John Falconer (staff, Classics, 1969-72) writes:

A letter describing the life of a young Classics teacher at Glenalmond in 1924 has recently come to light in my family archive. The teacher, Osmund F. Tucker, had been a student of my grandfather at Cambridge, and wanted to tell him how he was getting on in his first job.

Trinity College,
Glenalmond,
Perthshire.
9.x.24

Dear Mr. Duke
I am writing just to tell you something of Glenalmond and the type of work we do here. This is a splendid place, and from the window of my study I get a most wonderful view of the Grampians, which are only a mile or two away. They are at their best when the sun is setting behind them, where they present a picture of great and massy grandeur. The boys here are an extraordinarily nice crowd and so supremely well-mannered and courteous. My VIth Form are most awfully nice – only three of them are taking Greek at present, as the rest are doing History (Modern) and Maths instead, or else special work. I have the Captain of College, A. J. Paterson, in my form. The three boys with whom I spend most of my time are the nicest one could wish, and very fairly intelligent. On Sundays we present rather a magnificent spectacle, practically all the boys wearing their own particular kilts and tartans. The corps on parade, when in full Highland dress, look splendid. My commission has not come through yet, as Scottish command want me to take Cert. “A” (which I failed at school) first. I hope to effect this at a regimental depot next vac. when doing a course as I don’t want to have to prepare for it during term.

The standard of work here is far below that of an ordinary English Public School. The reasons for this are, I think, two in number – (i) We don’t do as many hours school, and have only 1½ hours. prep. every night – and (ii) The boys have little or no time to read out of school, as out of school activities are very numerous, e.g. boxing, fencing, gym, musketry, O.T.C., Rugger etc. The boys are quite intelligent and so incredibly nice that it is perhaps better that they are as they are with regard to work. I am sure that, if they do not turn out to be scholars, they turn out to be gentlemen, and everything which that “grand old name” implies. Until this term, the VIth had never done Juvenal or Theophrastus or any even elementary Philosophy or even, I believe, Thucydides, and yet one or two have been in the form 2 or even 3 years. This is, of course, not their fault, nor the masters’ fault: it is due to the daily curriculum, for which there is a lot to be said. Before leaving, they have to pass the Scottish Leaving Certificate which is a very complicated and rather silly business, and which no one from the Warden downwards seems to find it possible to fully understand. This term Rugger is the chief feature, and preparation for the matches against Fettes, Loretto and Merchiston etc. You will have heard of W. R. Seagrove; he is a master here and of course takes over Athletics – and also coaches Rugger (the middle games). We have got a pretty young staff on the whole, and a nice lot too (including an International Tennis Player). We are using Duff for Juvenal and Marchant for Thucydides, and Heitland and Bury for History – Cicero I don’t think they have ever read, nor yet Demosthenes. It is awfully nice to hear some of these Scotch boys translate with their attractive accent. Most of them speak very much as English boys would, however.

The River Almond flows just by the College and the fishing, especially for salmon and trout, is very good. The shooting also is good, and of course the boys practically live with golf-clubs in their hands. In my form I have one boy with handicap of 1, and two with hcp. of 4 each and so on. This is only a very sketchy account, but will I think serve to show my impressions of Glenalmond.

With very many thanks for all you did for me at Jesus [College],
Yours sincerely,
O. F. Tucker.

* * * * *

Mr. Tucker continued his teaching career at Cranleigh, where he was Second Master. He had a bristling up-turned moustache and ‘was outwardly formidable but concealed within a crustaceous exterior a dedication to teaching the classics and to encouraging among the boys an independence of spirit of which he himself was a notable expression’ (newspaper obituary, Sept. 1988).

As far as the niceness, manners and courtesy were concerned, nothing had changed when I started my career at Glenalmond in 1969, but the rugger soon drove me away from teaching, until I realised the Civil Service was even worse, and spent the rest of my career at Winchester College. During the Glenalmond years my colleagues and I took two trips to Greece in a Ford Transit minibus, hired in Dundee and driven down through Yugoslavia on the perilous three lane ‘autoput’. If anyone still has photographs or records of those trips, I would be very pleased to hear from them, as I am trying to reconstruct in my mind the now almost unbelievable itineraries in the days before ‘health and safety’ had put the brakes on such adventures. (The alumni office can give you my contact details. And just in case anyone is interested in German history from 1909–48, further treasures from my family’s archive can be found in ‘Letters from Helfenberg’, which was published in 2022.)