AGS Magazine June 1942

THE

ABERDEEN GRAMMAR SCHCiDL MAGAZINE

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Volume XLV, No. 2.

June, 1942.

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CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS. Procession at the Welcome to the New Rector .

Mr. David M. Andrew's Farewell . .

School Rugby Football xst XV—Season 1941-42 School Prefects—June 1942 . . . .

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. Fat* page 86 • ,, ,, 87 In front of page 147 . Facing page 147

Facing page

Facing gage

Lieut.-Col. Charles A. Hendrick x so Squad. Leader S. A. Middleton i i i Sub-Licut. Harold A. Blackball 118 Cadet William F. Jenkins . 118 Pilot Officer Andrew G. Milne 119 Sergt. Pilot John M. R. Cruickshank . . . . 119

Flight Lieut. Alex. B. Hutchison z z6 Sub-Lieut. George P. Mollison 116 Surgeon Comdr. E. R. Sorley . 527 Flight Sergt. Ian M.Cormack Centre Flying Officer John Fiddes . „ Private G. Murray Paterson . „ Pilot Officer Charles Ludwig . „

The Rectors' Farewell and Welcome . .

• . . Page 85 Three Hundred Miles Alone across the Desert (Capt. R. P. Yunnie) ” 91 Notes About Old Boys .

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• Pi 93 Marriages . . .

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• • • „ Io7 Roll of F.P. War Service . „ III Missing .

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• • • • . . „ 1I2 Obituary .

• . . . . . ,, ~~3 New Rector entertained by Edinburgh F.P.s . . . „ 117 Pro Patria Mortui . .

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• • • • • „ 1x8 Respicio, or Forty Years After. By Tertiary John . . ,, 124 School Section— School and Random Notes • • • .

1 33 Mr. D. M. Andrew .

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138 Mr. William Forbes. Mr. Charles A. Forbes .

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139 Staff Presentation to Mr. Andrew. House Notes . .

140 Athletics. Rugby . .

• 142 Cricket. Swimming . . . .

• • • 143 The Athletic Sports. The Literary and Debating Society . P, 144 The Dramatic Society. School Army Cadets. Scout Notes . II, 145 School Office-Bearers for 1941-1942 . . .

• • /3 147 The Former Pupils' Club— Report for the Year 1941 • . ,, 148 The Boarding House . . . . „ 150 .

The Cricket Section. The London Centre . „ 151 List of New Members . .

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine 58th year: No. .r5o (New Series, 49th year, No. zeg)

VoL XLV

JUNE 1942

No. 2

The "Grammar School Magazine" is issued under the auspices of The Former Pupils' Club, twice a year in war-time—in June and December. All communications with regard to the "Magazine" should be addressed to the Editor (the Secretary and Treasurer of the Club), THEODORE WATT, M.A., LL.D., The University Press, 6 Upper Kirkgate, Aberdeen.

The Rectors' Farewell and Welcome.

A ceremony believed to be unique in the long history of the School took place on the afternoon of Friday, 27th February 1942, when in the Hall the School bade farewell to the retiring Rector, Mr. D. M. Andrew, M.A., and welcomed the new Rector, Mr. J. J. Robertson, M.A., B.D. The Hall was packed with School boys, and on the platform there was a large and representative gathering of Aberdeen citizens and members of the School staff. Councillor George Duncan, C.B.E., LL.D., Convener of the Education Committee of the Corporation of Aberdeen, presided, and was accompanied by Lord Provost Mitchell and the Right Hon. Lord Alness, LL.D. After an opening prayer by Rev. P. C. Millar, O.B.E., B.D., Councillor Duncan said : We are met this afternoon for two notable events in the history of the School—to say farewell to Mr. Andrew as Rector and to welcome his successor, Mr. Roberston.

Mr. Andrew came to us eighteen years ago after a highly successful career as Principal Teacher of Classics in Hamilton Academy and afterwards as Rector for seventeen years of that school But though Mr. Andrew came to us from the South, he is a true son of the North. He had part of his earliest education in Aberdeen, he is a graduate with First Class of our own University and, as the son of one who was in his day Honours a distinguished schoolmaster in Morayshire and afterwards a notable Chief Inspector of Schools and himself an Aberdeen graduate, Mr. Andrew was brought

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

up in the best educational traditions of the North. During his Rectorship Mr. Andrew has most ably maintained the reputation and the high standard of the School, and we part with him now with very sincere regret. Speaking on behalf of the Education Committee, it would be an understatement if I merely said that our relations with hint have always been cordial and agreeable. They have been much more than that. 1 can say most truly that those of us who have come into contact with Mr. Andrew hold him in the highest regard not merely as a scholar and a gentleman of the best type, but as one whom we are all proud to reckon as a personal friend.

Although Mr. Andrew is leaving the School, I am glad to think that he is not leaving Aberdeen, and I am sure he will continue to take the same interest in the various organizations for the welfare of the young people of the city as he has done in the past. And now, Mr. Andrew, I convey to you the grateful thanks of the Education Committee for all the good work you have done for the School since it was entrusted to you by the Education Authority seventeen years ago. We wish that you will long enjoy a happy retirement in good health and vigour, and may I add that I hope that with greater leisure you will be able on the golf links to take many more holes in one I Now, while we part with Mr. Andrew with real regret, we welcome with all possible goodwill his successor, Mr. Robertson. Mr. Robertson has already had a distinguished career as a Head Master, first at Fort William, then as Rector of the High School of Falkirk, and latterly as Rector of that very famous old school, the Royal High School of Edinburgh. As a Head Master Mr. Robertson has always sought to make his school more than a mere place of teaching and learning. He has devoted himself to the best interests of his pupils in all their activities. For example, when he was at Falkirk he was mainly responsible for the provision of playing fields for his school, for the erection of a fine pavilion at these fields, and for raising a sum of money sufficient to clear the athletics of the school of all debt and to leave a fund of £t,ooo for carrying on the athletics of the school. More than that, Mr. Robertson has always done his utmost to assist his pupils in their future careers and to make his school an influence for good in the whole community. I am sure that Mr. Robertson will be equally successful in these directions in the Grammar School.

Mr. Robertson is also a scholar of high distinction. He entered Glasgow University as First Bursar in the open competition, and after a most successful University career, broken by three years of service abroad during the last war, graduated with honours in Classics. Of his distinction as a scholar and his ability as a teacher I need only quote to you what was said of him

by Dr. King Gillies, his predecessor as Rector of the High School of Edinburgh. Writing of him, Dr. King Gullies said that he was one of the halfdozen first-class pupils who had passed through his hands during the course of his forty years of teaching, and one of his Glasgow professors said of him many years ago—" I have no hesitation in saying that in thirty years of teaching I never had a pupil of whom I could predict with greater confidence that his services to Classical studies and to education in general would be highly valuable and distinguished." That prediction has been most amply fulfilled, and I am sure that Mr. Robertson will fill the Rectorship of the Grammar School in just as distinguished a way as he has filled his former Head Masterships.

It may be thought by some to be rather curious that Mr. Robertson should leave that ancient and distinguished school, the Royal High School of Edinburgh, to come to Aberdeen, and it is indeed no small compliment to the Grammar School that he has done so ; but I may be pardoned for reminding you that your School is just as ancient and distinguished as the Royal High School, and that the Grammar School has just as distinguished a roll of former pupils as any school in Scotland. It is true that the Royal High School can boast of Sir Walter Scott as a former pupil, but you must remember that the Grammar School can claim just as distinguished a former pupil in the person of Lord Byron.

By counts) of " Bow/1(z urd ' '

PROCESSION AT THE WELCOME TO THE NEW RECTOR Mr. J. J. Robertson, Miss Duncan, Principal Fyfe, Professor Noble, Mr. J. Lennox Riddell (Vice-President, F.P. Club).

By courtesy

\Ir. DAVID M. ANDREW'S FAREWELL Mr. Andrew, Lord Provost Mitchell, Dr. Duncan, Lord Alness, Mr. Robertson.

4 Bon-Accord "

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

87

Mr. Robertson is the fourth Rector whom I have had the privilege of introducing to the Grammar School. The first of these was Mr. Mackay Thomson, who left us to become an Inspector of Schools and who, as Secretary of the Scottish Education Department, is now the official head of Education for the whole of Scotland. The next was that great Rector, Mr. Douglas G. Miller, who is now High Master of Manchester Grammar School. The third was Mr. Andrew, who is now leaving us ; and the last is Mr. Robertson, who, I am sure, will prove as distinguished a Rector of the School as any of these or as any of their many predecessors. I have now the very greatest confidence and pleasure in formally introducing Mr. Robertson to the School.

The appreciation of the citizens of Aberdeen for what Mr. Andrew had done for the youth of the city as Rector of the Grammar School was expressed by Lord Provost Mitchell, who also asked the boys to stand loyally by their new Rector.

LORD ALNESS'S SPEECH.

Lord Alness then spoke on behalf of his fellow former pupils of the School. He said :— I count it a great privilege to have been invited to take part in the interesting proceedings of to-day. The Grammar School has always occupied a secure place in my affections, and my affection for it has grown rather than diminished with the passing of the years. The passing of the years I I hardly like to think that S7 years have passed since I bade farewell to the Grammar School. But through the Former Pupils' Club and its Centres, by means of social functions held under their auspices in London, in Edinburgh, in Glasgow, and in Aberdeen, and, above all, by means of Mr. Theodore Watt's School Magazine, I have kept throughout in close touch with my old School. I must not, however, further pursue these reminiscences, else you will not get home this afternoon, as I propose you should, but some time next week.

Well, I have been asked to-day to discharge a double duty—to bid farewell on behalf of the F.P. Club to Mr. Andrew, and to bid Mr. Robertson welcome. Now I do not propose to indulge in anything resembling an obituary notice of either of these gentlemen, but a few words fall to be said regarding them and their work.

Mr. Andrew was reared in an educational atmosphere. His father was a distinguished educationalist : so too was his teacher in Keith, Dr. Grant.

It is not, therefore, surprising that Mr. Andrew has always had a genuine belief in education, and a genuine enthusiasm for it. During his reign in Aberdeen from 5924 to x942, the Grammar School has prospered. Its buildings have been substantially reconstructed. Its pupils reached in 1928 a peak figure, namely x,ooo. Its benefactions have largely increased, thus evidencing popular appreciation of the work of the School. On its athletic side, and particularly in the realm of Rugby Football, the School has made great advances. Its Library, thanks to Mr. Andrew, is one of the best, if not the best of its kind in Scotland. Its curriculum entitles it to be regarded as the citadel of Classical learning among Secondary Schools in the North-East of Scotland ; while the distinction earned by its former pupils in Universities and in the public service are the best testimonial to the training they received at the hands of Mr. Andrew. Mr. Andrew has proved to be not only a good Head Master, but also a good citizen.

He will be greatly missed. The best wishes of his pupils and his fellow citizens for the enjoyment of the leisure which he has so richly earned will follow him into his retirement.

As regards Mr. Robertson, we offer him a most cordial greeting, and we tender him our best wishes in the task to which he has set his hand.

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Aberdeen Grammar Schoo' Magazine

Mr. Robertson comes to the Grammar School with a scholastic record of great distinction, and with a ripe experience of schools and schoolmasters.

He has already held with much acceptance three Head-masterships. He enjoys the reputation of being a hard worker and a gifted public speaker.

He has been described to me as a man of keen and logical, analytic and constructive mind, and as combining tact with firmness in his administration.

He is interested in all school activities, and also in those of the world outside the school. I recently read a revealing passage written by him not very long ago, which runs thus :— " During nearly fourteen years as Head of combined Secondary and Primary Schools, I have kept two ideals before me : first, to secure discipline and efficient work without sacrificing the atmosphere and the relations of mutual trust and reasonableness that make a school something more than a mere place of teaching and learning ; second, to see all the work of the school as set within the life of a community, to effect closer contact between them, and to refuse no opportunity of representing my school in the larger world outside."

I cannot imagine a finer confession of faith for a head master than that.

And now I wonder if I might say just a word to the boys of the School before I sit down ? You are indeed fortunate in the Rector you have had, and in the Rector you are about to have. You arc indeed fortunate in the days in which you live—dangerous days, but great days, interesting days, days big with destiny. I am going to leave with you two verses from very different sources which perchance you will remember when you have forgotten all else that I have said to-day. The first is this— " Rejoice, whatever anguish rend your heart, That God has given you for a precious dower, To live in these great times, and have your part In Freedom's crowning hour."

And the other is this— " And when at last the great Scorer comes To write against your name, He will not ask, have you won or lost, But how you played the game."

Boys of the Grammar School, always play the game l

Replying, Mr. Andrew said that he made no claim to have contributed to any material extent to the prestige and good name of the Grammar School. " One claim 1 will make, however," he said, " and it is this, that I yield to no one in my affection for the School, and I yield to no one in the respect and reverence which I have always had for its splendid traditions. If these traditions have not suffered material impairment during my tenure of office, I can assure you I am more than satisfied."

Mr. Andrew sat down amid the rousing cheers of the boys.

THE NEW RECTOR'S ADDRESS.

Cheers rang out again in welcome to Mr. Robertson when he rose to speak. He said :— My first public words must be of thanks to the Education Committee that appointed me. That I come to the Grammar School is my singular good fortune ; that I come on your invitation is a compliment, appreciated by many, to that ancient High School of the Capital, which should have its own place in the regard of every Scotsman who cares for his country's past.

Aberdeen Grammar Sebooi Magazine

89

It would be hard to imagine a more gracious and cordial welcome than I have been given this afternoon, so generous in its terms, so heartening as evidence that the Grammar School is a very dear concern not merely to the Committee charged with its direction but to the whole community, and especially to the long roll of those who, having lived and learned there, remain part of the School in loyalty and affection, until life ends. May I couple with my warm thanks for this three-fold welcome a word of tribute to Rector Andrew ? I know that, as I work in the School, I shall discern how in characteristically quiet ways his fine mind and generous spirit have served it, but even now I am sure of one inestimable thing he has given you—a flawless example of fastidious courtesy.

Now, as I address myself to the School, I have to take account of the fact that we are still largely strangers. I know little of you, or you of me, though possibly some faint, fugitive reference to me may have reached you from the Press I Let me begin, then, by saying that I come among you not as a specialist or any sort of learned person, but simply as an experienced head master. And I take it to be the authentic mark of a head master that he is interested in the whole round and range of school life. He must concern himself, of course, with its studies, but as the promoter of them all, the partisan of none. He must be as much interested in Art as in Mathematics, in History as in Latin ; it may even be that in the School of Melvin and Geddes he should dare to be as much interested in Greek as in Science I But no head master can regard his boys as mere receptacles for Latin or Geometry. Both the School Prospectus and your Magazine—an incomparable Magazine, and monument to the devotion of a Former Pupil—tell how varied and worth-while are your activities, and no man can really be your Rector if you grudge him, or he denies himself, a part in all these. Then there is Rubislaw Field, where I hope often to witness such prowess of yours, such dour defence, such dash in attack, that even the ranks of Tuscany will scarce forbear to cheer I But behind all your work and play are your homes and folks, and I want to make it clear that I shall seek the active co-operation of your parents, making them very welcome here, and counting extraordinarily well spent the time I give to them. I am afraid, Sir, that the applause which greeted that intimation bespeaks politeness rather than genuine approval ; for, in my experience, the Scots schoolboy, unlike Herr Hitler, has not the slightest objection to fighting on two fronts—all he asks is that the two fronts have the decency not to coalesce I But there is no help for you here. I am, too, an old campaigner and know the need of allies!

And, if nothing of all you do in school lies outside a head master's interest, the same is in a real sense true of the years once school is over.

A school and its former pupils arc not two but one, nor is it the least of a Rector's privileges to help to keep close and strong the links between past and present. The deep attachment of its Old Boys to the Grammar School is a prime source of its vitality, and I take this earliest opportunity to pledge myself to loyal and eager co-operation with all who proudly acknowledge a debt of nurture to the Grammar School of Aberdeen.

Having spoken of the head master's part, may I now disclose to you something of what I hope to find in the Grammar School ? 1 hope to find and keep it a happy and gracious school. We cannot be so prodigal of the wonderful years of youth as to give them over merely to preparation for anything. School is actual living, and unless these irreplaceable years are passed m a community rich in friendliness and courtesy, school fails by re biggest test of all. That does not, of course, mean anything soft or sentimental—plain speaking there will be and the unpleasant moments, when to avoid them would be weakness—but surely all our relationships must normally be governed by mutual trust and goodwill. I would commend to you as an almost perfect blend—granite and graciousness 1 Next, I hope that the Grammar School will be, in the most representative sense, the Town School, with a place and welcome for every type and talent.

It was said of the Royal High School in earlier days that one might find a

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Duke's son and a cobbler's son rubbing shoulders on its benches. Something like that is still the ideal for every school that aspires to play a full and creative part in a democratic community. So, without trespassing for a moment on the field of policy, I may properly express the hope that, in the new world to which we look forward from out our present distresses, the Grammar School will be wisely and happily linked up with the educational system of the Town and will draw to itself an ample share of all that is good in the young life of Aberdeen.

Then, too, I hope that in the Grammar School there will be, from your end and mine alike, great respect for the teaching staff. It is good to value education, but the acid test is whether we honour the teaching office itself, whether we have high consideration for the men and women who do the actual work of the classroom. I want, therefore, to remind myself and you that nothing I do for you directly can matter more than that I should ensure for your teachers conditions in which they will work for you with the utmost zest and effect.

Again, I do hope I shall find surviving in the Grammar School something of the old, hard-slogging tradition of the North-East, a willingness to face the rough places and to put some edge on your learning. Of course, that It needed softening, needed to take account tradition was overdone. of other things. Still, there was something to draw the half-envious, halfadmiring gaze of all Scotland, and if you have lost it, then we arc everyone of us the poorer.

And so, while I shall go very far with you in valuing your games and all your manifold activities, there is one last step, a cowardly step, I will never take, and that is to admit that those other things, splendid though they are, can be not merely a corrective and a supplement to work but a substitute for it—for that plain, hard learning which is your proper concern and mine.

Lastly, I trust that we shall work in the Grammar School under a quiet sense of the over-arching purpose and presence of God. That, above all, ennobles the whole business of teaching and learning ; begets a seriousness that is not priggish and a gaiety of spirit free from all hollow laughter ; keeps us kindly, humble, and forbearing ; in a word, provides the surest foundation for good work and glad fellowship.

While the war lasts the immediate task of this, as of every, school is to hold together in cheerfulness and good sense, doing what lies to our hand.

Then, in due season, we shall move forward into a new and difficult, but extraordinarily interesting world, taking with us a great past and a very noble inheritance, but remembering that the finest loyalty to a tradition lies not in mere slavish imitation of the past but rather in a tenderness for what has been, coupled with the resolve to face the challenge and opportunity of a new age as gallantly as our forbears met those of other years.

I enter on my duties as your Rector very proudly and very happily, knowing that I shall live and work among a people second to none in all Scotland for character and kindliness, for love of learning and generous appreciation.

William Davidson, Senior Prefect, expressed the regret of the pupils in the departure of Mr. Andrew and their joy in welcoming the new Rector. After votes of thanks had been proposed by Professor Noble, Convener of the Secondary Schools Management Committee, the proceedings ended with the singing of the National Anthem.

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Three Hundred Miles Alone Across the Desert.

CAPTAIN ROBERT PARK YUNNIE (192 I-26), who was attached to an Arab unit in the Western Desert and was cut off from the British lines during the German advance on Benghazi in January last, has written a letter giving the following account of his experiences, which we are privileged to print :— " I have just had the greatest adventure of my life-I got cut off from the British lines during the German advance on Benghazi last month, was almost taken prisoner, and walked from Benghazi to Tobruk, across the Desert-30o miles—all in the short space of 23 days. I seemed to have lived a lifetime in those three weeks. It's a long story, but, as briefly as I can, here are the main details. " I was doing a job of work on detachment in the Desert when the British Army decided to withdraw without notifying yours truly. The result was that I found myself on the wrong side of the German lines, and also found it decidedly unpleasant.

I had quite an exciting time getting out of the way of tanks and machine-guns, before I got, as I then thought in my innocence, on the right side of the Jerry positions. At first I imagined I'd have to walk perhaps 20 to 3o miles to catch up with a British patrol. It was only later, as time went on, that I discovered that I had let myself in for the longest ' hike' of my life, to wit, Benghazi to Tobruk non-stop ! Oh boy! were my feet sore ? I have just paid a visit to a chiropodist and had six corns and two ingrowing toe-nails removed, at a cost of ros.1 But to continue my story. " I had very little food with me when I started to walk— perhaps two days' grub at most, and has it paid me to learn Arabic ? I lived entirely on Arab food, and was at the mercy of Arab goodwill for 23 days. I sat in tents, cross-legged, and ate from a huge wooden bowl, scooping the food up with my hands. I drank goat's milk, sheep's milk, and even camel's milk, from the communal bowl. I slept in Bedouin tents alongside goats, sheep, and hens, and in time found myself a victim of lice and other little harbingers of itch. In the hills I was able to walk all day and rest part of the night, although the nights were so bitterly cold that I couldn't sleep for more than a few hours and had to go on to keep warm. There was never any question of getting lost, because I had the sun to guide me by day and the stars by night, and all I had to do was to keep going East. There was one period in the Desert when I had no food and no water for two days. I thought I was a ' gonner ' then, but on the third day I met a camel caravan and they gave me camel meat, camel milk, and flour. As I neared the end of my journey I had to hide by day and walk only by night. I wore my boots completely through and had to beg a pair .from an Arab.

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I grew a marvellous beard and side whiskers, as water was too precious to use for shaving. Eventually I got news of the whereabouts of the British front line, and succeeded, after dodging a German armoured-car patrol, in crawling into their lines at dawn on i9th February. People are apt to imagine that a front line is a dangerous place. To me, after wandering for so long in enemy territory, it felt the safest place on earth. So, you see, everything is relative! " I duly reported and was wafted to H.Q. by staff car, and made quite a fuss of until the novelty wore off, and then I was sent back to Cairo and given a week's leave to recuperate from my exertions. Two things have troubled me since I got back : (i) acute indigestion after meals, and (2) sleeplessness at nights.

I have had a medical overhaul and a blood test. The doctor tells me it is only reaction after the strain of continuous walking, and alternate eating and fasting, and indifferent food and bad water. I am feeling much better now. The indigestion is clearing up, but I am still sleeping badly and keep waking up in the small hours and having horrible dreams. I suppose it's due to the habit I developed of sleeping with one eye open for Jerry patrols. " Now that it's all over, I wouldn't have missed the experience for anything. I learned an awful lot of things. I learned that a man's will-power is a greater thing than food and water. I learned that Fate, Destiny, God—call it what you will—plays a big part in a man's life. I learned also, perhaps the most important lesson of all, that fear is a purely mental thing, which can be controlled, subdued, and put from one's system. The things one fears are always worse than the actual difficulties one has to deal with. Fear is a bogey which a man can kill with his mind. " I am older, I think, by a few years, than I was before I started my journey. I suppose a man cannot have an experience like that and be quite the same as before. The Desert does something to a man and he is never quite the same afterwards. " At the moment, having spent no money for some three months, I am living in luxury and enjoying it while it lasts. At the end of my leave I go back again and will be unheard of for another three months or so. It's a great life, but I must say I rather like it."

