AGS Magazine January 1944

THE

r

1 I

ABERDEEN GRAMMAR SCHOM, MAGAZINE

F.P. CLUB JUBILEE NUMBER

ABERDEEN

printed. for the Former Pupils' Club at' The University Press • PRICE ONE SHILLING.

Volume XLVII, No. 1.

January 1944.

EDUCATIONAL BOOKS •'@_.›Cr •

JAMES G. BISSET CONTINUES to supply all the Class Books (New or Second-hand) suited for the requirements of the Higher Educational Institutions in the City, at the Lowest Prices.

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N.B.—Best Value in Students' Note Books.

JAMES G. BISSET, Classical, Medical, and Educational Bookseller,

85 BROAD STREET (Opposite Mcerischal College)

•

PHONE 753 •

GOOD HEALTH demands

GOOD BREAD For the children especially is it necessary to ensure their stamina and energy with good, wholesome, nourishing bread. In Hutchison's bread you'll find all these requirements are fully met. Phone or give instructions to have it supplied daily.

BRANCHES THROUGHOUT THE CITY

OLD GOLD AND SILVER Urgently Wanted also

FINE JEWELS and ANTIQUE SILVER Out-of-Date WATCHES JEWELLERY COINS CHAINS and Odds and Ends of every description realize

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JAMES LORIMER & SON (BOOTMAKERS), LTD.

CIVIL and MILITARY BOOTMAKERS

8 CHAPEL ST.

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ABERIDEEN ® When on a visit to Aberdeen—Gateway to Royal Deeside—rest and dine at our

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JAMES FYFE & SON PAINTERS AND GLAZIERS. •

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OFFICE AND SHOWROOMS :-

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11 Telephone 304.

Telegrams "Fyfe, Painters."

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WILLIAM

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46-48 ROSE STREET, ABERDEEN

CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS, Facing page Facing page . 18 Captain Alexander T. Begg Dr. H. F. Morland Simpson • 59 Sir Patrick Ashley Cooper .

19 Sergt. Pilot Kenneth H. Robertson Si The Rt, Hon. Lord Meston .

42 Sergt. Air-Gunner John A. G. Firth 8; Dr. Charles McLeod .

• • 50 Wing Commander R. G. L. Baxter . 51 Colonel William B. Rennie .

Centre Trooper D. H. Mostyn-Hoops 58 Flying Officer James M. Davidson „ Sergt. Air-Bomber George L. Gibb 58 Flying Officer John M. Stewart „ Captain James M. Morrison . . f9 Lieut. (A) A. A. R. Riddel • 3/ A Message to Former Pupils. By J. J. R. Editorial Notes . . . .

Byron's Renown .

Jubilee of the F.P. Club. By T. W. .

The Office-Bearers of the F.P. Club, 18 95-1 943 • A Tribute to a Great Rector .

Notes About Old Boys .

Prisoners of War . .

Missing . . . . . .

• . . . . .

Obituary Dr. Charles McLeod Marriages . . .

Roll of F.P. War Service • Pro Patria Mortui • • Dr. George Duncan's Benefaction .

Escape from Burma. By Sydney E. Dumo Escape from Singapore. By Lieut.-Colonel P. A. B. McKerron Low Level. By Kenneth H. Robertson .

School Section— School and Random Notes . .

A Back Number ? By R. W. Hepburn . .

Dramatic Society Notes .

School Sport during the Autumn Term—A Resume .

Rugby Notes . . . . .

Hockey . . . . . . .

House Notes • • The Literary and Debating Society .

Army Cadet Force : The School Company Air Training Corps : Squadron No. 1299 .

• Scout Notes . .

The Former Pupils' Club— The F.P. Club Boarding House .

The Rugby Section The Cricket Section . .

• .

New Life Members of the Club • • New Ordinary Members of the Club .

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99 •• 99 „ 100 „ 101 „ ioz >,

SCHOOL OUTFITS ARE A PROBLEM Owing to manufacturers being wholly

employed on

Govern-

ment contracts we are at the moment unable to supply many of

the Grammar

Garments.

We

School

will do our

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ESSLEMONT & MACINTOSH (RETAILERS) LTD.

UNION STREET, ABERDEEN

W. M. McPHERSON Baker and Confectioner

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1943 Established 100 Years

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All Funeral Requisites Supplied

C. H. WEBSTER

Cremations Arranged

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TO OUR CUSTOMERS We regret that the present restrictions on both men and materials make it impossible for us to maintain the usual high standard of service which we have carried on for nearly a century. We can assure you that we are doing our utmost to please you and trust that you will be patient with us.

J. & A. OGILVIE 369 UNION STREET ABERDEEN Telegrams : " Interiors "

Telephone No. 433

The choice of your

FIREPLACE ARRANGEMENTS may be a little restricted these days, but we have been able to maintain our stocks at a good level, and have on display a pleasing range of modern and period designs for your selection.

James Scott & Son (Aberdeen) Ltd. 483-485 UNION STREET ABERDEEN Phone 1881-2

LIMITATION IN BUSINESS " Limitation "

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business carried on by Collie's of Aberdeen enables this firm to offer a

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Branches and Agencies throughout the World

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 59th year: No. 153 (New Series, 51st year, No. 144)

Vol. XLVII

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No. i

JANUARY 1944

The " Grammar School Magazine" is issued under the auspices of The Former Pupils' Club, twice a year in war-time—in January and July.

All communications with regard to the " Magazine" should be addressed to the Editor (the Secretary and Treasurer of the Club), THEODORE WATT, M.A., LL.D., The University Press, 6 Upper Kirkgate, Aberdeen.

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A Message to Former Pupils.

How long is it, one wonders, since Grammarians last went to school in August and resumed their holidays in September? Thanks to cool August weather, this war-time experience of 1943 proved by no means distressing: indeed, the boys settled down surprisingly well, the majority to steady work, others to their customary avoidance of overstrain.

In September some 140 of the older boys gave three weeks' valuable service in the harvest fields. Half of them elected to live in three hostels, which were most admirably organized and run by Masters of the School. But, by common consent, top marks go to the eight ladies of the Staff who achieved a phenomenal success in the feeding of these huge and hungry families.

The resumed term has been uneventful. We are still on part-time schooling, for, while the Town Council decided at the beginning of July to end the present arrangement, the powers seem disinclined to force us back to normal with undue precipitancy.

If I have to report that the 1st XV has been sadly weakened by the disappearance of so many of last year's stalwarts, it is not to lament that wins must be fewer and harder to secure—for that matters relatively littk—but rather to record how satisfactorily the new XV is drawing together as the season goes on and how spirited is its play.

From last winter's beginning of hockey has emerged a large group of keen and regular players, with an XI so far undefeated and showing remarkable skill and dash in the game. Here is no defection from rugby but the rescue of many boys from non-participation to active play. Even the most perfervid devotee of rugby need not cavil at such a development, if he reflects how splendidly the essential team virtues have revealed themselves in this war among thousands whose games experience had lain far away from the tall posts and the oval ball.

z

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Both Infantry and Air Training Units are prospering exceedingly.

There is a plentiful crop of N.C.O.s, and, for another sign that we have reached full stature, we now march to the strains of a pipe band which the Grammar School is proud to claim as its own.

In December the 9th Grammar School Troop of Scouts and their friends raised £205, enabling them to clear off all the remaining debt on their hut. This is most heartening evidence that the old spirit and vitality have survived all the difficulties of the times and that Scouting will still have distinctive qualities to bring to the post-war training of youth.

I am happy to record two recent benefactions to the School. Some months ago Mrs. William Connon made us a gift of £zo, to be followed by an annual donation, in memory of her son, James Whyte Connon, who died last year while serving in the Merchant Navy. It is proposed to set up a special section in the Library dealing with the Sea and its part in the history of our race, and to present each year prizes for essays on this great theme.

On his retirement from the convenership of the Education Committee, Dr. George Duncan has gifted £250 to the School, to endow a Dux Award in English, which is to be called " The Masson-Bain Medal and Prize." There will be very special satisfaction in a prize that so fitly links the great names of David Masson and Alexander Bain with their old School, and at the same time marks the long association with us of one who has always been as proud of Aberdeen Grammar School and as careful of its interests as if his own boyhood memories centred there.

Miss Ledingham retired last summer after nearly forty years in the Grammar School. Our debt to her is for much more than just length of service ; she had qualities of mind and personality which made her singularly valuable in the training of our spirited youngsters, and many generations of " Grammar " boys arc the better for an influence so robust and sane.

The passing of Dr. Charles McLeod will quicken many memories.

His was indeed a major contribution to the life of the School, which has honour in the very fact that it could hold so long the allegiance of so distinguished a man. The lively interest in us which Dr. McLeod had to the last is matched by the pride and affection with which his old boys habitually speak of him.

To Grammarians everywhere, and especially to those who are far from our grey walls, I offer the season's greetings and the wish that a new year may see the end of our distresses and the beginning of a time which, whatever he its difficulties, should yet be bright with deliverance and hope.

J. J. R. 17th December 1943.

Early School Enrolment Advisable.

In view of the increasing demand on accommodation, especially at the Nursery School and Kindergarten stage, the Rector would impress on Former Pupils the necessity for early enrolment of their sons.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

3

Editorial Notes.

A word of explanation of the late appearance of this issue of the Magazine should, perhaps, be given. At present, owing to the restrictions on paper, only two numbers are being published in each School session, and it has seemed best to postpone the appearance of the first of the two from December to January and close the record at the end of December (or rather, in the first days of January, so as to include New Year Honours) ; and to issue the second at the beginning of July, just as the session ends. In this way the intervals between issues and the periods covered by each are made approximately the same. * * * The Magazine of March 1941 was conspicuous by reason of its white cover printed in green, which marked the tooth number issued under the auspices of the F.P. Club. A similar cover accompanies this issue, to mark the Jubilee of the founding of the Club. If times had been normal, probably a Special Number would have been published, dealing fully with the activities of the Club and its Centres and Sections during the past fifty years, but in view of the importance of maintaining within the prescribed limits an adequate record of events at the School and of what F.P.s are doing in war-time, the Jubilee commemoration has for the present been confined to a single retrospective article.

Byron's Renown.

In the Spectator of i4th May 1943 Mr. Harold Nicolson devoted his weekly " Marginal Comment " to Byron, that day being the one hundred and nineteenth anniversary of the news reaching London that Byron had died at Missolonghi. We think the following is worth reproducing and preserving in the Magazine :— It is difficult for us who live in an age of diffused and superficial emotions to realize the quality of Byron's immense renown. I recall a story which Edmund Gosse once told me, and which I find it difficult to adjust to the proportions and probabilities of the world I know. Gosse had had the story from Lord John Manners, and was prepared to vouch for the accuracy of every detail. In May 1824, Lord John, at the time a child of six, was allowed as a treat to be present at a dinner given at the Castle to the gentlemen of the Belvoir Hunt. The dinner had reached the stage at which the port began to circulate and at which Lord John himself ought to have been taken up to bed. A letter was handed to the Due of Rutland, who, having read it, called for order and rose in his place. " Gentlemen," he said, " grave news has just been brought to me. Lord Byron has died in Greece."

A sudden hush fell on all those sporting gentlemen and their expected conviviality was stilled. A low murmur of regret spread round the table, and thereafter several of the hunting squires started to recite their favourite passages from Byron's work.

Lord John was allowed to remain and witness this decorous and unforeseen ceremony. The party dissolved with unaccustomed sobriety, and the little boy went hack to bed. I have always been puzzled by this story, since it is inconceivable that the death of any poet, indeed the death of any private individual, could to-day cast a similar gloom over any assembly. Nor can one suppose that when the death of Tennyson or Kipling was announced there would be men who would either wish, or be able, to recite poetry at a hunt dinner. The quality of Byron's renown was dearly different from anything that we have known.

4

Aberdeen Grarnmar School Magazine

Jubilee of the F.P. Club.

A Survey of Fifty Years.

On 1 1 th September 1943 the F.P. Club reached the Jubilee of its foundation. Under normal circumstances the occasion would, doubtless, have been appropriately celebrated on or about the exact date, but in the conditions prevailing at the commencement of the fifth year of the present war, the marking of the event had to be postponed. It is a curious coincidence that the Club attained its Semijubilee, in September 1918, just after the commencement of the fifth year of the last war. Although it has not been possible to have Jubilee Celebrations in 1943, it does seem fitting that some account of the formation, development, and achievements of the Club should appear now in the Magazine that has for so long been issued under its auspices. Fortunately the minute books and the annual statements of accounts of the Club have been preserved from the start, and from them and the Magazine file it is possible to present a survey of the Club's annals.

THE FORMATION OF THE CLUB. Mr. Henry Fife Motland Simpson was appointed Rector of the

Aberdeen Grammar School in June 1893 and entered on his duties on 14th August of that year. Within a month he had brought about the formation of the Former Pupils' Club. His reasons for this had best be given from the report of a short speech he made at a concert held in connection with the newly-formed Club :— All the great schools of England, he said, had their Clubs of " Old Boys."

Few, if any, of these schools had a record so ancient as the Grammar School of Aberdeen. None of them came within a century of being of equal age—Eton, Harrow, and even Winchester being, in comparison, schools of yesterday. It was a matter of regret that the School which was so much the pride of their City should have been so long without a Club such as that which had now been started to draw the members together from time to time for social purposes and for the pleasure of meeting old schoolfellows again. Many of the pupils who had gone forth into the world and distinguished themselves were proud to call themselves "Old Boys" of the Aberdeen Grammar School. It seemed desirable that the opportunity should be seized and a Club formed, not merely for athletic purposes, but in order to combine all interests—social, athletic, and the like, and so tend to bind together the past and present pupils of the School.

The Club accordingly was founded, and it will be of interest to reproduce the minute of the first meeting in its entirety :— In the senior classroom of the Grammar School, Aberdeen, a conference of Old Boys with Mr. Morland Simpson, Rector of the School, was held on the evening of Monday, nth September 1893.

Mr. Simpson took the chair at 8 p.m., and in a very interesting, suggestive, and rousing address pointed out the advantages which might be gained from an Old Boys' Club.

A motion for the formation of an Old Boys' Club was then proposed and seconded and unanimously carried.

It was thereafter unanimously resolved that arrangements should be at once made for oranizing an Old Boys' Football Club.

With a view to the carrying out of these motions it was agreed that an Executive be appointed to manage the general business of the Club—this body to consist of a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, three members now attending the University, three members not at the University, and three senior present boys—

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

5

and that a Committee be appointed to control the affairs of the Football Club.

It was decided that the question of the appointment of Honorary Office-bearers should be left in the hands of the Executive.

After some discussion the following were elected members of Executive :— . Mr. H. F. MORLAND SIMPSON. .

President • Dr. Jour./ Scarr RIDDELL. Vice-President .

Dr. WM. FINDLAY. . .

Secretary .

Mr. A. W. CHRISTIE. .

Treasurer •

•

•

•

•

•

•

[COMNIITTEE.] i Mr. JOHN F. CHRISTIE. . , Mr. G. O. GAULD. 1 Mr. J. E. RAE. { Mr. HARRY P. SLEIGH. Members not at the University . Rev. ANTHONY MITCHELL.

.

University Members

Senior present boys .

.

.

Dr. FRANK KELLY. ( Mr. R. J. CHEVES. Mr. JOHN MCBAIN. Mr. ALEX. B. WALXER.

The Committee of the Football Club was constituted as follows :— . . Mr. HARRY P. SLEIGH. Captain .

Mr. ERNEST RENNET,

Secretary

.

.

Treasurer

.

Members

.

. Mr. G. O. GAULD. Mr. J. L. G. GILLANDERS. . I Mr. JOHN LEIBBRANDT. Mr. J. K. THOMSON.

On the motion of Mr. Morland Simpson the names and addresses of those present at the meeting were noted, in order that a record of them might be kept.

The meeting was then declared at an end.

ORIGINAL MEMBERS. The Executive got quickly to work, and at a General Meeting of the Club held on 18th October 1893 the name " Aberdeen Grammar School F.P. Club " was adopted and the Rules and Constitution were approved.

In the list of " past pupils " present at the formation of the Club 6z names are given, but by the end of 1893 the number had grown to 143. The full list of members, including the following distinguished Honorary Office-bearers, was printed in the Magazine of January 1894 :— Hon. President—Principal Sir WILLIAM D. GEDDES, LL.D. ; Hon. Vice-Presidents —Professor ALEX. BAIN, LL.D. ; Rev. Principal DAVID BROWN, D.D. ; Professor DAVID FERRIER, M.D., LL.D. ; Sir ROBERT G. C. HAMILTON, K.C.B., LLD. ; Rev. JAMES W. LEGGE, M.A. ; Professor DAVID MASSON, LL.D. ; R. A. NEIL, LL.D. ; Rev. Professor S. D. F. SALMOND, D.D. ; Sir JAMES STIRLING, LL.D. ; and J. C. OGILVIE WILL, M.D. A close scrutiny of the list of original members reveals that the oldest survivor is WILLIAM CROMBIE (1873-78), who was formerly a partner in the firm of Messrs. James Crombie & Sons, wholesale produce merchants and shipping agents, Aberdeen, and who now lives in retirement at 3 Forest Road, Aberdeen. He is in his 8znd year, and entered the School 7o years ago, in 18734 The next oldest f The oldest member of the Club and probably the oldest surviving former pupil of tlie School is now (December 1943) PATRICK REID (1861-61), retired commensal traveller, Aberdeen.

6

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

of the surviving original members (who all entered the School in the 'seventies) are: JOHN CROMAR (1876-83), L.D.S. ; Colonel H. J. KINGHORN (1876-80), C.B., T.D. ; JoHN MCBAIN f (1877-79), C.A. ; and Rev. Professor ADAM FYFE FINDLAY (1879-85), D.D. By far the oldest original member of the Club was Rev. Principal DAVID BROWN, D.D., LL.D., who was born in 1803, was at the School 1811-17, and died in 1897. Of the original Office-bearers only the Treasurer, ALEXANDER W. CHRISTIE (1878-87), C.B.E., formerly Provost of Huntly, survives ; and of the original Executive Committee, Dr. GEORGE 0. GAULD (1886-91), Nottingham, and JOHN EVERARD RAE (1885-87), advocate, Aberdeen.

EARLY SUBSIDIARY CLUBS.

In February 1894, at a General Meeting of the Members, it was resolved to form a Cricket Club, and JoHN F. CHRISTIE, G. 0. GAULD, and Dr. FRANCIS KELLY (Convener) were appointed to make arrangements. Proposals were also made for forming a Tennis Club, a Gymnastic Club, a Cycling Club, a Photographic Club, and a Dramatic Club. All these apparently did not materialize, if one may judge from the statement in the report of the Executive to the first Annual Business Meeting, held in November 1894, that " the Football Club, the Gymnastic Club, and the Dramatic Club have already proved that they have in them the elements of success."

The Dramatic Club gave its first entertainment in the Silver Street Hall on z6th April 1894. The Rector, who presided, explained that the proceeds were to be applied " towards the formation of a fund for providing an adequate recreation ground, in the vicinity of the City, for the present and former pupils of the School "—an object which was not attained until September 1916 with the opening of Rubislaw Field. Among those who took part in the performance of the farcical comedy entitled Turn Him Out," which kept the audience in roars of laughter from beginning to end," were CHARLES DAVIDSON (" C.D.") and W. EDMUND BELL. In March of the following year the Dramatic Club attracted audiences which completely filled the Hall of the School on three nights. The outstanding item in the programme was Douglas Jerrold's comedy Paul Pry. " In the representation of this comedy," wrote the Dramatic Critic of the Magazine, " the Dramatic Club surpassed their performance of last year (the farce Turn Him Out), and it must be owned that the acting reached a pitch of excellence which was quite unlooked for in such an unpretentious body. Mr. Davidson `caught on' at once, and his ' Dear, dear! just popped in' has wholly supplanted such commonplaces as ' Now we live in the top-back-room.'t The scenery and dresses could not have been better and materially contributed to the success of the piece. We arc glad to be able to say that the collections were large enough to leave a balance after paying all expenses, t Not to he confused with JoHN McBAIN of the original Executive, whose School dates were 1887-94 ; M.A. 1899 ; died loth October 1922. t From the song, " At Trinity Church I met my Doom," the great music-hall " hit " in the 'nineties of Tom Costello, who died 9th November 1943.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 7 including a supper to the performers." The male members of the cast included CHARLES DAVIDSON, G. W. S. WALKER, R. A. HENDERSON, W. EDMUND BELL, JAMES HAY, and A. A. BLACK. DINNERS AND DANCES.

On 4th May 1894 the first Club Dinner (but it was called a " Supper ") was held in the Bon-Accord Hotel, " when there was a large attendance of members." Dr. OGILVIE WILL occupied the Chair, and Dr. T. A. STEWART, H.M. Chief Inspector of Schools, acted as croupier. Among those who spoke were the RECTOR, Lieut.-Colonel GEORGE WILL, R.A., Captain ALF.X. DUFFUS, Dr. THISTLETON URQUHART, Dr. JAMES MOIR (Co-Rector), Rev. J. W. LEGGE (late Classical Master), Mr. ALEx. MARTIN (former Rector), and Mr. CHARLES SLEIGH (late Mathematical Master). Songs were contributed by Messrs. GEORGE B. EssLEmoN-r, DAVID KILGOUR, ROBERT BATCHAN, EDWARD J. SAVAGE, and HARRY J. KINGHORN. A week or two later " the Supper Committee handed in their balance sheet, showing a deficit of 15s. 6d., which was ordered to be paid out of the Club funds."

Other Dinners took place at intervals throughout the next dozen years, but since 1907 an Annual Dinner has been held regularly in Aberdeen, except in time of war. The President has, almost without exception, occupied the Chair, this usually being his only official appearance during his year of office. The Dinner has as a rule been in a hotel, but on one occasion, in 1923, the company assembled in the School Hall to celebrate the Sixtieth Anniversary of the opening of the present School buildings, on 23rd October 1863, and also to mark the publication of the " Roll of Pupils, 179 5 -1919." An outstanding feature of that evening was the calling of the roll of the " old boys "—seventeen of the pre-1863 pupils who had been invited as guests—by the Rector (Mr. DOUGLAS G. MILLER), who donned his Rectorial gown for the time. Each of those present rose, and, amid applause, personally answered Adsum as his name was called, while the Rev. PETER THOMSON, D.D. (father of Mr. J. MACKAY THOMSON, Rector in 192o-2 I) replied Abest for those who were absent.

The first Club Dance was held early in 1895 in the School Hall, and the second in the following year in the Palace Hotel. Of the third of such reunions, held in January 1897, in the " Halls of the Town and County Buildings," when about 170 guests were present, there appeared in the Magazine a glowing account which, with its references to crimson carpets, dark-green pines, shady nooks, " an arbour, veiled discreetly from the vulgar eye," the band embowered in graceful palms and tree-ferns, could surely have been written by none other than " C.D." " Thus the merry hours," we read, " sped on till nearly midnight, when supper was served in the stately Town Hall, where many an F.P. beamed down on us from his place on the wall." In spite of all the expenditure on exotic embellishments there was, it is on record, a credit balance of £z. 4s.1 The F.P. Ball in time became a regular annual event. Prior to 1914 it was usually held in the Ballroom and adjoining rooms of the Music Hall, which necessitated limitation of numbers and a rather

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high charge, but in Ig2I the Executive of the Club decided to run the Ball on more popular lines. They engaged practically the whole of the Music Hail Buildings, adapting the Large Hall for dancing, and the greatly increased attendance thoroughly justified the move and dissipated any financial fears there may have been. From that date until the outbreak of the present war the Ball was established as the leading social event of the Christmas season in Aberdeen.

THE THIRTEENTH JUBILEE OF THE SCHOOL.

The largest social gathering associated with the Club took place on Tuesday, z5th September 1906, to mark the 650th Anniversary of the School. The following account of that memorable occasion is taken from what appeared in the Magazine at the time :— It was a happy coincidence that the thirteenth jubilee of the School, dating from the earliest mention of it in history, should have fallen in the year selected for the University Quatercentenary, which attracted to Aberdeen so many of those who had made their way through the School to the University. For many weeks beforehand much anxious thought and hard work were given to the project, and, thanks to the energy of the Committee, under the wise guidance of Professor Davidson, and the Conveners of the Sub-Committees, aided by the hearty response made to their appeal for funds, the gathering, by common consent, proved a great success, and one of the pleasantest and best organized functions in that week of celebrations. Where so many worked with enthusiastic loyalty, it might almost seem invidious to pick out a few for special mention, but undoubtedly our grateful acknowledgments arc due principally to the devotion, energy, and organizing ability displayed by Messrs. HENRY KELLAS, JAMES W. MILNE, J. M. PIRIE, CHARLES WArr, and ALFRED W. EDWARDS, FIO11. Secretary, F.P. Club.

In order to give the Committee and their army of workmen complete and undisturbed control of the buildings, the School received a whole week's holiday.

North of the east wing of the School a huge tent was erected, with a beautiful floor laid for dancing. A covered canvas-way or tunnel united this with the main building on the one side and the Gymnasium [then in Westfield School), used as a concert hall on the other, with an offshoot leading to the Lower School entrance and giving access to the new Infants' Rooms, prettily decorated and used as an overflow ballroom, and upstairs to the Library and Museum Gallery. The former formed a large and commodious refreshment room, while the latter served admirably for a refreshment buffet. Corridors and stairways were laid with red carpets, and the walls and banisters prettily draped with art muslins, the School colours being predominant in the main corridor. The Hall itself, cleared of its business-like and somewhat uncompromising benches, was furnished with comfortable seats round the walls, and gay with huge palms, scattered like islands here and there.

The platform was occupied by an orchestra, which contributed music during the Reception and at intervals throughout the evening. The Reception was timed to commence at 9 p.m., but so dense was the throng of arrivals long before that time that the formal reception of guests had to he advanced by half an hour. It was estimated that the gathering eventually numbered close on 2,ooo.

One of the features of the programme was the series of short speeches by distinguished guests, some of whom did not arrive until nearly midnight from the Banquet given on the same evening by the Corporation in connection with the University Quatercentenary Celebrations. The speakers included Professor WILLIAM L. DAVIDSON, Sir JAMES STIRLING, Sir WILLIAM SINCLAIR BISSET, Professor DAVID FERRIER, Lord STRATHCONA—the aged Chancellor of the University, and Dr. RANDALL DAVIDSON, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Never has there been such a gathering of notabilities on the School platform. .

Space is not available for a fuller account of this occasion, unique

Aberdeen Grammar Moo! Magazine

9 be of interest to record but it may School, the of in the long annals that the total cost of the evening's celebration was £307, which was met to the extent of about £25o by special subscriptions.

THE CLUB SECTIONS.

Throughout the fifty years the Rugby Football Section of the Club has flourished, and it now awaits its historian. It is, perhaps, not too much to hope that an account of its origin, j- development, and record will yet appear in the Magazine. The Cricket and the Hockey Sections, too, have carried on successfully for many years, and, for shorter periods, Tennis, Badminton, and Ice Hockey Sections. When the last war was over and Rubislaw Field in full working order, the various Athletic Sections became affiliated in the Athletic Association, which was formed in 1921 with the objects of assisting and coordinating the working of the various Sections and of extending the athletic activities of the Club.

Social Sections have also been started from time to time, such as the Dramatic Section, whose early performances have already been recalled ; the Orchestral Section, the Motor Section, and the Club Room Section. To review the rise, progress, and in some cases the decline and fall, of Sections is beyond the scope of this necessarily restricted survey. Other efforts, in the words of the Constitution, " to promote social intercourse" among the members have taken the form in the course of the fifty years of Concerts, Smoking Concerts, Lectures, " Club Evenings," Progressive Whist and Bridge Tournaments, Monthly Luncheons, in addition to the Annual Dinner and the Annual Ball.

THE CENTRES AT HOME AND ABROAD.

While the membership of Sections has almost necessarily been confined to members resident in or near Aberdeen, groups of members living in other towns and areas, both at home and abroad, have been formed into " Centres." The first of these was the London Centre, the formation of which was undertaken in 1908 by T. J. WILSON, C.A., and carried through by him, as also was its resuscitation in 192o.

Except in the war periods this Centre has continued to flourish by reason of the efforts of a succession of enthusiastic Secretaries, whose names must be recorded : T. J. WILSON, JOHN THOM, T. D. FI. BROWN, D. M. WRIGHT, W. A. LAING, and D. P. COCHRAN. The Centre has also been particularly fortunate in its Presidents, among whom the first Lord MESTON, Dr. J. M. Bin,Locx, and Lord ALNESS should receive special mention. The meetings of the London Centre have usually taken the form of an Annual Dinner, and three or four informal dinners, followed by a lecture or talk, throughout the winter months.

The most outstanding event in the lengthening history of the Centre was the famous Byron Banquet, held in the Hotel Cecil on 25th April 1923 " to celebrate the approaching unveiling of a Statue of Lord f A Grammar School F.P. side or team was organized in 1891-92 by G. 0.

Gauld, A. M. Mackay, James Butchart, and others. Lord Mackay writes: " I well remember the enormous interest and thrill of our first match v. the University, for we had impoverished its supply and it vowed vengeance. We scored in the first two minutes, and won by keeping them out all the rest of the time. For six years (subject to error in recollection) we were never beaten."

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Byron in the grounds of the School," when a large and distinguished company assembled under the chairmanship of Lord MESTON, and the chief toast of the evening, " The Memory of Byron," was proposed

by Mr. JOHN MURRAY, C.V.O., a direct descendant of the poet's famous publisher. Another Dinner, almost on as large a scale, was held in February 1939, when Lord ALNESS presided, and the other speakers included Lord MESTON, Sir CHALMERS MITCHELL, Professor J. C. PHILIP, and " C.D." A Centre for Glasgow and the neighbouring counties was formed in 1930, and one for Edinburgh and its neighbourhood in 1932. Both of these Centres were conducted most successfully up to the outbreak of the present war, the devoted Secretary of the former being throughout HENRY G. EDWARDS, and the no less keen Secretaries of the latter, J. S. ABERNETHY, LL.B. ; JAMES L. DUNCAN, LL.B., Ph.D. ; and ALLAN C. FRAZER, LL.B. Abroad, F.P.s in Shanghai, numbering anything from twelve to twenty, for years held an Annual Dinner, and it was at one of these that the proposal which materialized in the presentation to the School in 1928 of the Shanghai Clock was enthusiastically adopted. In 1937 H. B. Scorr, Honorary Secretary of the group of F.P.s in Shanghai, submitted proposals for the formation of a China Centre of the Club, and these were approved in the following year. Owing, however, to the disturbed state of the country, the Centre never got going.

In Singapore, too, the enthusiasm of RAYMOND G. WILSON led to the assembling of F.P.s resident in Malaya at Reunion Dinners in 1938 and 1939, and these resulted in the presentation to the School in November 1939 of the Malayan Clock in the Hall, and to steps being taken for the formation of a Malayan Centre, with which, however, the present war has interfered. Since the war broke out, the members of the Club resident in and around Calcutta have formed a Bengal Centre, the driving force behind which is H. B. Scorr, as was the case in Shanghai.

THE CLUB CONSULAR SYSTEM.

In connection with Club activities abroad, a few words must be said about the system of Club Consuls, the adoption of which met with widespread approval, and with imitation by the clubs of other schools.

It was very largely at the instigation of DAVID Scorr, of Colombo, that the scheme was started in 1921 for the appointment of representatives of the Club in various places abroad to whom F.P.s on their first arrival from home could turn with confidence for advice and assistance. In no long time there was " gazetted " in the Magazine a list of Consular appointments running to more than 5o and showing that a responsible member of the Club could be found in most parts of the world to which F.P.s were likely to go.

A " CAUSE CELABRE." One of the objects of the Club is " to assist the School in whatever way may be deemed advisable," and it was less than three years after the formation of the Club that the attention of the Executive was drawn to a proposal of the School Board to erect an elementary school

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xi

" partly on the site of the present Westfield School and partly on the Grammar School grounds." The Executive, being unanimously of opinion that the scheme was fraught with danger to the best interests of the School, appointed a Sub-Committee, consisting of ALEXANDER DUFFUS, LOUIS WILSON, G. W. S. WALKER, and Dr. WILLIAM FINDLAY, " to prepare a statement of objections to the scheme, to interview prominent citizens with a view to obtaining their support in opposition to the proposal, and with full powers to take all steps, in the name of the Club, which they may deem advisable." The support of a large number of influential citizens was soon obtained, a deputation to the School Board formed, and ultimately, public feeling having been thoroughly aroused against the scheme, an important public meeting was held, which was unanimous in condemning the erection of a school on the site in question. A memorial was sent to the Scottish Education Department, and the Sub-Committee did such effective work in connection with a School Board election held in 1897 that they were able to report that they had every reason to believe that the proposal of the late Board would not be carried out. Before long the new School Board and the Town Council were at loggerheads over the proposal, but unfortunately in neither the Club minutes nor the Magazine are the later proceedings recorded. It is, however, a matter of history that a new Westfield School was erected, but of a size greatly reduced from what was originally proposed, and having on the ground floor a Gymnasium and " Manual" Room for the sole use of Grammar School pupils. About a quarter of a century later the erection of the Westfield School proved to have been a blessing in disguise to the Grammar School, for the number of its pupils so increased that the whole of the accommodation in the adjacent building had to be taken over, and for a time " the last vestige of the alien occupation of Westfield disappeared."

THE BYRON STATUE.

No sooner had the Westfield School controversy ended than the Club was called upon to consider what steps it could take in connection with a movement to provide a Statue of Byron in Aberdeen, which had been first suggested in public by the Rector on Prize Day, 1898, and was launched at a public meeting in the School Hall on 15th October of that year. The Executive of the Club gave the project its heartiest support, and appointed five of its number to serve on the public Committee. At the next Annual Business Meeting the members authorized the Executive to subscribe to the Statue Fund when the intentions of the Statue Committee regarding the site were known, and in the following year a subscription of ten guineas was intimated conditionally. The history of the Byron Statue Fund is a long and complicated one, recorded in the minutes and reports that are now preserved in the Aberdeen Public Library. About ten years were to elapse before the Executive of the Club was led to appoint a SubCommittee " to consider what steps, if any, should be taken regarding the carrying out of the Byron Statue Scheme," and as a result, the Club opened a fund " in order to assist the Byron Statue Committee to complete the movement at an early date." In 1911 it was reported

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that the Club subscriptions amounted to over £ 107, and that the Byron Statue Committee had resolved to commission Mr. Pittendrigh Macgillivray to execute the Statue, which, it was stated optimistically, " will be completed by the summer of 1913." At the Annual Meeting in 1914 the Club was informed that " the Byron Statue has at length reached its final stage, and, in the opinion of those members who had the opportunity of inspecting the model, will be an ornament not only to the School but also to the City." Eight more years passed (including the period of the last war), and then in May 1922 it was reported to the Club that " the Executive has learned with satisfaction that a determined effort is now being made to complete the movement for the erection of a Statue of Lord Byron, which was started more than twenty years ago. The Secretary of the Club [Mr. THEODORE WArr] has been appointed Joint Secretary of the Committee in charge, and thus the Club has been brought into still closer touch with the movement, on behalf of which it at present holds a sum of about £13o." A year later the Club Executive had the further satisfaction of recording that the Statue had actually been delivered in Aberdeen, and that the Education Authority was to provide a site for it in front of the School buildings and prepare it for the reception of the Statue.

On 14th September 1923 the Statue was unveiled by the Marchioness of Huntly in the presence of a large gathering, which had listened in the Hall to an oration by Professor Grierson (now Sir Herbert), in which he gave a comprehensive and balanced survey of Byron as man, poet, and influence. And so, only seven months before the celebration of the centenary of Byron's death, and almost exactly a quarter of a century after the scheme had been launched by Dr. Morland Simpson, who had died in 1920, the School, thanks largely to the Club's intervention in what had been started as a public movement, became the possessor of a magnificent work of artistic genius.

THE " ROLL OF PUPILS."

Reference has already been made to the publication of the " Roll of Pupils " in October 1923. This took ten years less than the Byron Statue scheme to put through, although it was first suggested by the Rector as far back as 1898, and in the next year some preliminary work was reported to have been enthusiastically carried out by Louis WILSON, who always had the scheme much at heart. It was not, however, until 1908 that the card-indexing of all the Admission Registers from 1863 was taken in hand by the present Secretary of the Club. This was followed by the work of identification of the individual pupils and annotation of the cards, the expense of collecting the desired information being aided by subscriptions from members of the Club. In 1913 the compilation of the " Roll " was so far advanced that the Executive authorized the putting of it into type, and this was almost completed when the Great War broke out and the printing and publication had necessarily to be postponed. As the war progressed it became obvious that the " Roll of Pupils " would also have to a be a Roll of War Service, so it was arranged that the publishing of the " Roll," with the addition of the individual war records and the extension of it to the date of the Declaration of Peace, would form a part of the School

Aberdeen Grammar School Magqine

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War Memorial Scheme. It was about five years after the Armistice in November 1918 that the " Roll" eventually was published, and the Executive recorded its congratulations and heartiest thanks to the Editor.

RUBISLAW FIELD.

Another great scheme, which, however, was carried through speedily, was for the provision of a new Recreation Ground for the School and the Club. This scheme, which had been foreshadowed by the Rector towards the end of 1909, was launched in the spring of 1914. Largely through the advocacy of JAMES ESSLEMONT, C. J. DAVIDSON, and J. W. MILNE, and with the co-operation of A. T. CRUICKSHANK, Convener of the High Schools Committee, the School Board was induced to purchase for the School twelve acres of ground on the east side of Anderson Drive between Cromwell Road and Harlaw Road, and in return for a minimum contribution of £I,ooo from the Club towards the purchase price, it was arranged that its Athletic Sections would have certain definite rights in the use of the ground, and also have representation on the Field Committee. In spite of the outbreak of war in August 1914, and the volunteering and calling up of large numbers of F.P.s for service, the £I,ooo was raised and handed over to the School Board before the end of the year.

