Donald Grant, a man of humour and history
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Our regular columnist Thirsa Loon looks at the life and achievements of Donald Grant
There have been many who have recorded our local heritage over the years. Some names will be unfamiliar, while others are fondly remembered. Among the latter is the multi-talented Donald Grant, teacher, rector, author, playwright, poet, researcher and writer of jokes.
His parents, Williamina (née Mackay) and Duncan, a railway clerk, had been married for nearly a decade when Donald was born in 1897 in the family home at 87 Princes Street, Thurso.
It was a common sight for children to be seen walking barefoot from April to harvest time, and Donald was one of those who reminisced about how “we became leathery-soled roaming by hill and by shore”.
In winter there were long spells of ice and abundant snow. Along with his friends they opened the gate of the private path from Castlegreen Manse and sledged down at full speed, negotiating a right-angled turn into Princes Street, wondering how they managed to avoid “braining” themselves on the wall of Mina Villa.
Other childhood games included skilbilickie, cockly, hi-spy, holey, change poles, cattie, smouggle ’e geegie, bonnadie keek, kites, marbles with broxy peegs, sconers, claydunts, glessers and buttonie – "when if losing and broke we did not hesitate to sacrifice our means of supporting our trousers. Every boy had a gird and tops, sookers and sneerags appeared in their season. We had sookers that could lift the grating of a sewer!”
Donald would carry out his schooling at the Miller Institution and in 1912 the governors of the Trust for Education in the Highlands and Islands released the results of the exams held in July of that year. He was ranked fourth in Caithness and Sutherland, with a score of 855 out of a possible 1100.
When the 1914-1918 war broke out, Donald ran away from home to sign up, but the underage attempt failed as the recruiting sergeant was none other than his next-door neighbour! Returning north, it’s thought he lived with his grandmother in Kirtomy before joining the Lovat Scouts in 1915 for four years. This was later followed by his enrolment at Edinburgh University for around three years when he passed his Master of Arts degree.
Moray House college would be the next step where Donald enrolled in teacher training. He played in the college cricket club as well as working as a sports reporter as a sideline to help make ends meet.
In 1928, he married Mary Gunn Forbes in Edinburgh. She was working as a comptometer operator for the long-established manufacturing chemists, Duncan, Flockhart & Co.
Having completed his training, Donald taught at the George Heriot's School in Edinburgh for some 30 years. He was known there as “Trigger” because of his rapid-fire questions to pupils – snapping his fingers and pointing it at a pupil like a gun.
He later beat several other applicants to take up the post of rector at his former school in Thurso, taking over from Thomas Ironside. Donald remained there from 1954 until 1958, moving to the new Thurso High School before retiring in 1963.
In 1975, he was recognised by the executive council of the Scottish National Dictionary for his years of invaluable help to the editor. The following year he was presented, on the council’s behalf, with a bound 10-volume set of the dictionary.
Along with the late Willie Wilson of the Station Hotel, Donald co-wrote a number of plays which were highly praised. He produced a fascinating body of work, from jokes to poems, put together in his typical witty style under the alias Castlegreen.
Tatties an’ Herreen’, Div Ye Mind? (or "What John Horne forgot") and Peats for Power are just some of his well-known works. Donald’s historical publications became standard go-to books – such as Thurso Events and Old Thurso. These were produced by trawling through old records and difficult-to-read writing to piece together a history of the town. He provided the text for Thurso, Then & Now, which was compiled by the late Thurso historian Falconer Waters.
For such an educated man, who spent countless hours writing, researching and reading, it must have been frustrating and disheartening when years later Donald's eyesight failed through macular degeneration. After 84 years lived to the full, he passed away in 1981.
Shona and Morag remember their softly spoken grandfather telling stories, making them come to life.
I was privileged to digitise some of Donald Grant’s work for long-term preservation. Lifting the lid of a box, I uncovered a selection of loose handwritten and typed poems, notes about local history and Donald’s own family history. A DIY booklet, made from loose punched pages, and bound by a shoelace, contains some of his published poems, while a thick, coverless writing book has 408 handwritten jokes regarding Caithness life.
While some of his works are familiar, others have never been published. It was seeing these that gave a fuller picture of how much he accomplished in his writing. The digitising was difficult, not because of the amount – which was sizeable – but because one had to force oneself not to start reading or the job would come to a grinding stop.
A keen footballer, Donald recalled how they “were ready to kick anything at any time, ball or stone or tin can”. There was no barrier around the pitch at the Dammies, with spectators standing behind a line of sawdust. Senior football was taken so seriously that on the occasion of inter-town games a telegram with the half-time score was displayed in a shop window in Thurso. A visit to Wick for that game was an adventure! Though his first visit was not very thrilling: he went to have teeth extracted as there was no dentist in Thurso.
In one match, an Acks player was tripped over by a member of the crowd. Getting up, he scanned the grinning faces. With a “swift left and right”, he stretched a spectator on the turf. At the burgh court, the player was fined 10 shillings for the assault. Handing over a pound, he said he didn’t want change as he would rather have another swipe at the spectator.
Various writings include general Caithness descriptions, local dialect, "Interesting Facts and Fancies", Pirate Gow, an "Election Address of a Pro-Herring Candidate" and "Reminiscences of Neil Baikie, resident in Wick". From Sutherland he included information about Melvich and Kirtomy. Excerpts from the Thurso Combination Poorhouse include various notes such as a letter sent to D Cormack, Wick: “I have to inform you that Alexr Mackay is alive & in good health this morning & as fat as a Baillie.” A later record mentions: “I am sorry to inform you that the matron was outrageously drunk at dinner hour today. It took a porter and three of the women inmates to force her out the dining hall... her language was horrible.”
In 1858, two young Wick girls who had stolen some herring were sent to prison for 60 days. Gleanings from historical records cover an annoyed Fred Tait of Thurso, who complained that the Salvation Army had been “bawling and shouting” every Sunday opposite his door, irritating him and his family. The following month Mr Tait complained that they were still at it.
Donald's granddaughters, Shona and Morag, remember their softly spoken grandfather telling stories, making them come to life. “We think grandad would be delighted that there remains a record of his life and work which others can research in the same way that he researched and recorded stories and facts from those that came before him and allowed him to paint a picture of people and places he loved.”
Outwith his work and research he was keen on loch fishing and gardening, always keeping his garden immaculate. He also received a long service award from the Church of Scotland as an elder of the Thurso West Church. He was an influential figure in various organisations, such as the swimming pool committee, Thurso Players and Thurso Philosophical Society. Shona added that since she had posted some old photographs on social media “there’s been a fair bit of interest from folk who knew him, always with lovely memories”.
There is no doubt his work is a rich legacy of Caithness life, in humour and history. Today, there is a generation or two who will not have known him, but will have recited his poems at school, as future generations will, and learn their local history from his works. Just a small part of the legacy left by the late, great Donald Grant.
