Issuu

THE

ABERDEEN GRAMMAR SCHOOL MAGAZINE

ABERDEEN

printZil for -The Former Pupils' Club at-The University Press • Price Volume LI, No. 2.

One Shilling and Sixpence. July 1948.

NEW & SECOND-HAND

James G. Bisset Bookseller & Stationer 85 BROAD STREET

ABERDEEN

Opposite Marischat College

Educational Books — Legal — Medical Classical—Technical—Theological, etc. Students'

Notebooks

•

and

all Stationery requirements

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.

A.B.HUTOILSONI LTD. BRANCHES THROUGHOUT THE CITY

A. & J. SMITH (JEWELLERS) LTD.

191

Union

Street

ABERDEEN ESTABLISHED 1863

FOR

Gifts of Quality FINE

JEWELLERY

ANTIQUE AND MODERN SILVER

AND

LEATHER

PLATE

GOODS

CLOCKS AND WATCHES OBJECTS

ART

Buyers of

ANTIQUE

AND

MODERN

SILVER

JEWELLERY, CLOCKS AND CHINA

ILIITT FS have just what vcu are looking for Something to wear that is well cut, smart and practical and not too expensive

SUITS

TRAVEL COATS

1 \:

.'(;"T

Y 3

t• '

MODEL COATS FROCKS

DRESSES

, l. ,

GOWNS FUR COATS

' •

1 -

Sizes to fit all figures from 36" hip to 56" hip

•

/ I

A. C. LITTLE & SONS, LTD. 105 UNION STREET

ABERDEEN

1818

ES, A BLUSHED

APPOINTED MEAT PURVEYORS AND POULTERERS TO

HIS MA IESTY THE KING DATED I ST PUTT 1940

J. WILLIAMSON & SON Meat Purveyors, Poulterers and Game Dealers I, 2, & 3 MARKET BUILDINGS, ABERDEEN 'PHONE BRANCHES,

452

35 IOU NTAI NHALL ROAD 'PHONE 1724

ALSO AT

THE SQUARE. CULTS 'PHONE. CULTS 2

CHURCH SQUARE. EtALLATER.

BY APPOINTMENT

'PHONE 38

TO THE LATE

KING GEORGE V

GRANITE MONUMENTS Designs and Prices on Application Monuments carefully packed and forwarded to all parts of the world Letter-Cutting done in Town and Country at Moderate Rates

JAMES TAGGART & SON Granite Works

92 GREAT WESTERN ROAD, ABERDEEN Telephone—I658

Established over 50 years

For Better Footwear

JAMES LORIMER & SON (BOOTMAKERS), LTD.

CIVIL and MILITARY BOOTMAKERS

8 CHAPEL ST.

ABERDEEN

(Late of z62 Union Street)

Estd. A,u . 1844

'Phone 724

M. KENNAWAY LTD. Quality Bakers, Confectioners and Caterers

ABERDEEN 0 When on a visit to Aberdeen—Gateway to Royal Deeside—rest and dine at our

RESTAURANT AND TEA ROOMS 173 UNION STREET Here you can have the finest service at reasonable The Restaurant is commodious and comcost. fortable.

Our rooms are available for all types of

functions—Phone 2371.

Telephone No. 1891/2.

ARCHIBALD McKELLAR Family Grocer, Wine Merchant and Tobacconist,

450-456 Union Street, Aberdeen. . . We Specialise in . . Cooked

Gammons, Finest Belfast Smoked Hams, Wiltshire Bacon.

Medicinal Wines—Vibrona, Hall's, Wincarnis, Phosferine.

FURNITURE SHORTAGE During the present Furniture Shortage, we are carrying a stock of good quality Second-hand and Antique Furniture at reasonable prices. Good quality Utility Furniture can be obtained on production of Units

ROBERTS (Aberdeen) LTD. House Furnishers

419 Union Street

ABERDEEN

Cabinetmakers

Upholsterers

Licensed Valuators

Carpet Warehousemen

Established 1873

Telephone : 2695

JAMES FYFE & SON PAINTERS •

AND • •

GLAZIERS

OFFICE AND SHOWROOMS

11 DEE STREET, ABERDEEN Telephone 304

Telegrams—" Fyfe, Painters "

THE WAYFARERS WE HAVE ALLOCATIONS FOR SWITZERLAND AND TOURS TO ALL PARTS OF EUROPE

ALBYN PLACE, ABERDEEN

Telephone 28614

76.r),============r

'... S.

S.:= -

At your Service

For QUALITY

FISH • GAME • MEAT

Whether you shop in person or by telephone your require-

S..

ments in either or both of our Departments will be looked Our delivery system too exists for your after with care.

convenience

A. & W. ALEXANDER

FISH, GAME AND MEAT MERCHANTS TELEPHONE: ABERDEEN 5172

492 UNION STREET, ABERDEEN

.[ S.

S S =====r-.1========== FARM: CULTER

DAIRY: ABERDEEN Tel.

1215,

Tel. 6

7013, 7o14

KENNERTY DAIRY

FARM •

WILLIAM REITH Sole Proprietor : JOHN REITH

•

46-48

ROSE

STREET, ABERDEEN

BOYS' WEAR OF

SUPERIOR MAKE TWEED

RUGBY

SUITS :

Shorts in Utility Breasted

with

and

usual

Two-piece

Non-utility. pockets.

Jacket Style

Shorts

arc

and

Single lined.

Colours—Lovat, Brown, Grey and Blue. Prices from 56/4 to 89/3 (12 COUPONS)

NAVY

NON-UTILITY

MILTON

COATS

Fit 9 to 13 years 88/6 to 99/(12 COUPONS)

BOYS' STOCKINGS--Own Make From 3/II

5/6

(1 COUPON) PYJAMAS from 8/10 to 30/(6 COUPONS)

DRESSING GOWNS from 52/6 to 86/3 (7 COUPONS)

ESSLEMONT & MACINTOSH (RETAILERS)

LTD.

UNION STREET, ABERDEEN

" I need good food" —and this is where you can get it ! We always have a fresh stock of all well-known dog foods including Spratt's, Spillers, etc.

Main Stockists for :—

Pot and Pearl Barley Barley Meal Hay and Straw Coal and Firewood Poultry and Bird Food Moss Litter Manures

WILLIAM SCORGIE GRAIN AND POTATO MERCHANT

13 ROSE STREET

•

Phone 4014

ABERDEEN

Established over 100 Years

THINGS ARE

WM. CAY & SONS (FUNERAL DIRECTORS) LIMITED

STILL HOPEFUL Some Supplies are available of

415 UNION STREET

TYPEWRITERS

and

DESKS (wood and steel)

209 GEORGE STREET,

CHAIRS

ABERDEEN

FILING CABINETS CUPBOARDS Everything for the Office

Efficient Service Day and

Night Come and see me

All Funeral Requisites Supplied

C. H. WEBSTER

Cremations Arranged

489 Union Street

Telegrams—" Cay, Aberdeen."

ABERDEEN

TELEPHONE Nos. 92 and 54.

Telegrams : ' Blake Builders'

Telephone: 8811-2

JAMIES IEILAIDIE LTID. Joiners and ituildina

Contractors

7 ALBYN TERRACE Works-23, 25, 29 SUMMER STREET,

All classes of Building Work

ABERDEEN

Enquiries courteously solicited Wyllies Circulating Library

Agents for Ordnance Survey Maps

WYLLIES Booksellers, Stationers

247 UNION STREET, ABERDEEN Telephone 402

Established 1814 ESTABLISH

THE

HABIT

READING

GOOD

BOOKS

Our extensive selection of books covers the whole field Publications by recognised artists and leading of Art. authorities include the following subjects : Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Lettering, Poster-Work, Cartoon, Pastels, Architecture, Modelling, Weaving. Sewing and Needlework. To those who cannot call personally we shall be glad to forward a selection of hooks on approval. . STUDIO . • • ARTIST ART & INDUSTRY

Orders can now be accepted for— (Monthly) DISPLAY . . (Monthly) ART AND CRAFT (Quarterly) 11 ART BULLETIN „

TAYLORS ART SALON SCHOOLHILL • ABERDEEN • PHONE 2870 PHONE 1219

ESTD. 1733

GIFTS that

ALWAYS SATISFY Silverware • Gem Rings Cigarette Boxes • Fine pieces of Jewellery and Gift Presentations in solid silver

JAMIESON & CARRY GOLDSMITHS

UNION

BRIDGE

•

ABERDEEN

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 over 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 1881-2-3

.11k.

The way the wind's blowing .

•

it seems that food rationing, scarcities and restrictions are likely to last for some time yet—one very good reason for being registered with Collies ! Fair shares and an equal opportunity for all to benefit from the tasty extras and unrationed good things made available by sagacious marketing are features of our service.

,g0itz

ail. 269-271

UNION

STREET,

FAMILY

BY APPOINTMENT

GROCERS

TO H.M. THE KING

TELEPHONE 4800 (4 LINES) REGISTRY TEL. 20015

ABERDEEN WINE

GROCERS

MERCHANTS ALSO AT CULTS TEL.

BALLATER

TEL.

BRAEMAR

TEL. 212

CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS Facing page

113 126 127

F.P. Rugby Team—Season 1923-24 . . . School Prefects . . Colonel Lachlan Mackinnon School Cricket 1st XI—Season . . . . 1948 •

182

Facing page

School Rugby 1st XV—Season . 183 • • • 1 947-48 F.P. Hockey Section ist XI— Season 1947-48 • • • 196 F.P. Rugby Section 1st XV— . 1 97 . Season 1947-48 .

. . . . . . . The New President of the Club Thc School Boarding House. The Rector's Message to Former Pupils . Honour for the Rector . • • • • Memorial Schemes Our Two Rugby Internationalists • 1256-1956. F.P.s Resident Abroad . • . F.P. Rugby Team—Season 1923-24 . . North-East Speech. By G. T. S. . The Home of the Hound. By K. J. Peters . • A School Cricket Group of 1887 • . . . • Peter Taylor Forsyth Thc Aberdeen Society of Architects . • • . . Obituary . • Pro Patria Mortui . . Addresses Wanted . • Notes About Old Boys . . . Marriages . University Notes . School Section— School and Random Notes . • . . Lower School Notes • Changes in the School Staff. Outlines • • . . Outside Opinion . • . . Between Two Worlds Pocket Money—A Class Survey . . . . King Lear Who's Who among the Prefects Aberdeen University Bursary Competition • • . . House Notes . . The Literary and Debating Society . The Dramatic Society. Army Cadet Force • • . Scout Notes . . Scottish Schoolboys' Club School Sporting Activities— . . Athletics. Swimming. • • . . . . . . Cricket . • Rugby. Who's Who in the 1st XV . . . . Hockey. Tennis School Office-Bearers—Session 1947-48 The Former Pupils' Club— . . . . . . . Club Executive Notes . . . . . . The Edinburgh Centre . . The Yorkshire Centre. War Claims in Malaya . . . . . . . . The Glasgow Centre . . . . . . . . The London Centre . . . . . . The Bengal and Assam Centre . . . . . F.P. Cricket Section. F.P. Golf Section . . . F.P. Hockey Section. F.P. Rugby Section . . . . The Annual General Meeting of the Club . . . . • • • . F.P. Club Consuls . . . . . F.P. Tennis Section. Visitors' Book . F.P. Club Office-Bearers 1948-49 • •

•

Page 1°5 „ 107 „ 1°8 „ 109 „ Ito „

III

,, 712 ps 114 ); i 17 >9 119 ,, I20 „ 123 4

136

•

160

•

163

165 167 168 169 170 171 172 >, 173 >, 174 175

„ „ „ „ „

„

176 177 1 78

„ 1 79

18o „ 181 "3 184 >, 185 PP

,,, „ „ ,, ,. ,, ,, „ „ ,, „

186 187 19o 191 193 194 195 196 199 204 206

„

207

ESTABLISHED IN ABERDEEN 1836

Northern Assurance Company Limited Enquiries solicited for all Classes of Insurance

FIRE Insure your Dwelling-house and Furniture with the Local Office LIFE Attractive rates for Endowment Assurance and all other classes of Life Assurance ACCIDENT Insurance granted against Third Party Risks of all kinds Company's Assets

L38,250,000

CHIEF OFFICES:

ABERDEEN . . LONDON

1 UNION TERRACE 1 MOORGATE, E.C. a

Branches and Agencies throughout the World -

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 64th year: No. 162 (New Series, 55th year, No. 1.53)

Vol. LI —

No. 2

JULY 1948

The " Grammar School Magazine " is issued under the auspices of The Former Pupils' Club, twice a year at present—in December and July. Communications with regard to the " Magazine" should be addressed to the Editor, ALAN C. R. WATT, M.A., cjo The University Press, 6 Upper Kirkgate, Aberdeen. [Nam: An asterisk after a name indicates that the F.P. is a member of the F.P. Club.]

- _ - -

The New President of the Club Appointment of Sir Arthur Lothian At the. Annual Meeting of the Club held on 15 March 1948, Sir Arthur Cunningham Lothian* (1892-94 and 1898-1904), K.C.I.E., C.S.I., I.C.S. (retd.), was appointed President for the year 1948-49, in succession to Mr. Charles Davidson (1882-86), M.A. Sir Arthur joined the Indian Civil Service in 1910 and from 1915 to 1947, when he returned from India on leave pending retirement, he had a distinguished career in the Indian Political Service. From 1937 to 1942 he was Resident for Rajputana, and from 1942 to 1946 he was Resident at Hyderabad. A fuller account of his career and a photograph of Sir Arthur appeared in the December 5947 issue of the Magazine. The new President's first official appearance was at the first postwar Dinner of the London Centre of the Club held on 1 April 1948 and at that function he was presented with his presidential badge of office. He will preside at the Annual Dinner of the Club to be held on 29 October 1948 and he also hopes to be present at the unveiling of the War Memorial in the School Hall and at the presentation of the late Dr. Theodore Watt's portrait, should these ceremonies take place during his term of office. * * * Lieut.-Colonel W. P. SELBIE* (1901-06), M.B.E., M.C., M.A., formerly Commandant of King George's Royal Indian Military College, Ajmer, Rajputana, has sent us this tribute to the new President : The last number of the Magazine contained an excellent synopsis of the career of Sir Arthur Lothian, whom the School now acclaims as the new President of the F.P. Club. This notice aims merely at contributing a few memories and impressions from School and University in the early days of the century, and later from India.

i o6

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Arthur Lothian was outstanding in his schooldays as throughout his career, and in the School in these days there were fine influences to play upon a vivid personality—the tIlkos of Morland Simpson, the deep scholarship of Murison, the humanism of Middleton, the humour of Mackie. Then Macleod, skilled to lead the flower of his pupils into the furthest arcana of mathematics. (Was there not that possible of 400 in the bursary competition of 5904?) Nor must another name be omitted. Not once or twice did we hear from C.D. his favourite quotation about magic casements. How many of these casements he opened to Grammar School boys, giving them an outlook so far beyond Aberdeen and the twelve miles round. How felicitous that it is from him that the Presidency now devolves. I shall not touch on the academic side of our new President's University career ; I rather recall other spheres of eminence. In the S.R.C. of a Scottish university there is sometimes a tendency to precipitate, almost to welcome, a head-on collision with authority, but it dawned on some of Arthur Lothian's colleagues that a case did not suffer from being presented with courteous diplomacy. In the AsquithCarson rectorial election of 5909 he headed the Conservatives. It was not the day of his party, but none questioned his leadership and nothing ruffled his equanimity. There were great influences in the University then, as there had been in the School. Let two with whom Arthur Lothian was on terms of special intimacy suffice : John Marshall Lang, Vice-Chancellor, in whom flowered a fine courtesy too little appreciated in his day, and William Leslie Davidson, Professor of Logic, author, scholar, warm dispenser of hospitality, F.P. and an ardent lover of the School. Recollections too crowd in of literary and debating activities on the platform but also in the more rarified atmosphere of the informal " sederunt " of that Augustan age, when a brilliant coterie discussed to all hours all things in heaven and earth. And then India. Affection and loyalty work both ways ; the root of his great success was in genuine love for the land and for its peoples. It is comparatively easy to establish friendship with rulers, not too difficult to be hailed by the humbler peasantry as the protector of the poor—and these successes were not wanting. But the confidence and friendship of lesser officials, of members of district boards, of municipal councillors, of the too often despised Anglo-Indian community—these are not so readily won. And so to-day you find the Lothian Park at Ajmer below the old Residency, you find Lothian Memorial Schools, you hear countless recollections in the courts, in the dubs, in the bazaars. Speaking of Sir Arthur's days in Rajputana the Catholic Bishop of Ajmer, a cultured Breton, once said to me, " Among the Princes he was as an eagle among other birds ". To some who attempt to control the destinies of the Grammar School to-day the eagle is not at all to be compared with the common sparrow, but in choosing the President of the F.P. Club the tradition of the School asserts itself and hails the nobler breed.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

1o7

The School Boarding House As there may be a tendency to assume that the abolition of fees and the conditions attached to the attendance of pupils resident outwith the city spell the end of the Grammar School Boarding House, it seems desirable to make it clear that this is far from being the case. A boy who is to live in the Boarding House is eligible for admission to the Grammar School on the same terms as the son of a person resident within the city, i.e. he must meet the requirements of the Education Committee as to ability and attainments. Since this may involve the testing of the pupil, there will be certain difficulties in the case of boys who are abroad or living at a great distance from the School, but these difficulties need not prove insuperable. Parents who wish boys to come as boarders should apply to the Secretary of the Boarding House Company, Mr. James C. Duffus, 7 Golden Square, Aberdeen, as early as possible, to ascertain the chances of a vacancy at the date when admission is desired and to have the boy's name put on the waiting list. Application Forms returned to the Secretary will be passed by him to the Rector, who will then have ample time to communicate with parents and make any necessary arrangements for testing the boys or securing other evidence of their quality and scholastic attainments.

The Rector's Message to Former Pupils For the past two years it has been the aim of this letter to give some idea of how the School is likely to be affected by changes or developments in educational policy, since that seemed a more useful service than simply to comment on those doings of past or present pupils which were adequately recorded elsewhere in the Magazine. I must, however, give myself the pleasure at this time of putting on record the immense interest and gratification of the School in the achievements of our Former Pupils' Rugby XV and in the distinguished performances of our two Internationalists. Here is something that has made the South sit up and take notice of us, something that has given the School itself a wholly desirable prominence throughout the country, and for which, therefore, our thanks as well as our congratulations are due. Former Pupils may have noted that the Education Authority has simply continued for another session the temporary arrangements made a year ago. While this delay in reaching final decisions is very unsettling and productive of difficulties for the School, it would be quite wrong to charge the local authorities with either dilatoriness or lack of interest. The delay arises from the fact that a policy for our School has to be framed at the very time when Scottish education as a whole is under review; and although the Advisory Council's Report on Secondary Education has been in the hands of the Secretary of State since the Autumn of r 946, the Scottish Education Department has not yet pronounced on its findings, and in consequence the Education Authorities cannot proceed with their reorganisation of post-primary schooling.

to8

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

It would be idle to pretend that two years' experience of the selection of four- and five-year-olds by interview and tests leaves everyone satisfied. There are, however, certain considerations it as well to bear in mind. Non-admission and disappointment are neither new nor avoidable. If there are now something like five times as many applicants as we can take, probably there have long been about the same number of Aberdeen parents who would have liked to place their boys in the Grammar School. For many the disappointment came in the past from inability to pay even our modest fees; for many others the exdusion of their boys resulted from nothing more fundamental than their low place on a long Waiting List. The present method of selection is no doubt fallible and in the very measure of its success open to objection, if one desires a Primary School to be a normally assorted community of little folk; but it is fairly applied and as nearly objective as selection at that early age can be. Parents should recognise that the interviewing is done by people who know the job and are not at all likely to proceed with the actual testing of a child so long as he is clearly in such a state of shyness or nervous excitement as would make fair assessment impossible. Lastly, parents should remember that non-acceptance of a particular child does not imply any failure or discredit—it means only that, with very many competing, he has not succeeded in securing one of the limited number of places available. J. J. R.

Honour for the Rector In the King's Birthday Honours announced on Io June 1948, the Rector, Mr. James J. Robertson, M.A., B.D., F.R.S.E., was made an O.B.E. Since 1942 he has been a member of the Advisory Council on Education in Scotland and was chairman of the committee which framed the Report on Secondary Education, published in 1946. In 1945 he was appointed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to be a member of the Advisory Committee on Education in the Colonies. Before coming to the School in 1942, he was headmaster of Fort William Secondary School from 1926 to 1931, of Falkirk High School from 1931 to 1940 and of the Royal High School, Edinburgh, from 1940 to 1942. He is a past president of the Association of Headmasters of Senior Secondary Schools.

Church Service The annual Grammar School Church Service will be held in Rubislaw Church on Sunday, 12 September, 1948, at 6 p.m., and will be conducted by the School Chaplain, the Rev. P. D. LAWRENCE * (1909-16), M.A. The Rector will also take part. F.P.s, pupils, members of the Staff and parents are invited to attend.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

109

Memorial Schemes The response to the Appeal issued in March for subscriptions to the three Club Memorial Schemes has amounted so far to £I,zoo. Details of subscriptions received are as follows :— . . Roll of Honour . . . . £m) I o Dr. Theodore Watt's Portrait . . 138 8 z . . Mr. W. P. Stewart's Memorial . . . 116 o z To be allocated by the Club Executive . . 709 13 6 £1,174

Contributed by pupils to Mr. Stewart's Memorial

2 IO

27 0 0 £I,zoi 2 IO

In addition, sixty-six subscriptions have been received for copies of the Roll of Honour. So far 441 F.P.s and friends of the School have subscribed to the Appeal and the Executive are confident that the target of £1,500 will soon be reached. F.P.s who have not yet sent their subscriptions are asked to do so as soon as possible as the Appeal is to be closed on 3o September 1948. Roll of Honour The Roll now contains the names of I9o F.P.s. All the next-ofkin have now been traced except in the case of Squadron-Leader Reginald George Weighill (1915-18). He was the son of Mr. R. H. Weighill, sometime of 8o Cairnfield Place, Aberdeen, and went to Dulwich after leaving the School. He was commissioned in the R.A.F. in 1926 and in the years before the war he was professionally engaged by Hatfield Flying Club. Anyone who can give information as to the whereabouts of his next-of-kin is requested to communicate with the Secretary. Dr. Theodore Watt's Portrait Mr. Francis E. Hodge of London expects to finish the posthumous portrait of Dr. Watt in the near future and the Executive hope to arrange for its presentation to the School by the President of the Club in October. Memorial to Mr. W. P. Stewart Plans for the establishment of the fund in memory of Mr. Stewart are to be made when the Appeal has been closed and it is known what amount of money will be available for this purpose. WAR MEMORIAL IN THE SCHOOL HALL

Plans for the War Memorial which is to be placed on the East wall of the School Hall alongside the 1914-18 War Memorial, which is to be moved from the North wall, have now been passed by the appropriate sub-committee of the Education Committee and the Town Council's approval is expected at an early date. It is hoped that the unveiling ceremony will be held in October.

‘

Tin

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Our Two Rugby Internationalists John R. S. Innes* (1923-35) and W. Dallas Allardice* (1934-39), who played for Scotland in the international rugby match against Australia in November, won further honours for themselves and for the School and the Club later in the season. Dr. Innes had the rare distinction of captaining Scotland in all the five international matches of the season and, by reason of his team's victory over England at Murrayfield on zo March 1948, his name will now appear on the Calcutta Cup. Allardice was capped against France, Wales and Ireland. Dr. Innes has intimated that he has now retired from representative Rugby but he hopes to play for the F.P. team next season from time to time. Allardice has been appointed captain of the F.P. team for 1948-49. i Complimentary Dinner to W. D. Allardice On 7 May 1948 various sporting organisations in Huntly arranged a complimentary dinner for Dallas Allardice in the Huntly Hotel, Huntly. (Before coming to the Grammar School in 1934 Allardice attended the Huntly Gordon Schools and most of his life has been spent in that town.) The Chairman at this function was ALEXANDER WILLIAM CHRISTIE* (1878-87), C.B.E., ex-Provost of Huntly, and among the large company were Mr. H. R. Spence, O.B.E., M.P., DR. J. R. S. INN-Es, Mr. W. W. DICKIE*, M.A., (Classical Master at the School 1928-38, and subsequently Classical Master at the Huntly Gordon Schools), Mr. A. J. M. EDWARDS* (1908-z1), M.A., B.Com., Mr. F. G. Allardice, J.P. (father of the guest of honour), Provost J. S. Barron and Baillie J. Ogilvie, Huntly. In proposing the toast of " Dallas ", Mr. Christie said he thought it was fitting that he should occupy the proud position of chairman since, like their honoured guest, he also had played for the Aberdeen Grammar School Former Pupils' Rugby Football Club. That was in the Club's first season, 1893-94. Addressing Dallas, he said : " We arc all delighted to be here this evening to do what little honour we can to you and to congratulate you most heartily on playing for Scotland in four international matches this season. This great gathering of your own folks testifies that Huntly is proud of your achievement". He went on to say that their guest was an outstanding sportsman and that they were all glad and proud to think that they could claim him as one of themselves. After referring to his war record with the Commandos and of his escapes from captivity, he concluded " Dallas, we are proud of your wonderful achievements. We look forward to your future with great interest. . . . We congratulate you most heartily and we wish you a full and happy life in the future." In his reply Mr. Allardice said that he could not adequately express his feelings at the honour that had been done to him and he assured the company that memories of that evening would remain with him throughout the years. " Unfortunately," he went on, " rugger was not played at the Gordon Schools and I had to wait until 1 went to the Aberdeen Grammar School before I took up the game. During my five years there I was very fortunate in coming under the influence and tuition of an excellent games master—Duncan Macgregor. Most of my progress has been due to his careful coaching and advice. Without it, I am sure, I would have had little success. I also came under the influence of an excellent captain in Donny Innes and to him also I am greatly indebted for my success in the rugby field. It is indeed a pleasure for me to-night to have him here giving me his moral support in this, one of my severest trials."

F.P. Rugby Team—Season 1923-24

Hardie

Standing—D. Macgregor, R. W. Farquhar, P. M. Davidson, V. N. Dean, P. J. M. Walker, G. N. Gordon, J. F. Mackintosh. Sitting—G. M. Cochran, A. J. Margach, C. E. Saunders, J. W. L. Bain, S. F. W. Humphrey, E. R. G. Bruce. Insets—J. T. Sorley (Captain), J. R. L. Cruickshank, E. R. Sorley, J. McLeod (Vice-Captain).

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

113

Of the seventeen players in the photograph, three are now resident in Aberdeen, seven are in other parts of this country, six are overseas and one, Surgeon Commander E. R. Sorley was killed during the war. The following are short notes on the present whereabouts of the members of the team :— John Tower Sorley* (Captain) (1904-17), M.A., M.B., Ch.B. Medical Specialist, Colonial Medical Service, Lagos, Nigeria. John McLeod (Vice-Captain) (19o3-14), B.Sc. (Eng.). Civil Engineer, William Tawse Limited, Aberdeen. John William Laing Bain* (I9I5-zz), M.B., Ch.B., D.A. Anaesthetist, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. Eric Robertson Garden Bruce (1909-18). Merchiston Estate, Pendok, Taiping, Perak, Malaya. George Murray Cochran* (1909-22). National Bank of India Limited, London. James Robert Leslie Cruickshank* (1915-21), M.A., W.S. Partner in Messrs. Menzies & White, W.S., Edinburgh. Peter McLaren Davidson (1908-13), B.Sc. Pilkington Brothers, Limited, St. Helens, Lancs. Vaughan Nicol Dean* (1913-20), C.A. Assistant General Manager, Associated British Picture Corporation, Elstree Studios, Boreham Wood, Herts. Robert Warrender Farquhar* (1919-22), B.Sc.(Agri.), M.B., Ch.B., D.P.H. Assistant County Medical Officer in Lancashire. Resident at Bury, Manchester. George Norrie Gordon* (1908-19), B.Sc., B.L. Sometime solicitor in Aberdeen. Stanley Frank Walker Humphrey* (1912-22), M.A., B.L., C.A. Chartered accountant in Johannesburg. Duncan Macgregor* (Games Master at the School 1919-45), M.B.E. Lieutenant-Colonel on staff of H.Q. Lowland District, Glasgow. John Falconer Mackintosh* (190 z- I z), M.C. Coffee planter in Coorg District, South India. Alistair James Margach (1915-2 2), B.Sc.(Agri.). Coffee and rubber planter near Masindi, Uganda. (1935.) Charles Edward Saunders* (1902-14), M.B., Ch.B. Medical Officer, No. 1 Manchester Area, North-West Division, National Coal Board. Resident at Beeston, near Tarporley, Cheshire. Patrick John Milroy Walker* (1914-zo), C.A. Assistant manager of the Confederation Life Association in Mexico City. F.P. Club Consul for Mexico. * * * Ernest Robert Sorley (1906-18), M.D., D.P.H. Surgeon Commander R.N. Killed by enemy action while in H.M.S. Barham on z5 November 1941.

514

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

North-East Speech Reflections from a Distance to It is interesting read, from a distance of several thousand miles and after twenty-five years' absence from Aberdeen, the periodical articles and letters which appear in Aberdeen newspapers—and occasionally in the pages of this Magazine—on the merits and demerits of North-East speech. J. M. Bulloch was its doughtiest champion during his lifetime and I feel sure he would have had something pungent to say on recurring discussions in the Aberdeen Education Committee on the " defects in speech " of the folk of North-East Scotland. Most of these letters and articles—mostly vehemently partisan— fire me with a wish to argue, equally vehemently, for the other side. This may be merely my native Scottish " coorseness ", or the result of many a misspent Friday evening in the School Debating Society of my day. First let it be said that there is nothing more satisfying than to hear, after a long interval, the rich, mellow fullness of the Buchan Doric, even when watered down sufficiently to be comprehensible to those who cannot claim familiarity with its vocabulary. The last time I heard a Fyvie farmer give such a talk on the radio, I wanted to jump to the ceiling for joy and wring his gnarled, horny hand in appreciation of the sheer beauty of it I Can the same be said, though, for the speech of Aberdeen city ? When it tries to mince itself into a semblance of English it is a sham— what J. M. Bulloch used to call " Albyn Place English ". When it is not doing this, but is being unashamedly itself—what one might call " Shiprow English "—it is of almost unbelievable ugliness, second only to the unintelligible gibbering of Dundee. How comes it that the same basic dialect can touch such extremes of beauty and ugliness in the close proximity of town and country ? As discussions in the Aberdeen Education Committee presumably refer, however, not to dialect, but to English as 'taught in schools, perhaps one had better confine oneself to this for the present. Is the pronunciation of English, as taught in Aberdeen schools, the same as taught in English schools ? Speaking from my personal experience, the answer is no. Aberdeen English is very different from standard English, and by standard English I mean English as it is spoken by educated people, Scots as well as English, the world over. The Aberdonian's chief difficulty (though he obstinately refuses to recognise it as such) is with vowels, and particularly with the vowel " a ". Although there are in English two unmistakably different " a " sounds—the long " a " as in dark and the short " a " as in bat— the Aberdonian, to English ears at any rate, seems to run both sounds into one, producing an " a " which is neither as long as the long English " a " nor as short as the short English " a ". His ear has become so attuned to this midway sound that when he hears the " a" sounds properly pronounced, he assumes the speaker to be " affected" and to be saying such things as baig and baiggage. Listen,

115 Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine without prejudice, to an Aberdonian saying rather and gather and tell me if you can honestly differentiate between the " a " sounds in the two words. It is one of the less pleasing characteristics of us Aberdonians that we do not like to be told that we are wrong—the smug " wha's like us ? " attitude which is actually claimed as a merit by some ; the attitude of the " wifie " in the story who, seeing the Gordons marching by, exclaimed, " Look ! They're a' oot o' step but oor Jock 1 " This attitude seems to be behind an article by James Leatham which I read a few years ago in the Aberdeen Weekly Journal. Starting off with a statement by Professor Taylor that there is " a certain slovenliness of speech " in the North-East, he says,

It is the business of education to correct all provincialism in speech, standard English being pronounced according to dictionary phonetic spelling. By this standard the worst speakers are Londoners, with all Englishmen in varying degrees of badness.

Now no one will quarrel with the first sentence of this. The only point which arises from it is that " dictionary phonetic spelling " is in cold print and may not be interpreted by exactly the same sounds by people from different parts of the country. Take an ordinary, apparently unalterable word like plate. The educated Englishman and the locally-educated Aberdonian will both go by the dictionary pronunciation and both will be correct, but the vowel sounds they produce will not be identical. Both will be convinced that the vowel sound he makes is the correct one—for is it not the one that his friends all use ?—and both will therefore be convinced that the sound made by the other is wrong. Which is " standard English " and which the " provincialism " ? The sturdy Aberdonian, it goes without saying, will deny that his version is provincial. It is not, of course—in Aberdeen 1 Here he is making the same sound as his locally-educated fellows, but if he goes to live in London, what then ? James Leatham went on to elaborate the second sentence of the quotation above by giving examples of the disgraceful misuse of their own language by those undiscerning Philistines, the English. He gave natural prominence to the dropped " h ", and, though educated English people do not drop their " h's ", I forgive him much for his excellent story of a woman in a train, offering sandwiches to her little girl and saying, " Wich will ye 'aye ? Beef or 'am ? " " 'Am ", said the little girl. There being other people in the carriage, the mother reproved her. " You shouldn't say "am ', my dear. You should say "Am 1 ' " With a chuckle, a fellow traveller said to the man opposite him. " They both on 'em thinks they're a-sayin' "am I ' " I dispute Mr. Leatham's assertion that " words with a ' wh ' in them—such as while, whale and whiff—are by all classes of Englishmen rendered wile, wale and wiff; often with comical effect." I grant you that the Cockney does, and other speakers of the class which drops " h's ", but the educated Englishman certainly does not say wile, wale and wiff, though admittedly his " h " is very much softer than the Scottish one—a zephyr as opposed to a gale.

