Dame Alison Munro - Headteacher, champion of Scottish country dancing

Published on Monday 8 September 2008 20:11

Born: 12 February, 1914, in Cornwall. Died: 2 September, 2008, in Chichester, aged 94.

ALISON Munro was an outstanding high mistress of St Paul's Girls' School in west London and came to education by a somewhat controversial, certainly unorthodox, route. Before her appointment Dame Alison had a distinguished career as a civil servant and had been closely involved with two vital aspects of the air industry. During the Second World War she worked closely with Sir Robert Watson-Watt, the pioneer of radar, and after the war she was instrumental in expanding the facilities for passenger traffic throughout the UK.

As a headteacher she cut a formidable but understanding figure – always a strong supporter of her staff and ready to speak forthrightly to parents about their children. She was, however, an enthusiast who was gracious and popular and displayed diplomacy and tact when required. She encouraged her pupils to find their own identity and to follow non-scholastic pursuits.

Dame Alison was proud of her Scottish connections – especially that of the clan Donald – and was a passionate enthusiast for Scottish country dancing. Twenty years ago a strathspey, the Dame Alison Munro Strathspey, was composed in her honour.

Alison Munro was the daughter of a Scottish GP (John Donald) who practised in Cornwall until, for health reasons, the family emigrated to South Africa. When Dame Alison was 13 both her parents died and she returned to the UK to complete her education. She tried to enrol at St Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith, but was told she had to gain a matriculation certificate. She got that of her own accord and enrolled the next term. She then read politics, philosophy and economics at St Hilda's College, Oxford, and, on graduating, joined the Ministry of Aircraft Production.

From 1941 she worked closely with Sir Robert Watson-Watt on the advancement of radar and in 1943 went on an important mission to the United States to ensure that radar could be developed and manufactured there on a larger scale.

After the war Dame Alison joined the Department of Civil Aviation, which oversaw the conversion of military airfields to commercial use. Civil aviation was in its infancy and even Heathrow was a tiny operation. Edinburgh Airport – then known as Turnhouse – was unrecognisable, with only irregular UK flights. Dame Alison played a leading role in expanding such commercial airports and was much involved, as a director of British European Airways, in the merger with BOAC. She rose to the rank of under- secretary, but when her ministry was restructured in 1964 she decided to leave.

Dame Alison's appointment as high mistress at St Paul's was unexpected because of her background. It caused controversy in the academic world, where some viewed her as an administrator, and her lack of experience in education raised many eyebrows. Dame Alison, with typical determination, accepted the challenge and with her strong commitment and personality soon became respected by staff and pupils. She was straightforward with everyone and set goals that ensured the academic excellence of the school.

Dame Alison was certainly an unconventional high mistress. She won the love and respect of the girls – a new and determined, often feisty, broom swept through the corridors of St Paul's. She delighted in giving instruction on unusual disciplines, not least how to cope with the advances of young men in taxis. She modernised the school's syllabus, improved its academic standards and encouraged pupils to follow interests away from the classroom.

She curtly reprimanded a parent when he complimented Dame Alison on a cake cooked by the girls. "We don't teach girls to cook at St Paul's," she replied. "We teach them chemistry."

Dame Alison was much admired by the pupils, who were impressed by her understanding of their concerns and attitudes. She knew every girl in the school by first name and said goodbye to every one of them, wishing them well, at their last assembly.

Pupils respected her and many spoke of her admiringly many years later.

On her retirement, Dame Alison lived in West Wittering, near Chichester, in Sussex, where she had maintained a cottage for many years. There she gardened, sailed and played a competitive game of bridge. But her real passion was Scottish country dancing and she attended various groups in London and Sussex. Indeed, she became president of the Chichester Caledonian Society and regularly attended the West Wittering Reel Club.

In 1987 Phillipe Rouseau composed a strathspey in her honour and named it the Dame Alison Munro Strathspey. Elizabeth Dean, one of the teachers at the club, recalls the last time it was danced for Dame Alison. "Alison came to a Burns supper three years ago – it turned out to be the last she attended – and she was clearly ailing.

"She had suffered a stroke and was not well. We decided we should dance her strathspey during the supper and she was pleased to see it once again.

"Alison was proud of her Scottish heritage – she often wore a Donald tartan skirt and reminded her partners, 'I am a Donald, you know' – but her enthusiasm for dancing was tremendous and she just loved it. Only a few weeks ago I visited her and she was trying to remember the steps of a little-known dance."

Dame Alison married Alan Munro in 1939. He was killed on active service two years later while she was pregnant with their son, who survives her.