A WAR hero Scots doctor is to have a lifeboat named in his honour after his widow donated the bulk of her £3.5M fortune to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Catherine Barr left the massive legacy to the charity for them to build a boat dedicated to her husband Dr John Buchanan Barr MBE.

Mrs Barr bequeathed the fortune on the condition the boat be inscribed with the message: 'He saved so many lives during the war' - a reference to Dr Barr's heroic service during World War II.

Mrs Barr died in January this year aged 98, almost five years after her husband who passed away in 2003 aged 93.

The couple - who had no children - lived in Bearsden, Glasgow.

Her recently published will revealed she left a total fortune of £3,510,273.50.

Legal papers show that she requested some cash sums and personal items be given to close friends and family members.

But the bulk of her estate will be used by the charity RNLI to build a £2.6 M lifeboat after Mrs Barr's request for her husband's memory to be permanently remembered.

The remaining cash is to be split between six other good causes including the Salvation Army, The National Trust for Scotland, and Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Mrs Barr had asked that her cousin Brenda Winterbotham should name or launch the boat which will be based at Portpatrick, Wigtownshire, and used to patrol Scottish waters.

Speaking yesterday from her home in Oxted, Surrey, Mrs Winterbotham, 82, said: "When I met her in 1944 her husband Dr Barr was serving in Italy.

"They had been married in June 1940. Dr Barr was awarded an MBE that year.

"After the war he became a general practitioner in Bearsden, Glasgow.

"He and his wife loved the sea and frequently went to Lochinver to fish. John also was connected with the Western Isles in his professional capacity.

"They had both visited Portpatrick every year and knew the area very well.

"I am delighted that my cousin has made this her primary beneficiary in her will, there could not be a better memorial to their busy and caring lives."

Dr Barr was educated at Dumbarton Academy and Glasgow University.

Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, he was in practice in the west end of Glasgow.

He was commissioned in the Royal Army Medical Corp at the beginning of the war in 1939 and served at the rank of Captain and Major.

He saw service in units in the south of England before serving in North Africa in 1942 where he was attached to 78th Division which gained great distinction in the fighting from Algiers to Tunis and afterwards in Sicily and Italy.

He was awarded the M.B.E. in recognition of distinguished services in North Africa.

Following the war he returned to practice in Glasgow. He died on 8th June 2003.

Robert Erskine, Coxswain of Portpatrick RNLI lifeboat added: "Portpatrick lifeboat is delighted to accept the news of the next new lifeboat.

Isla Dewar, National fundraising manager for the RNLI in Scotland, added: "The RNLI is extremely grateful for this generous gift."