Captain Yunnie was formerly engaged in insurance in Aberdeen and was a keen member of the Cairngorm Club. His experiences in the lonely Scottish mountains must have stood him in good stead in his solitary tramp across the Desert.

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*,,,* 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.

NEW YEAR HONOURS. The names of no fewer than ten F.P.s appeared in the list of New Year Honours conferred by the King.

Hubert Douglas Henderson* (1901-04), M.B.E., M.A. (Cantab.), LL.D., Member of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Consultative Council, received the honour of Knighthood. Born in 1890, he is a son of the late Mr. John Henderson, who was for some years General Manager of the North of Scotland Bank.

From the Grammar School he went to Rugby and then to Cambridge, where he studied at Emmanuel College, and became B.A. (Economics Tripos) in 1912 and M.A. in 1916. He was Secretary to the Cotton Control Board in 1917-19, and received the honour of M.B.E, in January 1919. In the same year he was elected a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and University Lecturer in Economics. In 192.3 he succeeded /I. W. Massingham in the editorship of The Nation and Atheneum and conducted that influential weekly until his appointment as Joint Secretary of the Economic Advisory Council. This position he held for four years, when he became Senior Research Fellow in Economics at All Souls College, Oxford. In 1934 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Birmingham. The year before the outbreak of war he was appointed a member of the Royal Commission set up to investigate the social and economic conditions in certain of the West Indian Colonies. About the same time he acted along with Professor H. Clay as an assistant to the late Lord Stamp in advising the Government upon their economic war plans, and later was one of a small committee of economists, known as the Economic Survey, which discussed at meetings held regularly several times a week every aspect of the nation's economic life as it affected or was affected by the war.

In July 1940 he was appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to be a member of the Consultative Council which gives help * Member of the Former Pupils' Club.

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and advice upon the special problems which confront the Treasury as a consequence of war conditions. Another member of the Council is Mr. J. M. Keynes (now raised to the Peerage), like whom our F.P. has come to be regarded as one of the leading economists in the country.

George Neil Farquhar (1903-09), M.C., Colonial Administrative Service, Financial Secretary, Gold Coast, was made a Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George. In the last war he became an Acting Captain in the R.F.A., and was awarded the Military Cross in June 1918.

After the war he spent a year at Hertford College, Oxford, and was then appointed to the Ceylon Civil Service. In 1934 he became Treasurer, Sierra Leone, and latterly he has been Financial Secretary of the Gold Coast.

James Gray Kyd* (1891-98), Registrar-General for Scotland, was appointed a Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. On leaving the School he entered the service of the Northern Assurance Co., Aberdeen, of which his father, the late Mr. Thomas Kyd, was Manager.

In due course he qualified as an actuary, and in 1907 was elected a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries. Before he was transferred to the London office of his company in 1911, he was a very active member of the Cairngorm Club and was editor of its Journal. As a keen and enterprising young man he got his opportunity for preferment after the passing of the National Health Insurance Act, and in 1912 was appointed Actuary to the National Health Insurance Commissioners for Ireland. Seven years later he was transferred to the chief post in Ireland of the Government Actuary's Department, and in 1921 was appointed to the corresponding post in Scotland, with headquarters in Edinburgh. He was promoted to be Principal Actuary of the Government Actuary's Department in London in 1926, and in 1937 he was appointed by the Secretary of State for Scotland to be Registrar-General for Scotland, the position which he now holds.

Donald Fasken Stevenson, D.S.O., O.B.E., M.C., Acting Air Vice-Marshal, who was at the School in 1903, was appointed a Commander of the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. His promotion from Air Commodore to be Air Vice-Marshal (Temporary) was gazetted in January last, when it was announced that he had recently arrived in Rangoon to assume command of the R.A.F. in Burma.

George Horatius McKenzie (1907-13), M.A., B.Sc., Assistant Production Manager, Imperial Chemical Industries (Explosives), Ltd., was made an Officer of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire. He graduated M.A. at Aberdeen in 1917 with First Class Honours in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and B.Sc. in the following year with Special

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95 Distinction in these subjects. Immediately thereafter he became a technical chemist to Messrs. Nobel's Explosives Co., Ltd., at its factory at Ardeer, and after a short time was promoted to be Assistant Superintendent in the Propulsive Department. In the present war he continues to be closely associated with the production of explosives.

John Louis Riddoch* (1906-09), M.M., was also made an Officer of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire for public services in Kenya. In the last war he began as a Private in the 4th Gordon Highlanders (T.F.), and after being transferred to the Machine Gun Corps, he won the Medal in France in 1917. During the last months of theMilitary war he was at home as a Cadet and was demobilized as znd Lieut., Gordon Highlanders. For many years he has been a merchant in Kisumu, Kenya Colony.

Robert John Esslemont* (1920-23), Chief Officer, Merchant Navy, was made a Member of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire. On leaving the School he entered the Mercantile Marine and served his apprenticeship on the King Cadwallon, whose career was ended tragically by fire in Southern Indian Ocean. At the unusually early age of 25 the he passed as a Master Mariner. He has served in various motor vessels of the King Line and is now a Chief Officer.

William Esplin Ho11 (1889-94), M.I.Mech.E., Chief Defence Warden, Metropolitan Borough of Paddington, Civil also made a Member of the Civil Division of the Order of was British Empire. On leaving the School he was articled the to Messrs. Marshall Sons & Co., engineers, Gainsborough, and was subsequently in the service of this firm in West Bombay, and Calcutta. In 1913 he engaged in explorationAfrica, work in Uganda, and at the outbreak of the last war was Assistant Transport Officer in the Uganda Carrier Corps. Later he was a Lieutenant in the Military Labour Corps and served in German and Portuguese East Africa. From 1919 he was Manager of the Bombay Uganda Co., Ltd., engaged inGeneral cotton cultivation and production in Uganda.

Ian Horace Laing* (1925-3o), Temporary Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.R., was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. On leaving the School he became a Cadet in H.M.S. and later served as an apprentice with Messrs. AlfredConway, Holt & Co. Latterly he has been 3rd Officer in the Merchant Service and is now under the Admiralty.

Leslie Deane Mayor* (1923-33), Squadron Leader, R.A.F., was awarded the Air Force Cross. He studied engineering at Aberdeen University for two years and entered the R.A.F. College at Cranwell in 1935, passing out two years later Pilot Officer. Prior to the war he was stationed in India. as a

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine KING'S BIRTHDAY HONOURS.

In the list of Honours published on x 1 th June 1942 another Knighthood came to the School—that conferred on JAMES T. LAWRENCE. Since January 1939 no fewer than five Old Boys have been knighted. They are, in chronological order— Sir WILLIAM WILSON JAMESON (i892-1902).

Sir ANDREW GOURLAY CLOW (1896-98), K.C.S.I. Sir ARTHUR CUNNINGHAM LOTHIAN (1892-1904), K.C.I.E. Sir HUBERT DOUGLAS HENDERSON (1901-04).

Sir JAMBS TAYLOR LAWRENCE (1898-1901).

James Taylor Lawrence (1898-1901) graduated M.A. at Aberdeen University with First Class Honours in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in 1908, and then went on to Cambridge, where he was placed in Class I in both parts of the Mathematical Tripos. He was appointed to the Indian Civil Service in 1911 and retired in 1932, his last post being that of Judicial Assistant to the Resident, Aden, from 1927 to 1931. In the following five years he occupied his time as Lecturer in Mathematics in the University of Aberdeen, and then in 1937 his services were secured by the Colonial Office and he was appointed Chief Justice of Aden, the position which he continues to hold. He is one of the most brilliant mathematicians that have passed through Aberdeen University, and from it he won the Ferguson Scholarship in Mathematics, open to graduates of the four Scottish Universities.

Robert Bruce* (1 886-89), D.S.O., T.D., M.A., M.D., Honorary Colonel, Gordon Highlanders, Chairman of the Territorial Army Association of the County of Aberdeen, has been made a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath. He was in command of the 7th Gordons in France, with the rank of Lieut.-Colonel, in 1916-17, before being transferred with the same rank to the R.A.M.C. After the last war he returned to the command of the 7th Gordons, retiring in June 1924. He has been Chairman of the Aberdeenshire T.A. Association since i 93 4.

William Law Watson* (1894-96), M.B.E., A.M.Inst.C.E., Head of the Engineering Contracts Branch, Crown Agents for the Colonies, has been made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Having served his apprenticeship with the Great North of Scotland Railway Company at Kittybrewster and Inverurie, he entered the drawing office of the Great Western Railway Locomotive Works at Swindon in 1905, and joined the staff of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, in 1912.

During the last war he held an appointment in the Raw Materials Department of the Ministry of Munitions.

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97

Alexander Cruickshank* (1915-17), M.D., Senior Medical Inspector, Equatorial Province, Sudan, has been made an Officer of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire.

He joined the Sudan Medical Service in 1924 and has done very fine work in the fight against sleeping sickness and leprosy.

He holds the rank of Lieut.-Colonel in the Sudan Defence Force. Several racy contributions from his pen have appeared in the Magazine.

Sidney Frederick Hardie (19o5- i 5), Column Officer, NorthEastern Area of Scotland, National Fire Service, has been made a Member of the Order of the British Empire. He joined the Aberdeen City Auxiliary Fire Service in November 1938 and was appointed Divisional Officer in 1939. He is now Principal Administrative Officer of the N.F.S. for the North-Eastern Area of Scotland.

Edgar Bulmer Bright* (192 M.B., Ch.B., Acting Squadron Leader, R.A.F., has been awarded the Air Force Cross.

William Fraser (1922-29), Lieutenant, Gordon Highlanders, was recently awarded the Military Cross. While a student he enlisted in the Gordons and became a Corporal. He went to France with the B.E.F. and got his commission in May 1940.

Later that year he volunteered for the Commandos, and afterwards joined the Paratroops. He went to the Middle East early in 1941 and took part in the campaign in Syria. More recently he has been in Libya and there won the M.C. He led a patrol of four men to raid an enemy aerodrome east of Jedabya, and destroyed 37 'planes, a bomb dump, and fuel supplies. To reach the enemy 'drome he had to take his four men at night through fortified enemy positions. Several times Axis patrols tried to intercept them but were always given the slip. Lieut.

Fraser carried out his orders—to cause as much damage as possible at the aerodrome—and withdrew his men without loss.

Derek M. M. Kellas (1924-35), when and Lieutenant, The Gold Coast Regiment, was awarded the Military Cross in October 1941, as was recorded in the last issue of the Magazine.

He was serving in the East African Campaign, and during the patrol action at Mansur Bridge on 16th February 1941 he led his platoon to within forty yards of the centre of an enemy entrenched position, held by a battalion. The platoon came under intense enemy machine-gun and rifle fire, suffering nine casualties, among them and Lieut. Kellas, who was twice hit.

Having ascertained the enemy dispositions, he withdrew his platoon, he himself, although wounded, personally covering the retirement with one of the Bren guns. He was the last member of the platoon to rejoin the company.

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John W. L. Bain* (1915-22), M.B., Ch.B., Major, R.A.M.C., is with a mobile hospital in Libya. His brothers, Alexander A. N. Bain* (1916-29), M.B., Ch.B., and Logic S. Bain* (1919-31), M.B., Ch.B., are also with the R.A.M.C. there. John was in Greece and Crete, and A. A. N. was in Greece and later in Tobruk, while it was surrounded. Robin D. Bain* (19151923) is in the Gordon Highlanders—so as a family the Bains are having their share of adventures.

Eric William Beattie* (1921-28), C.A., has been appointed Area Finance Officer by the Regional Commissioners of the London Civil Defence Area and has been posted to No. 37 Fire Force Headquarters, with the rank of Column Officer.

He is responsible for the financial administration of his Area, which comprises South-East London and part of Kent. At the time of his transfer to the National Fire Service he was a Sub-Officer in the London Regular Fire Brigade, having previously served as a Section Officer in the London Auxiliary Fire Service. Prior to the outbreak of war he was a statistician with Messrs. de Zoete & Gorton, stockbrokers, London. I-Ie served his apprenticeship as a chartered accountant with Messrs.

J. R. Flockhart & Grant, C.A., Aberdeen.

Douglas Maitland Bisset* (1901-08), who has been in Western Australia for a considerable time, sent to the Editor from a military camp there a Christmas card showing representative Australian military units and attractive kangaroos, and bearing the message : " Best wishes to The School and may 1942 add more laurels to an already great history : from a few F.P.s serving with the Australian Military Forces." The card was signed by Private Frank Robert Anderson (1893-96), the Camp Commandant's batman ; Sergeant Charles Smith, Battalion Pay Sergeant; Sergeant Instructor John Francis Robert Stobie (910-12) ; and by Bisset himself, who is also a Sergeant Instructor to the A.I.F. A most interesting and welcome greeting!

George Davidson Bisset* (1918-31) served at the beginning of the war in the Royal Engineers and later in an Independent Company. He now holds the rank of Captain in a Commando.

He has taken part in several raids and expeditions. He recently won the Middle Weight Boxing Championship of the Commandos.

George Chambers Brander* (192o-32), B.Sc.(Vet.), M.R.C.V.S., has now taken up the post of Veterinary Research Officer under the Sudan Government. He was previously Research Officer in the Veterinary Laboratory, New Haw, Weybridge, Surrey. His elder brother, Ian Gordon Brander* (1920-28), was recently with the Australian Forces in Darwin.

He went out to Australia in 1928 as a Whitehead Fellowship

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99 Scholar, and after being trained in Australian agriculture, engaged in farming in New South Wales.

Basil Ernest Brocks* (1927-36), M.B., Ch.B., is Lieutenant in a Field Ambulance, R.A.M.C., and has been serving under Lieutenant-Colonel WILLIAM T. B. Joss* (1909-14), M.C., who held the School roo yards record for many years and who is still very fit and greatly interested in the School.

William Lumsden Cairncross* (1931-36) is a and Radio Officer in the Merchant Navy. Early in 1940 he decided to answer a call for radio officers to serve with the Merchant Service, and after several months' study at a wireless college, he passed out and went to sea in November of the same year.

Since then he has been out East and has made several trips across the Atlantic in cargo ships. When last he wrote he had been fortunate to suffer no more than a few bad scares.

Douglas James Calder* (1927-31) has been in the R.A.F. for over two years. He spent about eighteen months with a night-fighting unit and then came in as an instrument repairer.

In this capacity his training in Aberdeen as an optician and watchmaker is standing him in good stead. He played regularly for his Station XV at rugger, which contained three Scotsmen, and in the last game of season 1940-41 played against Captain J. Scorr MACLACHLAN* (1922-23), who was stationed in the neighbourhood. Latterly he has been playing soccer, as no rugger is available. His letter concludes: " I will have to close here, as I am wanted at the Orderly Room to fix up the clock—a job after my own heart."

Ian Fyfe Cameron* (1918-28), A.R.I.B.A., has since 1939 been an architectural assistant at the Ministry of Works and Buildings, London. His brother, Scott Cameron* (1921-34), M.B., Ch.B., is at present a Resident Medical Officer at Woodend Hospital, Aberdeen.

Alan Chalmers* (1913-19), who has been for a lengthy period in the service of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, left Shanghai last year for long leave in California and was thereafter posted to Colombo, Ceylon.

Andrew Clark* (189 5 -1901), who went out to South Africa in 1908, is to retire at the end of this year from the post of Secretary and Treasurer of the School Board, Queenstown, Cape Province. In a recent letter he says that he was gratified and amused by the reference to himself in the article " Respicio " in the last issue of the Magazine. He was one of five sons of the Free Church Manse of Kings wells who, about half a century ago, trudged the weary four miles from Kingswells " through ' dubs ', along the ' Lang Straucht ', down past Oakbank into Mid Stocket Road, and down Craigie Loanings to the School, arriving more often late than not." Concluding his letter he

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says : " We in South Africa feel a little guilty when we compare our comparative luxury with your restricted living. . . .

Politically S.A. remains the same. . . . Thank God we have Smuts at the head of affairs here! " Sir Andrew Gourlay Clow (1 896-98), K.C.S. I., C. I. E., I.C.S., was in March appointed Governor of Assam. He was previously Communications Member of the Governor-General's Executive Council. In February he had the satisfaction of announcing that for the year 1941-42 the general revenues of the Government of India would receive from the railways a surplus equivalent to about £14,000,000.

George Cormack* (1923-29), who is on the engineering staff of the Aberdeen Post Office, was a Bombardier in the Scottish Horse at the outbreak of war and volunteered for a Commando, in which he served for eight months. He was then recalled to the Post Office, but is now back again in the Scottish Horse as a Bombardier.

Harry George Coutts* (1908-13), M.C., who served in the last war with the Gordon Highlanders and in the Tank Corps, is now a Trooper in the Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles. In civil life he is a tea-planter on the Kurti Tea Estate, Nagrakata, Northern Bengal. When recently becoming a Life Member of the F.P. Club he wrote : " We are full of admiration for the magnificent show which the Old Country is putting up, but now that all the younger men have gone, some of us are rather sick at being left to rust here. . . . The Mag. is better than ever."

Douglas Frank Noel Crawford* (1924-34) iS at present serving with a Friends' Ambulance Unit. , M.D., F.R.C.P., James Gordon Damson* (1894-1903), Surgeon Captain, Royal Navy, has been placed in charge of an R.N. Hospital in the North. He recently had the pleasure of meeting again, after several years, his brother the Bishop of Edinburgh—the Right Rev. Dr. E. D. LOOSE DANSON* (1892-94)—when the latter was preaching in King's College Chapel, Old Aberdeen.

James Alexander Donald* (1920-32), C.A., who is at present serving as a Captain in the Gurkha Rifles, was in March reported as having been wounded in Burma. After qualifying as a chartered accountant in Aberdeen in 1938, he went out to Ceylon and joined the Indian Army over two years ago.

John Calder Duffus* (1920-28) joined the R.A.S.C. in September 1939 as a Technical Motor Transport Clerk, serving in France with the B.E.F., and is now in the Middle East.

James Lindsay Duncan* (1911-24), LL.B., Ph.D., advocate, Sheriff-Substitute of Ross, Crotnarty and Sutherland at Stornoway, was in April appointed Sheriff-Substitute of Ayrshire at Kilmarnock. When he was appointed to Stornoway in

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October 1940 he had the distinction of being, at the age of 34, the youngest Sheriff in Scotland. He was called to the Scottish Bar in 1931.

John F. R. Fairweather* (1919-25), of the Royal Insurance Co., Ltd., Nairobi, Kenya, has been serving as a and Lieutenant in the King's African Rifles and was wounded in action in November last.

Brian John Fiddes* (1927-37) was in December elected by the Master and Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford, on the nomination of the Senate of Glasgow University, to a Snell Exhibition, which is the most important scholarship in the Arts Faculty of Glasgow University. His elder brother, JAMES KAFTAN FIDDES* (1924-37), was elected to a Snell Exhibition in Classics in 1939. They are the sons of Mr. J. R. Fiddes, Actuary of Glasgow Savings Bank, who was formerly Actuary of Aberdeen Savings Bank. Only twice before in the two and a half centuries since the foundation of the Exhibition has it been held by two brothers. The achievement of the Fiddes brothers is specially noteworthy as each won the Exhibition in the third year of his University course.

Robert Wilson Findlay* (1934-35), Leading Aircraftman, R.A.F., was some months ago at Air Headquarters in the Western Desert, Egypt. He was then longing to see a copy of the Mag. Ranald Forbes Greig* (1921-30), L.D.S., is now a Captain in the Army Dental Corps and in charge of a Dental Centre.

George Ian Griffiths* (1925-36), M.A., B.D., has been ordained a minister of the Church of Scotland. He is at present assistant in Holburn Central Church, Aberdeen.

William T. H. Hay (1928-38) has been appointed to an administrative post with the Central Council for Recreative Physical Training—that of assistant representative for the Midlands District, with centre at Stoke-on-Trent.

Arthur Gilbertson Hutchison* (1909-21), B.Sc., Ph.D., who last year, as an oil exploration geologist, was transferred from the Royal Dutch Shell Company, Trinidad, to the Burmah Oil Co., Ltd., Burma, sailed in February from Calcutta for Brisbane, Australia.

John R. S. Inns* (i 9 z3-35), Lieutenant, R.A.M.C., was " Scotland's Star Back" in the Services Rugby International Match at Inverleith in March, when Scotland beat England by zi points to 6. According to one report, " J. R. S. Innes, whose lion-hearted play and ability to seize a chance have always been noted, harassed the English defence to the extent of producing one unexpected score. That was when he caught G. W. Parker taking just a little too much time over a clearance."

James Patrick Jeffrey* (1906-18), Major, R.E., was in May appointed Chief Instructor, Northern Command Company Commanders' School.

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Ian Alexander Bruce Johnstone* (1923-27), M.A., LL.B., a Pilot Officer in the R.A.F., was reported missing about the end of February. He was admitted a member of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen in December last.

Gordon Smith Laing* (1925-31) is a and Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. When the war started he was a Private in the London Scottish, but having broken his back and both wrists before the outbreak of war, he was discharged after mobilization as " unfit for further military service." When he had recovered from his accident, correspondence with the War Office eventually led to his being accepted into the ranks of the Royal Engineers in October 1940, and he was commissioned in September 1941. His elder brother, James Hunter Laing (1925-27), volunteered as an Ordinary Seaman in the South African Navy, and was on an armed liner that hunted the Admiral Scheer but failed to find her (much to his relief!), although they passed within a few miles of each other one night. After training as a naval cadet in this country, he has received a commission. Another brother, Ian Horace Laing* (1925-30), Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.R., was (as is recorded on another page) awarded the D.S.C. for his work in the Mediterranean.

Eric Linklater* (1913-16), M.A., Major, Royal Engineers, is the author of " The Cornerstones," published in December by Macmillan. The little book was recommended by Mr. Harold Nicolson in his " Marginal Comment " in The Spectator. " The scene is laid," he wrote, " among the beeches and the rivulets of the Elysian fields. The main characters are Confucius, Lincoln, Lenin, and a young R.A.F. officer of the name of Arden.

The chief properties are a television set, through which they observe the battles of the earth, and a jug of nectar, in which they are able to toast the Nobler Purpose. They are an intelligent and therefore optimistic quartet, and the conclusion to which they come is that Great Britain, Russia, the United States, and China, being equally threatened by the Axis, having an equal faith in the perfectability of man, are the four cornerstones upon which the new world will be constructed. It is an attractive gospel and Mr. Linklater has handled it with ingenuity and moderation."

James Glover Thomson Lunn* (1924-3i), M.B., Ch.B., who was formerly a Lieutenant in the R.A.M.C., is now Surgical Registrar of an Emergency Hospital in Mid-Scotland.

James McAllan* (1903-08), M.A. (Abend.), B.Sc. (Edin.), M.R.C.V.S., who from 1932 was Chief Veterinary Officer under the Government of Northern Ireland, was in May 1940 promoted to be an Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Belfast. His son, James Watt McAllan* (1925-32), who is studying medicine at Aberdeen University, is the President of the Students' Union for 1942-43 (continuing the F.P. succession).

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Duncan MacCallum* (1929-37), Sergeant Wireless Operator Air Gunner, who, as reported in the last Magazine, has been awarded the D.F.M., was for a time a prisoner of war in Germany but managed to escape and return to this country. Some day he will have a thrilling tale of adventure to unfold.