I 16

Aberdeen Grammar School Magaine

Could it be possible that the gale which the Scotsman blows at the beginning of such words is a local exaggeration ?—that the force of the gale has so damaged his own ear drums that they are incapable of detecting the softer sound ? No loyal Aberdonian will admit it, of course, but, as I say, could it be possible ? And might it not be the same with the " r " sound ? Could it be that the Scot who alleges the Englishman cannot sound his " r's " (except when he wants to accuse him of sounding them in the wrong places!) might be so deafened by the drum-like roll of his own rendering of the sound that his ear cannot detect the more modest English variety ? Mr. Leatham rightly cited the late Archbishop of Canterbury as one of the most mellifluous speakers of his day and pointed out that he hailed from Fyvie. What is this supposed to prove ? That the Scot in general is a better speaker than the Englishman ? That all the inhabitants of Fyvie speak as good English as the Archbishop of Canterbury ? That there are no good English orators ? It proves, to me, that it is possible for the Scot to learn to speak standard English, if he wishes to do so, and that he need not be circumscribed by the conventional speech of his own kailyard. What is the conclusion that we are to draw from all this ? Is North-East speech a handicap, as Professor Taylor is reported to have said, in obtaining appointments, or is it a fine tradition to be protected and handed down from generation to generation? Is it not a matter of geography ? And of the work to be undertaken? No one could say that a Buchan farm servant would be handicapped when looking for work by not being conversant with standard English. On the contrary, it would prove a serious handicap to him if he were—his leg would be mercilessly elongated until such time as his speech conformed to that of his fellows. Similarly, it would be equally foolish for one speaking a good full-throated "Aiberdeen" to expect to be appointed a teacher of English in England. What passes for standard English in Aberdeen is, of course, standard English in Aberdeen and should be no handicap in securing an appointment in Aberdeen or its neighbouring counties. Many employers would probably prefer it to " English" English, particularly in appointments where contacts are. to be made with local people. Outside Scotland, however, except possibly among ultra-Scots employers of the J. M. Bullock type, or employers who have a bias in favour of Scotsmen (and thank God they are many despite our faults I), an Aberdeen accent is a handicap in securing appointments in the great big world. I know I could be referred to hosts of Scots who have made their name throughout the world in refutation of this statement, but it is nevertheless true. One hears of the successes. One does not hear of the mediocrities or of the failures. I have personal knowledge, however, of several candidates who have failed to secure appointments due to a provincialism in their speech, though their qualifications otherwise have been excellent. G.T.S.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

117

The Home of the Hound Dartmoor's cold grey heathlands are the current home of a grimlooking convict settlement. In the not-so-distant fiction past they gave temporary refuge to that most celebrated of sleuths—Sherlock Holmes. When an Edinburgh University medical graduate named Doyle learned of a lost legend in this wild, windswept stretch of the SouthWest country, there was suggested to him the plot for a detective thriller which has since proved so fascinating as to be ageless in its appeal. A visit by the doctor to the mist-shrouded fern fronds and stony streams of the moor initiated ideas for the scenic backcloth of his novel, " The Hound of the Baskervilles ", and the legend of a wild hound was probed, explored and finally adapted for his story. Dartmoor was to make a further impression on an assimilative mind. Perhaps you also have borrowed one of those red-covered, wellthumbed books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from the shelves of your library—those accounts of Sherlock Holmes through which our parents—and our grandparents too—followed the uncanny skill of the famous detective, as it was faithfully interpreted by an impressed chronicler—Doctor Watson. Time has altered little of the appeal of a gaunt, angular man in tweed cloak, breeches and ear-flapped travelling-cap. Some of the most thrilling, yet comfortable and easy-to-read detective fiction has Sherlock Holmes as its hero. The reader has merely to turn the pages of his book. Holmes will solve the mystery, and then, in a masterful, exacting manner, explain his reasoning to the delighted satisfaction of his reader and the almost naive acclamation of Doctor Watson and the Scotland Yard authorities over whom Holmes has again scored. In addition to books, the appeal of Holmes comes to us from film and radio. Since the start of a series of films in which Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce have so identified themselves with the principal parts that any future pictures about Holmes without them are unthinkable, America has been thrilled with this detective who lived in a problematical No. ant Baker Street, London, and who made his first appearance to the reading public at Christmas sixty-one years ago. Throughout the States, societies, such as the Baker Street Irregulars and the Speckled Band Club, have sprung up. Corresponding clubs and investigators delve into what historical matter exists (for Holmes is one of the very few fiction characters who has had his biography written). Teen-agers and staid elderly citizens of prim American towns join in the nation-wide interest in and devotion to all that is Holmes. But the American enthusiasts' contact with the background and fiction haunts of a character created for " Beeton's Xmas Annual " in 1887 can only be flimsy. Conjecture about scenes, influences and plots which Conan Doyle used must be merely wistful and nostalgic. Such a realisation made me all the more fascinated and appreciative as I stood, gasping and struggling against an energetic east wind which whistled across one of the Dartmoor marshes. Above was a

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine • great grey mass of dirty cloud and all around the rock-strewn tawny grasses of a wide wasteland. I had come from the East, from the curiously named hamlet of Bovey Tracy, up the long, sandy sweep of the road to Widdicombe, song-eulogised village in a valley sheltered by shelving moorland. Back from the road in the lee of an oasis of trees and the frowning security of the steep, rocky Hay Tor hill was one of those comfortable, rambling, red-brick houses, so strangely foreign to its bleak surroundings. Conan Doyle would have recognised it as the model for those he created in his racing yarn " Silver Blaze" and for Benjamin Franklyn, eccentric common-law fiend in the Baskerville country. From the cave among the rocks where he watched his opponent Stapleton, Sherlock Holmes also would have known such a house. Swinging and creaking in sympathy with the wind was Hemsworthy Gate, guardian of the heart of Druid country. Quickening clouds moved past the pointers of a four-armed signpost, "To Widdicombe-in-the-moor, Ashburton, Moretonhampsteacl, and Bovey Tracy ", and there was a threat of wind and rain whichever way I looked. This was the part of the moor known as Seven Lords Lands. Seventeenth century England and the map-makers knew it well. What more apt name or perfect setting for a moorland mystery than the bracken heaths and marshes of this lonely spot under cold, grey skies. Tricks of the imagination ? Nervous fear ? Awe ? Yes, I experienced them all before being jolted back to reality by the thud of scampering, wild ponies over firm turf. Off to Widdicombe and Tom Pearce, urged on my way by a frog's craak-craak-craak from the stagnant sides of a pool, dark with moss, and the shadow of a black mass of rain clouds. Dropping down the last half-mile of the road, I saw the stout, flint-grey steeple of the moor folk's church at Widdicombe. There in the midst of virgin nature was a small trim village green and a tiny inn, white-buttressed and beckoning, with lattice windows and a swinging sign. Here was beauty and peace, with the full force of the wind missing this sheltered dell of a hundred or so souls. For the first time since I had set off that morning, I met the people of the moor. Quietspoken, yet with the rich, rounded vowels of the Devonshire tongue, the few men clustered round an old harnessing post were obviously suspicious of anyone who walked across the moor in the late afternoon of a threatening day. A move to the inn in the general company thawed some of the doubts behind red, weather-lined faces, and I was speeded on my way by some much-needed advice about direction. It needed a brisk cross-moor walk to keep warm against a wind that now shrieked its insistence of cold. I had reached the spot in Dartmoor where curiosity and legend triumphantly invited belief. In front of me was the Hound Tor, at which Conan Doyle must have looked, wondered and thought—with a great deal more purpose than most of us who visit this natural monument of superstitition and belief. Imagination and the shrill call of a curlew can play tricks. I scrambled up the steep slopes of Hound Tor to where the piled i r8

119 Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine rocks, towering and top-heavy, build up the fantastic shape of a giant hound. Etched in stone were the bared fangs, arched back and thrownup head. Only the most cynical could stay unimpressed by the setting and its association of ideas. A gusty wind carried over the bracken the tinkling of the church bell at Widdicombe, and I thought of cold, lonely cave vigils spent on the moor by Sherlock Holmes, of the Great Grimpen Mire—deathtrap for ponies and the executioner of Stapleton—and of old Franklyn watching the moor through his telescope. The bell ceased, the wind rose and a light rain began to spatter on the rocks. I left the hound to brood over the grim splendour of desolation. ... A little difficult in the warmth of the railway refreshment room at Newton Abbot Station to recapture the spell which the home of the hound had so recently created. Moor folk and their legend faded in a cosy cloud of tea-urn steam. . . . But, through the steam of an engine, impatient to be off on its zoo-mile journey to London, memory came back. As my train lurched forward, the coloured dust-cover of a book on the platform stall caught and kept my gaze until we had rounded the platform bend. There, head uplifted in defiance of its scorners, on the cover of a popular edition of "The Hound of the Baskervilles " was the hound. Dartmoor wished to be remembered to me I K. J. PETERS (1929-41).

A School Cricket Group of 1887 The photograph of a School Cricket Group of 1887 which was published in the last issue of the Magazine has aroused considerable interest among older F.P.s. It will be remembered that two of the players who appeared in the photograph had not been identified but the Editor is glad to report that he has now been informed that the unidentified player in the back row of the group is Andrew S. Fraser (1886-88), who went to Australia and, after engaging in farming for a time, joined a firm of auctioneers at Gunmedah, New South Wales. It has also been pointed out that the player stated to be Charles R. Smith (1881-88) is in fact George Fairweather Smith (1882-87), who has lived in Broughty Ferry for the last thirty-five years. After leaving School he assisted his father in the management of his farm at Pittengardner, Fordoun, and in 1894 he was appointed representative to Swan & Sons, Limited, Live Stock Agents in Perth. In 1905 the mart was sold to Messrs. Hay & Company, auctioneers, Perth, and he has represented that firm for the past forty-three years. Charles R. Smith (1881-88), who was for six years with Mr. A. R. Gray, wholesale produce merchant, Aberdeen, and later became senior partner of Messrs. J. & J. Smith, grain merchants and maltsters, Perth and Arbroath, died at Perth in 1940. A note about his son, CHARLES EDWARD SMITH* (1923-24) appears on page 155 of this issue.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

120 •

Peter Taylor Forsyth

On 12 May 5948 there was celebrated the centenary of the birth of Peter, Taylor Forsyth (18S9-64), M.A., D.D., Principal of Hackney Theological College and Dean of the Faculty of Theology in the University of London. His religious teaching and the many books which he wrote (a new edition has recently been published) aroused widespread interest and considerable controversy. For a generation he was one of the leading representatives of British Congregationalism and when he died in 1921, it was stated in his obituary notice in The Times that he had won a place of his own among the theological teachers of his time and that his influence both in this country and in America had reached far beyond the religious body of which he was a member. In a recent tribute in The Christian World it was recalled that forty years ago Lord Morley described Dr. Forsyth as " one of the most brilliant minds in Europe to-day " and that Dr. Karl Barth had borne testimony to him as one who witnessed to certain fundamentals of the Faith at a time when they were neglected or discarded both in Britain and on the Continent. GEORGE STANLEY RUSSELL* (1894-190I), M.A., D.D., minister of Deer Park United Church, Toronto, has sent us the following appreciation of this distinguished F.P.t A Grammar School boy of fifty years ago who visited Skene Street Congregational Church will have many things to remember from such occasions. One is the remarkable number of young men in that congregation who afterwards achieved no small measure of distinction. Another is the fact that he had there the privilege of hearing Dr. P. T. Forsyth. His frequent appearances in the pulpit of that church were probably not a little due to the fact that the slightly lame lady who led the choir into their seats behind the rostrum, and then fastened her attention on the preacher with more than ordinary appreciation, was his sister. Miss Forsyth was a very notable person. In Skene Street she was known to everyone, and it was a certain passport to her favour to admire " Peter", and to consider his sermons the very last word in both orthodoxy and eloquence. They had not always been so regarded by many people. During his first pastorate in Yorkshire, he was theologically under suspicion— and the suspicion was justified—as being " very advanced ". Indeed, the recognition of the Congregational Union was not conferred upon him until he had expiated an offence which perhaps rendered the more remarkable his vigorous denunciation of " The New Theology " that aroused much commotion at the beginning of the century, and was associated with the name of Dr. R. J. Campbell, then the young minister f Editor's Note. Dr. Forsyth was at the School for four years, the first three of which were spent in the old building at Schoolhill. In March rgo5 he contributed to the Magazine reminiscences of his school-days and in the course of these he wrote : " How thankful I have often been for the sound grounding I got at the Grammar School. It has never left me. I only hope the present members of the School are storing up as happy and powerful memories as I was doing."

121 Aberdeen Grammar Scbool Magazine of the City Temple, and now an aged Anglican dignitary, living in peace and retirement. It was, in fact, two Aberdonians—Forsyth and Robertson Nicoll—who led an intemperate and, as it proved, an ineffective attack on a position which time has shown to be, with all its crudities, entirely compatible with the Gospel, and indeed with their own basic convictions. Forsyth was born just a hundred years ago, and was at the School from 1859 to 1864. At the University, he survived the influence of Professor Bain, which, to put it mildly, was not conducive to orthodox Christianity. In 1895, the University made him a Doctor of Divinity. He held several pastorates in English Congregationalism, of which the most important was that at Emmanuel Church, Cambridge, where he had much influence on Nonconformist undergraduates. It was in his early years as Principal of Hackney Theological College, Hampstead, that he engaged in the " New Theology" controversy, and firmly established himself as the leader of the larger and older section of Congregationalists. In 1905, he was Chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales, and, as his College was affiliated with it, he came to hold the position of Dean of the Faculty of Theology in the University of London. His was a strong personality. The granite could be seen in it, wherever he went or was encountered. His numerous books were founded upon what he came to feel to be the central rock of the Faith —our redemption through grace. If he sometimes seemed to present that too exclusively from one side—that of Pauline teaching—it was because he had moved from his early theological revolt to a very definite acceptance of the then orthodox position. On one occasion, speaking at Southport, he managed to shock a number of people by suggesting that, if Paul had not rescued it, Christianity might well have passed into oblivion. Those who find the expression of their belief much more generally in the Johannine sections of the New Testament were considerably disturbed by an emphasis which seemed to ignore that contribution. That Forsyth was a very great thinker and personality it would be impossible to deny. The fact that so many of his books are, even now, being reprinted means that there is still an immense interest in his thought and guidance. He relates in one of them a spiritual crisis which brought home to him the fact of his own personal sin, and, though one may be permitted to wonder whether he did not exaggerate the depth of his wickedness-for the sins of most good people consist of omissions, which, heinous enough, scarcely deserve the language sometimes lavished on them—this formed the foundation stone of his religious outlook. Much of a man's " reaction "—as we like to say over here—to Forsyth will depend on his own religious experience, for, after all, theology is only the effort to put into words that very thing. It is a singularly varied thing, in which many factors tend to play their part, and we are no longer able to say that it must conform to certain patterns and include certain formulae. In seeking to recover the note of authority, certainty, and centrality, Forsyth unquestionably rendered a

122

Aberdeen Grammar School Mageqine

great and abiding service, though it is not probable that all will still find them exactly where he did. As a scholar, a teacher, and a sincere Christian leader, he reflects yet one more ray of distinction on the beloved School which has so many. He will live in the memories of those who knew him as a vivid and strong, though never glamorous, personality. His style was not that of clear water, but rather of the turgid stream. Indeed, it was of his " Cruciality of the Cross " that his fellow " Aberdeen Doctor "—Nicoll—said his most devastating thing. " I have applied to this book" he wrote, " everything I could find, from the formulae of Logic to the system of Logarithms, after which I turned to Mr. W. W. Jacobs, whom I could understand!" Forsyth could not have written that, for, with all his rugged and dogged virility, he had no little daggers like that in his armoury. He knew how to fight like a gentleman, if with rather heavy and outmoded weapons. What his place will be in the future, it is, of course, difficult to say. Aberdeen has lately celebrated Robertson Smith, once driven from his Chair for convictions now taught in every theological college worth the name. The heretic does not always secure such vindication, but he is rarely without something to contribute, and his opponents too often fail to discover that something. " The New Theology " brought a breath of fresh air into churches which too frequently suffer from windows not made to open. It struck notes which had been long silent, but which are familiar in the New Testament and in modern scholarship. The fact that we badly need a new Reformation, in which Christendom will not only achieve unity but cease to address this generation in an obsolete vocabularly, seems to be more and more recognised. It is, therefore, probable that P. T. Forsyth will stand amongst the giants of his own day rather than amongst the recognised teachers of ours. On the other hand, his imperishable work as a faithful minister, especially at Cambridge, his sincere devotion to true scholarship as he saw it, his power to rise superior to that German theology which he had studied, and which was the obsession of his contemporaries, his honest effort to solve some of the most urgent problems that confront the Christian—not least that of war—and his insistent witness to the central and fundamental, rather than the things on the circumference and the surface, which always receive far too much attention in institutional religion, will for ever make his a cherished name. The tradition of the " Aberdeen Doctors" for certain minglings and refinements in the externals of Christian worship and ritual was not his, for he belonged to the plain stern men who were true successors to the English Puritans and Scottish Covenanters. It is perhaps because some of the rest of us who wear the same hoOd go back to the contribution of the " Doctors " to Scottish history, and to the need of the Church to-day, that we are less able than others to share all Forsyth's attitudes, while yielding to none in admiration of his character or tribute to the service he rendered in his time.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

123

The Aberdeen Society of Architects The Aberdeen Society of Architects (the Aberdeen Chapter of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland) has been celebrating its Jubilee this year and it is interesting to note that throughout its fifty years' existence F.P.s have played a prominent part in the running of the Society. This year both President and Vice-President are F.P.s—George Angus Mitchell* (1902-13), F.R.I.B.A., and John Maclennan* (i924-20), A.R.I.B.A., respectively. At the Annual Meeting of the Society the President recalled that the first Annual General Meeting was held on I March 1898 and that the Society was actually formed at a meeting held on 8 June 1897 in the office of the City Architect, the late JoHN Rusr (1864-67). Of the thirteen architects present at that first meeting, five were F.P.s, viz.:ARTHUR CLYNE (1863-68), F.R.I.B.A., JOHN ROSS MCMILLAN* (1876-79 and 1881-84), F.R.I.B.A., JOHN Rusr (1864-67), WILLIAM RUXTON (1866-69), and JAMES Auousrus SourrAft (1877-82), F.R.I.B.A. The list of past presidents of the Society contains the names of the following F.P.s :1900-04. 1907-08. 1909-13. 1923-24. 1925-26. 1939. 1939-43. 1947-

ARTHUR CLYNE (1863-68), F.R.I.B.A. (Died 1924.) JOHN RUST (1864-67). (Died 1919.) ARTHUR CLYNE (1863-68), F.R.I.B.A. (Died 1924.) ROBERT GORDON WILSON (I885-91), F.R.I.B.A. (Died 1939.) JAMES BROWN NIC0L* (1881-83), F.R.I.B.A. GEORGE ANGUS MITCHELL* (190z-13), F.R.I.B.A. ALEXANDER GEORGE ROBERTSON MACKENZIE (1894), F.R.I.B.A. GEORGE ANces MITCHELL* (1902-13), F.R.I.B.A.

As a fitting celebration of the Aberdeen Society's Jubilee this year's Annual Convention of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, of which Mr. A. G. R. Mackenzie (v.s.) is president, was held in Aberdeen on 4 and 5 June. * * * Society are the following the of Among the present members F.P.s.— RETIRED FELLOW WILLIAM E. GAULD (1882-86).

FELLOWS LEo DURNIN* (1914-17), A.R.I.B.A. ALEXANDER GEORGE ROBERTSON MACKENZIE (1894), F.R.I.B.A., A.R.S.A. JOHN MACLENNAN* (1914-20), A.R.I.B.A. DOUGLAS STUART MCMILLAN* (1896-1904), F.R.I.B.A. JoHN Ross MCMILLAN* (I876-79 and 1881-84), F.R.I.B.A. GEORGE ANGUS MITCHELL* (1902-13), F.R.I.B.A. JAMES BROWN NICOL* (1882-83), F.R.I.B.A.

ASSOCIATES WILLIAM GEORGE R0WNTREE BODIE* (1913-2z), A.R.I.B.A. IVOR LLEWELLYN BOWMAN HOPKINS (192I-33), A.R.I.B.A. KENNETH BRADLEY MILLER (1929-30), A.R.I.B.A., Birmingham. ALEXANDER MILNE WILSON* (1919-31), A.R.I.B.A. WILLIAM COUTTS YOUNGSON* (1920-31),

12 4

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Obituary Charles Crombie Adams (1884-86) died at Garthbank, Cults, on i6 December 1947 in his seventy-fifth year. He was a son of the late Mr. John Adams, tea merchant, The Green, Aberdeen, and after serving his apprenticeship with Mr. Robert Henderson, draper, Aberdeen, and spending two years in London in order to gain experience, he joined his brother, the late PETER CROMBIE ADAMS (1876-78) in 1896, as a partner in the firm of Messrs. P. & C. Adams, drapers, 7o, The Green, Aberdeen. He continued in the business after his brother's death in 1934 and retired ten years later. He took a prominent part in the work of the Incorporated Trades in Aberdeen and was elected First Master of Weavers in 1933 and Deacon in 1937. Two other brothers were also pupils at the School :—JoaN ADAMS (1873-78), M.A., solicitor, who died in 1917, and JAMES RITCHIE ADAMS (1884-86), who became a partner in his father's business and died in 193z. George Alexander Robert Anderson-Bruce (1883-86), M.B., C.M., son of the late Mr. George Bruce, Old Machar, died in London on z March 1948, aged seventy-six. He had been in medical practice in North London for over forty years. After graduating in Medicine at Aberdeen University in 1895, he became resident medical officer at the Royal Asylum, Dundee, and later held similar appointments at the Grey House Private Asylum, Liff, Rainhill Asylum, Liverpool, and at Grove Hall, London, before going into general practice. George Wilson Boyd (1924-3z), died at a hospital in Leeds on az December 1947, aged thirty-one. He was the eldest son of Mr. Mark Boyd, sometime fish merchant in Aberdeen, and after leaving School in 193z, he joined his father's business. Six years later he went to Hull where he started business on his own as a fish merchant. Soon after the outbreak of war he joined the Army and was commissioned in the Lancashire Fusiliers but in 1943 he went to India, was transferred to the Indian Army and promoted to the rank of Captain in the Royal Garhwal Rifles. With his unit he served in is Corps during the campaigns in Burma in 1944 and 1945. He returned to this country in August 1945, served for a time in Germany and was demobilised in 1946. He then returned to his business in Hull but was overtaken by an illness which, after almost twelve months, proved fatal. He is survived by his wife, whom he married in 1945, and one daughter. Ills two brothers are also F.P.s. WILLIAM GRIGOR BOYD (1924-34), who served in the R.A.F. from 1935 until last year, spent three years during the war with the Desert Air Force in North Africa and later in Italy. He is now engaged on Radar work in Essex. PERCY STUART BOYD* (1927-40) served during the war with an Armoured Car Regiment (The Sherwood Foresters) and then volunteered for Paratroop Service. He was with the First Parachute Brigade of the First Airborne Division in North Africa, Sicily and Italy and was wounded and captured when with the Division at Arnhem. He has

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

125

now returned to Aberdeen University and will complete his course in Philosophy and Psychology this year. Alexander Cheyne (19o3-09), M.A., Headmaster of Ferryhill School, Aberdeen, died at his home, 2i Hutchison Terrace, Aberdeen, on 23 December 1947, aged fifty-six. He had been in ill-health for two years. After graduating at Aberdeen University in 1912, he began his teaching career at Buckhaven Higher Grade Public School in 1914 and returned to Aberdeen six years later. In 1928 he was appointed principal teacher of Mathematics and Science at Ruthrieston Intermediate School, a post which he held until he became Headmaster of Ferryhill School in 1939. During the 1914-18 war he served with the R.A.M.C. in Egypt, Palestine and in a hospital ship in the Mediterranean. He is survived by his wife and one son. Alexander James Durno (1881-86) died at 6 Woodstock Road, Aberdeen, on 16 March 1948 in his seventy-fourth year. After leaving the School he served his apprenticeship with Mr. Robert Henderson, draper, Aberdeen, and then spent over four years with Marshall and Snelgrove, Limited, London. Thereafter he became representative in Aberdeen and the North of Scotland for Messrs. S. & J. Watts and Company, wholesale drapery warehousemen, Manchester, and from December 1917 he was a manufacturers' agent in Aberdeen. He retired from business about fifteen years ago. His son ALASTAIR STEWART DURNO* was at the School from 1922 to 1930. Harvey George Falconer* (1889-95), son of the late WILLIAM FALCONER (1859-61) who died in 1915, died at Forres on ii January 1948 in his sixty-seventh year. His family have been associated with the drapery trade in Aberdeen since 1788, when Mr. Alexander Falconer opened a business in Narrow Wynd, and Mr. Falconer followed the family tradition by joining with his father and brother, the late DOUGLAS FALCONER (1891-1900), in the firm of Messrs. John Falconer & Company, drapers, Aberdeen. After the death of his father, he remained in the firm along with his brother until he retired in 1929 when the business came under the control of the Scottish Drapery Corporation. He spent the first years of his retirement in Bournemouth but later made his hoing in Forres. His brother Douglas remained in the firm as managing director until his death in 1934. Another brother, FRANCIS WILLIAM FALCONER (1889-190o), M.B., Ch.B., D.P.H., died in 1926. Benjamin Fletcher (1892-93), son of the late Mr. William Fletcher, Marine Terrace, Aberdeen, died at Aberdeen on 7 April 1948 at the age of seventy. Before coming to the School in x892 he attended the Old Aberdeen Grammar School for several years. He entered his father's business of wholesale curriers and leather merchants and became well-known throughout the North of Scotland. He retired in 1940. He was an ex-deacon of the Shoemakers' Incorporation and a burgess of the city. He was also a director of the firm of Messrs. William Mowat and Sons, leather merchants, Stonehaven. A keen member of the Great Western Road Bowling Club, he had latterly been unable to participate in his favourite recreation on account of ill-health.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine He is survived by his wife and two daughters, one of whom is the widow of Pilot Officer WILLIAM MCDONALD MENZIES (1933-36), who was killed in September 1942 during air operations in the Middle

126

East.

A FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE CLUB

John Malcolm Fyfe* (1882-87), D.L., who was President of the F.P. Club in 1925-26, died at Aberdeen on 12 March 1948, aged seventy-four. After leaving the School he went to Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh, and later served his apprenticeship in Architecture. Thereafter, along with his brother, the late WILLIAM FYFE (1882-87), who died in 1911, he joined his father, the late Mr. John Fyfe, in his business as a granite merchant in Aberdeen. From the firm's many quarries granite was supplied to build the Forth, Putney, Tower and Tay Bridges, the Thames Embankment, Holborn Viaduct, big harbour works, and many outstanding Aberdeen buildings. After his brother's death, Mr. Fyfe took over the management of the firm and on its becoming a limited company, he became a director. His home was at Pitfodels House, Cults. Mr. Fyfe left a net estate of L543,664 and bequeathed £r,ooo to the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and £r,ooo to the Royal Aberdeen Hospital for Sick Children. Sydney Watson Gray (1911-13) died at Cape Province, South Africa, on 22 February 1948. A fuller notice will appear in the next Magazine. Herbert Andrew Cairns Hunter (1912-14) died suddenly at Aberdeen on 18 April 1948, aged forty-eight. He entered the service of Claud Hamilton (Aberdeen), Limited in 1916 with a view to going through the various departments and thereby gaining a thorough knowledge of the motor trade. Later the same year, however, at the age of seventeen, he joined the Royal Flying Corps and served for three years before returning to his civilian employment in 1919. He graduated through different departments and at the time of his death he was the chief motor car salesman of the firm. He was held in very high esteem and his death came as a great shock to his many friends in the trade. Loke Yailc Foo (1905-14) collapsed during a game of tennis at Penang on 1 o December 1947 and died the same day. He was aged fifty-one. The eldest son of Mr. Loke Chow Kit, he returned to Malaya after leaving the School and became a partner and_ director in his father's business of Chow Kit & Company, Kuala Lumpur, which had branches in Singapore and Penang and an office in London. He was well-known as a Malayan business man, as one of the first Malayan Chinese to learn flying and as a tennis player, violinist, motor and radio technician, and photographer. During the first world war he had a distinguished career as a flier and during the recent war he was serving with the Malayan Volunteer Air Force in Penang when the Japs invaded Malaya. He managed to get out of the country however, being, in his own words " one of those few lucky ones who flew out of Singapore in one of the Flying Club machines that were being used with the Air Force ". He went to Melbourne, Australia, joined the Royal Australian Air Force and later served with Force 136.

School Prefects—June 1948

Star/ding—P. D. Robertson, J. K. Farquharson, J. E. Fraser, D. S. Robbie, E. IL Cruickshank, J. Dunn, M. ( , I W. D. NTichie.

ill, W . M. Moncur,

Silting—I. R. Fraser, J. S. Sutherland, J. M. Eddison (Senior Prefed), Mr. J. J. Robertson (Retire), T. Cu di hertson, R. D. Milne, A. 1. Cheyne.

Colonel LACHLAN MACKINNON, D.L., M.A., J.P., V.D.

127 Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine James Ferguson Mackie (1887-88 and 1889-90), M.A., J.P., a direct lineal descendant q€ Ferguson, the astronomer, died at his home, The Braes, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen, on 16 February 1948 at the age of seventy-six. A native of Rothiemay, he attended the Huntly Gordon Schools before coming to the Grammar School and he subsequently studied at Aberdeen University, graduating M.A. in 1895. He was Headmaster of Ternemny Public School, Rothiemay, and of Strachan Public School, Kincardineshire, before going to Slains, Ellon, where he was Headmaster from 1908 to 1925. In the latter year he became Headmaster of Fraserburgh North School and remained there until he retired in 15'34. Thereafter he continued to take an interest in all that pertained to the welfare of the young and was parents' representative on the Aberdeen Area School Management Committee. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace after the end of the first world war and was a member of the Aberdeenshire Licensing Court. On the outbreak of war in 1939 he undertook the duties of billeting officer for the Bridge of Don area. His chief hobby was salmon fishing and he spent many a happy hour on the banks of the Ythan. James Penny Mackie* (1922-26), second son of Mr. and Mrs. John Mackie, 6 Argyll Crescent, Aberdeen, died at Edinburgh on 24 March 1948, aged thirty-eight. He entered the service of the Clydesdale Bank, Limited, Harbour Branch, Aberdeen, in 1926 and was transferred to Lanark in 1931. From there he went to the Head Office in Glasgow, to St. Andrews in 1934, and to the London Office of the Bank three years later. In September 1947 he was appointed Accountant at the Easter Road Branch in Edinburgh. He passed the Associates' examination of the Institute of Bankers with distinction in October 1936 and in February of this year he attended a bank manager's course. Less than a fortnight before his death he attended the Annual Dinner of the Edinburgh Centre of the Club. His younger brother, EDWARD CHRISTIE MACKIE* (1926-32) iS an accountant with Nicol's Transport Supplies, King Street, Aberdeen. DUX OF THE SCHOOL IN 1870 Lachlan Mackinnon (1865-70), D.L., M.A., J.P., V.D., Hon.

Colonel, advocate in Aberdeen, died at his home, Ardbeck, Milltimber, on 6 June 1948, aged ninety-three. Eldest son of the late LAUCHLAN MCKINNON Junior (1823-3;), advocate in Aberdeen, who died in 1899 aged seventy-nine, he was dux and gold medallist of the School in 1870 and graduated M.A. at Aberdeen University in 1875. After completing his apprenticeship and gaining a year's experience in Edinburgh, he joined his father's firm, Messrs. L. McKinnon Junr. and Son, and was admitted to the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen in 1878. From 1909 he was in partnership with his son, Mr. Lachlan Mackinnon Junior, and from 1915 the late WILLIAM ELDER LEVIE (1889-93) was also a partner in the firm. In 1917 Colonel Mackinnon was appointed an Honorary Sheriff-Substitute for the Counties of Aberdeen, Kincardine and Banff and he was also a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of the City of Aberdeen. He was Belgian Consul and French

2 z8

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Consular Agent in Aberdeen and for forty-three years he was law agent to the Aberdeen Harbour Board. He retired in x934. From 1917 to 1919 he was president of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen and at the time of his death he was the senior member of the Society. His " Reminiscences of an Old Lawyer " was published in 1935 and one of the chapters in this most interesting book is devoted to " School Days ". In 1904 Colonel Mackinnon was appointed to the command of the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders—later merged with the 4th Gordons—and during the 1914-18 war he commanded the City of Aberdeen Volunteei Regiment. From 1917 to 1919 he was County Commandant of the Volunteer Forces in the City of Aberdeen. He held two Belgian and two French decorations. On z8 June 194o the dux of 1870 attended the School prizegiving and described the scene on ix October 1870 when he was presented with his dux's medal. Five years later, on 29 June 1945, in his ninety-first year, he again attended the prize-giving and addressed the boys. To the Magazine of June 1940 he contributed an article entitled " The School in 1865-1870 ". ROBERT MOIR WILLIAMSON* (1 88 2-8 3 ), M.A., LL.B., LL.D., who is now senior member of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen— he was admitted in 189,—has sent us this tribute to Mr. Mackinnon :— His professional brethren held the late Mr. Mackinnon in great regard—a regard which grew with the passing of his years, although to many of the younger members he was almost a stranger, for his appearances at meetings of the Society of Advocates were few of late. He succeeded to a large business which he extended by hard work and close attention to the interests of his clients, but he never did this at the expense of others for his standard of professional conduct was of the highest. It is probably true to say that he was the Father of the Society of Advocates for a longer period than any one else in its long history, having occupied that position for more than eleven years. In his younger days Mr. Mackinnon was often in Court where his arguments were always cogent and concise and listened to by the Bench with respect, for it was recognised that no plea would be advanced which had not been carefully considered. As became a dux of the Grammar School he was an accomplished classical scholar, so when recourse had to be made to Roman Law, which happened oftener then than now, he was at home with the Latin texts. Mr. Mackinnon, notwithstanding his great age, retained his interest in young people and in new things. He did his full share of public work and not the least of his services was the publication of " Recollections of an Old Lawyer" which gives a most interesting glimpse into the history of Aberdeen for the best part of a century.

Alasdair Macgillivray MacLeod* (1904-06), son of the late Rev. George MacLeod of Garrabost, Lewis, died suddenly at Dundee Royal Infirmary on 27 January 1948 in his sixtieth year. After graduating M.A. at Aberdeen University in 191o, he attended the United Free Church Divinity Hall in Aberdeen and was ordained Minister of Kirkhill United Free Church, Inverness-shire, in 1914. From 1916 he was chaplain of a prisoner-of-war camp in Inverness-shire for a year and thereafter he served as a Chaplain to the Forces, being attached to the 4th Battalion The Gordon Highlanders in France from May 1917 to June 1918. From 1920 to 1927 he was Minister at Invergordon, from 1927 to 1941 he was at the Braid Church, Edinburgh,

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

129

and from 1941 until his death he was Minister at Ruthven, Meigle. He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. His wife is a sister of JOHN SANGSTER* (1896-190o), C.A., who has been in Canada for over thirty years. Sydney Sinclair Petrie* (1904-1o), Manager of the Broadway and McKenzie branch of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, Vancouver, British Columbia, was fatally shot on 25 August 1947 in his bank. He was aged fifty-five. On leaving School he went to Canada and joined the Canadian Bank of Commerce. For seventeen years he served in various rural banks in British Columbia, being well-known in Kamloops, Trail, West Summerland and Keremeous, and he was then appointed Manager of the Broadway and McKenzie branch in Vancouver, a post he held for twenty years until his tragic death. He was indefatigable in his efforts to improve the district which his branch served and he was loved and respected by all his customers. During the 1914-18 war he served with the Royal Navy and he paid short visits to Aberdeen after the end of the war and again in 1938. In 193o, as was reported in the Magazine of June 1931, he received a presentation from the Bank for putting up a successful defence against a gunman who tried to hold him up but " found that he had bitten off more than he could chew ". A FOUNDER OF THE F.P. RUGBY SECTION Ernest Rennet* (1879-88), fourth and last surviving son of the

late Mr. David Rennet, LL.D., died at Aberdeen on 15 December 1947, aged seventy-five. At Aberdeen University he graduated M.A. with honours in 1893 and B.L. with distinction in 1896. Three years later he qualified as a chartered accountant and became a member of the Society of Accountants in Aberdeen and in 1901 he was admitted to the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen. From 1896 to 1900 he was in partnership with one of his elder brothers, the late JAMES BARCLAY RENNETT (1878-8;), M.A., law agent and chartered accountant, who died in 194o, and thereafter he joined his father-in-law, the late Mr. James Silver Butchart, in the firm of Messrs. Butchart & Rennet, advocates in Aberdeen. Mr. Butchart died in 1903 but Mr. Rennet carried on the business and was joined in 1908 by HENRY _JACKSON BUTCHART* (I89o-99). 'When the latter was appointed Secretary of Aberdeen University in 1919, Mr. Rennet again carried on as sole partner until in 1934 he assumed as a partner his son, DAVID LINDSAY RENNET* (1914-26), M.A., LL.B. In his younger days Mr. Rennet was an enthusiastic rugby player and he was one of the three F.P.s—the others being Dr. G. 0. Gauld of Nottingham and the late J. R. Thomson, C.A.—who gathered together the first F.P. rugby team in the autumn of 1893. In the Magazine of July 1944 a photograph of this team was reproduced and Dr. Gauld and Mr. Rennet contributed their reminiscences of these days. It was explained how in that first season, 1893-94, arrangements were made with the co-operation of the Rector, the late Dr. Morland Simpson, for the ground behind the School to be used. The Rector insisted that senior pupils at the School should be included in the

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine team, and in the photograph referred to there are twelve F.P.s and four pupils. (Nine of these, it is thought, still survive.) Mr. Rennet played for the F.P. team from 1893 to 1898 and until his death he retained the football caps which he woo in these five seasons. He was also a keen golfer, being at one time Captain of the Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, and a well-known bridge player. Mr. Rennet's four brothers were all F.P.'s. DAVID RENNET (1877-8 3), M.B.E., M.D., died at Chester in 1941 ; JAMES BARCLAY RENNETT (1878-83), M.A., C.A.—he adopted this spelling of his surname in 1896—died at Aberdeen in 1940 ; FREDERICK WILLIAM RENNET (1879-85), journalist, died at Lubeck, Germany, in 1922 ; and LOUIS RENNET (1881-9o) died at Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1919. I 3o

AN AUTHORITY ON BURMA John Alexander Stewart* (1897-99), C.I.E., M.C., M.A., LL.D., Professor of Burmese at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, died at his home in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, on I May 1948, aged sixty-six. Son of the late Mr. John Stewart, North of Scotland Bank, Strichen, Aberdeenshire, he graduated at Aberdeen University in 1903 with first class honours in Classics and thereafter passed the Indian Civil Service examination of 1904. He arrived in India at the end of the following year and was posted to Burma, where he was to remain in various capacities until 1933. In 1914 he was temporarily attached to the Archaeological Department for the purpose of exploring the ruins of the old royal capitals in the neighbourhood of Pegu. During the 1914-18 war he served with the Burma Sappers and Miners in Mandalay, Mesopotamia, Mandalay again, and Baluchistan, and in 1917 he was awarded the Military Cross while in Mesopotamia. Returning to his civilian employment at the close of 1919, he was appointed settlement officer at Kyankse, Upper Burma. Some years later he was promoted to be deputy commissioner and in 1927 he was appointed Commissioner of the Magwe Division. In this capacity he showed administrative ability of a high order but his heart was in linguistic scholarship and he retired in 1933 to devote himself to this special study. On returning to this country he was appointed lecturer in Burmese (later professor) at the School of Oriental and African Studies, and was for a time in charge of the whole of the India department. He wrote many articles for Oriental publications and also an " Introduction to Colloquial Burmese ". In collaboration with Mr. C. W. Dunn, he undertook the compilation of a Burmese-English Dictionary for which he was awarded a Leverhulme research fellowship: one volume of this dictionary has already been published and he was engaged in compiling the second volume at the time of his death. From time to time he contributed to the Aberdeen University Review what were described as " delicate and enviable translations from Burmese into Latin and Greek ". In 1934 he was made a Commander of the Indian Empire and in the same year he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from his

13 1 Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine Alma Mater. On that occasion Professor Alexander Gray said in his laureation address :— In Mr. Stewart I present to you one who is an excellent example of that type of

humanity to which every good student hopes he may conform. For the good student desires to become a man of affairs without wholly ceasing to be a man of his books. . . . The linguistic gifts of which he gave evidence as an undergraduate in Aberdeen found an ample field in Burma ; and through his studies of the Burmese languages, of which he has an unrivalled knowledge, he must have comprehended the soul of the peopk among whom he worked in a measure which few European administrators can have reached.

In an obituary notice in The Times Professor Stewart was described as " one of those members of the Indian Civil Service, more rare in recent years than formerly, whose love of learning led them to the mastery of special fields of Oriental study; and in respect of Burma, where his service years were passed, his name may rank with that, in India, of George Grierson ". Professor Stewart's three sons all attended the School but the two eldest were killed during the recent war. Flying Officer JOHN MAXWELL STEWART (1925-36), A.F.M., was killed in action in April 1443, aged twenty-four, and Flight Lieutenant ROBERT ANDREW STEwmur (1922-34) was killed in action in February 1944, aged twentyseven. Charles Edward Stuart* (1882-84), Captain, R. N. R., R.D., late Commodore Union-Castle Line, died at Chorley Wood, Hertfordshire, on 24 January 1948 in his seventy-sixth year. The last surviving son of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Stuart, Kimberley, Banchory, he retired in 1936, having completed forty-nine years at sea. During this time he calculated that he had travelled 2,8oo,ooo nautical miles, the equivalent of 115 times round the world. Captain Stuart joined the Merchant Service in 1888 and served his apprenticeship in the New Zealand Clippers. In 1895, after being for a time with the Shaw Saville and Albion Company, he joined the old Union Line as 4th officer of the Norman and for the next fortyone years, except for a break during the war, he sailed regularly between England and South Africa. In 191o he was given his first command when he obtained three months' leave to take Peru's first national steamer, a 5,ooo-ton freighter, from Liverpool to Peru. This commission proved to be one of the most exciting episodes in his long and eventful career at sea. The vessel was loaded with guns and ammunition for the Peruvian Government and, not long after she had left Liverpool, mutiny broke out. Fighting continued among the crew, who were Catalans, throughout the voyage and by the end half of them were in irons. In 1913 Captain Stuart became Chief Officer in R.M.S. Wainer Castle and he was later promoted to command. For three years during the 1914-18 war he commanded H.M.A.M.C. Edinburgh Castle. In 1918 he was appointed Marine Superintendent for all Bristol Channel Ports on the staff of the Senior Naval Officer, Cardiff. After demobilisation he returned to the Union-Castle Line and some years later he was appointed Commodore of the Union-Castle fleet. In the last year of his service he was in command of R.M.M.V.