Once the ground was purchased, the levelling and laying out of it proceeded with rather surprising rapidity, and on 16th September 1916 Rubislaw Field, as the new Recreation Ground was named, was opened with appropriate but subdued ceremony.

THE WAR MEMORIAL.

With the acquisition and opening of the new Field the need for a suitable Pavilion became evident, and a suggestion, made in the autumn of 1916 and adopted by the Executive of the Club, that a Pavilion should be erected as an appropriate memorial to those of the School who had fallen in the war, and " as a constant reminder to the scholars that a genuine all-round education requires them to fit themselves in body no less than in mind for the battle of life, in peace as well as in war," immediately met with a favourable reception. The scheme for a School War Memorial was not pressed forward while the war continued, but very soon after the Armistice it was formally launched at a public meeting in the School Hall on 16th December 1918, at which the chief speaker was the Right Hon. ROBERT MuNao, P.C. [now Lord Alness], Secretary for Scotland. At that meeting the first resolution adopted was : " To erect at the School Recreation Ground a Pavilion containing adequate dressing-room and other accommodation to complete the equipment of the Ground for the conduct and practice of games and athletic sports " ; and the second : " To complete and publish the ' Roll of Old Boys ' and to embody therein a record of the war services of all Former Pupils." It was estimated that £S,ooo would be required to carry out the scheme, and the response to an appeal issued in the spring of 1919 was gratifying. It was originally intended that the names of those who had fallen should be inscribed upon the walls of the Pavilion, but this idea was departed from when the Aberdeen Education Authority undertook, while

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Aberdeen Grammar Scbool Magazine

redecorating the School Hall, to record on its walls the names of the Former Pupils who had died in the Great War. This resulted in the noble memorial, designed by Dr. William Kelly, which now adorns the Hall. In the summer of 1923 plans for the Memorial Pavilion were finally approved, and the work of erection was started. By that time the War Memorial Fund amounted to nearly £4,300, and it was reckoned that a further £900 would be required in order to finish the scheme. The Pavilion was duly completed and opened informally at the annual School Sports held on list June 1924. As the names of the fallen had already been inscribed in the School Hall, it was felt that nothing should be done either to add to or, possibly, to detract from the deeply impressive ceremony which had accompanied the unveiling of the memorial in the School by Lord Alness in April of the previous year. In the Magazine of March 1926 it was recorded that the total payments in connection with the School War Memorial scheme had been f 5,zt7, including £4,595 for the Pavilion and £Soo towards the cost of the " Roll of Pupils." The income from subscriptions and interest had fallen short of the total expenditure by f2.52, and this deficit had been wiped out by the generosity of C. J. DAVIDSON, who contributed in all £400 to the Memorial Fund.

GRAMMAR SCHOOL HOUSE.

The most ambitious and the most helpful scheme undertaken solely by the Club on behalf of the School has been the provision of a Boarding House. This was first suggested by Mr. DOUGLAS G. MILLER, when, as Rector, he replied to the toast of " The School " at the great Dinner in the School Hall in October 1923. In June of the following year he and Mr. A. T. CRUICKSHANK, then the President of the Club, met the Executive and explained a scheme which had been informally discussed by a few F.P.s specially interested in the Boarding House project. The Executive agreed that the establishment by the Club of a Boarding House in connection with the School was highly desirable, that the scheme which had been explained seemed feasible, and appointed a Committee to investigate the whole matter. It was not, however, until February 1928 that this Committee was in a position to report that two adjoining houses, affording together the desired accommodation, were obtainable, and recommended that their purchase and adaptation for the special purpose in view be financed by the formation of a public limited liability company, in which the Club would invest Li,ooo of its funds. The report was at once adopted by the Executive, and the company was formed.

No. 8 Queen's Road was purchased immediately, and " Grammar School House" was opened for business at the beginning of the School session in September 1928. The story of how the whole of the desired capital was raised, thanks in no small measure to the very welcome intervention of GEORGE WATSON, of London, and of how the scheme developed far beyond the anticipations of the promoters, has been told in the Magazine. Let it suffice, therefore, to recall here that by December 1929 the property No. 8. Queen's Road had also been acquired, and from the beginning of 1930 the two adjacent houses were running as a complete unit ; that in 1933 the Directors decided

15 Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine to proceed with alterations on and additions to the House, and that the extended accommodation provided mainly by an additional wing was ready for the opening of session 1934-35, by which time a playground, with tennis courts, had also been added ; and that in 1937 the property No. 6 Queen's Road was purchased and equipped as a Junior House, there now being accommodation in the Senior and Junior Houses for between 6o and 7o boys. The outbreak of the present war affected the Boarding House seriously at first, and the Junior House was requisitioned for war purposes, but the Senior House has now almost the maximum number of boarders it can take.

As has been indicated, the Club has had a big share in the financing of the Boarding House, holding no fewer than 2,035 shares out of a total of 7,500. It appoints three out of the seven Directors of the Company, one of whom is the Rector, ex ofifeio4 A SWIMMING POOL? The next proposal in connection with the School to engage the attention of the Executive was for the provision of a Swimming Pool.

A Sub-Committee was appointed to consider this matter, and, as a result of its action, it was reported in February 1939 that the Aberdeen Education Committee had approved in principle of a recommendation from the Secondary Schools Management Committee that the opportunity be taken of the proposed extension of the Grammar School to provide a Swimming Pool ; and there for the meantime, the matter rests.

Since 1899 the Club has presented annually one or more medals for special subjects in the School curriculum, and in 1913 it presented The All-Round Trophy, to be held by the boy who is judged to be the most deserving in respect of the class work, the athletics, and the social life of the School.

THE GROWTH OF THE CLUB.

From small beginnings the Club has grown in membership from 173 at the end of its first year to almost 2,200 at the end of its fiftieth year. The 1,ooo mark was reached in 191o-11, and the 2,000 mark in 1927-28. In the last dozen years or so the total has been almost stationary, round about 1,15o. The Club, it would appear, showed signs of moribundity in the early years of this century, but from the time that JAMES W. MILNE, C.A., was appointed Secretary and Treasurer, in November 1906, at what was probably the liveliest General Meeting in the history of the Club, it developed steadily in size and in influence.

At first the annual subscription was IS. It was raised to zs. 6d. in 1907, when the Club took over the whole financial control of the School Magazine4 and to 5s. in 1919, when the full activities of the t The other six Directors have remained the same since the formation of the Company, viz. E. W. WArr (Chairman), A. M. JOHNSTON, G. G. NICOL, JAMES PATTF-RSON, A. G. NICOL SMITH, and THEODORE WArr, with J. C. DUFFUS as Secretary and ALAN Maltz/4 as Auditor. t The attainment of the moth issue under this arrangement was marked by the publication of a Special Centenary Number in March x941. This contained a " Retrospect" covering the first 34 years of the present Editorship.

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Club were resumed after the last war. Life Membership was started in 1895 with a subscription of £I. is. (and there are still a few survivors who paid that modest amount), which was increased to £a. zs. in 1907 and to £5. 5s. in 1919. In 1939 the last amount was reduced to £S for payment in one sum, and the alternative of five successive annual payments of £I. Is. each was introduced. The number of Life Members at 31st December 1943 was 798.

The funds of the Club have grown in amazing fashion. At the end of the first year the balance in hand was £t. is. Id. ; after ten years the capital was £z6 ; after twenty years £5oz ; after thirty years, £1,130 ; after forty years, £2,612 ; and after fifty years £4,270 —an increase of fully £I,65o in the last decade. It is remarkable that in the course of half a century the Club has been the recipient of only two legacies—the first, in 1934, of £loo, subject to a life-rent which has since expired, from Miss Alice Lamb, in memory of her brother, ALEXANDER LAMB (1897-1900), who, as Fourth Engineer in the hospital ship Gloucester Castle, died on duty in the engine-room of this ship when it was torpedoed in the English Channel in March 1917 ; and the second, in 1939, also subject to a life-rent, of a sum estimated to amount eventually to about £1,750, from ROBERT GORDON WILSON, F.R.I.B.A., Aberdeen. The revenue from the latter legacy is to be applied to giving assistance to F.P.s, or to the sons of F.P.s while pupils at the School, who may be temporarily in straitened circumstances. It is almost unnecessary to remark that further legacies for this and other worthy objects would be very welcome.

And so the Club has grown and prospered, and come to be officially recognized as custodian of the interests of the School. Nearly twenty years ago the Club was invited by the Aberdeen Education Authority to appoint a representative on the Secondary Schools Management Committee and it has continued to be represented on this Committee since the control of the School reverted to the Aberdeen Town Council in 1930. That the Club, by means of the Magazine, is fulfilling its aim of keeping its members in touch with the School and with one another is demonstrated by the appreciative letters and notes which for years have come from F.P.s in all parts of the world and which have multiplied during the present war, when for many the Magazine has provided one of the very few links with home.

T. W.

The Office-Bearers of the F.P. Club, 1893-1943• The Presidents.

1893-19oz IL F. MORLAND SIMPSON, M.A. (Cantab.), Raton 1902-08 J OHN SCOTT RIDDELL, M.V.O., M.A., M.B., C.M. 1908-To rofessor WILLIAM L. DAVIDSON, M.A., LL.D. 191o-11 ALEXANDER DUPFUS. 191 I - t 2 ALEXANDER SPENCE MACDONALD. 1912-13 ROBERT GORDON NICOL, M.Inst.C.E. 1913-14 JAMES ESSLEMONT. 1919-20 JAMES COPLAND GLEGG. 1920-2I Colonel THOMAS OGILVIE, C.B., C.M.G. 1921-22 Rev. Professor GEORGE PITTENDRIGH, M.A., D.D.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 1922-23 1923-25 1925-26 1926-27 1927-28 1928-29 1929-30 1930-31 1931-32 1932-33 1935-34 1934-35 1935-36 1936-37 1937-38 1938-39 1939-

JOHN FARQUHAR CHRISTIE, M.A., M.B., C.M. ALEXANDER THOMAS CRUICKSHANK, O.B.E., M.A. JOHN MALCOLM FYFE. Lieut.-Colonel ALEXANDER G. NICOL SMITH, D.S.O. Join.; MALCOLM BULLOCH, M.A., LL.D. The Right Hon. Lord ALNESS, P.C., M.A., LL.D. The Right Hon. Lord MESTON, K.C.S.I., LL.D. Professor JoHN J. R. MACLEOD, M.B., Ch.B., D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S. The Hon. LORD MACKAY, M.A., LL.D. The Right Rev. Bishop DANSON, M.A., D.D. Lord Provost HENRY ALEXANDER, M.A. GEORGE WATSON. Colonel HARRY JACKSON KINGHORN, C.B. Lord Provost EDWARD WILLIAM WATT, M.A. PATRICK ASHLEY COOPER, B.A., LL.B. Professor JAMES CHARLES PHILIP, O.B.E., M.A., D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S. Colonel ARCHER IRVINE-FORTESCUE, D.S.O., M.A., M.B., Ch.B.

The Vice-Presidents.

JOHN SCOTT RIDDELL, M.A., M.B., C.M. 1893-94 ALEXANDER DUFFUS. 1894-97 1897-1900 GEORGE BIRNIE ESSLEMONT. Louts WILSON. 1900-01 JOHN FARQUHAR CHRISTIE, M.A., M.B., C.M. 1902-07 CHARLES DAVIDSON, M.A. 1907-08 ALEXANDER G. NICOL SMITH. 1908-10 EDWARD WILLIAM WATT, M.A. 1910-12 CHARLES JAMES DAVIDSON, M.A., B.L. 1912-14 CHARLES WATT. 1914-20 HAROLD EDGAR SMITH, M.A., M.B., Ch.B. 1920-22 WILLIAM GORDON CRAIGEN, M.A., LL.B. 1922-24 JAMES CATTO DUFFUS, M.A., LL.B. 1924-26 ALEXANDER MCKENZIE JOHNSTON. 1926-28 GEORGE GORDON NICOL, D.S.O., A.M.Inst.C.E. 1928-30 ALAN McBAIN, M.A., C.A. 1930-32 DOUGLAS P. COCHRAN. 1932-34 WILLIAM DOUGLAS SIMPSON, M.A., D.Litt.

1934-36 JAMES PATRICK JEFFREY, B.Sc., C.A. 1936-39 J. LENNOX RIDDELL. 1939-

The Secretaries.

1893-95 1895-97

WILLIAM FINDLAY, M.A., M.B., C.M. GEORGE WALKER SMITH WALKER.

1893-97

ALEXANDER WISHART CHRISTIE.

Treasurer.

The Secretaries and Treasurers.

1897-1906 1906-19 1919-

ALFRED WILLIAM EDWARDS. JAMES WILLIAM MILNE, C.A. THEODORE WATT, M.A., LLD.

1913-19 1925-28

STODART MCLAREN CHRYSTALL, M.A., B.L. DONALD ARBUTHNOT DAVIDSON, B.L.

The Assistant Secretaries.

The Honorary Auditors.

1902-

17

BOWER & SMITH, C.A.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

A Tribute to a Great Rector.

In the Transactions of the Buchan Club there is printed a paper on " Scholarship in the North-East," by the President of the Club, Professor W. P. Milne (1897-99), M.A., D.Sc., of the University of Leeds, in which he pays the following striking tribute to the Rector under whom he studied at the School, Dr. H. F. Morland Simpson. In view of this (1943) being the jubilee year of Dr. Simpson's appointment as Rector of the School, the tribute is appropriately reprinted here, with the cordial permission of Professor Milne and of Dr. J. F. Tocher, the Editor of the Transactions.

In 1893 a young Englishman, Henry Fife Morland Simpson, arrived in Aberdeen to take charge of its old and famous Grammar School. He was a native of Northumberland, was educated at Oundle School and was a graduate of Cambridge. For some years he taught at Fcttes College, Edinburgh, a school situated on Scottish soil but not of the John Knox tradition. It is highly probable that when a sufficiency of time has elapsed to allow of a true perspective being reached, Morland Simpson will be regarded as one of the great Rectors of the School. Previous to his arrival in Aberdeen he had had no direct experience of Scottish education as understood in the sense of its great national traditions, but he was no southcountry Englishman in origin and texture, and was very much akin to the Scot in his imaginative and somewhat romantic outlook on life. He was reared in the land of the Moss Troopers and Peel Towers and was wont to quote Graham's Dyke. He knew in his bones what was meant by " The Elliots are ridin' the nicht." He was a classical scholar by training, an antiquarian by nature, and he edited " The Deeds of Montrose." lie was not antipathetic to Scottish tradition but brought his English experience to crossfertilise it in the realm of education. He was therefore by temperament particularly well fitted to effect a radical change in the educational outlook of the Grammar School directly, and indirectly through the medium of his old pupils on school education in the North-East generally. In the classroom his personality, quite unbeknown to himself, breathed forth instinctively the indefinable qualities of culture and distinction. He refused to be ironbound by the " Comp." Ile saw that if boys were well taught dailyday, they would do well at the annual gladiatorial exhibition incidentally. lie emphasised the literary character of the Latin texts being studied, and pointed out their charm of expression as he went along. He told his boys about the history of Rome and Greece. He revealed the pageantry of Scotland to her own sons. lie told them of the romantic history of their own School and the relationship of some of its greater pupils to national and world events. He defied the godly and, after many adventures, got a statue erected to Byron in front of the poet's old School. He preached men.r sana in orpore Saito" and encouraged games and healthy outdoor sports. He raised opposition to his improvements in the educational outlook of the North-East and was healthily untactful in pushing his objects through, but he stuck to his guns, and to-day his old pupils rise up and call him blessed, as they put the ideals they learned from him at school to practical test in the wider arenas of the world. Morland Simpson unquestionably made an indelible impression by his work as a widener on the texture of scholarship and school education in the North-East, and he did much to shatter " Comp." worship and the idolisation of Latin in the narrow and pedantic sense.

IIENRY FIFE MORLAND SIMPSON, VI.A., LL.D. Rector 1893-192o.

Founder of the F.P. Club

SIR PATRICK ASHLEY COOPER

Aberdeen Grammar School iAlagazine

***The Editor is glad at all times to receive from any quarter items of information for this section of the " Magazine."

The dates given in parentheses after names indicate the sessions of attendance at the School.

A New Year Knight.

Patrick Ashley Cooper* (1896-1901), B.A., LL.B., is to receive in recognition of the very strenuous work he undertook Knighthood a gratuitously for three years as Director-General of Finance, Ministry of Supply. He is the sixth F.P. to be knighted since January 1939, and while he is being honoured as a financial expert, it may be recalled that one of the other five is Sir HUBERT DOUGLAS HENDERSON* (190104), M.A., LL.D., who is no less distinguished as an economist. Each in his own sphere has rendered outstanding service to the State.

Ashley Cooper studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, from 1906 to 1909, taking his B.A. there, and graduated LL.B. at Aberdeen in 1912.

In the last war he was in the Ministry of Munitions from November 1915 to April 1919, and held the posts of Assistant Deputy DirectorGeneral, Trench Warfare Department, and Assistant Controller, Gun Ammunition Department. After the war was over, he engaged in financial and industrial reorganization. He was appointed Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1931, when that concern was in a seriously crippled condition, and he succeeded in putting it on its feet again. In the same year he was appointed a member of the National Economy Committee. In 1932 he became a Director of the Bank of England, and in 1933 a member of the London Passenger Transport Board. Immediately after the present war broke out he undertook the post of Director-General of Finance and Contracts in the Ministry of Supply, and continued in it until August 1942, being responsible for the Departments of Finance, Contracts, and Accounts. When he relinquished the post for reasons of health, it was stated that the lastnamed Department was paying out roughly £6,000,000 a day, or the equivalent of about half the national budget. In the discharge of his duties he visited hundreds of firms personally, travelling usually two days a week and sometimes as much as ten days at a stretch, visiting contractors all over the country, investigating their difficulties, and asking for their complaints and their suggestions.

Our new Knight was President of the F.P. Club in 1937-38. When he came to preside at the Annual Dinner of the Club in Aberdeen in January 1938, he brought with him Admiral Sir Edward Evans as * Member of the Former Pupils' Club.

20

Aberdeen Grammar School Magaine

chief guest, and both of them greatly pleased the company with their speeches. F.P.s everywhere will join in congratulating the ex-President on his richly deserved honour.

SERVICE DECORATIONS. Commanders of the British Empire Order (C.B.E.).

Douglas Gordon Cheyne* (Igor -5), O.B.E., M.C., M.D., Colonel, R.A.M.C., was in August gazetted C.B.E. in recognition of his services in Tunisia. A son of the late Dr. WALTER SMITH CHEYNE (1868-71), he graduated in Medicine at Aberdeen in 191o, and after the outbreak of the last war received a commission in the R.A.M.C., in October 1914.

After serving as a Sanitary Officer in France and Italy, he became D.A.D.M.S., Burma Division (Sanitary), in 1919, and in the same year was awarded the M.C. When the Shanghai Defence Force was formed in 1927 he was appointed Deputy Assistant Director of Hygiene, and next held the same position in the China Command. On the King's Birthday 1919 he was made O.B.E. (Military Division). After a spell of three years in Woolwich, he was posted in 1933 to the Bombay district of India. He is now Chief Health Officer for " Amgot " in Sicily.

Rudolf William Galloway* (I 9oz-6), D.S.O., M.B., Ch.B., Brigadier, late R.A.M.C., was in November appointed C.B.E. for services in the Middle East. He graduated in Medicine at Aberdeen in 1914, and in August of the same year received his commission in the R.A.M.C. He served in Belgium and France, and was awarded the D.S.O. in 1919. Like Colonel Cheyne, he was for a time in the Shanghai area, being Senior Medical Officer there till October 1938.

In January of the following year he was placed in charge of the Military Hospital, Bovington Camp, Dorset. In the present war he was A.D.M.S., Marseilles Area, until the collapse of France, and then A.D.M.S., 51st (Highland) Division, going overseas and remaining with it to Tripoli. He was next promoted Brigadier and D.D.M.S. to Tripolitania and then to Sicily, and now is D.D.M.S., Allied Forces, H.Q., C.M.F. Officers of the British Empire Order (O.B.E.).

Thomas Menzies* (1905-10), M.B., Ch.B., Colonel, R.A.M.C., was in November gazetted O.B.E. for services in North Africa. He graduated in Medicine at Aberdeen in 1915, and has been commissioned in the R.A.M.C. since March 1914, when he became a Lieutenant in the Special Reserve. Ile was promoted Captain in 1919, Major in 1927, and Colonel in 1942.

Ronald Maclure Savege (1913-14), M.C., M.B., Ch.B., F.R.C.S.E., Lieutenant-Colonel, R.A.M.C., was in November appointed O.B.E. for services in the Middle East. His studies as a medical student were interrupted by the last war, in which he served as an officer in the 25 i st Northumbrian Brigade, R.F.A. (T.F.), winning the M.C. in France in 1916. He graduated in Medicine at Aberdeen in 1921, and was then in practice in Hull for four years. Thereafter he became an Aural Surgeon in Harley Street, London.

Aberdeen Grammar School Alagazine Members of the British Empire Order (M.B.E.).

Henry Ironside Davidson (1910-17), Colonel, R.E., eldest son of the late Mr. George Davidson, who was for many years General Manager of the Great North of Scotland Railway, has been appointed M.B.E. " in recognition of distinguished service in Persia and Iraq."

Called to the Forces in October 1939, he went to France in December.

He was at Dunkirk, and later served for two months in Norway.

From May 1940 to March 1941 he was engaged in coastal defence duty in the South. Last year he went to the Middle East and became Director of Transportation to the Persian and Iraq (" Pai ") Force, with the rank of Lieut.-Colonel. His promotion to Colonel has recently been announced.

Duncan MacGregor,* Captain (temporary Major), The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, was gazetted M.B.E. in the New Year Honours List. He is a member of the F.P. Club in virtue of his being Games Master at the School, where this recognition of his services has given great satisfaction.

Bar to Military Cross (M.C.).

John Grant* (1 9 2 1-33), Captain, The Gordon Highlanders, was in December awarded a Bar to his Military Cross for services in Sicily. He was awarded the Military Cross in May 5943, when a member of the British North African Force, for distinguished conduct at the Mareth Line.

Military Cross (M.C.).

Thomas James Trail Nicol* (1930-3 5), M.A., Chaplain to the Forces, 4th Class, was in June awarded the Military Cross. He is a son of the late Rev. DAVID BRUCE NICOL (1900-z), B.D. (who as a 4th Class Army Chaplain also won the M.C., in September 1918), and was a student of Divinity at Aberdeen University. When the war broke out, he was mobilized with the O.T.C. Shortly afterwards he resumed his studies at Aberdeen, but on the fall of France in 1940 joined the Black Watch as a Private, and before long received a commission in that famous regiment. Later, when it was found by the Army authorities that he was sufficiently far advanced in his Divinity course to qualify as a Chaplain, he was given leave in order to be ordained by the Presbytery of Aberdeen and was commissioned as a Chaplain and posted to the Black Watch. He has been serving with the 8th Army.

Distinguished Flying Cross (D.F.C.).

George Munro Bowman* (1928-37), Flying Officer, R.A.F.V.R., was in December awarded the D.F.C. According to the official citation, " as air bomber he has participated in very many attacks on targets important to the enemy's war effort. He has displayed great determination throughout and his skilful efforts have contributed materially to the successes obtained. On several occasions, the aircraft in which he has been flying has been damaged by enemy action, but his keenness for operations has remained unabated. Flying Officer

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine Bowman has set a good example of courage and devotion to duty."

He is a son of the late Mr. George M. Bowman, music-seller, Aberdeen, and of Mrs. Bowman, Braeriach, Bieldside. He was in his father's business until he joined the R.A.F. in 1941.

Alexander James Jenkins* (,x 934-4o), Flying Officer, R.A.F., the elder son of Rev. W. J. Jenkins, Dyce, was in October awarded the D.F.C. He joined the R.A.F. in 194o, and got his " wings " in Canada in the following year. He has been overseas since the end of 1942, attached to Bomber Command. He gained the award in respect of long-range sorties against Tunis and Bizerta docks and airfields. He participated in attacks against enemy transport in the Tunisian mountains and in intensive operations in daylight against heavily defended landing grounds.

David Burgess Ross* (1928-36), Pilot Officer, R.A.F., has won the D.F.C. for gallantry during a raid on Essen in March of this year.

His plane was hit by flak and the navigator was killed and the wireless operator seriously injured. Ross assisted his captain to fly the damaged aircraft back to base, successfully beating off two attacks by a JU. 88 during the journey. " This officer," says the citation, " always performs his duties with zeal, coolness, and courage worthy of the highest praise." Pilot Officer Ross, who is /3 years of age, is a son of Mr. and Mrs. David Ross, 64 Anderson Avenue, Aberdeen. He was working with a firm of contractors when he joined the R.A.F. in 1939.

Edward Mackson Thompson* (1926-28), Flight Lieutenant, R.A.F.V.R., No. i56 Squadron, was awarded the D.F.C. in November for coolness and courage in saving his plane, which was damaged by flak over Hamburg. He enabled it not only to bomb the target but also to evade an enemy fighter. Twenty-nine years of age, he is the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Thompson, 66 Victoria Road, Torry, and before joining the R.A.F., was employed by the boot and shoe firm of Saxone as manager at Kirkcaldy. Towards the end of November he was reported missing as the result of air operations.

Military Medal (M.M.).

George Fettes Falconer (1918-14), Sergeant, R.A., was awarded the Military Medal in November for bravery in Sicily. He is a son of Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Gladstone Falconer, Fettercairn.

Distinguished Flying Medal (D.F.M.).

William Ford Watson Porteous (1930-34), Flight Sergeant, R.A.F., was awarded both the D.F.M. and a Bar within nine days.

He is a bomb-aimer and has taken part in many flights over enemy territory. The award of the D.F.M. has followed a raid on Hanover last September. Four members of the crew were wounded by A.A. fire, but, though essential equipment was rendered unserviceable, the pilot kept to his course, enabling the Flight Sergeant to make a successful bombing attack. On leaving the target, the bomber was intercepted by a fighter, which they eluded. It has not yet been announced for what reason the Bar to his D.F.M. has been awarded.

23 Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine " Mentions."

James Macpherson Gordon (1914-18), Major, R.E., was in December mentioned in dispatches for work with a Port Reconstruction and Repair Company in North Africa. A son of the late Lieut.-Colonel T. Gordon, R.E., who was Secretary of the T.A. Association of Aberdeen, and of Mrs. Gordon, The Milestone, Culter, he was trained as a civil engineer in the Harbour Office, Aberdeen, and became A.M.Inst.C.E. He was for five years in Burma in the Public Works Department.

Ramsay Roger Russell* (1923-35), who was promoted to the rank of Wing Commander, R.A.F., in June 1943, was mentioned in dispatches published at the beginning of that year.

Robert Arthur Smart* (1919-31), M.B., Ch.B., Major, R.A.M.C., has been mentioned a second time. The first time was last year for his part in the Libyan campaign. He received a regular commission in the R.A.M.C. in 1938, and after spending two years in Palestine, was transferred to Libya in 1940. Since the completion of the campaign there, he has served in Asmara and Khartoum.

John Crombie Adams (1914-16) is on the technical staff of the Hull Telephone Company, Montreal, Canada.

Hugh George Jeffrey Aitken (1928-40) graduated M.A. at St. Andrews University in June of this year.

Robert Aitken* (1928-37), after four years of war service in the Artillery, is now Battery Sergeant-Major attached to the Uganda Field Artillery, East Africa Command.

Henry Gavin Alexander* (1932-36 and 1938-40), who recently finished a Radio-physics course at Aberdeen University, has been appointed a Temporary Experimental Assistant 3 in the Admiralty Signal Establishment.

Francis Sheed Anderson* (1909-i a), who has been Divisional Food Officer for Aberdeen and the North-East of Scotland since December 1940, was in October of this year appointed Director of the Fish Division of the Ministry of Food. He entered upon his duties as Director-designate on 1st November, and took over complete control as Director on 1st January. In his new post he has his headquarters in London. In view of the complex nature of the' fishing industry and its problems, the post is regarded as being one of the most difficult as well as one of the most responsible under the Ministry. He was appointed Assistant Divisional Officer for Distribution in May 1938, when the scheme for the control of food in time of war was introduced by the Government. He has for years been head of the firm of Messrs. Anderson Brothers, granite merchants, Aberdeen.

Herbert John Anderson* (1898-1901) is a Director of the firm of Stayers & Anderson, Ltd., 18 Crecchurch Lane, Leadenhall Street, London. When he received his copy of the last issue of the Magazine he hastened to congratulate the Editor on maintaining in war-time

24

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

its high standard in every respect, and with the remark that " every issue is of the utmost interest," he enclosed a cheque for the Club in token of his appreciation.

Eric Ros Birkett* (1920-22), C.A., who is Secretary of Messrs.

John Menzies & Co., Ltd., wholesale booksellers and newsagents, Edinburgh, also expressed his appreciation of the last issue. Some years ago he sent to the Secretary of the F.P. Club a cheque to start a School Swimming Pond Fund. He feels now that something more substantial is needed, and it is his intention each St. Andrew's Day, " until the cessation of hostilities against Germany," to send twelve guineas towards such a fund. The 1943 cheque for this amount has been received and gratefully acknowledged.

Benjamin Booth* (1935-39) is now engaged in work for the Navy at Mombasa, Kenya.

Charles Ogilvie Will Bowman* (1910-15), who sailed from this country for Bermuda in November 1940 to take up an appointment under the Ministry of Information, was some months ago transferred to the Postal and Telegraph Censorship at Inverness. He was for a time the F.P. Club Consul for British Cameroons, West Africa.

Alistair Davidson Calder* (1926-40) joined the Scots Guards on leaving the School. Later he was sent to North Africa with the Black Watch and was with the Inspectorate of Army Equipment at Headquarters of the 8th Army, C.M.F. When at the School he was a keen " rugger" player, and on joining the Army, formed and captained a Scots Guards Reconnaissance rugby team. His twin brother, JOHN SINCLAIR CALDER* (1926-40), worked for the Observer Corps at Aberdeen till May 1941, when he joined the Artillery of the 51st Division. He also played in Army rugby.

Douglas Knox Cameron* (1932-35) graduated in June of this year as a Licentiate in Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons at Edinburgh (L.D.S., R.C.S. Edin.), and in October was gazetted Lieutenant in the Army Dental Corps.

Stephen Henry Carnelley (1889-94), who for many years has been in the Government Service of Kenya, has latterly been residing at Hippo Point, Naivasha Lake, Kenya.

Alexander Stewart Catto* (190o-03), who was appointed Captain of the Aberdeenshire Cricket Club in April 1941, during the past season proved himself to be the best bowler in Aberdeenshire Cricket Association matches. He topped the list of bowlers not only in League matches but over all the games played by his Club. Although he has played cricket for a long time now, he is still as fine an all-round player as ever.

John Catto* (1919-29) has been serving with H.M. Forces practically since the outbreak of hostilities. He was then studying Law, having previously qualified as a Member of the Institute of Bankers in Scotland.

Andrew Clark* (1895-I9o1), M.A., retired in August from the post of Secretary and Treasurer of the School Board, Queenstown, Cape Province. He has now got another job, in the office of a local

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

25

auditor and accountant. His elder son, at the age of 24, has recently been appointed Private Secretary to the Hon. J. H. Hofineyr, Minister of Finance and Education, Union of South Africa.

James Cobban* (1925-32) continues with the Shell Company of Egypt, Ltd., and is at present stationed in Suez.

George Francis Collie* (1916-26), M.B.E., Captain, R.A.S.C., who returned to this country from France in 1942, is Chairman of the Returned Prisoners of War Association, which has recently been formed in the interests of repatriated prisoners of war belonging to Aberdeen and the North-East. Captain Collie contributed to the issue of The Fortnightly in June of last year an article entitled " Returned Prisoners of War: A Suggested Scheme for Rehabilitation." His object was to draw attention to the need of a scheme of some kind rather than to press for the adoption of his own one, and in this, we understand, his efforts are meeting with gratifying success.

Edwin William Connon* (1916-25), B.Sc.(Eng.), has been appointed Chief Technical Assistant to Sheffield Corporation Electricity Department. From 1936 he was with the North-West Midlands Joint Electricity Authority in Stoke-on-Trent, first as Electrical Testing Engineer and latterly as Technical Assistant.

Ian Hamish Cooper* (1923-33), who is in the Merchant Service, in August passed in Sydney the examination for Chief Officer. He was serving on a ship of the British India Steam Navigation Co., sailing to and from Australia, but was recently offered a sea appointment from the Government at Melbourne and has accepted it.

Ian Campbell Cowan* (1924-33), B.Sc., M.B., Ch.B., is Resident Surgical Officer at Stracathro Hospital, Brechin.

Nigel Smart Cowan* (1924-28), B.Sc.(Eng.), Lieut.-Colonel, R.E., after being for a year in North Africa, has joined the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, S.E. Asia Command.

Kaimakam Alexander Cruickshank* Bey (1911-17), O.B.E., M.D., Senior Medical Inspector, Equatorial Province, Sudan, has travelled many thousands of miles since he left the School. His latest recorded expedition was one of 3,500 miles to get a wife, but on this occasion he was outdone by the lady, who travelled 9,000 miles to meet him. Cruickshank Bey was for a time running a Sudanese Hospital attached to the 8th Army. Having received a period of leave, he departed from Tripoli in an ancient Ford and motored 1,300 miles over the desert to Cairo. By the Nile he went to Khartoum, thence by air to Uganda, and did the last lap to Limuru, Kenya, in a small two-seater plane. There he was married to Miss Dora A. T. Morris, who had meantime come all the way from Australia, after waiting nearly a year for a passage.

Charles Greig Cruickshank (1 92 5 -32), M.A. (Aberd.), D.Phil.

(Oxon.), at present holds a post in the Ministry of Supply. After leaving Aberdeen he spent two years at Hertford College, Oxford.

George Leslie Cruickshank* (1918-23), second son of the late GEORGE L. CRUICKSHANK (1886-88), factor for the Fyvie Estates, is

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Assistant Director of Bricks under the Ministry of Works, and has had much to do with aerodrome construction on the administrative side. Before the war he was with a London firm handling Admiralty architectural work.

Norman James Hunter Davidson* (1 926-33), M.B., Ch.B., is now a Captain in the R.A.M.C., serving with the (Scottish) General Hospital. He previously served as Senior Medical Officer of a troopship in the Middle East, and then with the 51st (Highland) Division, being wounded in Tripolitania. On recovering, he served in various hospitals in the Middle East.

Alastair Ogston Dickson* (1919-28) is C.Q.M.S. in a battalion of the Northern Rhodesia Regiment. Before he joined up he was with the Standard Bank of South Africa, Ltd., at Blantyre, Nyasaland.

Alexander Bothwell Donald* (1922-28), M.D., Major, R.A.M.C., is on the staff of the Scottish Command. He says that he frequently sees the President of the F.P. Club, Colonel ARCHER IRVINE FoarEscuE* (1892-97), D.S.O., M.B., Ch.B., " who continues in great form."

James Hector Edmond* (1894-98), Lieut.-Colonel, R.A. (retired), son of the late Dr. GEORGE M. Enmotm (1864-68), has been doing A.R.P. work since 1937, and is now at the A.R.P. offices of the Borough of Lymington, Hants.

Basil Duncan Deans Emslie* (1929-35), Captain, R.A., was in August last with a Field Regiment in the 8th Army. He says that they landed in Sicily in July and did their little bit in chasing the Germans out, with many interesting and exciting experiences. Thereafter they enjoyed the fruits of victory in the form of the fruits of the country, including oranges, lemons, grapes, tomatoes, almonds, etc.

The roads and railways were being repaired and the natives were returning to their homes. The living conditions of the Sicilians were shocking, and all looked as if they could do with a good wash. The greenery was wonderful to behold after their desert experience, and Mount Etna, towering above them, was a most inspiring sight. The heat was as intense as in the desert, but damp. Fortunately the sea was close at hand and provided excellent bathing. Doubtless the Field Regiment is now enduring the snow and mud of Central Italy.

Alan Flockhart Esson* (5929-34) is Lieutenant, R.N.R. He returned to this country about the end of June, having spent the previous two years abroad in the Submarine Service.

Francis Millar Esson* (1958-25), Captain, R.E., was transferred in July from the Gordon Highlanders to the Royal Engineers, and was placed in charge of an Operating Section, I.W.T. Robert Warrender Farquhar* (1919-22), B.Sc.(Agr.), M.B., Ch.B., who joined the R.A.M.C. as Lieutenant in October 1939, was in April of this year promoted Lieut.-Colonel. He has been for the past three years in West Africa.

John Frederick Ferguson* (1904-09), formerly Major, Durham Light Infantry, and now Chief Constable of Sussex, was reported in the London Evening Standard at the end of October as having initiated

27 Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine a twelve weeks' publicity campaign to assist in coping with an epidemic of bicycle thefts. The Chief Constable stated that over 1,700 machines were reported stolen last year, and that this was 8oo per cent. more than in 1934. " Padlock your machine," he said ; " the bicycle thief is everywhere."

Brian John Fiddes* (1927-37) graduated M.A. at Glasgow University in June, with Second Class Honours in Latin and English.

He went up to Balliol College, Oxford, in October to read Theology.

Louis Findlay* (1924-30), M.B., Ch.B., after serving for over a year with a British Red Cross Medical Unit in Addis Ababa, Abyssinia, received a commission in the R.A.M.C. and is in the Middle East.

Robert Fleming* (1891-98), C.E., of Messrs. Wood, Fleming and Co., Ltd., real estate and insurance agents, Toronto, and F.P. Club Consul for Ontario, went back to the Army in Canada shortly after the outbreak of the present war. In the autumn of last year he was retired on account of his having reached the age limit. About this he was not sorry, as he had been away from his business for three years and both his sons were serving in England with the Forces.