George Lamb McEwan* (1929-35), M.B., Ch.B., is now Resident Assistant Surgical Officer at Crumpsall Hospital, Manchester. Previously he was Senior Casualty Officer at Woolmanhill, Aberdeen.

John Bennett McGregor* (1921-31), Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.R., of The Straits Steamship Co., got safely out of Penang and then Singapore. He is still serving on a ship out East.

Ian McIntosh* (x928-33), after sitting an Army Entrance Examination in May 2941, was accepted as a candidate for a commission in the Royal Artillery. After two months in the ranks he was transferred to W.T. War Office Reserve and underwent a six months' course in special subjects at Durham University.

Murdoch McIntosh* (1928-33), B.L., Captain, R.A., has fully recovered from his accident in France in March 2940 and is now overseas.

Neil George Marr* (1913-21), M.B., Ch.B., went to Birmingham in December 1938 as Assistant Medical Officer to the Metal Group of Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd. On the outbreak of war he was promoted, on the resignation of his senior, to be Chief Medical Officer of the Group.

Ralph Marshall* (2925-25), who was for nine years in the Buildings and Roads Section of the Public Works Department, Burma, came home in 2938 and was appointed an engineering assistant under the Huntingdon County Council. In May of this year he received a commission in the Royal Engineers.

George Edward Mavor* (1928-36), in his fourth year as a student of medicine at Aberdeen University, has been awarded a Rockefeller Studentship entitling him to a year's study at an American University.

William Ferrier Mavor* (1923-30), M.A., a Preventive Officer in Malaya, received a commission as Lieutenant in the Malayan Intelligence Corps in December last. There has been no word of him since the capture of Singapore, but he is presumed to be a prisoner there.

Charles Watt Michie* (1923-25), M.A., who entered the Administrative Service of Nigeria in 1931, is at present serving as H.M. Consul for Spanish Guinea.

Arnold S. Milne* (1883-90), for many years engaged in gold-mining in Transvaal, is now living in retirement at Hermanus, Cape Province, South Africa.

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David C. Milne* (1911-15), B.Sc., who was for eight years Engineer and Chief Executive Officer to the Greymouth Harbour Board, New Zealand, and was thereafter for two years on the staff of a London public works contractor, has recently been appointed assistant to the Chief Engineer of the Manchester Ship Canal Company.

Arthur Broadbent Mortimer (1925-28) joined the City Treasurer's Department, Coventry, in May 1940, and a year later was called up to the Royal Army Pay Corps. His brother Alexander Wyness Mortimer (1924-27) has been in Palestine with the Royal Army Service Corps since January 1940.

Ian Gordon Munson* (I923-3o), Lieutenant, The South Lancashire Regiment, is now an Instructor in Bren Carriers at one of the new Battle Schools.

Ellis Edward Paul Murray* (1925-30), B.Sc., M.B., Ch.B., has qualified as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. He is at present Senior Surgical Officer at the Royal Portsmouth Hospital.

Robert Nicol Paton* (1898-1904), M.A., B.D., minister of the Rosebank-Chapelshade Church, Dundee, is one of the dwindling number of F.P.s who became Life Members of the Club when the subscription was £a 2s. He recently had an urge to increase his subscription to the current rate of L5, and sent to the Treasurer a very welcome cheque to effect this. The Treasurer hopes that other pre-1919 Life Members may be similarly impelled.

Gibb Niven Pennie* (1923-26), M.A., who has been curate at Christ Church, Morningside, Edinburgh, for nearly five years, is now Resident Chaplain and Lecturer in the Scottish Episcopal Theological College, Edinburgh.

Donald Ellson Philip* (1924-32) has been for the last two years in the employment of the British Thomson-Houston Co., Ltd., in the Midlands.

James Ian Raeburn Rankine* (1925-37), who is at present in the service of Messrs. T. & J. Brocklebank & Co., Ltd., Liverpool, has qualified as a and Mate.

Ian Smart Rennie* (1914-24), a B.B.C. Maintenance Engineer, has been transferred from Aberdeen to Cardiff. He entered the service of the B.B.C. in 1934 and was stationed in Aberdeen from April 1938.

William Brian Richardson* (1929-28) wrote from Manila in October last that there was another F.P. with him in the office there of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China.

This was Charles F. King* (2922-23), formerly in the Bank's office at Shanghai, where he was the first Secretary of the China Centre of the F.P. Club. " As I have known him all my life, more or less, it is very pleasant to have him here. Things are

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still very much in the air over here, and nobody seems to know when anything will happen either one way of the other." As we all know, only too much has happened since then in the Philippines, and no news has come of either Richardson or King.

Thomas Henderson Russell* (1926-37), of West Park, Cults, is attached to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. I-Ie is one of five F.P. brothers who are all taking an active part in the war. James Knox Russell* (1917-28), who was in the Argentine from 1937 to 1940, is now a Corporal in the Intelligence Corps; Samuel Boyd Russell* (1919-28) is a Major in the Royal Engineers ; Douglas T. H. Russell (1911-32) went to South Africa in 1937 and is now in the Middle East with the South African Forces ; Ramsay Roger Russell* (1923-35) is a Squadron Leader in the R.A.F. Wynne Jarvie Scott* (1924-36), Lieutenant in an infantry regiment, notified the Editor in a recent airgraph that he had changed his address once again and found himself in a different Continent. The Middle East, with Syria and Tobruk, had faded into the background, and he found himself looking on the new horizons of India.

Thomas Johnston Smith* (1931-33) went out to Shanghai to Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd., in 1937, and was latterly working in the Ewo Brewery, which belongs to that firm. In the early part of last year he volunteered for service in India and in the course of the summer was commissioned in the Royal Indian Army Service Corps.

William Clark Souter* (1893-98), M.D., who was President of the Section of Ophthalmology at the Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association in 1939, has been re-elected a VicePresident of the Section of Ophthalmology of the Royal Society of Medicine, and of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom.

James Souter Stephen (1919-29), M.A., Ph.D., has been elected minister of Mortlach Church, Dufftown. He completed his Divinity course at Aberdeen in 1941 and went as locum tenens to Canongate Church, Edinburgh. The announcement of his marriage appears on another page.

James Trail* (1919-28), in the service of Messrs. Ross, Taylor & Co., Ltd., in Sourabaya, Java, was evacuated in time to Perth, Western Australia.

Alfred Buyers Valentine* 0901-10, M.A., who since April 1937 has been an Assistant Secretary in the Home Civil Service, continued after the outbreak of war in Edinburgh as Assistant Commissioner for the Scottish Special Areas, and in the summer and autumn of 1940 was also in charge in Scotland of the short-lived and ill-fated scheme for the evacuation of

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children to the Dominions. In November 1940 he went, on promotion to the rank of Principal Assistant Secretary, to the Ministry of Supply Headquarters, where he saw something of PATRICK ASHLEY COOPER* (1896-190I). In the autumn of last year he was transferred, with the same rank, to the Ministry of Home Security.

William Clark Warrack* (1898-1909), Manager of the Victoria Estate, Padang Serai, South Kedah, where he was the F.P. Club Consul, has not been heard of since the fall of Singapore. He was Deputy Commissioner of the Kedah Special Police prior to the Japanese invasion of Malaya. Owing to enemy action he had to leave his estate on 14th December. The Special Police were then disbanded and he proceeded to Singapore, where he volunteered for Army service and was appointed a znd Lieutenant in the Labour Corps. His son, George Clark Warrack* (1924-37), B.Sc. (For.), is in the Timber Production Department of the Ministry of Supply. Later this year he will leave Aberdeen for training as a Pilot in the Fleet Air Arm. Alan Crombie Robertson Watt* (1 9 25-37), who received his commission as a znd Lieutenant in the Royal Corps of Signals, India, in October 1941, was promoted within three months to be Acting Captain, and is busily engaged in the training of native troops.

Edward William Watt* (1883-94), Lieut.-Colonel, T.D., LL.D., has been appointed to the Extra-Parliamentary Panel of persons qualified to act as Commissioners under the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act, 1936, for a period ending on December 3 I, 1945.

Theodore Watt* (i889-19o1), M.A., LL.D., was in February elected one of the four Assessors of the General Council of the University of Aberdeen in the University Court.

John Park Weir* (1918-24), M.B., Ch.B., has recently been promoted from Captain to Major, R.A.M.C., and is serving again in the Western Desert, Middle East.

Norman Stuart Williamson* (x915-19) is Assistant Manager with the Scottish Assam Tea Co., Ltd., at Kharikatia, Assam, and is a Lance-Corporal in the Assam Valley Light Horse.

Edward Simon Willox* (1910-17), who was a Pilot in the R.A.F. in the last war and later engaged in planting in the F.M.S., is again in the R.A.F. as a Flight Lieutenant and is a Senior Flying Control Officer.

Herbert H. E. Wiseman* (1896-1903), M.A., Director of Music to the Edinburgh Education Committee, is Presidentelect of the Incorporated Society of Musicians in succession to Sir George Dyson. This is an honour which has very seldom come to Scotland.

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Thomas Craig Young* (1910-17), C.A., has severed his connection with United Dominions Trust, Ltd., and has joined the staff of Jackson's Stores Ltd., of Leeds, as Chief Accountant.

ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY DEGREES.

At a Graduation Ceremony at Aberdeen University on 17th December 1941 degrees were conferred on the following :— Doctor of Medicine (M.D.)— William Renton Topping* (594-20), M.B., Ch.B., Birmingham. Thesis—" Venereal Disease in the Army with special reference to the Sulphonamide Treatment of Gonorrhoea."

Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (M.B., Ch.B.)— David Gove Bisset (1923-33).

Herbert Watt Booth (1922-28).

Scott Cameron* (1921-34).

Andrew Currie (1927-34).

Thomas Benjamin Foubister (1920-33), M.A. Ian Hay Kennedy (1920-33).

William James Gillan Meldrum* (1925-35).

Derek Allardyce Milne* (1923-35).

William Lumsden Walker* (1925-36).

Diploma in Public Health (D.P.H.)— Charles Davidson Allan (1913-14), M.B., Ch.B. At the Spring Graduation Ceremony at Aberdeen University on 2nd April 5942 degrees were conferred on the following :— Master of Arts (M.A.)— Harold Murray Robertson Watt* (1926-38) with First Class Honours in Classics.

Bachelor of Divinity (B.D.)— George Ian Griffiths* (1925-36), M.A. Bachelor of Law (B.L.)— Eric Garden Sangster* (1927-39).

Marriages.

Band (1924-26).—At St. Aidan's Church of England, Longueville, Sydney, N.S.W., on 18th October 1941, ROBERT WILLIAM INGRAM BAND,* M.A., Malayan Civil Service, only son of the late Rev. Stephen Singapore, to Gabrielle, only daughter of Mrs. C. M. Gosset andBand, of the late Mr. R. W. G. Gosset, of Longueville.

Barnet (191 t-z5).—At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, 194z, Lieut. JoHN BREBNER BARNET, R.A.M.C., son of the lateon tith May Capt. P. K. Barnet and of Mrs. Barnet, 17 Carlton Place, Aberdeen, to Isabel Jean Fraser, younger daughter of Councillor and Mrs. Duncan Fraser, 6 Woodburn Avenue, Aberdeen.

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Blackball (1922-29).—On roth January 1942, HAROLD ANDERSON BI.ACKHALL,* to Philippa Edith, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. F. Silvcster, of Bath, Somerset. [See p. 118.]

Blair (1924-z6).—At Ruthrieston West Church, Aberdeen, on 7th January 1942, NORMAN J. BLAIR, master mariner, son of William Blair, to Margaret, elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Beaton, 71 Momingside Avenue, Aberdeen.

Clark (i9o7-1O.—At Trinity Presbyterian Church, Aberdare, on and April 1942, WILLIAM ROBERTSON CLARK,* A.M.Inst.C.E., M.I.Struct.E., late of West African Civil Service, of 42 Salisbury Terrace, Aberdeen, to Margaret Elizabeth (Peggy) Davies, B.Sc., of z Glannant Street, Aberdare.

Collie (1918-z9).—At St. John's Episcopal Church, Aberdeen, on 14th February 1942, JAMES MICHAEL VERNON COLLIE,* Intelligence Corps, younger son of Mr. George D. Collie* (1869-73) and Mrs. Collie, Morkeu, Cults, to Patricia Roma May Lambert, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Newell, Oxford.

Cormack (193o-34).—At Holbum West Church, Aberdeen, on 12th April 1941, GEORGE CORMACK,* to Agnes Jean Gom, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gom, I Braemar Place, Aberdeen.

Courage (19o3-12).—At Aberdeen on 17th February 1942, ARTHUR COURAGE,* son of the late David Courage and of Mrs. Courage, 6o Carden Place, Aberdeen, to Elizabeth Catherine, of 8 Forest Road, Aberdeen, daughter of the late Mr. MacKenzie and of Mrs. MacKenzie, Tore, Ross-shire.

Cowie (x922-24).---At Schoolhouse, Inverurie, on 4th April 1942, CECIL GEORGE COWIE, Merchant Navy, son of the late George Cowie, Bolivia, and of Mrs. Murray, 8 Fonthill Terrace, Aberdeen, to Ann Chapman Lawson, M.A., eldest daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Lawson.

Craig (i924-3?).—At Cheam Road Baptist Church, Sutton, Surrey, on Oh April 1942, GEORGE CRAIG, only son of the late Mr. George Craig and of Mrs. Craig, 69 King's Gate, Aberdeen, to Eileen, second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Barnes, 2 Eastdean Avenue, Cheam.

Dewar (r923-29).---At Ruthrieston West Church, Aberdeen, on r4th January 1942, FREDERICK SCOTT DEWAR,* eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. L. F. Dewar, 4 Hammerfield Avenue, Aberdeen, to Margaret, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. F. Rae, 284 Broomhill Road, Aberdeen.

Doeg (Ivo-W.—At Wickwar, on ist June 1942, JOHN DOEG,* SOD of Mr. and Mrs. John S. Doeg, Aberdeen, to Dorothy Robinson, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas R. Lees, Loanda, Wickwar, Gloucestershire.

Gauld (1923-34).—At St. David's Church, Exeter, on 3ist January 1942, Lieut. JAMES GAULD,* R.A.M.C., elder son of Mr. and Mrs. E. S. Gauld, 29 Beechgrove Terrace, Aberdeen, to Dorothy Mabel, elder daughter of the late Wm. Linscott and of Mrs. Linscott, 4o Mount Dinham, St. David's, Exeter.

Hay (i923-31).—At Fountainhall Road Church, Edinburgh, on 23th April 1942, Alumna DESMOND FRASER HAY,* elder son of the late Mr. Arthur G. T. Hay (1903-00 and of Mrs. Hay, 37 Gladstone Place, Aberdeen, to Margaret Henrietta Davidson McDonald, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T. D. F. McDonald, to Wilton Road, Edinburgh.

Henderson (r9zr-34).—At Ballynahinch, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, on 23th April 1942, Capt. GORDON HARVEY HENDERSON, Royal Signals, only son of Mr. Henry J. Henderson and the late Mrs. Henderson, Cairnfield Place, Aberdeen, to Eileen, youngest daughter of the late Mr. J. C. Higgins and Mrs. Higgins, Lurgan, Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland.

Horne (r9o3-o3).—At Aberdeen, on 7th May 1942, ARTHUR ROBERT HORNE,* " }Careen," Woodend, Aberdeen, to Freda Pickup, Hindhead, Surrey.

Jamieson (192.z-34).—At St. Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, on 3oth August 1941, Capt. HERBERT DOUGLAS JAMIESON,* son of the late Lieut.

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Douglas Jamieson (1895-1903) and Mrs. Jamieson, 14 Hamilton Aberdeen, to Jean Eileen, daughter of the late Mr. J. E. Crabbie of Place, Blairhoyle, Port of Monteith, and of Mrs. Crabbie.

Levack (1906-co).—At Llanfaethlu Parish Church, Anglesey, on 6th April 1942, Capt. JOHN WILLIAM LEVACK, R.A.M.C., of Aberdeen, to Florence Ann Ludlow (Daphne) Hughes, only daughter of Mr. David Hughes, Plasuchaf, Llanfaethlu, Anglesey.

Mackintosh (1922-30).—At Glenmuick (Ballater) on asst February 1942, HUGH DOUGLAS MACKINTOSH,* E.R.A., Church, son of Mr. and Mrs. Mackintosh, 12 Brighton Place, Aberdeen, to JeanR.N. Allan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. Midge, Balmenach, Ballater.

Matheson (1925-30.-1kt Belmont Church, Glasgow, on 29th May 1 942, ANGUS STEWART MATHESON,* son of the Rev. Charles Matheson (189214), M.A., and Mrs. Matheson, Dunvegan, Isle of Skye, to Mrs. Jean M. Taft, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. Graham Millar, 26 Eastwood Avenue, Giffnoclc, Glasgow.

Mennie (1924-36).—At M'Cracken Memorial Church, Belfast, on 8th December 1441, Capt. ROBERT ALEXANDER ESSLEMONT ivIsNNts,* R.A., only son of Mr. and Mrs. R. E. Mennie, z1 Bonnyrnuir Place, Aberdeen, to Dorothy Moat, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh A. Moat, 4 Maryville Park, Belfast.

Monro (1920-32).—At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on 9th May

1 942, Lieut. JAMES SCOTT CAMPBELL MONRO,* R.A.M.C., son of Mr. J. W.

Monro* (1881-93) and Mrs. Monro, In Gladstone Place, Aberdeen, to Mary Christina, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Mitchell, 22 Belvidere Street, Aberdeen.

Nicol (1930-35).—At 15 Regent Street, Fife-Keith, on 27th March 5942, Rev. THOMAS JAMES TRAIL NrcoL,* C.F., second son of the late Rev. D. Bruce Nicol (1900-02), M.C. B.D., and of Mrs. Nicol, 222 Springfield Road, Aberdeen, to Mary, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Taylor, 55 Regent Street, Fife-Keith.

Paterson (1920-33).—At Hexham Abbey, on 4th May 1942, HENRY KNOX PATERSON,* M.B., Ch.B., younger son of Mr. and Mrs. H. PatersonHyndhope, 6o Morningfield Road, Aberdeen, to Margaret F.li7abeth, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. Jenkins, Hexham.

Peters (192o-30).—At the Registry Office, Edinburgh, on 25th April 5942, Major ALAN JAMES PETERS,* R.A.S.C., of Aberdeen, to Jean Mathieson, Aberdeen.

Reith (1 921-26).--At Cults West Church, on 2nd January t942, RONALD JOHN RErru, younger son of Mrs. and the late Mr. J. R. Reich, to Joyce Lorraine Adair, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T. E. V. Dartnall, 4 Lansdowne Avenue, Winchester (late of Southampton).

Rennie (1925-28).--At Cairo, on zoth April 1942, ALEX. MILNE RENNIE,* M.B., Ch.B., F.R.C.S.(Eng.), third son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Rennie, Fareview, Kintore, to Barbara, second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Cosh, Blackheath, Guildford, Surrey.

Russell (1919-28).--At St. Cuthbert's Church, on 14th March 1942, Major SAMUEL BOYD RUSSELL,* son of Edinburgh, Mr. and Mrs. S. B. Russell, West Park, Pitfodels, Aberdeenshire, to Joan Gladstone, of the late Mr. William Gladstone Walker and Mrs. Gladstone daughter Walker, 35 Hermitage Drive, Edinburgh.

Scott (1925-28).—At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on 29th December 1941, CHARLES SCOTT, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. James Scott, Arnha, Gilbert Road, Bucksburn, to Annie Christina, only daughter of the late Capt. John Taylor Hendry and of Mrs. Hendry, 4 Cedar Place, Aberdeen.

Sinclair (1915-23).—At the West Church of St. Nicholas, Aberdeen, on 21111 February 1942, EDWARD ALEXANDER SINCLAIR,* youngest son of

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the late Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sinclair, Myrtledene, Queen's Road, Aberdeen, to Barbara Louise, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T. F. Aggett, 5 Louisville Avenue, Aberdeen.

Smith (1931-33).—At Abbottabat Church, N.W. Frontier Province, India, on and October 1941, Lieut. THOMAS JOHNSTON SMITH,* younger son of the late Thomas Johnston Smith and of Mrs. Smith, 23 Oakhill Road, Aberdeen, to Margaret, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. Goudie, Glasgow.

Stephen (1919-29).—At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on 9th June 1942, JAMES SOITTER STEPHEN, youngest son of the late Dr. and Mrs. James A. Stephen, Morayfield, Cults, to Mary Keith, only child of the late Thomas Jamieson, F.I.C., Glasterberry, Milltimber, and of Mrs. Jamieson, 17 Richmonhill Road, Aberdeen.

Stratton (1921-24).—At Broomhill Church, Glasgow, on trth June 1942, IAN FORBES STRATTON,* son of Walter Forbes Stratton* (1897-99), 14 Dowanside Road, Glasgow, to Jcan Elgin, younger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Ballantyne, Inverness.

Sutherland (1928-34).—At Old Parish Church, Nairn, on 6th May 1942, Lieut. WILLIAM SUTHERLAND,* R.A., younger son of Mr. John Sutherland (1899-1904), M.A., and of the late Mrs. Sutherland, 99 Clifton Road, Aberdeen, to Ruth Lindsay, elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Macintyre, Clifton Hotel, Nairn.

Swinney (1918-31).-At Ipswich, on 24th April 1942, WILLIAM DIXON SWINNEY, M.B., Ch.B., Lieut., R.A.M.C., elder son of Mr. and Mrs. W. Dixon Swinney, 3 Argyll Crescent, Aberdeen, to Lucille, only daughter of Mr. William Stables and of the late Mrs. Stables, 422 Great Western Road, Aberdeen.

Thom (19z 1-22).—At St. Andrew's Church, Calcutta, on r9th December 1941, ALEXANDER Ni`GREGOR THOM,* eldest son of Dr. and Mrs. A. P. Thom, Murtle, Aberdeenshire, and Wydgee and Yaragabbie Stations, West Australia, to Jean, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. Robertson, Angus, and The Biggin, Jagatdal.

Thomson (1894-99).—At St. Peter's Church, Peterculter, on 13th December 5941, Rev. GEORGE E. THOMSON,* B.D., Monquhitter, to Mary Barclay, Murthly.

Thomson (1927-33).—At Rubislaw Church, Aberdeen, on 29th April 1942, L/C. JOHN BERRY THOMSON,* R.A.S.C., son of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Thomson, 8 Pitstruan Place, to Irene Insch, second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. Insch, 113 Forest Avenue, Aberdeen.

Troup (1919-zz).—At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on 8th January 1942, ARTHUR DAVID TROUP, son of the late David Troup (1882-86), solicitor, and of Mrs. Troup, 119 Queen Street, Peterhead, to Elizabeth, daughter of Mrs. Grant, 73 Blenheim Place, Aberdeen, and the late Capt.

Alexander Grant.

Twort (1916-25).—At St. Nicholas Church, Sevenoaks, on 18th April 1942, REGINALD J. TWORT, M.R.C.P., Flight Lieutenant, R.A.F.V.R., son of Dr. and Mrs. R. F. Twort, 24 Albyn Place, Aberdeen, to Frances A. Smith, P.M.R.A.F.N.S.R., younger daughter of Mr. H. J. Smith and the late Mrs. Smith, Broadway, Solefields, Sevenoaks.