132

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Stirling Castle when that vessel went on her maiden voyage from Southampton to South Africa. She was then the highest-powered motor vessel afloat and in September 1936 she did the voyage to Cape Town in thirteen days six hours and thirty minutes, thereby beating the previous record by over three days. Two of Captain Stuart's brothers also attended the School. JAMES STUART (1882-84), who was in the Civil Service of the Fiji Islands, died at Gibraltar in 1937 and WILLIAM STUART (1882-84) died in 1894 in South Africa. • William George Walker* (1902-08), M.A., of the Glasgow Evening News, died after a long illness at Glasgow on zz April 1948, aged fifty-seven. His career in journalism started when he joined the editorial staff of the Aberdeen Evening Gazette and he had further experience in Dundee before going to Glasgow. He was for a time sports editor of the Daily Record, but for most of his twenty-six years in Glasgow he was a sub-editor on the Evening News. Latterly, as reported in the Magazine of December 1947, he had charge of a training class at Kemsley House, Glasgow, for young journalists of Kemsley Newspapers. At School he was in his final year a member of the " Last Seventh " and he left the School as Dux in 1908. He was the first School Editor of the Magazine under the new regime which started in 1907. At Aberdeen University, where he graduated M.A. in 1913, he was an outstanding sportsman, being regarded as one of the finest all-round athletes in the North. In later years his sporting activities were confined to golf. KENNETH JAMIESON PETERS* (1929-41), a sub-editor in the sports department of the Daily Record, who was a student in the first of Mr. Walker's classes for journalists, writes :— An old adage has it that the art of journalism can never be taught—it can only be acquired by its students after years of experience. Disproving this was the task which the late W. G. (" Willie ") Walker so successfully shouldered and accomplished in the last years of a life devoted to newspaper work. During this last period he was responsible for the training of young reporters and sub-editors at Kemsley House, Glasgow, and his approach to this novel task won acclaim far beyond the doors of 67 Hope Street, for he was the author of a standard book on grammar and newspaper style which was in use throughout Kemsley Newspapers in Britain. His life as a journalist was a full and wholehearted one. From the early days in Aberdeen through the unforgettable period when he sought respite from long hours of night work as an industrious sports editor of the Daily Record, by reading Greek in his spare time, he was in love with the craft of letters and words. He took a craftsman's pride in the accomplishment of a finished production, and to him distortion of meaning in words was a sin. An offending phrase in the paper— and a kindly, reproving finger would stab at the page, indicating an alternative. The chastened scribe had much cause to remember " Willie's " advice, his kindness and helpfulness. By his death, the School has lost a staunch F.P.—his Glasgow classes have long been regaled by stories of the Grammar School. His contemporaries and colleagues w ill miss his advice, wit and personality, and the writer a respected friend. William Webster* (188z-93) died at New Aberdour on 11 April

1948, aged seventy-one. After leaving School he was for several years in the office of Messrs. Home & Mackinnon, stockbrokers,

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 133 Aberdeen, and for two years in a broker's office in London. He then returned to Aberdeen and commenced business on his own account as a stockbroker. For many years he was a prominent member of the Aberdeenshire Cricket Club and was chosen to play for Scotland on several occasions. He was also a leading badminton player and was chosen for various representative matches. He retired about ten years ago. During the 1914-18 war he joined the Engineers and after some service with them transferred to the Gordon Highlanders, with whom he served in France and elsewhere till the end of the war. He was gassed in France and never fully recovered. His eldest brother, JOHN WEBSTER (1881-9o), M.A., B.L., advocate in Aberdeen, was a partner in the firm of Messrs. Clark, Oliver, Dewar & Webster, solicitors, Arbroath, and retired in 1928. He now lives at Garthdee House, Cults, Aberdeenshire. Charles Whyte Williamson* (1910-17), T.D., B.A., C.A., son of CHARLFS WILLIAMSON* (1883-83), M.A., C.A., died suddenly at Aberdeen on 3o January 1948, aged forty-five years. He was a partner in the firm of Messrs. Williamson & Dunn, stockbrokers and chartered accountants, Aberdeen. After graduating at Cambridge in 1925 he served his apprenticeship as a chartered accountant in his father's office and was admitted to the Society of Accountants in Aberdeen in 1929. He was a member of the Aberdeen Stock Exchange and widely known in business circles. A Territorial officer in the Gordon Highlanders since 1924, he served at the beginning of the last war in a training centre of the Northumberland Fusiliers in Newcastle. At the beginning of 1941 he was appointed second-incommand of the 4th Battalion The Gordon Highlanders and in November of that year he became second-in-command of the 92nd Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery (The Gordon Highlanders). He was awarded the Territorial Decoration during the war and was demobilised in August 1943. Douglas Edward Wilson* (1908-15), M.D., died very suddenly at Bishop Auckland on zo May 1948 in his forty-sixth year. The youngest son of Mr. G. A. Wilson, advocate in Aberdeen, he graduated in Medicine at Aberdeen University in 1925 and, after being for a time assistant to Dr. Falconer at Huntly, he joined the Colonial Medical Service in 1928. He was posted to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanganyika Territory and was engaged largely on pathology and the preparation of serums. In 1937 he graduated M.D. at Aberdeen. Shortly before the outbreak of the recent war, Dr. Wilson was senior pathologist in Tanganyika Territory, but he had several serious illnesses as a result of which he was invalided out of the service shortly after the outbreak of war. On his return to this country he acted for some time as pathologist to the City of Liverpool and afterwards to the Victoria Infirmary, Blackpool, but his health again broke down, and he took a sea voyage to the Far East as a ship's doctor. On his return to this country he was granted a commission in the Royal Army Medical Corps, was stationed for a short time in Aberdeen

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 134 and the North of Scotland, and then received an appointment as a pathologist with 2i Army Group, shortly prior to the landing in France. During his service there Dr. Wilson was very actively engaged on the study and administration of penicillin. Some months later he received an appointment as senior pathologist to the Middle East Forces with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and had much experience in Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East. On demobilisation the Palestine authorities appointed him chief pathologist, with headquarters in Jerusalem. Some months ago Dr. Wilson came home and at the time of his death he held an appointment as pathologist at a large Emergency Hospital in the North of England. His eldest brother, REGINALD JOHN GEORGE WILSON (1905-11), has been since 1920 with the British Bank of South America in Buenos Aires and his other brother iS NORMAN JAMES WILSON* (1905-15), M.A., LL.B., advocate in Aberdeen, of Messrs. Mackenzie 8c Wilson, advocates, Aberdeen. * * * On 7 March 1948 there was dedicated in St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Inverurie, a memorial window to the two sons of JAMES DURNO* (1900-02) and Mrs. Durno, Uppermill, Tarves. Their elder son, James Durno (1929-35) was killed in a road accident in 1946 and their younger son, Leslie Duncan Durno (i 931-38), Lieutenant (A), R.N.V.R., lost his life in January 1945 when in action at Palembang, Sumatra. * * * A memorial tablet to the memory of William Rae (1867-69), M.A., advocate, who died in December 1936 at the age of eighty-two, and who for fifty years was an elder of the West Church of St. Nicholas, Aberdeen, was unveiled and dedicated in that church on 22 February 1948. Mr. Rae was admitted a member of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen in 1877 and at the time of his death he was the " Father " of the Society. (He was President in 1924-25.) From 1878 to 1887 he was in partnership with the late Sir ALEXANDER ANDERSON (1814-15), the firm name being Anderson & Rae, and from 1895 he was in partnership with Mr. Duncan MacGregor Mitchell in the firm of Messrs. Rae & Mitchell. Apart from his business, Mr. Rae's chief interest lay in Church work and for the last eighteen years of his life he was Session Clerk and Treasurer of the West Church of St. Nicholas. Mr. Rae's three sons all attended the School. A note on WILLIAM RAE (1888-190o), D.S.O., M.A., B.L., who unveiled the tablet, and on JOHN RAE* (1892-1903), M.C., appears on page 153. His second son, JAMES RAE (1889-1901), M.A., M.D., was reported missing after a transport was torpedoed in the Mediterranean in 1917.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

1 35

Pro Patria Mortui In the course of preparing the School Roll of Honour (see Page tog) the Editor and the Secretary of the Club have received the names of several F.P.s who " were killed on active service or who died through enemy action between 3 September 1939 and i5 August 1945 " and whose deaths have not so far been recorded in the Magazine under the above heading. The names of these F.P.s—and their photographs— will appear in the Roll of Honour but, in accordance with the practice followed during and since the war, short notes on the careers of the F.P.s concerned are given below :— Donald James Dawson (1919-27), B.Sc., M.B., Ch.B., Medical Officer, R.A.F.V.R., elder son of Mr. James A. Dawson, C.S.I., C.I.E., LL.D., I.C.S. (Retired), and stepson of Mrs. Dawson, Dunolly, Bieldside, Aberdeenshire, was drowned while a prisoner-of-war on zo June 1944 when a transport conveying prisoners from Java to Japan was torpedoed near Nagasaki. He was thirty-three years of age. After graduating in Medicine in 1937, he served for a time in the out-patients' department of the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary at Woolmanhill but subsequently specialised in Surgery. When war broke out, he was posted to Egypt and from there he went to Singapore. The following is an excerpt from a letter received from a fellow prisoner in Java :— This officer, while serving as M.O. in Glodur Jail, Batavia, showed kindness and considcration to the men who depended on him for medical attention and his attitude and persistence in making demands of the Japanese made one proud of being of the same nationality and service. He died in a prison ship torpedoed en route for japan but if ever a man deserved recognition for conduct under difficult conditions, he did.

His hobbies were mountaineering, especially in the Cairngorms and in Skye, boxing and drawing, several of his sketches being reproduced in Alma Mater during his student days. In December 193x, along with the late CHARLES LUDWIG (1916-26), M.B., Ch.B., who also lost his life during the war, he was responsible for placing a skeleton on the weathervane at the top of the Mitchell Tower of Marischal College, at a height of z3 5 feet from the ground. His younger brother, ALEXANDER GEORGE DAWSON (1921-26), M.A., Squadron Leader, R.A.F., was killed in a bombing accident in June 1944. William Stuart Ewing (1886-88), Chief Engineer, Merchant Navy, was killed by enemy action in the Indian Ocean on 29 February 1944, aged sixty-eight, when his ship, S.S. Arcot, was torpedoed. After leaving School he attended a class for naval cadets and thereafter served for four years as a naval cadet in the R.N.R. On going up for his test, however, he was found to be colour-blind and had to resign. Thereafter he served for five years as an apprentice engineer and then went to sea. He passed all the necessary examinations from time to time and obtained the diploma of the Board of Trade as a Member of the Institute of Marine Engineers. For twenty years he was with Messrs. Watts, Watts & Company of the British Steamship Company. In the 1914-18 war he served as a chief engineer in various

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 136 H.M. Transports and in the s939-45 war he was engaged with the Russian convoys until September 1942. After being in a naval hospital on account of pneumonia, he was next sent to join S.S. Ascot, then under construction at the Caledon Shipbuilding Yards, Dundee. As he was then over sixty-five, he could have retired but he insisted that he would not do so until the end of the war. His ship went to Australia, India and Ceylon and, when a few days out from Colombo, she was torpedoed. The crew got into lifeboats but the Japanese submarine surfaced and machine-gunned them. Five survivors escaped on a raft and were picked up by a Dutch ship several days later. Richard Ogilvie Girdwood (19o7-15), M.B., Ch.B., whose death was reported in the Magazine of December 1942, is now reported to have died as the result of injuries received during an air raid on Liverpool at the end of 1941. He was at the time a medical officer in the Southern Group of Hospitals. After the raid he returned to his home at " Braeneuk ", Bon-Accord Terrace, Aberdeen, but died there on 22 June 1942. He was the only son of the late Mr. George Girdwood and Mrs. Girdwood. Robert Annand Milne (1938-4o), Torpedoman, Royal Navy, son of Mr. William Milne, formerly of 35 Prospect Terrace, and now of 425 North Anderson Drive, Aberdeen, was killed on II August 1944 when in an aircraft tender lying off Le Havre. It is thought that the tender was hit by a " human torpedo ". After leaving School he started his apprenticeship as a marine engineer but in 1943, at the age of seventeen, he volunteered to join the Navy. At the time of his death he was serving in H.M.S. Albatross.

Addresses Wanted The Secretary is out of touch with the following Life Members. Magazines sent to the addresses shown have been returned. Any information regarding these members will be appreciated. Robert Rannie Cook (1899-1908), formerly at Malayan Research Bureau, Australia, 90 Pitt Street, Sydney, New South Wales. Francis Millar Esson (1918-25), formerly at Fairview, Bieldside, Aberdeenshire. Dr. Williamson J. Finnic (1928-31), formerly at 19 Carron Terrace, Stonehaven. James Gordon (1901-06), formerly at aot Woodford Avenue, Ilford, Essex. Air Commodore Redvers Noel Ironside (1907-17), formerly at 56 P.T.C.., R.A.F., Central Mediterranean Force. Major Robert Arthur Milne (1907-I5), R.E., formerly at Little Orchard, Mayford, near Woking, Surrey. Robert Charles Penny Philp (1911-12), formerly at The Braids, London Road, Windlesham, Surrey. Adrian Alfred Gibb Robertson (1927-34), formerly at Clifton House, Peterhead. Charles McHardy Hunter Sutherland (1908-14), formerly at 26 Osborne Place, Aberdeen. Lieut.-Col. Angus Munro Urquhart (1892-94), formerly at Wrestwood, Decoy Drive, Hampden Park, Eastbourne, Sussex.

* * * To facilitate the delivery of Magazines and other communications from the Club, all members are requested to advise the Secretary of changes of address as they occur.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

1 37

*,,,* 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. HONOURS AND AWARDS Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (K.C.V.O.) Jameson Boyd Adams (1893-94), C.V.O., C.B.E., D.S.O., Commander, R.N.R. (retired), was created a knight commander of the Royal Victorian Order in the King's Birthday Honours announced on TO June 1948. He has been Secretary of King George's Jubilee Trust since its inauguration in 1935 in commemoration of the Silver Jubilee of His late Majesty, King George V. Its objects are the advancement of the physical, mental and spiritual welfare of the younger generation. He joined the R.N.R. in 1895 and he was second-incommand of Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition of 1907-09, when he was one of four members of the expedition who penetrated to within ninety-seven miles of the South Pole. In 1909 he entered the Civil Service and became superintendent of Labour Exchanges in the Northern District of England. During the 1914-18 war he was for a time flag lieutenant to Admiral Hood and he won the Croix de Guerre in 1917 and the D.S.O. in 1918. After the war he returned to the Civil Service and was for many years controller of the NorthEastern Division of the Ministry of Labour. All his spare time was devoted to the development of boys' clubs in Yorkshire. During the recent war he was chief regional officer of the Ministry of Information in the North-Eastern District of England. Knight Bachelor (K.B.) William Robert Tennant* (1904-1o), C.I.E., M.A., was created a knight bachelor in the New Year Honours announced on 1 January 1948. He retired from India in July 1947 after twenty-eight years in the Indian Civil Service, latterly as Deputy Auditor-General of India. In February it was announced that Sir William had been appointed secretary of the Scottish Universities Entrance Board and he is now resident in St. Andrews. Dux and gold medallist of the School on the Classical side in 910— and also School Editor of the Magazine in his last year—he proceeded to Aberdeen University and graduated M.A. with first class honours in Classics in 1914, winning the Town Council gold medal for the most distinguished graduate of the year in the department of Language

138

Aberdeen Grammar School Magaine

and Philosophy. In 1915 he was commissioned in the Royal Garrison Artillery and six months later he went to India. In 1917 he joined the Indian Mounted Artillery and served on the North-West Frontier, in Mesopotamia, North-West Persia, Kurdistan and Armenia. He entered the Indian Civil Service as an army candidate after demobilisation in 1919 (with seniority as from 1916) and after being an assistant magistrate and collector, he joined the Indian Audit Department in 1923. Later, he became deputy accountant-general of the United Provinces at Allahabad and from 1927 to 1933 he served in the Finance Department at New Delhi, being Deputy Secretary from 1930. In 1934 he returned to the Audit Department and six years later he became Deputy Auditor-General of India. He was awarded the C.I.E. in 1941 and the Kaisar-i-Hind gold medal in 1946. His son, Edward Robert Hector Tennant* was at the School for a short time in 1945-46. Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (C.B.E.) John Frederick Ferguson* (1904-09), Chief Constable of Kent since 1946, was awarded the C.B.E. in the King's Birthday Honours announced on to June 1948. After twenty-five years in the Army, Major Ferguson joined the Metropolitan Police as a chief constable in 1933 and from 1938 to 1940 he was commandant of the Metropolitan Police College at Hendon. He then became a deputy assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard and in 1943 he was appointed by the Home Secretary to take over the six amalgamated police forces in Sussex. In 1945 he rejoined the Metropolitan Police as assistant commissioner. In May of this year along with the City of London Police Commissioner and the Chief Constable of Edinburgh, he went to Germany to inspect German police methods in the Hamburg area. Major Ferguson is a son of the late JoHN EDWARD FERGUSON (1866-69), Surgeon-Major, I.M.S., who died at Aberdeen in 19o4. Alexander Findlay* (1882-91), M.A., D.Sc., Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.I.C., was also gazetted a C.B.E. in this year's Birthday Honours, " for services to chemistry ". He was professor of Chemistry at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth from 1911 to 1919 and at the University of Aberdeen from 1919 to 1943. A past president of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, he recently visited India, Pakistan and South Africa as a representative of the Institute. He is the author of many scientific books and papers. Members of the Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.) John Brebner* (1894-1900), M.A., B.Sc., F.R.I.C., was awarded the M.B.E. in this year's Birthday Honours. After studying chemistry at the Glasgow Technical College, he entered the chemical works of J. and J. Cunningham, Limited, Leith and became general works manager in 1916. Before the last war he returned to Aberdeen as general works manager of Scottish AgricUltural Industries, Limited, Aberdeen, and it is for his services in that capacity that he has now been honoured.

139 Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine the in Ernest Main (1903-08), M.A., was awarded the M.B.E. years many East for Middle the in been New Year Honours. He has and is at present deputy head of the Information Department at H.M. Embassy in Cairo. He was for a time editor of The Times of Mesopotamia and managing director of the Baghdad Times. In 1935 his book " Iraq from Mandate to Independence" was published, followed two years later by " Palestine at the Crossroads ' , in which he discussed British administration under the mandate. In 1941 he went on special duty to the British Embassy in Baghdad and later he became press attaché at the Embassy in Cairo. American Bronze Star Medal (1908-18) was in January of this year Galloway* Eric James presented with the American Bronze Star Medal by Major-General Clayton L. Bissell, the American Military Attaché, at the American Ambassador's residence in London. The award was made in recognition of Squadron-Leader Galloway's services as commanding officer of Special Liaison Unit, Detachment Headquarters, tzth Army Group from August to December 1944. Mr. Galloway is a partner in the . firm of Galloway & Sykes, Limited, cabinetmakers, Aberdeen. been also has Colonel, Cornelius Mearns* (1912-17), O.B.E., awarded the Bronze Star Medal and it was presented to him on behalf of the United States Government at a ceremony in the office of the U.S. Military Attache in India. Commissioned in the Indian Army twenty-eight years ago, he joined the R.1.A.S.C. in 1938 and in 1944 he was appointed to the command of the British Advance Base at Ledo with the rank of Colonel. The following year he became Colonel " Q ", first at 14th Army Headquarters and then at izth Army Headquarters. From the end of 1945 to 1947 he was Colonel (S.T.) (India) at the War Office and then went back to India. He has now returned to this country. Andrew Riddel Abercromby* (1903-13) was in March of this year elected chairman of the Aberdeen Progressive Association in which he has played a prominent part since its formation. He is a partner in the firm of Messrs. Abercromby & Stott, stockbrokers, Aberdeen, the other partner being Francis Floyd Stott* (1918-30). William Ernest Adam (1902-09), J.P., was in November last appointed Provost of Ballater for the period 1947-5o. Since 1945 he has been Rector of St. Kentigern's Church, Ballater. He was Curate of Tarvin, Chester, from 1928 to 1930 and became Rector of Lerwick in 1930. From 1935 to 1942 he was Rector at Buckie and for the three years prior to his going to Ballater he was Priest-incharge of St. Michael's Church, Dufftown. The Town Clerk of Ballater is also an F.P.—Alexander Gray * (191o-22), M.A., LL.B., senior partner of Messrs. Gray & Kellas, solicitors, Aberdeen. William McCombie Alexander* (1887-96), M.A., B.L., is editor of a new book on the place-names of Aberdeenshire which is being

1 40

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

prepared for publication by the Third Spalding Club. Mr. Alexander is chairman of the club's executive committee. Alexander Smith Anderson* (19o5-o9), O.B.E., D.L., J.P., has resigned his position as chairman of the Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine War Pensions Committee and of the Advisory Committee under the Civilian War Injuries Act. He has been a member of the War Pensions Committee for over twenty-five years and chairman for eighteen years. (See also page 158.) Ian Alfred Anderson* (5912-24), M.B.E., B.Sc., M.B., Ch.B., has been appointed medical bio-chemist to the Victoria Infirmary, Glasgow. From 1945 until May of this year he was lecturer in Clinical Chemistry at Aberdeen University. John Douglas Anderson* (1919-32) of Begg Dunlop & Company, Limited, Calcutta, has joined the firm of Walker & Greig, Limited, Colombo, Ceylon. William Rogie Angus* (1915-2 M.A., Ph.D., D.Sc., who has been in the department of Physical Chemistry at University College of North Wales, Bangor, since 1936, is now senior lecturer in the department. Before going to Bangor he was lecturer in the department of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry at University College, London. Ian Francis George Baxter* (1921-33), M.A., LL.B., advocate in Aberdeen, has been appointed assistant secretary to the Northern Ireland Hospitals Authority, established under the National Health Service (Northern Ireland) Act 1948. He is to be in charge of general administrative work in connection with the supplementary eye services, mental health services, blood transfusion services, laboratory services, ambulance services, general hospital services and specialist services. Charles Michael Maclntyre Begg (1933-36), M.A., B.Sc., Ph.D., lecturer in animal genetics at Edinburgh University, has been appointed lecturer in Zoology at the University of Aberdeen. Ian Farquhar Booth* (1916-28), M.A., has been on the staff of Dumfries Academy for ten years, excluding his war service with the Seaforth Highlanders. He was Senior Prefect at the School in 1927-28 and a member of the First XV, and since going to Dumfries he has been able to revive rugby at the Academy there. Unfortunately, he was himself severely " crocked " while playing for Dumfries against Wigtownshire in 5946-47 and he fears that he will now be unable to fulfil his desire to play rugby until he is forty! He is honorary secretary (interim) of the Dumfriesshire Musical Festival Association. Charles Ogilvie Will Bowman* (191o-15) returned from British Cameroons at the end of 1947 and hoped to take up an appointment in Malaya early this year. He first went out to Calabar, Nigeria, in 1928 and for ten years before the war he was in the service of Bai Rubber & Cocoa Estates, Limited, in British Cameroons. He returned there in 1944 on receiving an appointment as district manager for the West Coast Area of the Cameroon Plantations. Before the war and again from 1944 he was F.P. Club Consul for British Cameroons. In 1935 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

/41

and in 1946 he was admitted an Associate Member of the National Institute of Engineering. In his younger days he was well-known as a weight-lifter and wrestler and was a Master of the British Ju-Jitsu Society. Alexander John Youngson Brown, (1923-36), M.A., who has been at the University of California since September 1947, having gained a Commonwealth Fund Fellowship, has been appointed lecturer in Economic History in the United College, University of St. Andrews. In June he set off on a " grand tour" of the United States and expects to return to this country in September. Charles Alexander Brown* (1920-32), M.A., M.D., was in May of this year admitted a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, London. He has been attached to the Royal Eye Hospital in South London for over eighteen months. Robert Douglas Bruce* (19,3-22), M.B., Ch.B., Wing-Commander R.A.F., is at present commanding officer of the R.A.F. Hospital at Changi, Singapore. One of the medical officers at his hospital until her recent marriage was Flight-Lieutenant Elsa Milne, daughter of ANDREW MILNE* (1903-09), M.A., head Classical master at the School. David Cairns (1912-16), M.A., Professor of Practical Theology at Christ's College, Aberdeen, delivered his inaugural lecture in January on " The Army and Religion, 1918 and 1945 ". William Mitchell Hunter Caldwell (1929-41), M.A., has been on the staff of the Air Ministry since January 5946. He is a temporary administrative assistant and also a resident clerk and in the latter capacity he lives in Adastral House, Kingsway, and is responsible for handling official business out of working hours. Alexander Vernon White Cantlay* (5903-1o) has moved from Kamparmalim Estate, Perak, Malaya, and is now engaged in rubberplanting in Sumatra. He is the only F.P. in that area. Leslie Thompson Carnegie* (1915-38), B.L., who has been in the office of the Town Clerk, Aberdeen, for nine years, first as a law apprentice and later as a legal assistant, has been appointed legal assistant to the County Clerk of East Lothian. During the war he was for a time with a Legal Aid (Welfare) Section in Cairo. Robert Finlayson Carswell* (1933-43), B.Sc. (Eng.), who is on the staff of the English Electric Company at Stafford was engaged during last winter on a power station job at Llanelly in South Wales. George Fraser Chrystall* (1927-38), who, as " Chrys ", frequently contributes cartoons to the Aberdeen Evening Express, produced a series of cartoons and sketches in connection with the bi-centenary celebrations of the Aberdeen Press and Journal (previously The' Aberdeen Journal). In these he contrasted the modes of life, prices and fashions of 1748 with those of to-day. Chrystall, who is a student at Robert Gordon's Technical College, is this year's president of the Students' Representative Council at the College. Norman Stuart Clark* (1919-29), B.Sc., M.B., Ch.B., M.R.C.P., medical registrar at the Royal Aberdeen Hospital for Sick Children,

142

Aberdeen Grammar School MagaTine

has been appointed by Aberdeen University Court to a new lectureship in Child Health. Robert Selbie Clark* (1895-1901), M.A., D.Sc., Scientific Director, Scottish Home Department, Marine Laboratory, Torry, Aberdeen, was in February of this year appointed by the Secretary of State for Scotland to be a member of a scientific investigating committee under what is known as the Brown Trout Research Scheme. The object of this scheme is to effect an increase in the quantity and, if possible, the quality of the brown trout in Scotland, which has over zoo,ooo acres of fresh-water lochs and 6,5oo miles of streams. It is hoped that an improvement in the fishing will provide an essential and welcome variety in our diet, give facilities for recreation, and further induce tourists to come to Scotland. The waters of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board are to be made available for the investigation and, according to the Secretary of State, the widely varying types and extent of the waters controlled by the Board, covering waters in peat areas, limestone and granite country, offer scope for experiment on the widest scale, under both natural and artificial conditions. Sir Andrew Gourlay Clow* (1896-98), K.C.S.I., C.I.E., whose long career in the Indian Civil Service culminated in his being Governor of Assam from 1942 to 1947, returned to this country at the beginning of this year: He has since been appointed by the Minister of Fuel and Power to be chairman of a committee set up to investigate ways and means whereby the demand for domestic and non-industrial electricity next winter may be spread. Bramwell William Harold Cook* (1936-39) has been appointed a teacher of Music under the Aberdeen Education Committee. David George Murray Covey* (1925-37) was in March of this year appointed agent of the Aberdeen Savings Bank at Culter. He has been in the service of the Bank since leaving the School and he has been acting agent at the St. Machar branch, Aberdeen, since his demobilisation from the R.A.F. THE ABERDEEN MAGICAL SOCIETY

William Gordon Craigen* (1894-97 and i9oo-oz), M.A., LL.B., advocate in Aberdeen, who was president of the Aberdeen Magical Society for nineteen years from its foundation in December 1926 until he resigned the office over two years ago, was one of the four founder members invited to be the guests of the Society on the occasion of its " coming of age" on 17 December 1947. He is now honorary president of the Society and also a past honorary president of the Scottish Conjurers' Association, a member of the committee of management of the National Association of Magical Societies (an affiliation of over thirty societies in Great Britain and Ireland) and a member of the Inner Magic Circle, the highest of three degrees of membership of the Magic Circle, London. The Annual Revues of Magic arranged by the Society on behalf of local charities in the years before the war will be remembered with pleasure by many readers and in these Mr. Craigen, of course, played

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

143 a very prominent part. During the war many members of the Society were attached to concert parties which visited troops serving in isolated posts in the North of Scotland. Other F.P.s who are members of the Society are Charles Napier Gordon Milne (1893-94), who is now president, Thomas Forbes (1918-28), and Ronald Fraser Skene* (1918-26). William Flett Croll* (1882-91), M.A., M.D., resigned at the end of last year from the position of chairman of the Aberdeen Dispensary and Vaccine Institution which he had held since 1931. His connection with the Institution has extended over thirty-five years. He started medical practice in Aberdeen in 1902 and from 1913 to 1935 he was an honorary physician at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. John Alexander Cruickshank (1926-29), V.C., was for the third successive year appointed to be an aide-de-camp to the Lord High Commissioner, Mr. George Mathers, M.P., and Mrs. Mathers, while His Grace was in residence at the Palace of Holyroodhouse from 17 to z7 May. Flight-Lieutenant Cruickshank, who was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1944, was demobilised from the R.A.F. in 1946 and, on completion of a period of leave, returned to his previous employment with the Commercial Bank of Scotland, Limited. He is at present with the head office in Edinburgh. James Whyte Dalgleish* (1928-34), M.A., LL.B., has for the past two years been secretary of the Bristol Channel Ship Repairers' Association at Cardiff. It gave him great pleasure to see J. R. S. Innes and W. D. Allardice playing for Scotland in the international rugby match against Wales at Cardiff in February. James Gordon Danson* (1894-1903), M.D., F.R.C.P. (Lond.), who retired from the Navy in 1946 with the rank of Surgeon-Captain, R.N., after thirty-seven years' service, has been appointed by the Lord Chancellor to be medical member of the Liverpool Pensions Appeals Tribunal. At the beginning of the last war he was for eighteen months Surgeon Captain in the medical and neuro-psychiatric sections of the R.N. Auxiliary Hospital, Barrow, and from 1941 to 1942 he was Surgeon Captain (Medical) at the R.N. Hospital, Plymouth. Thereafter he was for three years at the R.N. Auxiliary Hospital at Invergordon and for his last year of service he was P.M.O.-in-charge at the R.N. Auxiliary Hospital, Seaforth, and Senior Medical Officer of the Liverpool sub-Command. Peter Diack* (1904-09), M.A., who has been minister of Pollokshields West Church, Glasgow, since 1937, was inducted in May to Drumoak Church, Aberdeenshire. Mr. Diack's first charge was at Grantown-on-Spey, where he was ordained in 1919, and thereafter he was minister at Forfar and at Kilmarnock before going to Glasgow in 1937. He was a school editor of the Magazine in 1908-09 and editor of Alma Mater in 1912-13 when he was at Aberdeen University. Since going to Glasgow he has been a keen member of the Glasgow Centre of the Club. Edward Henry Marcus Doughty* (1924-31), A .M.I.E. E., Grad. I. Struct. E., who was transferred from the Aberdeen area of

1 44

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board to the electrical engineering department of the Admiralty during the war, left the Admiralty in 1945 to take up an appointment as senior assistant electrical engineer with Imperial Chemical Industries, Limited, (Dyestuffs Division), at their Huddersfield works. He left there in 1947 and is at present electrical engineer to the St. Anne's Board Mill Company, Limited, Bristol, a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco Company, Limited. His recent marriage is reported on another page. James Ewing* (19o1-o7), M.A., D.Sc., is a Staff Inspector of rural education under the Ministry of Education in England. He was an interim master at the Grammar School in 1911 and, after a year as a research student at Chicago University, he became assistant professor of Biology at Carlton College, U.S.A., in 1913. During the 1914-18 war he served with the Canadian Army and in 1921 he was appointed a lecturer in Botany at the University of Leeds. He became an Inspector of Schools in 1928 and a Staff Inspector in 1939. He has contributed several research papers to scientific periodicals and has also written articles on rural education and sex education. When at School he was a prominent athlete, winning the medal for gymnastics in 19o5 and being first in throwing the hammer and putting the weight in 1906. He has recently rejoined the F.P. Club. George Edward Fearby* (1937-45) has now left the Army and in March of this year he obtained an appointment with Messrs. McAlister & Company. He is stationed at their office in Kuala Lumpur. Adam Fyfe Findlay* (1879-85), M.A., D.D., LL.D., who retired from the Chair of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at Aberdeen University in September 1947, and who was also Master of Christ's College, Aberdeen, received the honorary degree of LL.D. from his Alma Mater in April of this year. In his laureation address Professor T. M. Taylor,• C.B.E., K.C., said :— It is many years now since Professor Findlay entered the University from Aberdeen Grammar School of which he was Gold Medallist. In the field of sport he soon took an outstanding place. Representing the University in Army Athletics at Aldershot, he won the too yards against competitors drawn from the whole British Army. He played in the first rugby match at the opening of King's College playing field. He was secretary of the Rugby Club and of the S.R.C. and played in the Cricket XI. Equally distinguished in the field of scholarship, he graduated with first class honours in Classics and then went to Edinburgh to study at the Divinity Hall of the United Presbyterian Church. There he was twice successful in gaining the Brown Downie fellowship and proceeded abroad, first to Athens and then to Berlin for further study. Entering the ministry of the United Presbyterian Church, he was ordained to his first charge at Whithorn and later ministered with much devotion at Arbroath, Edinburgh and Linlithgow. He was for a time convener of the College Committee of the United Presbyterian Church. In the first world war he served as chaplain with the Scottish Horse and the Highland Light Infantry in Egypt and Palestine. After the war he held the Kerr Lectureship and delivered a course of lectures entitled " Byways in Early Christian Literature " which confirm a scholarly study of non-canonical writings of the early period of church history. In 1923 he received the degree of D.D. from this University and in the following year he was appointed to the Chair of Church History and Christian Ethics in the

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

145

United Free Church College in Aberdeen. Following on the union of the Churches, he was transferred in 1935 to the new University chair of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology and in 1937 succeeded the late Principal Cairns as Master of Christ's College. Professor Findlay has served for many years as a member of the Business Committee of the General Council and in 1946 received the degree of LL.D. from the University of Edinburgh. In taking our farewell of our colleague we recall with pleasure his kindly presence and the genial wisdom which he brought to our counsels : and we rejoice to think that in his retirement that same sanity and vigour which we have known here will continue to be available to the University and to the community which he has served with so much acceptance and distinction. James Milner Fraser* (1918-20) is manager of the Singapore

Improvement Trust which is the town planning and housing authority for the Island of Singapore. The re-housing programme for 1948 is to cost seven million Singapore dollars and the housing committee of which Mr. Fraser is a member has recommended a three years' housing programme costing thirty-two million dollars, and a longterm programme of housing and town planning for the Island of Singapore. The population of Singapore has more than doubled during the last twenty years and it is estimated that there are at least a quarter of a million people at present living in the slums who require immediate re-housing. Government is giving top priority to this problem but, says Mr. Fraser, it will require hundreds, of millions of dollars to solve it satisfactorily. The 1948 programme is now in full swing. Mr. Fraser, who first joined the Singapore Improvement Trust in 1927, was interned in Singapore and Thailand during the war and he contributed an article entitled " An F.P. Club Branch in Thailand " to the Magazine of January 1946. Allan Cameron Frazer* (5925-30), M.A., LL.B., was in March of this year admitted to the Society of Writers to His Majesty's Signet. He is a partner in the firm of Messrs. A. G. Cairns & Frazer, W.S., Edinburgh, and from 1938 to 1947 he was secretary of the Edinburgh Centre of the F.P. Club. He is the present secretary of the Aberdeen University Edinburgh Association. Rudolph William Galloway* (1902-06), C.B., C.B.E., D.S.O., M.B., Ch.B., Major-General, D.D.M.S., H.Q., Western Command, Chester, was in December 1947 appointed Honorary Surgeon to the King with effect from 9 September 1947. An account of his career was given in the Magazine of July 1947. John Peter Grant* (5935-42) has resumed his studies at University College, Oxford. During the war he served with the Gordon Highlanders and later held a commission in the Gold Coast Regiment with which he served in Burma and West Africa. William Aitken Brown Hamilton (1921-27), M.A., who has for many years been with the Ministry of Education, is one of those who assisted Sir Ernest Gowers in the writing of his " Plain Words— A Guide to the Use of English" which was published by H.M. Stationery Office in April. This book was written at the invitation of the Treasury and is concerned particularly with the use of English by " officials ' , by which term, as the author explains in his preface,

Aberdeen Grammar School MagaKine is meant not only those commonly called " civil servants " but also members of the Navy, Army and Air Force, local government officials and the staffs of public bodies, such as the railways. David Sinclair Hay* (19o7-I1), B.L., who was adopted in 1946 as prospective Socialist candidate for Caithness and Sutherland, resigned from that position in February and took up an appointment with the Colonial Development Corporation which was established by statute early this year. This body is concerned with the establishment, operating and financing of industrial, forest and agricultural projects in any part of the colonies or protectorates and already a flood of proposals has been received and is still arriving from every part of the Empire, from Governments, private individuals and firms alike. The chairman of the Corporation is Lord Trefgarne, formerly Mr. G. M. Garro Jones, M.P. for North Aberdeen. William Tulloch Hutton Hay* (1928-38), Flight-Lieutenant, who holds a permanent commission in the R.A.F., is assistant to the director of the physical fitness department at the Air Ministry. Last season he played scrum-half for the R.A.F. against both the Navy and the Army and he also played for London Scottish. His elder brother, Ian Kennedy Hay* (192o-33), M.B., Ch.B., Colonial Medical Service, is medical officer-in-charge of the General Hospital, Victoria, British Cameroons. Sir Hubert Douglas Henderson* (19o i-o4), M.B.E., M.A., LL.D., Professor of Political Economy at Oxford University since 1945, has been appointed president of the Economics section of the British Association for the annual conference to be held at Brighton in September. Neil Geddes Clarkson Hendry (1923-25), M.B., Ch.B., was in December last admitted a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. He has recently been appointed assistant orthopaedic surgeon to the North-Eastern Region of Scotland under the National Health Service scheme and is resident at Stracathro HospitaL Alexander Cantlay Hutchison* (1927-33), M.A., B.Sc., Ph.D., who graduated at Aberdeen University in 1938 with first class honours in Chemistry and joined the staff of Imperial Chemical Industries at Ardeer in 1939, has been responsible for the discovery of a safe motive force to drive tiny jet motors which is expected to revolutionise the toy industry in this country. During the war he was engaged on secret research work for the Admiralty. Patrick Forrest Beddie Irvine (1926-33) has been assumed by his father, Mr. James R. Irvine, as a partner in the firm of Messrs. Irvine and Johnstone, stock and share brokers, Aberdeen. James William Irvine-Fortescue* (2928-30), M.A., son of Colonel ARCHER IRVINE FORTESCUE* (1892-97), had the distinction of passing the final examination of the Chartered Accountants of Scotland in December, 1947, having passed the intermediate examination in June. On i June 1948 he was assumed as a partner in the firm of Messrs. Bower & Smith, C.A., Aberdeen, of which the senior partner is WILLIAM MITCHELL SMITH* (1881-91), C.A. 146

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

147 Sir Wilson Jameson* (189z-19oz), K.C.B., M.D., LL.D., chief medical officer of the Ministries of Health and Education, issued in January of this year another of his interesting reviews of the health of the nation. This report discusses the effects on children of bombing, shelter life and evacuation, war-time diet, and relaxed parental care and control. In Sir Wilson's opinion there is no positive evidence of a decline in the health and physique of children during the war years. This, considering all the adverse conditions, was remarkable; and the main factors responsible were the provision of milk and meals in school and the granting of extra rations, " a brilliantly successful food policy ", improvement in wages, and freedom from influenza and other infectious diseases, together with their diminished virulence. Sir Wilson was one of the recipients of honorary degrees from the University of Cambridge on the occasion of the installation of General Smuts as Chancellor of the University on so June 1948. He received the degree of Doctor of Science. James Patrick Jeffrey* (1906-58), T.D., B.Sc. (Eng.), C.A., was adopted in December as a Progressive candidate for Gilcomston Ward at the next municipal election in Aberdeen. He lived for fourteen years in the ward, was educated in the ward and has had his place of business in the ward for twenty-five years. MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR PAISLEY

Douglas Harold Johnston* (1913-26), B.A., LL.B., K.C., Solicitor-General for Scotland, was elected Member of Parliament for Paisley at a by-election held in February caused by the succession of Viscount Corvedale to the title of Earl Baldwin. Mr. Johnston, who was the Socialist candidate, had a majority of 6,S4S votes over his Nationalist opponent, the poll being 76 per cent., and Labour polled nearly 57 per cent. of the total votes cast, against 55.5 per cent. at ,,the General Election in 1945. The by-election was regarded as unusually interesting in view of the " Paisley Pact ", whereby the Nationalist candidate had both Liberal and Conservative support. The new M.P. took the oath and his seat in the House of Commons on 25 February 1948. He is at present the only F.P. in the House of Commons. Mr. Johnston was appointed Solicitor-General for Scotland in October 1947. (An account of his career was given in the last issue of the Magazine.) Arthur Roy Handasyde Kellas* (1926-32), M.A., who joined the Foreign Office and Diplomatic Service in 1939, is now a first secretary at the Foreign Office, London. He returned to this country at the end of last year, after two and a half years on the staff of the British Embassy at Tehran. His elder brother, Henry Ronald Kellas (1926-3s), M.B., Ch.B., is one of ten doctors responsible for about 40,000 employees of British Railways at Swindon, another being Eric Imlay Harper (5918-3o), M.A., M.B., Ch.B. Derek Mario Mitchell Kellas (5924-35), M.C., B.Sc. (For.), has been in the Colonial Forest Service in the Gold Coast since 1938.

