Norman, the son, would no doubt have acquired his
father's multilateral aduptalility in the ancestral way of life, but a
different vista opened up before him, for he showed signs of special
intellectual gifts at an early age, gifts which he proved by becoming
Dux of the Stornoway Nicolson Institute, the second largest secondary
school in the Scottish Highlands.
An apt pupil in Mathematics, he passed the Higher
Leaving Certificate in that subject after only three years' attendance
at the secondary school, when against expectation he gravitated towards
classics. In this field he distinguished himself with First Class
Honours at Aberdeen University, and the award of a post-graduate
classical scholarship in England, to which, however, he preferred an
immediate teaching appointment.
From his childhood Mr. MacLeod was aware of and
impressed by the staunch religious convictions for which his father was
as noted as for his intrepid seamanship, and when these convictions led
the son to becoming a church elder, he thus followed his father's
footsteps along the most important walk in human life. In his chosen
profession of teaching, Mr. MacLeod has taught representative classes of
pupils under five different Education Authorities in Scotland
Banff-shire, Ayrshire, Aberdeenshire, Ross-shire and Fife. To this
experience was added air-force service during the First World War. It
would, therefore, have been difficult to find one more extensively or
impressively prepared for the onerous task and privilege of promoting
the enterprise and fortunes of Madras College.
Mr. MacLeod's tenure of office has been remarkable for
the handicaps under which his work has been done, and for the decisions
he has been forced to make to overcome them. The dining hut, church
halls, drill halls — any spaces except, so far as we know, the boiler
-rooms or the towers where the pigeons hold their daily manoeuvres—have
been called into service as classrooms ; and that the work of the school
has been as good as it is, and that the instruction has proceeded with
such little friction are the best proofs of his ability to make a
scholastic silk purse out of an architectural sow's ear. These
conditions were the result of a concatenation of events outside anyone's
control. Hardly had the dust settled from a very extensive — and
expensive — war against dry rot than the school was dismembered again
for extensions and alterations. And all this during the years of the
"Bulge," a great increase in the number of children reaching the age for
secondary education. It is sad that Mr. MacLeod should be deprived of
complete entry into the heritage of nearly adequate accommodation. In a
recent annual report he wondered humorously if, like Moses, he was to be
debarred from entry into the promised land. This looks like being at
least partly so, for it is likely that when he goes, work will still be
in progress on the assembly hall and rector's room.
How gallantly the rector has carried out his task is
best appreciated by those who know how hard he had to light a crippling
illness against which only a resolute mind and heart could have
prevailed, but one from which, we are glad to note, he appears to have
staged a decisive recovery.
The school unites in wishing Mr. MacLeod a long and happy retirement.
Long may he savour
"retired leisure
That in trim gardens takes his pleasure."
The
Madras College Magazine
for December 1959
reports:
Mr Norman MacLeod, M.A.
In the winter of 1958-9, his last illness terminated
what the School, in October, 1955, had hoped would be a long and happy
retirement for Mr Norman MacLeod, Rector of Madras College from 1941.
From an early age he showed signs of the intellectual
gifts which enabled him to be in turn Dux of the Nicolson Institute,
Stornoway, and a graduate with First Class Honours in Classics of
Aberdeen University. After graduation he preferred an immediate teaching
appointment to the acceptance of a post-graduate scholarship; and the
children of five Scottish counties — Banff, Ayr, Aberdeen, Ross and Fife
— had the benefit of Mr MacLeod's learning and skill. To this was added
R.A.F. service in the First World War. It would, therefore, have been
difficult to find one better equipped for the task and privilege of
promoting the fortunes of Madras College.
Mr MacLeod's tenure of office as Rector was remarkable
for the handicaps under which his work was done, and for the
determination with which he overcame them. Pupils today should realise
that in Mr MacLeod's time, Madras College consisted of the quadrangle
block and the old huts (East and West); so that the unavailability of
any one room caused a dislocation out of proportion to the teaching
space lost : in addition, numbers — the beginning of the "Bulge" — were
increasing and accommodation was not. For long periods, the
gymnasium-assembly hall and various rooms in the West wing were closed
for reconstruction because of dry rot; and, as a result, the dining-hut,
three church halls and the Volunteer Hall, were called into service as
classrooms. That instruction proceeded as smoothly as it did is the best
proof of Mr MacLeod's ability and discretion. In one annual report he
wondered wryly if, like Moses, he was to be debarred from passage to the
promised land of nearly adequate accommodation. That was, at least
partly, what happened for when he retired, work was still in progress on
the assembly hall and the rector's room. During these trying years. Mr
MacLeod had to contend with a crippling illness, over which only a
resolute heart and a strong sense of duty enabled him to prevail.
After school hours, his humanity, sympathy and humour
made him one of the best of companions ; and it is difficult to accept
that we shall not see again the quizzical humorous expression, or hear
the gleeful chuckle which revealed his enjoyment of the joke. His
extensive and accurate scholarship apart, he will be long and
affectionately remembered by many as the personification of generosity
and hospitality.
" Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so.
For those whom thou thinkest thou dost overthrow
Die not. poor Death."
