William Ogilvy Kermack, 1898-1970

Abstract

William Ogilvy Kermack was born on 26 April 1898, in Kirriemuir, Angus Scotland, the only child of William Kermack, postman, and Helen Ogilvy. His ancestors were country folk who hailed from the neighbourhood of Kirriemuir, a small country town of some three thousand inhabitants nestling in the foothills of the Grampians. Sir James Barrie, also a native of the town, has described it vividly in his novels under the name of 'Thrums'. Kermack's mother died in 1904 and his upbringing fell largely on his father’s sister. At the age of five he was sent to the local school, Webster's Seminary which provided an excellent primary and secondary education typical of the rural Scotland of the period. Of his schooling he wrote: ‘Mathematical instruction was given chiefly by the headmaster, Thomas Pullar whose thoroughness I learnt to appreciate. He took me as tar as co-ordinate geometry and geometrical conic sections as well as elementary dynamics, hydrostatics, etc Physics and chemistry were taught by Pullar and others including G. K. Sutherland afterwards, I believe, of Southampton University College who was most inspiring in his teaching of what would now be called general science, and a somewhat eccentric Mr Tinto who failed to keep good discipline but introduced me to non-Euclidian geometry about 1913 by lending me a small book called Theories of parallelism which I read with great interest. The chief and most lasting influence amongst teachers, however was Mr C. H. Moore who combined a gift for teaching with a fine intellect, a broad tolerance and an idealistic outlook on life and affairs. Through his teaching of English, he encouraged us to think and introduced us to a wide range of ideas, artistic, ethical, political and social.'