DURING World War 1, Archie Gilkison produced a series of controversial cartoons which were widely published in newspapers, including in the Evening Times.

But for 100 years they lay largely forgotten by everyone except his family.

Now, thanks to his great, great niece, Marianne Taylor, they are about to go on public display at Glasgow University.

The cartoons, which were published from 1914 until his death in 1916, were unusual in displaying anti-war sentiment while the conflict was ongoing.

Sadly, Mr Gilkison who suffered ill health throughout his life, died of pneumonia at the age of 31 while in military training in Berwick.

A few weeks ago, the pen and ink drawings were brought to the attention of Glasgow University by former Evening Times journalist Marianne.

Professor Laurence Grove, director of the university's Stirling Maxwell Centre for the study of text and image, said, due to the quality of the penmanship and the unusual approach to the conflict, they were a major find.

He said: "Archie Gilkison's work is an astounding discovery.

"Through him we live the war first hand.

"He is the only cartoonist of the time I know who evokes an anti-war sentiment during the war itself. He could be for cartooning what Wilfred Owen was for poetry."

Mr Gilkison's family has donated a rare book of his work to the centre and Mr Grove intends to include his cartoons in a major exhibition being staged by the university in 2015.

Marianne, who now works for BBC Scotland, said: "For as long as I can remember I've been intrigued by Archie Gilkison and his work and now it seems the talent of this World War 1 cartoonist from Glasgow, my great-great uncle, will be appreciated by a wider audience.

"Following his death in 1916, Archie's cartoons were all but forgotten outside the family.

"But this changed when, inspired by the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the war, I took the book of my ancestor's work to Glasgow University."

Born in Dumbarton in 1885 to a humble but artistic family - his father was a poet and two of his brothers were writers -Archie was educated in the West of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

After being apprenticed to a firm of document writers in Glasgow, he wrote and drew cartoons under the nickname 'Baldy', for newspapers, including the Evening Times.

But it was as a cartoonist that his talent really shone through, particularly following the outbreak of war in 1914.

Marianne said: "The quality of Archie's drawing is apparent even to the untrained eye.

"The detail is extraordinary - faces, helmets, moustaches, uniforms, ships, battlefields, all drawn beautifully with flair in pen and ink. The detail is extraordinary."

vivienne.nicoll@eveningtimes.co.uk