Dr William King Gillies

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 ...

FEIS LLD (1875–1952) was a Scottish educator and academic author. He was rector of

Hutchesons Grammar School Hutchesons' Grammar School is a co-educational independent day school for pupils aged 3-18 in Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded as Hutchesons' Boys' Grammar School by George Hutcheson and Thomas Hutcheson in 1641 It is a selective scho ...

in 1913–1919 and the Royal High School, Edinburgh in 1919–1940.

Life

He was born on 20 March 1875. He was educated at Spier's School in

Beith Beith is a small town in the Garnock Valley, North Ayrshire, Scotland approximately south-west of Glasgow. The town is situated on the crest of a hill and was known originally as the "''Hill o' Beith''" (hill of the birches) after its ''Court ...

North Ayrshire North Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Àir a Tuath, ) is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and so ...

. He graduated MA from Glasgow University in 1895. He was a Snell Exhibitioner in 1895 and Logan Medallist in 1897. He then went to

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

. He taught successively at

Greenock Academy The Greenock Academy was a mixed non-denominational school in the west end of Greenock, Scotland, founded in 1855, originally independent, later a grammar school with a primary department, and finally a Comprehensive school only for ages eleven t ...

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; gd, Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing ...

Grammar School, Perth Academy and Glasgow High School in 1904. He was elected a Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland in 1917. In 1925 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were James Watt, David Brown Dott, Ralph Allan Sampson and John Mathieson. He resigned in 1939. In 1932 Glasgow University awarded him an honorary doctorate (LLD). A prominent mason he was Permanent Secretary of the

Grand Lodge of Scotland The Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of Scotland is the governing body of Freemasonry in Scotland. It was founded in 1736. About one third of Scotland's lodges were represented at the foundation meeting of the Grand Lodge. Histor ...

from 1941. He retired in March 1940, remaining in Edinburgh. He died on Saturday 15 November 1952 at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary having been struck by a tram on 1 October.Glasgow Herald (newspaper) obituary: 17 November 1952 His daughter, Dorothy King Gillies, was headmistress of Grantham High School for Girls.

Publications

*''A Latin Reader'' (1908 reprinted 1939) *''Latin of the Empire'' (1909 reprinted 1926)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillies, William King 1875 births 1952 deaths Scottish mathematicians 20th-century British mathematicians Scottish scholars and academics People from Ayrshire Alumni of the University of Glasgow Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh