1. Beginnings:
John and Morag Before Kilquhanity
John Aitkenhead’s mother and father, Angus and Sarah, met on Islay where there are clan connections. Aitkenhead’s father was a ship’s carpenter and worked in the Clyde shipyards. The family are proud to recall that he worked on HMS Hood launched from John Brown’s yard on the Clyde in 1918; it was a family event to attend the launch. The Hood was famously sunk by the German ship Bismarck in the Battle of the Denmark Strait 24th May 1941 with the loss of over 1400 crew and three known survivors.
Angus and Sarah Aitkenhead
John was the second eldest child of six. He was preceded by his sister Mary who went on to become a talented milliner. The other children were Sam, Angus and then twins Alistair and Marion. By all accounts from Aitkenhead’s children, their uncles and aunts were talented and able individuals. Born into a ‘working class’ family they all went on to make something of their own careers.
Sam Aitkenhead spent his war years with both the King’s Own Scottish Borderers and latterly, the Pioneer Corps. Part of his war was spent in Jerusalem where the army chaplain is said to have challenged Sam regarding his faith. Before the war, Sam had worked for three years in the Ardrossan Dockyard as an office-boy, and then followed six years as a farm servant and four years as an Industrial Insurance Agent. At the end of his army service in 1946 he took the war-services course of study for the ministry and in the summer of 1946 preached his first sermon, in Renfrew, at the invitation of William Barclay (later to become Professor Barclay: Professor of Religious Studies: University of Glasgow).
As a young man Sam had been a Scout leader in Ardrossan and later, after the war he became a District Commissioner for the Scouts in the Dalbeattie area of Dumfries and Galloway, where he held his ministry. In a tribute paid to Sam Aitkenhead by Reverend A D K Arnott , he said:
The joy with Sam and it was a joy, was the way in which he embraced the hard, tough issues of the day from the pulpit. Nobody was left in any doubt about his views on the Bomb or party politics. They were gospel inspired and Christ centred. But few were able to best him for Sam was prepared to put into practice what he believed and spoke about so he would be found on the doorsteps at election time doing that which came so naturally to him.
The Rev Sam Aitkenhead
Later in life he was elected as Moderator of the Glasgow presbytery, he was keen associate of the Iona Community and was President of the Glasgow Galloway Society for 17 years.
Less is known, by this author, about Angus Aitkenhead. After secondary schooling Angus joined the Merchant Navy and moved on to work for the Shell Oil Company.
Alastair Aitkenhead was born after the family moved to Ardrossan where they stayed in tied-housing belonging to the Ardrossan Dry Dock Shipbuilding Company. Alastair attended the local Eglinton-Winton Public School before going to Ardrossan Academy.
John Aitkenhead, first on the left, top row
"Charities Day" - Glasgow University - John Aitkenhead third from left top row (1929)
The Princess Street Ardrossan (Early 20th century)
In his spare time he worked as a farmhand at the Glenhead, Commonside and Montfode farms and trained with the Beith Harriers. In 1940 he attended Jordanhill Scottish School of Physical Education where he trained as a teacher of Physical Education, though his studies were interrupted by the Second World War.
Alastair’s war years were spent based at the Indian Military Academy in Deharudan in the Himalayan foothills. He was, at that time the youngest serving major in the British Army. A year before the end of the war Alistair became Company Commander in Peshawar near the Afghanistan border where the army were deployed to protect supply routes. After military service, Alistair returned to Jordanhill to complete his studies. His first teaching post was at Stevenston. After twenty years, Alastair became Sports Education Adviser for the whole of Ayrshire. His own physical education had focussed on Swedish Gymnastics, but at that time (1950s – 1960s) the P.E. syllabus was embarking on new school sport activities such as swimming and basketball. He also had a passion for dance. After retiring, Alastair became chair of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (1989 – 91) promoting the idea:
It has to be fun to dance.
Alastair Aitkenhead (2009)
Marion Aitkenhead worked in the Fire Service.
John Aitkenhead was born in Knightswood, Glasgow and moved with the rest of the family to Ardrossan in 1920. Five years earlier it was time for him to experience schooling for the first time. Luckily for us, later in life he wrote a short essay about this period of his lifer. He should have callled it:
John Aitkenhead: School Days: 1915 to 28
I was born in 1910 in the village of Low Knightswood, west of Glasgow at the home of my maternal grandmother tho’ my parent’s home was in Renfrew. My mother had gone to her mother’s home for the birth of her second child, her mother being a practising mid-wife.
From age 5 to age 10 I attended a very small school called Blythswood Testimonial School, originally intended for the children of people working on Blythswood Estate.
Blythswood Testimonial School
These years were the last of World War 1 and school children were very much involved in working to help the British war effort. I remember knitting scarves for soldiers. The best children’s toys in those days were German made but we were sworn never to have German toys again.
