PAST LIVES: Tribute to one of the Highlands’ greatest ever historians
George Andrew Dixon was a Grantownian, heart and mind, purpose and passion.
He was a fifth generation Grantownian; the great,great, great grandson of John Bisset (1744 – 1819, tenant of the Good Sir James Grant in the farm of Dalvoult - now part of Boat of Garten golf course - whose gravestone stands within a few feet of Duthil Old Parish Church, now the Clan Grant Centre).
He was a crofter’s grandson on his mother’s side. George’s mother, Beatrice, was a respected teacher in Grantown Grammar School and played a prominent role in the town’s Women’s Guild and the local Scout troop.
His father, Hamish, continued the family painter business of Dixon and Bain.
George was born on the 12th of May 1936. He arrived two months prematurely weighing just 3 lbs, in the new Seafield Maternity Wing of the Ian Charles Hospital.
His birth was supervised by Dr D M Marr, MD, hastily summoned, still in full Highland dress, from a ball being held in Castle Grant, a mile or so away.
George had three sisters, twins Janet and Louise, and Lesley, the youngest.
He was brought up in Grantown’s West End and attended Grantown Grammar School.
During these years, he developed a keen interest in Grantown’s history and spent considerable time with his much admired mentor James (Hame} Grant, of Garden Park, with whom he was what he himself described as an ‘extramural pupil’ from 1947 to 1953 and with whom he went on several historical expeditions.
Hame Grant was the leading local historian of his time, a retired teacher and the last descendant of a line of tenant farmers in Balliefurth.
Whilst at school George wrote his first articles including ‘Notes on Old Grantown” in 1947.
Several articles were printed in the Grantown Grammar School magazine. For some time, whilst still in school he was a Sunday School teacher.
On leaving school, George undertook teacher training in Aberdeen from 1953 to 1958.
He graduated with an M.A. (Hons. History) with a Chapter V qualification to teach History.
He was the 1957 Caithness Prizeman in History.
From the late 1950s to early 1960s he taught history in Alford, Aberdeenshire before studying Science at the University of Edinburgh and graduating in 1967 with a BSc (Hons Psychology), whilst continuing his research in the National Records of Scotland and in the 18th and 19th centuries Scottish Press.
There followed a period of teaching in various Edinburgh schools mixed with further research in the NRS, before settling down as a research archivist .
This mainly involved historical research in Highland estate and legal papers.
Notably, and perhaps as a predictor of future emphasis on exact accuracy, he corrected several errors in the Cadet pedigrees in William Fraser’s Chiefs of Grant 1883 Vol1.
During 1969 and 1970 George negotiated the depositing in NRS of the principal Strathspey 18th and 19th centuries estate plans, which he had discovered in the wood manager’s office in Grantown.
Famously in 1973 he was the historical expert witness in the Spey Navigation Case in the Court of Session and later the House of Lords, which settled public navigation rights on Scottish rivers.
Again in 2002 ha was an expert witness in Scottish Land Court case re Balliefurth Ferry.
Whilst back in Grantown, George became heavily involved in a campaign to protect the old buildings of South West High Street in the face of a major Moray Council regeneration scheme.
Whilst his efforts were only partially successful, his involvement with the council and the Scottish Civic Trust resulted in the recognition of central Grantown as a Conservation Area.
In 1974 he founded The Grantown Society to collect, record and promote information on the town’s rich heritage.
The first president of the society was his friend, Dr Isobel F Grant, recognised as Scotland’s leading Highland historian.
Ten years later, he himself was appointed president and subsequently made an honourable member of the society.
Most recently another of George’s highly regarded friends, Dr Jean Munro, was also appointed as an honorary member of the society.
George continued to spend most of his time in Edinburgh and Glasgow and from 1979 to 1980, was the first McAlpine research assistant in Glasgow University Archives.
His main research interests were the origins of Georgian planned settlements in Scotland, famine and emigration from the 18th and 19th centuries Highlands.
In 1980 he was appointed assistant archivist for Central Regional Council (CRC), and in 1986 regional archivist.
