John Marchbanks Aitkenhead (21 May 1910 – 26 July 1998) was a Scottish teacher and co-founder with his wife Morag McKinnon Aitkenhead of

Kilquhanity School Kilquhanity School was one of several free schools to have been established in the United Kingdom in the twentieth century. Others include Sands School in Devon, Summerhill in Suffolk, Sherwood School in Epsom and Kirkdale School in London. ...

. Born in Glasgow, Aitkenhead attended Eglinton School and Ardrossan Academy before completing degrees in English and Education at the University of Glasgow. He worked as a secondary school teacher in Argyll, Glasgow and

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

. After spending two terms as an observer at

A. S. Neill Alexander Sutherland Neill (17 October 1883 – 23 September 1973) was a Scottish educator and author known for his school, Summerhill, and its philosophy of freedom from adult coercion and community self-governance. Raised in Scotland, Neill ...

Summerhill School Summerhill School is an independent (i.e. fee-paying) boarding school in Leiston, Suffolk, England. It was founded in 1921 by Alexander Sutherland Neill with the belief that the school should be made to fit the child, rather than the other wa ...

, but there being no vacancy on the staff, he decided to found his own

free school Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procure ...

in Scotland.

, near Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, opened in 1940, as a boarding and day school. With some difficulty, Aitkenhead gained recognition as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...

, enabling him to continue the work. The school operated continuously until closing in 1995.

References

Obituary: John Aitkenhead. ''The Independent'', 21 August 1998 1910 births 1998 deaths British conscientious objectors British educational theorists {{edu-bio-stub