James Rennie Forbes* (1920-21) is in the service of the Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd., A.B.C. Branch, Durban, Natal, having previously been in Johannesburg, Transvaal. In a recent note he says that his wife and he have entertained dozens of soldiers passing through Durban, but have never come across an F.P. Yet there must have been scores, if not hundreds, who have been in Durban for a longer or a shorter period since the outbreak of war.

Douglas Christian Fraser* (1907-17) was formerly engaged in tea-planting in Assam, and at the outbreak of war received a civil appointment at home under the Air Ministry. In June 1941 he was transferred to a similar post under the Admiralty.

Stanley Mayer Fraser* (1908-19), who has been engaged in teaplanting in Assam since 1925 and has been manager of Clevedon Estate since 1940, has been a Trooper in the Surma Valley Light Horse since 1931. He writes that he is living for the day when his home leave will again be possible, his last visit to this country having been in 1936.

William Fraser (1922-29), M.C., is now a Major in the Gordon Highlanders and was recently wounded. He went through the North African and Sicilian campaigns, gaining the Military Cross when as a Lieutenant he led a patrol of four men in a raid on an enemy aerodrome east of Jedabya, and destroyed 37 planes, a bomb dump, and fuel supplies (as reported in the last Magazine).

David Terras Gauld (1928-34), son of Rev. W. W. GAtrixo* (1893-98), M.A., Queen's Cross Church, Aberdeen, graduated B.Sc. with First Class Honours in Zoology, at Edinburgh in July of this year, and was at the same time awarded the Ramsay Wright Scholarship in Zoology and the William Turner Prize in Biology (Dept. of Zoology).

William Scott Gibb* (1925-36), who was a Lieutenant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, was invalided out of the Army

z8

Aberdeen Grammar School Afagazine

after two and a half years' service, and has recently started his appren-

ticeship with Messrs. Williamson & Dunn, chartered accountants, Aberdeen.

William Scott Gilchrist* (1929-36), Lieutenant, R.N.R., wrote in November that he had spent two " jolly evenings " in New York with two other F.P.s. These were Thomas Kyd Macdonald (1910-19), B.L., advocate in Aberdeen, who was formerly in the Merchant Service, holding the Master Mariner's Certificate, and is now a Lieutenant, R.N.R. ; and Andrew Alexander Mart Ducat* (1924-34), who served as an apprentice also in the Merchant Service, thereafter joining the New Zealand Shipping Co., Ltd., with whom he is now Second Officer. Leslie Duncan Durno* (1931-38), who, as a Sub-Lieut. (A), R.N.V.R., had joined Gilchrist's ship only a few days before, was unfortunately unable to join the others. A. A. M. Ducat has recently been awarded the Royal Humane Society's Certificate.• The award was made for his great gallantry in rescuing three ship's engineers who had been overcome by fumes in a blocked compartment of a ship in Sydney Harbour early last year. After helping to get the officers to safety, he maintained artificial respiration until they reached hospital. The certificate was presented by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, who described Ducat's act as one of " magnificent courage and fearlessness."

ON AN ARABIAN DESERT ISLAND.

Charles Robert Gillespie* (5934-38) is R.A.F. Corporal in P.A.I. Force. In an airgraph to the Editor from Masira in October he says that, after many travels and much re-directing, the June issue of the Mag. had just recently caught up on him. He thinks that it can claim to be the only copy to have reached the uttermost extremity of Arabia. " Masira is a desert island in the Arabian Sea, about to miles off shore and a hundred odd miles south from the point of the mainland which juts out furthest east. It is 36 miles long, varying in breadth from 6 to to miles. In my younger days I used often to wish for the quiet of a desert isle, and, by Jove, I've got it nowt Nothing but sand, rocks, and hills—and the nearest civilization Goo miles away. The hills nearby arc about 5oo feet high, while in the centre of the island they rise to 1,700 feet—a black, craggy mass of volcanic origin. The weather is amazingly cool for a place within the tropic belt. The main reason for this is the S.W. monsoon, which blows from May to September. For days at a time sandstorms envelop everything, and from indoors the sound of the howling wind and the sand battering against windows is reminiscent of a stormy night back home. Rain is practically unknown—we did have some once, which lasted for a whole three minutes. Consequently vegetation is non-existent, except camel thorn, which is the staple diet of the wild donkeys, along with, for a delicacy, any empty cigarette packets they pick up around the camp. Compared with other places I have been to further north, this is a pretty good spot, and I shall be happy to stay on a while yet.

Greetings and best wishes to the ' Grammar' and all connected with it."

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

29

Hamish Brown Grant* (1918-3o), M.A., LL.B., who is a legal assistant in the office of the Aberdeen County Council, was in September admitted a member of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen.

David Sinclair Hay* (1907-1t), who was General Manager of the Scottish Industrial Estate at North Hillington, Glasgow, is now Squadron Leader, R.A.F. In the course of his duties some months ago he paid a visit to the remote Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean, where he came in contact with an ancient people which manages to get on very nicely without any money. It lives under a system of primitive communism. No one is paid for his labour in cash, and all are healthy, clean, and happy.

Henry Humble (1913-16), M.A., B.Sc., was in November appointed Rector of Milne's Institution, Fochabers. He was previously, from 1932, head master of Rothes Junior Secondary School, and before that was Principal Science and Mathematical Master in Elgin Academy.

Edward Alexander Hunter* (1917-26) is now Assistant Inspector, Colonial Police Service Headquarters, Tanganyika Territory. He joined the Colonial Police in 1932 and was stationed in Palestine.

Charles Ross Irvine* (1922-26), M.A., B.Sc., head master of Plockton School, Ross-shire, has accepted the invitation of the Lord Wandsworth College, Long Sutton, Basingstoke, Hants, to join the staff of the College in an administrative capacity. He was appointed from the Central Secondary School, Aberdeen, to Plockton H.G. School in 1937.

Sir William Wilson Jameson* (1892-1902), K.C.B., M.D., LL.D., Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health, in November made at a Press conference a reassuring statement on the health of the nation. The country, he said, had entered the fifth year of war in extraordinarily good condition. While there was an increase in shortterm illness—probably only to be expected—there was no increase in serious long-term illness.

James Patrick Jeffrey* (1906-58), B.Sc. Eng. (Glasg.), Lieut.Colonel, R.E., has been granted the Territorial Decoration. Some time ago he was posted as C.R.E. to a Corps.

Donald Ritchie Keith* (1925-34) was in June discharged from the Army on medical grounds after three years' service, his last unit being Maritime Regiment, R.A. (L.A.A). He served in seven ships as gunner in convoys through the English Channel and the North Sea (E-boat Alley!). He says that while he was in the Army, no matter where he found himself, the Mag. always provided a link with home and the old School. " I doubt if many copies have sailed on an Estonian ship flying the Red Ensign, escorted by a Norwegian destroyer, but one of my copies has that distinction! " Cecil John Lamb* (1955-22), B.Sc. Eng. (Glasg.), who joined the L. & N.E. Railway Co. at their Locomotive Works at Inverurie in 1926, is now Assistant Locomotive Running Superintendent, Waverley Station, Edinburgh.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine George Rendle Leathern (1913-19), minister of St. Katherine's Church, Newburgh, Fife, was in August called to Ferryhill South Church, Aberdeen, and was inducted at the end of September. He is M.A. and B.D. of Glasgow University, and was ordained in 1932.

John William Lindsay (1888-90, M.A., M.B., Ch.B., went in 1900 as a medical missionary to Paraguay, South America, and served there until 1934, with a Great War interlude 1916-19 and a Gran Chaco War interlude 1932-34, and is now resident in Ealing, London.

1-le is the father of Lieut.-Colonel Kenneth Lindsay, O.B.E., I.M.S., who was mentioned on page 88 of the last issue of the Magazine in SYDNEY DURNO'S account of his escape from Burma. Readers will be interested to learn that Col. Lindsay was born at Belen, Paraguay, spent his childhood there, and later came home for his education, living at Peterculter. It was intended that he should go to the Grammar School, but the exigencies of the father's military service in the last war involved the son's removal to England and his going eventually to Edinburgh University.

Eric Linklater* (1913-16), M.A., Major, Royal Engineers, has had his official history "The Highland Division" published in French with the title " La 5 reme," and it has had a big sale among the Fighting French. Major Linklater has written a play called " Crisis in Heaven," which is to be produced by H. M. 'Ferment, Ltd. James Lyle McDougall* (1915-22), A . M.I. Mech. E., early in 1940 gave up his position as engineer with the Ontario Paper Company, on the request of the British Supply Board. He assisted this Board while its work was being organized in Ottawa, and thereafter his services were secured by the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association in Montreal to organize sub-contract war work throughout the maintenance shops of the industry.

James Wyness Macgregor* (1910-23), who was Town Engineer, Umtali, Southern Rhodesia, writes that he has forsaken the Southern Rhodesia Forces and is once more, after a gap of sixteen years, back with the Royal Engineers, with the rank of Captain. On catching up with his section in the Middle Fast, he found that one of the other officers was an F.P., Lieutenant EDMUND PATRICK SHARKEY (1917-25), R.E. Captain Macgregor, before the war, was the F.P. Club Consul for Rhodesia.

John Clark McGregor* (1926-29), M.B., Ch.B., of Thurso, holds the rank of Squadron Leader in the R.A.F. Medical Service, and is at present stationed in Sierra Leone.

George Mackay* (1890-92), who came to the School from Smoo, Durness, has retired from the charge of Croy Church, Gollanfield, Inverness-shire, and is now resident in Aberdeen. He was ordained in the United Free Church in 1902, and was appointed minister of Drumblade U.F. Church, Strathbogie, in 1912, being translated to Croy in 1930.

James Finlayson Mackay* (1919-3z), M.B., Ch.B., Captain, R.A.M.C., served with Field Ambulance units from the outbreak of war until January 1942, and since then has been a specialist in Venereology.

3o

31 Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine Thomas Mackintosh* (1909-14), B.Sc.(Agr.), who was for over fifteen years in the hotel service of the London and North-Eastern Railway Co., took over the management of the Roxburghe Hotel, Edinburgh, about five years ago, and during that time has received visits from quite a number of F.P.s passing through Edinburgh.

John Duncan MacLennan* (1923-29), Major, R.A.M.C., had in June in the Lancet an article in which he disclosed that, in the six campaigns in the Middle East from the outbreak of the war up to but not including the second battle of El Alamein, among the total number of 37,699 Allied wounded, there were only 164 cases of gangrene, of which 73 proved fatal.

Ian Angus Shaw MacPhail* (1933-4o) has been discharged from the R.A.F. on medical grounds, and is now in London in E.N.S.A. He has volunteered for service in North Africa and Italy.

HONORARY PHYSICIAN TO THE KING.

Archibald Campbell Macrae* (1896-19o M.B., Ch.B., Colonel, Indian Medical Service, was in November gazetted an Honorary Physician to the King. He joined the I.M.S. in 19 i 3.

Dennis Trevor Llewellyn Marr* (193o-42), who joined the Navy as an Ordinary Seaman in July 1942, has received a commission and is at present serving in Combined Operations as 1st Lieutenant in an L.C.T. Ian Chalmers Marshall* (1917-29), Lieutenant, R.A., spent last summer in East Anglia. In a country hotel at Hopton in Suffolk he met by chance over a game of dominoes JoHN CAMPBELL BANNERMAN LINDSAY (1918-23), who used to live in Beaconsfield Place, Aberdeen.

Robert Alexander Esslemont Mennie* (1924-36), M.A., Major, R.A., was discharged from the Army owing to ill-health in September 1942, and since then has been with the Ministry of Supply in a technical administrative capacity under the Controller of Physical Research and Signal Development, and expects to be domiciled in London for some considerable time.

A REPATRIATED AIRMAN.

William James Middleton* (1919-31), Sergeant Pilot, R.A.F., is understood to be the only F.P. so far to be repatriated from Germany.

He is the son of ROYAN MIDDLETON (1898-190o), and after leaving the School entered the family firm of Messrs. Middletons (Aberdeen) Ltd., manufacturing stationers. He joined the R.A.F.V.R. in September 1939 and got his " wings " about a year later. He was taken prisoner in 1941 after his plane had been brought down off the Dutch coast.

John Mortimer* (1923-27), who formerly played cricket for Aberdeenshire and was " capped " on more than one occasion for Scotland, suffered a few years ago from a shoulder injury which kept him out of the game for a time. During the last cricket season, however, he returned to form and proved that he could bowl as well as ever he did. He distinguished himself by his performances against a Combined Services XI and an Aberdeenshire Association Select XI.

2

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Johnstone Murray * (1879-85), Rector of Tacolneston, Norfolk, who, as recorded in the last Magazine, retired at the end of June, is now resident at the Homes of S. Barnabas, Dormans, Surrey. Trinity Sunday, loth June 1943, was the 5oth anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood of the Church of England.

James Gibson Mutch* (1902-05) is Managing Director of Messrs.

James G. Mutch (Motors) Ltd., Aberdeen. He was commissioned in the R.A.O.C. in April 1940 and became Major in February 1942.

In October of that year he was transferred to R.E.M.E., on the formation of that new Corps, and is now D.A.D.M.E., South Highland District, Perth.

Thomas James Trail Nicol* (i93o-35), M.C., M.A., C.F., was specially mentioned in a touching description from a military correspondent in the Press and Journal of a church service in the courtyard of a little farm in Sicily, which had as a background the smoking peak of Mount Etna. The service was attended by Soo men of the Black Watch who had just come out of the line for a brief respite, after being for fourteen days in the thick of the battle, and who for six days had hardly slept.

This morning it is the Sabbath. The guns roar in the near distance, the battle rages. But this is the quiet hour, the hour to worship God, to pray for our loved ones at home, to draw on the power of God—as our Covenanting forefathers did of old. The red heckles glint in the sun as the officers and men remove their tam o' shanters. We seek the shade of the buildings, stand under the low roof eaves, or sit in the straw. " The people that do know their God shall do exploits." This verse from the Book of Daniel is the theme of the service. The Padre, the Rev. Tommy Nicol, from Aberdeen, was himself a soldier before he became a Chaplain. He, too, was in the thick of the fighting, was with the men in the toughest times. He knows what they have gone through—to what thcy will return. And his message goes straight to the heart of every man.

There is no organ, no precentor. The Jock who acts as precentor is still in the line. But we sing the 121st Psalm. Its bold and sonorous measures gather strength as it is taken up by hundreds of voices. The Commanding Officer, grey-haired, wiry, former Dundee accountant, steps forward and reads the lesson. And then we pray for the folks at home, that they may he sustained in their loneliness. And a moment of silent prayer as we think of the fallen ; remember what they meant to us.

A simple service, a humble setting. But a depth of faith and of power not found in many a cathedral. And as the men scatter to their bivouacs to rest till they again move forward, they walk with a jaunty step and a thought of little kirks in the glens and the cities where their loved ones have also been praying for them.

Iain H. Pattison* (192 i -3o), B.Sc.(Agr.), M.R.C.V.S., who was recently appointed to the Colonial Veterinary Service, is now stationed at the Government Veterinary Laboratory, Tel-aviv, Palestine.

Hugh Lewis Pirie* (1899-1904), M.C., who has been Chief Engineer to the Coal Utilisation Council since its inception, has been seconded to the Ministry of Fuel and Power and has been appointed Chief Fuel Engineer as from ist May 5943. He served his apprenticeship as an engineer with Messrs. James Abernethy & Co., Aberdeen, as long ago as 1905-9, and spent some time in U.S.A. before the last war, in which he served with the Army Ordinance Department, being awarded the M.C. in January 1917.

Aberdeen Grammar School Alagazine

33

Arthur Smith Rattray* (1923-35), B.Sc., has received a commission as Flying Officer in the R.A.F. (Meteorological Branch). He was previously a forecaster in the Meteorological Office, Air Ministry.

Edward Birnie Reid* (1902-13), O.B.E., C.A., Brevet Colonel, Royal Corps of Signals, who has resumed his practice as a chartered accountant in Aberdeen, has been appointed a member of the L.M.S. Railway Company's Scottish Committee.

PRISONER OF WAR QUALIFIES FOR LAW DEGREE.

Douglas Reith* (1924-35), M.A., who when war broke out was studying Law at Aberdeen University and as a and Lieutenant in the Royal Corps of Signals was taken a prisoner of war in France inJune 1940, has continued his studies in Germany. As he required to pass only in Conveyancing in order to qualify for the degree of LL.B., an examination paper in this subject, set by Professor A. C. Morrison, formerly Professor of Conveyancing in Aberdeen University, was sent to the German prison camp through the British Red Cross. Reith duly " sat " the examination in the prescribed way and passed with distinction. He is the first Scottish student of Law to complete the LL.B. examinations while a prisoner of war.

David Richards (1894-99), M.A., recently retired from the headmastership of Aboyne H.G. School, to which he was appointed in 1929. He was previously head master at Blackford, Perthshire, and then at Maud, Aberdeenshire.

Douglas,* Alan,* and Ernest* Graeme Robertson are three brothers who are at present prisoners of war in Japanese hands. the DOUGLAS (1904-15) received a commission as a Lieutenant in was (1907-18) ALAN and fell, R.A.O.C. a month before Singapore R.S.M. in an ambulance unit of the F.M.S.V.F. Both are interned in Malai Camps. ERNEST (191o-19), who was in the J.V.F., is in Thai Camp, where he has recovered from severe burns received in an accident shortly before the capitulation. Douglas's son, ALASTAIR GRAEME ROBERTSON* (1930-40), who was for a time at the School Boarding House, has recently become a member of the F.P. Club.

John Watson Robertson* (1903-05), M.A., B.Sc., Head Master, Central Secondary School, Aberdeen, was in December elected one of the four assessors of the General Council of Aberdeen University in the University Court.

Alexander Ross* (1928-36) has recently qualified at an overseas training station and received his " wings " as a Sergeant Navigator in the R.A.F. Before joining up in June of last year he was employed in the office of the Aberdeen Corporation Transport Department, which he entered on leaving the School.

John Hugh Gunn Ross* (1924-31), M.A., B.D. (Aberd.), B.A. (Oxon.), went ashore in Italy with a Church of Scotland mobile canteen, which was the first on the European mainland since 1940.

He was in Persia and Palestine and with the " Desert Rats " in North Africa before going on to Sicily and then to Italy.

William Annesley Ross* (1923-32), who, before the war, was a

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 34 tea-factory engineer in Assam and received a commission in the Royal Engineers, in July transferred from the Army to the Indian Navy, with the rank of Engineer Sub-Lieutenant, R.I.N.V.R., his appointment being Assistant Factory Officer, Bombay.

Hamish Ian Sandison* (1933-4o) has been serving with the R.A.F. as a Pupil Pilot in the Transvaal. On the ship which took him to South Africa he was standing at the rail watching the reccding shores of the Old Country, and when they were no longer visible he turned to go below, and discovered that a Cadet who had been standing near to him was an old School friend, KENNETH JOHN MACRAE (I 930-4i ).

He was able to lend the latter a copy of the last issue of the Magazine, much to his delight. Sandison reports that life in the Transvaal is very pleasant, with plenty of fruit and other good things. He has availed himself on every possible occasion of the opportunity and privilege of travelling about South Africa and seeing its wonders.

Patrick Barclay Sangster* (1884-88), C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., Major-General (retired), a veteran of the Indian Army, who was born at Rogart, Sutherland, 71 years ago, is reported to be a " kenspeckle " figure at the St. Columba's Church services in London, which he attends in Home Guard uniform. He lives at Roehampton.

Robert Gray Sangster* (1919-3o), B.Sc.(For.), Assistant Conservator of Forests in the Colonial Forest Service, Uganda, was called up in 1940, and is now a Captain in the East African Command.

After serving as \Welfare Officer to native troops for a year, he was transferred to the Intelligence Service and is editor of an Army official newspaper.

William Dawson Scott (1894-190o), M.A., in August resigned his charge as minister of Dalvrecht Church, Kirkmichael, Banffshire, to which he was appointed in 1925. I-Ie was previously minister of Ladyburn U.F. Church, Glenluce, Wigtownshire, and then at Maryton, Montrose.

William Philip Selbie* 901-06), M.B.E., M.C., M.A., Major, Army Educational Corps, was for some time stationed at Ajmer, India, and is now back towards the North-West, where he has already put in twelve years' service. Nearly 8o of his pupils at a military school from 1933 to 1937 are now commissioned in the Indian Army, and he keeps in contact with many of them. He says that much of anything he may have accomplished " comes from the inspiration of H.F.M.S. [Dr. Morland Simpson]."

William Black Shepherd* (1922-33), C.A., who is in the Accountancy Department of the R.A.F., is at present serving in the British West Indies.

Alexander Lancelot Simpson* (1916-25), who is Captain in a Punjab Regiment, wrote in September that they were then in a back area after having had quite a spell of " fun and games " in Burma, and were getting ready for another " flip " at their yellow friends. Shortly before, when on leave, he went back to Calcutta, where among the friends he saw were H. B. Scorn* (the F.P. Club Consul), Dr. W. G. MACMILLAN,* and R. H. DUGUID.* For some time he has been

35 Aberdeen Grammar School Magaine plenty finds Adjutant of his battalion, and, like many another Adjutant, to do to keep himself out of mischief.

Alan Douglas Smith* (1929-4o) is at present a 1st Class Stoker in a minesweeper of the Royal Naval Patrol Service. I-Ie deals with oil, not coal.

James Bruce Smith* (1918-25), the F.P. Club Consul in Chicago, who is engaged in insurance there, is now leading partner in the firm of Smith, O'Grady & Fritz.

James Lorimer Souper* (1898-1909), B.Sc.(Eng.), A.M.Inst.C.E., has recently retired from the Sudan Civil Service and came back to this country. He has consequently resigned from the post of F.P. Club Consul for the Sudan, which he has held since the start of the Consular system. After graduating in Civil Engineering at the University of Edinburgh in 1921, he received an appointment under the Sudan Government, becoming an Assistant Engineer, and Lecturer in Civil Engineering in the Gordon Memorial College, Khartoum.

Walter Henry Soutar* (1932-40), on leaving the School, went to London to serve his apprenticeship with Hawker Aircraft Ltd., and continues with them as a designing draughtsman. This year he obtained the Higher National Certificate in Engineering at Kingston Technical College.

James C. Spark* (1918-aI), A.M.I.Mech.E., and A.M.I.Loco.E., is Works Manager in the Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Works of the L.N.E.R., Glasgow.

James Runcieman Sutherland (1907-17), M.A. (Aberd.), B.Litt.

(Oxon.), Professor of English Literature in Birkbeck College, University of London, is editing the Twickenham Edition of the Poems of Alexander Pope, which Messrs. Methuen are publishing in a series of volumes. Vol. V, " The Dunciad," has recently appeared and received an unusual amount of attention from literary critics.

James Stewart Tawse* (1913-26), C.A., in the spring of 1942 became associated with Messrs. William Thornton & Sons, Ltd., building and public works contractors, Liverpool, and has recently been appointed a director of the company.

John William Taylor* (1906- i 1), M.B.E., M.A., who was H.B.M. Consul at Vienna for five years and was transferred to Baltimore, U.S.A., in 1938, was some months ago appointed Consul for the States of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and part of West Virginia. He was recently home on leave and visited Aberdeen. Since then, he has gone on transfer to the British Legation, Guatemala, Central America.

George Leslie Smith Thompson* (1906-10), B.D. (Aberd.), Ph.D. (Edin.), is on the staff of Skerry's College, Glasgow. He was formerly a minister of the Scottish Congregational Church and wrote for his doctorate a thesis on " The Origins of Congregationalism in .

Scotland."

R.A.M.C., Captain, Ch.B., M.B., James Ross Tocher (1920-32), Central the in wounded been have to reported October in was Mediterranean.

36

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

James Trail* (1919-28), who was in the service of Messrs. Ross, Taylor & Co., Ltd., in Sourabaya, Java, escaped in time from the Japanese to Perth, Western Australia, and is now serving as a Corporal in an Intelligence unit of the Australian Imperial Force.

Charles Rawson Trenerry* (1923-32) is serving with a unit that formed a part of P.A.I. Force. Some months ago he took part in the trek, mostly in open lorries, of 3,000 miles to Egypt, through Trans-Jordan and South Palestine, and from Egypt by train to Tobruk, and then by road to Tunisia, where he arrived shortly before the Axis surrender. Easter was spent in Sfax. Latterly he has been in Italy, and was reported to be in hospital with shrapnel wounds. He was in France in 1940, but got back to this country via Cherbourg.

Harold M. Robertson Watt* (1926-38), M.A., who was trained as an R.A.F. Pilot in Transvaal, receiving his " wings " and his commission in August last, had many interesting experiences in South Africa, meeting everywhere with lavish hospitality. He " contacted " the F.P. Club Consuls in Johannesburg and Cape Town, and came across several other F.P.s. One day, while " marking time " in a camp near Durban, he visited a neighbouring seaside resort, and, much to his surprise, ran into J. GLOVER T. LUNN* (1924.-30, M.B., Ch.B., who as a Captain in the R.A.M.C. was in transit to the East.

John Park Weir* (1918-24), M.B., Ch.B., Major, R.A.M.C., is at present Deputy Assistant Director of Medical Services, stationed at Edinburgh.

Harry Reuben Wilding* (1925-37) was specially mentioned in a War Correspondent's dispatch from Sicily at the beginning of August :— From Militello, in Sicily, the men of the Highland Division descended into the

western section of the Catanian Plain and around Sfcrro came into contact with the main German defence line. Then occurred a gallant incident in which a North of Scotland battalion, led by an Aberdeen officer, overcame Nazi machine-gunners.

At Sfcrro the railway and River Dittaino run parallel and the job was to gain a bridgehead across both. One North Scottish battalion, attacking a feature overlooking Sferro, ran into five German machine-guns at about five hundred yards from the objective. Captain Harry Wilding of Aberdeen disposed his two platoons to give cover fire, while a third went in with bayonet, grenade, and terrific whoops.

All the posts were captured, ten Germans killed and twenty wutinded. The attacking troops had one casualty—a man who received a slight head injury when a close-range bullet pierced his steel helmet.

George Alexander Wilson* (1882-83), now resident at Summerville, via Addo, Cape Province, South Africa, in a recent letter says : " My only complaint about the Magazine is that it does not come often enough : my wife's complaint is that it comes at all, as there is nothing else done until it has been read from cover to cover 1 " Howard Bruce Wilson* (1921-25), M.B., Ch.B., Squadron Leader, Medical Branch, R.A.F.V.R., volunteered in September 1939 as an Anaesthetic Specialist, but no vacancy occurred till 1941, when he received the desired appointment. In May of this year he was posted to R.A.F. General Hospital, British North African Forces, as an Anaesthetic Specialist and Command Anaesthetist. In this field there is another F.P., Wing Commander Redvers Noel Ironside* (1907-17), M.B., Ch.B., who is Command Neuropsychiatrist.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 37 writes that he has James Wyness* (1933-39), Lieutenant, R.A., been in Italy since the " wee sma' hours " of 3rd September, having landed in Sicily at a similar time on loth July. Italy he describes as a lovely country, " and we do very well for ourselves in the fruit line —peaches, pears, grapes, apples, etc., are abundant, and have only to be picked. When we had taken Sicily, we had a good rest and did a lot of swimming in glorious crystal-clear water from the coast just above Catania. I revelled in it and used to spend two hours at a stretch in the water. It was so buoyant one could hardly sink."

Archibald Young* (1885-93), who retired in March 1941 from the service of Messrs. George R. Alston & Co., Ltd., Port of Spain, Trinidad, after 43 years' service, has now resigned from the post of F.P. Club Consul for Trinidad, which he has held for about quarter of a century. As soon as the war is over he intends to settle in Scotland, and until then will be away from Trinidad for lengthy periods.

He says that it has been delightful to meet F.P.s from time to time, but only once did he meet one who was a classfellow at the School.

This was HARVEY G. FALCONER* (1889-95). " Did we talk ?" is his rhetorical question.

ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY DEGREES AND PRIZES. At the Summer Graduation at Aberdeen University on 1st July 1943 degrees were conferred on the following :— Degree of Master of Arts (M.A.) :— William Wallace Gauld 928-3 z), with First Class Honours in Classics. (In absentia.)

Ian Stark Flett* (1925-37), with Second Class Honours in Classics. (In absentia.)

Hugh Henry Neville* (1938-40).

Degree of Bachelor of Science in Engineering (B.Sc.Eng.) :— James Kerr Finlayson* (1933-37), with First Class Honours in Civil Engineering.

Ian Ainsley Fearon David* (1930-40), Civil Engineering.

Ernest John Stephen* (1935-4o), Civil Engineering.

At a Graduation in Medicine at Aberdeen University on 29th September 1943 degrees were conferred on the following :— Degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (M.B., Ch.B.) :— Robert Neilson Johnston (1930-38), with Second Class Honours.

Malcolm Ross Milne* (1926-38), with Second Class Honours.

Robert John Anderson* (1931-37).

John Bruce Bittiner* (192 5-38).

Ian Campbell Cowan* (1924-33), B.Sc. Charles Grant* (19 z 8-38).

Ian Dunbar Innes* (1933-38).

38

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Donald George Mackay (1924-3o), NI. A. Norman Ramsay Mackay (1924-25).

Douglas Nelson Mackinnon* (i921-34), I.A. David Wyllie Mathieson (1926-38).

Robert Edward Page Nutten (1926-38).

James Bertrand Gordon-Russell* (1934-38).

Ronald George Simpson* (1925-38).

William Dawson Sinclair* (1934-38).

John Anthony McCredie Smith* (1927-38).

Alexander Logan Speirs (1926-38).

At a Graduation Ceremony at Aberdeen University on 27th October 1943 a degree was conferred on the following :— Degree of Master of Arts (M.A.) :— William Scott Gibb (1925-36).

In the Faculty of Arts Edward Kerr Borthwick* (1933-42) was in July awarded the de Gurbs Prize in Greek.

In the Faculty of Medicine Malcolm Ross Milne* (1926-38) shared with another the Anderson Gold Medal and Prize in Clinical Medicine, and was awarded the MacQuibban Prize in Medicine, the Matthews Duncan Gold Medal in Obstetrics, and the Shepherd Memorial Gold Medal (for the Principles and Practice of Surgery).

Alexander Macdonald* (1921-27), M.A., M.D., received the Thursheld Award (for the best Thesis for the Degree of M.D. which has attained the standard of Highest Honours of the year 1942-43).

Prisoners of War. George Douglas Allan (1919-30), C.A., of Viewmount, Pitfodels, Aberdeen, is reported to be a prisoner in Japanese hands. He was a chartered accountant in Malaya at the time of the Japanese invasion and fought as a member of a Home Defence unit from Ipoh to Singapore.

Stewart Duncan Begg* (1909-10) is interned in Stanley Camp, Hongkong. For a number of years he has been secretary of Messrs.

John I. Thornycroft & Co., Ltd., Hongkong. From January 1941 he was Sergeant-Major of the local Defence Force. His wife, who was a nurse in Hongkong, was killed when the island was captured by the Japanese. It will be recalled that it was Stewart Begg who in 1928, on behalf of the subscribers, handed over the Shanghai Clock to the School and set it agoing.

Leslie Ducat (1920-32), Flight Sergeant, R.A.F., son of JOHN H. DUCAT (1881-86), is a prisoner of war in Germany. He was reported missing from air operations about the beginning of September. In 1937 he became a sugar planter in Trinidad, B.W.I., and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941.

James Milner Fraser* (1918-20) after two years has been reported a prisoner in Japanese hands. He was engaged as an architect and

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

39 town planner to the Singapore Improvement Trust, and in May 1941 became a Captain in the Straits Settlements Volunteer Force (Singapore Searchlight Battery). Ile started the B.B. movement in Singapore in 1929, and in the course of the next ten years built up seven companies.

Robert Mitchell Gibb (1920-32), Lieutenant, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, son of the late Mr. George Gibb and of Mrs. Gibb, 291 Great Western Road, Aberdeen, was reported in September a prisoner of war in Italy, after having been posted " missing " in Sicily on 21st July. He is now in Germany.

Leslie Carse Liddell (1922-33), M.B., Ch.B., Flight Lieutenant, R.A.F., is a prisoner in Japanese hands in Java. He is a son of the late Mr. A. C. Liddell and of Mrs. Liddell, 17 Louisville Avenue, Aberdeen, and graduated in Medicine in 1938, joining the R.A.F. early in 1940.

William Ferrier Mayor* (1923-3o), M.A., Lieutenant in the Malayan Intelligence Corps, was in June reported to be a prisoner in Malai Camp. He was a Preventive Officer in Malaya.

Ian Murray Shaw (1908-16), Sergeant, Malayan Defence Force, was in July reported to be a prisoner of the Japanese. He has been for many years a rubber planter in the F.M.S.

Missing.

George Edmund Anderson* (1934-37), Sergeant (Wirelessoperator Air-gunner), R.A.F., was in June reported missing on air operations from India. He is the youngest son of ROBERT. JoHN ANDERSON* (1895-99), of Messrs. Rcith & Anderson, auctioneers, Aberdeen. He joined the R.A.F. at the age of 17, and after the outbreak of war was in France for eight months.

Kenneth Pirie MacKenzie* (1901-07), M.A., M.B., Ch.B., Lieut.-Colonel, R.A.M.C., has been reported missing.

James Barnett Michie* (1924-27), Flight Lieutenant, R.A.F., has been posted " missing—believed killed" on operations over enemy territory, but no corroboration of this has been received and he may have been taken prisoner. Before the war he was a commercial pilot.

Edward Mackson Thompson* (5926-28), D.F.C., Flight Lieutenant, R.A.F., was reported missing at the end of November (see page 2.2).

Robert Allan Stewart Watt* (1923-36), M.B., Ch.B., Lieutenant, R.A.M.C., was reported missing at sea in July 1943. The vessel in which he was a passenger was torpedoed and sunk. He was for a time in Madagascar and later in Mauritius.

Ninian Blundell Wright* (1910-23), M.A., B.D., Chaplain to the Forces, was reported missing on active service in the Middle East in November. It was, however, announced in January that he was safeetaving escaped from German hands, first in the island of Cos and then in Leros. He has been minister of the Kirk of the Covenant, Dalmellington, since 5933.

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Obituary.

LORD MESTON. The Right Honourable James Scorgie, first Baron Meston of Agra and Dunottar, K.C.S.I., V.D., LL.D., Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, died at Maidenhead on 7th October 1943, aged 78 years.

Born on zzth June 1865, the son of Mr. James Meston, Registrar for the parish of Old Machar, Aberdeen, he entered the Grammar School in 1876 and left it in 1880, as Dux and Gold Medallist. For the next three years he studied at King's College, Aberdeen, and then passed into the Indian Civil Service. After two years' probation spent at Balliol College, Oxford, he went out to India and was posted to what were later re-named the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. He held the post of Settlement Officer from 1892 to 1896, and in the following year was selected to be Director of Land Records and Agriculture. In 1899 he was made Financial Secretary to the Government, United Provinces, with a seat on the provincial legislature.

So successful was he in that capacity that in 1904, after the Boer War, he was appointed adviser to the Governments of Cape Colony and Transvaal on the re-organization of the public services there. On returning to India after two years, he was appointed Secretary to the Finance Department, Government of India, and was for a time a member of the Imperial Legislative Council. " Serving first in the military financial branch and later in the ordinary branch," said The Times, " he mastered quickly the intricacies of Indian finance and gained a sound conception of financial policy. IIis work on Indian currency and finance, stored away in the records of the Government of India, will never be known except to a band of fellow workers in the Secretariat. His drafts were couched in beautiful language and written in beautiful handwriting."

He was made C.S.I. in 1908, K.C.S.I. in 1911, and received the Volunteer Decoration in 1914.

GOVERNOR OF THE UNITED PROVINCES.

In the autumn of 1912 Sir James Meston returned to the United Provinces as Lieutenant-Governor. At a dinner in Calcutta given to him in that year by the non-official members of the Imperial Legislative Council, the proposer of the principal toast said :— It is a striking circumstance, and one that bears eloquent testimony to Sir James's great worth, that his elevation to the high office [of Lieutenant-Governor] has been received with deep and universal satisfaction by men of all classes and creeds and of different schools of thought. There is in Sir James a combination of qualities which must strongly appeal to everyone whatever his race or creed or the political complexion of his views. He is a man of great ability, one of the most brilliant members of the Indian Civil Service. His devotion to duty, too, is remarkable— for many years he has been one of the hardest-worked officials in the country.

Then there are his scrupulous cautiousness and his high character, and, finally, everyone recognizes in him the finest type of the English gentleman.

The war of 1914-19 bore heavily on the head of one of the most

populous of Indian Provinces, exercising sole responsibility, without the aid of an Executive Council or Ministry. The Governor, however, carried his heavy burden with unflagging zeal, invariable cheerfulness, and courtesy to all.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magerine

41

MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL WAR CONFERENCE.

During his term as Lieutenant-Governor, Sir James Meston was selected with two others to assist the Secretary of State for India when representing India at the meetings of the Imperial War Cabinet and of the Imperial War Conference. The War Cabinet met for the first time on zoth March 1917, and Sir James was present at a series of meetings which the then Prime Minister (Mr. Lloyd George) subsequently declared would "constitute a memorable landmark in the constitutional history of the British Empire." The Imperial War Conference was quite distinct from the War Cabinet, the former considering Imperial matters outside the direct scope of the latter.

While the three representatives from India were not members of the War Cabinet, but acted as official advisers to the Secretary of State, they were members of the Conference, and at its meetings, when the voting was by States, India voted through them on equal terms with the Dominions. Thus for the first time the direct representatives of India sat in an Imperial Conference with the representatives of Great Britain and of the Dominions.