148

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Robert Sangster Kemp (1876-78), M.A., D.D., minister of Deer Church, Aberdeenshire, celebrated his diamond jubilee as a minister on 9 May 1948. After graduating at Aberdeen University in Arts and Divinity he was for two and a half years an assistant at the West Church of St. Nicholas, Aberdeen before taking up his first charge at Insch in 1888. Eleven years later he went to Old Deer and he will be celebrating his jubilee as minister there in February of next year. Many tributes have been paid to Dr. Kemp and at a dinner held in his honour it was stated that of all the ministers serving the 2,410 churches in the Church of Scotland, Dr. Kemp was the only one who had reached his diamond jubilee and was still actively engaged in the day-to-day work of a parish and congregation. His vitality is indeed remarkable and he still visits the parishioners of his scattered parish— his church has 86o members—on his bicycle. (Dr. Kemp estimates that on this bicycle he has travelled about 3,000 miles each year for a very long time.) MAFEKING DAY RECALLED

Percival Robson Kirby (5892-590i), M.A., D.Litt., F.R.C.M., Professor of Music at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, delivered a lecture on 13 May to the Royal Anthropological Institute, London, on " Trumpeting through the Ages ". He went to South Africa in 1914 to become Musical Organiser for the province of Natal and in 1921 he was appointed Professor of Music at University College, Johannesburg. He has for many years been a great authority on the music of the native peoples of South Africa and on 1935 his book on " The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa" was published by the Oxford University Press. Both at School and at Aberdeen University he was well-known as a versatile musician and in an earlier issue of the Magazine reference was made to " the enthusiastic yet discreet way he used to wield drum sticks " in the School Orchestra. He was also an accomplished flautist and a performer on several other instruments. " C.D." writes :— On the memorable day when Mafeking was relieved the whole School sat rest-

lessly waiting for the tolling of the great bell Victoria—signal that the little town was at length relieved. Without permission the School, boys and masters, rushed out, where all linking arms marched round and round headed by Percy with his tin whistle, which he always carried, playing the Cock o' the North. Delirious singing and shouting ensued. Even the serious-faced Rector, II. F. M. S., laughed hilariously. Four of the masters dashed off to the Queen's Restaurant to celebrate the occasion worthily in champagne. Wild choruses burst out in that upper room. It might almost have been called a Dionysiac frenzy. Who cared ? A minister, later to be Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, asked if he might join the four masters. He was duly admitted to the joyous band (quorum quarta pars flit) and insisted on standing a bottle or two of the Widow (Madame Clicquot). Need one continue further ?

James Gray Kyd* (1891-98), C.B.E., Registrar-General for Scotland, contributed a chapter to a booklet entitled " Scotland's Changing Population ", published in April by the National Council of Social Service on behalf of the Scottish Council of Social Service. In Mr. Kyd's opinion the attitude to overseas migration is the most

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 149 important factor affecting the future of the population of Scotland. He points out that Scotland's net rate of loss by migration exceeds that of any great European country and mentions as scarcely less tragic that, as a result of the movement of population within Scotland, the fresh open lands of the countryside are being deserted, while more and more people are congregating in the mean, congested and squalid surroundings of some of our industrial towns. He contrasts the county of Sutherland, which has an area of over 1,018 square miles and an average population of seven persons to the square mile, with Renfrew where there are about 1,400 to the square mile. He does not seek rigid control upon willing migrants who can find work overseas but rather that migration should be avoided by providing opportunities in Scotland for her young people. As usual, Mr. Kyd has been giving in his annual report as RegistrarGeneral, and in public speeches on various occasions, much interesting information culled from the vital statistics which he prepares from year to year. During x947 Scotland's population increased by 12,8OO to 5,139,600 but approximately zo,ooo went overseas during the year and another 14,000 went to England. Glasgow's population decreased slightly, whereas that of the other three principal cities showed an increase. In 194o Aberdeen outstripped Dundee but the RegistrarGeneral has issued a warning that Aberdeen will have to look to its laurels if it wants to maintain its position as the Third City. Last year Dundee's population showed an increase of x1,070 and Aberdeen's only 1,083, the totals now being 180,814 and 1[88,836 respectively. Another interesting conclusion to which Mr. Kyd has come is that the expectation of life is greater in Edinburgh than in Glasgow. A boy at birth has an expectation of life of 56.3 years in Edinburgh and 5x •3 years in Glasgow, the corresponding figures for girls being 60.6 years in Edinburgh and 55.2 years in Glasgow. Mr. Kyd is also chairman of the Civil Service Savings Committee and he was one of the principal speakers at a civic reception given in March to three hundred Civil Service savings workers from all parts of Scotland. Another speaker was the Solicitor-General for Scotland, Douglas Harold Johnston* (q.v.), and, referring to the fact that both he and the Solicitor-General were Grammar School F.P.s, Mr. Kyd recalled that it was one of the most distinguished F.P.s of the School who was president and chairman of the Scottish Savings Committee from 1941 to 1945 during which time £715,000,000 was saved. He was referring, of course, to the Right Hon. Lord Alness* (1884-85), P.C., G.B.E., M.A., LL.D. Albert Alexander Lawrence* (194O-46) who is a medical student at Aberdeen University, has been playing for the Aberdeenshire Cricket XI in Scottish Counties Championship matches this summer. George Lawrence* (1901-03) is to retire at the end of July from the post of manager of the North of Scotland Bank's chief office in Glasgow, where he has been since 1938. A son of the late GEORGE LAWRENCE (1863-66), who was the North of Scotland Bank's agent at Fraserburgh from 1898 to 1916, he entered the Bank's service there

I50

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

in 1903 and since then he has served in many of its branches in Aberdeenshire and Banffshire. When he went to Glasgow in 1938 he succeeded another F.P.—James Ledingham* (1885-88), J .P. Robert Alexander Lillie* (1 896-19o5), M.A., Ph.D., has during the last eight years built up a very fine collection of works by W. G. Gillies, R.S.A., the contemporary Scottish painter who since 1947 has been head of the department of painting and drawing at the Edinburgh College of Art. Dr. Lillie's collection comprises about sixty oils, water-colours and pen, ink, and wash drawings and when a selection of thirty water-colours from his collection was shown early this year at the French Institute in Edinburgh, they were felt to be a revelation of the artist's spontaneous creative power. The art critic of The Scotsman wrote " The level of their quality and their brilliant response to inspiration comes as a surprise even to one deeply familiar with Gillies' work . . . they have that rarest of qualities, a line which is decorative, cursive, and spontaneous, yet which is immensely explanatory of form. . . ." Later in the year four works from Dr. Lillie's collection were loaned to the British Council for a travelling exhibition in Sweden and for three weeks in May the remainder of the collection was on exhibition at the Aberdeen Art Gallery. Dr. Lillie, an ardent admirer of Gillies' work, came to Aberdeen for this event and, in a foreword to the catalogue of the exhibition, he wrote :— Galles is a genuine Scottish Painter. The " perfervid Scot " in him works its way out diversely in picture after picture always with an intuitive sense of fitness and beauty. These pictures have good " subjects ", the parts and aspects of his native land which he has known best and seen and seen again with a loving eye : Scottish villages, farms, trees, open roads, fishing ports, mountains, lochs and skies. Particularly fascinating is the conveyance of the artist's feeling for space, for depth, direction, angle, distance and size.

Eric R. R. Linklater* (1913-16), M.A., LL.D., was at the beginning of this year appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to serve as a member of the Arts Council of Great Britain for a period of three years. He has also been appointed a member of a Scottish Committee to co-ordinate the arrangements in Scotland for the Festival of Britain, 1951. William Nathaniel Litster* (1917-24) has obtained a permanent post with the Milk Marketing Board, being at present an area representative in connection with the artificial insemination scheme, working from the Cattle Breeding Centre at Frant in Sussex. " Many of the older, more conservative farmers ", he says, " await very anxiously the birth of the first AI calf and seem hardly to believe their eyes when they find that it is not a rabbit or a nice pink elephant I " During the year to 31 March 1948 the number of cows inseminated under the Board's scheme increased from 25,500 to more than 90,000, and by 1953 the Board expects to provide AI services for forty per cent. of the total cows in the country. William Milne Littlejohn* (19oi-oz), A.M.I.C.E., has been elected president of the Aberdeen Association of Civil Engineers. He is chief engineer at the Admiralty Harbour Works, Peterhead. Bertram William Tawse* (1913-16), civil engineer, of William Tawse,

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

151

Limited, Aberdeen, is secretary of the Association and the treasurer is Stephen James Hunter* (1889-99), A.M.I.C.E., of Messrs. Walker and Duncan, civil engineers, Aberdeen. Ernest Ian McConnach (1931-43), a fifth year student at Robert Gordon's Technical College, has gained a special award in the Rutland Prize competition promoted by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland. The competition was for the best practical working design of a seaside dance hall. A year ago he won a maintenance scholarship awarded by the Architects' Registration Council of the United Kingdom. He is due to complete his course of training in architecture in June 1949. Duncan Herdman McDougall* (1921-34), C.A., joined the firm of Messrs. James A. Jeffrey & Company, chartered accountants in Aberdeen, in March of this year. Before that he was for eighteen months with a firm of chartered accountants in Glasgow. Thomas Duncan Macintosh* (19o4-11), O.B.E., is retiring from India after twenty-nine years' service with the Bombay Baroda and Central India Railway. William Maclver* (1923-26), who completed fourteen years' service with the Merchant Navy in May 1946, is now in the radio department of the Ministry of Civil Aviation at Birdlip Radio Station, Birdlip, Gloucestershire. James Finlayson Mackay* (1919-3z), M.B., Ch.B., is now venereologist to Nottinghamshire County Council. During the war he served with the R.A.M.C. and reached the rank of LieutenantColonel as a specialist in venereology. Alexander George Robertson MacKenzie (1894), F.R.I.B.A., of Messrs. A. Marshall MacKenzie & Son, architects, Aberdeen, was in March of this year elected to the rank of Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy. He was president of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland in 1947-48 and at the Annual Conference held in Aberdeen in June he was re-elected tor 1948-49. John Macmurray (19oz-04), M.C., M.A., Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh since 1944, was in March 5946 appointed a member of an Inter-University Council for Higher Education in the Colonies, to which each of the universities of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as each of the colonial universities at Malta, Jerusalem, Ceylon and Hong Kong, appointed a representative. Writing recently in The Scotsman, Professor Macmurray pointed out that the existence of this new institution meant, in its general effect, that the direct responsibility for higher education in the British colonial territories had been assumed by the British universities. The major task of the Inter-University Council is the creation of universities in the colonial territories and in the first two years of its existence the Council has laid the foundations of six new universities— in Jamaica, to serve the West Indies; at Khartoum for the Sudan; on the Gold Coast and at lbadan in Nigeria for West Africa; for East Africa at Makerere, Uganda; and in Malaya.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine Donald Graham McRobbie* (19zo-33), M.B., Ch.B., is now in practice with Dr. W. R. C. Lang, Towie House, Turriff. Douglas William Maitland* (1918-23), solicitor, has been assumed as a partner in the firm of Messrs. Robert Gray, Son & Maitland, W.S., Edinburgh as from x December. He qualified as a law agent in April 19i7. Recently he was elected secretary and treasurer of the Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine Edinburgh Associadon, of which the president, Eric Ros Birkett* (192o-22), C.A., is also an F.P. Harry Maitland* (1931-33), who has been with the Mercantile Bank of India, Limited, since 1936, was transferred in May from Mauritius to Colombo. Before the war he was in Bangkok and, after going to Singapore in 1941, he was interned during the Japanese occupation. He is a son of the late HARRY REID MAITLAND (1883-85) and a brother of the late ROBERT REID MAITLAND (1932-35), M.B., Ch.B., who was killed in Normandy on 7 June 1944 while serving as a Major with the R.A.M.C. Robert Pearson Masson* (1903-04), M.A., LL.B., was in March appointed a member of a special committee of inquiry under the chairmanship of Lord Macmillan, set up by the Secretary of State for Scotland in connection with the passage through Parliament of the Public Registers and Records (Scotland) Bill. This Government measure was introduced in the House of Lords and received its second reading in January but subsequently the Government decided that further expert inquiry was necessary as a number of Members of the House, including the Minister in charge, had professed themselves unable to appreciate without further elucidation the meaning and effect of the technical methods with which the Bill is concerned. Mr. Masson, who is a partner in the firm of Messrs. C. & P. H. Chalmers, advocates, Aberdeen, was lecturer in Roman Law at Aberdeen University from 1926 to 1945. He is also an Honorary Sheriff-Substitute for the County of Aberdeen. William Seton Meston (1879-81) has completed sixty-eight years of continuous service with the firm of Messrs. C. & P. H. Chalmers, advocates in Aberdeen.. He lives at Inverurie and has travelled daily by train to and from Aberdeen since the spring of 1879. In April this year he took out his seventieth railway season ticket. Malcolm Ross Milne* (1926-35), M.B., Ch.B., who joined the " flying doctor " service in Western Australia in November, has his headquarters at the pearl fishing port of Broome, where there is a well-equipped modern hospital. His duties include a fortnightly tour by plane to outlying cottage hospitals in the bush which arc staffed by volunteer nurse missionaries. At one of these outlying stations—Hall's Creek—he met an itinerant piano tuner, who turned • out to be an F.P. from Oldmeldrum! He was very interested to receive Dr. Milne's copy of the last issue of the Magazine. Charles Halliday Murray* (1895-1900), proprietor of the oldestablished firm of Messrs. A. & R. Milne, booksellers and stationers, Aberdeen, sold his business in February for between £40,000 and t52

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 153 Ls o,ooo to Mr. J. Gammack Clark, managing director of a company owning a chain of hotels. It was arranged that Mr. Murray would carry on as manager until Mr. Gammack Clark was able to appoint a successor. The firm of Messrs. A. & R. Milne was founded about the middle of last century and Mr. Murray succeeded his father as sole partner in 1921. William Fenwick Newlands* (1905-o9), C.A., has been appointed president of the Society of Chartered Accountants in Aberdeen for the year 1948-49. He is a partner in the firm of Messrs. James A. Jeffrey & Company, chartered accountants, Aberdeen and was admitted to the Society in 1918. Other F.P.s who are members of the council of the Society are Alan McBain* (1903-14), M.A., C.A., Gordon James Inns (i9o5-o7), C.A., and Andrew Galloway Brown* (1915-21), C.A. John Penny* (1923-36) went to Canada in the summer of 1947 and is now an electrical engineer with the Canadian National Railways. On leaving School he worked in the electricity department of Aberdeen Corporation. Frederick Strathern Philip* (1914-24), who joined the Nigerian Police in 1931 and served with the C.I.D. there until 1934, has been promoted to be provincial superintendent in Ogoja province. The people there are very backward and ritual murders and slave-dealing all too frequently take up the attention of the Police. Mr. Philip has been assistant superintendent and superintendent in various provinces of Northern and Southern Nigeria and for a time during the war he was commandant of an internment camp for German, Italian and Vichy French prisoners. He returned to this country on leave in April and has agreed to become F.P. Consul for the southern provinces of Nigeria. Harry James Rae* (1923-26 and 1929-35) has since his demobilisation in April been appointed estate manager of the Lentern Estate, Inverness. Throughout the war he served with the Royal Signals, being promoted to the rank of Major in May 1942. He was Signal Officer to 1 Guards Brigade in North Africa until the end of the campaign there and subsequently he served with 4 (British) Divisional Signals in Italy. Thereafter he joined 7 Armoured Brigade Signal Squadron and at the end of the war in Europe he was in Austria. From May 1945 to August 1946 he was Second-in-Command and C.O. for varying periods of 8 Army Signal Regiment and from August 1946 to March 1947 he was with 2 Armoured Brigade in Trieste. For three months he was S.O.2 (Telecoms.) at G.H.Q. and thereafter he was with 8 Army Signals (Independent) in Klagenfurt. William Rae (1888-1900), D.S.O., M.A., B.L., is managing • director of the Commonwealth Trust, Limited, London, which has interests in India and West Africa. After graduating at Aberdeen University in Arts and Law, he went to Canada and was for over thirty years an officer in the Canadian Militia. During the 1914-18 war he served with the Canadian Army as an Infantry and General Staff Officer, reached the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and was awarded the

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine I S4 D.S.O. In the second world war he was engaged in welfare work for the Canadian Armed Services in England. His brother, John Rae (1892-1903)*, M.C., has, since 1920, been engaged in mechanical engineering in Leeds, being at present on the staff of a firm of glass works engineers. After leaving School he served for some years in India but came home early in 1915 and was commissioned in the Royal Engineers. He served with the 5ist Division for the rest of the war and was demobilised in 1919 with the rank of Major, having been awarded the Military Cross and been twice " mentioned ". He has been a member of the F.P. Club since leaving School in 1903 and he was present at the inaugural dinner of the Yorkshire Centre of the Club in December last. (See also page 134.) Harry Campbell Reid* (1922-24 and 1925-34), M.A., LL.B., C.A ., has since the end of last year been in the income tax department of Messrs. Mann, Judd, Gordon & Company, chartered accountants, Glasgow. William Alexander Reid Om -39) has received an appointment with Cable and Wireless, Limited, in Peru and expects to proceed there this summer. Until recently he has been employed as an engineer with the Post Office telephone department in Aberdeen. His marriage is reported on another page. His brother George Reid (1936-40) who returned to this country in December last from Hong Kong where he was serving with a Signals detachment, is also a Post Office engineer in Aberdeen. William Leslie Richards* (1924-35), M.A., LL.B., advocate in Aberdeen, was in January assumed as a partner in the firm of Messrs. A. C. Morrison 8c Richards. He graduated in Law with distinction at Aberdeen University in 1940, being the most distinguished Law graduate of his year. Charles David Ritson* (1928-33) has for about a year been a wholesale and retail tobacco dealer in Glasgow. Marshall Jeffreys Robb (1897-1906), B.Sc., F.R.I.C., who in 1946 was appointed joint public analyst and official agricultural analyst for the City of Aberdeen and several North of Scotland local authorities, has had to resign his appointments because of ill-health. He was associated with the late Dr. J. F. Tocher, public analyst, for over thirty years. Victor Frederick Roberts* (1926-37), who, as reported in the last Magazine, now commands the 4th (City of Aberdeen) Battalion of the Army Cadet Force, has been promoted to the rank of LieutenantColonel. Douglas Graeme Robertson* (1904-15) has transferred from Kinvara Estate, Kuala Lumpur and is now engaged in planting at Tebolang, Negri Sembilan. His brother, Ernest Graeme Robertson* (1910-19), is on Telemong Estate, Bentong, Pahang. Both brothers have been in Malaya for many years—Douglas since 1922 and Ernest since 1925. Both were interned for three and a half years during the Japanese occupation.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

155 John Minto Robertson* (1894-1901), M.A., LL.D., headmaster of Kemnay Junior Secondary School since 1923, is retiring at the end of the present session. During Dr. Robertson's long period of service there, Kemnay School has become famous for its long series of open-air productions of Shakespearean plays by pupils of the school. David Burgess Ross*(192.8-36), D.F.C. and Bar, Flight-Lieutenant, who holds a permanent commission in the R.A.F., commanded the R.A.F. Station at Dyce, Aberdeenshire, from early in 947 until April of this year. Launcelot Hugh Ross* (1898-1901), M.C., F.R.I.B.A., was in 1946 elected a member of the Royal Company of Archers, The King's Bodyguard for Scotland. He has been a member of the Glasgow Centre of the F.P. Club since its inception and is a past president of the Centre. Cecil Arthur Grant Savidge* (1913-24), M.B.E., M.A., revenue commissioner in Baluchistan, was in April appointed to act as Chief Commissioner and agent to the Governor-General there in succession to Sir Ambrose Dundas who was appointed acting Governor of the North-West Frontier Province. Mr. Savidge joined the Indian Civil Service in 1928 and the Foreign and Political Department of the Government of India in 1933. Previous to 1941, when he went to Iraq on special duty, he was in Baluchistan for three years. He returned to India in October 1946 after leave in this country and became revenue commissioner in Hyderabad, Deccan. Roderick Ferguson McKenzie Semple* (1927-38), M.C., who holds a permanent commission in the Royal Engineers, has since April 1947 been an assistant director of military training at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. George Taylor Simpson* (191o-20), who retired from India in October 1947, has accepted an appointment with the John Lewis Partnership, Limited, London, W. i . August Henry Klie Slater* (1922-33), M.A., moved in February from the Public Record Office to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, where he is an assistant principal in the legal division. He is secretary of the London Centre of the Club. Charles Edward Smith* (1923-24), son of the late CHARLES R. SMITH (1881-88), served throughout the war with the R.A.O.C. and thereafter became a representative of James Miller (Food Products), Limited, of Manchester, first in Aberdeen and later in Glasgow. He took up an appointment with K.C. Motor Accessories, Limited, in 1946 and became manager of their Aberdeen branch in June 1947. Ronald Gordon Christie Smith* (1927-i7), B.Sc. (Agr.), has been appointed assistant advisory officer in animal husbandry on the staff of the North of Scotland College of Agriculture. His recent marriage is reported on page 162. Ernest Strachan* (1923-24 and 1929-36), Squadron-Leader, R.A.F., left this country in February for Iraq where he expects to be for the next two years. He is senior personnel staff officer at Air Headquarters Iraq, situated at Habbaniya. This station, he says, is most remarkable,

156

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

being located in the desert, on the banks of the Euphrates some fifty miles west of Baghdad. There is every conceivable form of sport and entertainment available, Habbaniya being " in effect a little bit of the British Empire in the midst of nothing ". He has been appointed Club Consul for Iraq and, like all Consuls, is very keen to exercise his consular functions towards any F.P. who may visit his part of the world. Malcolm Harold Tawse* (1918-40) has been appointed to the Hardgate headquarters staff of 117 Field Engineer Regiment, the T.A. Unit commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel James Patrick Jeffrey* (1906-18). During the war he served for four years as a pilot in Coastal Command with the rank of Flight-Lieutenant. He is now in his final year of a B.Sc. (Eng.) degree course at Aberdeen University. George Grant Thomson* (1910-12), manager of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Jesselton, North Borneo, has the distinction of having increased the number of F.P.s in Borneo for the first time in twelve years from one to two, the other F.P. being our Consul, James Smart Abernethy* (1925-26), M.A., W.S., commissioner of lands and mines in North Borneo. Mr. Thomson first joined the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in 1920 and has been in many of its branches in China, India and the Far East. He was interned during the Japanese occupation. James Ross Tocher (1920-32), M.B., Ch.B., Arbroath, is captain of the Arbroath United Cricket Club which, like the F.P. Cricket Section, is a member of the Strathmore Union. The rival teams met earlier this season at Arbroath and Dr. Tocher's team won a narrow victory. William Law Watson* (1894-96), C.B.E., A.M.I.C.E., was appointed Engineer-in-Chief when the engineering departments of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, were reorganised in February. He joined the staff of the Crown Agents in 1912, and for thirteen years prior to receiving his new appointment he was in charge of the engineering contracts department. According to Engineering, "The part played by the Colonies in providing food and raw materials for this country is now more important than ever, and the ground-nut and other schemes are intended to increase production. The engineering departments of the Crown Agents are engaged on these developments, in addition to the civil and mechanical branches of railways, the construction and maintenance of docks and harbours, and many other branches of engineering. Previously, there were the designs department, which embraced civil and mechanical engineering, the contracts department, and the engineering inspection department. Under the new organisation there is an Engineer-in-Chief and three departments—civil engineering, mechanical engineering (including an electrical branch), and engineering inspection." Mr. Watson is due to retire next year. His son, Robert Caird Watson (1940-42) has been serving with the Royal Signals at Catterick Camp, Yorkshire. He has been selected to undergo training for a commission.

I I

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

157 Harold Murray Robertson Watt* (1926-38), M.A., after a course of training at the London School of Printing and a period with Messrs. T. and A. Constable, Edinburgh, returned to Aberdeen at the end of last year and joined the Aberdeen University Press, Limited, of which his father, the late THEODORE WAIT (1889-1901) was managing director. During the war he served as a pilot in the R.A.F. after training in South Africa. Leslie Watt* (1923-35), M.D., assistant venereologist at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, has received an appointment at the General Infirmary, Leeds. For several months he has been medical officer to No. 612 Squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, whose headquarters are at Dyce, Aberdeenshire. He holds the rank of Flight-Lieutenant. Douglas William Lawrence Webster* (1929-39), M.A., has since September 1947 been studying for a B.Sc. degree at the London School of Economics. His younger brother, Charles Antony Webster* (1932-40) is now associated with his father, Charles Henry Webster* (1897-1901) in the business of Charles H. Webster, Limited, Aberdeen. David Alexander West* (1939-44), an Arts student at Aberdeen University, was in December 1947 awarded a major scholarship for Classics by Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. James Campbell Williamson* (1924-34), M.C., has been appointed the first president of the Aberdeen Junior Chamber of Commerce which was formed at the beginning of this year. Membership of this body is open to those holding administrative, executive and other responsible positions in commerce and industry in Aberdeen and district, who are not more than forty years of age. The Junior Chamber of Commerce movement in Scotland began in 1937 with the formation of a Chamber in Glasgow and a similar Chamber was inaugurated in Edinburgh in 1946. At a meeting held in Glasgow in May representatives of these three Junior Chambers formally inaugurated a Federation of Junior Chambers of Commerce, a body which can speak with authority for the young business men of the three cities. It is hoped that in due course Dundee will also be represented. Mr. Williamson is associated with his father in the business of A. R. Gray, Limited, flour and produce importers and wholesale fruit, provision and grain merchants, Aberdeen. Norman Willox* (1933-38), an assistant librarian at Aberdeen Public Library, who has been attending a nine months' librarians' course at the Leeds School of Librarianship, has written to say that he was made very welcome by the secretary of the newly-formed Yorkshire Centre of the F.P. Club, Mr. T. C. Young. His course finishes on 15 July and he expects to return to Aberdeen about the beginning of August. Douglas Wilson (5927-35) received a three year appointment in December 1947 with Orient Airways and his base is now Karachi. He served during the war with the R.A.F. and after demobilisation

15 8

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

was on the staff of Silver City Airways, London. His marriage is reported on another page. John Stevenson Wilson* (1919-23), C.A., has been in practice as a chartered accountant in London for many years. During the war he served as a costing investigator with the Ministry of Supply but returned to his business early in 1947. His partner is Lord Milne, son of the late Field-Marshal Lord Milne, the distinguished son of Aberdeen who died earlier this year. John Strath Wishart* (19z5-35), B. Sc. (Eng.), A.M.I.Struct.E., is with Messrs. Brian Colquhoun and Partners (South Africa), consulting engineers, Johannesburg. He graduated at Aberdeen University in 1938. In a letter to the Secretary he states that after battling for more than a year, he has managed to find a house in an estate organised and financed by the British Empire Service League which, he says, has done grand work by building over 400 houses for exservice men since the end of the war. Douglas Mitchell Wood* (1918-29), who has been with Barclays Bank (D. C. & O.), Limited, in Freetown, Sierra Leone since 1938, has been transferred to the Nairobi branch of the Bank. Before going to Freetown he was in Accra, Gold Coast. Fenton Wyness* (1915-2o), F.R.I.B.A., A.I.L.A., N.R.D., F.S.A. (Scot.), has recently produced, in collaboration with Moultrie R. Kelsall and George Bruce of the B.B.C., two radio plays—" A House in the Shiprow ", the story of the sixteenth century building known as Provost Ross's house, and " He Built a City " which dealt with the life and work of ARCHIBALD SIMPSON the celebrated architect who was at the School from 1799 to 5803. In the Scottish Children's Magazine he contributed a talk on " Aberdeen, the Granite City ". He is at present engaged in writing a series of nine histories for the Aberdeen County Council Education Committee. Each history covers a specified area of the County—the Garioch, Aberdeen, Alford, Ellon, Fraserburgh, Deeside, Turriff, Peterhead and Huntly. They are for use in schools and youth clubs and are intended to foster interest in local history. NEW DEPUTY LIEUTENANTS FOR ABERDEEN

Of the six new Deputy Lieutenants appointed by the King for the County of the City of Aberdeen in February 1948, four are F.P.s. Alexander Smith Anderson* (19o5-09), O.B.E., J.P., is district manager of the Norwich Union Insurance Societies in Aberdeen. He is a founder member of the British Legion, president of the British Legion in Aberdeen and a national vice-president. As reported on another page, he has recently retired from his position as chairman of the Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine War Pensions Committee and of the Advisory Committee under the Civilian War Injuries Act, a position he held for eighteen years. He was for seven years a member of Aberdeen Town Council and was elected a magistrate in 5937.

. I 59 Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine During the war he commanded the 4th (City of Aberdeen) Battalion, The Home Guard. Henry Jackson Butchart* (1890-99), D.S.O., B.L., J.P., has been secretary of Aberdeen University since 1919. He is also chairman of the City of Aberdeen Territorial and Auxiliary Forces Association and County Commissioner of the City of Aberdeen Boy Scouts Association. He is an Honorary Sheriff-Substitute for the County of Aberdeen. James Hall McIntosh Gordon* (1901-02), M.C., J.P., is a director of George Gordon and Company, Limited, timber merchants, Aberdeen. During the 1914-18 war he served on Sir Ian Hamilton's staff and rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. From 1928 to 1933 he commanded the 4th Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders (T.A.) and in 1945 he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 92nd Anti-Tank Regiment, R.A. (The Gordon Highlanders). George Alexander Williamson* (1904-12), B.L., advocate in Aberdeen, is the eldest son of ROBERT MOIR WILLIAMSON* (188 z-S 3), M.A., LL.B., LL.D. After serving in the Indian Army from 1916 to 1923 he returned to Aberdeen and studied Law. He graduated in /9z6 and joined his father's firm, Messrs. Paull & Williamson, advocates, Aberdeen. From 1934 to 1937 he was a member of Aberdeen Town Council and during the war he was Controller of the Royal Observer Corps in Aberdeen. * * * NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE APPOINTMENTS Three F.P.s and one honorary member of the Club have been appointed to the National Health Service Executive Council for the City of Aberdeen. They are Hugh Mackenzie Crombie* (1911-2.0), M.B., Ch.B., L.D.S.; Maxwell Grant Gibb* (1913-22), M.B., Ch.B.; John Duncan MacDiarmid* (1889-93), M.A., B.L., J.P., advocate in Aberdeen; John Herbert Stephen* (1899-190o), M.B., Ch.B., D.P.H.; and Baillie James A. Mackie*, an honorary member of the Club. * * * Among those appointed to the boards of management for the groups of hospitals in the Aberdeen area are the following F.P.s :ABERDEEN GENERAL HOSPITALS BOARD (Royal Infirmary, Woodend Hospital, Eye Institution, Morningfield Hospital and Convalescent Hospital, Cults)—James Catto Duffus* (1897-1904), M.C., O.B.E., M.A., I.L.B.; Robert James Duthie* (1911-17), M.D.; and Alexander G. Nicol Smith* (I88o-88), D.S.O. ABERDEEN SPECIAL HOSPITALS BOARD (Maternity Hospital, AnteNatal Hospital, Fonthill Maternity Hospital, Queen's Cross Maternity Home, Summerfield Hospital, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, City Hospital, Newhills Sanatorium and Convalescent Home)— Hugh Mackenzie Crombie* (1955-20), M.B., Ch.B., L.D.S.; Ranald Esslemont* (1903-13) ; Allan Cruikshank Hendry* (19o7-14), M.C., M.B., Ch.B., Bucksburn; James Patrick Jeffrey* (1906-18), B.Sc. (Eng.), C.A.; Baillie James A. Mackie* (Hon.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

16o

Member); and Harry James Rae* (1898- i 9o4), M.C., M.A., M.B., Ch.B., D.P.H. ABERDEEN MENTAL HOSPITALS BOARD (Royal Mental Hospital,

House of Daviot, Wellwood Nursing Home, Kingseat Mental Hospital, Woodlands Home for Handicapped Children)—Robert Richards* (1899-1904), M.A., M.D., D.P.H., F.R.C.S.E. * * * F.P.s AT GOLF

In the Maitland Shield golf competition held in Aberdeen at the end of May between teams from the various Clubs in Aberdeen and district, the final was contested between Royal Aberdeen I and Royal Aberdeen II, the latter team winning by six holes. Of the eight players taking part in the final, six were F.P.s. They were :— ROYAL ABERDEEN II—H. G.Mackintosh* (1912- I ), Lewis Middleton* (1919-32), G. Q. Murray* (I 92 2-27) and W. N. Stewart* (1912-10. ROYAL ABERDEEN l—L. S. Bain* (1919-31) and J. S. R. Cruickshank* (1914-21). *

FORMER MASTERS AT THE SCHOOL

WILLIAM CHRISTIE, M.A., who was a teacher of Latin and Spanish at the School from 1934 to 1943, was in March of this year appointed by Aberdeen Education Committee to be headmaster of St. Margaret's Episcopal School, Aberdeen. Since 1943 he has been headmaster of St. Ninian's School, Perth. WILLIAM WOOD DICKIE*, M.A., a Classics master at the School from 1928 to 1938 and an honorary member of the Club, was in June appointed rector of Buckie High School. He was principal teacher of Classics at the Huntly Gordon Schools from 1938 to 1943, since when he has been on the staff of the Aberdeen Central School.