Watt (1923-35).--At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on 9th May 194z, Capt. LESLIE WATT,* R.A.M.C., son of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Watt, 63 Morningfield Road, Aberdeen, to Freda F. Stewart, and Subaltern, A.T.S., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. G. Stewart, 57 Forest Road, Aberdeen.

Wilding (1925-37).—At West Church of St. Andrew, Aberdeen, on 27th March 1942, Lieut. HARRY REUBEN WILDING,* The Gordon Highlanders, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. R. Wilding, 72 Forest Avenue, Aberdeen, to Mildred, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George MacPhee, 14 Rubislaw Terrace, Aberdeen.

CHARLES ALBERT HENDRICK

Lieut.-Coloncl, Indian Army.

STUART AULDJO MIDDLETON, D.F.C.

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Squadron Lcader, R.A.F.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Roll of F.P. War Service.

Sixth Instalment.

BENZIE, Athol Emslie (1921-22), Aberdeen. Captain, R.E. BRUCE, Andrew H. (1922-37), Aberdeen. Lieut., The Gordon Highlanders.

COLLEY, John Kenneth (1926-35). Lance-Sergeant, R.E. CRUICKSHANK, Andrew Whyte (1934-41), Aberdeen.

Aircraftman (2nd Class), R.A.F. CURR, Thomas Thiselton (1908-18), Aberdeen. Pilot Officer (Aug. 1941), R.A.F. DALGLEISH, James White (1928-34), M.A., LL.B., Monymusk. Captain, Royal Corps of Signals.

GAULD, James (1923-34), M.B., Ch.B., Mansfield, Notts.

Lieut., R.A.M.C. GAULD, John French (1919-29), Dooars, India. and Lieut.

(May 1941), R.E. GOLDING, Harry Sutherland Walpole (1926-37), apprentice engineer, Aberdeen. Aircraftman (2nd Class), R.A.F. GRAHAM, Charles Gordon O91 Balmedie, Aberdeenshire. Pilot Officer, R.A.F. GRAY, Trevor (1921-3 z), B.Sc. (Eng.), Aberdeen. Flying Officer, R.A.F. HOOPS, Douglas Harry Mostyn (1928-33), A.R.C.M., Huntly. Trooper, Royal Armoured Corps.

JOHNSTON, Eric Ferguson (1935-4o), Aberdeen. Trooper, Royal Armoured Corps.

JONES, Anthony Wallis Aubrey- (19 z 5-26 and 1932-36), Slough, Bucks. Cadet, R.A. LINDSAY, Archie Gordon (1935-38), Aberdeen. Private, R.A.M.C. LINDSAY, Robert Arthur Drysdale (1933-39), Aberdeen.

Lance-Corporal, R.E. McGREGOR, John Clark (1926-29), M.B., Ch.B., Thurso.

Squadron Leader, R.A.F., Medical Branch.

MACKAY, Eric Beattie (193o-4o), Aboyne. Trooper, Royal Armoured Corps.

MEARNS, Cornelius (1912-17), Lieut.-Colonel (December 1941), Indian Army (regular commission).

MENZIES, William Macdonald (1933-35), bank clerk, Aberdeen. Flight Sergeant (Oct. 1941), R.A.F. ; Pilot Officer (Feb. 1942), R.A.F. MILNE, Alistair Macdonnell (1924-32), Aberdeen. Medium Machine Gunner ; Lieut., R.A. MILNE, Francis James (1924-35), veterinary surgeon, Aberdeen. Lieut. (March 1942), Royal Army Veterinary Corps.

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MUNRO, James (1928-39), Aberdeen. Training as a Pilot, R.A.F. PAUL, Alexander Cadenhead (1932-37), farm pupil, Aberdeen.

Aircraftman (znd Class), R.A.F. PAUL, Douglas Lamont (1 933-40), law student, Aberdeen.

Training as Coder in Royal Navy.

REID, John Charles Nicol (1915-37), fishcurer, Aberdeen.

Pilot Officer (Dec. 194i), R.A.F. ; Flying Officer (Feb. 12 ).

RIDD94 EL, Alexander A. Rodger (1926-34), flight engineer, Heston. Lieut. (A), R.N.V.R. SCORGIE, James Taylor (1928-41), Aberdeen. Private, Lowland Regiment.

SEMPLE, Robert (1922-34), M.B., Ch.B., Aberdeen. Captain, R.A.M.C., West African Force.

SIMMERS, John Sandison (1927-30), M.B. Ch.B., Hatton, Aberdeenshire. Lieut. (Nov. 1940), R.A.M.C. ; Captain, R.A.M.C. SMITH, Alan Douglas (1929-40), Aberdeen. Training as a Pilot, Fleet Air Arm. SMITH, Robert Anderson (1929-40), medical student, Aberdeen. Training for Royal Armoured Corps.

SYMON, Douglas Haig (1922-31), Dalmuir, Glasgow.

Sergeant, R.E. URQUHART, James Frederick (1928-39), Aberdeen. SubLieut., Fleet Air Arm. WALKER, William Henry Pibel (1926-39), Milltimber, Aberdeenshire. znd Lieut., R.A. WATT, Harold Murray Robertson (1926-38), M.A., Aberdeen.

Leading Aircraftman, R.A.F. WISHART, John Christie (1919-24), M.B., Ch.B., Bromley, Kent. Lieut. (Feb. 1942), R.A.M.C. WISHART, John Strath (i9z5-3 5 ), B.Sc. (Eng.), Aberdeen.

Lieut., R.E. Missing.

Since the last Magazine was published in December 1941 the following have been reported as missing :— George Ian Murray Bartlet (1919-30), M.B., Ch.B., Captain, R.A.M.C.: in Malaya.

Ian A. B. Johnstone (1923-27), M.A., LL.B., Pilot Officer, R.A.F. Donald Noel Boyd On (1927-36), Sergeant, R.A.F. Richard Lyall Sharp (1920-27), M.A., Lieut., Northumberland Fusiliers : in Malaya.

Gordon Bowman Will (1929-30, M.B., Ch.B., Flying Officer, R.A.F.V.R.

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Obituary.

Alfred Augustus Cooper (1879-83), M.A., died at Southbourne on 28th February 1942, aged 75 years. After graduating in Arts at Aberdeen University in 1887, he was a missionary in Bengal of the Presbyterian Church of England from 1893 to 1897, and then became Acting Literary Superintendent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, London, and later agent in Alexandria of the Society. In 1907 he was elected minister of the High U.F. Church, Inverness, and continued there till 592o, when he resigned on account of ill-health. Two years later he was appointed to the English Presbyterian Church at Aston Tyrrold, Berks, and in x927-28 was minister in charge of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Kuala Lumpur, F.M.S. He was the first President of the School Debating Society, which was founded in 1882 through the encouragemen of the Rector, Mr. James Moir.

John Cooper (1884-88), M.A., B.D., son of the late John Cooper, timber merchant, Aberdeen, died at Aberdeen on 25th February 1942, aged 7o years. He was appointed minister of the Free Church, Ballater, in 1898, but resigned some years later owing to ill-health.

William Middleton Cryle (1885-87), M.A., second son of the late Mr. William Cryle, Ferniebrae, Warthill, Aberdeenshire, died at New Malden, Surrey, on 21st May 5942, aged 73 years.

He was for many years Superintendent and Manager of a boys' school in Sunderland.

Sinclair Smith Davidson (1915-2o), son of Mr. Francis C. Davidson, 27 Fonthill Terrace, Aberdeen, died at Montrose, on 22nd April 1942, aged 37 years.

George Gibb Duffus* (1912-24), C.A., son of the late Mr. William Duffus, x3 Argyll Place, Aberdeen, died suddenly at Bath, from meningitis, on 4th February 1942, aged 35 years.

He served his apprenticeship as a chartered accountant with Messrs. James Milne & Co., C.A., Aberdeen, and after qualifying, entered the employment of Messrs. de Paula, Turner, Lake & Co., chartered accountants, Coleman Street, London. In 1932 he received an appointment at the headquarters of the British Broadcasting Corporation, London, and at the time of his death was an Assistant-Director of Programme Administration. He was a keen tennis player and a Tennis Blue of Aberdeen University.

William Duthie (1871-73), second son of the late Mr. William Duthie of Cairnbulg, Aberdeenshire, died at Stonehaven on 24th December 1941, aged 81 years. He was a notable artist, having studied art at the Slade School under Professor Legros, and at Julian's in Paris. He was one of the original members of the Aberdeen Artists' Society.

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Walter Angus Elmslie* (1904-to), son of the late Rev. Walter A. Elmslie, D.D., of the Livingstonia,Mission in South Africa, died in Ceylon on 23rd January i 94z, aged 49 years. On leaving the School he became an apprentice civil engineer in the Harbour Engineer's office, Aberdeen. Throughout the last war he was in the Royal Engineers, first of all as a Sapper in the 552nd (Aberdeen) Army Troops Coy., and eventually as a znd Lieutenant in the 4o9th (Lowland) Field Coy. His service was mainly in France, where he was wounded just the week before the Armistice in November 1918. Some years later he obtained an appointment as an Admiralty Harbour Engineer, and served at Chatham, Portsmouth, Trincomali, and Singapore.

In August 1940 he was appointed Superintending Engineer at Trincomali Naval Base. When resident at Singapore he took an active part in the affairs of the Malayan Centre of the F.P. Club. He is survived by his wife, who as Miss Jean Sinclair, was for a number of years School Librarian and Rector's Clerk.

Their son, Gordon, has been a pupil at the School since 1933.

Edward Fiddes* (1876-81), M.A., LL.D., Emeritus Professor of History in Manchester University, died at Withington, Manchester, on 9th March 1942, aged 77 years. He was a son of the late EDWARD FIDDES (1830-;4), Manager of the North of Scotland Bank, Aberdeen, and after graduating in Arts at Aberdeen University in 1885, went on to Cambridge, where he took his B.A., with a First Class in both parts of the Classical Tripos, and graduated M.A. in 1892. He was Assistant Lecturer in Classics at Owens College, Manchester, 189o-95 ; Secretary to the College Council, 1895-19o3 ; Registrar of Manchester University, 1903-20 ; Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor, 192.0-26 ; and Ward Professor of History, 1926-31. He had experience of four Universities : as a student at Aberdeen and Cambridge, and as a teacher and administrator of the federal Victoria University and of the University of Manchester. He went to Owens College when it had about 800 students in its day classes and a teaching staff of 90, and he left the University of Manchester when it had more than 2,7oo students in its day classes and a teaching staff of about 400. In every development during his long term of office Professor Fiddes took an active and often a decisive part in the shaping of policy. His publications included " Chapters in the History of Owens College and of Manchester University, 1851-1914." In 1931 the honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by Manchester University.

David Morton Florence (1876-80), third son of the late Mr. James Florence, Aberdeen, died at West Norwood, London, on 6th February 1942, aged 76 years. He went to London in 1885 and became manager of the counting house of Messrs.

John Barker & Co., Ltd., High Street, Kensington.

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Alexander Davidson Grant (1904-12), second son of the late Robert Grant, formerly of Cromdale House, Westburn Road, Aberdeen, died at Morningfield Hospital, Aberdeen, on loth April 1942, aged 43 years. He was a motor engineer.

James Ritchie Gray (1885-93), son of the late Mr. David Gray, 47 Holhurn Street, Aberdeen, died in Aberdeen on 7th December 1941, aged 6z years. He conducted the family business of Messrs. David Gray & Son, wheelwrights and blacksmiths, Aberdeen.

Robert S. Gray (1867-68), eldest son of the late Mr. Robert Gray, M.A., schoolmaster, Banchory-Devenick, died recently at Nanaimo, Vancouver, British Columbia, aged 88 years. After a time with the Northern Assurance Co., Aberdeen, he went to Demerara, and then took up farming at Russell, Manitoba.

William Brown Greig (1882-83), second son of the late Mr. William Greig, merchant, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen, died at Bridge of Don on 18th March 1942, aged 75 years. He served his apprenticeship as an engineer with Messrs. Hall, Russell, Aberdeen, and after a spell of marine engineering, became a mining engineer in South Africa, and then, in 1911, engineer on the Honolulu Sugar Plantation, Hawaii. He retired in 1920 and came back to live in the district in which he was born.

Gerald Harper* (1891-19oz), son of the late Mr. William Harper, to Springbank Terrace, Aberdeen, died in Pretoria, Transvaal, on 15th May 1941, aged 56 years. He served as an apprentice engineer with Messrs. Barry, Henry & Co., Aberdeen, and then entered the service of a tea company in Assam. In the last war he was a znd Lieutenant in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers, and served with the Supply and Transport Corps on the Afghan Frontier until wounded in 1916. After the war he became partner in a firm engaged at Karino, Eastern Transvaal, in growing oranges for export, and latterly he was a lighting and pumping engineer in Plaston, Eastern Transvaal.

Thomas Mali Johnstone (1877-78), M.B., C.M., died at Mtunzini, Zululand, on 1 zth April 1942, aged 8o years. He was a son of the late Mr. John Johnstone, Drumwhindle Mains, Ellon, and after graduating in medicine at Aberdeen in 1883, went to South Africa, where he became Resident Medical Officer of the Emjanyana Leper Institution, Tembuland. He retired in 1925 to Mtunzini, where he had previously been in practice. In the last war he was a Captain in the R.A.M.C., and served with the South African Native Labour Corps and in camps in this country.

George Kilgour (1881-90), the last survivor of five sons of the late Mr. James Kilgour, manufacturer, Aberdeen, who were all educated at the School, died in Aberdeen on 3oth December 1941, aged 68 years. He spent the earlier part of his life in

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South Africa, but returned home in bad health in 1906. In the last war he was a Private in the King's Royal Rifle Corps, and served in France from October 1914 until he was demobilized on account of his health in 1916. He had latterly been living at Forest Lodge, Milltimber, Aberdeenshire.

Ronald Cade11 Macdonald (1882-85), M.D., son of the late Rev. Dr. C. C. Macdonald, minister of St. Clement's Church, Aberdeen, died in Inverness on 26th January 1942, aged 73 years. He graduated in medicine at Aberdeen University in 1893 and was a civil surgeon with the South African Field Force in 1901-oz. Thereafter he returned to this country and started in practice at Foyers, Inverness-shire, and about twenty years ago in Inverness, where he was latterly a consultant. In the last war he was a Captain in the R.A.M.C., in charge of troops at home.

He had an international reputation as a chess player, and in six years was Chess Champion of Scotland.

John Ramsay Macmillan (1877-82), M.A., died at Montrose on ,7th March 1942, aged 76 years. After graduating M.A. at Aberdeen in 1886, he was ordained minister of the Free Church, Fettercairn, in 1892, and twenty-two years later, minister of Logie-Pert U.F. Church, Montrose, where he remained until the time of his death.

Henry Smith Mitchell (i92 5 -3o and 1933-34), younger son of Mr. William Mitchell, Alt-na-Braigh, Milltimber, died there on xzth January 1942, aged az years. He had been in a delicate state of health for some time.

David Betson Murray (1878-81), only son of the late Mr. David B. Murray, Sunnybank Cottage, Aberdeen, died in Glasgow, on 16th May 1942, aged 76 years. He served as an apprentice with Messrs. Davidson & Garden, advocates, Aberdeen, and qualified as a law agent in 1888. Later he became a partner in Messrs. Keyden, Strang 8c Co., writers, Glasgow.

Bridgeford Macdougall Pixie (x886-88), only son of the late John B. Pixie, architect, Aberdeen, died at King George V Hospital, Malta, on 22nd May 1941, aged 65 years. He was trained as an architect and was employed in the Design Branch, R.E. Office, Malta.

Francis Moir Robb (2882-83), M.A., died at 47 Louisville Avenue, Aberdeen, on 1st March 1942, aged 72 years. He graduated M.A. at Aberdeen in 1893 and became a teacher in Aberdeen. He was latterly head master of the Middle Intermediate School, from which he retired in 1933.

Alexander Bruce Simpson* (1889-94), M.B., Ch.B., son of the late Dr. James Simpson, Forbes, Alford, died at Liverpool on z1 st March 1942, aged 66 years. He graduated in medicine at Aberdeen in x899, and in the following year started in medical

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practice in Singapore, where he continued for many years. In the last war he was a Captain in the R.A.M.C. and served mainly in Egypt and Palestine. For a short time in 1918 he was in France, where he was gassed and taken a prisoner, but was back in this country by December of that year. Some time before the present war started he became a doctor in the Merchant Service and was on a ship which was torpedoed.

Edward David Alexander Smart* (1907-19), youngest son of the late Mr. Arthur A. Smart, of Messrs. Farquharson & Son, provision merchants, Aberdeen, died suddenly on 16th March 1942, aged 39 years. On leaving the School he was trained in the Aberdeen office of the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company, and was resident inspector at Elgin for some years before going to Inverness as local secretary of the Company.

David Kidd Smith* (1916-26), only son of Mr. Henry G. Smith, 6o Rubislaw Den South, Aberdeen, died at a nursing home in Aberdeen on 18th February 1942, aged 32 years.

James Mackay Urquhart* (1877-83) died at Maidstone, Kent, on 6th March 1942. He went out to Ceylon in 1886 and was a planter at Belmar, Halgranoya.

Melvin Morrison Walker (1894- ?), son of the late Mr. John H. D. Walker, who used to live at Cherryvale, Skene Street, Aberdeen, died suddenly at Sydney, Australia, on 6th December 1941, aged 57 years. He served as an apprentice with Messrs. J. & A. Ogilvie, cabinetmakers, Aberdeen, and worked at his trade in Sydney.

James George Watt (1876-78), son of the late Mr. John Watt, Jun., advocate, Aberdeen, died at 9 Devanha Terrace, Aberdeen, on ind January 1942, aged 8o years. He was formerly proprietor of the Northern Gold and Aluminium Paint Manufacturing Co., Hardgate, Aberdeen.

New Rector Entertained by Edinburgh F.P.s.

A dozen or so of the most senior F.P.s in Edinburgh entertained Mr. Robertson at an informal dinner on Friday, 23rd January. The " hosts " were—Lord Mackay, who presided; Very Rev. Dr. Harvey, Rev. Dr. Fiddes, Right Rev. Bishop Danson, Sheriff Charles Milne, Professor Matthew Fisher, Mr. J. G. Kyd, Registrar-General ; Major Eric Linklater, Sheriff John A. Lillie, Dr. R. A. Lillie, and Mr. A. M. Macrae Williamson. Lord Mackay, after dinner, made an informal and very friendly speech, in the course of which he referred to the controversy whether the Royal High School of Edinburgh or the Aberdeen Grammar School was, or rather is, the more ancient institution. The new Rector replied in a speech which both delighted and deeply impressed the company. During the evening Mr. Robertson was presented with a copy of Dr. Theodore Watt's " Aberdeen Grammar School Roll of Pupils 1795-1919 ".

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Pro Patria Mortui.

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

Harold Anderson Blackball* (1922-29), Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.V.R., was in May 1942 reported missing and presumed killed in action, aged z6 years. The only son of Mr. James G. Blackhall, one of the London Managers of the North of Scotland Bank, he qualified as a chartered accountant and became a member of the Institute of Accountants and Actuaries in Glasgow in 1939. When war broke out he was with Messrs. Thomson McLintock & Co., chartered accountants, London. He joined the Royal Navy in August 1940 as an Ordinary Seaman and served in one of H.M. destroyers engaged on convoy work in the North Atlantic. He was commissioned as Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.V.R., on 24th December 1941 and was lost when the destroyer Vortigern was sunk in the North Sea on 15th March in action against German E-boats. As a youth Blackhall was very active in the Scout movement—he was a King's Scout— and in the Crusader Organization, of which he was a Deputy Leader. As will be seen on another page, he was married as recently as January of this year.

Ian Maxwell Cormack* (1936-39), Flight Sergeant, R.A.F., was killed in action in Malta in March 1942, when his squadron engaged a large force of the enemy attempting to raid the island.

Born in 19zo, he was the only son of Mr. John Cormack, Station Hotel, Mintlaw, and was in the School Boarding House from 1936 to 1938 and played for the School 1st XV in 1938-39.

He joined the R.A.F. in the summer of 1940 and duly qualified as a flier. His Squadron Leader wrote that " he was conspicuous for his courage and cheerfulness."

John Milne Rigg Cruickshank* (1923-36), Sergeant Pilot, R.A.F., who was reported missing over Berlin in July 1941, was in March of this year presumed to have been killed on active service. He was the only son of Mr. John Cruickshank, 14 Balmoral Place, Aberdeen, and was 23 years of age. On leaving the School he became a student of mechanical engineering at the University. Ile volunteered for service in the R.A.F. shortly after the outbreak of war, but was not called up till July 1940, and in less than six months gained his wings. When at the School he was a Scout and also developed a keenness for golf, hill-climbing, and motoring, but his deepest interest lay in engineering.

John Fiddes (1928-33), M.B., Ch.B., Flying Officer, R.A.F.V.R., went missing in air operations in December 1941.

He was a son of JOHN DOUGLAS FIDDES* (1896-1904 M.C., M.A., B.Sc., M.B., Ch.B.,. F.R.C.S. (Edin.), and was in his 27th year. Throughout his time at the School he lived in the Boarding House, having entered it in its first year. He graduated

HAROLD ANDERSON BLACKHALL

WILLIAM FRASER JENKINS

Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.V.R.

Cadet, Merchant Navy.

IAN MAXWELL CORMACK

JOHN FIDDES, M.B., Ch.B.

Flight Sergeant, R.A.F.

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

As: ` ►

om me

GEORGE MURRAY PATERSON

CHARLES LUDWIG, M.B., Cli.Li.

Private, R.A.M.C.

Pilot Officer, R.A.F.

ANDREW GORDON MILNE, M.A.

JOHN MILNE RIGG CRUICKSHANK

Pilot Officer, R.A.F.V.R.

,Sergeant Pilot, R.A.F.

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in medicine at Aberdeen University in 1938 and became successively Junior and Senior House Physician at the Prince of \Vales Hospital, Tottenham. Thereafter he held corresponding posts and also that of Resident Medical Officer in the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London. He was there when the Hospital was badly bombed and was slightly wounded.

He took the additional qualification of D.C.H. (Diploma of Child Health), Royal College of Surgeons, in 1941, and it was his intention to specialize in the study of children's diseases.

He wrote two papers that were published in medical journals.

In December 1940 he joined the R.A.F. and served at various stations. His younger brother, AusrAiR D. R. FIDDES, is at present at the School and resident in the Boarding House.

Charles Albert Hendrick* (1906-15), Lieut.-Colonel, Indian Army, only son of Professor James Hendrick of the University of Aberdeen, was in December 1941 officially reported to be missing, believed killed, in the fighting in Malaya. He was in his 44th year.

While at the School Charlie Hendrick was a keen Scout— one of the original members of the 1st Aberdeen Troop. After the outbreak of war in 1914 he soon became anxious to join up for military service, so he was sent to Merchiston Castle School, where there was an Army class and he was able to get into Black Watch uniform as a member of the school O.T.C. In 1916, at the minimum age, he passed his Army exams, and having selected the Indian Army for his service, proceeded to India with a party of cadets before the end of that year. The ship in which they were sailing was torpedoed and sank in a few minutes. Most on board were rescued by a hospital ship and he was landed in Alexandria. From there in due course he reached India and the Military College at Wellington, in the Nilgiri Hills, where he underwent six months' intensive training.

