Dr Farquhar Macintosh CBE

Farquhar Macintosh CBE MA DLitt Dr hc. 27 October 1923 to 18 November 2007

Dr Farquhar Macintosh was a crofter’s son from Elgol, in the Isle of Skye, who over the past 50 years, became one of the great public servants in Scotland. He had a wide range of interests and his contribution to various public causes was significant.

A former pupil of Portree High School, Farquhar was a graduate of both Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities. After completing his teacher training at Jordanhill College he began his professional life as a History Teacher and first taught in Greenfield Junior Secondary School, Hamilton, Glasgow Academy and became Head of the History Department at Inverness Royal Academy where he enjoyed, as he often admitted, the inspirational leadership of D J Macdonald.

It was in school education that Farquhar Macintosh first made an impression on Scottish public life. He was the Rector of three schools in Scotland – Portree High School, Oban High School and latterly the Royal High School of Edinburgh where he was Rector from 1972 to 1989. From early on it was apparent that Farquhar would not be the kind of Rector who would spend all of his life sitting behind his desk. He was very much involved in a wider educational world and many of us who worked with him gained much from his extensive knowledge of Scottish and international education.

Many public appointments in education followed; in particular he was appointed Chairman of the Scottish Examination Board (SEB) in 1977. It was not an easy time to be in that post given that the industrial problems in schools at that time threatened to disrupt the examination system. Farquhar skilfully chaired the Board through that period and was appointed to an unprecedented third term as Chairman.

In educational terms Farquhar Macintosh was a visionary and a man of ideas. In Portree and Oban he introduced the concept of Leisure Activities into the Curriculum and former pupils still talk today with great fondness of the effect that part of the Curriculum had on their lives. He was the first of a new kind of school leader in Scotland who wanted to change the experience of pupils and was not afraid of curricular reform. As the Rector of the Royal High School in Edinburgh he introduced the International Baccalaureate. He felt that this would go some way to/…

to solving the curricular challenges of the Scottish senior school. Despite all the curricular changes since then the challenge of the Scottish sixth year still remains and Farquhar’s concept of an international certificate is as worthy of serious discussion today as it was in 1980. As Chairman of the SEB he managed the introduction of Standard Grade Examinations throughout Secondary schools in Scotland.

His Honorary Doctorate from Heriot Watt University was, in part, a recognition of his attempt to revolutionise the Upper School Curriculum but it was also an acknowledgement of someone who had new ideas about Scottish education. It would be fair to say that when he retired as the Rector of the Royal High School in 1989 and as Chairman of the Scottish Examination Board in 1990 he was probably one of the best known educationalists in Scotland.

Farquhar was always aware of his roots in Skye, in the Gaelic language and in the culture and the life of the Highlands and Islands. For 17 years (1965 to 1982) he served on the Highlands and Islands Development Consultative Council and was Convener of its Education Sub-Committee.

In 1973 when Inverness lost to Stirling in respect of a new Scottish University it was Farquhar Macintosh who articulated the idea of a university based on a federal model founded on the existing further education colleges. It was that inspired idea that Sir Graham Hills adopted when he developed the idea into what is now known as the University of the Highlands and Islands Millennium Institute. It was fitting that Farquhar served that institution with distinction as Chair of its Forum from 1999 to 2003.

Farquhar’s interest in the whole area of higher education and the Gaelic language came together in his chairing of the Board of Trustees of Sàbhal Mòr Ostaig (SMO), the Gaelic College in Skye. SMO became his great interest over the last 16 years and he takes great credit for the educational revolution that has been effected from the south of Skye.

Over the last 20 years Farquhar has been regarded quite rightly as the “Elder Statesman of the Gaelic world” and he gave willingly of his time and energy to the Gaelic renaissance. His basic philosophy was that the survival of the language relied very heavily on the progress of Gaelic Medium Education. He was convinced that Gaelic schools would have to appear in the traditional heartlands and especially in the islands. When I visited him for the last time in hospital he was writing his own personal plan for securing the future of Gaelic and discussing it with me. His commitment to Gaelic was all consuming and his irrepressible enthusiasm for Gaelic was always evident. He gave a leadership and a vision to the Gaelic world which will be seriously and sorely missed.

Farquhar never entered the official political arena yet he was intimately involved in politics and in the political system. He knew how the system worked and he was a tough negotiator when it came to soliciting extra funds for his own areas of interest, especially SMO. Many civil servants and Ministers found themselves over the years agreeing to allocations of money which they simply had not expected to spend. Politically Farquhar was an avid European and a committed devolutionist. The advent of a Scottish Parliament was made all the sweeter for him by the fact that his son Kenneth became and remains an MSP in the Parliament. He took great pride in that.

Farquhar’s public service was recognised by the award of a CBE in 1982, Honorary Doctorates from Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh Universities and Fellowships from the Educational Institute of Scotland, SCOTVEC, SQA and the UHIMI. These awards simply reflected the commitment of a man of genuine public stature. His service included Chair of the Board of Governors of the Royal Blind School, member of the Board of Governors of St Margaret’s School in Edinburgh, Chairman of the Scottish European Movement and the Highlands and Islands Educational Trust. He also found time to serve the University of Edinburgh, he was an active Rotarian, an Elder of St Giles Cathedral and a faithful supporter of the Former Pupils’ Club of the Royal High School in Edinburgh.

Farquhar Macintosh was a man of immense personal charm and was hugely gregarious. He was full of fun with a mischievous sense of humour and a distinctive laugh. He was never more at ease than when he was surrounded by people. He simply energised and motivated them. For many of us he was a mentor, guide, counsellor and friend. He touched many lives. Scotland has lost a man who gave unsparingly to his country and his culture and who had a profound influence on Scottish Public life.

Farquhar was a learned man with great intellectual depth. He had a meticulous attention to detail and argued that the key to success was always to do your homework. Perhaps that gives some insight into why he was such a successful Head Teacher, Chairman and Public Servant.

Farquhar was a man who had time for everyone. He was a great family man. He was tremendously proud of the achievements of his wife Margaret, a former Head Teacher of Drummond Community High School in Edinburgh, and of the achievements of his four children.

He is survived by Margaret, his four children, John, Kenneth, Ann and Ailsa and by his twelve grandchildren.

Matthew M MacIver

Chief Executive/Registrar, GTCS

Chairman of Bòrd na Gàidhlig