Blairmore School was an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

boarding preparatory school in

Glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

near

Huntly Huntly ( gd, Srath Bhalgaidh or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlemen ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

until its closure in 1993. The site is now owned and used by a Christian organisation called Ellel Ministries International as a prayer, training and healing retreat centre.

History

Blairmore School was established in 1947 as an independent

prep school Preparatory school or prep school may refer to: Schools *Preparatory school (United Kingdom), an independent school preparing children aged 8–13 for entry into fee-charging independent schools, usually public schools *College-preparatory school, ...

for boys aged 8–13 by Colonel D.R. Ainslie D.S.O., B.A., a keen educationalist,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

graduate and retired Seaforth Highlander. The school turned co-ed in 1975 and closed in 1993. Blairmore had its own tartan.

Former pupils

* Ken Ballantyne (1940–2016), Scottish athlete. *

Malcolm Sinclair, 20th Earl of Caithness Malcolm Ian Sinclair, 20th Earl of Caithness, (born 3 November 1948), is a Scottish Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords as one of the remaining hereditary peers. He is also 20th Lord Berriedale, 15th Baronet, of Canisbay, C ...

(born 1948),

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

politician. *

Grenville Johnston Lieutenant Colonel Grenville Shaw Johnston, (born 28 January 1945) is a retired British accountant and Territorial Army officer. He is the former Lord Lieutenant of Moray. Early life Johnston was born on 28 January 1945 in Nairn, Scotland. At a ...

(born 1945), accountant and

Lord Lieutenant of Moray This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Moray, Scotland. Until 1928 the office was known as Lord Lieutenant of the County of Elgin. Lord Lieutenants of Elginshire *Francis Stuart, 9th Earl of Moray 17 March 1794 – 28 ...

. *

David Sole David Michael Barclay Sole (born 8 May 1962) is a former Scotland international rugby union player. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1993 New Year Honours. Rugby Union career Amateur career He was e ...

(born 1962), Scottish rugby union captain.

Blairmore House

Blairmore House, the former school's premises, is a Victorian country house set amid of park and woodland beside the River Deveron, from Huntly, from Aberdeen and from Inverness. The house was designed by the architect

Alexander Marshall Mackenzie Alexander Marshall MacKenzie (1 January 1848 – 4 May 1933) was a Scottish architect responsible for prestigious projects including the headquarters of the Isle of Man Banking Company in Douglas, and Australia House and the Waldorf Hotel in L ...

and was built in 1884 as a private house for Alexander Geddes, a wealthy businessman and great-great grandfather of the former British Prime Minister

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

. Cameron's father, Ian Donald Cameron, was born in the house in 1932. Geddes made his fortune in Chicago in the US in the trading of grain in the 1850s, and a safe belonging to him which survived the Great Fire of Chicago was installed in the house's Billiard Room. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

it served as GHQ Home Forces for some of the Auxiliary Units based in Aberdeenshire and had a training area within the grounds of the house and nearby land. Auxunit Patrols was a special force consisting of between six and eight men trained in the utmost secrecy to a high standard. In the event of a German invasion, they would go to ground and carry out a clandestine war against the occupying forces. After the school's closure, Blairmore House was run as a private hunting lodge for several years. The building is now used as a prayer and intercession training school and retreat centre run by an evangelical Christian group called Ellel Ministries. Blairmore House is a Category C

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Footnotes

{{authority control Defunct boarding schools in Scotland Defunct schools in Aberdeenshire Defunct preparatory schools in Scotland Defunct private schools in Scotland

History

Former pupils

Blairmore House

See also

Footnotes