In school we made cruel caricatures of the Kaiser and German soldiers in spiked helmets. From age 10 -12 I went to a different school because when the War ended my father’s work took him to Ardrossan and the school there was very different.
My first experience of men teachers and of belting. Hardly a lesson without someone being belted, the day starting with the belt for being late for school
Memorising place names in Geography and dates in History was the main occupation. We had ‘drill’ for physical education from a veteran who had been in India under Lord Roberts in the famous march from Kabul to Kandahar.’
From age 12 – 18 I was at an ‘academy’. Very different, many new subjects from specialist teachers, but still lots of belting and many classes were conducted in ex-army huts but heated by big stoves.I think teachers hated them but the kids didn’t mind them at all.
School uniforms were just being introduced in those days. I never possessed a school blazer myself. The classes were not called Forms 1 -7 on when I went to the academy at first but in my second year I was in Form II and not class 8.’
‘At Renfrew until I was 10 in our spare time we played at the ferry across the Clyde. It was dangerous. To us it was exciting. You could steal a ride by holding on to the big frame of the single head lamp. Lorries and Cabs drawn by horses were common and stealing a ride on these was fun. We played football on the street often with a paper ball.
We flew kites. At Ardrossan we spent hours and hours at the harbour, where cargo ships were loading coal or unloading iron-ore and where ships were being repaired in an exiting dry-dock where my father would be working. Watching a diver going down to examine the damage below the water-line of a boat was always fascinating. #
A famous four masted sailing ship called The SS Lancing later sunk by a single torpedo! came to Ardrossan from America frequently, with cargoes of wood, and we would go around to the lighthouse to see her make the entrance to the harbour, from more than a mile out.
SS Lansing 1901)
Also, I learned to milk cows at a local dairy farm and I earned two shillings and nine pence a week delivering morning milk in the town.
‘At primary school, singing was my favourite subject. Reason could have been that my parents were both singers. At secondary school I still had my singing classes but in 4th Year all boys missed a year of singing whether their voice was broken or not. But from 12 -18 my favourite lesson was Gym.
It was an excellent Gymnasium all with existing new apparatus, and we had one of the first men graduates from a new professional training course at Dunfermline. After though I loved woodwork.
I was familiar with tools, my father being a ship’s carpenter, always making or mending at home. When I was 16 Rugby was introduced and I loved that, becoming hooker in the First 15.
I enjoyed English classes with a very good teacher and for one year a most exciting Maths teacher who made Euclidean Geometry a kind of fascinating magic. I really wanted to become a Gym teacher at the Dunfermline College but because I got 4 god Highers I was persuaded to go to Glasgow University to study English Literature.’
When John was 12 (1922) his father set sail to New York to look for work in the shipyards. As the Depression bit he was forced to find work as a jobbing carpenter. For the next six years John saw his father only once on a brief return to Scotland. The intention was for the family to move to America. Papers were issued and all was in place when at the ‘eleventh hour’ John's mother said, ‘no’, and the family remained in Ardrossan.
John’s father returned, permanently to Ardrossan in 1928 and later that year John entered the University of Glasgow.
According to family anecdote it appears that all through John’s childhood the family were intensely loyal and a strong unit. Whilst father was away, John, as eldest son, took on the mantle of head male for the family in Scotland. John’s mother was a strong figure and matriarchal. In the neighbourhood she was well known and took on the role of helping women with the delivery at childbirth – although untrained. John, by all accounts, was adoring of his mother and devoted to her.
Like his younger brother, John attended Eglinton -Winton school from which he was awarded a scholarship to attend Ardrossan Academy. At the secondary school John developed as a keen sportsman with a particular talent for Rugby at which he represented the school. Physically he developed into a good looking young man who caught the eye of a girl in the first year, Morag.
His love of sport was to cost him his first attempt at University entrance examinations which he failed quite dramatically having been recognised as an intelligent and academically very able boy. John returned to school for sixth form years to focus his attention on academic studies and examinations. I have no knowledge of any particular childhood friendships for John but it is assumed that as he was keen sportsman and noticeably good-looking that it is likely that he was a popular boy.
It is also relevant to acknowledge that as John was the oldest male child and his father was away working in America that he would have been learning and earning from work on local farms. It is recognised that in his adolescence John was acquiring skills at hand-milking, animal husbandry and agriculture/horticulture that was to become an integral part of his education programmes at Kilquhanity from 1940 – 1996.
In 1928 John attended the University of Glasgow where he read English. He graduated with an MA Hons. English in 1932 but was unable to find suitable employment so he returned to Glasgow to study Education, graduating with an Ed B in 1935. His dream, as a younger man had been to become a Physical Education teacher but this is a path he did not pursue at that time or later unlike his younger brother Alastair.