During his visit to this country in 1917, Sir James received several signal honours. For the week-end zest—z3rd April he was the guest of the King at Windsor Castle. On the latter date he received the honorary Freedom of the City of Manchester, and on ist May he was one of the five overseas members of the Imperial War Conference, including the Maharajah of Bikanir and General Smuts, who were presented with the Freedom of the City of London at the Guildhall, and were subsequently entertained at lunch by the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House.

When the question of Indian constitutional reform became acute at the end of the Great War, the Government took the unusual step of transferring a Provincial Governor in the person of Sir James to the Viceroy's Council, where he correlated and consolidated the accumulated mass of evidence required for the Parliamentary legislation of 1919.

This he did in dispatches that elicited the admiration of the Parliamentary Committee for their clarity of expression and literary elegance.

Those who were behind the scenes during that period of turmoil recognized his cool, evenly-balanced judgment in equating the necessarily conflicting factors of the Indian complex.

Sir James's tenure of the appointment as Finance Member of the Viceroy's Executive Council was brief and interrupted, for he came to London in 1919 to represent the Government of India and give evidence before the Joint Select Committee which considered the Montagu-Chelmsford Report and the legislation to be shaped thereon.

Years of heavy labour had told upon Sir James's health, and it was announced in November 1919 that he had resigned his Finance Membership of the Government of India as the state of his eyesight would not permit of his returning to India to complete his term of office. (Nearly twenty years later he revealed that the late LieutColonel R. H. Elliot, F.R.C.S., had saved him from blindness : " He saved my eyesight and gave me back the chance of a useful career, instead of a middle-life retirement of comparative darkness.")

42

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine ELEVATION TO THE PEERAGE.

Sir James was now raised to the Peerage and took the title of Baron Meston of Agra and Dunottar. His connection with India explained his selection of the first of these territorial titles. He took the second because of his kinship with the famous Jacobite satirist, William Meston, who was tutor to the last Earl Marischal and his brother, the famous Field-Marshal Keith (both educated at the Grammar School), and was later Governor of Dunottar Castle, the historic seat of the Keiths. On 3rd December 1919 the new Peer took his seat in the House of Lords, and eight days later made his maiden speech from the crimson benches. A newspaper correspondent, describing the occasion, wrote : " The debate on the India Bill in the House of Lords disclosed that the elevation to the Peerage of Sir James Meston has added a most attractive and forceful personality to the House.

He speaks in a pleasant voice, and his argument is as clear as its utterance." "At the close," another observer remarked, "the Peers were as nearly enthusiastic in their cheers as they ever are. Lord Meston's modesty, as well as his argument, won their favour." It is a matter of history that the Government of India Bill duly became law, and Lord Meston's name will always be associated with what has been called " India's Charter."

PUBLIC SERVICE.

In the years succeeding his return to this country Lord Meston had many commitments in the City and in public affairs. He was chairman of nine limited companies and on the boards of five others.

He became an outstanding worker for Liberal principles. In an appreciation in The Times Lord Crewe wrote In the political atmosphere zo years ago there was nothing to attract the ambition of a new recruit to the Liberal Party, hut, knowing this, he offered to give all his energies and his time to advocacy of the principles in which he believed. It was soon realized that as an organizer and exponent of opinion he was invaluable, and he thus became without question head of the new Liberal Organization, and most efficient chairman of the National Liberal Club. Party polemics never ruffled his admirable temper or distracted his winning courtesy.

In The Times, also, Lord Perth paid a tribute to the remarkable success achieved by Lord Meston in connection with the finances of the League of Nations.

At the time of his election as a member of the Standing Commission, which largely controlled these finances, criticism was prevalent, but through his financial authority and devotion to the task for which he had been chosen, this criticism was gradually stilled.

Another correspondent pointed out that to Lord Meston's tactful and tireless care from first to last, the foundation and development of the Royal Institute of International Affairs owes an incalculable debt. He was deeply loved by his fellow councillors and worshipped by the staff at Chatham House.

His gift fur conciliation amounted to genius. Fcw men in our time have contributed more to the public service in so many countries and over so wide a range of institutions.

CHANCELLOR OF ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY.

On zest April 1928 Lord Meston was unanimously elected by the General Council to be the Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen

LORD MESTON OF AGRA AND DUNOTTAR

Aberdeen Grammar School Magatine

43 of Richmond and Gordon.

This Duke late in succession to the honour was, perhaps, the one which he appreciated most. It has been well said that he was " the ideal Chancellor," and never has such an appointment been more completely justified. " During the fifteen years in which he held this office, no labour was too onerous, no sacrifice of time too great for him to devote to the advancement of the University or the welfare of her members." His charm and courtesy at all times, and particularly on ceremonial occasions, made him beloved by all.

Another honour which Lord Meston highly appreciated—he had been made LL.D. of Aberdeen in 1913 and of Edinburgh in 1933— was the conferring on him of the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen, which took place on zoth September 1935, when his class-fellow at the University, Field-Marshal Lord Milne, was similarly honoured.

In the course of his speech when presenting Lord Meston, the late Lord Provost Henry Alexander said that they thought of Lord Meston in the setting of those great Imperial duties in which he had been for so many years engaged in India, of those academic interests and activities to the encouragement of which he had contributed so much, and of those greater moral issues of world peace in which he had laboured so zealously. Lord Meston spoke as the statesman, ripe in experience, wise in counsel, bringing to the encouragement of scientific research and academic culture the wider and freer spirit of the outside world. He had served his country well, and running through all his career had been the golden thread of service to men.

INTEREST IN THE SCHOOL AND THE F.P. CLUB. For his old School and its F.P. Club Lord Meston had an extraordinary affection, which he manifested in full measure on his retirement from India. Years before, when accepting office as an Honorary Vice-President of the Club, he wrote : " I greatly appreciate the honour, and shall always do what may lie in my power to further the interests of the Club and to exalt the horn of the old School. I owed it much and retain the kindliest memories of it." He took the liveliest interest in the resuscitation of the London Centre of the Club after the last war, and was for years its President and latterly its Honorary Life President, presiding with great acceptance at its numerous informal gatherings and at its Annual Dinners. Be even found time to attend Committee meetings, and did everything in his power to help the successive Secretaries to make the Centre the success which it became.

In the pages of the Magatine, to the Editor of which he sent many encouraging messages, there have appeared reports of numerous speeches in which he expressed his love for the School. When President of the Club for the year 1929-30, he made a charming speech at the Annual Dinner in Aberdeen, and a delightfully amusing one at the latest Dinner of the London Centre, in February 1939.

Lord Meston liked to visit the School, and he addressed the pupils on more than one occasion. The first was on Empire Day 19zo, when he drew an attractive picture of India as a field for enterprising young Scotsmen. After the address he was the guest of the Club at a luncheon in the Palace Hotel.

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Aberdeen Grammar Sebaol Magaine

Lord Meston was married in 1891 to Miss Jeanie McDonald, only daughter of Mr. James McDonald, Kildrummy, and is survived by her. She is a C.B.E. and Dame of Grace of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. They had two sons—the elder, JAmEs MCDONALD SCORGIE MESTON, was at the Grammar School from 1899 to 19oz, and died at Eastbourne in 1907, in his fourteenth year ; the younger, DOUGALL MEsToN,* who has succeeded to the peerage, was at the School in 1901-z. In the last war he served in France with the Garrison Artillery, latterly with the rank of Captain. He was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1924, and has been practising as a barrister. He is unmarried.

In connection with the funeral of Lord Meston a Memorial Service was held in King's College Chapel, Old Aberdeen, on 13th October.

At the subsequent private burial in Allenvale Cemetery, the School and the F.P. Club were represented by the Secretary of the latter.

George Adam* (1889-93), M.A., died at Lenzie, Glasgow, on 31st August 1943, aged 71 years. A son of Mr. William Adam, Boatleys, Fetternear, he graduated in Arts at Aberdeen University in 1897 and, after being an assistant teacher in Inverness and in Ayr, was appointed second master of Prestwick High School in 19oz, head master of Barr Public School, Girvan, in 1912, and head master of Jackton Public School, East Kilbride, in 1919. He retired in 1930.

Forbes James Alexander (1882-86), M.B., C.M., died on Christmas Day, 1943, at Wraysbury, Bucks, aged 69 years. He graduated in Medicine at Aberdeen in 1897 and practised in Surrey and in London.

James Allan (1880-81), M.A., son of Mr. George Allan, farmer, Ordiquhill, Banffshire, died at 106 Ravelston Dykes, Edinburgh, on 15th June 1943, in his Both year. He graduated M.A. at Aberdeen in 1886, and two years later was appointed classical master in George Watson's College, Edinburgh. He was latterly head of the Classical Department, and retired in 1928, after 4o years' service. He joined Watson's during the head-mastership of the late GEORGE OGILVIE (1843-44), M.A., LL.D. Mr. Allan was a man of sterling character and an excellent teacher. While a firm disciplinarian, he had a genial disposition, which endeared him to a generation of pupils.

James Robb Allan* (1870-71) died at Kemnay on z8th October 1943, aged 9o years. He was a son of the Rev. JAMES ALLAN (184244), M.A., B.D., minister of Marnoch, who died in May 1917, in his 87th year and in the 61st year of his ordained ministry. James R. Allan studied in Arts at Aberdeen University from 1871 to 1875, and in Divinity from 1875 to 1878. He was ordained minister of Advie, Strathspey, in 1878, and was translated to Stoneywood, Aberdeen, in 1880, remaining there until 1918, when he went to Glengairn, Ballater.

He retired from the ministry in 1923, living in Aberdeen until his wife's death in 1941, when he went to Kemnay. Father and son, it will be seen, had a combined age of 276 years and a combined ordained ministry of to5 years.

John Brown (1886-87), son of Mr. William Brown, Bhailenachoile,

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

45 5th October 1943, aged on 74 years.

Balmoral, died in Aberdeen After leaving the School he was in the service of the Town and County Bank, Aberdeen, for four years, and of the Union Bank of London, in London, for five years. He was next with the Scottish Equitable Life Assurance Society in Dundee for nine years, and became District Manager of the United London and Scottish Insurance Co., Ltd., Aberdeen, in 1908. Four years later he was appointed Resident Secretary of the London and Lancashire Life Assurance Association Ltd., Aberdeen. In 1926 he joined the Aberdeen staff of the Northern Assurance Co., Ltd., and retired in 1935.

John Brown was a nephew of Queen Victoria's personal attendant of the same name, and it is recorded that the Queen was present at the younger John's baptism. When a boy he contracted measles and the Queen sent an outrider daily to inquire as to his progress.

She presented him with a story book, on the flyleaf of which she wrote: " To Johnnie Brown, from his dear uncle's best friend, V.R. & I." In the younger John Brown's house was a life-size painting of his uncle, executed by a famous artist at Queen Victoria's command. He also had in his possession a watch and chain which Queen Victoria presented to her devoted attendant in recognition of his presence of mind and courage at Buckingham Palace when a would-be assassin shot at the Queen.

A SCHOOLBOY AT AGE OF 28.

John Cameron (1894-95), M.A., died at Nairn on 23rd December 1943, aged 78 years. Entering the highest class of the School at the age of z8, when, if memory serves, he was already beginning to turn grey, he passed to Aberdeen University, where he graduated with Honours in Philosophy in 1898. He then attended the Free Church College, Aberdeen, and in 1903 became minister of the U.F. Church, Helmsdale. His next charge was at Hopeman, where he took a prominent part in the revival of 1921. In the last war he acted as Gaelic-speaking Naval Chaplain at Devonport, Portsmouth, and Chatham. For three years from 1933 he ministered in Strathconan, Ross-shire. He retired in 1936 and thereafter resided in Nairn. More than a dozen years before he came to the Grammar School he was the youngest member of the Dingwall Volunteers and was present at the " Wet Review " of 1881. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Isabel Cameron, the well-known authoress.

Alexander Christie* (1889-94), M.A., B.L., eldest son of the late Mr. Dougall Christie, M.A., Kildrummy, Aberdeenshire, died in Aberdeen on 28th November 1943, aged 67 years. He served as a law apprentice with Messrs. Youngson & Bain, advocates, Aberdeen, and qualified as a law agent in 1899. For a time he was in practice in Nairn, and from 1904 was a writer in Glasgow. In the last war he served in the Royal Flying Corps, and when the war was over, became principal assistant with Messrs. Edmonds & Ledingham, advocates, Aberdeen. He retired owing to ill-health early this year. His knowledge of local and Scottish history, estates, and families was exceptionally wide and accurate.

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

George Wilson Clyne (1878-84) died at 16 Gordondale Road, Aberdeen, on 5th November 1943, aged 76 years. A son of Mr. Thomas Clyne, merchant in Aberdeen, he served as a law apprentice with Messrs. Adam, Thomson & Ross, advocates. He was in business in Aberdeen for many years.

Henry Alexander Davidson* (1886-93), B.Sc., C.A., died at xo Bayview Road, Aberdeen, on 16th July 1943, aged 66 years. He was the younger son of Mr. Charles B. Davidson, LL.D., advocate in Aberdeen—the older son being the late CHARLES JAMFS DAVIDSON (1886-91), M.A., B.I..—and graduated B.Sc. at Aberdeen University in 1896. He then served his apprenticeship as a chartered accountant with Messrs. Whyte & Williamson, Aberdeen, and joined the Society of Accountants in Aberdeen in 1901. After being for two years with a firm of Edinburgh accountants, he started in practice in Aberdeen, and thereafter was apprenticed to his father's firm of Messrs. Lumsden and Davidson, advocates. He became a partner of this firm in 1911.

When the Department of Commerce was started in Aberdeen University in 1919 he was appointed Lecturer in Accounting and Business Methods, and continued to hold this position for four years. For a considerable period he was Session Clerk of the West Church of St. Nicholas, Aberdeen. In July 1912 he married Miss Elspeth Fyfe Findlay, M.A., by whom he is survived.

James Brown Donaldson (1909-1o), second son of the late Mr. Alexander Donaldson, and of Mrs. Donaldson, who lived at Thornhill, Cults, died suddenly at Cairncoullie Schoolhouse, Cushnie, Aberdeenshire, on 4th November 1943, aged 5o years. On leaving the School he entered the service of the North British and Mercantile Insurance Co. Ltd., Aberdeen, and after four years, in May 1915, joined the 4th Batt. Gordon Highlanders (T.F.), as a Private. He served in France from July 1915 to March 1917 and then received a commission in the Royal Flying Corps. In March 1919 he was demobilized as and Lieut., R.A.F., and shortly afterwards joined the Northern Assurance Co. Ltd. as an inspector. Later he was appointed resident secretary in Aberdeen of the Legal and General Assurance Society, Ltd. After a time, owing to failing sight, he had to retire, and some years ago he became totally blind and his health gradually failed. In his younger days he was an enthusiastic cricketer and played for the Aberdeenshire Club. He married in September 1925 Miss Ivy B. Williams, The Vcras, Bieldside, by whom and a son and a daughter he is survived. " BOYD CABLE."

Ernest Andrew Ewart*—" Boyd Cable "—(1882-83), O.B.E., Lieut.-Colonel, died in London on i zth August 1943, aged 67 years.

He was a son of Lieutenant John Ewart, R.F.., and was in business in Banff until 1900. The following account of his subsequent career is based on a remarkable number of tributes that appeared in the press at the time of his death. After serving in the South African war with the Lovat Scouts, 1900-I, he roamed over the world. He was a teamster in Australia, and in both Australia and New Zealand he worked on cattle and sheep farms. Later he entered business as a publisher,

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

47 and then went to sea " to get to know men better." He sailed in windjammers, coasters, luxury liners, and became an authority on ships and ships' flags. On archaeological studies he tramped about Italy and Sicily and Greece, and sailed up most of the small rivers in France in small craft. He wrote " From Paris to the Alps by Motorboat," and he was a war correspondent in the Moroccan and Riff wars.

In the 1914-18 war he was commissioned in the R.F.A., later transferring to the R.A.F., but Mr. Lloyd George and Lord Weir brought him home to this country to lecture in factories and shipyards to the workers. For the last ten years or more he was in charge of publicity for the P. and O. Company. He wrote an admirable official history of that great concern, and was editor of its monthly magazine, the Trident. This he edited with brilliance and that love of the sea which those who knew him well knew was his real element ; he was never happier than when aboard ship, preferably on some old tramp steamer, recalling the days of his youth, when he worked before the mast and also as fireman, greaser, and trimmer in steamships before the coming of the great liners. Of his numerous books mention must be made of " Between the Lines," " Action Front," " Front Lines," " Air Men o' War," " The Old Contemptibles," " The Rolling Road," and " The Flying Courier " ; he also wrote film stories and dialogue.

It was in August 1916 that it was discovered that " Boyd Cable," the brilliant author of " Between the Lines " and " Action Front," was a former pupil of the Grammar School, and this was revealed in the Magazine issued in October of that year. He subsequently became a member of the F.P. Club, and took a keen interest in its London Centre, which he addressed on more than one occasion. A journalist himself, he took a great interest in the Magazine, to which some years ago he contributed a fascinating article entitled " The Wandering Scot"; and to the Centenary Number, published in March 1941, he sent a congratulatory letter in which he said : " Many years have slipped astern since I was a pupil of the old School, but I have always retained some connection with and a great deal of affection for the Granite City. . . . Despite the present-day fashion to cry down the ' old school tie' principles and associations, I am convinced that such a spirit is one of the finest in our lives. I hope it may never die."

James Gray Gilchrist (1889-90), M.A. (Aberd.), B.Sc. (London), son of the late Mr. James Gilchrist, Newseat, Rothienorman, died on 17th November 1943, aged 71 years. After graduating in Arts at Aberdeen in 1894, he taught in Lybster for four years, and then was successively Mathematical and Science Master in Airdrie Academy ; Linton House School, Holland Park, London; Nairn Academy, and Musselburgh Grammar School. In 1909 he became Rector of Annan Academy, and ten years later was appointed Head Master of Inverkeithing School, Fife. He retired on reaching the age limit.

William Elmslie Henderson (1887-89), M.A., M.B., Ch.B., of 19 Carlton Place, Aberdeen, died in a nursing home on z6th June 1943, aged 71 years. A son of Mr. William Henderson, M.A., who used to live at 20 Westfield Terrace, he graduated at Aberdeen in Arts in 1893 and in Medicine in 1898, and obtained the D.P.H. of

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 48 Victoria University, Manchester, in 1911. For eight years from 1900 he was in medical practice in Kirkcaldy, and then became Medical Officer of Health for Westmorland at Windermere. He retired after thirty-one years' service, but for the last three years he held a war appointment as Assistant Medical Officer in Lincolnshire. He is survived by his wife, who is a sister of JAMES GRAY KYD* (1891-98), C.B.E., Registrar-General for Scotland.

George Ironside (189o-92), M.A., son of Mr. William Ironside, North Newmill, Methlick, died suddenly there while harvesting, at the end of September 1943. He graduated in Arts at Aberdeen in 1896, and four years later became head master of Badenscoth Public School, Aberdeenshire. He was next head master of Fetternear Public School from 1904 to 1917, and in December 1921 was appointed interim head master of Cairnbanno Public School, New Deer. He retired five years ago, and being keenly interested in agriculture, took over the family farm of North Newmill, Methlick.

Charles Lindsay* (1905-14), son of the late Mr. William Gordon Lindsay, Aberdeen, died at Johannesburg, South Africa, on 12th November 1943, aged 47 years. After the last war he held an appointment with a firm of analytical chemists in Messina, Sicily, and later was engaged at Rosherville Power Station, Cleveland, Transvaal.

Herbert Norman Macbeth (1882-85) died at 6 Learney Place, Aberdeen, on 22nd August 1943, aged 68 years. He was one of four sons of the late JAMES MACBETH (1866-68), pianoforte-maker and musicseller, Aberdeen, who were educated at the School. He took over his father's business more than thirty years ago, and retired in 1938 owing to failing health. At the outbreak of war in 1914 he volunteered for the Navy, and served as a deck hand on a minesweeper. Then he received a commission and became Chief Signals Officer to Minesweepers at Cromarty. Later he served in H.M.S. Erebus (senior monitor on Dover Patrol) from August 1916 to October 1917, when he was invalided out of the Navy. He was a keen golfer, curler, and angler. He is survived by his wife, four daughters, and two sons who were at the School—CHARLES JAMES SAVORY MACBETH (1905-11) and NORMAN HARLEY SAVORY MACBETH (1919-24).

Charles Gordon Mackenzie* (1887-92), M.A. (Aberd.), B.D. (Edin.), until recently minister of Logie-Coldstone and Cromar, died at Aberdeen on 19th July 1943, aged 68 years. He was a son of Rev. James Mackenzie, D.D., who was for over forty years minister of Aboyne, and after graduating in Arts at Aberdeen in 1896, he proceeded to Edinburgh, where he took the B.D. degree in 1899. After a spell as an assistant in Buenos Aires, he was ordained minister of Methlick, Aberdeenshire, in 1906, and continued there until 1924, when he resigned his charge on being appointed by the Overseas Committee of the Church of Scotland to the pastorate of Kandy Presbyterian Church, Ceylon. On returning to this country in 1928, he was appointed to the West Parish Church, Crieff, and three years later to the West Church, Cowdenbeath. In January 1934 he was inducted to the new joint charge of Logie-Coldstone and Cromar, in

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

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the Presbytery of Deeside. There he continued until his retirement a few months ago.

James S. Mitchell (1883-85) died at Fyvie Park, Northern Transvaal, on 14th October 1943, aged 75 years. He was the fourth son of Mr. George Mitchell, St. John's Wells, Fyvie. After learning to farm there, he was for a time a farmer at Dubbystyle, Foveran, but owing to ill-health he went to Transvaal, becoming secretary of the Durban Roodepoort Gold Mining Co. Later he became owner and manager of Fyvie Park, a cattle and grain farm of several thousand acres.

John Ajmere Robson* (1876-79), elder son of Rev. John Robson, D.D., of St. Nicholas U.P. Church, Aberdeen, died at Wretham Lodge, Forest Row, Sussex, on 17th October 1943, in his Both year. He went to London in 1884, and after being connected with an insurance company, entered the Stock Exchange in 1889, becoming a partner in the firm of Messrs. Robson & Ross. He remained in business until five years ago, when he retired. He was actively associated with the late Sir William Smith in the formation of the Boys' Brigade, being responsible for founding the 6th London Company.

Robert Gray Sangster* (1914-17), only son of the late Mr. R. G. Sangster, 16 Holburn Road, Aberdeen, died in Aberdeen on 16th November 1943, aged 41 years. After serving as an apprentice engineer with Messrs. James Abernethy & Co., Aberdeen, he became engineer on tea estates in Bengal.

Harry William Gordon Smith (1914-16) died at 49 Seafield Road, Aberdeen, on 9th December 1943, aged 37 years. He was a warehouseman in Aberdeen.

James McDonald Walker* (1900-06), D.F.C., died in Edinburgh on 8th August 1943, aged 51 years. A son of Dr. Alexander Walker, who used to live in Fountainhall Road, Aberdeen, he served as an apprentice with Messrs. Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, publishers, Edinburgh, and later became sole acting partner of Messrs. E. & S. Livingstone, the well-known medical and scientific publishers. In the last war he joined the Inns of Court O.T.C. as a Private in 1916, and from it obtained a commission as and Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps. He served at home to January 1918 and in France to October 1918, when he was wounded and crashed. He was promoted to be Captain Flight Commander in July 1918, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in October of that year. He was demobilized in February 1919 with the rank of Captain, R.A.F. THE F.P. CLUB CONSUL FOR NOVA SCOTIA.

George Mackenzie Wood* (188o-8z) died in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on r6th April 1943. He was a son of Mr. Joseph Wood, who used to live at 15 Ashley Road, Aberdeen, and who went with his family to Halifax in 1882. There the father established the shipping company of Joseph Wood & Co., and after his death, his son George carried on the business very successfully. He was a member of the Alpine Club of Canada, and did climbing in the Rockies and in Switzerland ; he was also an enthusiastic curler and golfer. For many years he was the F.P. Club Consul for Nova Scotia.

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Aberdeen Grammar School Akazine

DR. CHARLES McLEOD. CHARLES MCLEOD,* M.A., D.Sc., died at 1 zo Hamilton Place, Aberdeen, where he had lived for many years, on 14th December 1943, aged 83. He graduated M.A. at Aberdeen University, with First Class Honours in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, in 1883, and received the higher degree of D.Sc. in 1903. His first appointment as a teacher was in the Grammar School, Old Aberdeen. His next, from 1883 to 1887, was that of Mathematical Master in the Gymnasium, Old Aberdeen ; and thereafter, for three years, he was in the Harris Academy, Dundee. In March 1891 he was appointed Mathematical and Science Master in the Aberdeen Grammar School (in succession to the late Mr. A. V. Lothian), and there he continued to teach for 34 years, until he reached the age limit and retired on 3oth June 1923. In April of the following year he was honoured by the presentation of his portrait in oils—the work of Mr. John B. Souter, London—which was subscribed for by former pupils in all parts and was hung in the School Hall. A fine tribute to his work and worth was on that occasion paid by one of his most distinguished pupils, Professor William P. Milne, of the University of Leeds. The following tribute is from a pupil who was never distinguished as a mathematician.

I question whether Dr. McLeod ever had a more incompetent pupil through his hands than I was ; and it is just for this reason that I feel myself not altogether disqualified from attempting, in a few words, to set down the impression which a great mathematical teacher made upon the mind of one to whom his subject was—well, not distasteful, because nothing that Dr. McLeod taught could present itself as distasteful, but (let us say) a stumbling•block owing to sheer lack of aptitude on the pupil's part. For the grand characteristic of Dr. McLeod, as of all true pedagogues, was his infinite patience with those in his classes who were not numbered among the " bright boys." True, that patience had its salutary limits. Once he had convinced himself that you were not trying, his reaction could be stern and sudden. But so long as he felt an honest effort was being made to grapple with the difficulties, then, however dull the learner, the master was forbearance and kindliness incarnate.

And that is all I am qualified to say about Dr. McLeod as a teacher of mathematics. Others have testified to his brilliance in the subject, alike as student, researcher, and inspirer of his pupils, not a few of whom have risen to eminence in the science. But the influence of Dr. McLeod extended out far beyond the scope of his subject or the limits of his classroom. It radiated through the whole School. It flowed, inevitably and naturally, from the deep well-springs of a singularly fine personality, as rugged, as honest, and as kindly as one of his own Perthshire bens. No man ever more thoroughly detested pettinesss, insincerity, and pretentiousness in others ; none certainly was humbler and more sincere in his own life. " Be accurate " was his slogan, and he meant it to apply to many things besides Algebra

DR. CHARLES

NICI.Vol •

ROBERT GEORGE LESLIE BAXTER

JAMES MEARNS..DAVIDSON

Wing Commander, R.A.F.

Flying Officer, R.A.F.

JOHN MAXWELL STEWART, A.F.M.

ALEXANDER ARBUTHNOT RODGER RIDDEL

Flying Officer, R.A.F.V.R.

Lieutenant (A), R.N.V.R.

WILLIAM BENTON RENNIE, M.C. Colonel, R.A.M.C.

Aberdeen Grammar School Ma.gazine

i

I

1 i

5I and Geometry. Dr. McLeod never sought advancement or selfglorification in any way. There are those who have regretted that he did not write more, and I have been told that his mastery of the more rarified spheres in the mathematical sciences was such that he might have made a name for himself. Instead, he chose to give all his powers to his pupils—his " lads," as he always called them—and richly was he rewarded in the formative influence that he exerted upon their characters, and in the affection which they will cherish for him and his memory until their dying days. It is seldom possible, and not always a compliment, to say of a man that he had no enemies : it certainly was both true and a compliment in the case of Charles McLeod.

Let me not give the impression that his interests were limited by his subject or restricted to the classroom. In the early days of Scouting in the School he acted as instructor for the Starman's Badge ; and not a few will remember those nights of thrill with the telescope on top of the Round Tower. I certainly shall never forget my first glimpse of Saturn in all the glory of his rings and attendant moons. When wireless came, Dr. McLeod was a pioneer in introducing it to the School curriculum, and one of his triumphs, in the early days of broadcasting, was when he conducted, from the old studio in Belmont Street, a class of his pupils in the famous " Room Nine."

In two notable respects Dr. McLeod differed sharply from some of the more modern race of scientists. Many of these are narrow specialists with a poor general education, and many of them have surrendered their souls to a sterile materialism. From both these defects Charles McLeod was free. His homely manners and rugged exterior were the mask of a fine culture, and in particular he had an enlightened and generous appreciation of the civilization of the classical world. To " the ancients," as he liked to call them, he often referred in terms of understanding and respect. And he was a deeply religious man, in whom something of the austere intellectual devotion of the Covenanter was tempered by a dash of mysticism—hidden as a rule, but sometimes emergent when least to be expected—which he may have inherited from the Celtic stock of his mother.

His death, at a ripe old age and after so noble a life of service, leaves us nothing to mourn. Over all the world his old pupils will salute his memory and thank God for the privilege of having been moulded by so fine a teacher and so lovable a man.

W. D. S.

Marriages.

Adams (1914-162 .—M Hampstead, Montreal, on rth October 1943, JOHN CROSIBLE ADAMS, elder son of the late Peter Crombie Adams (1876-78) and Mrs.

Adams, 260 Broomhill Road, Aberdeen, to Florence Eleanor, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. H. Carpenter, of Notre Dame de Grace, Montreal.

Aird (1914-15).—At St. Laud's, Sherington, Buckinghamshire, on 5th September 1943, THOMAS ERsKINE AIRD,* son of Mrs. and the late Mr. Erskine M. Aird of Lindean, Bridge of Allan, to Kathleen Rosina (W.R.N.S.), daughter of Mrs. and the late Mr. Frederick M. Parrott of Sherington, Bucks.

Alexander (1932-39).--At High Church, Hilton, Aberdeen, on 29th October 1943, L.A.C. CLIFFORD BURNETT ALEXANDER,* third son of Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Alexander, Schoolhouse, Port Elphinstone, Invcrurie, to Lena, only daughter;of Mr. and Mrs. N. G. Lovie, 27 Greenbum Drive, Bucksburn.

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Ayrton Mannofield Church, Aberdeen, on z6th August 1943, Tom AYRTON,* (Driver-Mech., R.A.), son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Ayrton, 52 Springfield Avenue, Aberdeen, to Doris Gibson (A.T.S.), eldest daughter of the late William J. Gibson and of Mrs. Gibson, 2S4 Holburn Street, Aberdeen.

Bain (t9i5-22).—At St. Andrew's Church, Cairo, on 5th June 1943, JOHN WILLIAM LAING BAIN,* M.B., Ch.B., Major, R.A.M.C., M.E.F., eldest son of the late John A. C. Bain and of Mrs. Bain, z King's Gate, Aberdeen, to Grace C. F. MacIntyre, S.A.M.N.S., daughter of the late Mr. and of Mrs. Maclntyre, Natal.

Bonnar (1917-22).—At Bethesda Church, Keynsham, Bristol, on it th December 1943, JOHN GEORGE. BONNAR, only son of the late Mr. John Bonnar, The Grange, Cults, Aberdeenshire, and of Mrs. Bonnar, 132 Anderson Drive South, Aberdeen, to Gladys M., elder daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. H. G. Ruddick, Chudleigh, Newton Abbot, South Devon.

Boyd (1918-29).—At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on 17th July 1943, LESLIE GEORGE BOYD,* M.B., Ch.B., Surgeon Lieut., R.N.V.R., only son of Mr. and Mrs. George Boyd, to Devanha Gardens West, Aberdeen, to Constance Margaret, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Mair, Sunnydaic, Portknockie, Banffshire.

Brocks (1927-36).—At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on 19th July 1943, Captain BASIL. ERNEST BROCKS,* M.B., Ch.B., R.A.M.C., to Doris C. M`William, A.T.S., 3z Erskine Stn:et.

Brown.—At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on 26th August 1 943, CHARLES ALEXANDER BROWN,* M.B., Ch.B., Captain, R.A.M.C., son of Dr. and Mrs. Brown, Hamilton Lodge, Aberdeen, to Vera Mary, younger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. T. Dinglcy, 402 Great Western Road, Aberdeen.

Byth (i 9 i 9-3o).—At the South Church, Stirling, in August 1943, JOHN GORDON BYTH, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Byth, 38 Belvidere Street, Aberdeen, to Jessie McGregor Campbell, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Campbell, 6 Queen Street, Stirling.

Cameron (1931-33).—At Mayfield South Church, Edinburgh, on 23rd October 1943, Lieut. DOUGLAS KNOX CAMERON,* L.D.S., Army Dental Corps, son of the late Mr. G. K. Cameron, Havana, and of Mrs. Cameron, 127 Marchmont Road, Edinburgh, to Margaret Pollard, B.Com., only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. R. M. Pollard, to Crawfurd Road, Edinburgh.

Cowie (1916-26).--At Glasgow, on 17th August 1943, JAMES MURRAY COWIE, son of the late F. E. W. Cowie and of Mrs. Cowie, t4 Norfolk Road, Aberdeen, to Christina Irene Robertson, daughter of the late John H. Smith, Scotstoun, Glasgow, and Mrs. M. Smith, 7o Edith Road, London, W. t4.

Cruickshank (1911-17). —At Limuru, Kenya, Kaimakam ALEXANDER CRUICKSHANK * Bey, O.B.E., M.D., Sudan Medical Service, to Dora A. T. Morris, of Australia.

Cruickshank (19z5-32).—At Brompton Oratory, London, on 15th June 1943, CHARLES GREIG CRUICKSHANK, M.A., D.Phil., son of the late Mr. G. L. Cruickshank (1886-88) and of Mrs. Cruickshank, The Ncuk, Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, to Maire Roisin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Kissanc, Mayfield, }fathom Road, Sale, Cheshire.

Dalgarno (1934-38).—At Rubislaw Church, Aberdeen, on ist December 1943, Roy DOUGLAS DALGARNO, Flight Sergeant, R.A.F., eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. D. Dalgarno, 32 Forest Avenue, to Eleanor Mary, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ross, 120 Queen's Road, Aberdeen.

Duguid (1918-zo).—At St. Andrew's Scots Church, Calcutta, on 19th November 1943, RonyJer Ilurrox Ducicio,* C.A., eldest son of Mr. R. Duguid, 40 Grampian Circle, to Isobel Marion, daughter of the late Rev. John Watson, M.A., Amoy and Kelso, and of Mrs. Watson, 55 Carden Place, Aberdeen.

Durno (1922-30).—At St. John's Episcopal Church, Aberdeen, on zznd December, 1943, ALASTAIR STEWART DURNO, son of Alexander J. Dumo (1881-86)

and Mrs. Durno, 6 Woodstock Road, Aberdeen, to Mildred Isabel, younger daughter of Mr. Wm. and Mrs. Scott, 142 Broomhill Road, Aberdeen.

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magaine

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Edwards (1911-22).—At Rubislaw Church, Aberdeen, on 3rd July 1943, GEORGE ALEXANDER EDWARDS,* only Son Of the late Mr. G. A. Edwards (1881-90) and of Mrs. Edwards, 53 St. Swithin Street, Aberdeen, to Mabel, youngest daughter of the late Inspector George Hill (Aberdeen City Police) and of Mrs. Hill, 16 Sunnybank Place, Aberdeen.

France (1926-38).—At the Parish Church, Nantwich, on 1 zth November 1943, Captain RONALD SPALDING FRANCE,* The Herefordshire Regiment, son of Mr. and Mrs. R. H. S. France, 33 Whitehall Road, Aberdeen, to Eleanor Margaret, only child of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. I laighton, Fernlea, Nantwich.

Gauld (1928-32).-At St. Mary's Church, Kirkcudbright, on lath June 1943, WILLIAM WALLACE GAULD, M.A., Captain, Pioneer Corps, elder son of the Rev. W. W. Gauld* (1893-98), M.A., and Mrs. Gauld, Queen's Cross Manse, Aberdeen, to Jean Inglis, youngest daughter of Mr. Jonathan Gray and of the late Mrs. Gray, Kirkcudbright.

Gray (1926-3o and 1932-35).--At St. Stephen's Church, S. Kensington, London, on 7th July 1943, Jour,' ALEXANDER GRAY,* son of Professor and Mrs. Gray, 8 Abbotsford Park, Edinburgh, to Eileen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bengough, Cinderford, Gloucestershire.

Henderson (1923-3i).—At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on and October 1943, IAN FARQUHARSON HENDERSON,* elder son of Mr. and Mrs. Archibald Henderson, Sirhowy, Cults, Aberdeenshire, to Winnic Isabella M'Combie, second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Connon, Bogs of Coullie, Kcmnay, Aberdeenshire.

Humphrey (ii9I2-22).—At Cape Town, South Africa, on i7th July 1443, STANLEY FRANK WALKER HUMPHREY,* M.A., B.L., C.A., second son of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. M. Humphrey, Craigton House, Cults, to Una Katherine, only daughter of Captain and Mrs. H. Fowler, Cape Town.

Jeffery (1923-29).—At St. Mary's Chapel, East Church of St. Nicholas, Aberdeen, on 31st July 1943, JAMES OLAV JEFFERY,* only son of the late Mr. James R. Jeffery and of Mrs. Jeffery, Woodend House, Stoneywood, to Agnes (" Nan"), fourth daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Notman, 47o George Street, Aberdeen.

Kellas (i92 4-35). —At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on 1st October 1943, Lieut. DEREK MARIO MITCHELL KELLAS, M.C., B.Sc., Gold Coast Regiment, son of the late Mr. Henry Kellas (1881-87) and of Mrs. Kellas, 63 Carlton Place.

Aberdeen, to Isobel Margaret Crichton, M.A., elder daughter of Rev. A. S. Crichton and Mrs. Crichton, West Manse, Inverurie.

