Obituaries

In recent months a number of men and women connected with the University have passed away. Lady Duncan of Jordanstone, Laura Adam, Dr Irene Wilson and Allen Mackenzie each made an important contribution to the University during their lifetime and will be sadly missed.

Lady Duncan of Jordanstone 1910-2003

By Richard Carr

I first met Lady Duncan of Jordanstone at the Bonar Hall, Dundee in the mid 1980s when Myer Lacombe, then Principal of Duncan Jordanstone College of Art, refused to let her sit on the platform during the annual degree ceremony. So I was given the job of looking after her while we sat on the first row in the audience and I discovered that this elegant, diminutive woman had a quick intelligence and a mischievous, Irish sense of humour. She had, after all, been born into a land owning family in County Cork whose house had been burned down during the Troubles of the 1920s.

The second time we met was when she invited me to lunch at Jordanstone, a mansion house just outside Meigle, when I was researching the history of the college. From her I heard how a local farmer had sent two of his sons to Bolivia where they made their fortunes in the second half of the 19th century, and how one, on hearing that the Jordanstone estate was up for sale, had instructed solicitors in Dundee to buy it, no matter what the cost. He was called James Duncan and when he arrived in Dundee, Lady Duncan said, the solicitors didn't believe he could complete the deal. So he threw the money on to the floor and told them to pick it up.

When he died in 1909, James Duncan left £60,000 to found a School of Industrial Art in Dundee. There was also the unusual stipulation that, attached to the art school, should be a woman's institute 'in which instruction could be given in such subjects as household thrift and management, cookery, laundrywork, dresscutting and needlework, insofar as the teaching of such subjects has not otherwise been efficiently provided for in Dundee.' James Duncan had very progressive ideas about education!

Lady Duncan was born Beatrice Carroll and, after a difficult childhood (because of the Troubles) and a conventional schooling, she joined the Abbey Theatre in Dublin at a time when Lady Gregory was the patron of W.B. Yeats and Tyrone Guthrie trod the boards. Ever since she was a small child, Lady Duncan had loved giving recitations so it was not surprising that, after her first marriage in 1934 to Philip Blair Oliphant, and finding herself in Manchester, she joined the BBC and acted in a number of radio plays. But her most famous (and surprising) part was as Larry the Lamb in Toytown, a wonderful children's series that began before the Second World War and continued into the 1950s. Those were the days when there was a Children's Hour on the Home Service and a presenter called Uncle Mac (who played the part of the narrator in the Toytown series).

In 1945, Lady Duncan and her husband moved into his seat, Ardblair Castle in Angus, where she took part in local dramatics, talks and panels, and supported drama in local schools. Then, three years after her first husband's death in 1963, she told me, she was sitting in the castle one evening and saw the lights of Jordanstone where Sir James Duncan, the first and only Baronet, was also sitting in a mansion house. A great nephew of the original James Duncan of Jordanstone, Sir James was widowed and Lady Duncan had known him for many years. What a waste of electricity, she thought. So she rang Sir James up and suggested that they live together to save money! They married in 1966 and he died in 1974.

My last meeting with Lady Duncan was when my wife and I took her to a fancy dress party at Duntrune House outside Dundee in 1992. The party was organised by Henny King and her late husband, artist and showman, Edmund Caswell. Lady Duncan was dressed as a lady from the Middle Ages and, because of her presence, we all got mentioned in the social columns of The Sunday Times!

Alas, that was the last time I saw her. In 1994, she received an Honorary Doctorate from Duncan of Jordanstone, the last person to be so honoured before the college changed its name to Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design and became a faculty of Dundee University. At that time, she devoted herself to charities including the Duncan Police Medal which is awarded to members of the public who give outstanding help to the police, and the Tenovus medical charity. But then, in the last four years of her life, she suffered from Alzheimer's Disease and her memory became so bad that she hardly spoke to anyone. So I am glad that I remember her as someone whose personality was much bigger than her stature. She was the last of the Duncans of Jordanstone and, at one time, offered her house to the college. What a pity that her offer was rejected on the grounds that Jordanstone was too far from Dundee and that the house might be expensive to maintain. It would have made a wonderful centre for postgraduate studies.

Allen Mackenzie

By Anne Reynolds

In early 1990, tasked with the promotion of the University through fundraising, marketing and public relations, the development officer was viewed with suspicion - 'was the university to be sold like a can of beans?' Allen, however, with his good humour and patience quickly gained respect with his implementation of new initiatives.

