William Hamilton Fyfe
Sir William Hamilton Fyfe | |
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Principal of the University of Aberdeen | |
In office 1936–1948 | |
Preceded by | Sir George Adam Smith |
Succeeded by | Sir Thomas Murray Taylor |
Principal of Queen's University at Kingston | |
In office 1930–1936 | |
Preceded by | Robert Bruce Taylor |
Succeeded by | Robert Charles Wallace |
Personal details | |
Born | (1878-07-09)9 July 1878 Kensington, London, England |
Died | 13 June 1965(1965-06-13) (aged 86) London, England |
Spouse | Dorothea Hope Geddes White (m. 1908) |
Children | 3 |
Education | Fettes College |
Alma mater | Merton College, Oxford |
Profession | Scholar, educator, and university administrator |
Sir William Hamilton Fyfe (9 July 1878 – 13 June 1965) was an English and Canadian classics scholar, educator, and educational administrator. He served as the 10th Principal of Queen's University, Ontario, from 1930 to 1936, and was the first layman to hold that position. He served as Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen from 1936 to 1948. He was knighted in 1942.
Life
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Memorial_to_William_Hamilton_Fyfe%2C_St_Machar%27s_Cathedral_churchyard.jpg/330px-Memorial_to_William_Hamilton_Fyfe%2C_St_Machar%27s_Cathedral_churchyard.jpg)
William Hamilton Fyfe was born in Kensington, London in 1878. He attended Fettes College in Edinburgh, Scotland. He then went on to Merton College, Oxford, where he graduated with a double first in Classics. He taught at Radley College from 1901 to 1903. He then returned to Merton to teach for 15 years.
He married Dorothea Hope Geddes White in 1908; the couple had three children, Maurice, Margaret, and Christopher.[1]
During World War I, he served as a major with the British Intelligence Department of the War Office. In 1919 he was appointed headmaster of Christ's Hospital in Sussex, where he modernized the curriculum and authored several classical texts.
In 1930, he was appointed Principal of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Fyfe had earlier expressed some disdain for the standard of education at 'colonial' universities, and so was recruited to improve the standards at Queen's. He had limited success in that task, since Canada was mired in the Great Depression, and funds were very scarce. But he did succeed in modernizing the curriculum somewhat, in raising the level of admission and scholarship, and in attracting increased prestige to Queen's.
He returned to Great Britain in 1936 to accept the position of Principal and Vice Chancellor at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, where he served until 1948, when he retired. He was knighted by King George VI in 1942 for his many diverse achievements.
Fyfe died in London in 1965. He is memorialised in the churchyard of St Machar's Cathedral in Old Aberdeen.
Family
He was married to Dorothea Hope Geddes White (1885–1977).
References
- ^ Levens, R.G.C., ed. (1964). Merton College Register 1900-1964. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 13.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
William Hamilton Fyfe
- Biography
- Works by William Hamilton Fyfe at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about William Hamilton Fyfe at the Internet Archive
Academic offices | ||
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Preceded by | Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen 1936—1948 | Succeeded by |
Preceded by Robert Bruce Taylor | Principal of Queen's University 1930–1936 | Succeeded by |
- v
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Aberdeen
- Hector Boece (1500)
- Alexander Arbuthnot (1569)
- Reverend David Rait (1598)
- William Leslie (1632)
- William Guild (1640)
- John Row (1652)
- Alexander Middleton (1662)
- George Middleton (1689)
- George Chalmers (1729)
- Roderick MacLeod (1800)
- William Jack (1815)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Shield_of_the_University_of_Aberdeen.svg/60px-Shield_of_the_University_of_Aberdeen.svg.png)
Aberdeen
- Robert Howie (1593)
- Gilbert Gray (1598)
- Andrew Adie (1616)
- Reverend William Forbes (1620)
- Patrick Dun (1621)
- William Moir (1649)
- James Leslie (1661)
- Robert Paterson (1678)
- Thomas Blackwell (primus) (1717)
- John Osborne (1728)
- Thomas Blackwell (secundus) (1748)
- Robert Pollock (1757)
- George Campbell (1759)
- William Laurence Brown (1796)
- Daniel Dewar (1832)
- Reverend Peter Colin Campbell (1865)
- Reverend William Robinson Pirie (1876)
- Sir William Duguid Geddes (1885)
- Reverend John Marshall Lang (1900)
- Sir George Adam Smith (1909)
- Sir William Hamilton Fyfe (1936)
- Sir Thomas Murray Taylor (1948)
- Sir Edward Maitland Wright (1962)
- Sir Fraser Noble (1976)
- George Paul McNicol (1981)
- Maxwell Irvine (1991)
- Sir Duncan Rice (1996)
- Sir Ian Diamond (2010)
- George Boyne (2018)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/16px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png)