A KIRRIEMUIR woman graduated from Aberdeen University yesterday— exactly 60 years after her grandfather.

Alison Gill is following in the footsteps of James Gill, who completed his degree despite the second world war interrupting his studies.

Mr Gill began studying for a BSc in agriculture in 1939, but he left after war broke out and later worked for the War Graves Commission on the notorious Thailand-Burma Railway.

It was known as The Death Railway after thousands of prisoners of war and Asian labourers died during its construction. He was in charge of Japanese soldiers who helped him to exhume and identify those who died and create the Kanchanaburi cemetery.

Alison said, “He asked the university if he could continue his degree and they agreed to send the exam papers to Thailand. But he hadn’t really read a book for four years and failed.

“However, the university agreed to an oral exam on his return and he eventually gained his degree in 1948.”

Alison graduated with an LLB (Hons) with European Legal Studies, as the first member of the Gill family to graduate from Aberdeen since her grandfather.

She plans to do a masters course in Cape Town this month before beginning a traineeship with a London law firm next year.