Lawrie (t924-3o).—At the Methodist Church, Benoni, on zoth November 1943, CYRIL JOHNSTON LAWRIE, only son of Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Lawrie, The Boreen, Viewficld Crescent, Aberdeen, to Norma Emily, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney J. Neat, Sunny Vista, Kleinfontcin, Bcnoni, South Africa.

Leslie (1927-39).--At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on 6th July 1943, IAN LESLIE,* B.Sc., son of the late Mr. John J. Leslie, Mains of Arnage, Ellon, and of Mrs. Leslie, 34 Burns Road, Aberdeen, to Elizabeth Anderson Sangster, M.A., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James R. Sangster, 117 Cromwell Road, Aberdeen.

Lewis (1933-37)•---At Rubislaw Church, Aberdeen, on 19th June t943, ERIC WATSON LEWIS, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Lewis, " Rosebank," Whitehall Terrace, Aberdeen, to Joyce Helen, only daughter of Mr. William G. Davidson and the late Mrs. Davidson, of 29 Wellbrae Terrace, Aberdeen.

Macgregor (19z4-38).—At Whitley Bay Presbyterian Church, on 8th June 1943, Captain DUNCAN RONALD MACGREGOR,* Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, son of Major Duncan Macgregor,* Sports Master at the Aberdeen Grammar School, and Mrs. Macgregor, 16 Wellbrae Terrace, Aberdeen, to Barbara Elizabeth Chesney, daughter of the Rev. Dr. and Mrs. H. Egerton Chesney, Whitley Bay. M`Naught (1917-35).—At Shawlands Cross Church, Glasgow, on 27th July 1943, Surgeon Lieutenant DUNCAN ARTHUR HUTCHISON MNAUGHT,* M.B., Ch.B., R.N.V.R., to Margaret Stanford, daughter of the late Stanford Wighton and of Mrs. Wighton, Trefoil Avenue, Glasgow, S. 1.

Meatus (i887-9o).—At Aberdeen, on nand December 1942, JAMES ALEXANDER MEARNS, M.B., C.M., Aberdeen, to Jeannie Allison M`Pherson, younger daughter of Mr. Robert M'Pherson, late of Inverurie.

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Aberdeen Grammar School A lagazine

Miller (x898-19o2).—At Christchurch, Guildford, on 13th July 1943, KEITH BIRNIE MILLER,* to Margaret Leigh.

Milne (i917-26).—At the Holbum West Church, Aberdeen, on 17th June 1943, DAVID DOUGLAS MILNE, son of Mr. and Mrs. Milne, 139 Anderson Drive South, to Grace Margaret, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. D. MacLcay, Abbotswell Villa, Ahhotswcll Road, Aberdeen.

Paterson (19t8-29).—At Bon-Accord Church, Aberdeen, WILLIAM JAMES PATERSON,* son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Paterson, 107 Hammerficld Avenue, Aberdeen, to Rosalie, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Rae, 12 Northfield Place, Aberdeen.

Ross (1925-31).--At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on 29th June 'J43, Squadron Leader NORMAN ALFRED Ross,* M.B., Ch.B., D.P.H., son of the late Mr. Alfred Ross and of Mrs. Ross, 66 Union Grove, Aberdeen, to Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Mrs. James Dick, Macintosh Hall, St. Andrews.

Scott (I924-36).--At Glasgow, on 27th October 1943, ANDREW MAXWELL Scorn, younger son of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Scott, Cossipore, Calcutta, to Helen, elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. R. M'Callum, 27 Mosspark Square, Glasgow.

Semple (x922-34).—At Church of Scotland Chapel, Beirut, on 19th November 1943, Captain ROBERT SEMPLE,* M.B., Ch.B., R.A.M.C., eldest son of Dr. Robert Semple* (1898-1905) and Mrs. Semple, 7 Alford Place, Aberdeen, to Flight Lieutenant Alison B. Cruickshank, M.B., Ch.B., R.A.F., eldest daughter of Professor John Cruickshank and the late Mrs. Cruickshank, 46 Gladstone Place, Aberdeen.

Swinney (x9t8-31).—At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on 12th August 1943, Lieut. GEORGE EWEN SWINNEY, M.A., U.B., Ch.B., R.A.M.C., younger son of Councillor and Mrs. W. Dixon Swinney, Aberdeen, to Alison, only daughter of Major J. G. B. Shand, I.M.S. (ret.), and Mrs. Shand, Cults, Aberdeenshire.

Taylor (1927-34).—At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on 3oth July 1943, ALEXANDER ROBERTSON TAYLOR,* M.A., M.B., Ch.B., younger son of Rev. A. R. Taylor, M.A., and Mrs. Taylor, 419 Great Western Road, Aberdeen, to Alice Crombie, second daughter of Lieut.-Colonel Edward W. Watt* (1883-94), T.D., M.A., LL.D., and Mrs. Watt, Glenburnie Park, Aberdeen.

Watt (1926-38).—At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on 9th December 1943, HAROLD MURRAY ROBERTSON WATT,* M.A., Pilot Officer, R.A.F., fourth son of Theodore Watt (1889-1901), M.A., LL.D., and Mrs. Watt, 18 Rubislaw Den North, Aberdeen (Cutter House, Milltimber, Aberdeenshire), to Elizabeth Ferguson Carmichael Richards, M.A., W.R.N.S., eldest daughter of the late Henn Alexander Richards (1901-5), advocate in Aberdeen, and Mrs. Richards, 12 Ashley Park North, Aberdeen.

Wilson (t921-33).—At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on 24th July 1943, ERIC COOPER WILSON,* younger son of Mr. Alexander Wilson and of the late Mrs. Wilson, 17 Wcstburn Drive, Aberdeen, to Catherine Ann Watt, M.A., only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Watt, 7 Craigie Park, Aberdeen.

Wisely (1920-32).—At Albion and St. Paul's Congregational Church, Aberdeen, on 19th June 1943, NORMAN FORSYTH WISELY,* younger son of the late W. G. Wisely and of Mrs. Wisely, 219 Great Western Road, Aberdeen, to G. Constance, youngest daughter of the late John Robertson and of Mrs. Robertson, 84 Countesswells Road, Aberdeen.

Wood (i925-29).—At St. Mary's Cathedral, Aberdeen, on 17th December 1943, JAMES OFFICER WooD, Lance-Corporal, Scaforth Highlanders, second sun of Mr. and Mrs. Wood, io6 Cornhill Road, Aberdeen, to Jean, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jamieson, 75 Fonthill Road, Aberdeen.

Wylie (1915-2o).—At Queen's Cross Church, Aberdeen, on 9th October 1943, JOHN HAMILTON WYLIE, 30 St. Swithin Street, Aberdeen, to Florence Barclay Donaldson, " The Ridge," Orpington, Kent.

Yule (I936-39).—At Woodside North Church, Aberdeen, on 8th July 1943, CHARLES DUNBAR YULE, younger son of the late Mr. James Yule and Mrs. Yule, 374 Great Western Road, Aberdeen, to Helen Glennic, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Hardie, 9o Hilton Road, Aberdeen.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

55

Roll of F.P. War Service.

Ninth Instalment.

It should be noted that the Roll contains the names only of Former Pupils who are members of the F.P. Club. The Editor will welcome additional names for the Roll and particulars of commissions, promotions, decorations, " mentions," etc., etc.

ALEXANDER, Alastair Ian Laing (1923-3o), Port Elphinstone, Inverurie.

R.A. ALEXANDER, Alfred Herbert (193o-36), Port Elphinstonc, Inverurie. Private, R.A.M.C. ALEXANDER, Clifford Burnett (1932-39), Port Elphinstonc, Inverurie. Leading Aircraftman, R.A.F.: Wireless Operator, Ground Staff.

ALEXANDER, Frederick Russell (i935-4o), Port Elphinstone, Inverurie.

Craftsman, R.E.M.E. ARMSTRONG, Robert James (1934-41), Aberdeen. Royal Corps of Signals : in the Commando.

AYMER, Charles Alastair (1913-15), M.B., Ch.B., Wimpole Street, London.

Captain, R.A.M.C. BAIN, William Cranna (193o-39), M.A., Aberdeen. Licut. (July 1943), R.E.M.E.: Radio Maintenance Officer.

BLACK, James Henderson Deas (1929-38), Markinch. and Lieut., Fife and Forfar Yeomanry (R.A.C.).

BLACK, William (1922-34), Markinch. Licut., Fife and Forfar Yeomanry (R.A.C.).

CARNEGIE, Leslie Thompson (1925-38), B.L., Aberdeen. Corporal, R.E.M.E. CASSIE, George (1932-40), Aberdeen. Lance-Corporal, Royal Corps of Signals.

Surgeon CATTO, James Rankine Wilson (1923-36), M.B., Ch.B., Aberdeen.

Lieut., R.N.V.R. CHEYNE, William David (1929-4o), Aberdeen. Aircraftman (1st Class), R.A.F.: training as Wireless-Operator Air-Gunner.

CHRISTIE, Angus Webster (1931-37), Milltimber, Aberdeenshire. Transferred to R.E. (Dec. 1942).

CHRYSTAL, George Fraser (1927-38), Aberdeen. Transferred to R.A.F. (June 5941) : Flying Officer.

COOPER, Robert Scott (1932-39), M.A., Aberdeen. and Lieut., R.A. CRUICKSHANK, Andrew Whyte (1934-41), Aberdeen. Sergeant Air-Gunner, R.A.F. DAVIDSON, Ian Thomson (1917-22), Aberdeen. Trooper, Reconnaissance Regiment.

DAWSON, Philip (1925-37), M.A., law apprentice, Aberdeen. Flight Lieut., R.A.F. DEWAR, John McLaren (1937-39), Aberdeen. Training as Wireless Operator, R.A.F. : DUFFUS, Alexander James (1932-38), Aberdeen. Leading Aircraftman, training in Canada for flying duties.

FARQUHARSON, Donald Frank (1929-41), Coulsdon, Surrey. Leading Aircraftman, R.A.F.: training in U.S.A. for flying duties.

FRASER, James Cobban (1911-23), M.B., Ch.B., Aberdeen. Captain, R.A.M.C. : O.C., C.R.S. FRASER, William George (1927-33), Aberdeen. Lieut., R.A. FROST, William Maurice (1929-39), Aberdeen. Ordinary Telegraphist, R.N. GAULD, Edgar Alexander (1925-39), Aberdeen. Sergeant Wireless-Operator Air-Gunner, R.A.F. GAULD, James (1923-34), M.B., Ch.B., Mansfield, Notts. Captain, R.A.M.C.: R.M.O., Inniskilling Fusiliers.

GORDON, Robert Anderson (5925-27), Aberdeen. Sergeant, Marine Craft Unit, R.A.F.: M.E.F. HUTCHISON, Herbert Cecil (1921-26), M.A., Aberdeen. Flight Lieut. (Nov. R.A.F. 5 943),

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

56

JOHNSTON, Eric Ferguson (1935-40), Aberdeen.

Trooper, Royal Dragoon

Guards, H.Q. Squadron.

JONES, Norman Williams (1928-40), Aberdeen.

Aircraftman (znd Class), R.A.F.: Radio Wireless Mechanic.

JONES, Richard Gemmel' (1928-38), architectural student, Aberdeen. Lieut., Scottish Horse, R.A.: M.E.F. KILGOUR, Gordon (19 19-z3), C.A., London. Flying Officer, R.A.F.: W.A. F. LIGHTBODY, John Cumming (1925-37), M.B., Ch.B., Aberdeen. Lieut.

(April 1943), R.A.M.C. LILLIE, Hubert Jack (1924-33), M.B., Ch.B., Birmingham. Squadron Leader, R.A.F., Medical Branch.

LINDSAY, Angus William (1933-38), Petcrculter. znd Lieut., R.A.

LINDSAY, Robert Arthur Drysdale (1933-39), Aberdeen. znd Lieut., R.E. MACKENZIE, Roy Alexander (1939-41), London. In the Fleet Air Arm: training as a Pilot.

MELVIN, William George Campbell (1921-32), Aberdeen. Lieut., R.E. MILNE, Alistair Macdonell (1924-32), Aberdeen. Captain, R.A.: Anti-Tank Regiment, India Command.

MILNE, Gavin (1930-42), Aberdeen. Ordinary Seaman, R.N. MORRISON, Stephen Duncan (1933-39), Aberdeen. Lance-Corporal, Royal Corps of Signals : M.E.F.

PATERSON, Alexander (191o-21), M.B., Ch.B., Sale, Cheshire. Captain, R.A.M.C.: serving in West Africa.

REID, Herbert William Moggach (1929-41), Aberdeen. L.A.C., R.A.F.: training in South Africa as a Pilot.

RICKART, George Barclay (1923-3o), Newtonhill, Flying Officer, R.A.F. RITCHIE, Harry Ball Craig (1924-30), Aberdeen. Lieut., R.A.S.C. ROBERTSON, Adrian Alfred Gibb (1927-34), M.A., Peterhead. Aircraftman (1st Class), R.A.F.

ROBERTSON, Charles William (1919-25), M.B., Ch.B., Catford, London.

Captain, R.A.M.C., India Command.

ROBERTSON, Lawrence Don (1915-16), M.B., Ch.B., Thornton Heath, Surrey.

Flying Officer, R.A.F., Medical Branch : at the Air Ministry.

ROSS, Alexander Fraser (1923-27), B.Sc.(For.), M.B., Ch.B., Aberdeen. Surgeon l.ieut., R.N.V.R.

ROSS, Charles Macdonald (1917-25), M.B., Ch.B., Edinburgh. Major, R.A.M.C. ROSS, William Kerr (1931-41), Aberdeen. Sub-Lieut., R.N.V.R. SANGSTER, Eric Garden (1927-39), B.L., Aberdeen. znd Lieut. (April 1943), Gordon Highlanders.

SCOTT, James Henry (1920-26), M.A., M.B., Ch.B., Aberdeen. Captain, R.A.M.C. SEMPLE, Roderick Ferguson (1927-38), B.Sc.(Eng.). Captain, R.E.: Parachute Squadron.

SLESSOR, Alexander Johnston (1918-3o), M.B., F.R .C.S. Major, R.A.M.C. SMITH, Bernard Hooper (1932-35), Peterculter. Captain, R.A.M.C. SMITH, Ferguson George Donaldson (1922.33), Metropolitan Police. Flying Officer, R.A.F.

SMITH, Robert Alexander Harley (1927-39), Aberdeen.

Class), R.A.F.

Aircraftman (1st

SMITH, Thomas Johnston (1931-33), Shanghai. Captain, R.I.A.S.C. SMITH, William Panton (1920-25), I.ondon. Flying Officer, R.A.F. TAYLOR, Alexander Robertson (1927-34), M.A., M.B., Ch.B., Aberdeen.

Surgeon Lieut., R.N.V.R.

TOMORY, Kenneth A. M. (1899-1908), M.B., Ch.B., Colonel, R.A.M.C.: H.Q. of a Division, Home Forces.

WATT, Harold Murray Robertson (1926-38), M.A., Culter House, Milltimber.

Pilot Officer (August 1943), R.A.F.

WATT, James Allan Newton (1927-39), Aberdeen.

R.A.F., India Command.

WATT, James Robertson (1936-40.

Aircraftman (1st Class),

Border Regiment.

WISHART, Norman Robertson (1927-40), West Cults. Sergeant Pilot, R.A.F. WISHART, Robert Petrie (x919-31), Stonehaven. Flight Sergeant, R.A.F.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

57

Pro Patria Mortui. " I have only done my duty as a man is bound to do."

—TENNYSON, Ballad of " The Revenge."

Robert George Leslie Baxter* (1930-33), Wing Commander, R.A.F., was reported missing and later to have been killed on active service in July 1943, aged 27 years. He was the only son of the late Dr. Alexander Baxter, Old Meldrum, and of Mrs. Baxter, 43 Roschill Drive, Aberdeen. While a pupil, he lived at the Boarding House, and he left the School as Modern Dux. For a time he studied in Medicine at Aberdeen University but joined the R.A.F. in 1937. He was stationed in Egypt for eighteen months until the outbreak of war.

On returning to this country he was for some time an instructor, and then resumed operational duties, during the discharge of which he was killed. He was buried in the R.A.F. Cemetery, Grangemouth.

As a Pilot Officer he married in January 1939 Miss Danai Frances Sharpe, of Luton, by whom and a son he is survived.

Alexander Thomson Begg* (1909-1o) has died at a prisonersof-war camp in Malaya, but the place and date have not yet been reported by the Japanese. Born in 1894, he was the eldest son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Thomas D. Bcgg, of Shanghai. On leaving the School he entered the service of the Northern Assurance Co., Ltd., Aberdeen, and after the last war went out to India as an Inspector for that Company, with headquarters in Calcutta. He resigned from this post in 1922, and went to Shanghai, where he became secretary of Messrs. L. Moore & Co., Ltd., fire loss adjusters. He later became general manager of this company, but for the last ten or a dozen years had been a fire loss assessor on his own account in Shanghai. He left this town some months before it was taken by the Japanese and went to Singapore, joining the Defence Force as a Captain. When the island was captured he was taken prisoner and subsequently died in camp from dysentery.

In the last war Captain Begg was mobilized as a Private in the 4th Batt. Gordon Highlanders (T.F.), and later received a commission in the 1st Highland Brigade, R.F.A. (T.F.). After serving both at home and in France, he was demobilized in October 1919 with the rank of Captain. He married in January 1922, at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, Miss Alys Brasher of Swavesey, Cambs, by whom and three daughters he is survived. He was a member of the Shanghai Centre of the F.P. Club and was one of the donors to the School of the Shanghai Clock.

James Mearns Davidson* (1927-37), B.Sc.(Eng.), Flying Officer, R.A.F., died in June 1943 from injuries received acc►dentally in the Middle East, aged 24 years. He was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. James M. Davidson, 6 Westfield Terrace, Aberdeen, and on leaving the School studied engineering at Aberdeen University, graduating B.Sc. in Civil Engineering in July 1940, and being awarded First Class Honours in the same subject in the following October. He joined the R.A.F. in 1941 and left for the Middle East in December of

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 58 that year. Later he was in East Africa with the Air Ministry Works Directorate, and then returned to the Middle East.

John Alexander George Firth* (1931-34), Sergeant, R.A.F., was lost in operations over Germany on 6th May 1942, in his 24th year.

He was the eldest son of Dr. Ian G. M. Firth, Llanrhaiadr, Oswestry, and a grandson of JOHN THOMAS FIRTH (1876-79), who was manager of the Cawnpore Cotton Mills and died at Calcutta in 1897. Sergeant Firth, on leaving the School, entered the service of the North of Scotland Bank in Aberdeen, and in 1936 received an appointment in the Midland Bank, Oswcstry. He joined the R.A.F. in March 1940, and after receiving his training in various camps, he had exciting experiences in bombing attacks on German battleships. He was latterly Wireless-operator Air-gunner, and his last operation was an attack on Stuttgart in May 1942. From this he did not return, and he was buried in Neufchateau, on the Belgian border.

George Leask Gibb (1928-41), Sergeant Air-Bomber, R.A.F., youngest son of the late Mr. George Leask Gibb and of Mrs. Gibb, 291 Great Western Road, Aberdeen, who was missing in July 1943, was in December officially reported to have lost his life in operations over Germany, aged 2O years. According to information through the International Red Cross Committee, he was buried at Weisemunde, North Germany. He joined the R.A.F. immediately on leaving the School.

Douglas Harry Mostyn-Hoops* (1928-33), A.R.C.M., Trooper, Lothians and Border Yeomanry, only son of Mr. and Mrs. MostynHoops, Huntly, was killed in action near the Kasserine Pass, Tunisia, in February 1943, while going to the aid of the driver of his tank. He was in his Zest year. A born musician, he gained distinction in the Associated Board Examination (Grade VII) in 1937. He studied at the Royal College of Music, London, gaining the John Hopkinson Silver Medal in 1940 as the best pupil of his year, and took the A.R.C.M. Diploma in 1941. He had a number of compositions to his credit, the last being based on the passage from Revelation xxi, "And I saw a new heaven." In spite of suggestions that he should go into musical service in the Forces, he chose to fight and joined the Royal Armoured Corps in 1942. He was posted to the Lothians and Border Yeomanry, and went to North Africa in November of last year.

James Maconachie Morrison* (1928-33), Captain, Indian Army, was killed in action in the Middle East in June 1942, aged 24 years.

He was the younger son of Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Morrison, Delaware, Eden Bridge, Kent, formerly of Logierieve, Aberdeenshire. On leaving the School he joined the staff of the North of Scotland Bank at Tarves, and later went to the Bank's principal office in London. At the age of 19 he received an appointment with Messrs. Gillanders, Arbuthnot & Co., Ltd., East India merchants, Calcutta, and after the outbreak of war he joined the Indian Frontier Force.

William Benton Rennie (x898-19oz), M.C., M.B., Ch.B., Colonel, R.A.M.C., died at Wellington, South India, on 4th July 1943, aged 58 years. The elder son of the late Mr. James Rennie, Milton, Fintray,

DOUGLAS HARRY MOSTYN-HOOPS

GEORGE LEASK GIBB

Trooper, Lothians and Border Yeomanry

Sergeant Air-Bomber, R.A.F.

JAMES MACONACHIE MORRISON

ALEXANDER THOMSON BEGG

Captain, Indian Army

Captain, Singapore Defence Force

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

59

Aberdeenshire, he graduated in Medicine at Aberdeen in 19o8 and passed into the R.A.M.C. in 1909. After two years at Aldershot he was posted to India, and in the last war he served in Mesopotamia, receiving the Military Cross in 1918. When a Major he became Specialist in Dermatology, Eastern Command, Meerut, U.P., and officiated as head of the British Military Hospital there. He retired on reaching the age limit, but over two years ago he resumed service as Superintendent of the Military Hospital at Wellington, and was engaged in this post when he died. He married in November 1921 at Srinagar, Kashmir, Miss Yvonne B. Leonard.

Alexander Arbuthnot Rodger Riddel* (1926-34), Lieutenant (A), R.N.V.R., was reported missing and is now presumed to have been killed in March 1943, aged z6 years. The only son of Captain Alexander Riddel, R.D., R.N.R. and Mrs. Riddel, 24 Anderson Drive, Aberdeen, he trained as an aeronautical engineer at the Chelsea College of Aeronautical Engineering, London, taking his Diploma in 1938.

He then became a flight engineer with Messrs. Airwork Ltd. of Heston Airport, and was engaged in survey work for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., Ltd., Abadan, Persia. After the war broke out he became Lieutenant (A), R.N.V.R. From the end of 1941 until June 1942 he was shore-based, and spent most of his time in Libya. He then joined the Eastern Fleet, and was on his way home when the ship in which he had taken a passage was sunk by enemy action. He married in April 1939 Miss Florence H. Bain, of 57 Forest Avenue, Aberdeen.

Kenneth Hood Robertson* (1935-41), Sergeant Pilot, R.A.F., died at his home, St. Margaret's, Muchalls, on 23rd September 1943, in his 21st year. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Hamish Robertson, he was one of the first members of the Grammar School unit of the Air Cadet Corps (now the Air Training Corps), and joined the R.A.F. in 1941.

He received his training mainly in Rhodesia, where he got his " wings," and contributed to the Magazine of December 1942 an interesting account of his voyage to South Africa, entitled " Journeying to Southern Rhodesia." Another contribution from his pen, entitled " Low Level," was intended for publication in the last issue but had to be held over. It appears with tragic appropriateness in this issue.

His training was continuing in this country when he suddenly collapsed.

John Maxwell Stewart* (1925-35), A.F.M., Flying Officer, R.A.F.V.R., who was reported as missing in April 1943, was in December presumed to have been killed in action, aged 24 years. He was the second son of JOHN ALEXANDER STEWART* (1897-99), M.A., LL.D., formerly of the Indian Civil Service, and of Mrs. Stewart, 17 Avenue Road, Bishop's Stortford, Herts. On leaving the School in 1935, he went to the University of Aberdeen for a year, and then to King's College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1939. He went straight into the R.A.F.V.R., was made an Air-Gunner, and served in Bomber Command for about a year. He was then sent to an R.A.F. Station as Instructor in Gunnery and was commissioned in 1942. He went back to operations early in 1943, and in April did not return from a raid over Essen. In the New Year Honours of 1943 he was awarded the Air Force Medal for his work as Instructor when Flight Sergeant.

6o

Aberdeen Grammar Schaal Magazine

Dr. George Duncan's Benefaction.

On zznd October 1943 Dr. George Duncan, C.B.E., announced to Aberdeen Education Committee his retirement not only as Convener but also as a member of the Committee. He reminded the Committee that it was exactly z6 years since he had become a member of the old School Board, and close on a quarter of a century since he had first been elected Chairman of the Education Authority. He thought it desirable that someone with a longer expectation of office as Convener than he could hope to have should now undertake the task of piloting the Committee through the new developments which lay ahead.

Throughout his long association with the administration of education in the city Dr. Duncan has been a very good friend of the Grammar School, and has done everything in his power to advance its interests.

He has presided with great acceptance at many Prize-givings and on other special School occasions, and could not have acted more loyally had he himself been a former pupil of the School.

On his retirement Dr. Duncan has made a most valuable gift to the School and one that is thoroughly characteristic. On ist December 1943 he sent the following letter to the Rector :— My dear Rector, I should like to do something for the Grammar School in return for the great pleasure I have had from my long official connection with the School and my friendship with the various Rectors in my time, Morland Simpson, Mackay Thomson, Douglas Miller, David Andrew, and yourself—a notable succession ; and I do not forget the honour which the Former Pupils of the School did me in electing me an Honorary Member of their Club.

What I should like to do is to fill what has sometimes seemed to me to be a blank in the School Prize List and to found a prize for English, to be named The Masson-Bain Medal and Prize, to commemorate the names of two very distinguished former pupils of the School whose names should not be forgot—David Masson [1831-35], the Miltonic scholar who was Professor of English in Edinburgh University, and his lifelong friend, Alexander Bain [1835-361, whose portrait by Sir George Reid I was very glad to be able some time ago to get from his widow to be hung in the School Hall. Bain, though best known as a writer on Philosophy, was the first person to teach English in Aberdeen University as part of the duty of the Chair of Logic whcn he was appointed.

I enclose a cheque for kz5o in your favour, which you might kindly hand to the City Chamberlain for investment, if the Education Committee accepts the gift.

I propose that the Prize should consist of a medal and books, and, to allow the whole interest on the money for the period till the end of the current School year to be available for books, I will, in addition, bear the cost of the first Medal and the necessary die. The Medal will take the form of a bronze plaque, which will be designed by Mr. D. M. Sutherland, R.S.A. Kindly acknowledge receipt and submit this letter to the first meeting of the Secondary Schools Committee.

Yours sincerely, GEORGE DUNCAN.

Readers of the Magazine will heartily endorse what the Rector has written about the gift in his " Message " printed on pages t and z.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

61

Escape from Burma.

SYDNEY ELMSLIE DURNO (193 5 -3 7), of Peterculter, Aberdeenshire, was a student of science at Aberdeen University when the war broke out and later joined the R.A.M.C. as a Private. He was serving in Burma at the time of the Japanese invasion of that country, and has put on record a very full account of his experiences while seeking to escape to India. The first instalment of his thrilling narrative appeared in the last " Magazine." A second instalment has recently been received and is printed here almost in its entirety.—ED.

From now on " Janson " (my Gharwali companion) and I travelled through Kachin country. The Kachins are a race worthy of great admiration in many ways. Their skin is the colour of deep sunburn, their hair dark, their build stocky. They are very strong and obviously hardy, and have to work hard to wrest a living from the unwilling soils of the hills. They appear to live communally in huts, sometimes the size of a small church. This is divided into a few apartments.

The women weave and wear cloth, usually black, with a band of some colour through it. A Kachin house is built on piles and, like almost everything else the Kachins make, is composed of bamboo. Access is gained by ascending a ladder made from a round log, with notches for steps. I could go on describing the Kachins and their customs, but perhaps an account of a few incidents would be more interesting.

THROUGH KACHIN JUNGLE• AND PADDY FIELDS. 8th May 1942.

At the first light of dawn I woke. In the twilight I could discern " Janson " with his head resting on a bundle of dried bamboo leaves, which the Kachins use for thatch. Fortified for our day's journey with a drink of water from a hollow bamboo waterbottle, and each carrying a stout staff, we set forth into the jungle and bent our steps in the direction which seemed to me most expeditious for our safety and ultimate arrival in India. Our path wound through dense undergrowth, which was shaded by trees, some of considerable size. Every Kachin carries a knife in a sheath, which he hangs on a hoop of bamboo slung over the right shoulder. This knife is an instrument of many uses, not the least important of which is the keeping clear of these jungle paths. Every impediment of a vegetable nature, such as creepers, branches, etc., bow beneath the strokes of this knife, the blade of which measures about 15 inches in length.

We progressed for several miles before the jungle thinned out and eventually ceased. We were now in paddy fields, which as far as I know surround Myitkyina for miles on all sides. After the dense jungle the flat paddy fields were not to my liking, as they were devoid of cover, and we could see in the distance the road running to Myitkyina, on which, of course, Japs were liable to pass. The question was whether to make a wide detour by keeping to what cover there was and avoid the possibility of being seen by unfriendly eyes, or to make a bee-line for the wooded country to the west of Myitkyina and save considerable distance. What decided the issue was the sight of a

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine village which " Janson " was obviously eager to visit with what, I thought, was the commendable intention of begging food. We crossed the short distance of intervening paddy field and entered the village, where we immediately got food—the inevitable rice plus two boiled eggs. " Janson " was never keen to walk far without a halt, on account, of course, of his wound, and made anything an excuse for a rest ; so when we passed another Kachin hut a short distance further on, he persuaded me to pay a visit. This proved longer than I had anticipated, as the inhabitants received us very cordially and produced more food. While squatting on the floor, " tailor" fashion, consuming my rice by the primitive method of shovelling it into my mouth with my fingers, a commotion arose the cause of which was, I gathered, the arrival of fresh news of the Japs being in the vicinity. I was therefore keen to be off, and without much delay put my desire into action, but not before the good people had filled my cloth bag with bundles of boiled rice. Strange to relate, one of my benefactors was a Buddhist monk, one of a sect which, from all accounts, was pro-Japanese.

For some hours we struggled on through light scrub, making for a certain hill that seemed ever to recede in like proportion to our advance. The sun now in the zenith enveloped everything in glaring heat and caused perspiration to stream from every pore. At length we were forced to take rest and shelter.

Darkness found us well and truly lost in a dense thicket. Only recently had I realized to the full the meaning of that drear and dismal word—" lost." That night we stretched ourselves beneath the boughs and pendulous creepers of the jungle flora and scarcely heard the whisperings and rustlings of its denizens.

9th May. Needless to say, we were up and away as soon as we could see. A few mouthfuls of rice given us the previous day served as breakfast. After crashing about in the thicket and being cut and torn by treacherous thorns, we eventually found our way out. By using my staff as a sundial I set our course north. We walked many a mile that day, but I fear we progressed, as Chesterton says of the crab, " backwards," or perhaps we went in circles. However, in the afternoon we approached a Kachin homestead, where half-a-dozen young Herculeses were engaged in erecting a massive dwelling-hut.

We wearily drew nigh and sat ourselves, not like Elijah under the shade of a juniper tree, but under the spreading limbs of an aged mango.

I have never seen men so finely built as these Kachins who were building the hut. Taller than the average, they retained the massive shoulders and thighs common to the race. Their sole garment, a loin cloth, allowed one to see the muscles supply moving under the bronze skin as they worked. We were immediately the centre of attention, and no sooner made it plain that our desire was for food and water, than several bundles of rice, wrapped in the Kachin manner in plantain leaves, were given us. I was surprised to be presented also with a rusty old tin of Australian cheese. How it reached that lonely spot I know not, but apparently they had no use for it, and as I had, I lost no time in opening the tin and demonstrating the fact.

6z

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

63

AN IRATE KACHIN.

A few more miles finished our trek that day and we halted at a collection of small dwellings. We begged by signs for a resting place, and when our meaning at length became plain, our host led us to a small hut perched on unusually high piles and reached by a ladder not unlike those we provide for the convenience of poultry wishing to reach their roost. This type of ladder is very admirable for hens and Kachins, who are unencumbered with hoots, but my army footwear rendered ascent a hazardous operation. Scattered about the floor were several bundles of bamboo leaves, on which we soon stretched our limbs. However, our host wished to see us safely housed for the night, and nimbly climbing the ladder in spite of his obvious age, was soon squatting beside us. I soon discovered that solicitude for our comfort was not the motive for his exertion but a more fundamental one, viz., curiosity. Nor was that to be satisfied by mere outward inspection, as he showed by emptying the contents of my bag. The rice, cheese, and a bundle of " Janson's " Kachin " tobacco were passed over.

Earlier in this narrative I explained how I came to possess a bottle of whisky, which I may say was not yet empty, and mine host evinced particular interest in the amber-coloured fluid. I dissuaded him from sampling this, but obviously he was very keen to have it, whether on account of a previous experience of our national beverage or because my dissuasion only added fuel to his burning curiosity, I cannot say. However, he started a more intimate exploration on my person, my pockets, of course, being subjected to investigation. At this point I displayed an abysmal lack of tact, for I somewhat angrily told him that I would not brook my person being searched. My words were not understood, but my expression, tone, and gestures had a greater effect than I intended. He retreated and his manner quickly changed from friendly to hostile. Apparently he took my words for insults or imprecations and obviously was grievously offended. As I have previously mentioned, every Kachin carries a prodigious knife, which weapon our host drew and brandished in a manner suggestive of one working himself up for a murderous attack.

The attack came, not on myself or " Janson" but on one of the supporting pillars of the hut, from which splinters flew in showers.

Meanwhile I stood by, wondering ruefully what chance my head would have had, had it borne the attack instead of the stout pillar. Our irate landlord at length expended his surplus energy and sheathed his blade to the accompaniment of my sigh of relief. Before leaving, he made it plain to us that he no longer wished us to remain his guests, but as soon as he reached the ground, after descending the ladder, he kicked away that inconvenient but necessary article, thus rendering us virtually prisoners. " Janson " was properly frightened and obviously wished us to make some attempt to escape, but I was extremely unwilling to make the attempt, as it would soon be dark and our present " bedroom " was far preferable to a jungle thicket. However, the owner of our lodgings returned accompanied by another, of a less irascible appearance. It emerged that their intention was to turn us out, so I acted on what I thought was our only hope, viz., my bottle of whisky.

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While " Janson " made gesticulations indicative of a desire to go, I offered some of my whisky to the Kachins. They drank a little from a receptacle (which had been provided for us, containing water) and they enjoyed it. More was asked for, which I dare not refuse, and the request repeated. The whisky had the desired effect of mollifying our host's evil temper and at length I got rid of the imbibers. Before parting, I made a great show of friendship by shaking hands, clapping backs, smiling, nodding, and, in other words, giving a somewhat hypocritical display.

Toth May. This day was again a series of wanderings, and although we travelled many difficult miles, again I fear our actual progress was slight. Myitkyina I reckoned was to our west, therefore I steered our course north, using the shadow of my staff in lieu of a compass.

For hours the heat was stifling, but we pushed on through most disheartening scrub and patches of paddy field. Our only accompaniment was the occasional calls of birds, which were singularly weird and unmelodious.

MEETING WITH A BRITISH OFFICER. Towards evening we found a road which, from its size, I deduced must lead to a larger village than we had yet struck. After a mile or so my deduction proved to be correct, as we crossed a small stream (in which several of the female villagers were washing clothes) and entered an obviously Burmese village. I may be wrong, but I imagine this village must be one of the most northerly inhabited by Burmese, and must certainly be almost wholly surrounded by Kachin country.

We proceeded into the village, myself somewhat diffidently, as I had not reconnoitred to ascertain if any Japanese had taken possession.

A group of people, who had scrutinized us on passing, hailed us when we had proceeded a further hundred yards or so, and obviously considered it of importance that we should return. I obeyed and was directed to a pool in which a young Burmese man was bathing. To my surprise he spoke to me in good English, and on learning that we were fugitives, which could not but have been obvious to him, he quickly concluded his bathe and joined us. In a few words he explained that he had been in the Army (Burmese Section) and was stationed near Myitkyina with one British officer, with whom he had escaped when danger became imminent. They had had plenty of time, however, to move all their belongings and much of their stores to this village, where they were comfortably installed in two tents.

I now met my fellow-countryman, Lieut. A., with whom I naturally had much pleasure in conversing. That evening I sat in a chair, drank civilized tea, and ate a tinned sausage with my curry and rice. I bad a good wash with soap, followed by a comfortable sleep on a camp bed.

Before sleeping, however, we discussed my plans for reaching India.

My host had been in the Map Section of the Army and had a number of maps with him, and as he had no intention of making an attempt to reach India, he gave me a small-scale map of the country through which I would have to pass. There were only the main features marked on the map, but it proved very useful. He did not say so,

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but I saw he did not think I had much chance of reaching my goal.

I did not try to persuade him to accompany me, as I knew we had ahead many days of hard going, and I had grave doubts about his being equal to it, as he was past his first youth. We tried to persuade my Gharwali companion to stay behind, as he, on account of his wound, retarded my progress, but he wished to come and eventually did, after being doctored by what limited resources there were available.

Next day I left, refreshed physically and mentally ; I had some idea of my position and had a plan, which was to cross the Irrawaddy before reaching its two head-streams, strike north to S— village, and then west to Assam, passing through the intervening mountains by the Hukawng or Dihing Valleys, which lead from the Irrawaddy River system to the Brahmaputra basin. Though I was not aware of it at the time, I was following a route which avoided the turbulent Chindwin, the river which held up so many travellers from Burma. Many tried to reach Assam also by the Dihing Valley, and now many bones, I am told, lie there to tell their dismal story of fatigue, starvation, and death.

Why I did not eventually attempt that route was the result of the events of the i ith.