During this time he pioneered the use of archives in Scottish secondary schools’ Standard grade work, built up the public usage of CRC Archives to be the second largest local- authority usage of its kind in Scotland.
In 1986 he was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. In 1988 he founded the Association of Scottish Local Authority Archivists.
He was for three years from 1993, chairman of Central Scotland Family History Society.
With the reorganisation of local government, George became Stirling Council archivist until he took early retirement from local government work in 1998.
Of this George wrote: “It was one of the most difficult decisions I have had to take but I believe that this is the right time for me to move on to other things that I have wanted to do for some time.”
A council spokesperson state “….he has acquired a knowledge which is second to none, of the thousands of books and documents held in the archives.
“He has used this knowledge to provide assistance to many hundreds of people using the archives over the years, whether in researching their family trees or carrying out academic research.
“His dedication to the archives and to providing the best help possible to users of them has been greatly appreciated far and wide.”
That year he was elected chairman of the Scottish Local History Forum for a three year term and became chairman of their publication board.
A fellow trustee wrote: “I knew George for many, many years and had the highest of respect for him.
“He played a significant role in the establishment of a new editorial team for the journal in 2010, which provided real inspiration for all of the others involved.”
In the years from 1956 to 1999, George recorded that he “had published about 190 historical articles, some 160 of them in the ‘Strathspey and Badenoch Herald’ (especially the 113 part “Strathspey and Badenoch “ series 1990-1993 on the social and economic history of the area to 1863, intended when revised, illustrated and indexed, to become volume one of a projected two-volume local history to 2000).
He also wrote papers on forestry history (“Scottish Forestry” 1975 and 1976) and papers in “Scottish Industrial History” 1986, “Forth Naturalist and Historian” (1996 and 1998) and “Dictionary of Scottish Business Biography” (1990)and reviews of academic history books for “Scottish Historical Review” and “Scottish Economic and Social History”.
In September 2000 George started work as archivist to the Heriot Trust in Edinburgh.and continued in that role for nine years.
George had an abiding love of and interest in music, Bach in particular.
He was a member of the Piobaireachd Society and one of his many topics of research was pipe music and it was George who uncovered the story of the laird’s piper’s tuition in Skye.
This was with the McArthur College of Piping at Kilmuir in Skye.
George’s research papers reveal the depth and breadth of his research with details such as the fees paid for his piper’s tuition and the cost of 4/6 for the young piper’s “tartan for a short kilt.”
One of his important yet unfinished books is the history of Highland music and another on the history of Highland Games, which, if published, might well cause a stir amongst Highland Games aficionados.
George was never shy when it came to sharply criticising others’ poorly researched work and publishing his own detailed but always well-researched facts which contradicted accepted wisdom.
Such an example was his assertion that the date given for the foundation of Tomintoul was incorrect.
His own, much regretted mistake was the claim that Grantown was founded in 1766, which he later discovered to be quite incorrect and definitely 1765.
This was only after he arranged for Grantown’s square to be gifted to the people of Grantown in 1966 on what was then believed to be the “200th anniversary of its foundation”.
Susan Beckley, George’s successor as archivist in Stirling, wrote highly of his work: “I arrived in Stirling to take up the post of council archivist in May 2004.
“I had previously worked in archives for 30 years but had not previously worked in Scotland.
“The archive service in Stirling was by then in difficulties as it required new premises as a matter of urgency and it was my remit to deliver this.
“George appeared in my office on my second day in post offering his support in any way he could provide and it never wavered.
“He was kind, courteous and supportive, never interfered, and patient with my lack of experience in the specifics of Scottish archives.”
In early 2005, when the Stirling Archives Service relocated to its new [and current] premises at Borrowmeadow Road in Stirling, George returned to work with us as a temporary assistant archivist to help to oversee the removal of the collections and the initiation of the public service provided from the new facility.
It was a privilege to have him back, and to benefit from his years of expertise and knowledge of the Stirling collections.
As a Highlander, George had a lifelong interest in the region’s history and especially in the history of Strathspey.
During his life he has spent much time collating information from collections held at the National Records of Scotland and other institutions which relate to Strathspey, and his notebooks containing this work stand as a lasting memorial to him.
