Obituary: Hugh Smith - Teacher and HM chief inspector who devoted his life to educational excellence

IT became clear from an early age that Hugh Smith was endowed with many outstanding talents and a firm determination to put them all to good use. His secondary education at Waid Academy, Anstruther, where he was a member of the lst XV rugby team and a Flight Sergeant in the Air Training Corps, culminated in his becoming a medallist in modern languages, Latin and history. These accomplishments were a foretaste of his many achievements in later years.

In 1944 he volunteered and was accepted for aircraft duties. In the event, because the war was nearing its end, he was instead trained as a radar mechanic and he flew in that capacity.

He spent a period as Sergeant Drill Instructor and time at OCTU before being commissioned in 1946. He was demobilised two years later.

For the next four years Hugh was a student at St Andrews University, from which he graduated in 1952 with first class honours in French and German. He studied at Heidelberg University and was awarded the Diploma in German language and literature; and then, as Stevenson Scholar of the Scottish Universities in modern languages, he taught school and university students in Berlin.

Further stages of his professional development took place at Moray House College of Education, where he obtained the Chapter V teaching qualification in German, and at Edinburgh University, where he gained the postgraduate Diploma in Education. Thus were laid the foundations for two of the enduring interests which were to play such important roles throughout the remainder of his life – his many and varied contributions to education and the great pleasure he derived from the German language.

The next and most important foundation of Hugh’s life was laid in place when in 1954 he married Betty, who he had met while they were both students at St Andrews. He described his marriage as the most significant event in his whole life, no matter how long he might live, and so it turned out to be. He was immensely proud of his family, who were a source of great strength and happiness for him.

Following his marriage, Hugh entered the school-teaching phase of his career. Apart from a year in France teaching school and university students, during which he gained the Chapter V qualification in French, he spent the period 1954-59 teaching at Morrison’s Academy, where he was housemaster of one of the boys’ boarding houses.

This was followed by two years as the first ever principal teacher of modern languages at Annan Academy. It was during these years that his sons, Nicholas and Peter, were born.

A further chapter in Hugh’s career opened when he joined HM Inspectorate of Schools in 196l. He worked in primary and secondary schools in a number of places in the west of Scotland, and was a member of Inspectorate Policy Panels for modern languages. It was during this time that his daughter, Susan, was born.

Hugh’s exceptional management skills were recognised when, in 1969, he was transferred to headquarters in Edinburgh to undertake a range of duties in the fields of teacher education and supply, along with secondary school organisation and staffing.

In 1970 Hugh’s responsibilities widened when he was promoted to HM inspector (Higher Grade) and became the Inspectorate’s national specialist in secondary school organisation and staffing.

His responsibilities became even wider in 1973 when he was promoted to the newly-created post of HM chief inspector (higher education), which he was to occupy for the next seven years.

This was a time of very rapid change in what was then the non-university sector of higher education, and Hugh’s contributions to the radical developments that took place were extensive and far-reaching.

Hugh returned to an earlier interest when, in 1980, he became HM chief inspector (teacher education and supply) and he reached the summit of his distinguished career two years later when he was appointed HM depute senior chief inspector with responsibility for post-school education and for the recruitment, organisation and deployment of more than a hundred members of the inspectorate. He retired from the Home Civil Service in 1987.

Hugh continued to be active and productive in his retirement. Having been an elder of Abbotshall Parish Church in Kirkcaldy since 1975, he became increasingly involved in church affairs, serving as session clerk and as presbytery elder. He was a member and then vice-convener of the Church of Scotland National Committee for Education. At the invitation of the Scottish Home and Health Department he became a consultant training adviser to the Scottish Prison Service and was a member of the unit tasked with reorganisation of training for all grades of prison officer.

Shortly after retiring he joined the governing body of Dundee Institute of Technology and was elected vice-chairman of that body in I990 and chairman in 1992.

In 1994, following the granting of university title to the institute, he became the first-ever chairman of the Court of the University of Abertay Dundee.

The conferment upon him of the University’s Honorary Degree of Doctor of Education in 1997 represented a richly-deserved recognition of his countless contributions to the provision and development of education in Scotland.

Any tribute to Hugh would be sadly lacking were it not to acknowledge the warmth of his personality and the generosity of his spirit. Devoted to his family, he was a man of strong emotions and fierce loyalties.

Meticulous in the courtesies he extended to others, he expected no less in return. He could be exacting of others in his pursuit of perfection but the person of whom he demanded most was always himself.

Strictly self-disciplined in his professional capacity, he revealed when off duty a keen sense of fun as was evidenced by his delight in traditional music hall turns. The threshold to his friendship was set high but surmounting it was well worth the effort.

Hugh died, suddenly, only three days after from returning from a holiday abroad. Although no longer among us, he nevertheless lives on in the affectionate memories his family, friends and former colleagues have of him and in the high standards he set and maintained.

Hugh Fleming Smith is survived by his wife Betty, his sons Nicholas and Peter, his daughter Susan and four granddaughters. HGC