NATIVE GUIDANCE.

In the light of the morning sun I bid farewell to the only European I saw between Nazu Ferry and Katchito. In my cloth bag I carried half-a-dozen chupattis and a clean pair of socks— gifts from Lieut. A. This day we advanced somewhat better, and as far as I remember were lost only once. When I say " lost," I mean completely lost, as I was never absolutely certain of our position and went chiefly according to my sense of direction, aided, of course, by the sun and landmarks, when we were not too closely surrounded by vegetation. That afternoon we entered a Kachin village, after scouting a bit to see if any Japs were there, as we were still too near Myitkyina for comfort. We approached one of the huts on the outskirts, round which was the usual collection of poultry and naked children.

The woman of the house provided us with a meal, and when the growing crowd saw we had finished, they conducted us to the establishment of the headman of the village. This was indeed a large and remarkably substantial house (the term " but " would convey a wrong impression). I ascended the ladder to the usual platform or verandah in front of the main entrance. An aged sage caused a stool to be brought, on which I sat side by side with the village elders. The old man knew a little English, which he delighted to use, and obviously enjoyed the admiration of the villagers, who collected in scores. In a short time the headman arrived. I think he was the old man's son, and with him another, who spoke English very much better than the old man, whom I followed only with difficulty. They were very friendly disposed towards me, replenished our bag to overflowing with bundles of cooked rice, and insisted on our eating, notwithstanding the fact that we had already fed. " Janson " seemed quite contented, and sat in a corner eating rice and washing it down with cold water. A council of war was held between the headman, the two speakers of English, and myself. I told them of the route I I 1th May.

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intended taking, but they said it was too dangerous on account of enemy penetration. 1 was advised to stay on the east of the Irrawaddy, and travel in a north-easterly direction until I struck the nearest of its head-streams, the N'mai-Kha. Having crossed that obstacle, I was to keep going north and ask at every Kachin village the way to a place called Kha'Chikho (or something like that), where I would be further advised. The country through which I must travel was inhabited by friendly Kachins. All these and many more instructions I followed, and that is largely why I ever did reach safety again. The headman and his friend accompanied us a short distance and set us on the track we were to follow. Before parting, they again went over my route, crude maps were drawn on the ground and one on the back of the map I already had. I shook hands sincerely with both, and a long blessing or prayer was pronounced by my guide over our clasped hands. Then we parted. That Kachin has left a lasting impression with me. His genuineness and sincere care for my safety were very touching.

KACHIN HOSPITALITY. izth May. This day progress was good. We passed through three villages and each received us well, our cuts and lacerations causing much sympathy, particularly "Janson's" ugly wound.

During the afternoon we passed several tribesmen engaged in burning down jungle to make room for cultivation. Some of these men look more like Shans than Kachins, being of a less swarthy complexion and less sturdily built. They resemble the Chinese more than do the Kachins, and many have the thin, drooping moustaches often worn by Chinamen. Doubtless there is some admixture of races, which is almost inevitable in this area of Asia, where there is such an agglomeration of tribes. We entered another village late in the afternoon, where the Kachins again showed remarkable kindness.

We were surrounded by a group of all ages and both sexes, who sympathized with our many minor wounds and applied some kind of herbal treatment to " Janson's" bayonet wound. The men were enjoying their evening smoke and chewing some kind of vegetable product in the form of a white powder, which all Kachin men carry in round, coloured, wooden boxes. We were conducted to the headman's house, where his good wife cooked us an excellent meal of rice, eggs, curry, potatoes (prepared like Smith's crisps!), and various other dishes, all of which I sampled and found most quite palatable. A dish which I often got was cooked bamboo shoots and roots, which resemble the potato in flavour. Here I tasted some Kachin drink of an alcoholic nature but did not care for it much ; it was not the rice beer with which I afterwards became familiar. That night I slept on a blanket, a pillow, and under a kind of net.

13th May. This morning our hostess provided us with a good breakfast and victuals for the road, so we set off, feeling equal to a long day's trek. Before we left the village, the good lady came after us and made us take six annas each. These Kachins are a very poor people and I suppose only a few possess any money at all. I was, therefore, touched by this act of self-sacrifice, but to refuse would

67 Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine have been insulting. This day we left the flat country through which we had been tramping and started climbing into increasingly rugged terrain. Although this slowed our rate of travel, we usually found some kind of track to follow, which was not always the case in the jungle and flat country, where we were always liable to get lost and often did. Mist descended and then torrential rain, which made the steep track slippery with mud. At length, after about five miles twisting up the steep mountain, we reached a huge hut, the size of a small church, in which several families lived. We dried ourselves at an indifferent fire, and ate what I took to be the flesh of the barking deer. mth May. This day we tramped for about fifteen miles, and so rough was the going that I thought our progress was quite good.

We were now in the heart of the wild country near the Burma-Chinese frontier, and every day I expected to see the river N'mai. Of every Kachin we encountered I attempted to ascertain the way to Katchito by pointing ahead and uttering the name with interrogative tone.

Many times we were put right and had to retrace hard-won miles.

The scenery was now magnificent, but too often obscured by mist and cloud, as the altitude must be fairly high in these parts. The burning jungles lay far behind and also the Japs, but ahead rugged peaks warned us that no easy journey was in store for us. Evening found us at a village where nothing save a barking dog greeted us. A few goats grazed round the empty huts, but apart from these forms of live stock, the place was dead. For an hour we waited for some one to return from whom we might beg food, but not until it was nearly dark did a few Kachins arrive, who made it plain to us that the inhabitants would not return that night. We did, however, get some rice from our fellow-travellers, so did not sleep hungry.

A MIGHTY RIVER. i5th May. As was our custom, we started off early and this day we saw the river N'mai (or N'mai-Kha) from afar off. A grand sight it was to see this mighty, unknown river surging and foaming through a ragged, wooded valley, its dull roar rising to our ears. The sight encouraged me, for I knew roughly where I was now. There cannot be many regions in the world with so many great rivers as this far northern tip of Burma, with China to the east, Tibet to the north, and Assam to the west. Within a comparatively small area are found the upper reaches of the Yang-tse, Mekong, Salween, N'mai-Kha, Mali-Kha, and Brahmaputra, with its tributary the Dihing. The descent to the N'mai was precipitously steep, and negotiating it was just as tiring as climbing. The sun was beating down again, making us extremely thirsty, so we sought water at a Kachin hut (this we invariably did at every dwelling we came to), and drank it from gourds made from the bamboo stem. Eventually we reached the river bank, but at the first small village no means of crossing was found, so we pushed on along the soft sand bordering the river. The path we were following led us away from the river, and I wondered if ever we were to get across, as the prospect of finding a boat of any description seemed remote. A few hours later, however, as our hopes were waning

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and rain again falling, we quite suddenly found ourselves in a large village back on the river bank. Here we stood under a hut to shelter, but had not stood long before a group of women gathered to gaze at the two strangers. One came forward and gave us four eggs, which was a promising beginning to our sojourn in that village—but better was to follow. A young woman (1 believe the headman's wife and certainly more than half Burmese) conducted us to her house, which was the best I was ever inside in a Kachin village (and I must have been in scores). She gave us a change of apparel while she washed and dried our own. She fed us like kings on chicken, broth, eggs, and rice.

That night we lay by the fire in comfort, and it is not surprising that I slept well after such a feast! i6tb May. Next day I communicated to our benefactress our intention of crossing the river and our difficulty in achieving this.

She took us to another hut, where it seemed the whole village was sitting in conclave. After much talking and gesticulating, I gathered that one of the company was to get us across the N'mai on a raft. " Janson " and I were duly led to the river by a large party, and to our great joy we reached the opposite bank safely, thanks to the skilful manoeuvring of the raft by the boatman and his boy. From the other side our hostess waved us good-bye and I waved back in reply, while I inwardly blessed her from the bottom of my heart, for she had been a real friend to us, absolute strangers in a strange land.

LESS HOSPITABLE NATIVES.

We were now in a triangle of very wild, mountainous country, formed between the rivers N'mai-Kha and Mali-Kha, which join to form the Irrawaddy further south. This day we covered about twenty-five miles, at first accompanied by the boatman and his son, who took us to a hut where a religious service was in progress. When the family devotions were concluded, we were made very welcome, and I soon found myself in possession of another cloth bag of rice, in spite of my protestations that already I had enough and had no wish for further encumbrance. When we set off again, we had a sturdy young Kachin as guide, who insisted on carrying both bags of rice.

At first the path was not too difficult, but frowning peaks loomed near, giving promise of difficult country ahead. About midday our guide left us, after proving very useful in showing us the way through places where we should certainly have strayed if on our own. Later we passed through two villages, where the people seemed more reserved and shy than their compatriots on the other side of the N'mai.

They must come into contact with the outside world very seldom, and therefore it is not surprising that strangers are regarded with suspicion. Late in the afternoon a thunderstorm descended on us, and at dusk we arrived in a village where we were not as usual led to the headman's hut, but into a very small empty hut, standing alone on tall piles. This " edifice " had a roof, but one by no means adequate against the weather, and moreover the chilly atmosphere did not tend to make us feel particularly pleased with our lot. However, a youngster appeared with some firewood, with which we built a fire. After a frugal meal we stretched our damp bodies on the wet floor and slept.

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17th May. This was a day of tiring climbs and descents. The scenery was wonderful, but the reception given us by the villagers not so good as previously. Rain fell heavily, and even huge plantain leaves were poor substitutes for umbrellas. "Janson's" wound now gave him a lot of trouble and looked much worse than it had done a few days previously. Fortunately there was no sign of sepsis or gangrene setting in, which was perhaps due to the strange dressings of leaves, etc., which the Kachins sometimes applied to it. We arrived that evening in a village which did not uphold the traditions of Kachin hospitality. However, after entering a hut unbidden, we were suffered to remain and got sufficient space on the platted bamboo floor to stretch our bodies and sleep. Next morning we broke our fast with rice and some sort of cooked roots, and after the usual inquiries as to the way to Katchito, we continued on our journey.

COMRADE LOST—AND FOUND.

18th A/ay. It was a day of torrential rain, which turned the tortuous mountain paths into waterfalls and the trees and bamboo scrub into a dripping waste of leaves and branches. Mist enveloped everything, and though we climbed many heights, we saw nothing, and in the valleys between was the sound of many rushing waters.

After crossing a few ridges, we came to a racing mountain torrent many yards wide, and my already flagging hopes wellnigh died, as this seemed impassable. Then I spotted an alternative path, which we eagerly followed in the hope that it might lead to a bridge, and to our joy we soon discovered a frail bamboo-and-wattle construction stretching across the foaming torrent, but our joy was short-lived, as we discovered that half of the bridge was washed away. This was a hard blow for us, and we stood forlornly gazing through the blinding rain at the opposite bank. Then we did a foolish thing—we parted company and I left " Janson " sitting miserably on a stone, while I, scarcely less miserable and quite as wet, went to search for a possible crossingplace. At length I found a place worth trying and shouted to my comrade, but got no reply save from the rushing water. I searched and shouted but met with no success—my comrade was not where I had left him—he had vanished. Mystified, I gave up and cautiously forded the river, bracing myself against the strong current with my stout stick. The west bank was very steep and clothed with almost impenetrable trees and undergrowth, but after progressing at the rate of about too yards an hour, I reached a ruined hut which I had seen from the other side. In it was a fire, a Kachin family, and " Janson "1 He had managed to cross at a point further up. I was indeed glad to see him, though he was in a sorry state, having been almost wholly immersed in the turbulent stream during his crossing. The Kachin family was composed of man, wife, son, small son, buffalo, and calf.

After a brief rest we continued our journey up a ladder-like gradient, on which about a mile an hour was good going. As expected, we came to a collection of huts at the top of the hill, but at the first door a young girl seemed most unwilling to admit us, so we tried another, where an old Kachin, the age of Methuselah and deaf as his staff, did

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not oppose our entry. I think he was almost blind, too, and probably had no idea who we were. We restored his miserable fire to life and likewise our wet bodies to warmth. At dusk the other dwellers of the hut came winding up the track, singing voices heralding their arrival. A jolly crowd they were and evinced little surprise at our presence in their house. Having partaken of food, we slept by the smoky log fire.

MUTUAL LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION.

19th and zoth May are two days which are but confused memories of rain, mist, and cold. Occasional glimpses of wild, rugged scenery were the only respites in the days' march or rather climb, for we must by now have been many thousands of feet above sea level. Rice we got at a few villages and also shelter at night. z ist May. Both fortune and the sun smiled on us this day. We had now passed the very roughest of the journey and the way led rather down than up, though we had many a hill to climb before reaching the Mali-Kha. I was now impatient to reach Katchito, as I reckoned we should have been there days before, but always this goal kept ahead of us, like a mirage in the desert. A young Kachin of whom we asked the way took us to his house and himself cooked us an excellent meal, including a kind of egg omelet. This evening we reached a prosperous-looking village and were made very welcome in the first house we approached. Our host was possessed of more intelligence than the average Kachin, and he passed the evening with me by telling me many words in Kachin, while I replied with the English counterpart. To facilitate counting and for numbers we used grains of maize and sat cross-legged on the floor, while we laboriously repeated the words of each other's language. zznd May. Early in this day we reached a village (the villages were more frequent now) where we met four Gurkha soldiers, which was for us a real stroke of luck. A Kachin led us to the hut, and when I entered, I was greeted with the usual " salaam sahib" from the leader of the party. I was asked to share their food and, while eating it, I was able to converse with one of the Gurkhas who spoke broken English. I asked how many there were in their party and was told " six." I expressed surprise, as I could see only four, but he pointed to " Janson " and myself, intimating that, of course, we were included —this was a typical Gurkha gesture of friendliness, as I had not even asked if we might accompany them. The Gurkha is famed for his loyalty, good nature, and bravery, and as a soldier is unsurpassed.

With our junction with the Gurkhas a new phase of my travels commenced.

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Escape from Singapore.

Lieut.-Colonel P. A. B. MCKERRON (19o4-to), of the Malayan Civil Service, was in August 1939 appointed Chief Censor, Malaya, and held that position until January 1942, when he was posted to the staff of an Indian Army Corps as Chief Civil Liaison Officer. He took part in the retreat from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, from which he escaped on the night of Sunday, x5th February, after the " cease fire." He has furnished the following account of his escape, "jotted down at odd moments during quite a strenuous year in Ceylon " as Political Secretary to the Commander-in-Chief.

Lieut.-Colonel McKerron now holds a War Office appointment in London.—ED. Singapore, Sunday morning, 15th February 94z.—The sun was rising as I stepped on to the verandah outside my office in Fullerton Building and leant over the stone parapet to look out to sea. In front of me, almost directly beyond Clifford Pier, was the blazing beacon of Pulau Samboe, where the large Dutch oil installation, set on fire on Friday the 15th, was still burning furiously and lighting up the sky. Away to the right, but not directly visible, the British oil tanks on Pulau Bukom were blazing too—I could see the glare in the sky past the edge of the tall buildings in Collyer Quay. In between lay a pall of smoke and the lesser and ruddier glow of the fires burning in the Telok Ayer and Harbour Board areas. The harbour and the roads were empty of ships. Away to the east, in the direction of Sea View and Katong, lay rolling, jet-black clouds from some oil depot which had been set on fire either by us deliberately, or by enemy action. The sun as it rose shone bravely through the smoke clouds which floated over the city and harbour. The shell-fire, which had been going on intermittently and at times heavily throughout the night, had momentarily ceased and there was an extraordinary air of calm over the scene.

NEARING THE END.

Sometime between to and it that morning I was informed confidentially by my brother-in-law, who was Secretary for Defence, Malaya, that it had been decided to treat with the enemy and that Hugh Fraser, the Acting Colonial Secretary, was being sent out to the enemy lines about noon under a flag of truce. We agreed to meet with my sister in their room at noon to deal with a bottle of champagne which had been kept for a "special occasion."

"Robbie "(Commander C. A. Robinson, D.S.C., a great mutual friend) was invited to make the fourth. We collected my sister, who had refused to leave Singapore and who was nursing in the military hospital down below, and started to make our way up to the fourth floor, where their bedroom was. Just as we were in the corridor outside, the air-raid alarm went and we could hear the enemy planes overhead. A few seconds later down came the bombs and the whole building shook. It was all over in half a minute or so, and we proceeded with " Operation Bubbly." Tooth glasses were all we had.

We drank in silence because we all knew this was the end and that we should all four be in enemy hands (unless a miracle happened) by the

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same time the following day. Then off back to our jobs—mine was to complete the destruction of the remaining man-power records, some of which might have been useful to the enemy. As I crammed the stuff into the incinerator on the stone verandah outside my office, I looked out and saw the results of the most recent bombs which had shaken the building. The nearest had fallen in the Clifford Pier car park, the remainder on and around a derelict ship moored alongside Telok Ayer reclamation. The whole ship was blazing furiously and so were many of the cars in the park. This time there were no attempts to put the fires out—the fire engines could not get near the sea and there was no water in the hydrants.

PLANNING ESCAPE. By this time it was after 1 o'clock and I went down to my office to see what the chances of a meal were. At lunch my brother-in-law told us that the end was near. Hugh Fraser had come back with a message from the Japanese Military H.Q. that the Japanese C.-in-C. would receive General Percival at 16.oo hours that afternoon under flag of truce to discuss the terms of complete and unconditional surrender. The Governor had also let it be known that any Government officer who could get away was now at liberty to leave, if he could find any means of doing so. Some decided to go off and see what the chances of organizing a junk party were. I went to see " Robbie" about the possibility of getting charts for navigation through the mine-fields. I found a large number of people in his office, all wanting charts and inquiring about the possibility of getting away. Among them was a party of young officers, part of the recently disbanded " Dalforce," who had been ordered to get away if they could to Sumatra, but who had failed to escape the previous night with the main party. They still had found no means of conveyance, but were determined to find something that would float to get away on. " Robbie " was prepared to do all he could to help them, and it was agreed that if a vessel of some sort could be found, I would be given the chance of a passage if it would hold any extra passengers.

I agreed to go off to try to find a navigator.

So at about 3.15 p.m. I set off in my car to look for an old naval officer, by name Whittaker, who I thought would be a suitable navigator, and who I knew lived somewhere in River Valley Road.

I took one of the members of the Gammons' staff, who had been helping with man-power matters with me. The town was being heavily shelled. We approached River Valley Road by a somewhat devious route, avoiding as far as possible the main streets, which were being strafed worst. The streets were deserted. Telephone wires, glass, and rubble were strewn all over the road, which made driving very tricky. As we commenced to climb the River Valley Road incline beyond the United Engineers Works, things got very hot and we found ourselves in the middle of a heavy barrage.

We hurriedly got out of the car—there is nothing worse than to be in a car when shells are flying around—and spent a very frightened quarter of an hour or so in one of the deep, concrete roadside drains.

The shelling then began to moderate a little in the area we were in—

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73 and we set off in the car to look for the address we had been given.

We eventually found the house and the man we were after. He agreed to come, but we decided to wait to see if the shelling would not moderate still further. Sure enough, about 4 o'clock it did, and we set off back to Fullerton Building.

M.L. KEMBONG. " Robbie " by this time had got the escape party fixed up. It was limited to 25, in addition to navigating and engine-room staff. The craft selected was M.L. Kembong, the Straits Settlements Government Fisheries launch, which the Director of Fisheries put at " Robbie's" disposal. It had been out of commission since the outbreak of war with Japan and the native crew had gone. The engine was a German-made diesel of an old type. She was a fair size of vessel, but a very large portion of the space below decks was taken up with refrigerating chambers—she could, therefore, only take deck passengers. The difficulty was to find engineers who knew how to start and run the engine. On receiving information that there were two Europeans employed in the Singapore Municipality who had actual knowledge of the engine, Wyatt Smith and some of the other young " Dalforce " officers had actually succeeded that afternoon in running these two men to earth, and they volunteered to come. By 5 o'clock or so, skeleton navigating and engine-room staffs had been collected and a list of passengers to make the attempt was drawn up.

In the meantime the first thing to be done was to try to put the engineroom staff on board to get the engine ready. The difficulty was how to do this, as Kembong lay about 500 or 6oo yards out from the Master Attendant's Jetty and there was literally no craft available of any sort to take us out. Eventually Wyatt Smith and another officer managed to get hold of a very small motor boat, manned by R.E.s, which had been towing one of the water boats alongside for the use of the hospital. By this time it was about 5.3o p.m. and the road between Fullerton Building and the sea was a scene of indescribable confusion. The roadway was clogged up with lines of M.T., mostly stationary. Troops were everywhere, all bewildered. Already word had gone round that we were about to surrender, and some units actually had had orders to lay down their arms. There were crowds of troops (mostly Australians) on all the jetties, looking longingly for anything that would float. The chances of our being able to get on board our launch did not look too bright, and to make the prospect less bright, the Japs suddenly, at about 6 p.m., started to shell it.

Some enemy gunners must have seen the motor boat take the engineers out to it and thought they might as well put an end to our little game, whatever it was. We watched in an agony of suspense about half a dozen shells falling all round the launch and throwing up clouds of splash, which glistened in the bright evening sun. There were one or two very near misses. It was time to get moving.

I had spent the time between 5.3o and 6 in going to see the Governor and saying good-bye to my sister and brother-in-law. I had sounded " Robbie " about taking her with us, but he was adamant that no women could be allowed on any " boating party " at this eleventh

Aberdeen Grammar School Magatine 74 hour. In the meantime the faithful " Shepp " had been doing for me what little packing could be done. We could, of course, take only what we could carry—I had an Army pack containing a few tins of food, change of clothes, and a sponge bag. All my confidential papers, including my war diary, had already been burnt that morning, when it looked as if there was no hope of avoiding falling into enemy hands. " Shepp," who bravely refused to come with us, although he was a " Dalforce " officer, because he felt he still was not fit enough for the attempt after his bad go of tropical typhus, offered me a sum of several hundred dollars he had with him, but I couldn't possibly take it ; and so back to " Robbie's " office, just in time to see the shelling of Kembong.

GETTING ON BOARD.

It was now beginning to get dark and so time to start moving off. We could see the little motor boat coming along according to plan to take the first party on board. She came alongside the water boat, which was tied up to the jetty. The jetty was crowded with troops. Our advance party, with tommy guns slung over their shoulders, moved determinedly on to the jetty and started to clamber down on to the water boat—there were no steps but there was a piece of rope hanging handily. Some of the men above on the jetty moved up and at one time it looked as if they might rush the boat, but we shouted to them that we were on a special mission and they resumed the role of spectators. When the little motor boat came alongside it was found that she was leaking badly and would take only three or four of us at a time, and all the way across to Kembong one of us had to be baling all the time to keep her afloat. Eventually, after four or five trips, the boat becoming more water-logged all the time, the rear party arrived—by now it was after 7.3o and quite dark.

The small motor boat sank shortly after.

A few minutes later the engine started. This was the critical event of the whole show. When the two engineers got on board, they found that the engine had not been used for some weeks, and there was only one air-bottle charge for starting it and no means on board of re-charging the air-bottle except off the main engine. They, therefore, decided to leave nothing to chance and spent the next two hours examining and going over the whole engine thoroughly, to adjust it for starting. So well did they do their job that it did start at the first go and showed no signs of faltering. Up on deck in the dark we did not realize that we had got over the first and most important hurdle of all. The next job was to get up the anchor. We dared not show a light and had some trouble getting the windlass adjusted, but after a struggle and some hard pulling, " the hook " came away and at about 8 we started to nose our way slowly through the inner harbour, past the breakwater, and along the edge of the mine-field towards St. John's Island.

SINGAPORE IN FLAMES.

It was a terrible and unforgettable sight to see the town as we slowly passed down the waterfront past Collyer Quay and Telok

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75

Ayer—there was a blazing inferno of warehouses and buildings from Finlayson Green down to the region of the Yacht Club, and especially all round Fort Canning, there were jets of flame and smoke stabbing the sky where houses and stores had caught fire. Over the whole city lay a pall of smoke lit up by the glare and glow of the fires.

Astern of us, in the direction of Katong and Sea View, there was another mass of fires. In addition, as we stood out to sea, we got an awe-inspiring view of the blazing volcanoes of Pulau Bukom and Pulau Samboe. A tragic, weird, and unforgettable scene—proud and rich Singapore on the eve of surrender to the Japanese. Crowded on the little piece of open deck, not knowing who we all were, or how many of us there were on board, we took our last look at the stricken town as we headed out to sea. " Robbie" had given us charts with the mine-fields plotted on them, and also a few general sailing directions. The main mine-field came close up to St. John's Island, but there was a narrow, open channel close inshore—too dangerous for a large vessel to attempt to use but quite all right for us, so long as we kept within too yards of the island and at the same time took care not to get too close in and run on the coral reefs. As we neared St. John's, I went up on to the little bridge, where the skipper was poring over the chart with the aid of an electric torch. I was able to be of some assistance to him (drawing on my memory of various yachting and launch trips in the harbour during the last twenty years). We rounded St. John's safely and set course for Raffles Light.

AGROUND. As we turned west, we could see ahead of us a thick cloud of black smoke lying over the water, caused by the blazing oil tanks of Pulau Bukom. We were soon in the middle of this cloud and visibility became very bad. The skipper posted two of us in the bows, one on the port and the other on the starboard side, as look-outs—our job was to pick up Raffles Light, where we had to make our next change of course to clear the reefs that lay to the north of it. Owing to the smoke clouds we failed to pick up this mark when we were due to do so, and the skipper decided to risk it and alter course. As it turned out, he was quite right to do so, but unfortunately his decision was just a few minutes too late. We were out of the smoke by now and suddenly ahead, a few points to port, the other man and I on look-out saw something looming ahead that looked like land. We shouted back to the bridge and as we did so there was a crunching and a shivering and we were well aground before the engine could be got going full-speed astern. The skipper tried the usual methods (which I remember so well, having run on the bars of the East Coast Malayan rivers)—bursts of " full speed astern " and a touch of " go ahead," but all to no purpose. Kembong wouldn't budge. We knew that the tide was falling to dead low water about dawn and it was about t a.m, that we went aground. Then we tried lightening the ship and, incidentally, someone in his zeal to lighten her threw overboard our one and only decent cooking brazier—we missed that badly later on.

The skipper also tried the effect of getting us all on the port side and

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then moving us over to the starboard side, but that proved dangerous and very nearly our undoing, as Kembong, in spite of all we could do, began to heel over to port and eventually, just as we thought she was going to capsize on us, settled down at an angle of 4o degrees, with the whole of the ship's company sitting precariously in the dark on starboard rail. Very unpleasant it was for a few moments until we realized with relief that she was going to remain stable at that angle.

By now it was after z a.m., and we could see with our own eyes that the tide was running out fast. There was nothing for it but to sit on that rail and wait for the dawn. We hadn't dared smoke since we got on board, but we now decided in our predicament that smoking could do no harm, as we were bound to be spotted in the morning if there were any Japs about among the islands. Sometime between 3 and 4 we noticed lights ahead of us on what looked like an island, which then began to loom quite near. We found out later, when we got ashore there, that a few Malay fishermen who were camped on the island had suddenly spotted us and thought we were Japs. It cheered us a lot to know we had an island so near and that it apparently was inhabited. By 5 o'clock, or soon after, we realized that the tide had run right out and that we were now practically high and dry.

As the dawn came we could see the coral and rocks jutting up through two or three feet of water, and we realized that we were very lucky that old Kembong's hull had been so built that she had settled down like this, practically on her side. As soon as it was light we started to try to get our one and only boat away, but the davits were jammed and we couldn't move her. Wyatt Smith and one or two others then set off to wade through the coral to the island, which we could now see clearly and found was only a few hundred yards away. They got very wet in some of the deeper parts, but arrived there quite easily. The Malays, of whom there were about a dozen, viewed them very circumspectly as they waded ashore, but as soon as they realized that we were not the enemy but " orang puteh " who could talk Malay, they offered to help at once and came off in their koleks to take the rest of us ashore dry-shod. We took some boxes of miscellaneous provisions along with us.

ALMOST A DESERT ISLAND.

Once all ashore on our minute island, Pulau Pelampong by name, we found the small party of Malay fishermen very friendly and helpful.

We discovered we had some tins of cocoa and they helped us to brew several pots of the steaming beverage and generously let us use up practically all the small supply of drinking water they had with them —it had all had to be brought from Pulau Sudong, several miles away in the direction of Blakan Mati. There was, of course, no well on Pulau Pelampong, which was a small circular patch of sand at the end of the coral reef on which we had gone aground, with a few cocoanut trees and one very fine example of a typical Malayan shade tree growing right in the middle. The island could not have been more than four feet above the highest tidemark. There were a few temporary huts which visiting fishermen used when they spent the night there—almost a typical desert island in fact.

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The first and most important thing for us to find out was the prospect of our being able to get Kembong off the rocks on the midday high tide. An inspection of the tidemarks on the beach was very reassuring, and the Malays confirmed that the high tide of the night before had been a " low " one, and that there would be another ti to a feet of water on the midday tide. This cheered us a lot and we detailed a party to go on board about ro to get ready to take her off at high tide. We settled down to our morning toilets and to more cocoa and biscuits, but about 8 o'clock we had our first of several " air-raid alarms "—two Jap planes over, flying very high from the south. We all took cover in the kajang huts and under the large shade tree, and decided to post sentries to watch for any more planes there might be. Several more came over in the course of the morning, and some of them came down low over the island, but knowing our lives probably depended on the enemy not catching sight of anything to make him suspicious, we were very careful to take cover in plenty of time. One of the planes swooped down very low over Kembong to have a " look see," but the sight of her heeled over to an angle of 45 degrees and still apparently well and truly grounded, appeared to satisfy them that she was " out of the war," and no attempts were made to bomb or machine-gun what must have looked like a total wreck.

At about 10.3o we sent our salvage party on board, and about midday they got her off quite easily.

We breathed more freely, but at the same time realized we were not out of the wood yet, as enemy planes might be expected to take much more interest in a sea-going launch riding at anchor in deep water off the shore. Luckily, no planes came over in the early afternoon, and the shore party lay on the sand looking across the three or four miles of water to Singapore Island, wondering what was going on there—it was a clear, bright, sunny day. Pasir Panjang and Bukit Timah behind it were clearly visible, with the sun shining on them.

The quietness and peace of it all impressed us, and we could hardly realize that Japanese tanks were, as we sat there, probably rumbling down Orchard Road. The enemy's preoccupation and excitement at the capture of the great fortress probably saved us—he had lost interest now in escape ships. All the same, we could not take the risk of putting to sea till the evening, but about 5 o'clock we decided to start going aboard, to get everything ready for a start just before dark. From then on till darkness fell was our real danger period and we took cover anxiously when a plane came over quite low about 6.

We expected a hail of machine-gun bullets, but none came and we breathed again.

A NARROW ESCAPE. About 6.3o we weighed anchor, as we wanted to clear the reefs before dark. We had, in the meantime, organized ourselves into watches. As my turn did not come on till a a.m., I found a bunk in the small cabin under the bridge and turned in dead tired, just as we moved slowly off. I was asleep as soon as my head touched my pack, which was my pillow, and it was only when I came on duty at a a.m. that I learnt that just before dark, when we were well under way, a

Aberdeen Grammar School Maga.#ne 78 Jap plane had flown very low over our heads in a very menacing way, but again there had been no offensive action. There was, however, a more exciting moment later on about midnight. Kembong was then just off the north end of the Karimon Islands, and was making her way gingerly round the rocky north coast with engine running dead slow, when suddenly, just to the seaward of us, loomed up the dim shape of a destroyer, which could only have been an enemy one, approaching from the west and very close. Wyatt Smith was on the bridge—he dashed down the little companion-way to the engine-room and got the engine stopped. He watched the destroyer slip past with his heart in his mouth, expecting that we should be blown out of the water at any minute. But we must have been saved by the fact that we were so close inshore that the enemy could not pick us out in the darkness against the background of the rocks. The destroyer slipped past to the east, and when she was well out of sight and hearing we started off again, laying course for the mouth of the Bengkalis River in Sumatra. We were well on the way there when I took up duty as one of the look-outs in front of the bridge. The rest of the night passed without incident, and when dawn came, we found ourselves in the wide estuary waters of the Bengkalis and Siak Rivers.

The skipper had done his job very well.

INTO SUMATRA.

We anchored to wait for the light to improve sufficiently to let us pick up landmarks and make sure we got into the right channel.

About 7 we moved off and by 8 were passing the small Dutch Customs station at the mouth of the river. They waved us on up river and we went steadily upstream all morning to reach the small port of Bengkalis about noon. As we were coming alongside the wharf, I noticed one of the Singapore Yacht Club's boats moored empty, just below the town. When we got ashore I found out that it had brought Captain Bell, R.N., of Exeter fame, and two others from Singapore the previous day and that Bell and his party had gone on up river to Pekan Baharu that morning. Along with the skipper and Mackenzie, the senior officer of the Army party, I went to call on and report to the Dutch Controlleur, the local District Officer. Like all the Dutch officials we were to come into contact with in the course of our journeyings through Sumatra and Java, he was very helpful, although he was, not unnaturally, very bitter about the fall of the " impregnable Singapore." He was, however, the only official who expressed his bitterness—many of them must have felt it and have had the feeling that we had let them down, but none of the others showed it by word or action. He advised us to take Kembong on at once to Pekan Baharu, tz to 15 hours up the Siak River, where there was an R.A.F. station and where we could get transport to take us to Padang, the large port on the west coast of Sumatra.

He asked us to take with us the balance of a small party of Australians who had crossed the Straits of Malacca from behind the Jap lines two nights before, in a small sailing boat from near Batu Pahat. Some of them had already gone on that morning with Captain Bell's party,

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79 and we readily agreed to take the rest. He also provided us with a pilot for the night trip up the Siak, and we cast off about 5 o'clock.

Meantime, about 4, two naval launches arrived, full of miscellaneous Army and Navy. It was agreed that they would follow us up river in convoy. There was a small moon for a time, but it was not sufficient to prevent us going aground when our pilot was trying to find the channel some miles downstream, where the Siak River entered the main stream. The Navy rallied round and, to the accompaniment of many good-humoured pleasantries, towed us off. All was fairly plain sailing after that, but we had to go very slowly up the winding Siak. We all took our turn at watch, helping our pilot, and dawn found us well up, but still some 5 or 6 hours below Pekan Baharu. The Siak, which was tidal all the way to Pekan Baharu (and the tide was against us), reminded me very much of the Limbong River in Sarawak—a dark, winding river, with mangrove in the lower reaches, succeeded later by jungle and belukar-covered banks, with occasional patches of native rubber and native huts. As the tide was running very strongly, it was nearly noon before we reached our destination, a typical river trading station, with a good wooden wharf.

We moored alongside just as our cooks had got our morning meal ready—a savoury mess of rice, sardines, tinned salmon, Heinz baked beans, and bully beef. I hurried through mine in order to get ashore with the skipper to see the Dutch Military Commandant. His headquarters were a mile or so out of the town, but the kindly Dutch Customs officials at the wharf sent us along in a truck. We found him most helpful and he said he would arrange with the R.A.F.—a small party of whom under an officer were still there, but, only just, as they were about to evacuate the aerodrome—to see about transport to take us to railhead, some hundred miles away. We then arranged to hand over the old Kembong to the Dutch authorities, and the officer in charge of the two R.N. launches did the same for his two craft. We then returned to the wharf and got our parties ashore.

About 4 o'clock a convoy of three large buses turned up, and the combined party were soon stowed away and off we set.

Bus AND TRAIN. The road took us past the aerodrome, where the final " pack-up " was going on. About dusk we reached a large river and were ferried across. We had tea and coffee and some lovely ducks' eggs (commoner in Sumatra than hens' eggs), and set off just as it got really dark. We stopped about to o'clock at a small village for more excellent coffee and then started our climb into the Padang Highlands—a hair-raising road in places, but it didn't seem to worry our driver. About z a.m. we reached railhead and entrained in the empty Padang train we found waiting in the station. It was not due to start till 6, so we all turned in and slept. Just as it was getting light we started, and breakfasted from the tins we carried in our packs. It was a lovely morning and the train run through the beautiful and fertile Padang Highlands was an unforgettable experience. We stopped at every little wayside station, and as the sun got warmer, more and more of the very healthy and happy-looking peasants joined the train. By the time it arrived

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at Fort de Koek it was crammed full. These Padang uplands are one of the most beautiful and fertile regions I have ever seen—they consist of a series of great flat terraces, surrounded by an amphitheatre of volcanic mountains. Running water everywhere—all beautifully controlled by what must be a most efficient irrigation system. The soil, too, must be very rich—tomatoes, cabbages, etc., could be seen growing in little plots all along the line, and there were also, of course, thousands upon thousands of acres of padi in all stages of growth.

We reached Padang about i 1 o'clock. As similar parties to ours had been arriving by every train for the past few days, there was a certain amount of confusion, but the Dutch had the whole show very well organized and we soon found ourselves billeted in a school near the centre of the town. After a meal I put on clean clothes and went off to find the British Vice-Consul. I found several Senior Service officers there whom I knew, including Captain Bell, Colonel Palmer, and Robin Goodfellow. Batavia had been asked to send a ship to take us off—it was estimated that there were about 6oo or 700 R.A.F. and refugees like ourselves ready to go, and it was known there were more on the way. It was thought that the chances of a ship the next day were good, but we should not know for certain till the morning.

I arranged that our party should be taken on the strength of the Kembong military party for rations and evacuation purposes. I dined with Colonel Palmer (the senior military officer then in Padang) at the local hotel—the first civilized meal for a very long time. Slept well on the bare boards of the school hall—quite used to bare boards by this time.

THE BRITISH NAVY ON THE JOB.

Early next morning (Thursday the r9th) I went to the Consulate.

While 1 was there, the expected telephone call from Batavia came through—that " we could expect the butler with the gin that day."

