THREE brothers who died on the battlefields of the First World War are being honoured by the Professional Golfers' Association.

Harry, Albert and William Cottrell, of Guiseley, were all golf professionals and were all killed in action.

Now a century later their bravery is being remembered by the PGA, and their names will be engraved on a commemorative plaque at the association’s national headquarters at The Belfry.

Two of the brothers died together during the slaughter at Gallipoli in 1915. Harry was shot dead as he tended to Albert's wounds after the landing at Suvla Bay. A second shot killed Albert.

William, who played in the 1913 Open, emigrated to the US a year later. He volunteered for active service when the US entered the war in 1917 and was killed in the Battle of Meuse in 1918 - two days after his 27th birthday and a month before hostilities ended.

A fourth sibling, Leslie, who worked as a professional in the US, avoided their fate because he was not old enough to enlist.

PGA chairman Dr Phil Weaver, is trying to find the names of all golf professionals and assistants killed in the conflict. He has gained much of his information from a rare, if not the only surviving, copy of the Association’s list of members for 1913. Other than that very few records remain.

"All The PGA’s records, lists of members, minutes of meetings and the like were stored at Ethelburga House, London, and destroyed when the building was bombed during World War II," he said.

Dr Weaver is now planning to write to every golf club whose professional fell in battle asking if they can add to the catalogue of tragic and heart-rending stories.

"Aside from the terrible waste of life, one thing that stands out is that so many of our members who perished were very young, some no more than boys," he said.

"It’s important The PGA remembers those who made the ultimate sacrifice so we’re determined and committed to identify those of our own who went to war and never returned."

The bravery of the Cottrell brothers was remembered in the Wharfedale Observer two years ago with the unearthing of an American newspaper report from 1919.

The deaths of Albert and Harry as they tried to save each other on the battlefield were described in The American Golfer as the "saddest and most glorious sacrifice in the war".

Their tragic story was told on the Aireborough Historical Society website after research by Ken Roberts and Trish Restorick.

The American Golfer report said: "In action Harry was wounded and his brother went to his assistance and began dressing the wound. While he was doing so he was shot in the head and died soon afterwards, and Harry, while attending to him, was shot a second time, and this time fatally.

"This surely is one of the strangest, saddest tragedies that have been enacted out by those dreadful Dardanelles, and the professional golfers may well claim it for honour of their kind. Shortly before he left England brave Harry Cottrell said to a friend, 'If I have to go under, I hope I shall die game, for the sake of the profession!'

"And very game did this hero die."

Harry, the eldest, and Albert, began their golfing careers with Harry Fulford at Bradford. Harry became the professional at Ulverston, and Albert went to work with Brian Hylton H Cockburn, a Yorkshireman and the golf pro at Le Touquet in France.

The war broke out six months later and both Harry and Albert enlisted in the Sherwood Foresters, serving together in the Dardanelles.

William was the professional at Otley before emigrating to the USA, where he was the pro at Plymouth Country Club, Massachusetts.