| Hugh Dickie B.A., LL.D., F.E.I.S. |
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Rector 1876-1904 Hugh Dickie, according to historian William Boyd, was 'the most outstanding Ayrshire teacher of his time' (William Boyd, Education in Ayrshire through Seven Centuries (University of London Press; London, 1961), p.180). When Dickie was appointed rector the Academy was in a poor condition, but he built it up until it earned Higher Class status. In addition, like the earlier rectors, he taught full-time, teaching chemistry, electricity and physiography as well as Latin, Greek and English. He encouraged the study of science especially, and two later Nobel Prize winners, Sir Alexander Fleming and Lord Boyd Orr, were pupils while he was rector. It was largely on Dickie's achievements that the Academy's early-twentieth century excellence was based. They brought him wider recognition, being appointed President of the Educational Institute of Scotland, the teachers' representative body in 1890, and receiving an honorary LL.D. from Glasgow University.
This picture of Hugh Dickie appeared in the school magazine in 1910. |