Liaising with our organisation, his practical help and fresh approach helped us improve our communications and he brought his business and organisational skills to our activities. Likewise, his advice and expertise were instrumental in getting our first graduate magazine off the ground.

One of his lasting legacies was an enhancement of the 'town and gown' relationship by the inauguration of the 'Discovery' lecture in Dundee's Octocentenary year an event which has continued to accompany our annual meeting of graduates.

With Allen's death Graduates' Council has lost a good friend and supporter. We will remember him with great affection.

Dr I B Wilson

Dr Ralph Skea

It was with great sadness that the School of Town and Regional Planning heard of the death of Dr Wilson on the 2nd February in Reux, Normandy, at the age of fifty-four. Irene was a dominant personality in the School for over ten years, both in her capacity as lecturer and, latterly, as senior lecturer. A geography honours graduate from Edinburgh University, Irene had studied town planning part-time while working at Stirling Council as a planning assistant. When she joined the University as a lecturer, Irene channelled her formidable energy into her research and publications related to town planning in France. After many years of detailed research projects, and much aided by her fluent French, Irene completed a PhD on aspects of French town planning at the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. As a teacher, she was held in high regard by students for her well-organised lectures and her pragmatic approach to planning issues in practical work. Irene's tenacity and irrepressible manner, tempered by her lively sense of humour, made her a major asset to the School. Her friends will long remember her love of gossip, and her gifts as a storyteller - the anecdotes liberally laced with her legendary expletives!

Around 1986, Irene became disenchanted with academic life, and, encouraged by her previous successes working as a planning consultant in Scotland, she embarked on a career with the United Nations. This led to lengthy postings in Countries such as Mali, Dubai and Pakistan amongst others. After many years of UN service, she took up a post with the Dutch Overseas Development Agency which allowed her to demonstrate further her formidable skills as a planning consultant. Irene's single minded, hardworking nature proved a great asset in carrying out these demanding projects. Quite recently, after taking Civil Service examinations, she joined the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office. However, this post did not seem to suit her lively personality and thus, for the last few years, she had been working freelance. It was during her last overseas posting in Africa that she became ill. She returned to Reux in Normandy, where, quite recently, she had settled with her partner, Ralph Osmers. Sadly, after only a few months back in her beloved France, Irene died. Friends and ex-colleagues were shocked to hear that such a redoubtable and amusing character should have died so young. Yet, as one of her friends commented, Irene lived her short life to the full. And she will be remembered with great affection by many town planning graduates of this University.

Laura Adam

By Professor CD Forbes

Laura Adam (Fleming) came to the University of Dundee in 1962 to work in the new and exciting research area of renal failure and its causes and consequences.

Initially she was based at Maryfield Hospital and then at Ninewells working mainly with Dr WK Stewart and latterly with Dr I Henderson.

Her initial training was in chemistry/biochemistry and she developed a major interest in the problems of patients with renal impairment and subsequently renal failure. As the management of renal failure improved she became an authority on the complications patients suffered. In particular the team made major advances in the problems of handling of aluminium, iron and magnesium. These studies resulted in many practical improvements in long term care. Her interest in and research with erythrapoeten (?) resulted in major gains in patient physical and mental well-being in the long term.

She developed and stimulated many other interests for the University and the hospital. Particularly, she had a passion for medical history and was responsible for setting up a Medical History Museum committee mainly composed of renal services staff members. Using this committee she brought together artefacts from all the Departments in Ninewells and assiduously catalogued them for future display. She obtained funds for the purchase of glass cases and set up the display facilities in the medical school foyer, in the main hall of the hospital and in the library. Rotation of her well-documented displays occurred every few months and was a highlight of the calendar year.

In addition, she developed a major interest in medical related art, organising special displays and encouraging the donation of art to enliven the walls and public areas of the hospital. Perhaps her most important contribution was the tapestry now hanging in the medical school foyer, designed in collaboration with the Dundee & East of Scotland Embroiderers Guild and depicting the medicines and therapies of yesteryear. She also planned and executed various plantings in the grounds of several of the local hospitals.

Her latest work related to the life and times of Dundee doctor David Kinloch and his capture and imprisonment by the Spanish inquisition. The results were published in The Innes Review in 2002.

Many who worked in the medical school have been touched by her widespread interests and works. These will remain as her permanent memorial.