In the archive, held by the author, it is apparent that John held one particular tutor in high esteem. From 10th October 1932 until 15th May 1933 Aitkenhead attended lectures presented by Dr William Boyd on the ‘History and Theory of Education.’
I was one of his first students, and I was one of the first who took the complete education degree. But education that I was involved in was in the Boy Scout movement. I was running two or three scout meetings a week. And that was freedom of attendance. Nobody ever forced a boy to join the Boy Scouts. But if you join the Boy Scouts, you have to learn to pass various standards in practical things, you see? And then you learn by doing, by going to camp, you know? So I was really being an educator at night.
Sam Aitkenhead on the left with Alistair, Angus and John
It would appear, from physical evidence, that these were the only lecture notes from that time that John kept along with his other papers. Boyd was to play his own part in the development of ‘progressive education’ and we shall return to him later. (see LINK)
After graduating John entered the teaching profession first in Campbelltown, Argyll, and latterly at Darvel Academy, Ayrshire, under the Headship of Mr Mowat.
After graduating John entered the teaching profession first in Campbelltown, Argyll, and latterly at Darvel Academy, Ayrshire, under the Headship of Mr Mowat.
Robina Roy MacKinnon (Morag) was born in Dublin on 28th October 1911. She was the first child of Dugald and Jessie MacKinnon. Dugald was from the west coast of Kintyre; his preference would have been to stay in the country but came like many young men, to the Clyde in search of work. Dugald’s father was keen for his son to have a trade and organised an apprenticeship as a ship’s plater. Dugald’s wife Jessie was from Ayrshire. Prior to Morag’s birth the Mackinnon’s had moved to Ireland in search of work.
Within two weeks of Morag’s birth Dugald lost his job and the family returned to Ardrossan. Her childhood years were marked by bouts of Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria which curtailed her academic study. In 1914 War broke out and many men were conscripted or signed up to join the army. Morag’s father remained in Ardrossan, working in the shipyard. By Morag’s own account Ardrossan and the shipyards were the ‘wrong setting’ for her father:
. . . he was a drinker; my mother was what we now call a battered wife,; we could never invite people into the house in case dad got angry.
Ardrossan Shipyard - Queen Mary under construction (1932)
Morag attended Ardrossan Academy, one year behind John. She became aware of him early in her life and it is said, fell in love with him early in her time at secondary school.
Although she formed friendships, especially with a girl named Nan Edgar, Morag spent considerable time in solitary pursuits. She was an avid reader of her mother’s Red Letter magazine and her aunt’s People’s Friend. She joined Ardrossan library which operated out of a local shop and ‘read anything and everything.’
She loved walking and would often be found walking the hills and fields outside Ardrossan. As a result of her poor health during her childhood years, Morag did not gain the necessary results for University entrance, although teachers had informed her parents of her intellectual and academic potential. Her first job was as a purser on the ferries from Stranraer to Larne. Later, she joined her friend Nan in clerical work in Glasgow. During their free time, and sometimes when they were supposed to be at work, Morag and Nan would type out a copy of D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover for distribution amongst friends. Together they formed a Lawrence appreciation society: The Phoenix Group which John Aitkenhead was to join.
Freda Lawrence is known to have attended a meeting of this group. On another occasion when the speaker was unable to appear, John stepped in to speak; though I am unaware of the topic. During, this Glasgow period, A.S. Neill was the visiting speaker for another group, possibly called ‘The Healthy Living Society’. Morag and Nan attended but John definitely did not. Later, Morag trained as a Norland Nanny which she hoped would become a passport for travel and visiting other countries.
Norland Nannies hard at work.
On graduation she managed to make it to Yorkshire to work for a family living there (who maintained correspondence with her long after her employment, such was their friendship). This employment probably did not last long, as she and John Aitkenhead were married in 1938. The new family settled in High Hapton outside Darvel, Ayrshire, where John had taken employment as a secondary teacher in Darvel Academy under the headship of Mr Mowat. The farm cottage was near derelict and had been offered by the famer in return for renovation work.
High Hapton - probably the Aitkenhead farm cottage (1938 - Wood-cut possibly by John Aitkenhead)
John and Robina’s relationship was disapproved off by Aitkenhead’s family. It was John who proposed the name Morag, which was quickly accepted by friends and local family but older relatives and friends in Carradale, her grandparent’s home continued to call her Ruby. Morag was perceived as an ‘oddball’ by John's family and he was ‘far too good for her.’ Their friendship grew. Morag and Nan’s friendship grew too as they moved from school into the world of work. Nan, it would appear was quite a strong influence on Morag who had taken to wearing sandals and unconventional styles.
