A SCOTTISH man has been recognised as the first Red Cross worker to be killed on active service.

John McIntosh from Hamilton joined the British Red Cross in 1870, the year it was formed, and died six weeks later.

McIntosh was just 19 years old when he died from diptheria in Germany tending to the wounded of the Franco-Prussian war.

A bronze bust of McIntosh has been unveiled in Hamilton Town House Library to mark his death on November 23, 1870.

The new bust has been gifted to the library by sculptor Frank Casey, who is originally from Hamilton but now lives in St Albans.

He said: “I had actually been researching the story of another Red Cross volunteer in another war when I came across a mention of John McIntosh, there was very little information but it did say that like me he was from Hamilton so I was intrigued.

“I contacted Low Parks Museum and Hamilton Town House Library and the staff there helped uncover a wealth of information and a quite tragic family story that ends with John’s widowed mother outliving all her children and the McIntosh line ending with her.

“With nobody left to tell John’s story I felt his selfless idealism needed to be recognised. I hope I have done him justice.”