He elected to be posted to a Dogra regiment and before the end of 1917 was on the North-West Frontier, where he saw a little frontier fighting. He was anxious, however, to be in one of the main theatres of war, and got his chance in 1918 when, after the great German break-through on the Western front, many of Allenby's British battalions were withdrawn from Palestine and replaced by Indian troops. Hendrick managed to get a place in one of the new Punjabi battalions sent to reinforce Allenby's army. As a subaltern in the Goth Division he saw a lot of active service in Palestine and his was one of two divisions which made the break-through of the Turkish lines on the shores of the Mediterranean and opened the way for Allenby's masses of cavalry to cut in behind the Turkish-German Army and capture nearly the whole of it. He saw some terrible scenes in that great battle.

After that Hendrick spent a few years partly in Egypt and

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partly in Palestine and gained a lot of experience. He rejoined his own Dogra regiment again and was also promoted Captain.

For a short time he was a temporary Major and town commander at the import nt port of Haifa. From Palestine his regiment was sent to Aden, but he, to his joy, did not spend much time there. First he was sent to command the small garrison in the remote outpost of Kamaran, an island in the Red Sea off the coast of Arabia, and soon after he left there, he was sent to Somaliland to take part in a small and highly successful campaign, about which very little found its way into the home papers.

From Somaliland he returned to India and spent many years in the ordinary routine of Indian Army life, varied by a period of ceremonial duty in attendance on the Viceroy at Delhi and periods of service on the N.-W. Frontier, where he took part in small expeditions against troublesome tribesmen and gained the Frontier Medal. For a time he was in command of a frontier fort in Wazirstan, close to Afghanistan, situated in the midst of the tribes who at that time were giving most trouble. There he had plenty of experience of frontier tribal war and of sniping and got plenty of exercise, daily making the round of his pickets, to reach which he had to climb thousands of feet.

Until he got married, about is years ago, Hendrick used to spend much of his leave travelling and climbing or shooting in the Himalayas, either with a brother officer of like tastes as companion, or alone with an Indian servant. On one such expedition he was never below ro,ooo ft. for six weeks and only just managed to get back through the passes in autumn before they were snowed up. On such expeditions he lived among the people, often where a white man was seldom seen, and had many tales to tell of his experiences. He also gained much knowledge of the hill people of North India and especially of the Dogra tribes, from which his own regiment is recruited.

On the outbreak of the present war he was made a Special Service Officer for the training of the troops of Indian states which had been offered to the Imperial Government for the war.

He was first sent to the Sikh state of Jind, where he had a very interesting time at the court of a small Indian state. He then took his Jind troops to the Baluchistan-Afghan frontier for further training. He had left his wife and family at home, but after a year he got them to come out, as he thought he was settled for a time on the comparatively peaceful Baluchistan frontier. He had hardly got them settled in a house before he was moved first to Hyderabad (where he was promoted Lieut.Colonel) and then to Malaya, where he was sent to the brigade stationed about Khota Bharu, in the north-east corner of Malaya.

There the Japs made their first landing in Malaya on 8th December, and his brigade was at once heavily engaged and was overwhelmed. He was posted as missing from 9th December, and no news has been received of what happened to him. .

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Alexander Burnett Hutchison (1923-29), Flight Lieutenant, R.A.F.V.R., a son of the late ALEXANDER B. HumHiso/4 (18961904) and of Mrs. Hutchison, 84 Queen's Road, Aberdeen, was killed on active service in May 1942, aged 23 years. From the Grammar School he went to Angusfield Preparatory School and then to Merchiston Castle School, and on the death of his father in 1936 (at the age of 48), he entered the family bakery business in Aberdeen. Shortly after the outbreak of war he joined the R.A.F., and took part in recent operations over enemy territory.

He was for a time Captain of the Aberdeen Wanderers Rugby Football Club, played cricket for the Aberdeenshire XI, and was an outstanding golfer.

William Fraser Jenkins (1931-32 and 1436-38), Cadet, Merchant Navy, was reported missing in March 1942, and later officially presumed to be lost. He was 17 years of age, and the only son of Mr. Thomas Jenkins, herring curer, Aberdeen, and of Mrs. Jenkins, Cornton, Bridge of Allan. He was resident in the School Boarding House from 1936 to 1938, and left to go to Uppingham School, Rutland. Before going to sea as a cadet in March 1941 he attended the Aberdeen School of Navigation.

Charles Ludwig (1916-26), M.B., Ch.B., Pilot Officer, R.A.F., lost his life on active service in the first days of this year, aged 3o years. He was the elder son of the late Mr. Charles F. Ludwig and of Mrs. Ludwig, 68 Desswood Place, Aberdeen. While a third-year medical student at Aberdeen University he caused no little sensation in December 1931 by climbing in the dark to the weather vane of the Mitchell Tower of Marischal College, and there, at a height of 235 feet from the ground, affixing a weird effigy, crowned by a human skull wearing a silk hat. Another of his exploits was the climbing of the Mitre Ridge on Beinn-a-Bhuird. This is a majestic rock, 6oo feet high, cleft at the summit, and having from one angle the appearance of a bishop's mitre. He engaged in other rock climbs in the Cairngorms, the Dolomites, and the Caucasus. In 1934 he graduated in medicine with honours, and was awarded the Murray Gold Medal and Scholarship to the most distinguished graduate of the year. After graduating he was for a time assistant in Physiology at the University, and later undertook research in the same subject at Cambridge. From there he went to Leeds University as a Lecturer in Physiology, but shortly after the outbreak of war gave up this appointment and volunteered for the R.A.F., which he joined as an Aircraftman.

He was commissioned last year and took part in several raids.

Stuart Auldjo Middleton* (1918-29), D.F.C., Squadron Leader, R.A.F., eldest son of the late LEwis A. L. MIDDLETON (1888-94), who died in 1934, and of Mrs. Middleton, Belmont, Berryden Road, Aberdeen, was killed in action in December 1941, aged 29 years, and buried at Brest on 3rd January 1942.

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He qualified as a chartered accountant, was admitted a member of the Society of Chartered Accountants in Aberdeen early in 1935, and in August of the same year became a partner in the firm of Messrs. R. L. J. Henderson & Middleton, chartered accountants, Aberdeen. Owing to the death of Mr. Henderson, which took place immediately afterwards, he carried on as the sole partner of the firm. He was one of the original members of the Aberdeen Squadron of the Auxiliary Air Force and took part in numerous raids over enemy territory. In October 1940, when a Flight Lieutenant, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. In August of last year he was posted from Coastal to Bomber Command. He was a keen golfer, like his brother LEWIS MIDDLETON* (1919-32), B.Sc. (Eng.), who is a Major in the Royal Engineers.

Andrew Gordon Milne*(1926-35), Pilot Officer, R. A.F.V. R., is now officially presumed to have lost his life, having been previously posted missing from operations over Germany, in September 1941, at the age of 23 years. He was the elder son of ANDREW MILNE* (1903-09), Principal Classical Master of the Grammar School. He graduated M.A. at Aberdeen University in 1938, when he also won the Town Council Prize in Political Economy. He was pursuing further studies with a view to sitting the Inland Revenue entrance examinations ; and when these were suspended at the outbreak of war, he volunteered for service in the R.A.F., but had to wait until August 1940 before being called up. During his training he was very keen upon all branches of air-crew work and specialized as Wireless Operator and Air Gunner. He won rapid promotion to the rank of Sergeant, and after a few operational flights was granted his commission. During his School days he was an enthusiastic cycle-camper and hill-climber, and knew intimately the line of the Grampians from Girdleness to Ben Macdhui.

At College he took leading parts in various dramatic presentations, notably in Professor Jack's " What's Concluded ? " and in the students' gala show, " Beating Time."

Kenneth David Milne (1925-32), znd Lieutenant, The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, was killed in action (as briefly reported in the last Magazine) on i5th March 1941, aged zz years. He was the only son of Mr. D. M. Milne, Kuala Lumpur, F.M.S. On leaving the School he went to Fettes and then to St. Andrews University. He joined the Army in September 1939, and from April 1940 served in the Middle East.

George Pirie Mollison* (1929-40), Sub-Lieutenant (A), Fleet Air Arm, R.N.V.R., only son of the late GEORGE MOLLISON (1882-83), who died in January 1941, and of Mrs. Mollison, 19 Cromwell Road, Aberdeen, was killed on active service in April 1942, aged 20 years. He joined the Fleet Air Arm about

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two years ago and was trained in Canada. He was a keen Boy Scout, and played both rugby and association football.

George Murray Paterson* (1934-37), Private, R.A.M.C., only son of Mr. George Paterson, 9o Hilton Street, Aberdeen, died in a military hospital on 29th January 1942, aged zo years.

Before joining up he was employed with Messrs. T. & J. Johnston, fish salesmen, Aberdeen. While at the School he took a keen interest in rugby.

Ernest Robert Sorley* (1906-18), M.D., Ch.B., D.P.H., Surgeon Commander, R.N., was presumed killed by enemy action at sea when H.M.S. Barham was lost on 25 November 1941. He was the third son of the late JOHN TOWER SORLEY (1871-74), M.A., City Chamberlain of Aberdeen (who died in December 1929), and of Mrs. Sorley, Ardgay, Milltimber, and was aged 38 years. After graduating in medicine at Aberdeen University in 1923, he entered the Navy as a Surgeon Lieutenant in March 1925, and was granted a year's ante-dated seniority.

He served in the Malaya in the Mediterranean and in the target ship Centurion up to 1928, when he was appointed to Plymouth Hospital. From 1929 to 1932 he was in the Enterprise, in the East Indies, and for the next three years at the Naval Hospital at Bermuda. After a year at Chatham Barracks he was appointed to Singapore in November 1936, and five months later became Medical Officer-in-Charge there. He was promoted to Surgeon Commander in March 1936, and was serving in H.M.S. Barham as Medical Officer of the Battle Squadron which routed the Italians at the Battle of Cape Matapan. Sorley enjoyed writing articles, his last one being contributed, under a pseudonym, to the recently published volume " For Men Only."

In 1932 he contributed to the Magazine an account of " An Assault upon Kilimanjaro," the highest peak in all Africa, on which he reached a height of 18,25o feet out of its 19,700 feet.

Alastair Tait* (1907-17), M.B., Ch.B., Lieut.-Colonel, Indian Medical Service, died in India, of pneumonia, on 1 1 th April 1942, aged 4z years. He was a son of the late Mr. Thomas S. Tait, paper manufacturer, Inverurie, and after graduating in medicine at Aberdeen University in 1922, entered the Indian Medical Service in the following year as a Lieutenant. He was promoted Captain in 1926 and Major in 1935.

Reginald George Weighill (19 1 5 -18), Squadron Leader, R.A.F., was reported in August 1941 to have been killed in action. From the Grammar School he went to Dulwich, and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in September 1926. After training, he served with Army Co-operation squadrons in the United Kingdom. From September 1931 he was in the Reserve of Air Force Officers and was professionally engaged at Hatfield Flying Club. He rejoined for active service when the war broke out.

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Respicio, or Forty Years After.

(Continued from " Magazine" December 1941, page 47.)

I have often wondered what it must have been like to see one of the great cathedrals of the Middle Ages slowly taking shape. We boys assisted at least at the inauguration of the School Valhalla. Day by day as we assembled for " Prayers " we watched the Latin texts unfolding on the frieze. Gavin Allardyce and I delved in our Latin primer for the words we did not know, and gradually we grasped the meaning of those noble words about the builder and the watchman of the Civitas Dei. The feeling of our antiquity descended on us as we read of the Rectors who went back to Thomas de Bennum. So boys had attended the Grammar School before Bannockburn I There were the Provosts of Aberdeen, the Duxes, the First Bursars. There were the portraits of the School benefactors, of famous pupils. There were relics, memorials, gifts from generous donors. A sense of history was bred in us, a feeling of reverence, quite apart from the corporate assembly of masters and boys for Morning Prayers. "H.F.M.S." did his work well. On his portrait has still to be inscribed, " Si monumentum requires, circumspice."

RELIGION IN SCHOOL. If Sir Henry Newbolt idealized chapel in school, Aldous Huxley has certainly deflated it. Is there not room for our good old via media? The question of religious instruction is again coming acutely home to the nation. The Rector gave us his solution in that brief morning service of a scripture lesson and a prayer, followed by the Lord's Prayer, in which we all joined.

He read Holy Writ with a fine dignity, and I am sure there are those who still remember passages from his prayers, which, as he told me in later years, was just what he wished us to do.

But let me be quite frank on this matter. We boys accepted " Prayers " as in the order of things. Without " Prayers " we should have felt our universe was wanting. Yet as we grew older, we brazenly banked on those ten minutes in the morning, but were badly caught out when, on a certain morning, a stately figure appeared at the School door and, having noted the long trail of laggards awinding across the playground, marshalled us all belatedly into the Hall to hear the postponed service. But still worse was our discomfiture when we arrived to find Prayers over and classes begun, Charles McLeod having, in the Rector's absence, treated the School to a few of his staccato verses from Proverbs and a breathless Lord's Prayer with no nonsense— in Scotland—about trespasses or trespassers.

We knocked our heads against authority, but we liked to know that the authority was there. This seems to be the

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fundamental significance of the schoolmaster, that he should stand firm as the symbol of authority, of pietas and gravitas in a restless sea of youthful levitas ; an Aunt Sally, if you will, whom the profane mock at and yet inwardly respect as representing the sound core and the innate goodness of things. Let Morning Prayers remain.

THE CLASSICAL TRADITION.

It is not fair to label a school with so liberal a curriculum as either Classical or Modern. Here is God's plenty. In our day it was frankly and unrestrainedly Classical. What else could it be with a Rector M.A. Cantab., a co-Rector who delighted to challenge Sir William Geddes on fine points of scholarship, and John Clarke of the Chanonry " Gym"? Then there were " Puggie," " CD.," and " Bentley," all bred in the true faith, howbeit they attained not unto the first three. And, as if that were not enough, there was another, hovering quietly in the offing as English master, who had been the first Classic of his year and Ferguson Scholar to boot, though we knew it not.

Even so, " Caesar's " star had not yet arisen I When shall we have the sense to offer a liberal curriculum, leaving as much freedom of choice to youth as is possible, remembering that there is also the education of mingling in all the world of contemporary youth, of daily contact with the mature personalities of a big staff, remembering indeed that education is conterminous with life itself? Who are we to prescribe this or that subject, this or that convention, as the elixir vitae, to canalize the myriad-mindedness of youth ? Let there be perfect freedom within the law. Youth, cabin'd, cribb'd, confined in this or that pedagogic scheme of perfectibility, might well exclaim in despair to its mentors, "Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of mel You would play upon me ; you would seem to know my stops ; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery . . . 'sblood, do you think that I am easier to be played on than a pipe ? " THE CORRIDOR.

It was a long Corridor, and to-day it is even longer. Our School does not shrink, either literally or metaphorically. The walls of the Corridor are hung with the portraits of football and cricket teams of the bygone years. The faces have the bloom of ingenuous youth. F.P.s must find it slightly disconcerting to look upon this picture and on this. Quantum mutatus ab certainly. When does the change come and why? What latent seeds, what atavisms from the dark backward and abysm of time have risen in the course of years to the surface ?

Is it just Gray's " fury Passions, the vultures of the mind " ?

Perhaps it is best to leave it to Horatio—" 'twere to consider too curiously, to consider so."

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine THE ATOMIC THEORY IN PRACTICE.

But one thing the Corridor taught us, and without entering any science laboratory—it taught us a sound Atomic Theory.

We entered at the East Door and were plunged in a welter of youth, multitudinous boyhood. Away at the far end we might descry the lordly " Seventh." We realized our place in the scheme of things, and that it was very small. I am not to say the " Seventh " was heaven, and we were certainly not caught up into it. We spent long laborious years in climbing the ascent. A sense of perspective and proportion was acquired.

But especially we understood what it meant to be an atom of humanity. What a pity Adolf Hitler was never a pupil of a Grammar School! " PUGGIE."

I have long contended that not the least potent factor in the education of us " Grammar" boys in those formative years was the daily contact with the rich and diverse personalities of the masters. They were all men of high academic attainments, of course, but each had his own individuality and usually his own idiosyncrasies. No more than in our School outlook was the master stereotyped. One or two might excel in games— a Menzies, for instance, whose prowess on the rugby field one still recalls with awe—but full and free scope was afforded for the master's own self-expression. The result was that irreverent, irresponsible youth exhausted itself in endless mimicry, and I am not to pretend that this imitation was the sincerest form of flattery. In that field no master exercised a greater fascination than William Brownie, our immortal " Puggie " I It was in the Middle School we first encountered him, and at once he impressed by his quiet, concentrated power and his big stride. He was conspicuous, too, in those days, when nearly all the masters wore gowns, by his rejection of such impedimenta. Only on Prize Day did he condescend to wear the white hood of a blameless life. He was short of figure and, like Jerusalem, compactly built together, but with his stride and masterful air he had about him something Napoleonic.

He was the " no nonsense " disciplinarian, sans pear et sans reproche. There was need for such in that motley assembly of turbulent youth known as the Middle School. To see him wielding his whirling tawse was an awesome sight. He feelingly persuaded us what we were—mere flesh and blood. To Andrew Clark, a favourite pupil, about to step in later days on the precarious foothold of pedagogy, he imparted his own guiding principle : " If ye catch any fellah talkin', Andra, take him oot and give him a good leatherin'. For if you let talkin' loose in your class it is just hell upon earth."

The change of class from, say, French to " Puggie's " Latin was almost comical in its dramatic reversal of things. French

•

ALEXANDER BURNETT HUTCHISON

GEORGE PIRIE MOLLISON

Flight Lieutenant, R.A.F.V.R.

Sub-Lieutenant (A), Fleet Air Arm, R.N.V.R.

ERNEST ROBERT SORLEY, M.D., Ch.B. Surgeon Commander, R.N.

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has always seemed to me to suffer a handicap as a vehicle of culture in school. It is a disintegrating language as regards class discipline. Whether from despair of mastering its nuances of pronunciation or in sheer mockery at posing as French Monsieurs our Middle School was content to remain, for the most part, barbarian. The hour would be drawing to a close in a perfect Babel of voices and varying scale and pitch of nasalized fluting, the distracted instructor vainly trying to be heard above the din, when a sudden hush would descend on us all, and even the master looked round in surprise. There was " Puggie " standing in the doorway, ready to take over, a grim smile on his lips.

I have often tried to think out the secret of his success as a schoolmaster. 1 should say it was directness, and what I am bound to call moral fervour. He had no palaver. " Get oot per books and take down this sentence." He took a grip of his subject, whatever it was—Arithmetic, Geography, History, Scripture, or Latin—and he poured his fervour into the teaching of it. Everything he had to teach he taught with perfect seriousness and profound conviction. He made us paste an envelope—I had never heard the word pronounced that way before—at the back of our Pendlebury's Arithmetic to hold the individual cards we had to work through ; and as we worked through the series he initialed each card with his neat " W. B." The uncouth names of Holy Writ and Geography found him quite undismayed. Athabasca, Saskatchewan—magnificently quadrisyllabic —Tiglath-Pileser, he pronounced each with abounding confidence. But he reached his climax on the top of the Andes with Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Aconcagua and Popocatepetl. It was all one to Hippocleides.

He dramatized things, not without a certain sardonic humour.

We had to learn the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. " Now, Herbert," he would say to one of his pet victims who always seemed to drift within his boa-constrictor gaze, " Two men went up to the Temple to pray. You'll be the Pharisee, and I'll be the Publican. Here's my prayer. ' God be merciful to me a sinner.' Now, Herbert "—grimly—" let me hear what the Pharisee said" 1 Or—always questing for the vivid, picturesque word in translation—he would ask, " What word am I thinking on ? " and he would significantly tap his avoirdupois, as he had a habit of doing, and the profane whisper ran round the class, " Beer."

Again, he used the eliminatory process in questioning with great pungency. This is best illustrated by the poser he addressed to a certain Ernest, an apocryphal story, I fancy, but with a certain poetical " Puggie " truth. " Ernest," he said, and Ernest would realize the importance of being Ernest, "what colour was Queen Elizabeth's hair? Now, Ernest, it was not green 1 "

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It was that same Ernest—and I doubt if even in the wide spaces of Chile he ever again dared to revert to his first love— who, detected revelling in a " Deadwood Dick" beneath the desk, was asked in horror-struck tones, " Ernest Buchan, do you read this pernicious literature ? " " Puggie " believed in the homeopathic treatment. There had been some frivolous but literal pin-pricking. " Did he actually put a pin in you, James? " asked the virtuously indignant " Puggie." " The impident fellah I " Then alluringly, " Come here, Robert—nearer, Robert," and then he made as if to jab fiercely with the said pin at—well, it was not, and in a way it was, Robert's Achilles' heel.

If only " Crookie" had published his Book of Jests, as " Caesar " so often invited him to do. Alas, poor " Crookie " I —a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy, whose flashes of merriment were wont to set the table on a roar 1 For it was " Crookie" who gathered and polished the " Puggie" gems. It was he who discovered that " Puggie's " native heath was Bellie, Fochabers.

What has become of Allan Sutherland's inimitable sketches of " Puggie " sitting with clasped hands on the table, deep in thought ? And there are Leonard Smith's vivid cartoons also.

Leonard, who is meanwhile rescuing London from its second 1666 and all that, confirms my belief that Maxwell Mackie collected a good many of these delicious skits. They would be worth reproducing in the Magazine.

In class—to return to our moutons—you got two chances, after which the word was Descende ad imum; and down to the bottom you went. Sometimes, of course, in the day of universal cataclysm, the normal of low degree found themselves strangely exalted, and those who had been put down from the seats of the mighty began again a steady climb upwards. The escalator was not unknown to us Victorians.

But that was not all. He had what he called his " afternoon levee." In the Middle School we dismissed at three o'clock.

0 blessed hour! But the Upper School went on to four o'clock, so delinquents sat out this extra hour, while " Puggie " trod deep water with a higher class in mathematics, and thereafter made good their morning defalcations, with, perhaps, as helpful mnemonic, a sound leathering.

As a flagellant " Puggie" was a man of war. He would have been invaluable in the extirpation of the Black Death. " Haud oot yer laift hand," he would say to the victim, whom he further graciously requested to be seated. This, of course, gave his stroke more purchase ; and so he touch'd the tender stops of various squeals. It really made little difference even if you were left-handed by nature and thereby hoped for greater immunity. " Puggie's " surgery ironed out all differences in callosity. Experto credo I

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As a variant from ordering the culprit to be seated he would, on occasion, avail himself of a sloping floor to take his stand in loco superiore and so ride the whirlwind—once at least to his serious discomfiture. The first stroke fell, but with an accompanying rending sound. Something had snapped in the infernal regions, and the boldest held his breath for a time.

Then came a still, small voice : " Go back to your seat, Herbert " —for " Crookie " always insisted that the repetitive Herbert was the hero of this episode also—and " Puggie," clutching tightly at what Captain Marryat called his " unmentionables," retreated to his chair, to sit there for the rest of the hour the image of Il Penseroso.

The highest praise I can give him as a teacher is this, that for a brief while he kindled in me an enthusiasm for " deductions."

But it was as a teacher of Latin and Greek that he excelled.