John’s mother took great exception to Morag and two notable anecdotes reflect this. On one occasion John’s mother sent his older sister round to Morag’s house to tell her that if the friendship continues ‘you will break my mother’s heart’, on another occasion when Aitkenhead’s mother and Morag happened upon each other in the street, John’s mother spat at Morag. Later, in 1938 when John and Morag were to marry, no members of John’s family were in attendance at the ceremony. John’s family disapproved of Morag.
John graduated, for the second time in 1935, and entered the teaching profession; first in Argyll and latterly in Ayrshire.
During this time John corresponded with Morag, who was in Yorkshire, expressing his concerns about the family, the indecision and conflict that their relationship was causing. Morag’s response was that all parties had to find their own path in life. This prompted John to propose and he and Morag were married in 1938 and moved to their near-derelict cottage High Hapton.
John was to practice as a teacher in the state system for a little less than five years. Although Morag had heard A.S. Neill speak in Glasgow.
A transcript of a conversation between Jonathan Croall and Morag & John in the Croall Archive, that is now held at Summerhill School. One extract explains Morag’s first meeting with Neill:
“The first time I met him he was speaking in Glasgow in 1930 at the Healthy Life Society. I remember we just fell in love with him – I don’t remember what he said, but we just liked him so much.'
John was not to become directly influenced by Neill until 1936. In that year John had occasion to dig-out a snow-bound car resulting in a back injury. He was signed off work for six weeks during which time he read a copy of A.S. Neill’s book: Is Scotland Educated. By 1938 John had read all Neill’s published works.
In the state school John although on occasion was to use the tawse for punishment, was enjoying being with children and reading children’s poetry and stories written in the local dialect, but coming up against school inspectors and the Headteacher, Mr Mowat’s disapproval: ‘Where’s this leading to Mr Aitkenhead?’ the inspector said. John was against children spending their day in regimented rows and was desirous of getting the children out taking part in practical learning; drawing on his experiences as a boy-scout and farm labourer. Increasingly John and Mr Mowat failed to agree.
By this time John was a member of the Peace Pledge Union and a pacifist. Morag had joined the International Congress of Women, later known as the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. This organisation was founded in 1915, by 1300 women from a wide range of countries and cultures horrified by the consequences of the First world War.
Morag attended meetings and it was at one of these that she met Christine Hamilton Dicker Waldo Sturgeon (a.k.a. Felix) who was married to William Dickie Sturgeon (a.k.a. Argyll). the friendship grew between the two couples and later they agreed to open a school together.
Morag first left fourth row up, John third from left same row - Children presumably sitting in front row (1959)
World War II Peace Pledge Union poster
John visited Neill again to discuss opening a school in Scotland. Neill’s reply was that Scotland ‘was too benighted,’ and any such school based on Summerhill would fail. As war broke out in 1939 A.S.Neill was to change his mind and encouraged John saying the time was right ‘before freedom goes out the window.’ It was not until John had visited Summerhill that he thought he wanted to open his own school.
His family were in total opposition to his ideas and thought him crazy, blaming Morag for once again ‘turning his head.’ A.S. Neill’s encouragement and the outbreak of a second world war appear to be the key factors in motivating John to make the final decision. It is also noted that Mr Mowat was to read about John’s own post at Darvel being advertised in the schools bulletin. John chose not to inform Mowat of his resignation. Mr Mowat was to take no more from the upstart John Aitkenhead.
John set about finding premises and finding like-minded individuals to join in with his new school. Morag has said that she was instrumental in ‘leading John away from ‘Christian education’ but not in the final decision to open a school; ‘I was happy on my own smallholding with a toddler son' (Neill). Eventually he found Kilquhanity, a 7.5 acre estate in Galloway, which he ‘knew’ to be the right place.
Kilquhanity House before it became a school (1903 - Postcard)
Morag’s first visit to Kilquhanity was the day they arrived: 18th October 1940. They found the 'American' couple Argyll Sturgeon and his wife Felix with whom they had teamed up together to open Kilquhanity House School.
The story told is that with their four month old baby Neill, John and Morag Aitkenhead had driven from Darvel to Kilquhanity , arriving in darkness and to find that their first pupil – Lorn Farquhar - and her Governess had arrived the day before to a deserted school! This anecdote, initially appeared dubious as Argyll and Felix Sturgeon were in residence at Kilquhanity for some time before the Aitkenheads arrived; however:
John wrote in the Kilquhanity Broadsheet of 18.10.1962;
'A Very Former Pupil: In the summer term this year a young lady from London came to Scotland on her honeymoon. She and her husband called at Kilquhanity one morning at coffee-time. What a surprise for Morag and me! This was Lorn Farquhar, the very first pupil of the school in October 1940. She had been here a whole day before us when we arrived to start school in October 1940. I remember it perfectly. She was wearing a kilt of the Gordon tartan; so was I, and she told me her dad wore one too. He was then a prisoner of war in Japan. Lorn and her husband, who is a doctor, are working in Africa.'
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