Marriages Baxter (t921-33).—At Richmond, Surrey, on 20 March 1948, IAN FRANCIS GEORGE BAXTER*, son of the late Mr. John 'I'. Baxter and Mrs. Baxter, 35 Beechgrove Terrace, Aberdeen, to Vera Beatrice Rich, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Rich, 43 Holdenhurst Road, Kingswood, Bristol. Craigen (,93I-4o).—At St. Charles' Church, Gosforth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on to January 1948, Squadron Leader WILLIAM GORDON CAMERON CRAIGEN, R.A.F.V.R., younger son of WILLIAM GORDON CRAIGEN* (1894-97 and 1900-02), and Mrs. Craigen, 49 Hamilton Place, Aberdeen, to Frances Eleanor Nisbet, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Nisbet, 18 Benton Lodge Avenue, Newcastleupon-Tyne. Doughty (1924-3o).—At Bethesda Methodist Chapel, Elland, Yorkshire, on 3 January 1948, EDWARD HENRY MARCUS DOUGHTY*, younger son of the late Mr. John H. A. Doughty and Mrs. M. F. Doughty, Aberdeen, to Joan Thornton, M.A. (Oxon.), elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Thornton, Eland, Yorkshire. Drummond (19 29-34).—At St. Andrew's Church, Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham, on 26 February 1948, IAN MACKENZIE DitummoNn*, elder son of the late HOWARD GRAHAM DRUMMOND (1894-98) and Mrs. Drummond, Aberdeen, to Jean Poffley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. W. Poffley, Wayside, Bishop Auckland. Dunn (I919-24).--At Birmingham, on 3 May 1948, EDWARD DUNN, younger son of the late Mr. W. L. Dunn and Mrs. Dunn, Aberdeen, to Viola Glover, elder daughter of Mr. S. R. Glover and the late Mrs. Glover, Erdington.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magatine

16t

Finnie (1934-41).—At King's College Chapel, Old Aberdeen, on 17 January 1948, JAMES SADLER EmncrE*, M.B., Ch.B., Surgeon-Lieutenant, R.N.V.R., son of Mr. and Mrs. James Finnie, 72 Hammerfield Avenue, Aberdeen, to Ishbel Drummond Campbell, daughter of Mr. John Campbell, L.D.S., and Mrs. Campbell, 64 Hamilton Street, Saltcoats, Ayrshire. Gadsby (1928-39).—At Holy Trinity Church, Rugby, on IS December 1947, JAMEs BuRNET GADSBY, M.B., Ch.B., General Hospital, Nottingham, son of Dr. and Mrs. Norman Gadsby, Aberdeen, to Patricia Caffyn, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Caffyn, 21 Rainsbrook Avenue, Rugby. Hall (1925-26).--At King's College Chapel, Old Aberdeen, on 26 December 1947, ERIC FOSTER HALL, son of Mr. and Mrs. John K. Hall, late of Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Alice Joyce Bisset, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Bisset, 84 Desswood Place, Aberdeen. Hendry (1927-3o and 1934-39).-- At King's College Chapel, Old Aberdeen, on i2 April 1948, WILLIAM THOMSON HENDRY, M.B., Ch.B., Captain, R.A.M.C., son of Dr. and Mrs. J. Leith Hendry, 7 Queen's Terrace, Aberdeen, to Margaret Jean M'Hardy, M.B., Ch.B., daughter of the late Mr. W. M'Hardy, O.B.E., M.A., of Kenya and Dulwich, and Mrs. M'Hardy, Aberdeen. Herd (1929-42).---At the East Church, Laurencekirk, on 3o April 1948, JAMES HOWIE HERD*, only son of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Herd, 3z Momingfield Road, Aberdeen, to Edith Elizabeth Dalgamo Allison, younger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. D. Allison, 14 Johnston Street, Laurencekirk. Kite (1938-44-At St. Peter's Church, Glasgow, on 13 April 1948, JOSEPH HENRY KITE, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Kite, 39 Beechgrove Terrace, Aberdeen, to Selina (Lena) Mary Groves, granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Groves, Victoria Circus, Dowanhill, Glasgow. Lewis (1933-41).—At King's College Chapel, Old Aberdeen, on 3o April 1948, GEORGE ALFRED LEWIS, M.B., Ch.B., Surgeon-Lieutenant, R.N.V.R., elder son of Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Lewis, 12 Argyll Crescent, Aberdeen, to Sheila Third, only daughter of Dr. and Mrs. H. Third, Nelson, Lanes. Mackie (192o-27).—At Rutherford Church, Aberdeen, on 3! December 1947, JAMES ROBERTSON MONRO MACKIE, M.D., M.R.C.P., only son of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Mackie, 15 Carlton Place, Aberdeen, to Elizabeth Cruickshank, only daughter of the late Mr. John Noble Cruickshank and Mrs. Cruickshank, Georgia, Whiteford, Pitcaple. M'Leod (1922-29).—At St. Andrew's Church, Glass, on 14 June, 1948, JOHN ROBERTSON M'LEOD, only son of the late Mr. and Mrs. J. H. M'Leod, Aberdeen, to Minnie (Bunty) Aitken, third daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. Aitken, Wester Bodylour, Glass, by Huntly. McPherson (1934-37)At Holburn Central Church, Aberdeen, on to December 1 947, HENRY NICOLL MCPHERSON*, Captain, R.E.M.E., eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. James McPherson, 52 Mile-End Avenue, Aberdeen, to Ethel McHardy, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John McHardy, 259 Union Grove, Aberdeen. MacTaggart (1927-39).—At St. George's Church, Edgbaston, Birmingham, on 5 April 1948, DOUGLAS KEITH MAcTAGGART*, M.A., elder son of the late Mr. D. MacTaggart and Mrs. MacTaggart, 43 Desswood Place, Aberdeen, to June Mary Davis, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. B. T. Davis, I2 Sherbourne Road, Birmingham. Marston (1936-39).—At St. Mary's Church, Acock's Green, Birmingham, on 31 January 1948, EDWIN ROY MARSTON, only son of Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Marston, 2S4 Westburn Road, Aberdeen, to Joyce Helen Stanford, second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stanford, Birmingham. Middleton (1924-34—At St. Mary's Cathedral, Aberdeen, on 7 February 1948, JAMES FLETCHER MIDDLETON*, SO11 of the late LEWIS A. L. MIDDLETON (1888-94) and Mrs. Middleton, Belmont House, Aberdeen, to Isabella McLean, daughter of Mr. William James McLean and the late Mrs. E. McLean, Rathven Mills, Buckie. Milne (x9.24-32).—At St. Mary's Cathedral, Aberdeen, on 5 February 1948, ALISTATR MACDONELL MILNE*, 13 Carlton Place, Aberdeen, to Evelyn M. Coutts, 3 Rosemount Square, Aberdeen.

162

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Minto (1925-27 and 19z8-36).—At St. Andrew's Cathedral, Aberdeen, on 29 March 1948, WILLIAM HENRY PETER MINTO*, M.B., Ch.B., D.P.H., son of the late CHARLES CREIGHTON MINTO (1888-98) and Mrs. Minto, 68 Blenheim Place, Aberdeen, to Dorothy Craig, daughter of the late Mr. John D. Craig and Mrs. Craig, 69 Anderson Drive, Aberdeen. Phillips (I936-43).—At the Douglas Hotel, Aberdeen, on 27 April 1948, IAN GEORGE KNOX PHILLIPS*, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Phillips, Ivoalian, Bieldsidc, Aberdeenshire, to Isabel S. Reid, Tarvcs, Aberdeenshire. Reid (1935-39).—At St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Aberdeen, on t May 1948, WILLIAM ALEXANDER REID, elder son of Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Reid, i Viewfield Gardens, Aberdeen, to Catherine Brown Macnab, 12 Balmoral Terrace, Aberdeen, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Macnab, Greenock. Richards (i924-35).—At London, on 24 January 5948, WILLIAM LESLIE RICHARDS*, M.A., LL.B., second son of Dr. ROBERT RICHARDS* (1899-1904) and Mrs. Richards, II Queen's Gardens, Aberdeen, to Marjorie O'Connor, daughter of the late Mr. Brian O'Connor and Mrs. O'Connor, Beckenham, Kent. Robertson (19z1-28).—At Durban, South Africa, on to December 1947, ALFRED CAHOON BRUCE SINGLETON, M.B., Ch.B., Colonial Medical Service, Kenya, DOUGLAS ROBERTSON*, Chief Officer, Union-Castle Line, elder son of the late Mr. Alexander R. Robertson and Mrs. Robertson, 391 Great Western Road, Aberdeen, to Phyllis Kathleen Edwards, King Edward Hospital, Durban. Robson (1918-31).—At King's College Chapel, Old Aberdeen, on a June 1948, THOMAS FALCONER ROBSON,* M.A., C.A., son of Mr. J. F. Robson, i9 Bonnymuir Place, Aberdeen, to Katherine Jean Lobban, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Lobban, 59 Leslie Road, Aberdeen. Simpson (1933-38).—At St. Andrew's Church, Colombo, on 22 May 1948, ALEXANDER JAMES MCCOMBIE SIMPSON*, son of the late Dr. JAMES A. SIMPSON (1891-94), Alford, and Mrs. Simpson, 74 Forest Avenue, Aberdeen, to Joan Margaret Beattie, only daughter of the late Professor G. Beattie, Newcastle, and Mrs. Beattie, i i Palace Court, London. Singleton (t924-33).—At St. Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, on zo April 1948, ALFRED CAHOON BRUCE SLNGLETON, M.B., Ch.B., Colonial Medical Service, Kenya Colony, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. Bruce Singleton, 427 Great Western Road, Aberdeen, to Dr. Jean A. Robertson, second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. Robertson, 984 West zoth Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia. Skinner (1935-39).—At Rugeley Parish Church, Staffordshire, on ro April 1948, ROWAND GORDON CHALMERS SKINNER*, D.F.C., B.Sc. (Eng.), SOH of Mr. and Mrs. T. C. Skinner, Control Commission, Kiel, Germany, to Eunice Viola Chapman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. Chapman, Davoon, Rugeley, Staffs. Smart (1919-31).—At Caxton Hall, London, on 6 December 1947, ROBERT ARTHUR SMART*, Major, R.A.M.C., only son of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur F. Smart, Aberdeen, to Josephine von Oepen, youngest daughter of the late I Ierr Bernard Heinrich von Oepen and Frau von Oepen, Cologne. Smith (1927-37).—At King's College Chapel, Old Aberdeen, on 5 June 1948, RONALD GORDON CHRISTIE. SMITH*, B.Sc. (Agr.), younger son of the late Mr. Frederick K. Smith and Mrs. Smith, 1 Queen's Cross, Aberdeen, to Margaret M'Laren M'Donald Crichton, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Crichton, Greenburn House, Bucksburn. Watt (1 926-28).—At Beechgrove Church, Aberdeen, on 12 June, 1948, ALISTAIR JAMES WATT, elder son of Mr. and Mrs. R. J. Watt, 6 Camperdown Road, Aberdeen, to Ada Mary Gibson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Gibson, 3 Rusebery Street, Aberdeen. Williamson (19z4-25 and 1936).—At Rosemount Church, Aberdeen, on 17 March 1948, WILLIAM NOEL WILLIAMSON*, Alpitty Farm, Fordoun, son of WILLIAM B. WiLLrAmsox (1900-02) and Mrs. Williamson, Seafield Cottage, Aberdeen, to Mary Barron, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Barron, Bridgefoot, Bucksburn. Wilson (i924-35).—At Dunfermline Abbey, on 22 December 1947, DOUGLAS WILSON, Captain, Orient Airways, Karachi, son of the late Mr. John Wilson and Mrs. Margaret Wilson, Dunvegan, Newtonhill, Aberdeen, to Eileen May Kirk, younger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Kirk, 16 Park Place, Dunfermline.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

163

University Notes The University Rugby Club went on tour to London at Easter— being the first Aberdeen club to play rugby in England—and in their four games they scored only two points less than they had scored against them. Against a strong London Scottish side, which included three international players and one war-time " Cap ", they were beaten by 2 z points to 14 and they were narrowly defeated by Middlesex I Iospital (6-o) and Wasps (9-3) but they beat Public School Wanderers by 28 points to 6. The captain of the team was Adrian Michael Campbell Duffus (1931-38) and Robert Arthur Spark* (1926-35) was secretary. Other F.P.s included in the party were Ronald Forbes Buthlay* (1925-38); Albert Alexander Lawrence* (1940-46) ; William Calder Macphail Lawrence* (1940-43); John Maxwell Milne* (1934-46); James William Rogers* (194o-43); Ranald Fyfe Findlay Steven* (1933-43); Douglas Stuart* (1929-43); and James Sinclair Taggart* (1931-42). * * * was joint winner of Ross Black* (1930-41) Alexander Robert

the Scottish Universities individual golf championship held at Carnoustie on z April 1948. * * * played for the Scottish (1933-43) Findlay Steven* Fyfe Ronald

Universities against the English Universities in a rugby match at Liverpool on 25 February 1948 and Ian Milne Cay Crawford* (1935-44) played for the Scottish Universities in a corresponding hockey match on 6 March 1948. * * * following F.P.s :— Blues have been awarded to the F. Steven* (1933-43). Blue—R. F. Full RUGBY— Half Blue—J. M. Milne* (1934-46). R. A. R. Black* (1930-41). Full Blue-R. A. R. Black* (1930-41). GOLF (1 946-47)— HOCKEY— Full Blue—G. K. Townshend* (1941-45). Half Blue—D. A. West (193 9-44). HARES AND HouNDs—Half Blue—M. E. Howard (1936-43). DEGREES AND PRIZES

At a Graduation Ceremony on i April 1948 degrees were conferred on the following :— Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) :— Adam Fyfe Findlay* (1879-85), M.A., D.D. (Aberd.), LL.D. (Edin.), Emeritus Professor of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology, University of Aberdeen. Degree of Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) :— Eliot Digby Mackworth* (19 2 3 - 27), M. B., Ch.B., M.R.C.P., Dyce. tThesis—" A Clinical Study of Scrub Typhus Fever in Burma." f Awarded commendation for Thesis.

164

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine Donald William Wilson* (1914-2 5), M.B., Ch.B., D.P.H., Inverness. Thesis—" The Problem of the Enteric Fevers with Especial Reference to an Outbreak of Paratyphoid Fever in the Northern Counties of Scotland." Degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (M.B., Ch.B.) :— John Morrison Ferries (1934-42), Kingswells. Kenneth Stuart Hall Macgregor (1929-42), Exeter. In the Faculty of Science Norman Keith Bonner Robson (1933-40) shared the Dickie Prize in Botany. In the Faculty of Law Philip Dawson* (1925-37) shared the Whyte Prize in Accountancy for Law Students. In the Faculty of Medicine William Ian Cranston (1936-38) won the Dyce Davidson Gold Medal in Materia Medica. RE-UNIONS OF UNIVERSITY ARTS CLASSES 1894-98 CLASS The 1894-98 Arts Class held their jubilee reunion in the Caledonian Hotel, Aberdeen, on z April 1948. Of the ninety-six original members of the class, thirty are still alive but only six were able to be present at the reunion. Of these, the only F.P. was Edward William Watt* (1883-94), D.L., T.D., M.A., LL.D., former Lord Provost of Aberdeen.

1902-06 CLASS The 1902-06 Arts Class held their first reunion dinner for seventeen years in the Royal Athenaeum, Aberdeen, on 25 March 1948. Among those present were the following F.P.s—Alexander Godsman Catto (1895-99), M.A., B.D., minister of Duffus, Morayshire, since 1926 ; William Gordon Craigen* (1894-97 and 190o-02), M.A., LL.B., advocate in Aberdeen; George Edward Hay (1895-1902), M.A., master at the School since 1909 ; John Adam Lillie* (18931903), K.C., M.A., LL.B., Sheriff of Fife and Kinross, advocate ; James Mathewson Milne* (1895-1902), M.A., Docteur es Lettres (Rennes), rector of Nairn Academy 1920-47; James Alexander Morrison (1896-1902), M.A., headmaster of Methlick Higher Grade Public School, Aberdeenshire, since 192 5 ; and Norman John Jamieson Walker* (1893-19oz), M.A., LL.B., advocate in Aberdeen, secretary of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen since 1934. 1927-30 CLASS The 1927-30 Arts Class held their first reunion dinner since 1933 in the University Union on 29 December 1947. Arnold Marischal Burns* (1920-25), M.A., class secretary, presided and proposed the toast of " Aberdeen University " to which Ralph Spence Walker* (i9t0-12.), M.A., lecturer in English at Aberdeen University, replied. Other F.P.s present were Richard Cameron Kelman (1926-27), M.A., C.A.; Thomas Henderson Murdoch* (1921-27), M.A.; and Robert Still* (1924-27), M.A.

•

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

165

SCHOOL SECTION School and Random Notes Unlike our predecessors who complained that they had very little to write about, we offer the plea that this year we have nothing of moment to record. But to our task . . . We hope that you may glean something from these pages that might possibly prove amusing. Please observe that Cicero has at last been eliminated. * * * The widespread interest in all branches of athletics shown in the School now embraces that noblest of all—the gentle art of self-defence. Our Rugby Captain, in training out of season, ran into a spot of bother, while, as he says, he was defending the young 'laddies of the Lower School. After a post-mortem, conducted in the Biology Lab. under the watchful eye of Mr. Collie, the verdict returned was " Death through misadventure ". The Prefects' Benevolent Fund gained £zo from the University for this interesting specimen. . * * * The glorious First of June dawned to the staccato bark of revving engines and the screech of tyres. But what do we see here? Is that the form of a well-known motor-cycle fiend creeping surreptitiously towards the masters' cars with a bent tube and a Winchester bottle? Suddenly, he rushes off, dropping his bottle. We, on examining•the liquid, found it to be of a very suspicious red colour. The shadow of prison bars, we fear, looms dark over the School. * * * The most classic of classical howlers is that only one member of Upper VI studies Greek. * * * Boys lunching at School often wonder at the increasing number of the members of Staff who seemingly enjoy the lunches. Domestic friction perhaps? Perhaps it is time that Mrs. Becton wrote a new cookery book. * * * Two notable improvements are taking place in the front of the School—the grass is growing, and Lord Byron is having a shampoo and shave. It is officially reported that for the past twenty-five years he has written nothing. The Manual Department is in charge of repairs and his pencil is being specially sharpened. * * * A precedent was created this year when the whole of Upper VI were allowed to absent themselves for a week's intensive study before the Bursary Comp. The Senior boys would like to take this opportunity of thanking the Staff. They trust that some success may come of it. (See page 174.) * * * Although we could not claim victory over the " other place " in Rugby this year, we are very proud to announce that the Evening

166

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Express Trophy, competed for at the University Sports, has returned to its rightful abode. Further, the First XI registered a very satisfying record victory over Gordon's. * * * Panic and terror reigned over the Grammar School. Telephone numbers were frantically sought at the mere suggestion that the dates of the School and Gordon's Dances were to coincide. Lengthy queues were formed at all the principal young ladies' establishments. One such queue is reported to have reached Holburn Junction. Senior boys kept the queue in order, at least the top part of it. Tension slackened, however, when the good news was received that the horrible rumours were unfounded. * * * We welcome Mr. Ian T. Stephen to the Mathematics department of the School. He is a keen sportsman, whose cheery disposition has gained him instant popularity. It is with great pleasure that we receive Miss Nan Boyd into our midst, as high priestess of the Library. * * * The School has purchased recently a new radio which, it was thought, was for the advancement of learning. A Prefect, however, delivering a message to the Staff Room was puzzled on hearing the following monologue—" They're coming into the straight now . . . La Chipotte's leading, Ariostar second, . . . and as they pass the post, the order is . . ." At this moment the door was slammed. * * * In this age of Psychiatry, the Pschool can claim to be psecond to none in Pscotland in respect of the pyschiatric pskill of its prefects. Kindness and patience are the chief attributes of those busy gentlemen. A cure for pschizophrenia has been developed, whereby the psubject pours his Education Department pudding over a prefect's jacket. The kleptomaniacs who pass counterfeit (or is this too harsh a word ?) tickets at the Dining Hall entrance are soon hale and hearty, whilst patients with indefinable maladies are told to report outside the Physics Lab. after Hall and a pspeedy cure is effected. * * * honoured when Andrew Milne of Upper Vs-was School The a 'cellist— was chosen to be a member of the National Youth Orchestra which played at the Bath Festival in April. The orchestra consisted of ninety-nine boys and girls, all between thirteen and nineteen years, chosen from the whole country. * * * A geometric demonstration was being carried out, and in the process two " Fs " were employed in one figure. When informed of this superabundance, the pedagogue exclaimed: " Oh G !" (instead of the customary " Ach 1"). Some suspect a pun, others a secret and hitherto unnoticed predilection for American slang—Gee 1

167 Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine Shrieks coming from the Zoology Lab. were misinterpreted by the unknowing as the practice of vivisection on frogs. Miss Matheson on entering the Lab. was invited to examine the students' handiwork. However, she retired with great haste, adding to the terror spreading over the School. Some of the more public-minded of the senior boys have formed a School Anti-vivisectionist Society, amalgamated with the R.S.P.C.A. * * * When the Prefects were going round the classes collecting for the " Starving Children of the World ", it was noticed that several boys replied " Boarding House ". It has since been discovered that they associated themselves with the unfortunate children in question.

Lower School Notes Visits of inspection by parties of senior Lower School pupils have been among the most pleasurable and, it is hoped, profitable events of the summer term. The boys of Lower 5A, in two sections, visited the General Post Office and, thanks to the kindness of Mr. A. R. Angles, the Head Postmaster, they thoroughly enjoyed a conducted tour of the various departments. The sorting of letters especially intrigued them but much interest was also taken in the telegraphic work generally and in the new stamps, postal orders and other contents of the strong room. Lower 5B, through the courtesy of Lieutenant-Commander J. T. Whyte, made a tour of the Fairfree, a converted minesweeper which is now a factory ship in which all work is done by machinery. The visitors had the freedom of the ship and were shown how the nets are cast and hauled up and how the fish are gutted and filleted. The same Class has since paid visits to Grandholm Mills and to the Aberdeen headquarters of the B.B.C. in Beechgrove Terrace. Radio Lessons are becoming increasingly popular, and with the acquisition of a new receiving set, exclusively for Lower School use, better results are likely to be obtained. The Lower School now also boasts a Puppet Theatre of its own. Miss Raffan, with the assistance of Mr. Davie and his colleagues, has put in a tremendous amount of work in making an elaborate and attractive-looking miniature theatre, and the opening performance is eagerly anticipated. In the various classrooms, stocks of Library books have increased and by next session every class should have an adequate supply of these and of supplementary readers. An innovation riext session will be an inter-House competition in all branches of sport for a trophy recently presented by Mr. A. P. Craib. Lower School swimmers, as usual, helped to make the Annual Swimming Gala at the municipal pond a great success. The present swimming champion is Hamish Bates of Lower 5B. A.J.M.E.

168

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Changes in the School Staff Mr. Ian T. Stephen, takes the place on the staff held temporarily by Mrs. J. Inkster, who left us at Easter to join her husband in Chester. Mr. Stephen, a native of Banffshire, is come of fine teacher stock. Educated at Buckie High School he proceeded to Aberdeen University in 1939, and studied in the Arts Faculty till 1942, when he began war service with R.E.M.E. In 1945, during a short leave, he graduated M.A. with first class honours in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and on resuming military duty he saw service in France, Belgium and Germany. After being demobilised in 1947 with the rank of Captain, he qualified for his chosen profession at Aberdeen Training Centre, from which he comes to the Grammar as assistant in Mathematics. He is interested in all sports activities, and will thus be welcomed as a valuable addition to the staff both in the classroom and in the field. Miss Nan S. Boyd takes over the post of School Librarian, lately vacated by Mrs. Cox after a year's keen, vigorous and lively service in the refurbishing of the Library. Miss Boyd received her schooling in Buckie and Inverness before finishing at the Central School, Aberdeen. Leaving a business post in the city she trained for munition work, and during the early years of the war was Inspectress at an important industrial plant in Fraserburgh. Owing to ill-health she had to resign from this work, and in 1943 she joined the Public Library - staff. After a term of training she was appointed to the Sir John Anderson Branch Library, Woodside, and since then has been in charge of the Juvenile Department there. With quiet efficiency and ready understanding Miss Boyd has quickly identified herself with her new surroundings in the Grammar Library.

(Out)lines And what is this upon the street, On every paper's every sheet, So strange with shapes of bygone days Reminding us of older ways ? For years such fancies lived in scorn And reason governed what was worn.' But now the changes of the times Have brought the most alarming signs. Why must they always make each dress Longer and longer, but never less ? And do they hope to ease the ration By squeezing waists in such a fashion? D'you think they picked on it by chance, Or was a wasp seen in a trance, Or was it some Victorian book That gave them all this mad " new look " ? J. I-I. W. (Middle IIIa).

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

169

Outside Opinion The Martian had seen but little of Earth so far and he had not liked what he had seen. First impressions were always a trifle discouraging of course—he remembered his short stay on Venus only too well—but Earth seemed to him to be even worse than the average. It was then that he noticed a number of men converging on a low rambling building he assumed to be their temple and place of worship, and accordingly he hurried there himself, hoping to slip in and mingle unobtrusively with the worshippers so that he might learn something of their mode of worship. His impressions were confirmed when he entered, for the high priest stood at one side of the door bowing gravely to all who came in. The Martian slid to one side and esconced himself on a low wooden bench from which he could observe the proceedings. The temple was filling rapidly with devotees who all made quickly for the shrine which stood at one end of the temple. It was in the form of a broad altar of wood, topped with rich metals and bearing as ornaments a number of beautiful vessels of some transparent substance which gave out a rich tocsin note when struck. Behind this altar stood a priestess, serene and dignified, but with a faint mysterious smile of queenly calm playing occasionally about her fine lips. One after another the votaries stepped gravely up to the altar and uttered the sacred words " Same as usual " and, on an exchange of engraved metal tokens, received a chalice of a delicate amber fluid, presumably to pour out as a libation. In one corner, at a subsidiary altar, sat two more priests, contemplating in devout silence the altar table which was spread with black tablets of wood, each engraved with mysterious inscriptions consisting of white blobs. Now and again one priest would lean forward, make mysterious passes with his hands, and produce another of the tablets which he would place upon the altar with an expression of sincere religious joy on his face. In another corner yet a fourth priest made mystic signs before a mysterious brown casket which instantly gave out a succession of melodious chimes. A grave voice then delivered an impressive though melancholy sermon, throughout which all the worshippers maintained devout and utter silence. When it was finished many of them abandoned themselves to expressions of intense religious ecstasy and devotion and, taking weird charts and diagrams from their pockets, gave themselves up to devout contemplation and assiduous consideration. The Martian scrutinised one carefully for some time but the figures and crosses and other symbols were too involved for him to follow. Even the names were unfamiliar, and he could only conclude that they were some form of religious writing pertaining to the Earth men's faith. Once one of the devotees was so carried away by the intensity of his religious passion that he had to be removed by two priests, lest the fervour of his dementia communicated itself to the other worshippers.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine At length the impressive ceremony drew to a close, and the votaries began to drift away. The high priest advanced from behind the altar, where he had been engaged in mystic contemplation of the graven metal tokens—held up one hand, and pronounced the beautiful benediction in ringing tones, " Time, gentlemen, please ". DAVID M. CRAIG (Upper IV).

170

Between Two Worlds " He's going out into the real world." How often has this remark been passed by smug, greying people who once themselves faced a new, challenging world with high ideals and burning ambition— people who, their ideals now eroded, smoothed and modified by the rains of life and their ambition abandoned in favour of material success, have settled down to live their fading years in a comfortable security which, nevertheless, is pervaded by a disturbing discontent and a dully biting sense of failure. And how seldom has the raw listener been warned by the hidden bitterness behind that remark. How seldom has he realised that he, too, is to strive and fail, reaching a point that is, perhaps, not even half-way on the road to the brilliant success he once visualised. Indeed, he is like a slowly opening bud which, through lack of moisture and nourishment, is destined never to attain full bloom, but is, instead, to wither overnight and become nothing but a bare stalk around which even a sense of former beauty does not cling. But what is this " real world" which the senior schoolboy has to face? It is indeed a world about which he must be warned and advised, but it is not a world he should be made to fear. It will,, indeed, demand something which has not before been asked of him, at least in such large measure. It will demand individuality and initiative, the ability to stand alone, to work alone, to learn alone. No longer will he be merely part of a larger body which never strays from its carefully planned and well-ordered path; he will, instead, be forced to cut his own path through the trackless jungle of life, with its interlacing growths of hate, doubt and failure, a barrier behind which lie the seemingly unattainable rewards of a lifetime's striving. This, then, is the lesson which he has to learn. The world, unlike his school, is not full of people who have much in common and therefore a certain affinity for one another. On the contrary it contains conflicting factions and personalities which raise the turmoil in which he has to live. Whereas before, he has always sailed with the tide or run before the prevailing breeze, he will now have to fight the drag of cross-currents and the merciless battering of adverse gales. No longer will he be like a strong, green leaf, firmly attached to the parent bough, from which it draws its sustenance; but will instead become " one red leaf, the last of its clan" swirling before every chill gust.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

171

The schoolboy, then, must realise that initiative and individuality are the qualities which will allow him to go forward. And he must learn this lesson before he enters the " real world ", for if, exposed as he is to life's distractions, he does not learn it till afterwards, the period of paralysed uncertainty which results may well prove to be his downfall. He must see this new world clearly, not through the glass of the cinema or the mirror of old romance. Then he will be happy to look back to that former world of monastic culture and say that it, too, was a real world. IAN R. FRASER (Upper VI).

Pocket Money—A Class Survey [The figures given in this article are based on the answers of 25 boys in Middle III to a questionnaire recently submitted to them.]

The first question asked was how much pocket money each boy received per month. The percentage of boys in the class who received under los. was 56 per cent.; 12 per cent. got over sos. and under ft ; 2.4 per cent. received between £r and La. The "millionaires" receiving over La numbered a mere 8 per cent. The average amount received per month was found to be 18s. aid. The second question concerned the ideal sum for monthly pocket money. Although " the love of money is the root of all evil", nearly every boy desired more than he actually received; 52 per cent. regarded between los. and Li as adequate, 24 per cent. coveted between £r and La, and 20 per cent. were bold enough to ask for over 2. The remaining 4 per cent. wanted the amount to be varied with demand. The answers showed that on the average, only 5s. old. was spent monthly for definite purposes. An average of izs. per boy per month was spent on refreshments, cinemas and other " vanities of the flesh ", and running expenses such as Scout equipment, stamps and dancing accounted for the remainder. The average amount saved was found to be 6s. 34d., but, unfortunately, not all the class saved this amount— in fact, only 72 per cent. saved any money at all. In other words, 28 per cent. had much more to spend on amusements. Of the savers, some did not save methodically but merely " put by " any balance on the month's working, and only about 36 per cent. of the class saved by means of a Savings Bank or Savings Stamps. As might be expected, some saved for a definite purpose, with the purchase of a bicycle, tennis racquet or other costly article in view. 36 per cent. did not carry over the balance of their income into the next month, while 8 per cent. did so sometimes. All the rest carried forward the balance of their pocket-money into the next month. The next question concerned the rate of payment—whether it was fixed or varied. 5z per cent. had a fixed rate, and many of the remaining 48 per cent. agreed that the fixed rate was preferable, giving Security—that panacea for all evils. Relatives' pockets as sources of income were also investigated. Only 32 per cent. of the class got any money from relatives—which

172

Aberdeen Grammar School Mag‘qine

seems to indicate that relatives are either very miserly, or generous, but rarely visited. On the average, zs. 9d. was received from relatives per month, whilst the average amount from other sources of income, such as birthday and Christmas presents, was S. Presumably birthdays are eagerly awaited as extra pay-days, the chief contributors being the aunts and uncles referred to above. The next question concerned the frequency of pay-day. 68 per cent. received their pocket money weekly, 8 per cent. monthly, 4 per cent. fortnightly, 4 per cent. were paid when funds were needed, and r a per cent. shrewdly let their credit accumulate. When personal preferences were examined, 84 per cent. preferred to receive their money weekly, 4 per cent. monthly, 4 per cent. fortnightly and 4 per cent. preferred to let credit accumulate so as to be available at any time. The preference for monthly payment was based on the larger sum involved, whilst defendants of the weekly system alleged that a monthly sum would be spent long before the end of the period. Among general comments on pocket money, a constantly recurring one was that the price of goods was too high and the amount of pocket money too low. Compromises were suggested, and the proposal was made that the amount of pocket money should vary with the cost of living. It was suggested that too much pocket money promotes " bad habits ", but the promoters of the questionnaire hastily dissociate themselves from this statement. An extreme proposal was made that pocket money should be paid to schoolchildren by the Government, doubtless on the analogy of Family Allowances. IAni ROBB arid IAN STEWART (Middle IIIA).

King Lear A tragic man with madness in his eyes, Once a Colossus at his mighty court With three fair daughters at his every call, Cried thunder from the heavens, and in flash On lustrous flash the lightning answered him— Him who in terrible madness named the mouse His plaything, and his barren time beguiled With useless witless joking of a clown : And his fair daughter, proud Cordelia, Who answered nothing to the haughty king, Was borne, the symbol of fair, fragile pathos, Her swanthroat bruised with harsh and hempen strands, Cradled within her father's shaking arms— Shaking with madness, rage, and tragedy. And Gloster, faithful Gloster, wandered o'er The dark and wasting acres of the heath : His eyes were bloody sockets and his mind, Once tender, was a bloodier hollow tilled With mad despair, hopeless and torn and smeared. DAVID M. CRAIG (Upper IV).

Aberdeen Grammar' School Magazine

173

Who's Who among the Prefects John M. Eddison. Our School Captain used to favour the " elder " generation. Still, as always, looking around. 1 know you: solitary griefs, Desolate passions, aching hours.—Lionel P. Johnson.

* * * lain Cuthbertson. Speaks French, Spanish, Lower German and a little English, plays cricket and the double-bass. His passion for cleanliness extends to scrubbing the ceiling of the Prefects' Room. I grow old . . . I grow old, I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.—T. S. Eliot. *

Alexander I. Cheyne. This ever-smiling Vice-Captain of the Rugby XV has made prodigious advances since his initiation to Madame's. Moreover, he is from time to time " Raitted " quite high as an Olympic possible. And a smile on the face of the tiger.—Anon. * * *

Ian R. Fraser. Our luscious, sweet-toned hunk of manhood, whose eloquence is not confined to acting Mayor Orden . . . Time was when Love and I were well acquainted.—W. S. Gilbert.

William D. Michie. Says he does a lot of running around— we've only noticed him at the field. He was a handsome, well-shaped man: very good company, and of a very ready and pleasant smooth wit.—John Aubrey.

Ronald D. Milne. Like Beethoven, his exhausted cry is " More light "—to be heard at the T.T, lunch-hour. Has long sessions at B. & W's. Has recently become a " steve-adore ". Nunc scio quid sit Amor.— Virgil. * * * Douglas S. Robbie. A shy, retiring sort of lad whose peaceful ways have a profound effect on the atmosphere of our Room. He wishes, with the Prefects' permission, to give informal chats on Theology. I hate all that don't love me, and slight all that do.—George Farquhar. 0 Dowglas, 0 Dowglas, tendir and trowel—Richard Holland.

Patrick D. Robertson. Communism, in recent months, may have made lengthy strides in our midst, but these, we feel sure, Pat is quite unable to take. Saturday night! Saturday night! I want to make Hammersmith hum.—A. P. Herbert.

574

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

John Dunn. Our ever-departing East African wicket-keeper— held in awe by First-year boys who heard that he is chief of the BongoWongos. That, though school-bred, the boy be virtuous still.—William Cowper. * * *

William M. Moncur. The possessor of a pair of broad, athletic, yet restful shoulders. He wants to be a chinwag. Full o' beans and benevolence.—R. S. Surtccs. * * *

John S. Sutherland. Thought of staying at School until the Advisory Report was adopted, but finally decided on the quicker method of the Leaving Certificate. When asked by a certain master about his " nocturnal perambulations ", he replied in his characteristic vein, " Ah yes, yes I " My Murray.—Lord Byron.

* * * Eric H. Cruickshank. The uncommunicative Captain of the 1st XI. Veraly, reraly, this is a short summary of a long case. I lc has a leg.—George Meredith. * * *

J. Keith Farquharson. The " laddic " of the Prefects' Room. Favourite games include " Back-of-the-Gym" football and French Cricket. \We're sorry he doesn't drop in to see us oftener. His identity presses upon me.—John Keats. * * *

J. Edward Fraser. Of the quiet, over-modest " intelligentsia " class. \X'ould do very well indeed as a scouting lecturer to Greek guerillas. And all your fortune lies beneath your hat.—John Oldham.

* * * Malcolm G. Lyall. Has his own, clearly-defined ideas about everything and everybody, which he takes little trouble to conceal. I'm a second eleven sort of chap.—J. M. Barrie.

Aberdeen University Bursary Competition The results of this year's University Bursary Competition were announced on 16 June, 1948. In both the Science and Medicine lists the first bursary has been won by a Grammar boy. John M. Eddison, son of Mr. J. S. M. Eddison of the School Staff, has been awarded a £70 bursary in Science, and Douglas S. Robbie a £30 bursary in Medicine. Eddison and Robbie are this year's joint duxes of the School. Other successful competitors from the School were lain Cuthbertson (£4o Arts bursary), Ronald D. Milne (£3o Science bursary) and James K. Farquharson (£ao Arts bursary).

Aberdeen Grammar Schad Magazine

1 75

House Notes Byron House At a meeting held in the beginning of April, the following officials were elected: Captain of Cricket, J. M. Eddison; Vice-Captain, D. S. Robbie; Captain of Athletics, A. N. O. Maclntyre; Vice-Captain, I. Cuthbertson. In the second half of the rugby season the House team were beaten by Keith and Melvin and finished third in the Inter-House Rugby Championship. Byron occupied the same place in the Annual Swimming Gala. The House competitors acquitted themselves well, especially in the relay races. One inter-House cricket match has been played in which Byron defeated Keith by twenty-seven runs. Batting honours go to Donald and Robbie, while Cuthbertson and Robbie shared the Keith wickets. The School Sports may not find Byron House champions, but it is more important that every boy should do his best for the sake of the House. Good luck, Byron! JOHN M. EDDISON, Howe Captain. Dun House At a meeting held at the beginning of the summer term, the following officials were elected : Cricket Captain, M. G. Lyall; Vice-Captain, E. D. Watt; Athletic Captain, R. D. Milne; Vice-Captain, P. D. Robertson ; and a new swimming ViceCaptain was elected, namely, J. A Thomson. I am afraid that in the inter-House rugby matches Dun finished last, but I am convinced this was not due to a lack of keenness on the part of the team. Our hockey team were much more successful, defeating the other I louses confidently. The greatest triumph for the House this year was of course the winning of the inter-House contest at the Swimming Gala. The Dun team were worthy winners. In defeat or in victory, it is pleasing to see the keenness of spirit that exists generally in Dun House and I am sure that every member in his own small way has contributed and will contribute his greatest effort for the prestige of the House. R. D. MILNE, Hours Captain.