Here he had full scope for his perfervid:int ingenium and downrightness. Whether it was Hannibal looking at brother Hasdrubal's head and exclaiming, " I recognize the fate of Carthage," or Professor Mahaffy on the halo of romance that surrounds the Anabasis, or just the happy hunting-ground of the Greek irregular verbs, including parts rare and poetic, " Puggie" was insistent on the exact words and most devastatingly thorough. But his summuni bonune was the Latin " Version" —sine errore. This was his rose of many thorns. He first discussed it with us and all its possibilities in a sort of Round Table Conference—phrases, connective particles, and, especially, neat constructions. " I like the ring of your Latin, Andrew," he would say, or, " That's a fine phrase, Peter," and smack his lips with relish. His grand effects were reserved for his rendering of Euripides. The class had limped haltingly through the opening lines of the Alcestis. Then came " Puggie" with, " 0 halls of Admetus, wherein—albeit I was a god—I was a thrall."

He had an undoubted flair for the dramatic. I-le told us in the Middle School about the death of Socrates, how he drank the cup of hemlock, how he discoursed on the immortality of the soul, how he walked up and down his cell to make the poison work more quickly, how he felt his lower limbs grow heavy, how, finally, he lay down to die.

Another such purple passage—this time in the Upper School —was Tacitus' tribute to Julius Agricola and his speculation as to human consciousness in the Hereafter. Si quit porn', manibus locus, si, ut sapientibus placet, non rum corpore extingwartur magnae anitnae, placide quiescas. There you had " Puggie" at his best. The man had a dynamic personality, which communicated itself to the whole class, while the more impressionable were moved to undreamt of heights of endeavour.

0 strong soul, by what shore Tarriest thou now ? For that force,

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Surely, has not been left vain!

Somewhere, surely, afar, In the sounding labour-house vast Of being, is practised that strength, Zealous, beneficent, firm I " BENTLEY." But for the disconcerting researches of Dr. Douglas Simpson I should have been content to live on in the pious belief that J. Bentley Philip had his roots in the Thomas de Bennum era, and that his prenomen was Julius or at least Josephus. To us Victorians he was " Bentley," whose star suffered no eclipse even when another Bentley at a later date swam into our ken.

The flippant neo-Georgians--or was it the naughty Edwardians ?

—foisted paternity on him with the sobriquet of " Pa." But we Victorians were pleased to invest " Bentley" with the quasi-immortality of the Queen, deeming him a sort of Melchisedec, having neither beginning nor end. " Bentley " was the last of a notable triumvirate—" C. D." is already hung in my portrait gallery—who ruled the Middle School of our day. Our habitat was what I might call the hump of the School. You climbed to the hump from either end of the long corridor. Middle II was at one end of the hump, Middle III at the other, and between them Mr. Pope, in grizzled side-whiskers, implored us not to " annoy, perplex, worry, torment, and badger me." " Bentley " represented the " Science " of our era, and that, perhaps, is why I seem to speak of him in terms of geological time. What should they know of " Grammar " Science who only England know, I feel inclined to ask, remembering the mysteries into which we were initiated by good old " Bentley " before some modern scientists were born ? Who set us gathering autumn leaves in the Vallambrosa of the Den Burn so that we might paste them in our notebooks—" yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red "—if haply we might attain unto the acme of school-world bliss, " ten and a triangle " ? Who made us draw weird cross-sections of " the fruit of that forbidden tree " —familiarizing us with its scientific contents long before the vogue of vitamins ? Who, I ask, bade us state on paper ten differences between a boy and a cabbage, receiving as No. i from most of us, " A cabbage is green, and a boy is not " ?

Who took us wayward excursions to the Bay of Nigg, and encouraged us to gather starfish, anemones, and stinging jellyfish, nay more, preserve them—more or less—in methylated spirit, till wrathful mothers consigned them all to penal fire? Who told us of the Dee glacier, the altered river course, and afforded us practice in climbing cliffs and helping stumbling brothers into the sea ? Who took us by train on a Saturday all the way

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to Montrose and St. Cyrus—and a " hurl" in the train in Victorian days was still a sensation—and let us spend a long summer day on a beach that knew not barbed wire entanglements, while we, Isaac Newtons in miniature, gathered our pebbles and shells—incidentally peppering each other with seaweed and dulse—while before us stretched the infinite ocean of truth?

Who taught us the rudiments of the Copernican astronomy?

Who took us with Alexander von Humboldt on his travels through the forests of Brazil? In a word, who inured our nostrils in classroom to the conglomerate smell of skate, crab, and shark, which all the perfumes of Arabia will never quench ?

Who did all this in the sacred name of Science, who but " Bentley " ?

No need to say such a master had his own personality and idiosyncrasies. Always there was the problem of class discipline.

Never forget we were just Ian Maclaren's " young barbarians." " Bentley" had neither the forceful tones of " Puggie," still less " C.D.'s" megaphonic boom. He had to husband his vocal powers. In class he sat on his dais wrapping himself in a cloud of Olympian aloofness. " I shall consider the matter " was all he vouchsafed to the specious pleadings of errant youth at his feet. He reduced speech on his own part to a laconic brevity. Possessed of a ten-foot pole which he used for demonstration purposes, he drummed out with its help a Morse code of his own devising, which we had to be ready to interpret and act upon. The drum taps, however, were liable to misinterpretation, genuine or spurious, who can tell ? One tap might mean—halt work; two—change places for a new subject; three—a general escalade to the floor; four—dismiss. But it would not pass the wit of some innocent-faced cherub to give the extra tap that would send us pell-mell to the door, whereupon Jupiter had to come down from Olympus with a flop and gather again his lost sheep.

Then there were " the eight indispensable articles " no boy should go without—pencil, pen, ruler, rubber, and so forth.

This induced much legerdemain and deft passing to and fro of the necessary articles when there was a kit-parade. Rulers were the chief stumbling-block. Brand new samples were ruthlessly scrapped in praiseworthy endeavour to fulfil the Golden Rule.

But a crisis was reached when " Tillypan " Webster unblushingly paraded a half-inch stump by way of token for a ruler.

A new law was promulgated of " two inches " as an irreducible minimum. " Bentley " was really in advance of his time in many ways.

He tried experiments in teaching. For instance, he would concentrate on one subject for a spell at a time, say, nothing but Geography, and we would live for the time in South Africa or South America. He was a pioneer in school gardening. The pity was that the " barbarians " had their own conception of

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what was meant by it fact cultiver notre jardin. They had their own Floral Dance, and in the case of vegetables they insisted on going to the very root of the matter. He even set us to find out, on our own account—invent, I should prefer to say— the propositions of that preposterous fellow, Euclid, and himself discovered an Archimedes in bright-eyed, American R. W. Dunlap, who unwound his own clue in the geometrical maze.

In Latin, having got both Sulla and Pompey inextricably mixed as to which had resisted the other to no purpose, we crowned our course of gerund-grinding with a careful analysis of Caesar's memorable statement that " all Gaul is divided into three parts," little dreaming of its sinister future applicability to another tripartite Gaul—Occupied, Unoccupied, and—God be thanked —General de Gaulle 1 I have spoken of his Olympian pose. The poseur is generally a successful disciplinarian. " C.D." was, of course, a past master. " Bentley," too, got away with it. He sat on his throne, like an Epicurean god, in detached serenity. Occasionally he would rub his chin with his hand in a vain effort to hide a smile. I am sure he had many an inward laugh at our naked and impudence.

He had his hobbies, and these were his salvation after the drudgery and irksomeness of daily, dull routine. He made good use of his holidays and explored Norway and Sweden on foot, with knapsack and camera. The fruits of these tours are in the books he wrote. We enjoyed them, too, as lantern lectures at the Debating Society, when Janitor Mackie manipulated the lantern, and as often as not—to our huge delight— showed Scandinavia pretty much as it is to-day, upside down.

In later years I have met him foot-touring like myself in our native land—we were both agreed on the detestable cacophony of " hiking "—and happy, as in St. Cyrus days, exploring the sites of Roman camps. His crowning joy was the Deeside Field Club. In it he reached the Elysian fields of never-fading flowers—asphodel, amaranth, and moly, and stayed not for waftage.

TERTIARY JOHN.

(Concluded.)

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SCHOOL SECTION. School and Random Notes.

"Magnum opus in manibus babeo."

This remark of the great Cicero is very applicable to us Editors, for we have to recount the events not only of one short term, but of two terms, owing to the fact that the Magazine did not make its customary Easter appearance. It would seem at first, therefore, that our task is easier than that of our predecessors, in that we have ample material from which to choose.

But unfortunately much of what occurred after Christmas is now stale and forgotten. We are deprived of making the usual amusing comment on the Leaving Certificate Examinations, though we might do so on the results of that annual ordeal, which, however, are not always so amusing. It would seem rather out of place to boast of three " rugger " games against the " other place," in which we suffered no defeats, in these summer days when Rubislaw is in her white flannels. Even the novelty of a change in the Rectorship is wearing off—in short, you must excuse us if some of the following notes recall incidents which have long faded in your memory. * * * We are now able to state officially, and without giving any vital information to the enemy, that it snowed during winter.

In fact it snowed quite a lot. Various 'bus services, like Hamlet's time, were out of joint, and apparently there was no one born to put them right. Thus many boys from remoter parts had an unexpected holiday, except for the hardy youths with the Shackleton spirit who manfully braved the element on foot.

We are told that, after a particularly heavy fall of snow, the School cleaners arrived at the Esslemont Avenue gate to be confronted by a towering wall of snow. Having surmounted this obstacle, these worthy people had perforce to disrobe and thaw themselves in the Sanctum Sanctorum itself. * * * During the Easter term the upper classes of the School visited the High School for French films (educational, of course), and the High visited us under the auspices of the Debating Society. Whether or not our budding linguists returned from the film show any the wiser is a moot point, for it is very doubtful if any of them, who had been disappointed by the fact that Mr. Charles Boyer did not appear in the leading role, fully appreciated the finer subtleties of the gripping drama. It is fairly certain, however, that the inter-school debate was an entire success. Unfortunately, a return debate at the High was cancelled owing to " circumstances beyond our control."

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Three changes in the Staff must be noted. We give a somewhat belated welcome to Mr. Knox and Mr. Wilson, whose arrival to take the places of Mr. Stewart and Mr. Smith in the Classical Department was just too late for insertion in the last Magazine. Since then there has been only one change —Mr. Forbes has departed for the rectorship of Galashiels Academy, and his place has been taken by a namesake of his— Mr. Charles Forbes. To both Messrs. Forbes (N.B.—Latin third declension plural, pronounced like ' urbes ') we wish the best of luck in their new posts. * * * At the end of February Mr. D. M. Andrew bade the School farewell on two ceremonial occasions, the first being the presentation to him by the boys, and the second the welcoming of his successor, Mr. Robertson. After the presentation Mr. Andrew performed his last task as Rector—a noble and Herculean one, too—that of shaking hands with every boy in the School from the Lower School upwards.

The second ceremony was more formal, and all the usual visitors on such occasions were on the platform, with the addition of our distinguished Former Pupil, Lord Alness. After a succession of brilliant orations and amid scenes of great enthusiasm Mr. Robertson was introduced to his new School, and, after the traditional holiday, we entered upon a new regime. * * * OBITUARY: "At the Aberdeen Grammar School, March 194z, after a short illness, Morning Latecoming, aged c. 700 years. Deeply regretted and sadly mourned."

Readers who may not understand the significance of the preceding announcement will be interested and not a little amazed to learn that coming into School late is now a thing of the past. No more can the 'bus be late ; 'the tramcar can no longer be full or break down ; bicycles may not have punctures, nor the clock at home be slow. In short, all the good old excuses which have stood the schoolboy in good stead since the days, no doubt, of our first known Rector, Thomas de Bennum, to say nothing of the highly imaginative and ingenious excuses which some original youths concoct, are now of no avail. We have been " encouraged " by the Rector, Masters, and Prefects to come to School in time, for a change, and so passes yet another ancient custom. * * * We now have a warning bell, three minutes before the usual one, to summon us (and Masters, too) to our classrooms, so that work may start punctually. It can be stated, however, that there is absolutely no truth in the rumour that in future there is to be a warning-warning bell to warn us to listen for the warning bell.

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We wonder that no comment has yet been made on the number of times in a week or term that we are required to turn out our pockets in aid of some fund or other organization.

Every week, of course, there is the Red Cross Penny-a-Week Fund to contribute to, and, for those concerned, the School Penny Bank. In addition, Warship Weeks, Students' Gala Weeks, and the selling of daffodils have taken their toll of our limited financial resources, to say nothing of various collections for presentations. Believe it or not, however, we do not yet have an Aid-to-Our-Gallant-Russian-Allies Fund, although that, too, may come. In fact, it is not impossible that some bright person may think of starting an Aid-to-Britain Fund. * * * . . . Who are these So withered and so wild in their attire, That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth, And yet are on 't ?

The annual invasion by University students took place as usual in April, when a large body of these intellectuals noisily installed themselves at various points in the building. For some reason, however, their noble efforts to extract money from the School's plutocrats found little favour with those in authority, and, after a tumultuous half-hour, they beat a strategic retreat. * * * Fair daffodils we weep to see You haste away so soon. . . .

On Daffodil Day four Prefects were detailed to carry " a host of golden daffodils " to the Lower School to sell, and thereafter to sell the remainder to the rest of the School. To such an extent, however, did the jeunesse dorie of the Lower Department turn out their pockets that in a short time the stock was almost exhausted. The classrooms were turned into miniature Covent Gardens, while the august Prefects were faced with the most embarrassing situation of having to work out mentally in front of these enthusiastic young horticulturists how many daffodils at three a penny could be bought for threeand-sixpence. By the time they staggered out with a few mouldy blooms to distribute amongst the Middle and Upper Schools, their hearts, unlike William Wordsworth's, did not with pleasure fill, nor dance with the daffodils. * * * The Dramatic Society was able to produce three plays with great success on 3oth March. In the morning, the Society gave a rather restrained performance to their less histrionic brethren, but at the public performance in the evening they surpassed themselves, not a little owing to the extemporaneous witticisms of the resident comedians. A considerable sum was raised in aid of a war charity.

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The search for " howlers " has been, as usual, thankless and almost fruitless. The recent examinations in French, we are told, produced a remarkable number, which, however, were more ludicrous than witty. Whether or not the boys concerned were inspired by any patriotic resolve is doubtful, but the examinations were written in very Free French. From devious sources we succeeded in obtaining one specimen of a " howler," which, however, does not sound too original and probably did not emanate from the Grammar School. However, here it is —quotation from a history paper : " Henry the Eighth was so fond of Wolsey that he made him a cardigan." They didn't need coupons in those days, of course. * * * In this connection we should like to take the liberty of repeating a most amusing story recounted by Mr. Forbes on the occasion of his presentation by the boys. He related that a certain youth had written an essay in which the bird the " Stormy Petrel" was mentioned, but had mistakenly spelt the word " petrol." The Master who corrected the essay, with most admirable wit, inscribed in the margin the well-known lines, " Hail to thee, blithe Spirit, Bird thou never wert." Not Shell, but Shelley ! * * * We have said that we would refrain from boasting of our successes over Gordon's College at rugby, but unfortunately we cannot possibly record any such triumph at cricket. One bleak Wednesday afternoon, on a typical Scottish summer day of rain interspersed with a little thunder and lightning, our rivals succeeded only too well in avenging themselves. If the elements did their best to transform Rubislaw Field into a pond, the School certainly supplied enough ducks to fill it. * * * Surpassing all our fondest hopes, Saturday school was discontinued after the Easter holidays. The removal of this archbane, more heartily disliked than even half-past-eight mornings or half-past-five afternoons, was universally acclaimed in the School. Sic transit gloria Saturday 1 * * * One School event which happily the war has not seriously curtailed is the Masters v. Boys Golf Match. Once again this year a happy band of dig-for-victory experts did their best to transfer the turf of Bieldside Golf Course into the River Dee. Nevertheless, the match was thoroughly enjoyed by all, even the poor caddies, and, at the end, the honours, we believe, were more or less even. * * * This term the biennial class photographs were taken at the School. Accordingly, eight hundred odd boys had their

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

1 37

biennial wash and contrived to sleek their hair and straighten their ties for the ordeal. We have racked our brains to try to think of something really funny to say about this, but in vain.

No doubt, however, the results of the photographs will be funny enough in themselves.

On the same day we were honoured by the visit of our former Rector, Mr. Douglas Miller, now at Manchester Grammar School, who gave us a brief but excellent and entertaining talk in Hall.

*

*

*

Assembly in Hall, by the way, has been restarted after a lapse of almost three years. The service is conducted on almost the same lines as before, even to the inclusion of the same old hymns which we remember rendering before the war. These poor unfortunates called, among other things, Prefects are, at the time of writing, faced with the awful dread of having to read the lesson. Still, this resumption of Hall has been welcomed by all, especially as it means a quarter of an hour off the first period of work !

•* * * The lawn in front of the School building has at last fallen a victim to the needs of war. We arrived one afternoon to see the sacred turf, which had successfully defied trenches and digfor-victory plots, defiled and destroyed by a band of workmen, who, having encamped there with their machines of destruction, trod the greensward with glorious impunity and hob-nailed boots. Like good British workmen, they soon drew an admiring crowd, and proceeded to demonstrate how to do the least possible work in the longest possible time. An official ban put a stop to the spectating, but it is doubtful whether the number of blades of grass torn up per minute by the mighty engines appreciably increased.

Optimistic youths were heard to suggest that here at last was the site of our new swimming pool, but, little as we wish to disappoint them, we may say that this is a very different kind of water tank. So Prize Day speech-makers will not yet be deprived of their annual joke.

*

*

*

And so, dear readers, Finis rerum adest. By the time you have assimilated these rambling jottings (if indeed they are assimilable) we shall havelbidden farewell to the School for the last time as scholars.

Our task is done, our song bath ceased, our theme Has died into an echo. . . .

The torch shall be extinguish'd which bath lit Our midnight lamp—and what is writ, is writ ; Would it were worthier 1

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Mr. D. M. Andrew.

It was with sincere regret that we bade farewell to our respected Rector, Mr. D. M. Andrew, at the end of February.

We had come to look upon him as a " permanent institution," and it is difficult for us to picture the old School deprived of his quiet and cultured personality. In his seventeen years at the Grammar School he endeared himself to the hearts of thousands of boys, whose leader, friend, and adviser he always was in every difficulty. And it was not only to boys still at School that he proved himself a friend in need, for many a boy who, having left, was faced with problems too difficult to solve by himself, found his way back to his old School and Rector to obtain the advice he needed.

It would be difficult to mention all the manifestations of Mr. Andrew's desire to stimulate the intellectual interest of his pupils. It is to him that we owe the possession of the finest school library in Scotland, of which he was justly proud.

He took a keen interest in the Debating and Dramatic Societies, and also in the production of the School Magazine. Nor did his interest confine itself to the purely scholastic side of our activities. He was a keen spectator on the field of sport, especially when we were battling with our old rivals—Gordon's College—at rugby. We shall miss his familiar figure on Sports Day, when for so many years he took the salute at the marchpast of competitors. But golf was Mr. Andrew's favourite game, and at the annual match between the Masters and the Boys he was an active participator. We must not forget, too, his interest in the recent institution of the Air Training Corps.

Sorry as we are to lose Mr. Andrew, we do not grudge him his well-earned rest, and we hope it will not be long before he can enjoy his retirement in a world at peace. But we are not losing him altogether, for he is still near us, and, we are sure, will continue to take a lively interest in the old School.

In conclusion, we feel that we can pay no better tribute than to say in the words of Chaucer, " He was a verray parfit, gentil knight."

On Monday, 22nd June, the whole School, and especially the boys of the Lower School Department, were saddened on learning of the passing of William M. Kennaway after an illness lasting only for hours. Willie Kennaway of Lower III) had been a Grammar School boy since 1938, and had endeared himself to all who came in contact with him by his exceptional cheerfulness and fine spirit. He showed promise of doing great credit to the School and to his parents, and to the latter in their sorrow is extended the heartfelt sympathy of all.

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Mr. William Forbes.

An important change in the Staff was caused by the departure of Mr. William Forbes, the Head of the English Department, on his appointment as Rector of Galashiels Academy.

Mr. Forbes came to the School in 1937 to succeed Mr. Farquharson. But he was no stranger to the Grammar School, as he had previously (in 1923) been an assistant Master. From the very start he succeeded by his pleasant humour and manner in making himself popular with the boys, and took an interest in all the School's activities.

In addition to being Housemaster of Dun House, he was an admirable producer in the Dramatic Society, and the Honorary President of the Literary and Debating Society. These two Societies in particular owe a debt of gratitude to him for his ceaseless interest and unwearying efforts. The School Magazine owes much to his willing and capable assistance. We must not forget, too, that he wielded a dogged bat for the Masters in Empire Day cricket matches and swung a hefty club at Bieldside golf course.

We feel sure that Mr. Forbes will prove as worthy a Rector at Galashiels as he did an English Master at Aberdeen.

Mr. Charles A. Forbes.

The task of finding a worthy successor to Mr. William Forbes in the very important post of Principal English Master in the School was not an easy one, but there is ample ground for believing that in the appointment of Mr. Charles A. Forbes the Education Committee has made an admirable choice.

After a very distinguished career at Glasgow University, Mr. Forbes graduated with First Class Honours in English Language and Literature, and a year later passed out of the Training College with the highest rating that a student can secure.

He was at once appointed Head of the English Department in his old school, Blairgowrie High School, where for five years he taught with conspicuous success. To widen his experience Mr. Forbes moved in 1937 to a similar post in Rothesay Academy, and there, too, his high scholarship and outstanding achievements as a teacher have evoked unqualified praise, while his varied service to the community has been generously acknowledged.

Mr. Forbes's fine professional record, his talent as a singer, and his interest in dramatic work justify the confident hope that he will give much both to the Grammar School and to the cultural life of the City.

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Staff Presentation to Mr. Andrew.

To mark the occasion of his retiral, Mr. Andrew was entertained by ast and present members of the School Staff at a luncheon in the Douglas Hotel on Saturday, 2xst March.

The presence of Dr. McLeod, carrying his years well, of Mr. Murison, looking as young as ever, and of Mr. Spcirs, who seems to hold the secret of perennial youth, was a happy augury for one about to join the ranks of retired schoolmasters.

The Chairman, Mr. Paterson, on behalf of the Staff, expressed the high regard in which Mr. Andrew was held for his qualities of kindliness and sympathetic understanding. While all regretted Mr. Andrew's departure, Mr. Paterson was sure he had fully earned the retirement on which he was about to enter, and he hoped the Rector would long enjoy the opportunities his newly-found leisure would give him of following his favourite pursuits of golf and reading, to which end the Staff's parting gift—a wallet of notes —would help to supply the means.

Mr. Andrew, in reply, thanked the Staff for their co-operation in making life in the old School happy and harmonious ; for the assistance they had given him in maintaining its high traditions in scholarship and culture ; and for their gift which would, he hoped, provide the " infallible putter" as well as books for quiet hours of study.

Mr. Munson spoke on behalf of former members of the Staff and welcomed Mr. Andrew to the happy band of brothers in retirement, assuring him that life still held much for the superannuated man. Mr. Gray moved a vote of thanks to the Committee for their work in arranging the function.

House Notes.

Byron House.