George had for many years supported the establishment of an archive service for the Highland Council area, and when a public service was initiated within Inverness Library in 1992, George became a regular researcher there.
In the summer of 2005, I took up the post of Highland Council archivist, and my most pressing remit was to seek funding for, and deliver, a new Highland Archive Centre at the site chosen by the local authority at the Bught in Inverness.
Again, George was unstinting in his generous support.
Without being asked, he researched the history of the chosen site for the new archive centre and this was incorporated into Highland Council’s successful capital bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund.
To assist the development of outreach for the expanding Highland Archive Service, George operated an ‘Archives Surgery’ on our behalf from Grantown Museum, during the summer of 2007, the Year of Highland Culture, a project supported by Molly Duckett , then the curator at Grantown.
When the Highland Archive Centre opened in Inverness in 2009, George arranged for the Grantown Society’s exhibition for which he had done much of the research ‘The Making of the Modern Highlands’ to be displayed in the new search-room where it remained on display for some years. It was the first exhibition in the new building.
On 23rd November 2009 the new Highland Archive Centre was opened formally by HRH Prince Edward, now Duke of Edinburgh, and George was invited as one of the guests.
In his later years when he moved permanently to his cottage in Grantown it was always a pleasure to visit and listen to him reminisce, and share his fount of knowledge about Scottish history.
It was all helped along by a supply of chocolate biscuits from M&S, his favourite!
On one of my last visits to him when he was resident in Grant House, I took along the most recent edition of ‘Scottish Archives’, the Journal of the Scottish Records Association.
His face lit up at the sight of it, and as I left, he was already immersed in its pages.
Despite living much of his life in Stirling, with its easy access to archive material, his love of Grantown, though not necessarily its politicians, never wavered.
George spent a huge amount of energy and time in an (unsuccessful) attempt to have Grantown reallocated to Moray in the 1996 Scottish Government reorganisation.
He continued to fully support The Grantown Society and took a keen interest in its work.
Whilst his ready offer of accurate in-depth information on local history topics will be sadly missed, he has left, as a legacy, a treasure trove of collected, researched and transcribed material, including over 100 notebooks with pencil written transcriptions for selected Grantown Grant and Estate papers from SRO.
His invaluable contribution to the 2007 year of Highland History project made possible the creation of the exhibition and subsequent book ‘The Birth of the Modern Highlands’.
Likewise, his unstinting help and comprehensive knowledge was a key element in establishing displays in the Grantown Museum when it moved to its permanent home in Burnfield.
With George’s Grantown and Strathspey pedigree it was inevitable that he became immersed in the history of the Clan Grant.
He researched extensively Clan and Castle Grant history and contributed practically annual talks to the Grantown Society (from “Origins of Old Grantown in association with Jean Munro” in 1974 to perspectives on Richard Waitt in 2017 ) to The Clan Grant (at the castle in 2000) and at the 250th anniversary Grantown Foundation Festival (again at the castle in 2015).
He was a great admirer of Hank Grant, The Clan Grant’s US historian and researcher and had discussions with previous owners of the castle, including, David Ward, Ian Bailey-Scudamore and Sergei Fedotov, collecting and providing information on the castle’s story especially with Pascale Yilmaz, Fedotov’s interior designer.
He was also a significant member of the Friends of Grant Lodge.
In recent years George moved back to Heath Cottage and continued to provide information on numerous topics, including stories of the West End as he had always considered himself a ‘West Ender’.
George’s last appearance was at the society’s 50th anniversary dinner.
He was instrumental in setting up the Grantown Archive and was chairman of the society and Museum Joint Regulatory Body and it is hugely appropriate that his legacy archive should be housed in Grantown, partly in the museum and partly in the Grantown Hub, the recently acquired home of the Grantown Society which George advocated as far back as in 1974.
In this way, as George lies at peace with his forebears, his huge contribution to local, national and regional knowledge will be carried forward and along with his talents and dedication as a researcher making him a historian of stature and national importance and one of whom it can be said it was an honour to be his acquaintance and friend.
George passed away on 28th October 2024.
Contributed: Bill Sadler.
