Obituary: Susan Sinclair

Published on Sunday 8 August 2010 19:33

Lecturer who was a force to be reckoned with in the classroom, in the university at large and on the many public bodies on which she sat

Born: 28 January, 1923, in Mirfield, Yorkshire.

Died: 21 May, 2010, in Edinburgh, aged 87

For more than 30 years, Susan Sinclair taught postgraduate students who were preparing for careers in social work and undergraduates who were studying social policy (or social administration as it used to be called) at Edinburgh University.

She had a very strong commitment to the welfare state and to the idea that social problems could most effectively be solved through collective action. She was a force to be reckoned with in the classroom, in the university at large and on the many public bodies on which she sat.

She cut an impressive figure: formidable without being intimidating; proud of her Scottishness but an internationalist at heart; wise but, at the same time, great fun to be with. Those who sought her advice - and there were many people who did - always felt the better for it.

Susan Archer Cameron was born to Scottish parents in Mirfield, Yorkshire. Her parents had emigrated from Glasgow to Canada but, when they returned for a holiday, their son became ill and died. They decided not to return and settled in Yorkshire, where her mother's sister lived and Susan was born. In 1930, the family returned to Scotland and settled in Joppa, Edinburgh.

Susan, known to many of her friends and relatives as Suzanne, was a pupil at George Watson's Ladies College from 1930-40. Although she had originally thought of studying medicine (like her older brother Donald and her younger brother Ian), it was wartime and she took a two-year Certificate of Social Study instead.

From 1942-1946, she worked as an assistant in the personnel department of Ferguson Brothers, textile printers in Carlisle. When the war was over, she left to take the Mental Health Course at the London School of Economics and qualified as a psychiatric social worker in 1947.

On returning to Scotland, Susan worked for two years in the Merchiston Child Guidance Clinic in Edinburgh before taking an Arts degree at Edinburgh University. She took to this like a duck to water and, in 1953, was appointed to a teaching post, which she held until she retired, as a senior lecturer, in 1988.

Although she was originally appointed to teach social work, she soon found herself out of sympathy with the prevailing psychodynamic orientation to social work training and subsequently devoted herself to teaching social policy.

Her teaching focused on health and the personal social services, and she had a special interest in mental illness and mental handicap.

Susan excelled at small-group teaching and her students included a number of really devoted "disciples", some of whom went on to have very distinguished careers.She would often invite her students round to her flat where many of them must have been struck by the incongruity between her radical political views and her stylish home life. Some students fondly referred to her as a "Jaeger Marxist".

Susan was a "one off" who enriched the lives of her family and her many friends. She was a devoted aunt to her brothers' children, and, in turn, an extra grandmother to their children. Her wide circle of friends included a number of younger colleagues in a variety of disciplines at Edinburgh University.

Susan undoubtedly suffered one major tragedy in her life. In August 1954, she married Angus Sinclair, a lecturer in philosophy at Edinburgh University, who had contested Edinburgh East as the Conservative and Unionist candidate in the general election of 1945, then written a book entitled Socialism and the Individual, which was dedicated to Susan, joined the Labour Party and had been adopted as a prospective parliamentary candidate for the general election of 1955. Four months later, however, he fell ill while climbing in the Cairngorms and died.

Susan never quite recovered from this and did not remarry, although, some years later, she developed a close friendship with Sir (William) Stuart Murrie, a distinguished civil servant, who had by then retired as Permanent Secretary in the Scottish Office. This relationship gave her much happiness.

Susan did not publish widely but was the author of a number of significant publications, including The Child Care Service at Work, a Report for the Scottish Advisory Council on Child Care (written with Tom Burns, who later became the first Professor of Sociology at Edinburgh University).

Later on, together with her Edinburgh colleague Hewan Craig, she pioneered the study of comparative social policy, accompanying groups of undergraduates to Rennes to study the French social services on several occasions.

For several years, Susan was a very effective head of department. Business was conducted fairly and efficiently and she created a social infrastructure which made the department a wonderful place to work in.

Formal occasions, or the need to discuss some pressing issue, or the opportunity to welcome the return of a colleague from sabbatical leave would be followed by a sumptuous meal in Susan's beautiful dining room in her New Town flat, or by a picnic in the communal gardens.The warmth, generosity and capacity for friendship which Susan showed in her private life spread out into her working life and her colleagues were the beneficiaries.

Susan excelled at committee work and was successively a member of the Working Party appointed by the Secretary of State on the "Transition from School to University", a member of the Hospital Management Committee of Gogarburn Hospital and the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, the Lothian Health Board, the Sociology and Social Administration Committee of the Social Science Research Council, the University Senatus, the University Court and the Broadcasting Council for Scotland.

She was a strong and principled member of these bodies, who could be relied on to raise awkward questions and speak out on important issues.

She was fearless and had great integrity - people invariably listened and took note of what she said. She was also a shrewd judge of people, who sat on numerous appointments and disciplinary committees.

As a result of these activities, Susan, perhaps more than most academics, left the world a better place than it would otherwise have been.