The Madras College Archive

     

Former Teacher Biographies

Margaret C. Affleck (1912 - 2012), Principal Teacher of Music

 
Miss Affleck was born in 1912. Her father was Rev David Affleck, the last Free Church minister in Ladybank and she was born there in the manse.

She trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London from which she graduated in 1931 with an LRAM (Licentiate of Royal Academy of Music). She qualified as a teacher in 1933 with a ‘Chapter VI’ Qualification.

She was Music Mistress at Edinburgh Ladies' College for four years before her appointment to Madras.


The Madras College Magazine for June 1939 reports:

There has been a notable change in the Staff since our last issue. Mr. James Easson, who for nearly sixteen years had directed and developed Music in Madras with marked power and originality and unflagging zeal, was last Autumn appointed Supervisor of Music in Dundee. We are grateful for the civilising influence that his teaching of Music had in the school commonwealth, and we confidently anticipate that a rich harvest awaits his labours in Dundee. The torch has been taken over by Miss Affleck, whoso fine enthusiasm will keep it well alight.

The Madras College Magazine for June 1939 also reports:

Musical Activities.
This year we have been without the services of Mr. Easson who left us to take up a position with a wider scope for his talents in Dundee, where we all wish him success. Our regret in losing him, however, has been greatly tempered by Miss Affleck, who, by her enthusiasm and energy, has won our respect and proved herself a worthy successor.

Several ex-pupils remember ‘Fleckie’ with affection. She was ladylike, dressed smartly usually in black and had a middle parting and wore a handkerchief at her wrist. She was described by one present resident of Ladybank, who was a pupil at Madras in the 1950s as his ‘favourite teacher’ and as ‘a lovely lady’. She always ended her annual school concerts by conducting the senior boys in a rousing rendition of ‘The Fishermen of England.’

When she retired from her post as Principal Teacher of Music in Summer 1974 the St Andrews Citizen noted that Miss Affleck had kept music alive and flourishing in the school for thirty years, thirty years which included the Second World War. She had built up the instrumental side of teaching and worked hard to obtain instruments and to find instructors who also worked in both Madras and in the primary schools. Her efforts led to the formation of the school orchestra from which many pupils went on to study music. She encouraged pupils of all ages whether they were starting their first bagpipe tune or were senior members of the orchestra. The Citizen concludes that ‘None who came through the school will forget her friendliness and the happy atmosphere of her classroom.'

Miss Affleck appears in the staff photographs of 1959 and 1964.

John Gilbert