Keith House Officials for the summer term were appointed as follows : Cricket Captain, J. C. K. Steel; Vice-Captain, J. S. Sutherland; Athletic Captain, A. I. Cheyne; Vice-Captain, J. S. Sutherland. This has again been a good year for Keith; for apart from our success in winning the Rugby Cup, even with a depleted team, there has been a big improvement in all the House's activities. The Juniors were runners-up in their section, and in Hockey too, we occupied the same position. At the Annual Swimming Gala, the House gave an excellent display. Given a good start by the fine swimming of P. G. Inns and R. Shand, we never looked back, and only faltered in the relay race. One sport in which the House does not seem to be doing very well is cricket. The Senior team have lost the first game against Byron and the Juniors are in a very similar plight. However, the position may improve later in the term. A very pleasing feature of the House's activities this session has been the growing keenness and enthusiasm shown by the younger boys. This augurs well for the future of the House. On behalf of those of us who are leaving, I wish them the best of luck and beg them to keep Keith's banner always flying high. J. S. SUTHERLAND, Howe Captain.

Melvin House The results of the rugby inter-House matches were quite satisfactory, as Melvin won two of the three played. But unfortunately we did not manage to gain enough points to win the House Cup for the second year running, the honour falling to Keith House this time. With the opening of both the cricket and athletic season we have great hopes. Up to the time of writing we have played only one House match, against Dun, and unfortunately failed to beat them, mainly due to their strong bowling. However, we look forward to successes in future games. Eric Cruickshank was elected Cricket Captain, and also, incidentally, School Cricket Captain, with J. Dunn as Vice-Captain. J. Dunn was elected Athletic Captain, both of the School and of the House, with K. Coutts as Vice-Captain. J. DUNN, Howe Captain.

t76

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

The Literary and Debating Society Interest in the Society remains at a high standard, and an average attendance of sixty was recorded at the meetings held during the Spring term. Recent innovations arc visits to the Sheriff Court and to the Council Chambers, which we hope to establish as annual events. The party which attended the Sheriff Court consisted of sixth year members only, owing to age stipulations, and the visit to the Town House, where members heard the City Fathers discussing salmon and sea-trout and Blanche Coleman's All-Girl Band, was made by small parties of members from years V and VI, owing to space limitations. Thanks arc due to our honorary president, Mr. Russell, for arranging these outings, to Sheriff Laing and the Court officials for their helpful and friendly attitude, and to Mr. Rennie for facilitating the second visit. An uninspiring debate, " That our Progress since the Middle Ages has been in Reverse Gear" was held with the High School. A. M. Milne and M. G. Lyall were the School's principal speakers, but the other seventy odd members present acquitted themselves poorly. The motion was defeated by seventy votes to seven. This year's Short Story Competition made up in quality of story what it lacked in quantity of entries. Of the seven stories submitted, D. M. Craig won first prize with " The Satyr " and the second prize was divided between W. A. J. Davies (" Sand to Snow ") and A. B. McNutt (" It Pays in the End "). Thanks are accorded to the judges, Messrs. Russell, Cook and Eddison of the School Staff. An interesting speech on an interesting subject held the attention of eighty members when Mr. J. F. Walker delivered his speech on " The History of the Grammar School". Unfortunately, time limited the scope of the address, but Mr. Walker always has been, and always will be, a welcome speaker. In accordance with tradition, very few attended the debate at the Central School, held as it was at an unusual time. D. M. Craig, supporting the motion " That Suicide is Justifiable ", gained a win by thirty votes to twenty-five. A. M. Milne was second speaker for the negative. The " Court-Room " was crowded with an audience of over zoo when Miss Matheson and Miss Morrison were brought to the bar charged, in an indictment of 25o words, with mental cruelty and illegal captivity. Mr. Justice Cuthbertson presided. The prosecution was conducted by Mr. D. M. Craig, K.C. and the defence by Mr. D. S. Robbie, K.C. Mr. Craig's case was based on the coldest of cold facts (" perverting the great electorate—shame!! ") whilst Mr. Robbie based his case on an appeal to the emotions—mainly the emotion of humour (" M'lud, I object! "—" Your objection, Mr. Robbie ?"—" M'lud, I withdraw my objection"). In spite of Mr. Robbie's " star " witnesses, Mr. Craig's case prevailed, aided by scraps from distinguished diaries. The prisoners were found Guilty and sentenced to sing a popular ditty before the Court. Thanks arc due to the ladies for submiuing to the Court's jurisdiction, and to members of Staff for the loan of gowns. A meeting dubbed an " Open Forum " was rather unsuccessful, perhaps because it took place immediately before the School's Annual Swimming Gala. Messrs. 11211 and Craig gave dogmatic views on the political situation. A debate held with Gordon's College on the motion " That Sport plays too great a Part in our Lives " was notable because of the high quality of the general discussion, perhaps the highest reached this year. P. M. Gordon and J. F. McClellan, the School's two protagonists, were able upholders of the Society's traditions. In spite of objections to blood-sports, to team games as opposed to individual effort, and to the methods employed in games-education in schools, the motion was defeated by twenty-four votes to eight. A noted former pupil of the School, Dr. Douglas Simpson, delivered a Lantern Lecture to the Society on the subject " The Re-discovery of Kindrochit Castle— a Romance of the Spade ". He related how he achieved the excavation of the castle with the aid of the 1st Aberdeen (Grammar School) Troop of Scouts between 1925 and 1929. Both lecture and lecturer held the audience enthralled, no vote of thanks being sufficient to express its appreciation. The last debate of the term, " That Newspapers should be controlled by a Central Authority ", was opened by E. Fraser and 1. Cuthbertson, supported by G. Cowie and G. Macandrew respectively. Practically the entire assemblage was against the motion, as is shown by the voting—For, four ; Against, thirty-two.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

177

A Hat-night attracted forty-five members—a large attendance for the last meeting of the year. Various topics were discussed, hut the discussion on "Palestine", where Mr. Robbie shone, was of special interest, showing that the majority of the Society held anti-Semitic and pro-Arab views. The quality of discussion this session augurs well for the future, and we hope that, for once, two successful years may run consecutively. We thank all who have supported the Society, and return a collective vote of thanks to those whose individual deeds of grace are recorded above. J. EDWARD FRASER, Secretary.

The Dramatic Society On the evenings of Tuesday and Wednesday, 16 and 17 December, John Steinbeck's " The Moon is Down " was presented by the School Dramatic Society. The performance, with interludes, took about two and a quarter hours. On the Tuesday evening the Rector introduced the play to an audience composed mainly of schoolboys, whereas on Wednesday it was mainly an adult audience, which was naturally more appreciative. At the end of each performance, Mr. Fraser, the president of the Society, delivered a short speech indicating the players' appreciation of the audience and of the many who helped to make the play a success. Mr. Fraser very rightly singled out Mr. Russell, the honorary president of the Society and producer of the play, as the person to whom most of the credit was due, and we, the players, know with what patience Mr. Russell coached us in the finer points of the play. Mr. C. Grant was in charge of the make-up and was very ably assisted by Miss Morrison and Miss Matheson. Messrs. Bell, Couper, Davie, Hemingway, Lawson and Lynch bore the burden of scenery, lighting, furnishing, etc., and all of these were carried out very skilfully. Mr. Russell Bell is to be thanked for allowing us to borrow so freely most of our stage furnishings ; and also our Cadet Company for the use of equipment. Thanks arc due to senior boys who helped with such varied matters as lighting and sound effects, and also to those who acted as ushers. Mr. Falconer and the School Orchestra played before the performance and at the interval. The play was an unqualified success due, as the Rector stated, " to the excellent co-operation which went on both on the stage and behind it ". DOUGLAS S. ROBBIE, Secretary.

Army Cadet Force Twenty-eight cadets have gained Part I and one cadet Part II of Certificate ' A' so far this session. It was through no fault of the cadets concerned that such a large number failed to pass in Part II. The standard of " pass " was up-graded to a level hitherto never experienced by the unit, and, unfortunately, the decision to raise the " pass " standard was not notified to the unit prior to the examination. The reason for the raising of standards in Certificate 'A' examinations has now been given in a succession of War Office letters, the substance of which is that Certificate 'A' holders will, in future, when called up for National Service in the Army, definitely be given special treatment on reporting to their first units. They will be tested to check subjects on which basic training may be reduced and time saved on basic subjects will be devoted to developing powers of leadership and training in methods of instruction. As regards more domestic matters, training has had to be adjusted since the Certificate ' A' examinations. Emphasis at present is on those subjects for which a high standard of leadership is now required, namely, section-leading and handling a squad at drill. The summer programme is leading up to the annual event in Cadet life which is the most enjoyable and interesting of all—Summer Camp. It takes place this year just outside Fraserburgh, where we shall be joining units from other areas. The camp-site is a good one and facilities for sport and recreation should be first-class. Pipers and drummers have been handicapped in their training owing to the move of their instructors from Gordon Barracks. New instructors have now been

178

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

found and it is to be hoped that the standard of playing will improve with uninterrupted tuition. Cadet Kenneth Courts was fortunate enough to be invited to play with the S.N.E. Arca Cadet Pipes and Drums which visited Paris in June. The rest of the trainees were unfortunately not far enough advanced to be considered for places. D.M.A.

Scout Notes Ito Troop In January of this year the Troop embarked on a new venture. The Scouts produced two plays and the Cub Pack produced one play and sang some songs. Although the attendance was smaller than expected, the evening fully justified the hard work that went into its preparation. The success of the evening was mainly due to W. D. Michie, acting A.S.N1., who produced the scout plays, and Miss Mackintosh. who staged the cub play and songs. Twenty-two scouts attended the Easter Camp at Clinterty where we were able to welcome G. Davidson, an ex-Scoutmaster, who spent most of the week with us. Although the weather was not very kind, a large amount of First and Second Class work was done, and everyone had a good time. There were two patrol camps during the May week-end, one at Clinterty and the other seven miles out the Countcsswells Road. Those at the latter site held their camp in true scout style, pushing the trek cart both ways. With the summer holidays coming nearer, arrangements are well ahead for the annual camp. The Troop is breaking new ground this year by going to Glen Clova, Kirricmuir, Angus, and we thank the Airlie Estates for their readiness to accommodate and assist us. Badges gained this year arc too numerous to mention individually but we offer our congratulations to all who have been successful. Plans are well ahead for our Cafe at the end of this year and parents and senior members are already racking their brains for new ways of raising money. The Cub Pack is still at full strength and we are very fortunate in having Miss Mackintosh still with us to keep a watchful eye on a large bundle of mischief. The Pack entered a Six for the Totem Pole again this year, and although they failed to win the competition, we congratulate them on gaining fourth place. J. K. B.

9th Troop Since the last Magazine was issued, there have been a great many changes in the Troop. A new appointment was created when Mr. J. C. Esslemont, B.Com. became Group Scoutmaster. Mr. Esslemont has had a long connection with Grammar School scouts, having been one of the founders of the 17th Troop. Already he has done much to co-ordinate the activities of the Group and the " Ninth " are indeed fortunate in securing his services. T. N. Watson, formerly of the 23rd Troop, has become Scoutmaster, with Egil Andersen, a Norwegian scouter, as acting Assistant Scoutmaster. There have been a number of promotions: K. Brown, I. Donald, H. McIntyre and A. Milne are acting A.S.M.s and the new Patrol Leaders are G. Blyth, I. Esslemont, W. Gatt, 1. Brown and R. McIntyre. Acting A.S.M. G. Leslie, who has served the 9th Troop faithfully for so many years, has been appointed A.S.M. of the 49th Troop, and the good wishes of all members of the " Ninth " follow him in his new duties. The Group is particularly fortunate in having a strong and active Group Committee, who have shown great interest in the Troop's activities and have met regularly throughout the winter session. Past members of the Troop will be interested to know that Mr. Fenton Wyncss, former County Commissioner of Aberdeen, who retired from active scouting in 1936, has joined the Committee. Mr. Wyness is an old friend of the " Ninth " and, along with the late Dr. A. F. Hyslop, he did a great deal for Grammar School scouting generally. On 19 March the Troop was visited by the Rector and Mr. Coulthard. Mr. Robertson addressed the boys and referred to the long and fine traditions of the " Ninth ", which he felt sure were being maintained.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

179

During the summer vacation the Troop Headquarters is to be redecorated and refitted. During the war years little was done to the building except essential work, and consequently there is much now to be done. The Swimming and Life Saving class has proved a great success. Despite the hour of meeting-7.5o a.m. on Sundays—good attendances have been maintained throughout the term and already there arc signs of proficiency in this branch of rescue work. The annual Summer Camp is to be held at Loch Kinord, a site well-known to former members of the Troop. A very large attendance is expected and, given good weather, a very successful camp should be held. The Scouters of the Troop would welcome visits from old members at Friday night meetings. The Pack under the charge of Miss Isobel Gauld is in a very flourishing condition. It was with much regret that the Pack lost the services of Miss Aitken, who has taken up an appointment in Edinburgh. Under her leadership the Pack was brought to a very high state of efficiency, and our good wishes are extended to her in her new sphere of activity. It was gratifying that the Pack won the Totem Pole competition. A.S.M. H. McIntyre and A.S.M. I. Donald are assisting with the Pack and Douglas A. Bruce, a well-known rugby player, has been appointed Assistant Cubmaster. T. N. W.

17th Troop During the past term the Troop has made much progress. Members have been regular in their attendance and therefore there has been a considerable increase in the amount of scout work done. Owing to the very good weather we have had several enjoyable outdoor meetings at Hazlehead. The Athletic Sports are fast approaching and we have a very good chance of regaining our usual position at the top. The five-a-side football tournament is also close at hand and the Troop will be all out to improve on last year's effort when we were knocked out in the semi-final. We were unable to enter for the " County Flag " as it coincided with school examinations, but it is hoped that in future years a maiore suitable date will be fixed for this competition. At this time of year, however, every scout is thinking of Summer Camp, and at the time of going to press we are negotiating for a site near Aboyne. In November the Troop held a Café and Dance in the School and realised the creditable sum of £163. I should like to take this opportunity of thanking all parents and friends who worked so hard to make this venture a success. The Club Pack still flourishes under the leadership of Miss Murray, Miss Walker and Scout D. Wilkinson. F. R. P.

Scottish Schoolboys' Club Undoubtedly the highlight of this year's activities was the highly successful rugby tour of the Borders, at Easter. The party consisted of eight Grammar, eight Gordon's and two Central boys. Four matches were played, of which three were won and the fourth lost by a narrow margin. The group created a good impression in the South and it is to be hoped that this tour will become an annual event. There have been few meetings this term due to Highers and other such minor examinations but an open night is being arranged for sometime in June, when a reunion of the tourists and all others interested is expected. We extend our heartiest thanks to Messrs. J. C. Frame and F. R. Paterson for their work in connection with the tour and also to Mr. T. H. McCrea for his good services to the S.S.C. in the past year. J. S. SUTHERLAND.

1 So

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

School Sporting Activities Athletics This season we are fortunate in having most of last year's Athletic team back at School. John Dunn is Captain of Athletics and Ronald Milne, Vice-Captain. To date we have had only one fixture. This was at Hilton, when a combined Gordon's-Grammar team competed against the Atalanta Club and the Emergency Physical Training Centre. Contrary to expectations, the Schools' team, which was mostly composed of Grammar boys, won and, although we had handicaps in all the events, we can feel justly proud of our performance. Our next meeting is with Gordon's College, and we should do very much better against them this year. The School is sending the following team to compete in the Inter-Scholastic Sports at Westerlands, Glasgow :—J. Dunn (hurdles, discus, pole-vault); W. D. Michie (too yards, medley relay); E. H. Cruickshank (high jump, broad jump, medley relay); A. I. Cheync (medley relay); J. S. Sutherland (medley relay); A. G. Watt (broad jump); K. Coutts (t mile); and P. A. MacAndrew (pole vault). On zz May, the School won the Evening Express Trophy at the University Sports, when our relay team finished comfortably ahead of Gordon's College and the Central School. The School Sports were held on ii and 1 2 June, and we were once again very fortunate in having fine weather. E. H. Cruickshank is to be congratulated on his most remarkable performance in the open championship. He gained 17 points and was it points ahead of his nearest rival. Keith won the inter-House championship with a total of 138 points, well ahead of Byron, who had 78 points. We arc all deeply indebted to Mr James Hunter and his brother, Mr. Edwin Hunter, for their magnificent organisation which made the Sports one of the most memorable on record.

Swimming For one brief evening the Cinderella of physical education enjoyed the homage of her admirers. If the gaiety did not last until midnight, this was due not to fading interest in her charms as much as to Mr. Hunter's appreciation of a perfectlytimed climax. A large number of entries had been disposed of in preliminary rounds. The finalists by their enthusiasm and skill delighted a crowded auditorium of parents and friends. Competition was keen in all classes ; and the antics of various Smith Minors with candle and potato excited the envy of smaller spectators, who will, no doubt, for some time to come pester their harassed parents for instruction in the art. Merely to stir this spirit of emulation amongst non-swimmers would justify an exhibition of far less skill. Added pleasure was given to the evening by the competition, in their special events, of former pupils who in the past have upheld the School's swimming prestige. In complimenting Mr. James Hunter on his excellent business sense, the Rector anticipated the success of the Gala. Not only was a full and varied programme completed in ninety minutes of swift and unflagging action, but substantial financial profit was realised. Our thanks are also due to Messrs. A. Robb and J. Main, who judged the diving; also to Mr. Bissct, pond superintendent, and his staff for their helpful co-operation. The following were the chief results :— INTER-HOUSE CHAMPIONSHIP—I. Dun, 351 points; 2. Keith, z8 points; 3. Byron, z6 points; 4. Melvin, 24 points. INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS:Senior School—s. Malcolm Lvall; 2. Patrick Innes. Middle School—t. Roy Shand; z. Richard Cradock. Lower School-1. Hamish Bates; z. Maxwell Williamson. R.W.

Aberdeen Grammar School Maga...zinc

181

Cricket With eight of last year's XI back, hopes were high for a successful season. A few of last year's and XI also returned and the three vacant places in the ist XI were filled without difficulty. At the elections, Eric Cruickshank was elected Captain with John Eddison as Vice-Captain. Up to the date of writing, the ist XI have played five School matches, and four of them have resulted in victories, our only defeat being at the hands of Glenalmond. The and Xl under the captaincy of lain Cuthbcrtson have also had a successful season so far. They have had to admit defeat, however, to our old rivals— Gordon's College. This season saw the institution of a 3rd XI, and much is expected of them. We arc also glad to note that Colts, Juniors and Minors arc having great success in their matches. Thanks are due to many of the Masters for their great help in the umpiring of matches, but in particular to Messrs. E. Hunter, J. C. Hunter and W. D. Allardice, who have done great work in making arrangements for all the fixtures. To Mr. McCrea our thanks arc due for his help and coaching and to Mr. Tyson, not only for his coaching but also for the excellent playing-fields. 1ST XI INTER-SCHOOL MATCHES 24 April.—v. Arbroath High School, at Rubislaw. Team : E. H. Cruickshank, J. M. Eddison, J. C. K. Steel, I. Donald, D. S. Robbie, J. Dunn, R. T. Hamilton, F. P. Lynch, E. McLeod, E. D. Watt, I. D. F. Thomson. Cruickshank won the toss and put Arbroath in to bat in this time-limit match. The Arbroath batting was only mediocre, and School found no great difficulty in dismissing eight of the batsmen for 42 in the 11 hours at their disposal. For School, Cruickshank 4 for 12, Watt 3 for 8. The School fielding was good and the bowling lacked nothing in speed, though at times it was a little inaccurate. Hamilton and Eddison, the School opening pair, took the score to 37 before Hamilton was out for Ix. The Arbroath total was passed without further loss. In the final School total of 5 t for a, Eddison scored 34, Dunn 3 not out, and Cruickshank a not out. 1 May.—v. Dundee High School, at Rubislaw. The School team was unchanged from the previous week. Dundee elected to bat first and scored very slowly, making only 5x for 9 in their xi hrs. In this match too the School fielding was good and the bowling accurate. No serious opposition was encountered as only two of the Dundee batsmen reached double figures. For School, McLeod 4 for 15, Watt 2 for 14, Robbie 3 for 9. A feature of the School's fielding was the outstanding wicket-keeping of J. Dunn. Hamilton and Eddison opened for School and took the score to 16 before play waS stopped for to minutes on account of rain. When play recommenced, School were left with forty minutes in which to score almost 4o runs. Scoring steadily, School scored 52 for x with five minutes to spare. For School, Hamilton had 16, Dunn 17 not out, Eddison 16 not out. 15 May.—v. Gordonstoun, at Rubislaw. Cruickshank again won the toss and put Gordonstoun in to bat. The School attack proved too strong for Gordonstoun who were dismissed in forty minutes for a total of 36. The fielding was quite good in this match and the bowling of a very high standard, Cruickshank and McLeod being practically unplayable. The former had 5 for to and MacLeod took f for 16. School's innings began badly, both Hamilton and Eddison being dismissed within five minutes-9 for 2. However, Cruickshank and Dunn came to the rescue and soon scored the necessary runs without further loss. Cruickshank, 19, was not out after the Gordonstoun total had been passed, and Dunn, 19, was also undefeated. 22 May.—v. Glenalmond, at Glenalmond. Cruickshank won the toss and decided to bat first. Play began at i a noon and Steel and Eddison opened the batting. School made a disastrous start, Eddison 3, and Dunn 4, being dismissed in the first six overt. Steel and Cruickshank, however, took the score from x6 to 67, when, an over before lunch, Cruickshank was out 1.b.w. after alfine innings of 19 at a crucial time. Steel and Robbie were still in

182

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

at lunch-time. Rain held up play till 2.45 and then School continued batting. Steel soon reached his so and was then caught in the slips at 5z, a very good, though not a chanceless innings. Robbie was out for 11,and I lamilton (27 not out) and Watt (9 not out) took the score to 134 before Cruickshank declared with 6 wickets down. Glenalmond were left with 2/ hours in which to pass the School's total and they began confidently, 37 being up before the first wicket fell. The Glenalmond batsmen played some really forceful cricket and passed the School total with only wickets down. Two Glenalmond batsmen had not out half-centuries. The School attack was not seen at its best in this match and the fielding was not as good as in previous matches. For School, Cruickshank had z for 48. The notable features of this game were Steel's fine innings and the high scoring of both sides. Though School lost their unbeaten record in this match, this was due more to the excellent Glenalmond batting than to any shortcoming in the School team. z6 May.—v. Gordon's College, at Scafield. Team : E. H. Cruickshank, J. M. Eddison, J. C. K. Steel, J. Dunn, D. S. Robbie, R. T. Hamilton, E. D. Watt, I. Donald, E. McLeod, F. P. Lynch, I. D. F. Thomson. School were keen to atone for their failure at Glenalmond on the previous Saturday, but there was great doubt as to whether the game could be played due to continuous rain in the morning. The start was delayed for an hour, and at 3.3o a decision was made that the game should go on. School won the toss and elected to bat on a rain-drenched wicket. Steel and Cruickshank opened the School innings to the bowling of Anderson and Christie, but Gordon's had a quick success when Steel was well caught at point in Anderson's second over. Dunn now joined Cruickshank and a good stand resulted, the score moving from 8 to 51 before Cruickshank was caught after a good knock of 33. Dunn went shortly after, having scored 19, and then Robbie was out 1.b.w. to Woolard for 4. The scoreboard now read 64 for 4. A grand stand by Eddison and Hamilton took the score out of a dangerous position and at tea School had made 107 for 4 wickcts, Eddison being 3o not out and Hamilton 19 not out. Hamilton, however, was out immediately after tea without addition to his score. Watt joined Eddison but was soon out to one of the best balls so far bowled. He had made 4. Donald joined Eddison, who by now had reached so and the score mounted rapidly. Eddison was batting beautifully and seemed well set for his century. Time, however, forced School to declare with the huge total of 192 for 6 wickets. Eddison had played a superb innings of 85 not out while Donald also batted very well to score 24 not out. The wicket had now dried considerably, and Gordon's were soon in difficulties. Fine howling by Robbie and Lynch, who were both spinning the ball considerably, soon had most of the Gordon's batsmen hack in the pavilion. None of their batsmen looked comfortable and they were finally all out for 76. Robbie took 3 for 18 and Lynch 3 fora'. The School team can take great pride in this grand victory—one of the best ever gained over our old rivals—and can look forward to future matches with confidence. Average Times Total No. No. of Batting Averages Innings not out Runs z J. M. Eddison . . . 140 . 46.67 5 31.00 . . 6z . . J. Dunn 5 3 29.00 1 . . . J. C. K. Steel . 58 3 1 . . E. H. Cruickshank 24'33 4 73 1850 I . • • R. T. Hamilton 5 74 Qualification-5o runs. Bowling Averages Average Runs 'rickets Overt Afaidens 98 13 8 E. H. Cruickshank . 7'53 • 42 6 7.66 23 D. S. Robbie . . . 46 4 . . 15 7.80 E. D. Watt . 39 4 5 to 8.o° 8o . 31 . E. McLeod . 4 11.00 it 1 . 8 I. D. F. Thomson . 4 . I F. P. Lynch . • 14 46 3 15'33

School Cricket 1st XI- Season 1948

Standing

Mr. I

1 lancer

Afasier), 'Mr. L. E. 1 yson (Coat.1), I .

att, j. Dunn,

P. Lynch, E. McLcod,

A. S. Hall (Storer). .Sitting—R. T. Hamilton, T. Donald, J. M. Eddison, E. H. Cruickshank (Captain), D. S. Robbie, J. C. K. Steel, I. D. F. Thomson.

School Rugby Football rst RV—Season 1947-48

.1iambng—Alr. L. tiaracr (GameJ .11a.iter), 1. Donald, J. H. Littlejohn, B. T. J. Morris, E. 11. Cruickshank, C. D. Nlowat, W. A. Craig, K. S. Haining. Sitting—W. T. McKain, G. H. Paterson, A. 1. Cheyne (Vice-Captain), J. S. Sutherland (Captors), J. M. Eddison, P. G. limes, A. MacDearmid. In Front—H. B. Paterson, W. D. Michie.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

183

Rugby The weather in season 1947-48 was far more favourable towards rugby than in the previous year and accordingly most of our fixtures were fulfilled. The record of the 1st XV does not show many victories, and for them the start of the season was not too bright. Later on, however, there was a vast improvement, which displayed itself particularly in the game with Glasgow High School. The play on that day was really noteworthy, and the team were most unlucky to be beaten. Another notable feature of the season was the victory over Glasgow Academy. This year saw the revival of the match between the School 1st XV and the F.P.s' 1st XV, and it was acclaimed a great success. It is hoped that two such games will be included in next season's fixture list. In the main, the standard of rugby in the School is good, as can be seen from the excellent records last season of our younger fifteens. Their grand spirit and good knowledge of the game augur well for the future of rugby in the Grammar School. EDWIN HUNTER, Games Master. 1ST XV—INTER-SCHOOL MATCHES 1948

28 January.

7 February. 14 February. 28 February. 6 March. 27 March.

v. Robert Gordon's College at Rubislaw v. Dundee High School at Rubislaw v. George 1-knot's School at Edinburgh v. Paisley Grammar School at Rubislaw v. Glasgow High School at Glasgow . v. Morgan Academy at Dundee

. . . . . .

• • • • • .

Lost o-i 1 Lost o-26 Lost 0-37 Won 27- 8 Lost 3- 8 Lost 5-16

WHO'S WHO IN THE IST XV

J. S. Sutherland. 5 ft. 7i ins.; to st. 5 lbs. Captain and full-back. Played rather erratically in the first few matches but regained his confidence later. Has a very safe pair of hands, a useful kick and a good sense of positioning. He fulfilled his duties as captain well and his enthusiasm did much to inspire his team-mates. A. I. Cheyne. 6 ft.; last. 5 lbs. Vice-Captain and wing-forward. A wellbuilt forward who was outstanding in all the season's matches. A line-out expert and extremely fast in backing up. He led the forwards by unstinted example. Should do well in senior rugby. E. H. Cruickshank. 6 ft. 1 in.; to st. 1z lbs. Wing three-quarter. Very fast and determined in attack, although in defence sometimes suspect. Scored some fine tries and is very promising. Has a good long-distance place-kick. P. G. Inns. 5 ft. 7 ins.; Int. 4 lbs. Centre three-quarter. Can be a good penetrative Centre although sometimes lacking in constructive ideas. Improved greatly towards the end of the season and should do well after more experience. J. M. Eddison. 5 ft. It ins.; lost. to lbs. Centre three-quarter. A very capable, attacking Centre who creates good openings for his wing partner. Only fault is a tendency to hang back in defence. W. D. Michie. 5 ft. 4 ins.; to st. 2 lbs. Wing three-quarter. A very much improved player since last year, in every aspect of his play. Still is inclined to hesitate when hard running is imperative. J. Dunn. 5 ft. II ins.; It st. 8 lbs. Centre three-quarter. A good all-round player who, since he lacked a sharp burst of speed, was unable to exploit the many openings he found. Defends and kicks very well. H. B. Paterson. 3 ft. 9 ins.; 9 st. a lbs. Stand-off half. Was introduced into the side late in the season and proved his ability to get the three-quarter line moving. Should be a great asset to next year's team. I. Donald. 5 ft. 9i ins.; 1 t st. I lb. Scrum-half. A newcomer to the position who proved himself more than a stop-gap scrum-half. Service is good but defence at close quarters is sometimes weak. Has a very safe place-kick. A. Macdearrnid. 5 ft. 5 ins.; to st. 4 lbs. Full-back. A good full-back from the and XV who only played for the 1st XV in the second half of the season.

184

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Handles and kicks well but has a tendency to let the hall bounce instead of going forward to meet it. C. D. Mowat. 5 ft. 11 ins.; 1 i st. TO lbs. Front-row forward. A youthful forward who proved his worth by playing wholeheartedly in most games. Should develop into a very fine forward, once he obtains a wider idea of the game. W. T. McKain. 5 ft. 74 ins.; to st. 4 lbs. Hooker. A keen forward who performed moderately well in this unenviable position. Will prove a good backbone to next year's team. G. H. Paterson. 5 ft. 8 ins.; to st. 4 lbs. Front-row forward. On his day can be a very effective player, especially in the loose. Usually backs up well but at other times appears slightly lethargic. W. A. Craig. 5 ft. 9 ins.; to st. 8 lbs. Second-row forward. A keen wholehearted player who excelled in a maul. Backing up weak at times but is a talented dribbler. J. H. Littlejohn. 5 ft. 9 ins.; 1 x st. 2 lbs. Second-row forward. Inclined to be slow, but when moved can play a very fine hard game. Combined well with Craig in the second row. K. S. Haining. 5 ft. 9 ins.; It st. 1 1 lbs. Lock. A forward who revelled in hard going although he needs to learn to keep pace with the ball. Was seen at his best in the Sevens. B. T. J. Morris. 5 ft. 11 ins.; i x st. Wing forward. A speedy forward who played in this position at the end of the season. Has a fine conception of the game but has a tendency to lie on the fringe when shoving is imperative.

Hockey In the last issue of hockey notes I looked forward to the School XI's showing marked improvement on their nervous showing of the first term, and they justified my optimism. They finished the season a very much better side and some individuals played with great confidence. Forward we still have weaknesses. A good hockey forward needs great courage in following up against a hard-hitting defence and he needs great dash and determination to finish off the job. T. Wilkinson alone of the forwards had the necessary drive. F. Lynch and I. Thomson played many good games at inside forward, if occasionally timid. On the right wing H. Duncan sparkled at times but is too leisurely in action, while on the left wing A. Nisbet showed great promise in this difficult position. Throughout the season the defence was the mainstay of the side. Eric McLeod, strong and very silent, never played a poor game and was most reliable. The Cromar twins, one at back and the other at half (but which was which I still do not know) are wonderful young players, very fit and clever. George Mackie was a real stalwart and improved greatly during the season. He has two ambitions, one to secure goals and the other to talk his opponents off their game. Lastly, we come to Eric Watt, latterly Captain of the side—a model player. He proved an ideal captain, keen and always keeping a watchful eye on the general run of a game. The game should hold a bright future for this very fine sportsman. There have been many happy afternoons for all at Mannofield. There the rank and file play hard and not too seriously, spurred on by the stentorian shouts of Mr. R. S. Couper, urging his team to battle. Woe betide the slacker on his side I Colours have been awarded to G. D. Watt, F. P. Lynch, R. L. Cromar, A. Cromar, E. McLeod, T. H. Wilkinson and G. M. Mackie. I. M. P.

Tennis At a meeting held at the beginning of the summer term the following officials were elected : Captain, J. M. Eddison ; Vice-Captain, I. R. Fraser. This year's record membership reflects on the renewed keenness for tennis in School. Boys are now permitted to play tennis at the field on their games afternoon—the official recognition of tennis as a School game. One match has been played so far, between School and a Boarding House team, School winning by to sets to 8. Matches are being arranged with a Gordon's team and with a Masters' team. J. M. EDDISON, Captain.

T8 5

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

School Office-Bearers for Session 1947-48 H. M. BRUCE A. I. CHEYNE E. H. CRUICKSHANK I. CUTHBERTSON J. DUNN

Prefects JOHN M. EDDISON (Senior Prefect) R. D. MILNE . K. FARQUHARSON I. R. FRASER W. M. MONCUR J. E. FRASER D. S. ROBBIE P. D. ROBERTSON M. G. LYALL J. S. SUTHERLAND W. D. NIICHIE

Byron J. M. EDDISON

House Captains Keith Dun J. S. SUTHERLAND R. D. MILNE Rugby Football I Vice-Captain . J. S. SUTHERLAND

Captain ,

Cricket Via-Captain .

Captain .

•

E. H. CRUICKSHANK I

Captain .

II. M. BRUCE

Captain .

Melvin J. DUNN

A. I. CIIEYNE

J. M. EDDISON

Hockey Vice-Captain .

F. P. LYNCH

. J. M. EDDISON

Tennis I Vice-Captain .

I. R. FRASER

Captain .

. J. DUNN

Athletics I Vice-Captain .

R. D. MILNE

Captain .

•

Swimming I Vice-Captain . Secretary—D. S. ROBBIE

P. G. INNES

M. G. LY ALL

Literary and Debating Society . I. CUTIIBERTSON . . . . . A. M. MILNE . . . J. E. FRASER . .

. President Via-President Secretary .

Dramatic Society . I. R. FRASER • . . . P. M. GORDON . . . . D. S. ROBBIE . . .

President . Vice-President . Secretary

School Editors of the Magazine

. I. CUTHBERTSON i Sports i J. S. SUTHERLAND (Rigby) School Editor . Editors 1 J. M. EDDISON (Cricket) Assistant School Editor J. M. EDDISON Rambling and Mountaineering Club I. CUTHBERTSON . .

President

Scottish Schoolboys' Club (S.S.C.) . . J. S. SUTHERLAND .

School Representative .

Scripture Union

Secretary .