At a meeting of the House held at the beginning of this term the following House officials were elected :—Cricket Captain, Wm. Davidson; Cricket Vice-Captain, K. Macgregor ; Athletic Captain, Wm. Davidson ; Swimming Captain, R. B. Taylor.

We must take this opportunity of congratulating the following boys on their awards :—ist XV Colours, K. Macgregor, K. Buthlay, L. Milne ; 2nd XV Colours—R. Milne, Grant Elmslie.

The rugby season finished none too brightly for the House, although the defeats suffered were usually very light. The great lack of Byron senior boys has been felt very heavily this year, but our juniors are very strong.

In the senior House cricket games Byron has fared rather badly, but our juniors have started well in the second series of games by beating Dun by 94 runs and Keith by 44 runs to 18.

In athletics, however, we feel sure that once again Byron will hold the field, although it may be a very hard-fought struggle.

Wm. DAVIDSON, Horne Captain.

Dun House.

We must congratulate the following on their awards :—Ist XV Cap: D. Stuart ; sat XV Colours: J. W. Rogers, A. M. Durward ; znd XV Colours : F:. Rogers, A. D. R. Fiddes.

Owing to bad weather after Christmas, House rugby was brought to a standstill, so that Dun remained at the head of the rugger table.

At a House meeting after Easter the following officials were elected :— Cricket Captain, G. Stephen ; Vice-Captain, A. D. R. Fiddes ; Athletics Captain, G. Stephen.

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1 41

We have done as well at cricket as at rugger, winning each match played so far, thanks mainly to the fine batting of Fiddes and Stuart, and the accurate bowling of Middleton.

The Athletic Sports arc still ahead, but prospects of victory are dark, for Durward, our main hope, has left to join the R.A.F. However, if every boy does his best, we can put up a good show—a fitting ending to a most successful year.

G. STEPHEN, /Wing Howe Captain.

Keith House.

The following members of the House are to be congratulated on gaining their rugby Colours:—tst XV Full Colours: R. F. F. Steven and H. M. Knight; tst XV Half Colours: F. W. Alexander; znd XV Colours were awarded to I. M. Duguid, I. Cran and E. Alexander.

The rugger season ended well for Keith, the two closing games against Byron and Melvin being won.

At a House meeting held this term the following elections were made :— Captain of Cricket, W. C. M. Lawrence ; Captain of Athletics, R. F. F. Steven. We have not fared too well in House cricket, as so far we have managed to beat Byron only, and have sustained defeats from Melvin and Dun. The Juniors, however, have done exceptionally well in winning three out of the four games which they have played. They ought to maintain the prestige of the House in the years to come.

The Annual Sports are not far distant and, with an all-round effort, there seems no reason why Keith should not take a good place.

Finally, I should like to thank all those, Masters and boys alike, who have done their utmost for the House this past year, and to wish good luck on behalf of those who are leaving the School to those who arc returning again next session.

W. C. M. LAWRENCE, Howe Captain.

Melvin House.

At a meeting at the beginning of the term, C. S. Forbes was elected Captain of Cricket, and A. C. Turnbull Vice-Captain ; Captain of Athletics, I. G. K. Phillips, and Athletic Vice-Captain, N. McAdam.

Before reviewing the cricket activities we must take this opportunity to offer our hearty congratulations to A. H. Tawse on gaining his tst XV Colours and his Cap ; to I. G. K. Phillips and C. S. Forbes on gaining their tst XV Colours, and to A. C. Turnbull on gaining his 1st XV Half-Colours.

In cricket this term Melvin has been ahead of expectations. We are second in the House League and only two points down. In the four House matches up to date Melvin has won three of them, being defeated by the narrow margin of eleven runs by Dun [louse. The success of our cricket team, all of whom are keen cricketers, is largely due to the good batting of A. S. Allan, J. S. Taggart, and A. C. Turnbull, and to the high standard of bowling of A. C. Tumbull and others.

This year Melvin has provided many very useful athletes. In the athletic heats that have been run up to date Melvin has five competitors in the final of the open 220 yards, and four in the finals of both the open too and open 440 yards races. So far there is more than one Melvin boy in the finals that are soon to be run. If the Junior classes give the same support as they gave last year Melvin has an exceptionally good chance of winning the House Championship. With regard to Athletics, C. S. Forbes gained his Full Athletic Colours at the beginning of the last term.

In conclusion I wish, on behalf of those who are leaving, the best of luck to those boys who will be striving to maintain Melvin's prestige next year.

C. S. FORBES, House Captain.

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

Athletics.

With the departure of D. W. C. Smith and A. M. Durward, School has lost two athletes of outstanding ability and the present season looks like being rather a lean one. The annual relay race with Gordon's College at the University Sports resulted in a decisive win for the College over the following School runners—J. C. R. Dawson, C. S. Forbes, R. F. F. Steven, and J. S. Taggart—so that our rivals retain possession of the Evening Express Trophy. There is, however, no lack of promising young athletes in School at present and it should not be long before School can once again hold their own with the Seafield team. R. F. F. Steven, the recently-appointed Captain of School Athletics, is an outstanding runner who should be able to do much to raise the standard of athletics to its former high level, and the new Athletic Group with its all-the-year-round activities will also play its part in the expected revival in the near future. Mr. W. P. Stewart is devoting much of his spare time to coaching, and his help in this sphere as in rugby has been invaluable. After the Sports Full Colours were awarded to R. F. F. Steven and N. McAdam.

Rugby.

Although few matches took place in the Spring Term, the School rat XV had a most successful season. Only one inter-school game was lost, that with Glasgow Academy at Rugislaw in mid-December, when the visitors won by 8 points to 5. Of the three matches played with Gordon's College ist XV, School won two and forced a draw in the third encounter at Seafield on 23rd March. The return game with Strathallan at Forgandenny had to be cancelled owing to an outbreak of mumps at the Perthshire school and the 1st XV were thus deprived of the opportunity to repeat their success over Strathallan at Rubislaw in October. One of School's best performances was at King's College Grounds on i7th January, when they held the University tat XV to a 3 points win, the 'Varsity try being scored late in the game.

School's best " away " performance of the season, however, was undoubtedly at Glenalmond, where they beat Trinity College by 11 points to 9.

Prospects for season 1942-43 are quite bright, and under Mr. W. P. Stewart's expert supervision the 1st XV should again do well. W. C. M. Lawrence, last season's Vice-Captain and scrum half, has been elected Captain ; and Alistair H. Tawse, an outstanding forward, is to be the new Vice-Captain. The fixture list will of necessity again be curtailed, but attractive home games have been arranged for October with Glasgow High School and Glenalmond, and in December it is hoped that Glasgow Academy will be met on Perth Academy's ground.

Who's Who in the ist XV. W. Davidson. 5 feet so in.; it st. r lb. Captain. An inspiring leader and hardest worker in the pack. Clever, intelligent forward.

W. C. M. Lawrence. 5 feet 7 in. ; 9 st. it lb. Vice-Captain. Clever, elusive scrum-half with excellent service. Next session's Captain.

G. Stephen. 6 feet 1 in. ; 11 st. 6 lb. Best full back in years, with devastating tackle and excellent kick.

C. S. Forbes. 5 feet to in. ; to st. 9 lb. Right wing three-quarter.

Fast, determined runner with very good defence.

D. Stuart. 5 ft. 8 in. ; to st. 9 lb. Penetrating stand-off, with good hands. Slowish " off the mark."

A. M. Durward. Left wing three-quarter. First rate attacker who had occasional lapses in defence. Normally played on right, and quickly adjusted his game for the left wing.

A. H. Tawse. 5 feet 9 in. ; 11 st. 13 lb. Most improved forward in the pack. Very clever in the loose and goes all out all the time.

K. G. Buthlay. Inside three-quarter with an occasional clever cut through. Handling very good, but defence should be improved.

H. M. Knight. 6 feet; to st. 13 lb. Hard-working second-row forward, speedy in the loose and clever in the line-outs.

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D. T. L. Marr. 6 feet 1 in. ; i 1 st. 7 lb. Clever back-row forward.

Always in the forefront in attack and reliable in defence.

R. F. F. Steven. 6 feet t in. ; 1 r st. 4 lb. Useful centre with good turn of speed. Excellent in " backing up" but defence needs tightening up.

I. G. K. Phillips. 5 feet 6 in. ; to st. 1 lb. Clever hooker with unfortunate tendency to be frequently penalized. Nevertheless, a happy-golucky forward with the amazing knack of bobbing up when most wanted.

K. S. H. Macgregor. 5 feet 9 in.; xi st. 3 lb. An ideally-built frontrow forward. Hard-working and very useful in the loose when " in the mood."

J. W. Rogers. 6 feet t in. ; ix st. 7 lb. Clever front-row forward, with useful pace in the loose. With more experience should go far.

L. W. Milne. 6 feet ; to st. 1 lb. Hard-working second-row forward, with occasional clever play in the loose. Needs a little discipline in line-out work.

A. C. Turnbull. 5 feet i t in. ; to st. 9 lb. Useful front-row forward, hard working in tight, but apt to lose his head in the loose when in possession.

F. W. Alexander. 6 feet 1 in. ; it st. to lb. Strong, hard-working front-row forward, whose lack of pace in the loose is his only handicap.

Cricket.

The feature of the cricket season to date has been the exceptional keenness displayed, particularly in House games. There has also been a great deal more net practice than usual, despite the calls of A.T.C. and the recently formed A.C.F. In the House games already played, Dun's XI have carried all before them in the senior competition, and Keith have done remarkably well in the junior league. Excellent facilities for practice and play have been provided by our new groundsman, L. E. Tyson, a Yorkshireman who has served as a professional with many clubs, including Poloc, Brechin, and Aberdeenshire C.C. The 1st XI have already accomplished several creditable performances.

The side is a good one, and contains some players of considerable promise.

Victories have been gained over the Acting Gamesmastcr's XI, a Naval XI, Westgrove, Royal Infirmary Resident Doctors, and an Army XI ; but School lost their other four games played to date, having to admit defeat

by F.P.s, the University Royal Artillery Cadets, R.N. Auxiliary Hospital, and Gordon's College. The first game with Gordon's College was played at Rubislaw under disappointing weather conditions, but interest was maintained to the end, which came with School 19 runs short of the College's total of 106. C. S. Forbes is Captain of School cricket this season, and he has old Colours in the side in A. D. R. Fiddes, W. C. M. Lawrence, the Vice-Captain, and George Stephen.

In the return match with Gordon's College at Seafield, the School xst XI made amends for their defeat at Rubislaw. Batting first, they scored 107 runs, and thanks mainly to fine bowling by Forbes and Fiddes, dismissed Gordon's College for 85. School's fielding was very good, as indeed it has been throughout the season, and a fine spirit of camaraderie characterized the 1942 first XL

Swimming.

School swimming is still " in the doldrums," but the teams showed to greater advantage in the recent relays at Gordon's College than they did earlier in the session. Victory, however, went to our rivals, as expected, in every event, the possession of a pond of their own undoubtedly giving them a great advantage not altogether offset by the liberal handicaps allowed School in almost every race. Mr. Wilson, a newcomer to the School Classics Department, is doing good work with Grammar School swimmers in the municipal pond at Justice Mill Lane, but few boys have the time or inclination to go in for serious training, and coaching takes place under difficult conditions.

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Aberdeen Grammar School .1fagazine

The Athletic Sports.

The Annual Athletic Sports took place at Rubislaw on the afternoons of Friday, izth and Saturday, s3th June under rather disappointing conditions.

Events, however, were no less keenly contested than usual, especially the three inter-Houses relay races. No records were broken, but such was the equality among competitors that the interest of spectators seldom flagged.

The House Competition was won by Melvin with a grand total of To3i points. Dun and Keith with 71 points each followed close on Byron, who finished second with 74 points.

The Open Individual Championship was won by Ranald F. F. Steven, a versatile athlete, who gained i4j. points. W. Davidson and N. McAdam were joint runners-up with 13 points each, and C. S. Forbes came next with tz points. In Class II, Alexander M. Davidson became Junior Champion, finishing with 53 points, his nearest rival for the honour being J. A. McGregor with to points. The Class III Champion was A. J. K. Monro, who won most of the events for boys of 12 or 13 years of age. Ronald D. Milne won the Lower School Championship, restricted this year to Lower School boys aged so or it. Eric H. Cruickshank was runner-up.

Shortly after the School Sports, the Lower School athletic team took part in an inter-Schools contest at Seaficld with the boys of Gordon's College Primary Department as their opponents. Gordon's College won the relay race and }-mile race, but in each of the remaining five events the winner was a Grammar boy and the School team won the contest by z6 points to 16.

The evening was such a success that the event is likely to become an annual one. At the time of writing the meeting of the School senior athletes with Gordon's College seniors has not taken place, but in most of the eleven events School's representatives ought to give a good account of themselves.

The Literary and Debating Society.

15th January, 194z.—There was an exceptionally large attendance at the resumed annual inter-debate with the High School, when the subject was " That the man of ideals exerts a greater influence upon mankind than does the man of action." H. M. Knight was in the chair. Miss Sivell opened the debate for the affirmative, basing her speech almost entirely upon historical examples, showing, for instance, how the great Athenians had a far greater effect upon the world than those who conquered them.

R. Hepburn, leading for the negative, said that most men of action possessed some intelligence ; and, since they comprised the bulk of the world's population as well, they must exert a greater influence than men of ideals.

E. K. Borthwick, for the affirmative and Miss Armstrong for the negative, both gave brief speeches in which they brought forward fresh arguments illustrated by historical examples. The after speaking was, perhaps, the best and most continuous of the session, and twenty-two speakers in all participated. When the motion was put to the vote, the negative won by a large majority. i9th March.—This evening, the " Short Story" Competition was held.

Entries were many and varied, ranging from classical mythology to topical war stories. The first prize was gained by O. M. C. Buchan, W. A. B. Forbes was second, and L. W. Milne third. This was the last meeting of the Society before Mr. Forbes's departure to take up his post as Rector of Galashiels Academy, and he was heartily thanked for his services in the past as Honorary President of the Society.

(We regret that owing to great pressure on our space the report of this Society has had to be curtailed.—Ed. A. G. S. Afagl

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145

The Dramatic Society.

On 3oth March the Dramatic Society gave its annual performance, this year to the public as well as to members the School. In the morning the three plays were presented to the juniorof classes, the show was repeated to a moderately-sized, but very and, in the evening, appreciative, audience of seniors, parents, and friends. The productions were "Buffalmacco's Jest," " The Poetasters of Ispahan," and " The Stolen ducers being Mr. Forbes, Mr. Walker, and Mr. Eddison Prince," their prorespectively. Comedy was the theme throughout, and those taking part demonstrated their hitherto unknown talents, both as actors and as comedians, with great ability. A collection was taken, and almost km was handed over The Society has suffered a great loss in the departure to War Charities.

President, Mr. Forbes. It owes him a deep debt gratitudeof its Honorary for his untiring efforts and his excellent advice, which did muchof to make this year's performances as successful as former ones.

GEORGE STEPHEN, Preudeld.

School Army Cadets.

When it was decided, early in May, to apply the War Office for permission to form a Battalion of Army Cadets in to Aberdeen, School eagerly responded to the appeal to form a Company.

For senior boys preliminary training for service in the Army was available only in local Home Guard Companies. Boys who were too young to join the School Squadron of the A.T.C. Were also to find an outlet for their desire to fit themselves for service with anxious armed services of the Crown. The training in the Army Cadet Force, the covering the syllabus of War Certificate " A," meets the desires of both classes of boys.

The first parade was held at School on Tuesday, 19th boys of ages ranging from 1 4 to 17 years turned out. May, when seventy Three platoons were formed, each under the command of a Master in the School, and training in Squad Drill, Map Reading, Section Leading, and Field-craft was begun.

Weekly parades have been held since that date, and recruits have steadily come forward, and our strength at the time of writing is ninety-two.

Fortunately we have made excellent liaison with the Company of Home Guard whose H.Q. is at School, and which is under the command of an F.P., and weapon training now forms an enthusiastic part of out programme.

Three senior boys, Hugh Knight, S.T.C. ; R. M. Grant, H.G. ; and J. Fraser, H.G., who have had previous experience in Army training, have given very valuable service in acting as platoon sergeants.

Wilson, P. M. Stewart, and W. P. Stewart of the School Staff areMessrs. Park, undertaking the training and organizing the A.G.S. Company, The Army Cadet Force.

W. P. S.

Scout Notes. sat Troop.

The past year has been an extremely one for the Troop, and its success is mainly due to our former successful Scoutmaster, John Blair. He has been in the Troop since 1939, and has brought to a very high standard of efficiency. It was with regret that we bade itfarewell to him in April, when he left to join the Royal Armoured Corps.

The membership now stands at 44, which in itself says quite a lot for the Troop.

Both at Easter and at the May Holiday camps were held at Clinrerty Hut. They were very successful, mainly on account of the large number of campers.

This year the Troop proposes going to Braemar for its summer The 1st did remarkably well this year at the Church Parade, forcamp. it had a rum-out of 37 Scouts and 47 Cubs.

146

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

The Pack, too, has been flourishing under its new Cubmistress, Miss McIntosh, and its membership, standing at 54, bars all records. Miss McIntosh is the right person m the right place, and our thanks go to her for the great work she is doing.

WM. DAVIDSON, Sroutmailer.

9th Troop.

The summer camp last year took place at Tillyfourie, Glendye, and we were fortunate in having a fortnight of glorious sunshine. District Scoutmaster E. A. Smith was among the campers. The high light of camp was the midnight attack on Clochnaben. The sun was in splendour, throwing wonderful colours on light morning clouds. The hills away to the west could be seen shaking their heads free of the white masses of cloud covering their lower slopes. The midges ... l Some 9th Troop Scouts have been doing duty as Naval orderlies, while others have been helping at canteens. Several National Service badges have been won. The Troop has been unfortunate in losing the services of H. M. R. Watt, who is now training as a pilot in the R.A.F. Assistant Scoutmaster W. K. Ross has also been called to the colours and is serving in the Navy.

The Easter camp was held near Pitcaple, under uncertain weather conditions. For those who braved the weather, the camp was a worth-while break. Sing-songs took place round the camp-fire in a glade in the wood, and keen faces could be seen round the glow of the embers.

Promotions : To be P.L.s—A. Laing, I. Watt, D. E. R. Watt, D. H. Ross, E. A. Alexander, Ian Stickland; Troop Leader—L. W. Milne; Assistant Scoutmasters—G. M. Anderson, Frank Alexander ; Scoutmaster— D. W. Mathieson.

57th Troop.

Last summer the r7th Troop held a highly successful summer camp at Pitfichie, by Monymusk. The weather was ideal and full advantage was taken of the Don, which flowed near by. The boys arrived home from camp " as fit as fiddles."

The May week-end camp was held at Midmar Castle under perfect weather conditions. Much out-of-doors scouting was carried out. The senior members took part in a " Commando Exercise," its which great deeds of valour were performed, the " enemy " being attacked at dead of night and their supplies cut, after which our forces withdrew successfully.

The spirit of the Troop is very high, steady progress having been made in all scouting activities, as is shown by the number of proficiency and second-cliss badges gained by the boys. Many members of the Troop are engaged on work of national importance, as A.R.P. messengers, A.T.C. cadets, and canteen workers. The Troop has been very unfortunate in losing to the Forces three of their four officers. Scoutmaster Eric G. Sangster has gone to the Royal Artillery, while A.S.M.s Alexander G. McLean and Eric F. Johnstone have joined the R.A.F. and Royal Armoured Corps respectively.

A very successful Whist Drive was held in the winter at Scout Headquarters, thanks to the hard labours of the senior officers and also thanks to the co-operation of parents. Promotions : Troop Leader I. C. McLean is promoted to Acting Scoutmaster, and Scout R. W. Hepburn is to be " Second " of the Curlew Patrol.

The toll of former members of the Troop on active service has been heavy. The Troop offer their deepest sympathy to the parents of the following: Leonard John Blackball ading Aircraftman, R.A.F.), a former Assistant Scoutmaster ; Ian Seggie (Flying Officer, R.A.F.), former Assistant Scoutmaster ; Arthur Meldrum Murray (Naval Airman, Fleet Air Arm), former Scout ; George Pirie Mollison (Sub-Lieutenant, Fleet Air Arm), former Assistant Scoutmaster ; and William Jenkins (Cadet, Merchant Navy), former Scout.

St. Margaret's School for OtrIs (Incorporated)

ALBYN PLACE, ABERDEEN. Head Mistress: Miss M. E. HOLLAND, M.A.Cantab. (Classical Tripos).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ABERDEEN.

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

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

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

There are vacancies for both Seniors and Juniors.

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

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

Fees, £99 per annum exclusive of School Fees.

House Master • ..

Matron -

-

-

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

-

-

Miss C. M. R. MAYOR.

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

School Rugby Football ist XV-Season 1941-42.

Standing—Mr. A. J. M. Edwards (Interim Games Master), K. S. H. Macgregor, H. M. Knight, J. W. Rogers, L. W. Milne, R. F. F. Steven, A. C. Turnbull, F. W. Alexander, C. S. Forbes, and Mt. W. P. Stewart (1st XV Coach).

Sitting—A. H. Tawsc, D. Stuart, W. C. M. Lawrence (Vice-Captain), Wm. Davidson (Captain), G. Stephen, A. M. Durward, D. T. L. Mart.

In front—I. G. K. Phillips, K. G. Buthlay.

School Prefects—June 1942.

Back Rou—k. S. H. Macgregor, L. S. I oibes, L. K. Boriim ick, G. Tough.

Front Row—W. C. M. Lawrence, G. Stephen, W. Davidson (Senior Prefect), J. S. Taggart, A. C. Turnbull.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

1 47

School Office-Bearers for Session 1941-1942.

Prefects.

W, DAVIDSON (Senior Prefect).

E. K. BORTHWICK. A. M. DURWARD. C. S. FORBES.

W. C. M. LAWRENCE.

K. S. H. MACGREGOR. G. STEPHEN.

J. S. TAGGART.

G, TOUGH. A. C. TURNBULL.

House Captains.

Byron.

W. DAVIDSON.

Dun. A. M. DURWARD.

Keith.

W. C. M. LAWRENCE.

Melvin.

C. S. FORBES.

Games Committee.

- THE RECTOR. President Hon. Secretary and Treasurer THE INTERIM GAMES MASTER, W. DAVIDSON. K. G. BumLAY. L. W. MILNE. G. STEPHEN. C.S. FORBES. H. M. KNIGHT. W. C. M. LAWRENCE. R. F. F. STEVEN. K. S. H. MACGREGOR. D. STUART. I. G. K. PHILLIPS. J. W. ROGERS. A. M. DURWARD. A. H. TAWSE. A. D. R. FIDDES. D.T. L. MARK. Captain

-

Rugby Football.

W. DAVIDSON. I Vice-Captain - W. C. M. LAWRENCE.

Captain

-

C. S. FORBES.

Captain

•

Athletics.

R. F. F STEVEN. I Vice-Captain -

Cricket.

-

- W. DAVIDSON.

Tennis.

•

Captain

I Vice-Captain - W. C. M. LAWRENCE.

G. STEPHEN.

I Secretary

-

R. F. F. STEVEN.

Literary and Debating Society.

- J. S. TAGGART. - H. M. KNIGHT.

President Vice-President Secretary and Treasurer -

- A. C. TuaNsuu..

Dramatic Society.