Captain Bell had no difficulty in explaining to us that this meant that H.M.S. Danat (Captain Butler) was on the way to Padang! We all went back to our billets and got our drafts ready for sudden embarkation orders. Soon after r o'clock the orders came and we set off to march to the station, where there was a train to take us the few miles to the port. As we drew into the dock station we could see Danat coming alongside to make fast. The Navy was here again, and beautifully timed—just one of the Navy's typical routine jobs. Embarkation was quickly and efficiently done and we were heading out to sea at top speed as the sun was setting. The officers, some 8o of us, were accommodated in the Ward Room and in the Captain's cabin, and we slept in the open on the quarter-deck. There were some 400 to Soo other ranks accommodated on the main decks. The ship fed us simply, but effectively, on bread, butter, cheese, tea, and lime-juice.

It was all a glorified picnic. We could buy cigarettes and things like tinned prunes at the ship's canteen. We all expected to be in Batavia

by Saturday evening, but Sunday morning came with us still at sea and no sign of the Sunda Straits. We then learnt that the Straits were now considered too dangerous and that we were bound instead for Tjilatjap, the small port on the south coast of Java. We were off the river mouth there by noon (Sunday the 2 2nd) and up alongside the wharf by

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8t

The harbour was crowded with ships—far too many and too easy a target, we thought.

4 o'clock.

IN JAVA.

As Robin Goodfellow and I were anxious to get to Batavia as soon as possible, we went ashore together immediately the gangway was down, to see what we could do about it. . . . We got into Batavia Centrum just before it. I had great fun getting through to Larkins at the British Consulate on the station's public telephone, but I managed the Dutch " Button A " all right and got him. He could hardly believe his ears and said that he would be down with a car at once. He made it quite clear straight away that the situation in Java was now very serious—there was only one thing to do—to get out of Java at once. He said there was a ship leaving Tanjong Priok at 1 p.m.—she was probably the last ship and she was full, but he would do his best to get me a passage. He was as good as his word, and by one o'clock the Polish Consul in Batavia (whom L. kindly sent to see me off) and I were on our way to the docks, and by 1.3o I was on board the old s.s. Perak, veteran of the Singapore—Penang run.

She had arrived in Batavia early in February with civilian evacuees from Malaya, but her native crew had deserted and the Navy originally decided that she would have to be abandoned. At the last moment, however, when things began to look very critical in Java, the naval authorities at Batavia called for volunteers to officer and man her for another evacuation voyage. There were just sufficient R.N.V.R. officers available to provide the bare minimum complement of officers, but the crew was woefully below strength.

EN ROUTE FOR COLOMBO.

We passengers found that we mustered about 5o men and a dozen or so women and children. We had to turn to at once to help to get her ready for sea. The skipper called us all into the saloon at 4 o'clock and told us the position and how he would want all the assistance we could give him to get the old ship to Colombo. The male passengers were split up into watches and working parties, and the ladies undertook to help with meals in the saloon. We set to at once to get the stores on board and stowed away, and, most important of all, to get the lifeboats ready for immediate use. We were still hard at it as we stole out of the harbour at dusk. A few hours later we set sail with a small naval escort, the last ships to sail from Batavia. We knew we had left too late at night to get through the dangerous Sunda Straits before dawn—the Japs had been in control of the western side of the Straits for several days, and it was definitely dangerous for navigation.

However, our luck was in, and about to o'clock in the morning of z4th February we were well clear of the narrow waters of the Straits, and heading south into the Indian Ocean. Shortly after that we left the convoy, which was making for Australia, and set off on our own for Colombo. The voyage was uneventful and we reached our destination safely on 4th March—our only real hardship was a certain shortage of drinking water. However, by dint of strict rationing, no baths or shaving, and washing clothes in sea water, we made the supply last us out.

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Low Level.

It is briefing time. Thirty minutes past the hour of five in the early morning of a typically tropical summer day. The sky is overcast with dull greyish altostratus cloud, from which a fine drizzle is settling and clinging to the gleaming surfaces of the " kites " that are standing by. The place is Rhodesia.

We file into the crew-room in twos and threes and sit or stand idling about smoking the inevitable first fag of the day, or chatting amongst ourselves—mostly shop!

A few minutes pass and the Flight Commander walks briskly in with the " navigation bloke." The Flight Com. explains the trips for the day ; the target ; its position ; how to approach it in order to achieve that element of surprise ; and other details which will ensure that we make a successful job of the bombing. A low-level attack is always exciting and looked forward to with delight and anticipation by us all.

The Navigation Officer then gives us a few hints as to route, winds, courses, etc. They leave us.

It is now the Armament Officer's turn. He explains about weights of bombs, types of fuses, timing, methods of attack, and the rest.

The " Met. Man" then gets cracking and we learn about the forthcoming weather and what to look out for in that respect. It is not a very promising forecast and we expect to have a difficult trip.

Our aircraft are allocated to us, and we know the time we are to take off. We must work to a strict schedule, as each section of three aircraft has to be on the target ready to bomb at twenty-minute intervals. The target is zoo miles out from base in the midst of the desolate veldt, and we must arrive there dead on time, so that there will be no " hang-ups " for the following aircraft.

A last quick check with my second pilot before climbing into the machine. We don our helmets and parachutes, and test the wireless communication. Soon the still air is vibrating with the pulsing note of the engines as we warm up. I am to lead the first formation on to the target with the aid of my second pilot, who will be acting as navigator. We are to fly at naught feet all the way in order to be least observed from the ground. This means accurate navigation.

We taxi out and take off on time, after being bombed-up. As soon as we are airborne I signal the formation to turn on to course.

Soon we are roaring along above the tree tops, the engines whining.

The city drops behind us as we speed on our way over the veldt.

Nothing is to be seen for miles but the monotonous, unending scrub of the African land, relieved occasionally only by a native kraal or an isolated farm-house, with its mealie and tobacco fields surrounding it, slipping past below. We see the native " boys " or " munts " as they are called, running out of their dilapidated huts and pointing excitedly to the sky. It always gives us a thrill to see them thus.

A river slips away below, burbling and gushing, swollen by the rains, and the crocodiles splash clumsily into the water, startled out of their lazy restfulness by the roar of our engines. Now a marshy

KENNETH HOOD ROBERTSON

Sergeant Pilot, R.A.F.

JOHN ALEXANDER GEORGE. FIRTH Sergeant Air-Gunner, K.A.P.

83 Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine space and we see the black and white secretary birds rise up, also scared by the noise ; now we are over an open stretch of country and a small herd of kudu scatters in all directions followed by many ostriches fleeing before us, their long necks turning comically this way and that. They are bewildered. What is this roaring which intrudes upon their peacefulness ?

I concentrate upon my course. The weather is bad, very bad!

Dark, low, scudding clouds. They are thunder-clouds—we can hear the thunder even above the drone of the engines, and the lightning flickers round about us, stabbing this way and that from cloud to cloud and cloud to ground. Visibility is poor: we can see only about three miles ahead. The minutes pass—ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty. We think of the target in this weather and the difficulty of finding it. It is very small and set in the midst of desolate country.

Suddenly the weather clears with the amazing quickness which is characteristic of the African summer. We leave the scudding, low cloud behind and the sun is shining down upon us from the blue sky, beating through the glass of the cabin windows. I can feel the reflected heat burning into my back. I let my second pilot take over for a few minutes. I pull open the hood, and let the cooling wind into the cockpit. Five minutes to go! I climb up to one hundred feet. Yes, there is that small " koppie" the " navigation bloke" told us about, and the target is just to the west of it. Down to naught feet again and I signal the formation to fall into line astern. I start weaving, to avoid being seen. The rest of the " boys " are following me up. It is just like " follow-my-leader." I do a quick, steep turn round the " koppie," with my wing tip just off the " deck." There is the target! Master switch on—bomb switch on—selector switch on—here we go! I am still weaving to avoid " enemy action."

That's right—straighten up just before we reach the target. I press the button and turn away quickly. Number one bomb gone! I see the smoke rising. It's a near miss. Not bad! Round again, still weaving. Number two bomb gone!

Now all the bombs are dropped. We join up formation again and set course for home. The rest of the boys have done o.k. too. I am a bit tired, but feeling pleased just the same. I signal number two to take over the lead, as I want to do some " formating " myself.

We are cruising along now, still at naught feet, but in no hurry, as the job is done. We pass the next formation en route and waggle our wings in salute.

On and on over the bare veldt. We have been flying now for ninety minutes and still have an hour's flying before reaching base.

We pass through the bad weather again and our machine is thrown about a bit as we fly through a bad patch, but soon we are over the drome, circling round for a landing. We go in one by one, and as I touch down safely I think—well, that might quite easily have been an operational flight—but it wasn't. Just another training trip to give us the necessary experience for " ops." I like it.

KENNETH H. ROBERTSON (1935-41)•

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SCHOOL SECTION. School and Random Notes.

This term has seen the departure of one of the best-liked members of the School Staff. When Mr. Gonnella left, all of us who had known him felt that we had lost a fine representative of the kind of Master which is dearest to the hcarts of Grammarians. Surely few Masters have a grander record of service to the School than Mr. Gonnella. Ile was the most conscientious of teachers within the classroom, the cheeriest and most likeable of men outside it ; and at the Forestry and Harvest Camps always an accessible and willing counsellor and friend.

With the best wishes of the School, expressed in cheers worthy of the Grammar's tradition in the matter of applause, Mr. Gonnella took his leave. Certainly he will not soon be forgotten, for the School knows a good Master when it has one. * * * The Prefects this year are R. W. Hepburn (Senior Prefect), T. Blair, D. Cowie, A. M. Davidson, J. C. R. Dawson, W. M. Ewen, R. A. Kirton, G. G. Mathieson, D. Makkawi, R. L. Mackinnon, J. A. McGregor, P. C. Millar, D. M. W. Nicol, R. G. Ross, and R. B. Taylor. * * * Amongst the many and various duties undertaken by the above august body, from their sense of what is and is not fitting to go on within the precincts of the School, that of supervising the peaceable purchase of buns, cakes, etc., at Interval is neither the most dignified nor indeed the easiest to manage successfully. To the minor difficulty of stopping the egress of sundry intending purchasers from the field of play into the public street, has been added the major one of first locating the vendor herself and the queue. Rivalry between adjacent establishments has led to more than one firm attempting to supply our needs at the same time! Readers will (we hope) sympathize with the hapless group whose task is the maintaining of order. *

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The music-lovers in the School desire to thank Mr. Falconer for arranging parties to hear all the concerts held in the Music Hall this term. Owing to the black-out and " half-time " School attendance, musical activities outside School hours have, for the most part, been impossible during the war. These visits to hear fine orchestras have done much to increase the interest of " Grammar " boys in good music, and by means of these parties boys whose common interest is music have come together every few weeks, and that is the next best thing to having an orchestra of our own or School musical societies. *

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The School this term has been very fortunate in seeing Mr. Donald Won's presentation of four Shakespearean plays : " The Merchant of Venice," " Othello," " As You Like It," and" Richard III." A record number of boys from the Middle and Upper Schools attended the " Merchant of Venice," the figure being in the region of 16o. The organization of the parties was the special care of Mr. Forbes, who, even at the last possible moment, untiringly secured scats at a reduced rate, offering the attraction of sitting in the Dress Circle for the modest sum of two shillings.

To judge from the applause, the School certainly enjoyed every minute of the performances ; some of the more outwardly enthusiastic members deemed it both necessary and expedient to raise a lusty " Grammar School cheer."

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" Where shiver'd was fair Scotland's spear, And broken was her shield."

Unfortunately the 1st XV was defeated by the " Other Place," 14-o, some weeks ago. The School team, however, seems to have done its best, and all members are looking forward to a return match after Christmas. * « * The Scout Troops attached to the School arc taking part in Scout Week during next May, and we are assured they will not fail the Scouting tradition born in the School over thirty years ago. Many people, both inside and outside School, are inclined to neglect and, in extreme instances, ignore Scouts and their high ideals.

Individual Scouts will be taking part in dramatic entertainments, gymnastic displays, a model camp, and various other secret activities. * * * The School branch of the Scripture Union is at last making itself known. Three very successful meetings have been held this year, with Mr. Montague Goodman, Mr. R. Hudson Pope, and Mr. R. M. Miller as speakers. Such meetings arc very popular and more will be arranged. The Scripture Union has at present a membership of over 6o, but many more will be welcome. * * * Darwin published his theory of evolution in 18S9 and since then we have listened to various expositions on the subject by sundry learned professors, but the School Squadron of A.T.C., with other City squadrons, saw what must be the most pleasing theory of evolution yet expounded when they visited the Picture House on 5th December. Then Walt Disney's " Victory through Air Power" was shown. In it we find the story of the beginning of aerial warfare in World War I-from baleful glaring between the pilots of " rcckie" planes, to brickthrowing and pistol-duelling, and from there only a step to machine-guns. There was only one disappointment. All the way to the Picture House our footsteps were dogged by a certain other school squadron ! * * * There has been a great increase lately in the number of Upper-form boys taking dancing lessons. Whether or not this has anything to do with an announcement of Dr. Macandrew's we do not know, but since the time when a few tickets were offered to the School Squadron for a dance at Fairfield House, and Dr. Macandrew, to urge on the boys, said, " I have just been 'phoned by the people at Fairfield, and they say that there will be 3o \V.A.A.F.s there, so you needn't worry about partners "—and added, " I am told they are ' good-lookers ' "—well, since that time things have been " heating up." *

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At the beginning of the session Dr. Macandrew took over the command of the School Squadron of A.T.C. from Mr. Lynch, who with much graciousness offered to withdraw in favour of Dr. Macandrew, just come from " t'other place". This delicate position of two fine leaders each willing to subordinate himself to the other and disparaging his own achievements in favour of the other's, was at last got round by Dr. Macandrew accepting the command and Mr. Lynch becoming second in command. Mr. Forbes remains with us, a quiet, steady worker, who has given much of his time to help the cadets. * * * We have the pleasant duty of welcoming back Mr. Paterson to School after many months of illness. lie has always shown himself willing to help in the running of the School, and had, perhaps, aggravated his illness by his over-zeal on its behalf.

Let us hope he will not have another illness while he is at the " Grammar."

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Our Armistice Day Service was conducted by the Rev. P. D. Lawrence, who developed a fine theme based on the struggles and hopes and ultimate failure of his generation to secure a lasting peace. He warned us that we boys were the ones who would have to shoulder the post-war problems and build the new world, with the successes and failures of the inter-war period to help us.

And may we here thank Mr. Falconer for the standard of the singing ? We do not know whether it was that the boys were inspired by the address to an unusual show of energy, or whether Mr. Falconer had been labouring behind the scenes, but we are all agreed that the singing was the best we have heard for many a day. * * * Two first-year boys coming down Carden Place in serious discussion were heard to remark : " The father, you know, never does any work when he comes home. He just sits down " ; to which the second replied : " Yes, that is right.

The mother has to work all the time." You never know, but we may have a strong " feminist " contingent in the School shortly. * * * Big boy to small boy in bun queue : " Quiet! What's all the row about ?

I have only the next three months to wait before I am called up. You have all the next six years to wait for your buns."

A Back Number ?

Let us suppose that a visitor arrives at " Grammar " one morning (or afternoon, as the case may be), just when the interval has commenced. His business with the Power at the west end of the corridor is timed to start at the end of interval, so he has quarter of an hour to spare in which to make his first acquaintance with the School. When his eyes have adjusted themselves to the gloom in the corridor, the first object that meets his gaze is the Rector's Notice Board. This mouthpiece of authority does not detain him long, for he has already a rough idea of what Rectors and their kind arc in the habit of saying : at the moment he wants to find out what sort of things the boys are saying and doing ; and for this purpose he continues his walk till he beholds the School Clubs Notice Board : Dramatic Society, Debating Society, Fire-Watching Money! But nobody seems to be looking at this board except the visitor himself—and hopeful fire-watchers. " I say, you might look where you're going! " At that moment a large boy, moving at speed, almost knocks the visitor off his balance. " It's not my fault—I was pushed," is the polite reply. And lifting his eyes, the visitor sees what must be more than half the Grammar School in a formation closely resembling a " rugger " scrum, pushing, pulling and assaulting each other in their endeavours to read what has just been affixed to the next School Notice Board. On investigation, this proves to be the A.T.C. and A.C.F. batch of notices.

To negotiate himself past these is difficult—likewise past the Sports Notices, round which there is collected a number of battle-scarred heroes of the ist XV. These subjects then—Pre-Service Training and Sport—must be the principal interests of the Grammar School. But Mr. Visitor, there is yet one other Notice Board at the other end of the corridor—you had better see them all while you arc at it. One or two first or second year boys stand beneath it, puzzling out the inscriptions which it bears. What board is this ? It is headed " Scout Notices." " Are there Scouts at the ' Grammar ' ? " I hear him ask himself. Well, cornpared with the hosts of boys in khaki and Air Force blue which strike the eye as soon as one enters the School, there is not much sign of Scouting.

Let us leave our visitor, who has served his purpose for the present, and consider seriously this topic which he found rather puzzling. Scouting, of course,

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does survive at the " Grammar." The School, as everyone knows, has three Troops and Cub Packs, which, although many of their officers have been called away to service, have managed to keep going, reduced, however, in numbers.

Recruits arc rather few and far between : hut could we expect otherwise when we consider the amount of " official " propaganda and material help bestowed upon the " Pre-Service " units ? Indeed it is a great advertisement for the efficiency and appeal of Scouting that it has survived the competition at all!

If we think of the interests of the majority of boys (not only in the " Grammar "), it becomes obvious that Scouting, along with Boys' Brigade activities, has declined in importance during recent years. Two things can happen. Either the declining continues and Scouting ceases altogether ; or, at some future date, it revives and re-asserts itself as an important factor in the lives of the majority of boys. I hope to show later that we cannot afford to lose it ; and I state frankly that the sole purpose of this article is to attempt to convince its readers that the position of secondary importance given to Scouting in war-time is quite unjust and incompatible with the vast amount of good the movement is capable of doing to boys.

Scouting is no glamorous, banner-waving affair: it views with distaste all " show-off," and every attempt to secure public favour. The greatest pity of all is that the largest numbers of the public (and in " public " I include young people who are not Scouts) see Scouts and Scouting only on occasions such as the Empire Day Parade, which (although countenanced by high Scout circles) is really foreign to the true Scout spirit—namely a spirit of efficiency, comradeship, loyalty, and unobtrusive, disinterested well-doing.

Be it here noted that Scouting does not want or need such boosting or such pecuniary assistance as has been given to Pre-Service. As I have said, such methods of propaganda are alien to the essential nature of the movement, and besides," where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Were Scouting to be sponsored by the State, the State would have an interest, and from an interest, a control over Scouting : and that Scouting could not endure.

In the securing of recruits and the maintaining of numbers in a troop PreService is Scouting's greatest foe. Yet I speak of the A.T.C. and A.C.F. with no malice. They may be necessary, probably they are, in war-time ; but their military glory has outshone the purer and steadier flame of the greatest youth movement we have ever seen, and it is for that reason solely that I am trying to show their comparative ineffectiveness and the narrowness of their scope, by comparing them with Scouting as it is and with Scouting as it has been and as it might be again.

The motto of Scouting is " Be Prepared." Be prepared for what? Why, for everything and anything that a Scout may meet with during his whole life.

Surely a ridiculously ambitious ideal! By no means. In camping, a Scout abandons the superfluous comforts of civilized life as we know it. He learns what are the essentials of existence, how to cook his own food with the minimum of man-made utensils, to live with numbers of his own fellows under conditions which compel him to stand on his own feet and to develop a personality of his own. He lives close to Nature and studies her doings, and inherits something of that indescribable quality possessed by workers on the land, fishermen, and " back woodsmen "— something only to be hinted at by the word " religious," although Scouts are, above all, free from priggishness and the conventional religion that is all form but lacks sincerity.

In week-day meetings there arc opportunities for the practice of various hobbies and arts and crafts performed in groups, termed Patrols. And here, in the Patrol system, I think we come to one of the finest things Scouting can offer : training, first in service, and secondly in leadership. I often think that people in positions of authority in Pre-Service units believe they have something which they have not.

I mean the faculty of real leadership. They undoubtedly possess that type of military command which has a threat behind it. But the form of leadership inherent in Scouting is that most subtle, hard to acquire, influence of the personality that goes

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine with comradeship and trust in those under one—surely one of the greatest acquirements a young fellow can have, when he finishes schooling and sets off on his own!

Under the Patrol system usually every Scout in six is a " Patrol Leader," in full charge of his Patrol. It is in his hands to influence those under him for good or for evil. It is his job to develop their talents through hobbies and other activities.

No finer culmination to a number of years of service could be imagined than this entrusting with a Patrol.

Again Scouting is not " built upon the sand." It had that noble Christian gentleman, Lord Baden Powell, as its founder ; and a casual glance at the Scout Law will convince anyone that the ideals there laid down are of the highest character.

Does Pre-Service think it can he of much use after the war ? Many think it will. Whatever happens, I think that our Government would inflict a great injury upon the rising generation were it to retain Pre-Service to the detriment of Scouting.

The Scout learns how to learn. Consequently he is " Prepared "—prepared here and now to serve God and man just where he is. His is no pre-training, no specialised instruction in the latest ingenious devices for conducting war (although certainly his general instruction fits him for the rapid learning of such things in time of need), but a training for peace, a training in the art of living, a training which fits him for becoming a useful, peace-loving citizen, actively aware of and fulfilling his duty to his Maker and his fellows.

Whatever the advantages of Pre-Service, no one surely can say that they could give a sound training for peace. Scouting can.

Yes, I conclude, Scouting thrust in the background, overlooked, and almost spurned by officialdom, is undoubtedly the nearest thing we have yet discovered to a movement or organization which can turn out citizens really fit for the world we want after the war.

Look ; before that visitor turns away from this Notice Board, touch his arm.

Right! Now tell him quietly that Scouting hasn't much show when it comes to Notice Boards, but that there are many boys (yourself amongst them) who still have their faith in the survival of the movement and who arc doing all that is in their power to see it acclaimed once more as the Boys' Club, and to see more and more boys of the " Grammar" wearing the Scout badge.

R. W. HFPBURN (Upper VI).

Dramatic Society Notes.

On the 24th and 25th of June the Society presented the first and sixth scenes of G. Bernard Shaw's play " St. Joan." The Hall was filled with an appreciative audience on both occasions, and the performance was a great success. The total drawings amounted to L.63, and the sum of {So was handed over to the Army Cadet Force. As a Society, we must thank warmly those, both inside and outside the School, who gave their services to the Society : in particular Mr. Forbes, for his excellent work as producer, Mrs. Forbes and Mr. Miller, for their assistance in production and make-up, and Mr. Eddison and Mr. W. P. Stewart, who were in charge of the financial side of the show.

At the General Meeting of the Society, held on Monday, 16th August, the following officials were elected : President, Ronald A. Kirton ; Vice-President, David Knight ; Secretary, Maxwell A. A. Innes ; and a Committee consisting of Peter C. Millar, D. Mark W. Nicol, Alan G. Westland, J. T. Clifford Gillan, John S. Home, J. Bryce McLeod, and Kenneth Sutherland.

The Society has not met regularly this term, owing to the staggering of the holidays to allow boys to help with the harvest, and also because of numerous activities outside the School. The attendance at the General Meeting was encouraging, and it included boys from Middle II. Several plays were read and discussed by the Society, but none of them was considered suitable. The Society intends to present plays at Easter and before School closes for the Summer vacation.

M. A. A. I.

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School Sport during Autumn Term—A Résumé.

If results of games were all that mattered, it has been a lean time lately for School sport. Fortunately, however, scores are merely of ephemeral interest, and there arc other things that count for a great deal more than winning or losing.

There is no sign of waning enthusiasm for games among those who do attend at Rubislaw, although it must be admitted that the attendance leaves a good deal to be desired. The claims of the two School Cadet Corps have naturally curtailed the time available for games, and there are other factors which do not make for a big turn-out at Rubislaw on a sports afternoon or morning.

Our various teams continue to play their games in the right spirit, as of course we expect them to ; but it must frankly be stated that they have not been doing well so far this session, at all events as far as rugby is concerned. The 1st XV of 1942-43 season have gone almost to a man, and the present side, after a humiliating defeat at Glenalmond, had to bow the knee at Seafield a month later to Gordon's College. The latter defeat was the first inflicted on School by Gordon's College 1st XV since March .941, so that we must not grudge our neighbours their overdue triumph. It is a fact, too, that the School side put up a really good fight on this occasion, and were rather unlucky to lose by so big a margin as 54 points.

Our other " rugger" teams have also been meeting with set-backs. Our Minors, it is true, held Gordon's College Minors to a pointless draw at Rubislaw, but School and and 3rd XVs, and School Juniors all lost to their College counterparts. We hope naturally to meet with a greater measure of success in the return games next term.

Some cricket was played when the session opened in August, and here, too, our reconstituted team proved inferior to the College ist XI, defeats being suffered both at Rubislaw and at Seaficld. A low-scoring game at Perth was also lost, the Academy winning narrowly. Fortunately, there is ground for the belief that the School ist XI will fare better next summer.

At hockey alone can it be said that School arc doing well just at present. There is no scarcity of clever players, and although only five games of importance have so far taken place, in each the ist XI either won or drew. Much of the hockey players' improvement is due to the excellent coaching they are receiving from Mr. C. Forbes and Mr. I. Park. These members of the Staff arc to hockey what Mx. W. P. Stewart is to School rugby, and that is saying a great deal. One hopes to be able to give a brighter chronicle of School sport in the next issue of the Magazine, but at present it is surely wise to face the somewhat unpalatable facts.

In conclusion, it should be known that many potential rugby players arc unable in these days of coupons to participate in games through lack of playing kit. There is, in particular, a scarcity of boots and jerseys, and if any F.P.s who have given up the game care to bequeath their old gear to the School, it will be greatly appreciated.

Any parcels should be sent to the School, c/o the Interim Games Master.

A. J. M. E.

Rugby Notes.

At the time of going to press the School 1st XV have played only two games with other schools, the Glasgow High School fixture arranged for 9th October being now due towards the end of the present term. A heavy defeat, probably the heaviest ever sustained in an inter-school game by a Grammar School ist XV, was our lot at Glenalmond, and a month later, at Scafield, School conceded 14 points to Gordon's College without scoring in reply.

In other games, with F.P.s and with Services sides, School's inexperienced young team has fared little better. Two reverses were suffered against strong F.P. sides, and the XV had also to admit defeat in games with P.A.C.T.C., Royal Artillery, and R.A.F. The match with a Naval Base XV, however, was won by School by 17 points to 11, and the I.Tc. and XV were beaten at Rubislaw 31-o on 18th December.

Some stiff tests lie ahead in what may well turn out to be the lean season that all clubs experience periodically, but there are already signs of improved form by

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the XV as a whole, and the side will, perhaps, rise to the occasion in the next interschool fixture. Glasgow Academy may be met at Glasgow in February or March, and there are also away fixtures with Royal High School, Heriot's, and Glasgow High School, in addition to the return game with Gordon's College at Ruhislaw.

xst XV Inter-School Matches.

Team: A. A. t6th October, 1942.—t.. Trinity College, at Glenalmond.

Lawrence ; J. A. McGregor, R. L. MacKinnon (Captain), A. A. Dinnie, S. McK. Davidson ; R. G. Ross, F. McPherson ; R. G. Milne, P. Cooper, D. McNutt, W. Pratt, D. H. Ross, G. C. Kirkland, J. C. R. Dawson, D. Cowie.

In most of the early scrums the College got the ball back and MacNaughton, their right wing, scored a well-taken try within five minutes of the start. W. L. Sleigh converted. The try was the outcome of a good movement, and was typical of what was to follow. Glenalmond's backs played with great dash, and showed much more cohesion than School's, and MacNaughton soon scored another try, which Sleigh again converted. School were outplayed behind the scrum, and before the interval the College had increased their lead to 35 points through further tries by A. J. Muir (z), J. I. Buchanan (a), and J. C. Henderson. Sleigh converted one of Buchanan's tries, and J. A. Henry had four conversions to his credit.

The second half was a repetition of the first. School's tackling for the most part was woefully weak, and there was much bad marking and misfielding. The forwards played quite well against a well-trained home pack, but at no time did Glenalmond look like having their line crossed. Tries were scored for the College in this period by J. G. C. Thomson (a), B. C. MacNaughton, S. N. Anderson, and A. J. Muir. Sleigh converted on three occasions. Final score—Trinity College, 56 points (to placed goals, z tries) ; School, nil.

6th November.—v. Gordon's College, at Seafield. The School side showed three changes from that beaten at Glenalmond, J. A. G. Elmslie was included as full back in place of A. A. Lawrence, who was injured, and at left centre three-quarter D. Makkawi replaced A. A. Dinnie. In the pack C. C. Allan came in for D. McNutt, injured. School team: J. A. G. Elmslie ; J. A. McGregor, R. L. MacKinnon, D. Makkawi, S. McK. Davidson ; R. G. Ross, F. McPherson ; R. G. Milne, P. Cooper, C. C. Allan, W. Pratt, D. H. Ross, G. C. Kirkland, J. C. R. Dawson, D. Cowie.

The first half was evenly contested, there being little to choose between two hard-working packs who more or less monopolized play. The respective back divisions excelled in close marking and in tackling, and there were few combined movements of any duration. In set and loose scrums and in the line-outs the School forwards played well, D. Cowie, D. H. Ross, J. C. R. Dawson, and G. C. Kirkland most frequently taking the eye. Grant Elmslie was sound at full back, and McPherson at scrum-half was both clever and plucky. There was no scoring in this half.

In the second period, after even exchanges, Gordon's College gradually gained the ascendancy. Their forwards struck a better game than they had done in the first half, and their three-quarters moved well together when they gained possession.

A. Farquharson put College ahead by scoring a " blind side " try, which was not converted, and then further misfortunes overtook School. J. A. McGregor, their right wing three-quarter, was injured, and could only limp along the touch-line, and the back division was disorganized. MacKinnon, the School captain and right centre three-quarter, was also hurt, and unable to do himself justice. Sustained pressure by a clever Gordon's College team led to further tries by G. B. Farquharson (2) and G. Stirling. F. Clark converted Farquharson's second try. School seldom looked like scoring in this half, but hardly deserved to lose by such a margin as 14 points. Final score—Gordon's College, 14 points (one placed goal, three tries) ; School, nil.

A. J. M. E.

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Hockey.

The team this year is D. West ; G. Warder and H. Main ; G. Townshcnd, H. Warder and I. Crawford ; I. Shaw, A. K. Robertson, P. C. Millar (Captain), G. Mathieson and I. Middleton (Vice-Captain). It has played four matches so far, winning three and drawing the last.

On 22nd October the School had a fairly stiff tussle with the smoothly organized High School team. The match was won only towards the close of the game, Robertson and Millar each scoring once.

The game with Central School was easier. The forwards were faster and not losing so many chances, especially in the second half. Grammar won 6-1.

Though and 'Varsity were individually good players, they lacked the team-work evident in the School's play. As usual, the backs gave a perfect performance, Townshend being probably the outstanding player on the field. Of the forwards, the right wing excelled. Result-6-o (Millar-3, Robertson-2, Shaw and II. Warder—r).

The stiffest game was played at Rubislaw against R.A.F. on 27th November.

Middleton scored a very difficult goal at the outset, but in the second half the forwards completely collapsed. The halves, especially Crawford, played well, and West proved himself a capable goalkeeper. The R.A.F. equalized in the second half with a cleverly achieved goal.

House Notes.

Byron House.

At the meeting held in August to elect officials for the year 1943-44, J. A. McGregor was elected House Captain ; J. A. Grant Elmslie, Captain of Rugby, with R. G. Ross Vice-Captain. R. B. Taylor was elected Captain of Swimming.

Our congratulations are due to J. A. Grant Elmslie on gaining his iSt XV Half-Colours.

Up to the time of writing we have played two House rugby matches, in both of which we have been defeated rather heavily. In the first game, against Dun, we were unfortunate to be without the services of two of Byron's 1st XV players.

In the second game, against Keith, owing to the poor turn-out of Byron boys, we fielded only twelve players. The Junior team has played three games, winning the one against Dun, losing to Keith, and drawing with Melvin.

I appeal to all Byron House boys to play up and play on—yet be fully mindful that all activities on the field of sport must go hand in hand with their best effort in School work.

In conclusion, I wish all those Byron boys who will be sitting the Higher Leaving Certificate in March, the very best of luck.

J. A. MCGREGOR, House Captain.

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Dun House.

At a meeting of the House for the election of Captains, the following were nominated : House Captain, J. C. R. Dawson ; Rugby Captain, J. C. R. Dawson ; Rugby Vice-Captain, D. L. Cowie ; Swimming Captain, A. D. Lyall.

We take this opportunity of congratulating D. L. Cowie on gaining his 1st XV Full-Colours and J. C. R. Dawson on gaining his 1st XV Half-Colours.

Up to the time of writing, the House sat XV has played only two inter-House matches. The first, against Byron, finished extremely successfully. The second, against Melvin, also ended as a victory, thus making Dun runner-up with Keith for the championship—still to he played.

The Juniors have not been quite so successful this season, but their enthusiasm will repay them during the coming season.

I should like to thank members of the I-Iouse for their co-operation, and to inspire them to further victory.

J. C. R. DAWSON, House Captain.

401

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine Keith House.

At the usual 1-louse meeting in September the following office-bearers were elected : House Captain, A. M. Davidson ; Rugby Captain, R. L. MacKinnon ; Rugby Vice-Captain, G. Kirkland.

R. L. MacKinnon must be congratulated on receiving his tst XV Colours, and G. Kirkland his 1st XV Half-Colours. Congratulations arc also due to R. Hepburn on being elected Senior Prefect, and we wish him success in this important post.

Up to the time of writing, Keith have played Byron and Melvin, and have won both matches by a considerable margin. We have yet to play Dun, who are our only rivals, but I am confident that the House will prove the stronger side, and bring the Rector's Cup for rugby back to the House once more.

The Junior XV have done very well, winning their three matches.

It is too soon to say what our prospects are likely to be, but I am convinced that with the efforts of the House, Keith should once more come out on top.

A. M. DAVIDSON, House Captain.

Melvin House.

At a House meeting, held under the chairmanship of our Housemaster, Mr. A. Milne, the following were elected to hold office for the 1943-44 session : House and Rugby Captain, Dean Makkawi ; Rugby Vice-Captain, Frank McPherson ; Swimming Captain, Frank Connon.

The following are to be congratulated by the House on being made Prefects : W. M. Ewen, D. Mark W. Nicol, and G. Mathieson ; also to be congratulated on gaining tat XV Half-Colours are D. Ross, F. McPherson, and Dean Makkawi.

Only one cricket match was played by the House last session and that was against Keith, whom we beat by a narrow margin.

Rugby for Melvin this term has not been a particularly great sport. We have been defeated by Keith 32-8, and by Dun 14-8. We sincerely hope the tables will be turned in our future encounters.

With the failure of the rugby team, we look to the swimmers to bring back Melvin prestige. Here, I think, we are quite justified, as we have many tine swimmers in the House.

The officials hope that they will receive full support in thc various activities of the I louse.

DEAN MAKKAWI, House Captain.

The Literary and Debating Society.

Before the recess for the harvest, no actual debates were held, the time being taken up with consultations with the Rector, committee meetings, and a " Grand Council" of the entire Society.

The questions dealt with in these discussions were of necessity in these times many and varied. To begin with there was much clamour for a return of the old evening meetings, which proved so popular but which are considered, if not impossible, at least exceedingly unwise under existing conditions. There was criticism of the presence of a member of Staff during the meetings. The critics maintained that this affected the numbers and detracted from the enjoyment of the debate. The Executive replied that this was not necessarily so, the presence of a Master adding greatly to the quality of discussion, and that quality not quantity was desired. Again, thc question of time and place of meeting presented no small difficulty, considerable care being taken that we should not clash more than was absolutely necessary with the many other important activities of the School.

These were some of the difficulties which had to be met before the Society could get properly under way, but it must not be imagined that no constructive matters were dealt with. A proposal for the holding of a Poetry Competition was put forward by Mr. Forbes, our Honorary President, together with several others which, it was suggested, would maintain the literary traditions of the Society.

The customary arrangements for such " fixtures" as the Annual Short Story

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

93

Competition were duly decided upon, and provision was made for several new features, such as a Crime Story Competition, Mock Trial, Masters' Night, and Christmas Meeting, while assurances were given that more would be done in the way of religious and political discussion.

After the harvesting recess, the first debate was a " Balloon Debate," the second venture of its kind in the history of the Society. The President was in the chair. In brief outline the proceedings arc the following. A number of speakers each choose a trade, profession, or calling. These gentlemen are stranded in a balloon and each makes a defence of his existence. At the end of the speech-making a vote is taken and the least satisfactory member of the party takes himself off, and the proceedings continue in the same manner till only one—the most useful to humanity—remains and is saved. Upon this occasion, the balloon party was composed of R. A. Kirton, a miner ; D. A. West, a scavenger ; P. C. Millar, a policeman ; A. K. Robertson, an author ; and J. W. R. Gray, a farm worker.

The unfortunate author was first put to the attack, and at the end of the first " round" the man of the pen was forced to hide his shame amongst his fellow mortals. Here he was soon followed by the worthy preserver of the peace. Of the three remaining, the scavenger maintained that, whatever the costs, hygiene must be assured. No one doubted the importance of the doctor, but the scavenger was even more important, for he prevented disease. The miner reminded the gathering of the uses to which coal was put in the modem world and of the impossibility of the continuance of life as we know it without coal. The agricultural labourer informed his hearers that in the last resort we could live without the author, the scavenger, the miner, and even the policeman, but that there could be no survival whatever without the tillers of the soil to provide the necessary food.

