harry Cambage, a son of Mrs and Mrs Alfred Cambage of 134 Walmgate... who was officially reported missing since July 17, is now reported as having been killed in action on that date." Harry was 19 years old.

Harold Dickinson

Harold was a married father-of-three who lived at George Street with his wife Eliza and three children. He began working for his father's dairy business, but by the time war broke out was employed at Ronwtree's.

He enlisted early in the war as a gunner in the Royal Horse Artillery, and wrote regular letters home to his family. "A fire broke out in an ammunition dump and set fire to the camouflage over the guns but there happened to be plenty of water near and I soon got it out," he wrote in one. "Our Major came up at the time but I did not know he had mentioned me until one of our officers told me I had been awarded the military medal." In another letter, he wrote: "Fritz is having a very hot time of it just now, and things seem to be going very well with us; we keep knocking them back."

Harold was killed in action near Cambrai on January 20, 1918, aged 36. His body does not seem to have been recovered.