- G. STEPHEN. - D. T. L. MARR. - J. P. GRANT.

President Vice-President Secretary and Treasurer Hon. Conductor

-

Orchestral Society.

- MR. G. E. FALCONER, A.R.C.M. -

"Magazine" ComMittee—School Representatives.

S. TAGGART. School Editors I J. G. C. BROWN. E. K. BORTHWICK. I Sports Editer.f.F. K. S. H. MACGREGOR.

148

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

The Former Pupils' Club.

Founded 5893.

REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1941.

The Executive has pleasure in submitting the Report for the Club year which ended on 31st December 1941.

Curtailed Activities.

Throughout the year the main activities of the Club, with the exception of the publication of the Magazine, have continued to be suspended.

Membership and Subscriptions.

The following is an analysis of the membership of the Club :— Total at 31/12/41 Total at 31/12/40

Life.

Ordinary— Junior.

Senior.

692 659

1,127 1,144

289 271

+33

—17

+18

ExtraHonorary. ordinary.

14 15 — -1

Total.

39 39

2,161 2,128

_ 0

+33

In the past, in arriving at the membership figures it has been the practice to leave out of account those whose subscriptions to the Club were in arrear for more than one year, but in view of the number of members who by reason of the war are not in a position to remit their annual subscriptions, there are included in the foregoing figures those whose subscriptions are in arrear for two years. This explains in part the increase of 33 in the total.

It will be noted, however, that in the Life Membership there has been an increase of that same number—the biggest for many years. In addition, during the twelve months to the end of February 1942, 19 more F.P.s paid the first instalment of £x is. towards their Life Membership subscription, the total paying by instalments now being 62, and the total who have completed their instalments, 7.

Of the 90 boys of i6 years of age and over who left the School during or at the end of the last School session, 55 have already joined the Club.

There are in all 18 more Junior Members than there were a year ago. During 1941, 25 young F.P.s made the single payment of £1 is. each to cover membership for seven years.

With regard to the payment of subscriptions, there are 45 Senior Members and 5 Junior Members who have not yet paid for 1941, and 5o Senior and 3 Junior Members who have not paid for 1940 and 1941.

Losses by Death.

On account of the war the Club's losses through death in 1941 reached the abnormally high figure of 4o, the number " Pro Patria" being i8.

Among those who passed away were two distinguished scientists, Professor William Bulloch, F.R.S., who was one of the Honorary Vice-Presidents of the Club, and Professor James C. Philip, F.R.S., who was President in 1938-39 ; Mr. C. J. Davidson, a past Vice-President, who was for many years a member othe Executive and rendered outstanding service to the Club ; Professor Alexander Thomson, who bequeathed to the School a legacy of L too for prizes in Mathematics ; Mr. Herbert L. Watson, President of the Glasgow Centre ; and two former members of the School suit Mr. Mackenzie Forbes and Mr. George Laing.

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Aberdeen Grammar School ,A fagazine

1 49

Honours to F.P.s Since the last Annual Report was issued two members of the Club have received Knighthoods, Mr. Arthur C. Lothian, C.S.I., having been made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire, and Mr. Hubert D. Henderson a Knight Bachelor. The other awards for civil and war service arc recorded in the Magazine.

The Club and the School.

At the annual distribution of prizes on z7th June 1941, the Club presented three medals. These were awarded as follows :— Henry C. Anton.

Silver Medal for English ...

Kenneth J. Peters.

Silver Medal for German ...

Robert K. Booker.

Silver Medal for Spanish ...

The All-Round Trophy and John Ivo Dawson Prize were awarded to Robert K. Booker.

At a ceremony in the School Hall on 27th February 1942 which marked the retirement from the rectorship of Mr. D. M. Andrew and the installation of his successor, Mr. J. J. Robertson, the spokesman of the Club was The Right Hon. Lord Alness, who, with his customary felicity of language, expressed the Club's appreciation of Mr. Andrew's services since his appointment in 1924 and of its best wishes for Mr. Robertson's rectorship.

During the year Mr. Frank Findlay retired from the post of groundsman at Rubislaw Field. In response to numerous requests from members a testimonial fund was started, and as the result a substantial sum was handed to Mr. Findlay as an expression of esteem and of appreciation of his services.

The " Magazine."

With the issue of March 194r the Magazine completed the first one hundred numbers published since it was taken over by the Club in 1907, and to mark the occasion a special Centenary Number was produced. It contained numerous messages of congratulations from well-known F.P.s ; also an editorial retrospect covering the third of a century, and other appropriate articles. As the publication of the Magazine is at present the only activity of the Club ,and as it is the only means of keeping members in touch with one another, no effort is being spared to make each issue as complete and as attractive as possible. Owing, however, to war-time conditions, it has been decided that during the current year there will be only two issues instead of three.

Club Sections.

The Cricket Section was able to keep going throughout the summer of 1941, and played a large number of matches, taking part in League and Cup Competitions. During the past winter the Rugby Section fielded two XVs as often as weather conditions would permit, and had a successful season.

Finance.

The Revenue and Expenditure Account for the year shows a deficit of £to3 ,8s. I'd., which has brought the accumulated deficit in the Balance Sheet to it z9 1 Bs. 4ci. The main reasons for the deficit in 1941 were the absence of a dividend on the Club's large holding in the Boarding House Company and the big increase in the cost of producing the Magazine. While regretting the deficit, the Executive would point out that during the year the capital funds of the Club have increased by £zo8—from £3,646 to £3,854. They anticipate that by the end of the present year the capital will have reached £4,ooo.

1 5o

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

The F.P. Club Boarding House.

List of Boarders.

As usual in the June issue of the Magazine a complete list is given below of the boys (36) who have been resident in the Boarding House during the session. By reason of the war the number is much below the normal.

ENTERED IN SESSION 1932-33.

Denys James Witts, s. of Leslie J. Witts, Eastern Telegraph Co., Sliema, Malta.

ENTERED IN SESSION 1933-34.

Gordon Sinclair Elmslie, s. of the late Walter A. Elmslie (1904-to).

ENTERED IN SESSION 1935-36.

John Peter Grant, s. of George Grant, Glenfarclas, Blacksboat, Grantownon-Spey.

Thomas Hill Buchan, s. of Captain J. I. Buchan, Governor's House, H.M. Prison, Peterhead.

ENTERED IN SESSION 1936-37.

Alistair D. Fiddes, s. of Dr. John Douglas Fiddes (1896-1902), M.A., B.Sc., " Rubislaw," Hutton, Brentwood, Essex.

Patrick Gordon, s. of Sidney Gordon, clo Bank of London and South America, 7 Tokenhouse Yard, London, E.C. 2.

John Tower Sorley, s. of Dr. John T. Sorley (1904-17), M.A., c/o A.D.M.S., Lagos, Nigeria.

George S. Stephen, s. of James II. Stephen, East Mathers, St. Cyrus.

ENTERED IN SESSION 1938-39.

Ronald A. Kirton, s. of Dr. John Kirton, " Oakbank," Fort Augustus.

Ian A. Smith, s. of David Smith, Superintendent, Post and Telegraph Department, Johore, Malay States.

Peter M. Gordon, s. of Dr. D. G. Gordon, " Revoan," Ellon.

ENTERED IN SESSION 5939-4o.

Michael L. Breeze, s. of C. A. Breeze, SlaMs Garden, Crudcn Bay. George F. Durno and James D. Durno, ss. of George F. Durno (1909-I i), J ackston, Rothienorman.

John A. Home, s. of Dr. Elsie Home, Letchworth Lodge, Lossiemouth.

Michael P. Littlejohn, s. of Lieut.-Coloncl William Milne Littlejohn (1901-oz), Be rryhill, Peterhead.

Frederick C. Sleigh, s. of Dr. Frederick R. Sleigh (1914-17), 36 Park Road, Hampton Hill, Middlesex.

John C. K. Steele, s. of Charles S. Steele, 8z Bedford Court Mansions, London, W.C. 1.

Norman Taylor, s. of James D. Taylor, Cairnfechel, Udny.

James L. Watt, s. of William L. Watt, P.O. Box z9, Nyeri, Kenya Colony.

ENTERED IN SESSION 1940-41.

James W. Rogers and Eric Rogers, ss. of Eric W. Rogers, Grinan Estates Ltd., May Pen, Jamaica.

Bruce E. Thomson, s. of G. B. Thomson, Dhullie, Mijikajan P.O., Assam.

C. Alan W. Ramsay, s. of Hugh G. Ramsay, " Broom Close," Comsland, Brentwood, Essex.

John W. Cradock, s. of Mrs. E. M. Cradock, c/o Denhead, Cults.

Alan Robson, s. of Lieut. Robson, 33 Iddesleigh Road, Bristol, 6.

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

151

ENTERED IN SESSION I941-42.

Robert M. Grant, s. of Elger Grant, 88 Newlands Park, Hull.

Ian G. Rogers, s. of Eric W. Rogers, Grinan Estates Ltd., May Pen, Jamaica.

Ian M. Stuart, s, of Dr. J. M. Stuart, 47 Goldington Road, Bedford.

John Michael Luxton, s. of Charles E. Luxton, Caimess House, Lonmay.

Ronald Cooper, s. of Donald Cooper, Bank House, Auchinblae.

Richard H. Durham, s. of Mrs. Nora Durham, 33 Queen's Avenue, Meols, Hoylakc, Cheshire.

Gordon I. Graham, s. of Charles Gordon Graham (19r1-18), Potterton House, Balmedie.

Forbes K. Sellar, s. of Mrs. Mary Lumsden, 178 Forest Avenue, Aberdeen.

Gordon Hamilton Bell, s. of Dr. J. H. Bell (1908-14), 55 Wood Street, Walthamstow, London, E. 17.

Alaister Gillies MacCrimmon, s. of A. G. MacCrimmon, Adela House, Baleygunge, Park Road, Calcutta.

The Cricket Section.

The Cricket Section are undefeated up to the time of writing and have prospects of a successful season. J. A. Innes, having been invalided out of the Army, has been elected Captain, with G. D. Marr Vice-Captain.

So far victories have been registered against School, Inverurie, West St. Clement's, Wcstgrove, and Westburn, while the game against Gordonians had to be abandoned owing to rain.

As in 5945, H. S. Cardno has so far been the " star" of the XI, but will soon be lost to F.P. Cricket on joining the R.A.F. He has scored 33 against School, 59 against Inverurie, 3 against Westgrove, and 73 against West St. Clement s, while in the last match he took 7 wickets for 48.

A. J. M. Edwards, M. H. MacDonald, and Ian Craig have also been successful with the bat, and Marr, Innes, and the new groundsman at Rubislaw Field, L. E. Tyson, have all bowled well.

F.P.s home on leave and wishing some cricket are requested to get in touch with the Hon. Secretary, C. H. Webster, whose telephone numbers are 505 and 2S3o. Details of the season's activities are as follows :— May 2. tt 9. „ 16. „ 23. „ 30.

June 6. „ 13.

Results.

School, 531 ; F.P.s, 151—Won. Inverurie (League), 75 ; F.P.s, 104 for no wickets—Won. Westgrove (League), 46 ; F.P.s, 6o for 3 wickets—Won. West St. Clement's (League), to5 ; F.P.s, 165 for 3 wickets—Won. Gordonians (League), 37 for no wickets—Match abandoned.

Westburn (Cup Tic), 40 ; F.P.s, 45 for 2 wickets—Won. North (League), 73 ; F.P.s, 76 for 8 wickets—Won.

The London Centre.

A number of members of the Centre met at supper in the Wellington Restaurant, Fleet Street, on tst June. The following were present: Lord Airless, Dr. N. D. Begg, D. P. Cochran, V. N. Dean, J. Murray Easton, J. Ross Esson, J. C. O. Lawrence, Leonard J. Smith, and J. Drummond Smith. The meeting was an exceedingly pleasant one and an endeavour is to be made to hold another one in September.

There are remarkably few F.P.s remaining in London in these days and it is not easy for them to get into touch with one another. Anyone who would like to attend another informal meeting is asked to communicate with the Honorary Secretary of the Centre, Mr. D. P. Cochran, whose address is now to Becmead Avenue, Streatham, S.W.x6.

15 2

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine

List of New Members of the Club.

LIFE MEMBERS. Allan, Richard George Gordon (1936-40, Afton Shiel, Bieldside.

Barclay, Ian Campbell (1921-23), C /0 Messrs. Macneill & CO., 2 Fairlie Place, Calcutta, India.

Brockie, John Alexander (1921-31), 77 Burns Road, Aberdeen.

Brown, Douglas Stewart (1917-24), 58 St. Swithin Street, Aberdeen.

Buthlay, Ronald Forbes (1925-38), 16 Carden Place, Aberdeen.

Cassie, George (1909-12), 5 Burns Gardens, Aberdeen.

Donald, John Ross (1913-24), 8o Osborne Place, Aberdeen.

Golding, Harry Sutherland Walpole (1926-37), 24 Huntly Street, Aberdeen.

Goodbrand, Edward Hutcheon (1928-;4), 7 Rubislaw Den North, Aberdeen.

Grant, James Andrew Sandilands (1935-41), Ythan House, Montrose.

Hutchison, Thomas Mundic (1920-31), 5 Blinkbonny Gardens, Edinburgh, l2.

Ligertwood, James Alexander (1928-31), Piltochie, Ellon.

Middleton, Lewis (1919-32), c/o Lloyds Bank Ltd., Rawalpindi, India.

Paterson, George Alexander (1920-30), Contudria, S.C.Sud, Plaza Constitucion, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Paterson, Robert Edward Mitchell (1919-32), M.B., Ch.B., 181 Hominglow Street, Burton-on-Trent, Staffs.

Patterson, James (I906-12), M.A., LL.B., 8 Golden Square, Aberdeen.

Riddel, Alexander A. Rodger (1926-;4), 24 Anderson Drive, Aberdeen.

Warrack, George Clark (1924-37), B.Se.(For.), 73 Caimfield Place, Aberdeen.

Watson, Alexander (1922-35), Balrogie, Cults.

Williams, Harry Lyon (1925-36), Thurlestone, West Cults.

Williamson, Norman Stuart (1915-19), Scottish Assam Tea Co., Ltd., Kharikatia P.O., Assam.

ORDINARY MEMBERS. Alsop, Spence (1930-40), tot Fountainhall Road, Aberdeen.

Bain, Robert Joss (1929-41), 65 Westbum Drive, Aberdeen.

Black, Robert Alexander Ross (193°41), 64 Hamilton Place, Aberdeen.

Cheyne, George William (1934-4x), 345 Great Western Rd., Aberdeen.

Clark, Alexander Reid (1938-41), Lilydale, Peterculter.

Deans, Eric William (1937-41), 23 Oldmeldrum Road, Bucksbum.

Doverty, John Duguid (1936-40), x t Craigie Park, Aberdeen.

Drennan, Randal JaInes (1928-41), 10 South Crown street, Aberdeen.

Ferguson, Douglas Cordiner (193842), 13 Granville Place, Aberdeen.

Finnic, James Sadler (1934-41), 72 Hammerfield Avenue, Aberdeen.

Harvey, Peter (1935-4i), 3 Bayview Road, Aberdeen.

McCaskill, Harry Wilson ( 1939-41), 16 School Road, Peterculter.

McIntosh, Ian (1928-33), Drummond Tower, Inverness.

McNab, Hector (x929-41), 111 Hamilton Place, Aberdeen.

MacPhee, George Mitchell (193041), 14 Rubislaw Terr., Aberdeen.

Meldrum, Frederick James (193°41), 302 Queen's Road, Aberdeen.

Milne, Alfred Herbert (x926-35), 4o Elrnfield Avenue, Aberdeen.

Morgan, Douglas George (1932-41), 49 Woodstock Road, Aberdeen.

Mutch, Alastair Cameron ( 1935-41), The Knoll, Peterculter.

Patterson, Douglas Gordon (192936), 13 Rubislaw Den South, Aberdeen.

Pattullo, William Ogilvy (1939-41), 8 Anderson Drive N., Aberdeen.

Robbie, George Muir Glen (193041), 52 Devonshire Rd., Aberdeen.

Semple, Robert, Jun. (1922-34), M.B., Ch.B., 7 Alford Place, Aberdeen.

Taylor, Alan Cameron (1938-41), 45 Argyll Place, Aberdeen.

Taylor, George Hedridge Milton (x939-41), 55 Cattofield Terrace, Aberdeen.

Thomson, Alexander Cooper (193041), Hazledene House, Hazledene Road, Aberdeen.

Walker, Charles (1929-41), St. Clement on the Quay, Regent Quay, Aberdeen.

Watt, David Bland (1934-41), School House, Balmedie.

Watt, James Robertson (1935-40, 8 Queen's Road, Aberdeen.

Admittedly the best place to Lunch in Aberdeen

Watt & Grant's

RESTAURANT As in all the other sections of the store, Quality is the predominating feature.

Despite the difficulties of

Rationing, every effort

has been

made to increase the

variety of

dishes by adding new and attractive unrationed menus.

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

JOHN HUTCHISON Leather Goods Manufacturer for

TRUNKS SUIT CASES HANDBAGS LEATHERCRAFT DOG REQUISITES RIDING EQUIPMENT Repairs of all kinds executed on the premises

10-11 BACK WYND, ABERDEEN Telephone 1994

WE SPECIALISE IN

GALLOWSES •

W. J. MILNE, LTD. Hatters

ABERDEEN Phone 1293 Telegrams: "Gallowses"

Opposite Royal Northern Club

IRONMONGERY A LARGE AND VARIED STOCK ALWAYS ON HAND SHEETMETAL WORK

A

SPECIALITY

H. LEITH & SON 26 and 28 NETHERKIRKGATE I'llone 2 59

ABERDEEN

There is none better than the " BEST" but Davidson's Coals are better than the " REST "

J. &

A. DAVIDSON, LTD. 2 BLAIKIE'S QUAY, ABERDEEN

Branch

Office:—MAJESTIG

BUILDINGS, 238

Telegrams—" Davidson"

STREET

UNION

Phone 2873

Various kinds of ENGLISH, SCOTCH HOUSE, STEAM COAL, ANTHRACITE, and "Ideal" Triplex Fuel at keenest prices WE

SOLICIT

A

TRIAL

ORDER

Agents for

Wyllies

Ordnance Survey Maps

Circulating Library

WYLLIES Booksellers. Stationers

247 UNION Established 1814 Books for Young Men Books for Boys

STREET, ABERDEEN Telephone 402 Books for Lower School age Books for the Young

EITARIIIHRO

1818 HIS MAJESTY TH1 KING, DATED ISE IULY 1940

APPOINTED MEAT PURVEYORS ANO POULTERERS TO

J. WILLIAMSON & SON 1w. B. WILLIAMSON, PROPRIETOR)

Meat Purveyors and Poulterers 1, 2, & 3 MARKET BUILDINGS, ABERDEEN ' ►HONE 452 BRANCHES ,

THE SQUARE. CULTS 'PHONE. CULTS 2

35 FOUNTAINHALL ROAD 'PHONE 1724

ALSO AT CHURCH SQUARE. BALLATER.

'PHONE 38

TO THE LATE

BY

KING

APPOINTMENT

GEORGE

V

wa

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

STAY AT THE

Caledonian Hotel ABERDEEN R.S.A.C.

Telephone 2916 (3 lines)

" Repose, Aberdeen'

Telegrams

Overlooking Union Gardens.

Terrace Three minutes from Quiet.

Station.

80 Bedrooms, all with H. and C. Running Water.

ELECTRIC LIGHT.

PRIVATE SUITES.

CENTRAL HEATING. LIFT.

R.A.C.

A.A.*'*

LOUNGES. AMERICAN BAR.

WRITING ROOM. 40

GARAGE

CARS.

Dining Room and Restaurant h la carte.

Grill Room open until 11.45 p.m.

0

En Pension Weekly from Five Guineas.

0 Manager, JAMES MERCER.

FAMILY COM 1F-4

Curie Coffee is the favourite / drink with every. one it ii most delicious. especially Your in cold weather ocer can supply you.

CURBS (Of 0 Thomas Corr & C o.

ABERDEEN.

Anderson & Spence DISPENSING CHEMISTS PHOTOGRAPHIC DEALERS

31 FOUNTAINHALL ROAD, ABERDEEN Telephone No. 1711

18 Back Wynd Aberdeen ESTABLISHED 1855

BOOKBINDING OF EVERY DESCRIPTION

BIND FIND FAST FAST

77

`4‘'

TRADE MARK

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

ABERDEEN TOWN COUNCIL - EDUCATION

ABERDEEN

GRAMMAR

COMMITTEE.

SCHOOL

(FOUNDED PREVIOUS TO I2f6.)

Rector

-

JAMES J. ROBERTSON, M.A., B.D.

HE GRAMMAR SCHOOL provides for Boys a complete course of TStudy, both Elementary and Secondary, Classical and Modern.

h

The School, which is organized in three Departments—Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools—contains, in addition to the usual classrooms, a Chemical Laboratory, Science Theatre with Physical Laboratory attached, Natural Science Laboratory, Art Room, Gymnasium, Workshop, Botanical Garden, Library, Reading Room, and Museum.

Pupils in the Middle School arc prepared for the Leaving Certificate of the Scottish Education Department, passes in the latter examination being recognized as exempting from further examination in the corresponding subjects of the Preliminary Examination for graduation in Arts, Science, Law, and Medicine at the Scottish Universities.

The situation of the School in the West end of the City is open and healthy. The Class-rooms are large, and the Grounds for Recreation include separate Playgrounds for Juniors and Seniors, Tennis Courts, and a field for Cricket and Football. There is also a Boarding House run in conjunction with the School.

ABERDEEN

HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.

(ALBTN PLACE.) Head Mistress - Miss BEATRICE M. ROSE. M.A. (Allard., Oxon.)

THE HIGH SCHOOL provides a liberal education for Girls from 5 to 18 years of age, and aims at fitting them for home life and for professions open to women.

The School buildings occupy an excellent and spacious site in the West end of the City. A Playing Field of it acres, situated at Hazlchead and provided with a suitable pavilion, is used for organized games.

The School is organized in three Departments—Infants, Primary, and Secondary. The Classes in the Infants and Primary divisions are graded in accordance with the requirements of the Scottish Code. Pupils in the Secondary Department are prepared for the Leaving Certificate of the Scottish Education Department.

Pupils whose parents desire it are taught Theory and Practice of Music (Pianoforte, Violin, and Organ) in preparation for the Examinations of the Associated Board of the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music.

Advanced pupils are prepared for the Licentiate of the Royal Academy.

•

Information as to Fees, Scholarships, Courses of Study, etc., at the Grammar School and High Sehooi for Girls is given in the School Prospectus, which may be had free on application to the Director of Education, Education Offices, or to the Rector or Head Mistress respectively.

The Trustees and Managers of the Aberdeen Savings Bank believe that readers of this Magazine will be interested to know that the Grammar School Bank is one of the largest and most successful Penny Banks in the North-East of Scotland.

During the past year the deposits have amounted to over

£1,350 This money has all been lent to the Government through the

ABERDEEN SAVINGS BANK SHOE FITTING BY X-RAY

JOHN A. DUNN Amity Boot and Shoe Maker

46 UNION STREET ABERDEEN Phone

158

Repairs Executed

SPECIALISTS IN YOUNG-PEOPLES FOOTWEAR

.

.

,