Appreciation: Ian Valentine Balfour Paul

Published on Tuesday 6 July 2010 18:27

Long-serving Edinburgh schoolmaster who was awarded the Military Cross for distinguished service in Second World War

Born: 14 February, 1916, in Bournemouth.

Died: 16 June, 2010, aged 94.

IAN Balfour Paul had a colossal influence for good on many people - far more than he himself realised.

He was one of those rare people who had the gift of making people all think they had a friendship with him which was special and unique. He infected those around him with his sense of wonder, his insatiable curiosity and his zest for life. He had a huge store of anecdotes, and stories told of special times with him are legion.

The third of the four sons of John (Jack) William Balfour Paul and Muriel Monteith, Ian Valentine was born in Bournemouth and educated at Wellington College and Pembroke College, Cambridge. Rejecting the military profession his father intended for him, and following a brief spell teaching in Mill Hill, Ian then devoted 51 very happy and fulfilling years to Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh, as housemaster, schoolmaster and self-styled "orraman", or odd-job man.

"BP" was held in affection by the whole Merchiston community and was the inspiration for many future careers. He had a love of words and a wizardry with them, as shown in his school reports, which were full of insight and wit: "Neil (who has since had a distinguished career] works like a machine gun, in short bursts and only when pressed."

BP liked this comment so much that he repeated it in a later report, to the parents' amusement.

Ian was a lifelong bachelor. Yet he had two close-knit families, both of which were devoted to him, and anyone who met Ian never forgot him. There was his own immediate family of two brothers (a third died young), and 11 nephews and nieces. Then there was the family of Merchistonians made up from the staff and pupils during his years at the school from 1939 to 1990, including his war career. Some Merchistonians kept in regular touch with him for the rest of their lives.

As a schoolmaster BP was unique. During his years teaching biology, he kept pupils fully engaged with practical details and amusing stories, recounting how his father's life had been saved in the Boer War by maggots feeding on his wounded arm, leading to amputation instead of death by gangrene.

His range of interests extended far beyond the classroom: he was also a naturalist, ornithologist, photographer, Scout guide, philosopher and, above all, friend.

The rescue of a frozen kestrel, Klee, sparked BP's love of birds and led to the formation of the school bird club. Before being released, after a diet of 45 mice and the meat of 73 rabbits and rats, the bird was ringed. Ringing birds became a central element in the club's activities.

Most weekends would see the club visiting the East Lothian coast; meticulous notes were kept (since bequeathed to Chambers Street Museum in Edinburgh).

It was his sheer love of humanity, and especially of the oddities and quirks in human nature, that characterised Ian. He was a lifeline to those school boys who were a bit unconventional, or rather slow or - in one of his favourite Scots words - a wee bit "glaikit", or those who might otherwise have felt a failure and needed help through the uncertainties of adolescence. Land work with the "Pioneers", perhaps felling or planting trees, was the ideal antidote to those long summer afternoons in the cricket field.

There are many whose best memories of Merchiston will be the Annual Scout Camp at Blakerstone (Berwickshire), or the Christmas ski parties on the continent or the daily activities of the Bird Club, as well as the wonderful birdwatching and ringing expeditions across Scotland and into Denmark and Scandinavia. BP was the life and soul of these activities.

Ian made life fun for everyone around him of all ages. For some years he delighted the young as he drove around in an old Rolls-Royce, formerly belonging to Harry Lauder. A friend recalls touring with him: "We stopped and he produced some big handles. We all set to and an ancient black hood gradually rose into the air, much to the delight of Shrewsbury's citizens, who almost cheered." He enjoyed travel, including to the Middle East and Africa, sometimes visiting his diplomat brother or in his 80s going as far as Guatemala.

Ian Balfour Paul was awarded the Military Cross for distinguished service in the North West European campaign in the Second World War, passing on important tactical information as to the progress of operations. He was commissioned in the Royal Engineers, was seconded to a special unit, GHQ Liaison Regiment, popularly known as "Phantom", and became "Merlin" patrol commander with B squadron. He was characteristically modest and self-effacing as to why he had been given the MC. Sometimes he would mutter that the authorities had minted more of these medals than they had intended so they dished them out to the whole unit of which Ian was a member in order to use them up. For the rest of his life he regularly wore a silk scarf made up of torn-off fragments from parachutes found when he landed in a glider in the Rhine crossing operation, with 6 Airborne Division on 24 March, 1945.

BP made an equally strong impact on the community of Gatehouse of Fleet over the 20 years of his retirement there, filling the woodland around his home with bird boxes made in the old dairy and being elected an elder of the Kirk well into his 80s. His Christian faith was central to his life.

Even as his memory failed towards the end, he could still enjoy meeting new people or those he no longer remembered, commenting with a twinkle "without memory, everything is a surprise".

Ian was a bachelor but leaves devoted nephews and nieces, and countless friends and former pupils. He is buried at Anwoth, near Gatehouse.

There is to be a memorial service at Merchiston on 30 October. Donations in his memory can be made to the Scottish Ornithologists' Club, of which he was a founder member and loyal supporter.

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