•

I. CUTHBERTSON

186

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

The Former Pupils' Club Founded 1893

Club Executive Notes I would draw the attention of all those interested in the Club and School to the reference that appears in another section of this issue of the Magazine to the present position with regard to pupils residing in the Boarding House. The Former Pupils' Club were the instigators of the Boarding House Company and it has in the past fulfilled a very useful purpose. It will be with considerable gratification that parents of prospective entrants to the Boarding House will read that this valuable asset of the School is to continue to function. * * * are most encouraging. Appeals Memorial The results to date of the F.P.'s who have not yet contributed to the fund should do so now. It is hoped that the Roll of Honour will be published by the end of the year. Dr. Theodore Watt's portrait is almost finished and the Executive hope that an unveiling ceremony will be held in the School Hall in the autumn. It is also hoped that the War Memorial, which is being provided by the Town Council, will be ready by October. * * * In the past I have referred to the close co-operation that has existed between the Club and the Headmaster of the School. Consideration is meantime being given to proposals that will, I hope, afford an even closer liaison between the Club, the Staff and the School, so that the Club may be more conversant with the day-to-day problems of presentday School life and lend its assistance where possible. * * * of this year, we had the Spring the in Meeting Annual the At pleasure of welcoming probably the largest attendance of members on record, covering a very wide field of ages. This testifies to the interest of members in the Club and its activities, which is all to the good. * * * I should like to congratulate the various Athletic Sections on their successful season, and without wishing to make any invidious comparisons, I think members would like me to congratulate Dr. J. R. S. Innes and Mr. W. D. Allardice on gaining their Caps and on their other successes in the Rugby field. The other Sections are making excellent showings. The Tennis Section has re-started and we thank those who have taken the initiative in this direction. I was privileged to be the Club's official representative at the Golf Section's first Annual Dinner and would recommend its activities to any F.P.s in the locality interested in the pursuit of golf balls. R. B. WILLIAMSON, Chairman.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

187

The Edinburgh Centre Distinguished Company at Annual Dinner The Annual Dinner of the Edinburgh Centre of the F.P. Club was held in the George Hotel, Edinburgh, on Friday, iz March 5948. LORD MACKAY, President of the Centre, was chairman and he was accompanied at the top table by Mr. J. J. ROBERTSON, Rector of the School, Sir WILSON JAMESON, Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health, Professor James Ritchie, Profcssor of Natural History at Edinburgh University and President of the Edinburgh Gordonians' Club, Professor Sydney Smith, Acting Principal of Edinburgh University, Sir Andrew Davidson, Principal Medical Officer, Department of Health for Scotland, Professor T. J. Mackie, Professor of Bacteriology, Edinburgh University, Mr. J. G. KYD, RegistrarGeneral for Scotland, and Mr. ALAN C. R. WATT, Editor of the Magazine. Mr. DouctAs H. JOHNSTON, K.C., M.P., Solicitor-General for Scotland, and Sheriff J. A. Lattre., who are both members of the Edinburgh Centre, were also present and the other guests included Dr. H. B. Craigie, Medical Commissioner, General Board of Control, and Mr. D. M. WRIGHT, President of the Glasgow Centre of the F.P. Club. There were in all thirty-nine members and guests present. " THE SCHOOL AND THE CLUB " After the Chairman had welcomed the Company the toast of " The School and the Club " was proposed by Mr. DOUGLAS REITH, advocate. After referring to the reduction in the number of our colonies and expressing concern as to how the usual large number of courageous and enterprising F.P.s were going to find their way to fame in the normal orthodox manner by " popping out " to a colony and in due course becoming Governors, Mr. Reith went on to say that the more people he met and the more places he visited, the more he realised were what a unique place the Grammar School is or, in any event, was. " If youpublic horn in Aberdeen", he said, " your parents never thought of sending you toenough schools—you just went to the Grammar School, unless you were unlucky to be sent to ' the other place in Schoolhill ', and, in my day, fees were paid to the mammoth tune of about £3 per term (laughter) with the result that you were quite of likely to sit in a class with, for instance, an eminent surgeon's son on one side was treated you and an ordinary working man's son on the other. Everybody in afterequally and this spirit of independence and equality remained with F.P.sbecome life, with the result that if an ordinary F.P. met another F.P. who had equalitya governor of a colony or something of the sort, the spirit of independent which had been instilled into all the pupils at School resulted in the difference of position at such a meeting being a matter of complete indifference and of no moment." Accordingly, he said, it was with some anxiety that he had heard that many people, including F.P.s in Aberdeen, were now entering their sons for Preparatory Schools and Public Schools—people who would never have dreamed of doing people who had effected such things if fees had not been abolished. In this way the foundation of a school this abolition of fees had perhaps unwittingly laid the snobbery in Aberdeen—a pernicious and distasteful thing which had always been alien to the citizens of Aberdeen. " Despite such thoughts", Mr. Reith went on, " I view the future with optimism. The School was founded prior to 1156 and that wonderful spirit which has permeated the School through all these centuries cannot and will not wither century has and die now—that magnificent spirit which on two occasions in thisthis country sent many hundreds of F.P.s to fight for the liberation and freedom of of ours. " We have no reason to be afraid of the future of the School. Many of our old of masters arc still teaching and they will train and nurture the new generationthe masters in the important and onerous duty which lies upon them of keeping of magnificent spirit of the School a living thing. Also in the sure, safe hands the present Rector, the future of the School is in no danger whatsoever." those The Rector, Mr. J. J. ROBERTSON, replying for the School, reminded conditions, the present that he had never seen the Grammar School under normal crisis of war having been followed by a crisis of reform, but he had to present, he

188

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

said. no gloomy or despairing picture. The Authorities wanted equality of educational opportunity but they were by no means insensible of the merits of the Grammar School—rather were they anxious that its flavour and benefits should be more widely and more equitably distributed. They recognise that it had its own peculiar excellence rare in Scotland, and even rarer in the North-East. " Whatever happens ", said Mr. Robertson, " the School must remain a place of living rather than a place of learning—we owe this to the vision and devotion of a long succession of worthy masters—and by comparison the whole issue of fees is a quite minor and unimportant matter. . . . On the other hand, if the personal touch is lost, all is lost, but if we can preserve the quintessential spirit of the School, we shall continue to live happily and sanely. The changes affect the surface only and will not deliver a mortal blow. The School is still the same School. It will continue to breed the same attachment, and F.P.s will in the years ahead continue to come together as you have done to-night." LOOKING FORWARD TO 1956

Mr. ALAN C. R. WA-rr, Editor of the Magazine, replied on behalf of the Club. After giving some details of the current activities of the Club and mentioning the excellent record of what was probably the best-ever F.P. rugby team, he referred to an event which, although still only on the horizon, would be of supreme interest and importance to everyone connected with the School—its Tooth anniversary which fell to be celebrated in 1956. " That may seem far off", he said, " but there are several projects in connection with this event that will have to be got under way in the near future and it is likely that the Executive of the Club will shortly appoint a small sub-committee to discuss plans in broad outline. I hope that it will be possible for Dr. Douglas Simpson to write his promised history of the School before then and I hope also that another ' Roll of Pupils ' can be compiled and published. The last Roll, you will recall, included a list of all the pupils from 1795 to 1863 and an annotated list from 1863 to 1919, and it would seem very fitting that another Roll, say from 1919 to 1950, should now be prepared so that it may appear before 1956." He then referred to the reports which had appeared in the Magazine at the time of the celebration of the School's 65oth anniversary in 1906 and went on," Whatever the detailed plans are for 1956, I feel sure that we should let it be known well in advance to our far-flung F.P s in all parts of the world that we shall want to see them then and it may be that many will be able to arrange their home-leave for that year. We shall want to arrange a series of functions that will be worthy of this great occasion and such as will confound once and for all any persons who may still then be labouring under the delusion that the Grammar School, founded prior to 1256, can be regarded as no more than Skene Street Secondary School." Mr. Watt then went on to describe how the Magazine was compiled and, in particular, how the Notes on Old Boys, which had been a distinguishing feature of the Magazine for over forty years, were gathered together from a large variety of sources. He regretted that only a small proportion of F.P.s submitted information about themselves and said that this was apt to result in a bias in favour of better-known F.P.s and those holding public appointments. He thought the Notes would be of greater interest if more F.P.s would volunteer information. He concluded with a tribute to his Father, the late Dr. Theodore Watt. " For me, of course ", he said, " the Magazine and everything connected with it is a legacy I inherited from my Father and I am deeply conscious that during the long period of thirty-nine years during which he was Editor, he built up something which was more than a mere magazine and almost an institution. My job has been merely to carry on and keep the machine running smoothly. While I continue to occupy the editorial chair, I shall certainly spare no effort at least to maintain the standard to which F.P.s are accustomed." The next speaker was Mr. DOUGLAS H. JOHNSTON, Solicitor-General for Scotland, whom Lord Mackay congratulated on his success at the Paisley by-election. Mr. Johnston suggested that a message of greeting be sent by the company to Lord Alness, the first president of the Edinburgh Centre, who had recently recovered from a serious illness. The suggestion was enthusiastically adopted. Mr. J. G. Kro then entertained the company with a few anecdotes, related in his usual genial manner.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

189

" THE GUESTS "

The Chairman, in proposing the toast of " The Guests ", said that the Edinburgh Centre were very pleased and honoured to have as their guests so many distinguished men. He then referred to some of the achievements of the various guests and expressed the Centre's regret that two other guests, Dr. J. R. S. Innes and Mr. W. D. Allardice had been unable, on account of an important rugby engagement, to come to Edinburgh for the function. SIR WILSON JAMESON'S REMINISCENCES OF THE SCHOOL

Replying on behalf of the guests SIR WILSON JAMESON said that on an occasion such as this, in a company which had a common bond of union in their old School, one was permitted to indulge in some degree of reminiscence. In his cast he went back fifty-six years to the time when, as " an unsophisticated urchin of seven", he entered the first form in the Aberdeen Grammar School. " These were pretty tough days—or at least I thought so. The tawse was an established part of the technique of instruction. We were taught the elements of Latin version by a celebrated master on the principle that every' maxi ' or ' careless error' merited two strokes, which were delivered by the little man standing at the top of the classroom slope, the recipient standing at the bottom. But he was quite impartial and we all loved him. ' The coming of Morland Simpson made a great difference to the School. He dug up its history, he got the Ilall transformed and he gave us on its walls a daily reminder of the names of many who had helped to make the School famous. He encouraged Old Boys to maintain their interest in the School and, without his support, I doubt if either the Club or the Magazine would ever have reached their present distinction. " Masters took little interest in out Clubs and Societies. We had no coaching in games or athletics. We played rugger or cricket and we ran and jumped and putted the weight according to our own notions of how these things should be done. What a difference between then and now I Our standard of achievement was lower than it might have been, but the system, or lack of it, made for self-reliance. " The best thing the Grammar School did for all of us—and I am sure it still does—was to provide a grand foundation for boys who had—many of them at all events—to make their way in all sorts of places and in all sorts of occupations. The English Public School system is rather different. Certain schools give boys, especially if they go on to certain Oxford or Cambridge Colleges, a definite advantage in certain walks of life. The wiser scheme of education in the North-East of Scotland—in my day at any rate—was aimed at fitting a boy to stand on his own feet wherever he might find himself and to rely on his own qualities of character and industry to make his way in the world. I hope none of the newer educational notions will alter this. " Another thing we have to be thankful for—we who spent some of our most impressionable years in Aberdeen—is the marvellous countryside that lay at our very doorstep. Some of my earliest recollections arc of scrambling about Bennachie, of fishing in the Gadie Burn, and later on of walking over the Dcesidc hills from Kerloch and the Hill of Fare to the Cairngorms. Think of the entrance to the harbour with the trawlers making for the Fish Market in a North-East gale, of the vast stretches of sand to the North, of the grand cliffs to the South of the City— these arc memories which will last us all our lives, recalled to us if we live in more distant places by some of the poetry of Charles Murray. " I have followed the fortunes of the School ever since I left it and for that I have to thank the late Theodore Watt, who set a standard in school magazines that few schools can aspire to. It is very heartening to see that his son is following in his footsteps. " Of all the happenings that have befallen the School I don't think any has given us such a thrill as finding Inns and Allardice in the Scottish rugger team. We all knew that the School could produce first class mathematicians and classical scholars but two international rugger players in one season! That is really an achievement." 'l'hc toast of " The Guests " was also replied to by Professor James Ritchie, President of the Edinburgh Gordonians' Club. He spoke of the different attitude that was now adopted towards the two schools and said that " Grammar" and

19o

Aberdeen Grammar School Magaine

" Gordon's " now both pulled together for their common purposes. He doubted if any town of the size of Aberdeen had two such schools. " THE CHAIRMAN " The toast of " The Chairman " was proposed by Mr. Allan C. Frazer in a witty speech which caused much amusement and Lord Mackay replied. THE COMPANY The following F.P.s were present at the Dinner. (The list is arranged in order of seniority, based on date of entry to the School.) 1882. Lord Mackay (1882-91). 1885. J. R. Pope (1885-96). 1891. J. G. Kyd (1891-98). 1892. Sir Wilson Jameson (1892-1902). 1893. Sheriff J. A. Lillie (1893-1903). 1895. W. S. Catto (1895-1902), E. W. Fenton (1895-1908). 1896. R. A. Lillie (1896-1905). 1902. El. J. Jones (1902-07). 1904. D. M. Wright (1904-10). 1905. A. H. P. Ferguson (1905-14). 1913. D. H. Johnston (1913-26). 1918. A. J. Slessor (1918-30). 1920. E. R. Birkett (1920-22), J. W. M. Sutherland (192o-24 and 19 28-29)1922. A. B. Donald (1922-28), H. D. Jamieson (1922-34), J. P. Mackie (1922-26). 1923. F. S. Taylor (1923-28). 1924. Douglas Rcith (1924-35), D. F. Ross (1924-35). 1925. A. C. Frazer (1925-30), J. H. Robb (1925-29), N. A. Ross (192 5-31), A. C. R. Watt (1925-37). 1926. D. M. C. Donald (1926-32). 1927. B. J. Fiddes (1927-37), A. R. Taylor (1927-34). 1932. D. K. Cameron (1932-35). Hon. President. Mr. J. J. Robertson. Apologies for absence. The Very Rev. Dr. J. Harvey (1870-75), W. M. McLachlan (1876-78), Dr. John Stcwart (1896-1905), D. W. Maitland (1918-23), J. Scott MacLachlan (1922-32), J. R. S. Innes (1923-35), W. M. Ewen (1932-34), W. D. Allardice (1 934-39)•

The Yorkshire Centre An informal Dinner of Club members resident in Yorkshire was held in Leeds on 19 December 1947 at which it was unanimously decided to form a Yorkshire Centre of the Club. The following Committee was elected : Professor W. P. Milne (Hon. President), W. F. Dunnett, E. G. Grafton, Dr. I. G. Iones, D. E. Strachan, Professor E. J. Wood and T. C. Young (Hon. Secretary). The Committee are planning to hold a Dinner later in the year at which it is hoped that all the Yorkshire Centre will be present. An invitation is extended by the Committee to all F.P.s coming to Yorkshire to get in touch with the Hon. Secretary at 35 Gledhow Wood Road, Leeds (Tel. 48078).

Claims for Losses in Malaya The F.P. Club Consul in Malaya, W. Ferrier Mayor, has suggested that any dependents of F.P.s killed in Malaya or other parts of the Far East during the war might wish up-to-date information about claims for losses, etc. He is coming home on leave this summer and anyone interested in such matters should get in touch with him at Viewmount, Craigton Road, Aberdeen.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

191

The Glasgow Centre The Annual Dinner of the Glasgow Centre of the F.P. Club was held in the Grosvenor Restaurant, Glasgow, on Friday, 3o January t9.18. The President of the Centre, Mr. D. M. WRIGHT (1904-10) was in the chair and he presided over a gathering of thirty members of the Club and eight guests, the largest number ever present at any of the Centre's Dinners. I-Ie was accompanied at the top table by LORD MACKAY, President of the Edinburgh Centre, the Rector, Mr. J. J. ROBERTSON, Baillic J. D. Kelly of Glasgow, and Messrs. J. LENNOX RIDDELL, ex-Chairman of the Executive of the Club, J. SCOTT MACLACHLAN, Secretary of the Club, ALAN C. R. Warr, Editor of the Magazine, and H. G. EnwAans, Secretary of the Glasgow Centre. Mr. Charles Davidson, President of the Club, who was to have been the chief guest was unfortunately unable, on account of illness, to travel to Glasgow. " THE SCHOOL AND TIIE CLUB " The principal toast of the evening was proposed by Baillic J. D. Kelly, J.P., C.A., Glasgow. After saying that, although he had never seen the Grammar School, he had many close friends who were F.P.s and that he had always been impressed by their friendliness and good citizenship, he stated that he had no claim to be an educationist. He had served for thirteen years on the Glasgow Education Committee, but during that time they had discussed almost everything except true education. (The time was coming, he suggested, when headmasters instead of having M.A., B.Sc. after their names would require to have C.A. and LL.B.) In Aberdeen however, he said, there were facilities for education unparalleled in any city of comparative size in this country or in the world. It was well-known that Aberdeen and the Grammar School had produced men of very great distinction in every walk of life—in Literature, Medicine, Law and many other vocations. Recently there had been in Aberdeen a very considerable increase in the interest taken in sport and it was gratifying to sec that the Grammar School was mainly responsible for the growing prestige of Aberdeen in Rugby Football circles. It was a particularly great joy to see two members of the Grammar F.P. Club playing for Scotland and one of them captaining the team. Referring to the Rector, Baillie Kelly said that, although the teaching profession had been much misrepresented, the Grammar School had in Mr. Robertson a man of recognised distinction. In reply the RECTOR said that the natural radiance of the gathering could not but be overcast by the absence of " C.D." " lie is " he said, " a remarkable, indeed a unique personality. Most of us are ' Grammar School penny-plain' ; ' C.D.' is ' Grammar School twopenny-coloured '." Referring to the major change that was taking place in the life and make-up of the School, Mr. Robertson said that it had been carried through with a welcome absence of bitterness and acrimonious debate, which was a credit to the various parties concerned. The Town Council had combined their conviction that it was necessary to wipe out certain inequalities of opportunity with a realisation of the School's great age and distinction, and they were resolved to retain the School's distinctive features. He also praised the moderation and discretion of F.P.s and said how gratifying it was that there had been no head-on collision with the statutory body. It was generally recognised, he went on, that the School should be as fully representative as possible but he would have wished for a breathing space for consideration of the various difficulties involved in the changes. The roll of the School was now i,o5o—higher than ever before—and it was excellently staffed, there being a happy balance between experience and youthful keenness. He paid tribute to the consistent generosity of the Education Committee in the matter of equipment. No request of his, including those fur games facilities, had ever been refused. It was realised that the Grammar School must be more than an efficient tutorial institution. Speaking of the future the Rector said that the School might gradually be assimilated to the prevailing pattern of the North-East and thereby, he thought, there was a danger of its losing its distinctiveness. 'The North-East has the characteristic of strenuousness rather than of moderation, of book-learning rather than liberal education ; in contrast the School had striven to provide its pupils with

192

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

an equipment to deal with life in many places, in far corners, and often in tight corners. " Whatever the future holds ", he concluded, " I can give this assurance— that I shall endeavour above all things to ensure that the School remains preeminently a happy place and that there will be avoided any authoritarian aloofness, any suffocation of free life by rules and restrictions and any wearying of healthyminded boys by a continual bombardment of exhortation." Replying on behalf of the Club, Mr. J. LENNOX RIDDELI. said that the affairs of the Club were in good hands and he mentioned the great benefits which the Club derived from the close co-operation of the Rector. He gave details of various Club activities and outlined the three Memorial Schemes. Speaking of the value of the F.P. Club Boarding House, Mr. Riddell said that many people had thought that in the changed conditions its continued existence was doubtful but, he said, unless many more changes were made, such fears were groundless. " OUR GUESTS "

The toast of " Our Guests " was proposed by Mr. H. G. EDWARDS, Secretary of the Glasgow Centre since its inception in 1930, and LORD MACKAY, President of the Edinburgh Centre, replied. He expressed disappointment at the absence of " C.D.", who from his earliest days had been a very close friend of his. THE COMPANY

The following members of the Club were present at the Dinner. (The list is arranged in order of seniority, based on the date of entry to the School.) 1882. Lord Mackay (1882-91). 1895. C. S. Buyers (1895-98). 1896. G. M. Craig (1896-99). 1898. L. H. Ross (1898-1901). 1901. George Lawrence (1901-03), D. M. Semple (1901-06). 1904. Rev. Peter Diack (1904-09), Rev. S. C. Still (19o4-10), D. M. Wright (1904-op). 1905. H. G. Edwards (190 5-14). 1906. D. C. Sangster (1906-13). 1907. J. L. Riddell (1907-16). 5909. A. A. Rae Smith (1909-16). 1911. Sheriff J. L. Duncan (1911-24), James Stirrat (1911-21). 1912. K. R. T. Matthew (1912-24). 1913. W. B. Jack (1913-19). 1914. H. M. Morgan (1914-20). 1919. Albert Christie (1919-29). 1921. D. H. McDougall (1921-34). 592z. J. S. MacLachlan (1922-32), H. C. Reid (1922-24 and 1925-34), W. M. Ritchie (1922-32). 1925. A. C. R. Watt (1925-37). 1926. J. G. M. Birss (1926-38). 1927. J. A. N. Watt (1917-39). 5918. C. I). Ritson (1928-33). 1929. B. D. D. Emslic (1929-35). 1935. G. S. Grant (1935-40). Hon. President. Mr. J. J. Robertson. Apologies for absence. Dr. F. M. Tindall (1881-84), A. F. McGillivray (1882-85), James Ledingham (1885-88), Archibald Young (1885-93), Alexander McCurrach (1897-1901), C. H. Simpson (1897-1909), Alexander Johnstone (1904-10), Rev. Ncnion Elliot (1909-15), J. K. Grant (1914-16), Alexander Robson (1917-30), E. G. Marnoch (1918-21), 1). F. Mursell (1921-22), Rev. G. N. Pennie (1923-26), C. R. Inns (1926-30 and 1931-39), B. J. Fiddes (1 92 7-37), W. G. G. Bruce (19 29-34), J. P. Paul (1 939-43). *

F.P.s coming to the Glasgow area are invited to get in touch with the Hon. Secretary of the Glasgow Centre, Mr. H. G. Edwards, 43 Marlborough Avenue, W.' (Tel. : Western 1316), or 193 St. Vincent Street, C.2 (Tel.: Central 5452).

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

193

The London Centre Sir Arthur Lothian at First Post-War Dinner The London Centre did not wholly expire in the war years. The last Committee meeting recorded in the Minute Book was held on 16 May 1940, and although thereafter the general paralysis of social life made formal meetings impossible, small groups of F.P.s met together, keeping the spirit alive. But when Douglas Cochran (who was then Secretary) left London in 1945, all this informal activity lost its focus, and the Centre entered upon a period of suspended animation. And so, in the post-war period, effort and initiative were needed if the Centre was to live again. These were supplied by the Club Executive in Aberdeen and some keen spirits in London, with the result that on 13 January 1948 the surviving members of the 1940 Committee met, appointed an acting secretary, and arranged for a full meeting of the Centre on z6 February. This was held at the Albert Tavern, S.W.t, and about sixty members turned out to help re-launch the Centre. An informal re-union in a congenial atmosphere was the result. The meeting did some formal business : but this was incidental— what mattered was that the Centre was alive again, and giving signs that it would develop. An Informal Dinner was accordingly arranged for x April at the Aldwych Brasserie, W.C.z. Mr. J. C. O. Lawrence took the chair, and Sir Arthur Lothian, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., I.C.S., was the guest of the evening, making his first appearance at a Club function since his election as President. To the Centre's regret, illness kept away both Lord Alness and Charles Davidson. Fifty-four members attended, and were greatly diverted by Sir Arthur, who drew on the experience of many years in the Indian Political Service to provide some very amusing tales of " big game " (from foreign royalty downwards) and the arrangements made to see they all had successful shoots. Later in the evening, on being invested with his badge of office, Sir Arthur commented on the badge as a notable aid to the strengthening of tradition, and referred to the importance of creating this by all means—the School life itself, which should avoid a narrow attachment to one type of study ; gracious and noble buildings (here he felt we were at a disadvantage) ; and a strong F.P. Club—such as the late Dr. Watt had created—and here he commended our unique system of Club Consuls all over the world. It has been a cause of regret that Lord Alness's state of health has not permitted him to attend the meetings. But he has exercised his presidential functions by correspondence with lively interest, and all members will be glad to know that his recovery is proceeding well and that he is now at his home at Bournemouth. The Annual General Meeting of the Centre has been arranged for 14 October 5 948 in the Albert Tavern, S.W.I, and the next Dinner is to be held on 16 December 1948 in the Connaught Rooms, Gt. Queen Street, W.C.2. The Rector of the School and the Secretary of the Club are to be the Centre's guests on this occasion. The following are the office-bearers of the Centre : President—the Rt. Hon. Lord Alness, P.C., G.B.E., LL.D. ; Secretary—A. H. K. Slater, 2 Newton Grove, Bedford Park, W.4 ; Committee—G. W. Bowes, T. D. H. Brown, Vaughan N. Dean, J. Ross Esson, C. W. France, A. W. Grafton, J. C. O. Lawrence, D. S. S. Marr, Dr. D. A. Milne, Dr. W. H. P. Minto, A. G. R. Sharp and T. J. Wilson.

The following were present at the Dinner, the list being arranged in order of seniority based on date ofe ntry to the School. i882. G. Brebner Scott (t882-91). 1886. J. Burnett Rae (1886-97). 1890. Leonard J. Smith (189o-1902). 1892. Sir Arthur Lothian (1892-94 and 1898-1904). 1893. J. Ross Esson (1893-97). . L. Watson (1894-96). 5894. 5896. T. J. Wilson (1896-1903). s897. T. D. H. Brown (1897-1900), D. Porter (1897-1902). 5898. C. E. Garland (1898-1902), J. C. O. Lawrence (1898-991.

1 94

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

1900. Colin H. Miller (1900-04)1901. R. N. Gilchrist (1901-05). 1904. J. Melvin (190.4-to), J. 17. Scott (1904-15), W. E. Drummond Smith (1904-09), P. M. Spence (1904-06). 1905. Francis C. Kelly (1905-14), A. B. Valentine (1905-11). 1906. D. S. Stewart (1906-18). 1908. J. I. C. Crombic (1908-21), A. G. Esslemont (1908-20). 1909. F. S. Anderson (1909-12), G. M. Cochran (1909-22). 1910. E. Brodie (1910-19). 1911. Alexander Taylor (19 t 1-15). 1912. J. W. Benzie (1912-19). 1913. V. N. Dean (1913-20), J. W. S. Marr (1913-19). 1914. C. G. Walker (1914-22). 1915. N. D. Bcgg (1915-24), L. Don Robertson (1915-16). 1916. C. W. M. Cameron (1916-18). 1917. John Aitken (1917-19). 1918. J. C. Bell (1918-24), Alastair G. Sharp (1918-24). 1919. John H. L. Inncs (1919-23), G. Kilgour (1919-23), D. S. S. Marr (1919-32). 1920. G. C. Brander (192o-32), R. W. G. Bryant (1920-32), J. L. S. Thomson (1920-27). 1921. William Smith (1921-30). 1922. C. W. France 0922-30, C. R. Irvine (1922-26), A. H. K. Slater (1922-35). 1923. D. A. Milne (1923-35), John Wilson (1923-30). 1924. R. D. Mitchell (1924-31). 1929. D. P. Bruce (1929-35). 1931. D. E. R. Watt (1931-43)1932. W. M. Ewen (193 2-44)1939. Alan W. Simpson (1939-40 and 1944-47).

The Bengal and Assam Centre Through the courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. G. C. Whyte the Annual General Meeting of the Centre was held at their residence on 23 January 1948. The Secretary reported the following changes in the membership :—Patrick John Diack (x912-23)—retired from India ; Alan Theodore Lewis Mackenzie (I927-29)—retired from India ; Archibald McKenzie 092z-30—has taken up a position in Canada ; Charles Ferguson Thomson (1912-14)—retired from India and at present in South Africa. In March 1947 a golf match was held over the new course of the Royal Calcutta Gol€ Club, and the President thereafter entertained competitors to tiffin at the Club, thereby creating a precedent for future presidents. On the proposal of D. Inglis Duff, seconded by W. G. Macmillan, HERBERT BREBNER Scorr (1905-08) was unanimously elected President for 1948. Since the Centre was started in 1939, Mr. Scott has been its devoted and energetic honorary secretary and before that he was honorary secretary of the F.P.s in Shanghai who for many years held annual dinners and who in 1928 presented the Shanghai Clock to the School. S. G. Williamson was appointed honorary secretary and treasurer and R. H. Duguid was re-elected honorary auditor. The official proceedings of the meeting then terminated with a vote of thanks to the outgoing president, D. Inglis Duff, and members were joined by Mesdames Anderson, Crichton, Duguid and Whyte. After conversation on all subjects under the sun, all adjourned and thoroughly enjoyed a most excellent cold buffet provided, and, we believe, largely prepared by Mrs. Whyte. A sing-song at the piano led by our hostess, as accompanist, was highly successful and a most enjoyable meeting terminated with a sincere vote of thanks to our kind host and hostess. * * * The Secretary of the Centre, S. G. Williamson, hopes that any F.P. visiting Calcutta will let him know of his arrival, when he will be happy to do what he can to give assistance.

This

modern and

friendly

bookshop

the

place to see all the new books. Our

Stationery

selection of

Department

has

notebooks, writing

the

finest

papers and

fountain pens. Book tokens sold and exchanged.

WEST END BOOKSHOP 412

UNION STREET

• ABERDEEN

.2=

'~ --

-ureic. lis.

•=se

1 6! • s

mizte..

= IM

4 t

r ir r

atigkiir .F 1 f glT k {1 , 4 . • t A l f qffilii

4iltirmigsp

111iE~lYi""=flllmaac.: r.~;-fir 1 "";1, • ' Ira!! — "Marg liglIft, IN/la:ajar Tr de . • : lir .41.1riff".11 E. '- f !V e __

irk.!_?111ii3:i-

w -s'

lea

. -

447 : Ziii

CALEDONIAN INSURANCE

COMPANY

Incorporated by Act of Parliament

The Oldest Scottish Insurance Office A World-wide Insurance Organisation Controlled from Scotland Equipped

undertake

all

types

Insurance Business

JOHN

POPE

•

General

Manager

Head Office : 13 St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh, 2

UNION

TERRACE,

ABERDEEN

Aberdeen Grammar School Alagafcine

1 95

•

F.P. Cricket Section At the Annual Meeting of the Section, Dr. T. M. Allan was elected Captain of the Strathmore XI, and D. Stuart, Vice-Captain. After losing two points rather needlessly to Arbtoath United in the first game of the season, the Strathmore team have put up some fine performances and have taken nine points out of the last six games. The detailed results are as follows :— . 82 Arbroath United 83 for 9. . Lost. *F.P.s . 16 *Brechin . F.P.s . . 17 for no wickets. Won. . F.P.s . . 61 for 8. *Montrose Won. 59 . 103 for 7. F.P.s . . 184 for 9 (decl.) Forthill XI Drawn. *Perthshire XI . 104 F.P.s . . 105 for 5. Won. F.P.s . . 6i Lost. Mannofield XI 88 F.P.s . *Meigle . . 48 . 5o for z Won. * Away match. Three players have done particularly well. Against Forthill XI, H. S. Cardno hit a chanceless ioz not out and to date he has scored 221 runs, with an average of 55. A. A. C. Edmond has twice taken 6 wickets in a match, and once 5 wickets. L. E. Tyson took 5 wickets for 31 against Mannofield XI and 6 wickets for 8 runs against Meigle. The team have had the assistance of Rugger stars, W. D. Allardice and D. W. C. Smith, both of whom have played suer, ssfully. So far the Grade XI have not struck their true form, having lost three games and won two. We are looking for better results in the future. Details of their results are as follows: *Dunecht . . 75 F.P.s Lost. . 5 5Lost. *C.F. Wilson's XI 41 for 3 F.P.s . 35. 67 . 63 F.P.s for 4. Won. *Fisheries . . Lost. *Cults . . 148 for 7 F.P.s . 146. F.P.s . 78 for 7. Won. West St. Clements 7z * Away Match. Once again we are indebted to I. M. Park for umpiring in Strathmore matches, and to Mrs. Tyson for attending to teas. Stop Press. At Seafield on 12 June, 1948, F.P.s beat Gordonians in a Strathmore Union match by five wickets. T. H. McCrea took six wickets for 18 and D. W. C. Smith four wickets for 36. Gordonians were all out for 55 and F.P.s passed this total with five wickets in hand, their score being 56 for 5. H. S. Cardno scored 29. Against Blairgowrie on 19 June, 1948, at Blairgowrie, F.P.s won by 1S3 runs to 77. T. H. M'Crea scored 58 and R. E. Wetherley 27 not out. N. H. MACDONALD, Hon. Secretary.

F.P. Golf Section The Committee wish to extend a hearty invitation to members of the F.P. Club to join the Golf Section, which is now starting its second season. The main purpose of the Section is not to play serious competitive golf, but to foster the gettingtogether in a social way of F.P.s who are interested in the game. Outings are arranged on Sundays to courses both in Town and Country, and transport can generally be arranged. A successful first meeting this season was held at Deeside Golf Club on 3o May 5948, And further meetings have been arranged at Balloter on zo June, at Murcar in July, and at Aboyne in August. Any F.P. who is interested should communicate with the Secretary at i Clyde Street, Aberdeen. G. A. C. WALKER, Hon. Secretary.

196

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

F.P. Hockey Section Season 1947-48 was a very successful one for the Hockey Section. Three sides were entered for the District Seven-a-side Tournament held at the Links on zo March 1948. Two of these sides reached the semi-final and the " A " side went on to win the Tournament. At the close of the season, the Section went on tour to Glasgow, and played two well-known clubs—Whitccraigs and Anchor. Against a strengthened Whitecraigs team, the F.P. team played very well and in a hard-fought game Whitecraigs won 4-z. Against Anchor, at Paisley, the F.P. team featured in a goalless draw, but were very unfortunate not to win. The tour was a great success and the Section gained a good reputation. In district games the results of our two teams were as follows :— Goals for Goals against L. D. P. W. IS1 XI . 20 13 74 34 4 3 69 7 12 1 46 znd XI . 20 The znd XI beat all the junior dubs and several of the senior clubs, a truly creditable performance for any znd XI. The following awards were made for season 1947-48 :1st XI. Full Colours—R. F. Blackburn, A. H. Innes*, D. W. Johnston*, W. Malcolm, A. W. A. Main*, A. J. Peters*, R. E. Wctherley. * Re-award. 1st Xl. Half Colours—R. P. Wishart. and XI. Full Colours—A. D. Henderson, T. I. Morrison. 2nd XI. Half Colours—P. Mitchell, A. J. G. Notholt. The Annual General Meeting of the Section was held in Rubislaw Pavilion on 78 April 1948 and the following officials were appointed for season 1948-49 Captain—A. H. Inncs ; Vice-Captain—A. J. Peters ; Secretary and Treasurer—R. P. Wishart, 2 1 John Street, Aberdeen ; Match Secretary—T. I. Morrison ; Additional member of committee—A. W. A. Main. At this meeting the Section decided to run three elevens next season. We have an attractive fixture list, including matches against such clubs as Murray Royal, Grove Academy F.P.s, Morgan Academy F.P.s, Perth Hockey Club and Brcchin Hockey Club and next season we intend to improve upon this list still further. At Rubislaw there is an excellent hockey pitch—thanks to the grand work of groundsman L. E. Tyson. Any F.P. wishing a game of hockey should contact one of the above officials. A club trial game has been fixed for the first Saturday in September, and all interested are invited to turn out. A. H. INNES, Hon. Secretary.

F.P. Rugby Section The season just finished must rank as one of the most successful ever enjoyed by the Rugby Section. It is unfortunately impossible to make any accurate comparisons between teams from season to season and it might not be true to say that the 1947-48 F.P. side was the strongest which has ever turned out, but one can say that never has an F.P. side reached such an outstanding position among the Rugby clubs of Scotland. The unofficial championship table, as published in the Glasgow press, showed F.P.s at the top with ten victories out of eleven games played and the Rugby correspondent of the Edinburgh Evening Despatch wrote that " Aberdeen Grammar School (F.P.) must be considered the team of the year, along with Kelso ". It is impossible, of course, for F.P. sides to carry all before them every season, but it is to be hoped that such recognition by the South press of the merits of Aberdeen Rugby will continue. Since the last issue of the Magazine, the ist XV has continued on its way very successfully. A temporary loss of form at the beginning of February produced two unexpected but deserved defeats, one, alas, at the hands of Gordonians, but to counterbalance this, victories were recorded away from home against Glasgow

F.P. Club Hockey Section 1st XI- Season 1947-48

•

tracker Standing—R. F. Blackburn, 1. A. Middleton, W. Malcolm, T. I. Morrison, H. L. \\ ardcr, R. P. Wishart. Sitting—D. W. Johnston, A. H. Innes (Hon. Secretary), A. J. Peters (Captain), A. W. A. Main (Vice-Captain), R. E. Wetherley.

F.P. Club Rugby Football Section ist XV—Season 1947-48

Georgeson Standing—E. Buthlar•, W. L. Connor, K. W. Hunter (/ Ion. 1 earns Secretary), D. W. C. Smith, R. J. Bain, A. H. Tawse, D. N. I. C. McLean, N. I. W. Meldrum (Hon. Sec. and Treas.). Sitting—E. Hunter, J. H. Warrack, R. F. Buthlay, C. R. Cruickshank (Vice-Captain), J. R. S. Innes (Captain), L. Middleton, J. S. G. Munro, I. M. Duguid, J. C. Hunter. Sitting in front—W. D. Allardice, D. R. Macgregor.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

197

Academicals, Royal High School F.P.s and Hillhead High School F.P.s and at Rubislaw against Aberdeen University, Glasgow High School F.P.s and Gala. On every occasion, I think it can be honestly said that the F.P. side played better rugby than the opposition. Throughout the season, the side went on to the field to play the best rugby of which it was capable and in the result a very attractive brand of rugby was produced. Backs and forwards contributed in equal measure to the success, as the pack generally supplied the backs with a sufficiency of the ball and they were not slow to make use of it. There were, however, too many scoring chances thrown away by slack passing. The and XV also had a very successful season, and indeed went without a defeat from the beginning of October until the beginning of March. As usual, of course, they suffered from the calls of the 1st XV, but they were a very competent side. They had very bad luck in that some of their more attractive matches were cancelled. The 3rd XV also did well. The enthusiasm of the players was exemplary and only on rare occasions was a full side unable to turn out. The most heartening aspect was the willingness with which players turned out at the shortest notice. SEVEN-A-SIDE TOURNAMENT

The Aberdeen Charity Seven-a-side Tournament was held at Linksfield on so April 1948 and was most successful. The F.P. " A " Seven retained the Cup for the third successive season, scoring what must be a record total of 96 points against 3 and for the second year not having their line crossed. In the final they defeated 'Varsity " A " by the remarkable score of 39 points to 3 and gave an outstanding exhibition of seven-a-side rugby. In the previous rounds they beat 13-o, and Gordonian's " A' , 13-o. Wanderers " B", 31-0, Gordonians " B The " B " Seven received a bye into the second round where they were somewhat unfortunate to lose to 'Varsity " A " by the only try of the game. The F.P. Sevens were :— " A " Seven—D. W. C. Smith, J. R. S. Innes, R. F. Buthlay, W. D. Allardice, J. H. Warrack, J. S. G. Munro and A. H. Tawse. (W. L. Connon substituted in the final for Tawse who was injured in the semi-final.) " B" Seven—J. A. McGregor, I. M. Duguid, E. Buthlay, P. S. Boyd, R. J. Bain, A. Craig and W. L. Connon. J. H. Warrack was playing in the successful Seven for the third successive season. The Gala Rugby Club did the Section the honour of inviting it to enter for their Sevens Tournament, but it was unfortunately impossible to accept the invitation. Colour awards for the season were made as follows :—

Full—W. D. Allardice, E. Buthlay, R. F. Buthlay, W. L. Connon, D. N. Georgeson, •

E. Hunter, J. C. Hunter, K. W. Hunter, J. R. S. Innes, D. R. Macgregor, L. Middleton, J. S. G. Munro, D. W. C. Smith, J. H. Warrack. Half-R. J. Bain, I. C. McLean, A. H. Tawse. At the Annual General Meeting of the Section held on 15 April 1948, the following officials were elected for season 1948-49 Hon. President—Rev. Dr. Neil Meldrum ; Captain—W. D. Allardice ; ViceCaptain—J. S. G. Munro ; Hon. Secretary—N. I. W. Meldrum, so Carden Place, Aberdeen ; Hon. Treasurer—E. Buthlay ; Hon. Teams Secretary—W. L. Connon. For next season attractive fixture-lists are being arranged for three Fifteens and it is hoped that all rugby-playing boys leaving School and F.P.s returning from the Services will join the Section. The F.P, club can offer a more attractive fixturelist than any other local dub, and certainly if the high standard achieved this season is to be maintained, it will require the assistance and support of all F.P.s. Training will commence towards the end of August and all intending members are requested to get in touch with the hon. secretary before that date. The " gates " at Rubislaw this season have been very good indeed and a great improvement on past seasons, but despite this, the Section shows a considerable loss on the season's working. As a very high standard of play is being produced, all F.P.s living in Aberdeen and neighbourhood arc urged to attend the home

Aberdeen GrammarSchool Magte.zine

198

games. It is regretted that at present there is no stand accommodation available at Rubislaw and obstacles in the way of obtaining such accommodation are very great. The management of the Section are making efforts to overcome these, but if any persons reading these notes would like to offer any suggestions or assistance, these will be most thankfully received. The records of the teams for the season were as follows :P. W. L. D. Pts. for Pts. against 3 2 • 29 24 616 1st XV . 146 302 165 and XV . • 20 15 4 I . 17 IO 5 " 2 225 81 3rd XV . Results since the last issue of the " Magazine " 1st XV 1 947 Dec. zo.

v. Highland Select XV at Elgin .

