William Angus Sinclair OBE TD

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

DLitt (27 September 1905 – 21 December 1954) was a 20th-century Scottish philosopher.

Life

He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

on 27 September 1905 the son of Elizabeth Campbell and her husband, Captain John Sinclair of the Mercantile Marine. He was educated at

George Watson's College George Watson's College is a co-educational Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a Scottish education in the eight ...

then studied philosophy at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, graduating with an MA. In 1932 he began lecturing in logic at the University. In 1939 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were

Norman Kemp Smith Norman Duncan Kemp Smith, FBA, FRSE (5 May 1872 – 3 September 1958) was a Scottish philosopher who was Professor of Psychology (1906–1914) and Philosophy (1914–1919) at Princeton University and was Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at th ...

, James Pickering Kendall, Ernest Ludlam and Francis Albert Eley Crew. In

World War II 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 ...

he served as a gunnery officer with the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in Italy. In the final year he served as Assistant Adjutant General organising the supply of personnel to the airborne divisions. Between December 1939 and May 1940 he gave a series of radio talks on the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

called The Voice of the Nazi in which he explained the Nazi use of propaganda. These were published in book form in the UK and USA in 1940. His notes, drafts and completed scripts for these talks are available in the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in the ...

. In 1945 he stood as a Conservative candidate in local elections but his politics changed and soon after he affiliated himself to the Labour Party. He died on 21 December 1954, lost in a snow blizzard in the Cairngorms,Glasgow Herald 23 December 1954 while serving in his capacity as a Lt Colonel in the

Officer Training Corps The Officers' Training Corps (OTC), more fully called the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), are military leadership training units operated by the British Army. Their focus is to develop the leadership abilities of their members whilst ...

section of the Territorial Army whilst trying to reach shelter at the officer training camp in the Grampians. His body was taken to

Glenmore Lodge Sportscotland (officially styled sport), formerly the Scottish Sports Council, is the national agency for sport in Scotland. The Scottish Sports Council was established in 1972 by royal charter. The body works in partnership with public, pri ...

Publications

*''The Voice of the Nazi'' (1940) *''Introduction to Philosophy'' (1944) *''The Traditional Formal Logic'' (1951) *''Socialism and the Individual'' (1955 – posthumous publishing)

Family

In August 1954 he marrie
Susan Archer Cameron
(d.2010). Her family donated his library to the National Library of Scotland in 2005.

Memorials

The Sinclair Hut or Sinclair Memorial Hall was a shelter bothy at the

Chalamain Gap The Lairig Ghru ( gd, Làirig Dhrù) is one of the mountain passes through the Cairngorms of Scotland. The route and mountain pass partially lies on the Mar Lodge Estate. Like many traditional routes, the ends of the route through the Lairig Gh ...

in the Cairngorms erected in his honour by the OTC. The bothy was demolished in 1991, because of continual graffiti. It is now replaced by a commemorative stone along the Lairig Ghru pass.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, William Angus 1905 births 1954 deaths Philosophers from Edinburgh People educated at George Watson's College Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 20th-century British philosophers British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery officers