From here onwards the discussion waxed fast and furious, not untinged with sophistry. The scavenger was the next to join his departed comrades, and a final tussle took place between the miner and farm worker. By the final vote, the noble cause of agriculture secured supremacy.

The next meeting witnessed an entirely new feature in the form of a " Book Afternoon." Five members brought along volumes with which they were to acquaint the Society and impart some of their own enthusiasm. J. M. Craig brought along " Quo Vadis," P. C. Millar espoused the cause of Mr. P. G. Wodehouse, R. W. Hepburn enthused over Fraser's " Historical Walks and Names," Mr. Forbes reviewed a work of foreign travel, and W. G. McKay brought before the Society's notice, " Let the People Sing," by the ever-popular Priestley.

Upon the last October meeting, a Boys' Brains Trust, the third of its kind, was formed. The questions dealt with were remarkably wide and varied, ranging from the questions of state religion and school examinations to the reason for Hitler's sudden onslaught on Russia. The Trust, which included R. W. Hepburn, P. C. Millar, J. B. Anton and J. M. Craig, with Mr. Gray as question-master, acquitted itself nobly, and the audience proved keen to take part in the discussion.

The session lasted an hour and a half—a prodigious intellectual feat, which sets the inferior B.B.C. body to shame.

At the next meeting P. C. Millar delivered a résumé of the political situations which have developed as a result of the war, particular reference being made to the internal complications of Greek and Italian politics. The summary was clear and precise, and in the after-speaking, which was extremely keen and almost exciting (if such a term can be used in connection with this sedate body), Britain's relations with America were dealt with fully and frankly.

For a year and a half the Society has had to cope with many grave disadvantages.

Our evening meetings have been stopped, the Training Corps, so necessary in wartime, weekly take up a large portion of time, and amidst the stir of the more robust pursuits of the School, the Literary and Debating Society occupies a mild and inoffensive place. But in spite of these handicaps, a regular if not overwhelming attendance has been registered each week ; the quality and fluency of debate has gone from strength to strength ; new ventures have proved highly successful, and in the ensuing term we have no reason to suppose our plans will prove less fruitful and the response less satisfactory.

J. W. R. G.

94

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Army Cadet Force : The School Company.

Nineteen of our senior Cadets left the School (mostly joining the University Contingent, S.T.C.) and five junior Cadets transferred to the School Squadron, A.T.C. Twenty-six recruits were absorbed into the Company, thus maintaining our numbers at full strength of 12o. A waiting list for those anxious to join the Company has been started.

The principal promotions and appointments for the new session were made as follows : C.S.M. T. Blair ; C.Q.M.S. P. Cooper ; Platoon Sergeants, J. C. Smollett (Byron), A. A. Dinnie (Dun), J. M. Dickson (Keith), J. M. Bruce (Melvin).

Lieut. J. S. M. Eddison has been promoted to the rank of Captain.

Colonel Bruce Campbell, Commandant of the A.C.F. in Scotland, paid us a visit on 19th November. In the following week Major-General Rawson visited the newly formed Signals platoon. Both officers expressed their appreciation of the work of the Company.

On Armistice Sunday the Company took part in the Battalion parade to the West Church of St. Nicholas. A combined Church parade with the School Squadron A.T.C. took place to Rubislaw Church on 12.th December, when the Company Pipe Band led the parade for the first time.

Enthusiasm for training continues. The N.C.O.s, who now take a more active part in the instruction of the Cadets, have joined the University Battalion of the Home Guard, and receive advanced infantry training. A Signals platoon has been started. Some Cadets expect to spend part of the Christmas vacation in Edinburgh, receiving training in P.T. and Signals. One hopes to go as far afield as Aldershot, while many others will attend courses nearer home.

The Company Summer Camp.

The peace of many a home must have been disturbed by the last-minute preparation of Cadets making ready for the Summer Camp. But kitbags were packed complete as per orders or otherwise, and the morning of ist July saw a full muster of 99 Cadets and five officers at the station in ample time to catch the 9.5o train.

Kits were loaded into the van ; bicycles, 35 of them, were packed in also ; and at last Officers and Cadets were able to relax in ample reserved accommodation on the train.

Camp was at last reached, not without one untoward incident, but security reasons prevent its being told, and with transport laid on—note the early acquisition of a military vocabulary, of which we learned much during our week's stay—we were soon at the camp, the company apportioned to tents, blankets and bedding drawn from the store, a talk from the Camp Commandant, standing orders read out, and we were free to settle in and hope for a meal. That was ultimately forthcoming, and, like all meals during the camp, prepared by 15 student cooks determined to get a good passing-out report, was of such proportions that even Boarding House boys were satisfied.

Sleep was slow in coming that first night, and tired and somewhat bleary-eyed Cadets turned out on parade at 7 a.m, to learn the worst or the best that Army life had in store. Kits were made up outside tents, and we learned that each new camp had new methods and that what satisfied a Fusilier sergeant at one camp wasn't good enough for a Scaforth sergeant at another. But it was done, though with the order that reveille would be half and hour earlier in future, to give more time for such duties before inspection at 8.4o.

Then we met the Sergeants : Sergeant Markham and Sergeant Bethune, who were to dominate our lives for seven days, tine athletic-looking, bronzed, sinewy young men, whom we learned to respect more and more daily ; men who knew their job thoroughly and were determined that we should know ours. No gentle request was theirs, but a command so sharp as CO be in the early days unintelligible, but which later we learned almost to anticipate and thought ourselves lucky if even anticipation produced a reaction quick enough or smart enough to satisfy the sergeant.

Drill occupied the first part of the morning. The macadamized village street " rang, sharp-smitten with the dint of armed heels," and with the commands and exhortations of sergeants whose aim was machine-like precision. When we thought we were better than Guardsmen, they suggested they were far from that opinion.

,St. Margaret's .School for Otrls (Incorporated)

ALBYN PLACE, ABERDEEN. I lead Mistress: Miss M. E. HOI.I.AND, hl.A.Cantab. (Classical Tripos).

Chairman of the SchoolCountil: Dr. E. W. WArr, Ex-Lord Provost of Aberdeen.

T. MARGARET'S SCHOOL FOR GIRLS is an Incorporated School, registered according to the Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908. It is administered under the management of an eleffive Council of prominent citizens, on lines similar to those of well-known Girls' Schools in other parts of Scotland.

The School Stands in its own grounds in the best part of the City of Aberdeen, and in all respe&s is well equipped to secure the comfort of pupils and the efficiency of the education imparted.

The aim of the School is to provide a first-class education on modern lines, to care specially for the development of chara&er in the pupils, to prepare them for the interests and responsibilities of social life, and to enable those who desire it to proceed to the higher education of the Universities or to train for a career.

S

BOARDING SCHOOL. As a special war-time arrangement, a country branch of the School has been established at Blackhall Castle, Banchory.

This is organized as a Boarding School, with all the advantages of residence. In this healthy atmosphere, in conditions of complete tranquillity, girls are able to follow the normal School routine and at the same time enjoy the pleasures of an unrestricted country life. Full responsibility is taken by the School if the parents wish, and holidays are arranged for.

Information as to Fees, Entrance Scholarships, Courses of Study, etc., is given in the Prospeaus, which may be had on application to the HEAD MISTRESS, 7 QUEEN'S GARDENS, ABERDF.EN.

Aberdeen Grammar School F.P. Club Boarding House Co. Ltd. GRAMMAR SCHOOL HOUSE: 8 QUEEN'S ROAD, ABERDEEN.

The House is conveniently situated in the west end of the town, and is equidistant from the School and the Playing Fields.

The House, which can accommodate 45 Boarders, is specially designed and fitted for the purpose, having large Common Rooms, modern Dormitories, Bathrooms, Changing Rooms, etc.

The Company have their own Hard Tennis Courts (3) and large Playground adjacent to the House.

There are vacancies for both Seniors and Juniors.

Juniors (boys up to 9 years of age) have their separate dormitories and as much separate Common Room accommodation as possible.

A.R.P. shelter accommodation has been provided in the basement in accordance with M.H.S. standards.

Fees, £99 per annum exclusive of School Fees.

House Master -

-

-

Mr. J. S. M. EDDISON, M.A.

Matron

-

-

Miss C. M. R. MAVOR.

-

For Application Forms and further particulars apply to the Secretary of the Company, Mr. JAMES C. DUFFUS, Advocate, 7 Golden Square, Aberdeen.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

95

But we did learn and we did improve until even our instructors admitted we might be worse—high praise from a drill P.S.T. During the drill period the Training Officer, Captain Macdonald, a huge Highlandman with kilt and staff, had been preparing the next lesson out on the dunes.

It might be " finding the enemy "—fatigue men cunningly hidden. It might be " distance judging " or a display of platoon weapons, but whatever it was, it was always perfectly organized, a tribute to the enthusiasm and efficiency of the Training Officer.

In case the substantial breakfast hadn't filled all the gaps, or the open air had created new, the period 10.3o to zo.5o was devoted by those who had the cash to visiting the mobile canteen, from which tea and shortbread could be bought.

A pint of tea and four to six large cakes was the normal consumption of individual Cadets.

From 11 to 52 we did battle drill. The cumbersome, cow-like movements of Cadets soon gave place to a lizard-like rapidity as we heard from the sergeant and saw him demonstrate just how it had to be done. Bombers were known to bounce from hard ground or leave deep impressions as they threw themselves down.

Barbed wire, prickly gorse, even broken bottles passed under us, unnoticed at the time, as we did the monkey run or leopard crawl over the bents. A watchful enemy, apparently, will not hesitate to take advantage of the chance to shoot a man even if it is a clump of gorse that causes him to stand up when he should be lying down or crawling. To have a sergeant tell you that your section had been wiped out twice is more wounding than the sharpest thorns.

Twelve o'clock released the drill sergeants, but produced the P.T. instructors, one of whom, at least, will never be forgotten—Sergeant B . His name cannot be divulged, for at 54 he was masquerading, not uneasily, as 36, quite bald and bronzed and tough, with a D.C.M. and bar, an M.M. and bar, a Croix de Gucrre, which he swore he wouldn't wear again, having lost his enthusiasm for France, and five mentions in dispatches. But he was young in spirit, able to do all our best gymnasts could do and more, always cheerful. He was never seen in camp dressed otherwise than in a bathing costume, slacks and gym shoes. I-Ie hadn't his medals tattooed on his chest— we never saw them worn—hut he had designs equally attractive.

Dinner brought a break, but z o'clock saw us on parade again, perhaps rather lethargic after our meal, but scouting for the enemy or more battle drill soon shook down any surplus. The bathing parade at 3.3o restored us again for tea at 5, and then the freedom of Fortes, if there wasn't a training film in the village hall, or a General making a belated inspection, or a camp concert.

Generals and Colonels we saw in profusion. Whether they heard of our fame or whether they just happened to be around, they seldom failed to find our A.C.F. camp. Sometimes they watched from afar or spoke a few kind words to us, sometimes we drilled and drilled, and stood in the rain and marched in the rain to give them a salute. But they enjoyed it all—at least they never said they were bored.

All too soon the week passed. Despite some cold, wet days, our enthusiasm increased and hardly a Cadet but would have accepted an offer to stay on. But the offer wasn't made, and the last night came. It is to be hoped that the Grammar School Contingent didn't establish a precedent in carrying their sergeants shoulder high round the camp on that last night. The sergeants, somewhat embarrassed, were honoured. They were meant to be, for the effort was designed to show them they were respected and admired as men who knew their job and could inspire Cadets with the satisfaction that comes from any well-performed military exercise.

Celebrations were held that night— midnight orgies in tents. The sergeants worked off the effects next morning when, on the last parade, they put the Guardsman's polish on Cadet movements on the square.

Two others did much to make the camp the success it was, the Camp Commandant, Major Johnstone, and his assistant, Captain W'ebley —" the young colt " to his friends. The efficiency with which the camp was run, the organization necessary to make zzo boys comfortable and happy, was their work and well they did it.

Home on the 8th : some sleep to make up, a little easy living for a day or two, but with a feeling of fitness and well-being, a bronzed and soldierly appearance, and a stock of happy memories that will last.

96

Aberdeen Grammar School Alapzine

Air Training Corps : Squadron No. 1299.

The Squadron records its appreciation of the services of F./Lt. Lynch. C.O. since the Squadron's inception in March 1941, he has pioneered its activities, moulded its spirit, and inspired its results. Last year 15 cadets passed the Proficiency Certificate Examination, Part I. The Navigation candidates, taught by F./Lt. Lynch, were runners-up for the Browning Navigation Cup. The Air Ministry has created a precedent by confirming F./Lt. Lynch in his C.O.'s rank— a worthy recognition.

Tribute is also paid to the valued services of F./O. Christie, now Headmaster of St. Ninian's Episcopal School, Perth. With abounding energy, and patient of routine, F./O. Christie, as Adjutant, shares with F./Lt. Lynch the credit of having stabilized the Squadron. Not the least of his services is the precise set of records he has left for his successor, F./O. Forbes.

At the express desire of F./Lt. Lynch, F./Lt. Macandrew, who has graduated from 1449 Squadron, located in " the other place," becomes C.U. w.c.f. 1 0.9.43.

The Squadron, parading with 1449, voted the Summer Camp, at a N.E. drome, the best ever. Cadets were overfed, underworkcd, lavishly entertained, and all airborne. toz cadets logged over 300 flying hours and several waggled the joystick.

A composite team of 1449/1299 played the School A.C.F. at cricket, the local A.T.C. Squadron at " soccer," the drome P.T. staff, and the W.A.A.F.s at netball.

The W.A.A.F.s, being well and truly whacked, challenged the A.T.C. officers, but with like result. Rumour ran that the cadets would refuse to go home in the same train as the officers, if the officers lost. Baseball with American personnel on the drome was a great attraction.

The Squadron has settled down well to this year's work. The spirit is excellent, the attendance almost perfect. Instruction is, therefore, never under arrest. Some ten cadets arc about to qualify for their star. By courtesy of the O.C., U.A. Sq., Post Proficiency cadets parade at Marischal College for advanced Signals, Navigation, and Armaments. This section has made too per cent. on all parades, a tribute to its spirit, and to the quality of the instruction. The Squadron greatly appreciates this liaison.

The Squadron paraded at Rubislaw Church on izth December, and was addressed by the lion. Chaplain, the Rev. P. D. Lawrence. To the voluntary work of Hon. Chaplains and M.O.s, all Squadrons are deeply indebted.

At the present moment, 75 per cent. of all Air Crew is ex-A.T.C. personnel.

In view of this, and of corresponding values in the A.C.F., any fit Grammarian who is not a member of one of the School Corps is not pulling his war-weight.

R. M. M., O.C. 1299 Sq., A.T.C.

Scout Notes.

1st Troop.

Owing to School work and other School activities, some of our oldest Scouts, perhaps influenced by higher authorities, have had to leave, reluctantly, the happy band of 1st Troop Scouts. We are sorry to lose them, but the ranks have been filled up by many recruits eager to taste the joys of Scouting.

We were unable to hold a camp during the summer holidays owing to many of our Scouts attending the more martial cadet camps, but camp equipment was lent out to Scouts of our own and other Troops.

Harvesting was enjoyed by many of the boys, who arc extremely keen to gain their National Service badge. Although badge work has not been a strong point with the Troop this term, class work has been very popular, and Second Class badges have been won.

Our Cubs, who number 40, arc being extremely successfully instructed by Miss Mackintosh. The Group is very lucky in having such a popular and tireless

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

97

Cubmistress, who is so willing to give up her spare time. Miss Mackintosh regrets that she has been unable to accept all the recruits, but wishes to intimate that there will be some vacancies in the Pack after Christmas. At present the meetings are being held on Thursdays.

The Troop's financial situation has improved greatly since Mr. Brown, who is chairman of our Parents Committee, took over our monetary worries.

DEAN NI AKKAWI, SCOlltinaSNE.

9th Troop.

Since the last Troop Notes appeared in thc Magazine, the Troop has held its third war-time Summer Camp. This year it was held for a fortnight in the grounds of lladdo House. A.S.M. Donald Watt was in charge for the first week, while A.S.M. Eric Alexander eked out our meagre food rations well enough to keep the hungry wolves, alias the Troop, content. From the usual round of camp life two main adventures stand out in our memories—a day expedition to Gight Castle, where a meal was cooked, and a night game followed by a short night hike to see a golden sunrise. During the second week we were blessed with a heat-wave, from which one of the estate lochs proved a welcome relief. All the facilities of the estate helped to improve the amphibious powers of the Troop.

The resumption of the School in August and the consequent September " break" caused a pleasant innovation in the Troop calendar. Meetings at the Hut during August and for thc past three months have been full of good spirit and enthusiasm, which have been shown in both Scout work and games. The most outstanding result of this was the gaining of four First Class badges by members of the Troop in the last six months.

On moth December a most successful Coffee Morning was held by the mothers of the Troop and Cub Pack members, and in the evening of the same day Mr. Charles A. Forbes organized a very enjoyable Musical Evening. As a result of these functions a sum of over £zoo was raised, which finally paid off the longstanding debt on the Hut, and left a considerable amount in hand. To all those who helped to make these entertainments a success the Troop extends its warmest thanks.

IAN M. X'Arr, Acting Scoutmaster.

i7th Troop.

A very successful camp was held this summer in Glentanar Estate. The weather was reasonably good, and the Troop enjoyed many Scout activities ; among these were a successful attack on Mount Keen and an amusing treasure hunt. The campers were invited to a concert at the Canadian soldiers' camp nearby, and enjoyed it greatly. On the first Sunday the Troop went to church in the village, and on the second a Scouts' Own was held. Lord Glentanar, Scout Commissioner for Scotland, visited our camp on more than one occasion. Several campers stayed on for a third week to help on the home farm.

S.M. Ian MacLean left for the Fleet Air Arm in September. Meanwhile the Troop is carrying on with the T.L. in charge.

The Pack has lately been restarted, and has now some 2 4 members. Miss McLean and Miss Macinnes arc Cubmistresscs.

On 17th November (a lucky date!) a whist drive was held, well over £8 being netted for Troop funds. Parents and friends who made this possible are warmly thanked.

Promotions : Second Stephen to P.L. of the Pigeons.

98

_ lberdeen Grammar School Magazine

The Former Pupils' Club.

Founded 1893.

President : Colonel ARCHER IRVINE-FORTESCUE, D.S.O., M.B., Ch.B.

Vice-President and Chairman of Executive : JOHN LENNOX RIDDELL.

Secretary and Treasurer : THEODORE WATT, M.A., LL.D., The University Press, 6 Upper Kirkgate, Aberdeen.

Secretaries of Sections : Cricket Section—C. H. WEBSTER, 88 Fountainhall Road.

Rugby Section—ALFRED J. M. EDWARDS, 25 Westburn Drive.

Secretaries of Centres : London Centre—D. P. COCHRAN, Royal Exchange Assurance, io Becmead Avenue, Streatham, London, S.W. 16.

Glasgow Centre—H. G. EDWARDS, 43 Marlborough Avenue, Glasgow, W. 1.

Edinburgh Centre— Bengal Centre—HERBERT B. Scorr, Royal Insurance Co. Ltd., z6 Dalhousie Square, Calcutta.

Rates of Subscription for Membership : . . .

LIFE MEMBERSHIP .

• . £5 Or Five Consecutive Annual Payments of £I is. each.

ORDINARY MEMBERSHIP— For those of 21 years of age and upwards at com. mencement of Club year (1st January) . commenceyears of age at the For those under ai . . ment of Club year (1st January) . but for those under a lc a single payment of £ I is. will secure membership for SEVEN YEARS.

o

o o

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EDITORIAL NOTE.

Lists of War Honours and Awards frequently appear in the press, but owing to the substitution of initials for Christian names it is difficult for the Editor to identify F.P.s. In order that the record in the Magazine may be as complete as possible, he will be grateful if the recipients, or their relatives, will report to him ALL Decorations, " Mentions," etc.

PARENTS You will appreciate the difficulty of advertising any specific article pertaining to

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Aberdeen Grammar Schaal Magatine

99

The F.P. Club Boarding House.

Boys who entered the House in August 1943.

David Lyall Anderson, s. of Mrs. Dorothy Anderson, Bank of New South Wales, Sydney.

W. Kenneth Bowie, s. of Mrs. Barbara Bowie, Buchan Hotel, Ellon.

David A. Brittain, s. of Dr. Jenny Simpson, 5 Birmingham Road, Walsall.

Wilfred S. Grant, s. of Mrs. E. E. Grant, Gordon Arms Hotel, Tomintoul.

Neil Johnstone, s. of Mrs. Johnstone, 7o Fountainhall Road, Aberdeen.

Michael Keaton, s. of Mrs. Bush, to Macdonnell Gardens, Watford, Herts.

Herbert J. H. Longmore, s. of J. H. J. Longmore, 25 Forest Avenue, Aberdeen.

Alex. R. O. Maclntyre, s. of Mrs. Helen Maclntyrc, " Cruachan," Tomintoul.

Graeme A. Marshall, s. of Mrs. Marshall, 684 King Street, Aberdeen.

William A. Sinclair, s. of Alastair Sinclair, 39 Old Edinburgh Road, Inverness.

Ian Smith, s. of John L. Smith, New Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire.

Wilson Tait, s. of Charles C. Tait, Aberdeen Arms Hotel, Tarves.

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BOARDING HOUSE COMPANY. The Fifteenth Annual General Meeting of the Aberdeen Grammar School F.P. Club Boarding House Co., Ltd., was held in the Registered Office of the Company, 7 Golden Square, Aberdeen, on zoth October 1943, Dr. Edward W. Watt, the Chairman of the Company, presiding.

The report of the Directors to the meeting stated that the average number of boys in the House during the year had been 42. As a result of the increased number of boarders, the accounts showed a considerable improvement on the previous year. In arriving at the profit, for the second year in succession no provision had been made for depreciation, but the assets, with the exception of the A.R.P. expenditure, were already well written down, and the furniture, as in the past, had been as fully maintained out of revenue as was possible. While striving to bring provision for taxation up to date, the Directors had concentrated on clearing off the debit on the profit and loss account.

The accounts showed a profit for the year of • . . £567 5 3 Less amount at debit, as per last year's accounts . . .

500 17 7 Leaving a balance which the Directors recommended should be carried forward to next year, of . . . . . £66 7 8 On the motion of the Chairman, the report was unanimously adopted. Mr. A. G. Nicol Smith, the retiring Director, was re-elected, and Mr. Man McBain, C.A., was re-appointed Auditor.

The Rugby Section.

Although the outlook at the start of the season was rather bleak owing to the departure of most of the experienced players, it has been found possible to field one F.P. side regularly and, on occasion, two teams. Of the 1942-43 " regulars," Captain J. C. Lightbody, J. A. Inncs, K. G. Buthlay, D. W. C. Smith, H. McPherson, E. Lewis, G. M. G. Robbie, A. C. Mutch, G. Stephen, and D. N. Georgeson are no longer available. An enthusiastic if inexperienced young team, however, has been built around such players as K. S. II. Macgregor, A. K. Davidson, J. M. Melvin, R. J. Bain, J. Craig, and J. S. Taggart, and although few wins have so far been recorded, signs of improvement arc not wanting. D. Stuart, last season's clever School outside half, has been elected Captain in place of J. C. Lightbody, and A. M. C. Duffus is the new Vice-Captain.

Frequent changes in personnel have militated against team play, and, as is natural, it has been found that Services sides encountered are stronger than ever.

Nevertheless the present F.P. team is essentially a plucky one, and invariably plays hard until the whistle blows for " no side."

A pleasing feature of the season to date has been the appearances in E.P, colours of old players home on leave or on holiday. The following F.P.s have turned

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

ioo

out in the Section's games since the start of the present season—W. I.. Connon, C. R. Cruickshank, L. W. Milne, D. G. Dempster, j. Scott Maclachlan, Ian S. Watt.

I. McLean, J. C. Lightbody, W. J. G. Meldrum, A.. W. C. Lobban, M. II. Tawse, J. G. Munro, H. McPherson, W. H. Stephen, I. W. Kirton, A. Fraser, L. D. Durno and D. T. L. Mart.

A. H. Tawsc, an outstanding F.P. forward, was chosen to play for Aberdeen in a representative game against an Army side on Christmas Day and showed excellent form.

The services as referees of Hamish B. Grant and William S. Gibb have been much appreciated, and their handling of the games of which they have had charge has been excellent. The Section is also once more greatly indebted to the personnel of the Civil Defence Depot at Rubislaw for assistance freely given in catering for visiting Services teams.

1st XV Results.

Oct. ,,

2.

9.

16.

23.

tf

30.

".

Nov. 6.

13. ,., ,,

20.

Dec. „ ,,

z7.

4.

11.

18.

v. School 1st XV, at Rubislaw . v. Gordonians 1st XV, at Scafield (Club Trial Game.) . v. School 1st XV, at Rubislaw . v. University, at Rubislaw . v. R.A.F. XV . . . . v. K.O.S.B. " A" XV, at Rubislaw v. Wanderers, at Hazlehead . . v. R.A.F. XV, at Rubislaw . . v. Royal Artillery XV, at Rubislaw v. University, at King's College .

Y. Royal Navy XV, at Rubislaw .

• •

. .

. .

Won 37-8 Lost 5-18

• • • • • • • • .

. . . . . . . . .

.

Won ti-6

.

• . . . . .

Match cancelled Drawn 6-6 Lost 6-30 Lost 0-34 Lost o-6 Lost 0-37 Won 35-3

. Lost 0-19

"A" XV Results.

Oct. Nov.

2. v. School znd XV, at Rubislaw 30. v. Royal Navy XV, at Rubislaw 27. v. School znd XV, at Rubislaw

. . .

• . .

. . .

. Won . Lost 3-zo . Won 35-0 A. J. M. EDWARDS, I Ion. SecreIary.

The Cricket Section.

The F.P. Cricket Section had a pleasant and somewhat uneventful and placid season ; the most remarkable feature was the possibility of running an eleven at all, but every fixture was fulfilled. Early on, prospects appeared rosy, but J. A. Innes, whose all-round play and clever captaincy had been such an asset in 1942, was transferred to Fort Augustus just before the season opened; while G. P. Marr was never available, being also stationed in the Highlands. Most fortunately, however, H. S. Cardno for the greater part of the season was attached to a local R.A.F. station, and not only appeared frequently, but was highly successful, scoring heavily in practically every match he took part in.

Cardno's batting, and the clever left-hand bowling of L. E. Tyson, had much to do with F.P.s' honourable position (third) in the Aberdeenshire League. Neil Macdonald, a successful and popular Captain, had several good scores, including a grand display of hitting, which won the League encounter against Gordonians ; and A. J. M. Edwards was an opening batsman of steadiness, style, and success.

Douglas Smith, when available, was a fine fast bowler. Douglas Stuart, I. M. Craig, and E. Masson were brilliant fieldsmen and promising bats, and Dr. T. M. Allan was again a fine wicket-keeper, and a good batsman, who only needed more confidence to turn him into a heavy run-getter.

F.P.s owed thanks to the Rev. P. D. Lawrence, who frequently umpired, and to the various School boys who were kind enough to undertake the duties of scorer, in particular Douglas Robbie and Joe Parkinson. Mr. Tyson's devoted and untiring care of Rubislaw Field has now made it the finest cricket ground in Aberdeen, and should the war be over by the summer of 1944, F.P.s who return from the Forces are assured of splendid wickets to play on.

C. H. WEBSTER, Hon. Sec.

▪

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

1o1

New Life Members of the Club.

•

Since the last _Magazine was issued no fewer than 49 F.P.s have become Life Members of the Club. This is a record number for any period of six months. It should be noted that F.P.s who have elected to become Life Members on the instalment plan are classified as Ordinary Members until the full subscription for Life Membership has been pail. (a) F.P.s who have become Life Members on first joining or on re-joining.

Alexander, Henry Gavin (1932-36 and 1938-40), 42 Harlaw Road, Aberdeen.

Goodbrand, Stephen (1927-40), 7 Ruhislaw Den North, Aberdeen.

Littlejohn, ,Nlichael Peter (1939-43), Berryhill, Peterhead.

Mackworth, Eliot Digby (1923-27), M.B., Ch.B., M.R.C.P., Lieut.-Col., I.M.S., Grey-stones, Dyce.

Robertson, Adrian Alfred Gibh (1927-34), Clifton House, Peterhead.

Watt, Donald Elmslie Robertson (1931-43), 18 Ruhislaw Den North, Aberdeen.

Wishart, Norman Robertson (1927-40), Parkhill, West Cults. (b) Ordinary Members who have now become Life Members.

Allan, Albert (1919-26), c/o Technicolor Ltd., Bath Road, Ilannondsworth, West Drayton, Middlesex.

Allan, Theodore Martin (1930-36), M.B., Ch.B., 5z Craigie Park, Aberdeen.

Baker, Joseph John (1916-20 and 1925-27), B.Com., 81 Hamilton Place, Aberdeen.

Barton, George Edward CoHedge (1923-26), M.A., 15 Albyn Terrace, Aberdeen.

Bisset, George Davidson (1918-31), 84 Desswood Place, Aberdeen.

Campbell, Robert M. (192o-3o), ;4 Angusfield Avenue, Aberdeen.

David, Ian Ainsley Fearon (1930-40), B.Sc.(Eng.), Windyridge, West Cults.

Davidson, Norman James Hunter (1926-33), M.B., Ch.B., 57 Queen's Road, Aberdeen.

Dickson, Alastair Ogston (1919-28), The Standard Bank of South Africa, Ltd., Blantyre, Nyasaland, British Central Africa.

Donald, Alexander Bothwell (1922-28), M.D., to Murrayfield Avenue, Edinburgh.

Emslie, Basil Duncan Deans (1929-35), 212 Union Grove, Aberdeen.

Griffiths, George Ian (1925-36), M.A., B.D., 86 King's Gate, Aberdeen.

Hutchison, Alan Cruickshank (1923-35), 9 Bcechgrovc Terrace, Aberdeen.

Hutchison, Alexander Cantlay (1927-33), 31 1-ligh Road, Saltcoats, Ayrshire, Hutchison, John Imlay (1914-27), 9 Bcechgrove Terrace, Aberdeen.

Jamieson, Ronald David Whamond (1928-41), " Fairhill," Kirriemuir, Angus.

Johnstone, Peter Alexander (1914-21), " Greywalls," Stonehavcn.

Lamb, Cecil John (1915-22), Assistant Locomotive Running Superintendent, L.N.E. Railway, Wavcrley Station, Edinburgh.

Lamb, Donald Lawson (1914-20), 42 Westholme Avenue, Aberdeen.

Levis, George Elder (1884-88), C.A., 140 Cutcnhoe Road, Luton, Beds.

Lillie, Hubert Jack (19 24-33), M.B., Ch.B., 796 Washwood Heath Road, Birmingham, 8.

Lyon, John Blake (1900-4), c/o San Paulo Gas Co., Caixa Postal 19B, S'io Paulo, Brazil.

Mackay, James Finlayson (1919-32), M.B., Ch.B., 8 Hamilton Place, Aberdeen.

McLaren, Andrew Middleton (1926-39), 163 Clifton Road, Aberdeen.

McLeod, John (1903-14), 28 Camperdown Road, Aberdeen.

Matthew, Keith Ronald Thomson (19/2-24), M.B., Ch.B., 17 Ashton Road, Glasgow, W. 2.

Nicol, Alexander Adam McIntosh (1915-17), M.D., 6 Grange Crescent, Sunderland.

102

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Reid, William Ferris (1925-31), Fordhouse of Dun, Montrose.

Riach, Joseph Thomas (1922-33), 27 Angusfield Avenue, Aberdeen.

Robertson, George Alexander (1922-34), 6 King's Gate, Aberdeen.

Ross, Henry (1935-40, 67 Burns Road, Aberdeen.

Scorgie, Norman Anderson (1908-13), B.L., Forthvale House, Cambus, Clackmannanshi re.

Semple, Roderick Ferguson (1927-38), B.Sc., 7 Alford Place, Aberdeen.

Sharp, George Alexander (1922-24), M.B., Ch.B., Ordeans, Bishop's Stortford, Herts.

Simpson, Alexander Lancelot (1916-25), c/o National Bank of India, Ltd., Calcutta.

Spark, James Christian (1918-2O, 130 Balgrayhill Road, Glasgow, N. Stewart, Donald Sinclair (1906-18), M.A., M.B., Ch.B., 41 Hendon Way, London, N.W. 2.

Watson, Patrick Hepburn (1900-4), 83 Blenheim Place, Aberdeen.

Watt, James Allan Newton (1927-39), Hillside, 7z Comhill Road, Aberdeen.

Watt, James Barclay (1912-2 i), M.A., C.A., 31 Hazledene Road, Aberdeen.

Watt, Robert Allan Stewart (1924-36), M.B., Ch.B., Hillside, 7z Comhill Road, Aberdeen.

Wishart, Robert Petrie (1919-30, Hamcwith, Mill of Forest, Stonehaven.

New Ordinary Members of the Club.

Allan, Alexander Stephen ( i 938-43).

22 Murray Terrace, Aberdeen.

Anderson, Nigel Eckford (1 933-43), 33 Richmondhill Road, Aberdeen.

Bowman, Nelson Charles (1931-43).

3 Beechgrove Terrace, Aberdeen.

Brown, Robert (1932-43). 30 Morningfield Road, Aberdeen.

Bruce, Murray Rutherford (1932-43), 10 Westholme Avenue, Aberdeen.

Calder, Alistair Davidson (1926-40), 49 Victoria Street, Aberdeen.

Calder, John Sinclair (1926-40), 49 Victoria Street, Aberdeen.

Cowie, James Fyvie (1937-43), 5 Lilybank Place, Aberdeen.

Crozier, Theodore James (1931-43), 46 Bon-Accord Terrace, Aberdeen.

Cumine, Malcolm Douglas (1939-43), 19 Church Terrace, Culter.

Duguid, Ian McIver (1 938-43), White House, Newburgh, Aberdeenshire.

Forbes, Allan Morrice (1937-43), The Anchorage, Bieldside.

Griffith,, David Ronald (1931-43), 86 King's Gate, Aberdeen.

Herd, James Howie (1929-42), 3 2 Momingfield Road, Aberdeen.

Knight, Hugh Marshall (1939-43), 37 Gray Street, Aberdeen.

Masson, John Richard (1 937-43), 2 Grosvenor Terrace, Aberdeen.

Meston, The Rt. Hon. Lord (1901-2), Hurst Place, Cookham Dene, Berks.

Philip, Ell is Murray (1937-43), 38 Beaconsfield Place, Aberdeen.

Robertson, Alastair Graeme (1930-40).

7 Mayfield Gardens, Aberdeen.

Robson, John Douglas (1931-43), 6 Rubislaw Place, Aberdeen.

Smith, Douglas William Cumming (1930-41), 20 Ashgrove Road West, Aberdeen.

Smollett, John Courts (1938-4 3)0 131 Anderson Drive South, Aberdeen.

Stephen, George, Jun. (193 5 -43), 18 Hammersmith Road, Aberdeen.

Stickland, lan Wenborne (1931-43), 128 Broomhill Road, Aberdeen.

Stuart, Douglas (1929-43), 36 Victoria Street, Aberdeen.

Train, Thomas McConochie (1931-43).

231 Springfield Road, Aberdeen.

Warrack, John Hyslop (1937-42), 733 Crown Street, Aberdeen.

Watt, Ian Allan (1931-43), Hillside, 72 Comhill Road, Aberdeen.

Admittedly the best place to Lunch in Aberdeen

Watt & Grant's

RESTAURANT As in all the other sections of the store, Quality is the predominating feature.

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Watt & Grant Ltd., Union St., Aberdeen

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10-11 BACK WYND ABERDEEN -

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ABERDEEN

GRAMMAR

SCHOOL

(FOUNDED PILEVIOUk TO 1156.)

Rector

JAMES J. ROBERTSON, M.A., B.D., F.R.S.E.

GRAMMAR SCHOOL provides for Boys a complete course of THE Study, both Elementary and Secondary, Classical and Modern.

The School, which is organized in three Departments—Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools—contains, in addition to the usual classrooms, a Chemical Laboratory, Science Theatre with Physical Laboratory attached, Natural Science Laboratory, Art Room, Gymnasium, Workshop, Botanical Garden, Library, Reading Room, and Museum.

Pupils in the Middle School are prepared for the Leaving Certificate of the Scottish Education Department, passes in the latter examination being recognized as exempting from further examination in the corresponding subjects of the Preliminary Examination for graduation in Arts, Science, Law, and Medicine at the Scottish Univenines.

The situation of the School in the West end of the City is open and healthy. The Class-rooms are large, and the Grounds for Recreation include separate Playgrounds for Juniors and Seniors, Tennis Courts, and a field for Cricket and Football. There is also a Boarding House run in conjunction with the School.

ABERDEEN

HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. (ALESYN PI.ACYL.)

Head Mistress

-

Miss B. M. ROSE, M.A. (Oaoa.).

THE HIGH SCHOOL provides a liberal education for Girls from $ to 16 years of age. It is organised in three Departments—Infants, Primary, and Secondary. The Classes in the Infants and Primary divisions are graded in accordance with the requirements of the Scottish Code. Pupils in the Secondary Department are prepared for the Leaving Certificate of the Scottish Education Department and University entrance and Bursary Competition examinations.

Pupils, whose parents desire it, can be taught Theory and Practice of Music (Pianoforte, Violin, Singing, etc.) and can be entered, if desired, for the examinations of the Associated Board of the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music.

The School buildings occupy an excellent and spacious site in the West end of the city. A Playing Field of eleven acres, situated at Hazlehead and provided with a suitable pavilion, is used for organised games.

Information as to Fees, Scholarships, Courses 'of Study, etc., at the Grammar School and High School for Girls is given in the School Prospectus, which may be had free on application to the Director of Education, Education Offices, or to the Rector or Head Mistress respectively. s

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