. •

. .

24- 6 Won. II- 4 „

. . v. Harris Academy F.P.s at Rubislaw . v. Royal High School F.P.s at Jock's Lodge . . . v. Aberdeen University at Rubislaw . . . . . v. Gordonians at Rubislaw . . v. Perthshire Academicals at Perth • v. Glasgow High School F.P.s at Rubislaw • . . v. H.M.S. Condor at Rubislaw . . v. Hillhead High School F.P.s at Hughenden . . . • V. Gala at Rubislaw . . . . . v. Aberdeenshire at Rubislaw . • • v. Musselbur0 at Musselburgh v. Hutcheson s Grammar School F.P.s at Rubislaw

39- o „ 16- 3 „ 21- 8 „ 6- 8 Lost. 0-15 17- o Won. 4 - 6 , 68 --- 3 i 411 0 3- 3 Drawn. 30-14 Won.

. .

• .

o- o Drawn. 3 Won.

• . . • . . •

. 18-tz „ . 76- 8 „ . zo- 6 „ 8- 5 • • o-z t Lost. . 9-17 . 19- 8 Won.

. .

27. v. Glasgow Academicals at Anniesland

48 Jan. 19 3. „ to. 31. Feb. 7. „ 14. 2p

at.

28. Mar. 6. ,, 13. ,, 18. 27. Apr. 3.

. .

. . • .

. ...

•

and XV 1947

Dec. 13. 20. 1448 Jan. 3. ,, 31. Feb. 7.

v. Aberdeenshire 1st XV at Rubislaw . . v. Gordonians znd XV at Seaficld

. .

. V. Schools' Select XV at Rubislaw . • • . v. School at Rubislaw . v. Aberdeenshire 1st XV at Hazlehead V. Perthshire Academicals znd XV at Rubislaw . Mar. 16: v. Emergency P.T. College at Rubislaw . . ,, 13. v. Gordonians and XV at Seaficld . ,, 27. v. Wanderers znd XV at Hazlehead . 3rd XV 1 947

Dcc. 13. „ 20. 1948 Jan. 3. 31 Feb. 7. ,, 14.

v. Aberdeenshire and XV at Rubislaw v. Gordonians 3rd XV at Rubislaw .

. .

v. Wanderers znd XV at Hazlehead . . . . . v. Aberdeenshire and XV at Rubislaw . . . v. Central School at Rubislaw . . . . v. Gordonians 3rd XV at Seaficld . . 21. V. Gordon's College and XV at Rubislaw Mar. 6. v. Aberdeen University 3rd XV at King's College 4

13- o Won. 3-18 Lost.

. 3- 3 Drawn. . 31- o Won. . 23- 3 . 3- 3 Drawn. . 28- 3 Won. . 5- 6 Lost.

IIIM• 111111 •••••••11111MIIIIIIIIIIIIP•••••••

•

% %

• •

• is

Nil

.. % SIMPSONS' FOR SPORTS ! .0 .•. • Specialists in Outdoor Sports Equipment ▪ N N

•• % % % U N %

Expert Tennis and Badminton Repairs

.•

and Restringing

i mil

% % a i • U N % •

s u s % %

mu % GE •

(. I

m psone

SPORTS

• %

•

EMPORIUM

xi s•

28 BRIDGE ST., ABERDEEN

(Corner of Bath Street)

s o n o U N

SPORTS OUTFITTERS & GOLF CLUB MAKERS

% s

'Phone 1094

• % %

N E

% y UN

JOHN SIMPSON & SON S. & T.) LTD.

••••

■

% • w o• %

•UNIIINNENNII•MiN• IIM•IIMINNIONN • III•NlnI•NIIIN•SMINN•NN•NNMNMMN•MMIII

MEN'S RAINCOATS A raincoat is a useful standby in these days of shortages and you will usually find THE MAN'S SHOP has a good selection GABERDINES in useful shades

Utility from 76/General

„

140/-

BURBERRYS

Utility - 76/11

General - LI I 5s. 9d.

HEAVY DOUBLE TEXTURE WATERPROOFS

from 98/8 to 160/(now 8 coupons)

ESSLEMONT & MACINTOSH (RETAILERS)

LTD. TAILORS

UNION

AND

STREET

OUTFITTERS

ABERDEEN

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

199

The Annual General Meeting of the Club The Forty-sixth Annual General Meeting of the F.P. Club was held in the Caledonian Hotel, Aberdeen on 15 March 1948. Mr. R. B. Williamson, VicePresident df the Club, presided over an attendance of more than fifty members. In his opening remarks the Chairman paid a tribute to the willing co-operation of the Rector of the School with the Club Executive in all matters affecting the School and the Club and, in particular, he expressed the Club Executive's gratitude for Mr. Robertson's invaluable help with regard to the difficult problems that had arisen with the authorities on the future of the School. He also referred to the satisfactory position regarding the admission to the School under the new regime of boys living in the Boarding House. (Sec page 107.) The Secretary then read the Executive's Report for the year ended 31 December 1947. EXCERPTS FROM REPORT BY THE EXECUTIVE MEMBERSHIP AND SUBSCRIPTIONS The following is an analysis of the membership of the Club as at z8 February 1948 with the cotnparable figures at z8 February 1947.

2812/47 28 /2/48

Life Membership Partially Fully Paid Paid 1,022 88

1,15o I-128

Ordinary

Honorary

1,075 5,0418

.1_ 2

Extraordinary

39 39

Total 2,234 2,376 -4- 141

It will he seen that the membership of the Club continues to increase and the total membership is now in fact the largest in the Club's history. There is a continued trend towards life membership in preference to ordinary membership. The number of boys joining the Club immediately on leaving School, or shortly afterwards, continues to be very satisfactory and during the last few years the majority of boys leaving School have joined the Club within a very few months. LOSSES BY DEATH During the year sixty-five deaths of F.P.s, of whom forty were members of the Club, have been reported.. This is an unusually large number. Among those who died were three former Presidents of the Club—Mr. A. T. Cruickshank, Colonel H. J. Kinghorn and (on 12 March 1948) Mr. J. M. Fyfe. THE CLUB AND THE SCHOOL At the Prize-giving in July 1947 the Club presented Silver Medals for Geography, German and Spanish. The winner of the Club's All-Round Trophy and John No Dawson Prize was Gordon B. Nicolson. The Club Boarding House continues to be full to capacity and there is still a waiting list of applicants for admission. The Executive record with regret the death during the year of Mr. William P. Stewart, assistant house master at the Boarding House. Mr. Stewart was a loyal friend of the Club and the School and both have suffered a great loss by his death. MAGAZINE The Magazine continues to be published twice yearly and the Executive recommend that this arrangement continue for some time yet in view of the greatly increased costs of production. As will be noted from the financial statement, the expenses of the Magazine are exceptionally heavy but the Executive feel that every effort should be made to maintain the present style and standard as they feel that in its present form the Magazine is greatly appreciated by members of the Club, particularly those who are abroad.

ABERDEEN GRAMMAR SCHOOL Abstract of Revenue and Expenditure Account REVENUE ••

••

•• ••

• •

••

.. .. .. ..

•• •• •• ••

Ordinary Subscriptions received prior to 1 Jan. 1947 Ordinary Subscriptions received during 1947 .. • Arrears recovered in 1947 0

a •

•• Revenue from Investments .. .. .. •• Surplus from Entertainments Account •• Interest at 2f per cent. on Life Member Capital Fund •• Deficit for year .. .. .. •• ••

•• ••

£82 1 134 14 8 12

0 6 6

£225 8 0 121 17 3 52 4 3 135 16 7 217 19 10 £753 5 11

Balance Sheet as CAPITAL AND LIABILITIES I. GENERAL CAPITAL FUND

• •

£549

0 6

5,297

6 5

II. LIFE MEMBER CAPITAL FUND—

.. £5,000 0 0 Amount at credit at 31 December 1946 433 3 0 Life Members' Subscriptions received during 1947 £5,433 3 0 Less—Transferred to Revenue and Expenditure •• Account .. III.

ENTERTAINMENTS SUSPENSE ACCOUNT-

Amount at credit at 31 December 1946 Added during year .. ..

IV.

135 16 7

•. •

£15 0 0 10 0 0

25 0 0

CLUB DEVELOPMENT RESERVE ACCOUNT—

Amount at credit

•.

.•

10 0 0

V. ORDINARY SUBSCRIPTIONS PAID IN ADVANCE —

Balance of Subscriptions received prior to 31 December 1946, applicable to future years .. Subscriptions received in 1947 applicable to future .. years .. VI.

FUN DS OF CLUB SECTION IN ABEYANCE— •• Mot or Section

VII.

GIFTS AND LEGACIES-

10 Shares in Boarding House Co., Ltd. .. Legacy from Miss Alice Lamb Donations for Swimming Pool .. VIII.

102 9

0 206 ••

.. •.

£ 10 0 0 100 0 0 40 0 0

4 3 8

150 0 0

BENGAL CENTRE—

Amount at Credit at 31 December 1946 Less—Cost of Lectern in School Hall £49 10 .6 Transferred to Club Develop0 10 0 ment Account .. IX.

£103 12

50 0 0 50 0 0

•

2 17

Amount due to Hon. Sec. and Treas. and Editor of Magazine ..

95 0

MAGAZINE—

Advertisements prepaid

••

X. HONORARIA— XI.

POSTAGES—

Amount due to Hon. Secretary and Treasurer

▪

25 0 0 £6,364 9 7

FORMER PUPILS' CLUB for year ended 31 December 1947 EXPENDITURE Working Expenses Magazine—Cost for year, less revenue from advertisements and sales Miscellaneous Expenses .. ..

•

• •

•

• •

•

£149 9 0 540 17 8 62 19 3

£753 5 11

at 31 December 1947 ASSETS CASH IN HAND AND IN INVESTED FUNDS

£6,109 5 3

.•

II. MEMORIAL SCHEMES—

Expenses incurred to date • •

4 •

•

III. DEFICIT IN REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

ending 31 December 1947

•

. ACCOUNT for year •. • •

•

37 4

217 19 10

ABERDEEN, 4 February 1948.—We have examined the foregoing Revenue and Expenditure Account for the year ended 31 December 1947, and relative Balance Sheet as at 31 December 1947, compared the figures with the vouchers, and found the Accounts correct. We are of the opinion that the above Balance Sheet correctly states the position of the Club as at 31 December 1947. We have had exhibited to us the various Securities supporting the Funds at the close of the Accounts. The Securities are all entered in the Balance Sheet at cost prices. (Signed) BOWER & SMITH, C.A.,

Honorary Auditors. 245 Usiow 5 ABERDIIN.

£6,364 9 7

2O2

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

CLUB CENTRES The Edinburgh, Glasgow and Bengal and Assam Centres continue actively and have all held successful functions. The London Centre has resumed its activities and held a successful first function recently. Through the efforts of Mr. T. C. Young, a new Yorkshire Centre has been inaugurated. CLUB SECTIONS The Athletic Sections continue enthusiastically and successfully. The Cricket Section in 1947 took part in the Strathmore Union for the first time. A Golf Section was formed during the year and several successful outings were held. The Rugby Section, as has been fully reported elsewhere, has had a most successful season and the Executive are very pleased to record the fact that Dr. J. R. S. Innes, the Captain of the team, and W. D. Allardice, a member of the Club and of the School Staff, were " capped" for Scotland during the season. The Section is to be congratulated both on its comprehensive fixture-list and on the success of its results. FINANCE. Club Subscriptions, the price of the Magazine, and advertising rates in the Magazine were increased as from I March 1947 but the full benefit of these increases was not felt during the financial year as the increased rates did not affect existing members of the Club until i January 1948. The Accounts show a deficit in the Revenue and Expenditure Account for the year to 31 December 1947 of £217 19s. sod. The Executive carefully considered the position and are of the opinion that, as this deficit is due mainly to the ever-increasing costs of the ilfagazine and the fact that the full effect of the increased subscriptions, etc. has not yet been felt, no action should be taken at present. At the end of 1948, after a full year at the new rates, the Executive will again review the position very carefully. SOCIAL The Annual Dinner was held in the Caledonian Hotel on 31 October 1947, when 167 members and friends attended. The function was most successful and Mr. Charles Davidson, President of the Club, presided in his usual genial manner. The Annual Ball was held in the Northern Hotel on z6 December 1947 and was attended by 338 members and guests. It was felt that the function was slightly crowded and the Executive have recommended that the number attending next year should be limited to 300. Arising out of a suggestion from a junior member at last year's Annual Meeting, the Entertainments Committee made arrangements for an Informal Dance to be held in the Royal Hotel on tz November 1947. The response was so poor, however, that the Executive had to cancel the function. MEMORIAL SCHEMES The Executive have now completed their plans for three Memorial Schemes and a circular has been issued to all members. The Executive hope that there will be a prompt and willing response to this appeal. The Secretary then submitted the Accounts for the year ended 31 December 1947 (see pages zoo and zo i) and on the motion of Mr. I. C. Marshall, seconded by Dr. Robert Richards, the Report and Accounts were unanimously adopted. REPORTS ON ATHLETIC SECTIONS A report on the Rugby Section was submitted by Mr. N. I. W. Meldrum, Secretary, who stated that the Section had fifty-eight playing members and fifty-five non-playing members. Attendances at matches had been very good indeed but, in view of the prominent place which the F.P. team now hold in Scottish Rugby and the heavy liabilities necessarily incurred in travelling for " away " matches, he appealed for even greater support from F.P.s next season. He also expressed the hope that covered stand accommodation would some day be available at Rubislaw, as " gate money " was the chief source of income to the Section.

PARENTAL PRIDE . . . When youngsters look neat the pride of the parent knows no bounds . . . That's why more and more mothers -

are now shopping at

I /Vale-one/1Y BOYS' DEPARTMENT READY IN TWEEDS Boys' Grey Flannel Suits fitting 5 to 14 years Priced from 45/11 Boys'

Two-Piece

Suits

fitting 5 to 14 years Priced from 41/5

Be Sure and Visit Our New TRAVEL

GOODS DEPT.

On the Ground Floor

J. FALCONER & CO., LTD., UNION ST., ABERDEEN

The only Cleaning and Dyeing Service in the NORTH ABERDEEN BRANCHES-

434 UNION STREET, ABERDEEN Telephone—Aberdeen 3971

505 GEORGE STREET, ABERDEEN Telephone—Aberdeen 6385

DUNDEE BRANCH-

28 WHITEHALL CRESCENT, DUNDEE Telephone—Dundee 3650

THE GORDON CLEANING CO. LTD. Cleaners and Dyers

HUNTLY

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

203

The Hockey Section and Cricket Section reports were submitted by Mr. A. H. lnnes, Secretary of both Sections. He reported that the membership of the Hockey Section was twenty-eight and that a week-end tour to Glasgow had been arranged. The Section was very short of funds, and players had to pay all their own expenses for " away " matches. The membership of the Cricket Section in 1947 was twentysix and the Strathmore Union XI had had a very satisfactory first season in the Union. Mr. G. A. C. Walker submitted the report of the Golf Section which was formed in March 1947 and he stated that it already had a membership of between seventy and eighty, of whom fifty-two had paid their subscriptions. Mr. J. Patrick Jeffrey intimated that he was to present to the Golf Section a Cup for annual competition. As the Section already possessed the Walker Cup for competition among scratch players, he stipulated that his new Cup would be competed for by players with a handicap of ten and over, on the same basis as the Walker Cup, namely, the best average score over three games. He expressed his admiration for the enthusiastic way in which Mr. Walker had organised the Section. Thanks to Mr. Jeffrey for his very generous act were expressed by Mr. J. Lennox Riddell, Captain of the Section. AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUTION The Chairman moved the adoption of several amendments to the Constitution of the Club which were recommended by the Executive and which had been circulated with the notice calling the meeting. I-Ie explained that these amendments provided for the appointment of a Vice-Chairman of the Executive from among the fifteen members of the Executive and for the retiral each year of the three members of the Executive (other than the Chairman and Vice-Chairman) who were senior by length of service on the Executive. These retiring members would not be eligible for re-election until the expiry of one year. Should a casual vacancy or vacancies occur during the year, the number of senior members retiring would be reduced accordingly. The proposed alterations were adopted. OFFICE-BEARERS FOR 1948-49 Sir Arthur Lothian, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., I.C.S. (retd.), was unanimously appointed President and Mr. Charles Davidson, Sir William Peters, C.M.G., M.A., and Sir William R. Tennant, C.I.E., M.A., were appointed Honorary Vice-Presidents. Messrs. Alexander Gray, I. L. Smith and W. G. Thow were elected to the Executive in place of Messrs. A. J. M. Edwards, J. P. Jeffrey and J. L. Riddell, who retired under the new provisions of the Constitution, and Mr. Gray was appointed ViceChairman of the Executive. The other office-bearers and members of the Executive were re-elected. (The full list appears on pages 207 and 208.) Messrs. Bower & Smith, C.A., were thanked for their services during the past year and unanimously re-appointed honorary auditors. Mr. J. Patrick Jeffrey, C.A., was re-appointed auditor of the accounts of the Sections and thanked for his services during the past year. The Secretary submitted to the Meeting correspondence which he had had with Mr. E. Ros Birkett, Edinburgh, who during the war years donated in all the sum of £40 for the proposed School Swimming Pond. As the purpose for which his donations had been given did not now seem likely to be fulfilled, Mr. Birkett had asked that, with the approval of the Club, this sum of £40 should now be transferred to the Memorial Schemes Appeal Fund and allocated in accordance with his wishes. The Meeting unanimously approved the suggestion and the Secretary was instructed to make the necessary arrangements. Councillor J. R. Carry, at the request of the Meeting, explained the decisions which had been taken that afternoon by the Town Council with regard to the entry of pupils to the School and the continued attendance of pupils now in their final year in the Junior School. The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the Chairman.

204

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

F.P. Club Consuls Since the last issue of the Magazine the following new Consuls have been appointed. (Their addresses are given in the consolidated list printed below.) Iraq—ERNEST STR ACH AN (1923-24 and 1929-36). (See page 155.) Nigeria (Southern Provinces)—FREDERICK STRATHERN PHILIP ( I 914-24)• (See page 15 3.) The full list of F.P. Consuls is now as follows :— AFRICA EAST AFRICA Kenya :—GRAEME GEORGE SUTHERLAND (1903-09), Land Bank, P.O. Box 1002, Nairobi, Kenya. Portuguese East Africa :—MARSHALL KEITH DUGUID (1919-29), c/o Duguid and Ivo, Limitada, Builders and Contractors, Beira, Portuguese East Africa. Tanganyika :—Dr. GEORGE ALEXANDER WILSON (1920-23), c/o t lealth Office, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanganyika Territory. EGYPT ALEXANDER GEORGE WALKER (1906-2o), c/o Northern Assurance Co., Ltd., St. Mark's Buildings, P.O. Box 1695, Alexandria, Egypt. SOUTHERN RHODESIA JAMES WYNESS MACGREGOR (191o-23), P.O. Box 91, Umtali, Southern Rhodesia. UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA Cape Province :—Professor WILLIAM SOUTAR MACKIE (1895-x901), M.A., Drumoak, Greenfield Road, Kenilworth, Cape Town. Natal :—FRANK BRUCE FARQUHARSON DUGUID (1919-26), 8 Lambert Road, Durban. Transvaal :—JOHN EWAN HENDERSON (1884-87), P.O. Box 4466, Johannesburg. WEST AFRICA Gold Coast :—Dr. EDGAR REUBEN GAULD (1917-23), Medical Department, Kumasi, Gold Coast. Nigeria (Northern Provinces):—Captain CAMPBELL GRANT Mc KENZIE (191o-12), c/o '1'he Secretary, N.P., Kaduna. Nigeria (Southern Provinces):—FREDERICK STRATHERN PHILIP (1914-24), Superintendent of Police, Police Headquarters, Lagos, Nigeria. Sierra Leone :—EDWARD WILLIAM MURRAY WATT (1918-31), M.A., District Commissioner, Bonthe, Sierra Leone. AMERICA CANADA Alberta :—DOUGLAS HARPER (1888-98), M.A., B.L., 609 Teglcr Building, Edmonton, Alberta. British Columbia :—WILLIAM ERNEST MILNE (1881-90), c/o Milne, Middleton, Limited, 347 Water Street, Vancouver, B.C. Manitoba :—JOHN DUGUID CRUICKSHANK (1899-1904), Personal Loan Department, The Canadian Bank of Commerce, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Ontario :—ROBERT FLEMING (1891-98), C.E., Messrs. Wood, Fleming & Co., 700 Royal Bank Buildings, Toronto, 2, Ontario. Quebec Province :—NORMAN MACKINNON (1907-16), B.Sc. (For.), c/o National Business Publications, Limited, St. Anne de Bellevue, Montreal, Quebec Province. MEXICO PATRICK J. M. WALKER (1914-20), C.A., Apartado t2 Bis, Mexico, D.F.

Admittedly the best place to Lunch in Aberdeen

Watt & Grant's

RESTAU RANT As in all the other sections of the store, Quality is the predominating Despite the difficulties of Rationing, every effort has been feature.

made to supplement the variety of the Menu by adding new and attractive unrationed dishes. You will find the Restaurant an ideal place to bring your friends for Luncheon or Tea. Meals are quickly and daintily served by a courteous and efficient staff

Watt & Grant Ltd., Union St., Aberdeen

TELEGRAMS: " GALLOWSES " ABERDEEN

TELEPHONE: ABERDEEN 1293

W • J • MILNE

LIMITED

Men's Outfitters

249-251 UNION

STREET

•

ABERDEEN

(OPPOSITE ROYAL NORTHERN CLUB)

IRONMONGERY

STRACHAN

A Large and Varied Stock

COMMERCIAL

always on hand

PORTRAITURE SHEETMETAL WORK . . A SPECIALITY . .

PHOTOGRAPHY •

H. LEITH & SON

Telephone 851

LIMITED

•

26-28 N ETH ERK I RKGATE ABERDEEN Phone 259

416 UNION STREET ABERDEEN

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

205

SOUTH AMERICA Brazil:--JOHN BLAKE LYON (1900-04), cfo The San Paulo Gas Co., Limited, Caiaa, Silo Paulo, Postal 19e, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Colombia :—ROBERT WILLIAM YOUNG ( i 9 i 4-2 Embotelladora Tropical, S.A., Barranquilla, Colombia. UNITED STATES Illinois :—JAMES BRUCE SMTTH (1918-25), The Bruce Smith Insurance Agency, 208 South La Salle Street, Chicago, Illinois. WEST INDIES Tobago :—KENNETH REID (1901-04), King's Bay, Tobago, British West Indies.

AUSTRALIA WESTERN AUSTRALIA IAN THOM (1912-25), Wydga Station, Mount Magnet, Perth, Western Australia.

EUROPE CHANNEL ISLANDS . WILLIAM MILLER (1894- ? ), Franc Fief House, St. Brelade, Jersey. NORWAY L. GEORGE STEPHEN SIMONSEN (1910-14), Ferjeveien, 5, Framnes, Sandefjord, Norway. SWITZERLAND JAMES LAWSON MOWAT (1915-x6), M.A., Ph.D., c/o Bureau International du Travail, Geneva, Switzerland. •

FAR EAST CHINA FRANK CHARLES BRISCOE BLACK (1914-17), c/o Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Shanghai. HONG KONG ANDREW NICOL (1903-15), Public Works Office, Public Works Department, Hong Kong. MALAYAN UNION Negri Sembilan :—GRAHAM HENDERSON (19o6-12), Sua Betong Estate, Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan, Malayan Union. Pahang:—WILLIAM FERRIER MAVOR (1923-50), M.A., Senior Customs Officer, Kuantan, East Pahang, Malayan Union. Selangor:—ALEXANDER R. MURRAY (1903-13), Deputy Director, Drainage and Irrigation, Suleiman House, Kuala Lumpur, Malayan Union. NORTH BORNEO, BRUNEI and SARAWAK JAMES SMART ABERNETHY (1925-26), LL.B., W.S., Commissioner of Lands and Mines, Jcsselton, North Borneo.

INDIA, PAKISTAN and CEYLON Assam and Bengal :—HERBERT BREBNER SCOTT (1905-08), M.C., Royal Insurance Co., Limited, 16 Dalhousie Square, Calcutta. Mart—ALEXANDER WHINCUP CARLE (1914-20), B.Sc., District Local Superintendent, O. & T. Railway, Mokanchghat, Bihar, India. Ceylon :—CHARLES JAMES STRACHAN (1917-21), Anglo-Ceylon General Estates Co., P.O. Box 13, Colombo, Ceylon. Madras :—IAN CUMMING (1907-t4), c/o Messrs. Vernon & Co., 36 Second Line Beach, Madras.

206

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine IRAQ Squadron Leader ERNEST STRACHAN (1923-24 and 1929-36), Air Headquarters Iraq, Royal Air Force, I labbaniya, British Forces in Iraq.

NEW ZEALAND ANDREW ALEXANDER MARR DUCAT (1924-28 and 1929-34), c/o The New Zealand Shipping Co., Limited, C.P.O. Box 1506, Wellington.

* * * News from our Consuls The Editor invites Club Consuls to submit from time to time reports on their consular activities, such as their meetings ;pith F.P.s, and any other items of interest. Such reports should be sent so as to reach h;m by t 5 November and 15 May .for the December and July issues respectively.

North Borneo, Brunei and Sarawak. J. S. Abernethy reports that for the first time in twelve years he is not the only F.P. in Borneo. The other is GEORGE GRANT THOMSON (isoio-11), manager of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Jesselton, North Borneo. (See page 156.) Pahang, Malayan Union. W. Ferrier Mayor has submitted notes for the Magazine on the following F.P.s :—A. V. W. CANTLAT (1902-09), R. D. BRUCE (1913-22), G. E. FEARBY (1937-45), D. GRAEME ROBERTSON (1904-15), E. GRAEME ROBERTSON (1910-19) and Loo YEW Hot ( I 907-14). (See Notes about Old Boys.) Quebec Province, Canada. Norman Mackinnon has had calls from HUGH GEORGE JEFFREY AITKEN ( I 928-4o), M.A., who obtained a Hudson's Bay scholarship in 1947 and who is now studying Economics at Toronto University, and from JOHN PENNY (1923-36). (See page 153.)

F.P. Tennis Section After the Annual General Meeting of the F.P. Club on 15 March 1948, a meeting was held of those interested in re-forming the Tennis Section and, despite a very poor response from members of the Club, it was decided that the Section should be re-formed. The courts at Rubislaw arc open to members of the F.P. Club on payment of a subscription of 5s. and any F.P. wishing to join the Section should communicate with the Hon. Secretary, A. H. Innes, 74 Burns Road, Aberdeen (Telephone 3931). After 3o June members of the Section can have unrestricted use of the courts daily after r p.m. At a later date a meeting will be held of all those who show an interest in the Section for the purpose of electing officials and making other arrangements. A. H. LvisrEs, Hon. Secretary.

Visitors' Register It cannot be too widely known among members of the Club that a Visitors' Register is kept at the School under the charge of the Rector's Secretary, and during the School vacations under the charge of the Janitor. Members who are paying a visit to Aberdeen are urged to go to the School as early as possible and sign the Register. If they do this, the Register will become a complete and up-to-date record of the visits of F.P.s and members of the Club, when signing the Register, will see who are the other visitors, and will doubtless be able to get in touch with some "exiles" whom, perhaps, they have been trying to find, or whom they have not heard about for a long time. The Secretary of the F.P. Club will be pleased if members from a distance visiting Aberdeen will, in addition to signing the Register at the School, pay him a call at zzo Union Street. He is always delighted to be brought into . personal touch with F.P.s.

Aberdeen Grammar Schaal Magaine

207

F.P. Club Office-Bearers 1948-49 Honorary President : O.B.E., M.A., B.D., F.R.S.E. ROBERTSON, JAMES J. (Rector since 1942) Honorary Vice-Presidents : The Right Hon. Lord Alness, The Hon. Lord Mackay (Alexander Morrice Mackay), M.A., P.C., G.B.E., M.A., LL.D. LL.D. (1882-91). (1884-85). President, 5931-32.

President, 1928-29.

David Middleton Andrew, M.A. Rector, 1924-42.

The Right Hon. Lord Meston (1901-02).

Sir Andrew Gourlay Clow, Douglas Gordon Miller, M.A. K.C.S.I., C.I.E., M.A. (1896Rector, 1921-24. 98). Lt.-Col. Alexander G. Nicol Sir Patrick Ashley Cooper, B.A., Smith, D.S.O. (I88o-88). LL.B. (1896-1901). President, 1926-27. President, 2937-38. William Peters, C.M.G., M.A. Sir Charles Davidson, M.A. (1882(1900-06). 86). Sir William Robert Tennant, President, 1947-48. C.I.E., M.A. (1904-to). Colonel Archer Irvine-Fortescue, D.S.O., M.B., Ch.B. (1892-97). Sir John Mackay Thomson, C.B., President, 1939-46. M.A., F.R.S.E. Rector, 1920-21. Sir Robert William Lyall Grant, T.D., M.A., LL.B. (1884-91). George Watson (1 873-77). President, 1934-35. Sir Hubert Douglas Henderson, M.B.E., M.A., LL.D. (19o1-o4). Lt.-Col. Edward William Watt, Sir (Will'sm) Wilson Jameson, D.L., T.D., M.A., LL.D. K.C.B., M.A., M.D., LL.D., (1883-94). President, 1936-37. D.Sc. (1892-1902). President :

Sir ARTHUR LOTHIAN, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., I.C.S. (Retd. (1 892-94 and 1898-1904). Vice-President and Chairman of Executive: ROBERT BERTRAM WILLIAMSON, D.S.O., T.D., M.A., LL.B. (1906-18). Secretary and Treasurer : JOHN SCOTT MACLACHLAN, M.A., LL.B. (1922-32), zzo Union Street, Aberdeen. Editor of Magazine : ALAN CROMBIE ROBERTSON WATT, M.A. (1925-37), c/o University Press, Aberdeen. Secretaries of Centres : Bengal and Assam Centre—S. G. WILLiAmsoN (1922-25), c/o Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, I Clive Street, Calcutta, r. [The Centre comprises all members of the Club resident in Bengal and Assam.]

z o8

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Edinburgh Centre—J. HAROLD ROBB (1925-29), 31 St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh, 2.

[The Centre comprises, without additional subscription, all members of the Club resident in Scotland south of the Tay and east of a line drawn from Perth to Stirling and from Stirling to Carlisle.]

Glasgow Centre—H. G. EDWARDS (1905-14), 43 Marlborough Avenue, Glasgow, W.I.

[The Centre comprises, without additional subscription, all members of the Club resident in the south-western counties of Scotland—west of a line drawn from Stirling to Carlisle.]

London Centre—A. H. K. SLATER, M.A. (1922-3 5 ), z Newton

Grove, London, W.4. [The Centre comprises, without additional subscription, all members of the Club resident in London, and within a radius of 5o miles.]

Malayan Centre—W. FERRIER MAYOR, M.A. (1923-30), Senior Customs Officer, Kuantan, East Pahang, Malayan Union.

Yorkshire Centre—T. C. YOUNG, C.A. (1910-17), 35 Gledhow

Wood Road, Leeds, 8. [The Centre comprises, without additional subscription, all members of the Club resident in Yorkshire.]

Secretaries of Sections : Cricket Section—NEIL H. MACDONALD (1934-38), 5o Albury Road, Aberdeen.

Golf Section—G. A. C. WALKER (1917-23), 39 Rubislaw Park Crescent, Aberdeen.

Hockey Section—R. P. WISHART (1919-31), 21 John Street, Aberdeen. Rugby Section—N. I. W. MELDRUM, M.A., LL.B. (192 5 -37), 10 Carden Place, Aberdeen.

Tennis Section—A. H. INNES (1933-45), 74 Burns Road, Aberdeen. Executive Committee : The Vice-President of the Club, Chairman. ALEXANDER GRAY, M.A., LL.B. (1910-22), Vice-Chairman. The Secretary and Treasurer, and Editor of Magazine, ex offciis. A. R. ABERCROMBY (1903-13). JAMES S. G. MUNRO, B.L. R. D. BAIN (1915-23). (1922-28). MITCHELL C. Ross, B.Sc., M.P.S., C. R. CRUICKSHANK (1925-39). Ph.C. (1914-21). MAXWELL G. GIBE, M.B., Ch.B• IAN L. SMITH, B.Sc., A.M.I.C.E. (1913-22). (1918-30). J. A. McGaEooa (1935-44). WILLIAM G. THOW, L.D.S. IAN G. MCPHERSON (1910-17). (1911-22). R. J. MAITLAND, O.B.E. G. A. C. WALKER (1917-23). (1912-18). R. P. WISHART (1919-31). NEIL I. W. MELDRUM, M.A. One Representative from each LL.B. 092.5-37). of the Sections.

Hon. Auditors : Messrs. BOWER and SMITH, C.A.

BROW N BR E AD *

W. M. McPHERSON BAKER IS

FOUNTAINHALL

ROAD

ABERDEEN

Jackson's Bindery

0 Z

ESTABLISHED 1855

TELEPHONE

18 Back Wynd Aberdeen

BOOKBINDING OF EVERY DESCRIPTION

BIND; FIND FAST 1 FAST W

TRADE MARK

Leather Goods Lettered with Initials or Inscription Maps or Plans Mounted Loose Leaf Specialists

•

"Bon-Record" unobtrusive and all male service which

A toast to set memories a-jingle and reminiscences a-flowing with "do you

does nothing to hinder the flow of

and "saw old so and

talk—an occasion demanding the new

tripping off tongues in spate.

Gentlemen's Lounge in the " Caley ".

remembers " so's "

A time for all good men to come to

the aid of the party and an occasion definitely labelled " Men Only ". An

shape of Dinners, Cocktail Parties and Receptions are taken care of in the

occasion calling for deep, solid, easy chairs and glasses at the ready with an

new extensions known respectively as the Burns Room and the Square Room.

formal

get-togethers

the

THE CALEDONIAN HOTEL R.S.A.C.

** A.A.**

UNION TERRACE TELEPHONE

29 I 6

R.A.C.

ABERDEEN

CORPORATION

OF ABERDEEN-EDUCATION COMMITTEE.

ABERDEEN

GRAMMAR

SCHOOL

(FOUNDED BEFORE I256.) Rector

JAMES J. ROBERTSON, M.A., B.D., F.R.S.E.

HE GRAMMAR SCHOOL provides a complete course of Primary Tand Secondary Education for Boys. The School is organised as follows :--Nursery Class (4-5), Kindergarten (5-7), Lower School (7-12), Middle School (I2-15), Upper School (15-18). The School, which occupies an extensive site in the West End of the City, has, in addition to ample classroom accommodation, an Assembly Hall with Stage, a spacious Library and Reading Room, five well-equipped Laboratories, three Art Rooms, two Music Rooms, three Workshops, two Gymnasia, a Dining Hall, a Museum, and a Botanical Garden. While the School has a Classical tradition, it offers considerable variety of courses, the subjects of the Secondary Department being (in addition to Religous Education, Music, Physical Exercises and Games), English, History, Geography, Latin, Greek, French, German, Spanish, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Art and Crafts, Technical Subjects, and Commercial Subjects. Boys are prepared for the Universities, the Civil Service, the Professions, Commerce and Industry. The Examinations normally taken are the Senior Leaving Certificate of the Scottish Education Department and the Bursaries Competitions of the Scottish Universities. The School has spacious Playing Fields at Rubislaw, the games played being Rugby Football, Cricket, Hockey, and Tennis. There are two Boarding Houses run in conjunction with the Grammar School.

ABERDEEN

HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. (ALBYN PLACE.)

Head Mistress

Miss B. M. ROSE, M.A. (Oxon.).

HIGH SCHOOL provides a complete course of educat ion for THE girls between the ages of 5 and 18 years. It is organised in three

Departments—Infants, Primary and Secondary. There is, in addition, a Nursery Class. The girls in the Secondary Department are prepared for the Leaving Certificate of the Scottish Education Department and the Bursary Competition and the Preliminary Examination of the University : and those pt-pits who take Music, for the Examinations of the Associated Board. The subjects studied comprise Scripture, Physical Training, Class Singing, English, History, Geography, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Latin, Greek, German, French, Music, Art and Craft, Needlework, Cookery and Laundry. There is considerable variety possible in the choice of subjects and courses. At least one afternoon a week and Saturday mornings are set aside for organised games at the School Playing Field of eleven acres situated at lIazlehcad. Information as to Scholarships, Courses of Study, etc., at the Grammar School and the High School for Girls is given in the School Prospectuses, which may be had free on application to the Director of Education, Education Offices, Municipal Buildings, Castle Street, or to the Rector or I lead Mistress respectively.

ABERDEEN

SAVINGS

BANK

TOTAL FUNDS EXCEED

£ 3 5 ,000,000 DEPOSITS ACCEPTED OVER A PERIOD OF YEARS UP TO

A TOTAL OF £2,500 AND, IN ADDITION,

GOVERNMENT STOCK AND BONDS MAY BE PUR-

•

CHASED THROUGH THE BANK.

MONEY

INTEREST

2i PER CENT.

REPAYABLE

PER ANNUM.

ON DEMAND.

FITTING B Y X-RA

SHOE

JOHN A. DUNN Family Boot and Shoe Maker

46 UNION STREET ABERDEEN Phone 158

Repairs Executed

SPECIALISTS IN YOUNG-PEOPLES FOOTWEAR I FIN -1ED AT TliF. AllEk1A.EN UNIVENSITV 1 Ilt-SS.