Frank McEachran (1900–1975), sometimes known as Kek, was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

schoolmaster The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled afte ...

and writer. He taught at English public schools and the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

and wrote on

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

, but his most commercially successful books were his anthologies ''Spells for Poets'' and ''More Spells'' which appeared in the 1950s. He was an active proponent of

Georgism Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land—includi ...

Life

The son of an engineer from

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

, McEachran was educated at

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest independent school (UK), independent day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a Grammar school#free tuition, free grammar school next to Manchester C ...

and then at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the ...

.On Translating Nietzsche into English
at archiveshub.ac.uk, accessed 1 May 2012 After taking the degrees of BA and

BLitt Bachelor of Letters (BLitt or LittB; Latin ' or ') is a second undergraduate university degree in which students specialize in an area of study relevant to their own personal, professional, or academic development. This area of study may have been t ...

, he began to teach at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Baccalaureate schools in England. The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a free g ...

Holt Holt or holte may refer to: Natural world *Holt (den), an otter den * Holt, an area of woodland Places Australia * Holt, Australian Capital Territory * Division of Holt, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives in Vic ...

, in September 1924. Among the boys he influenced while there was the future poet

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

, and one writer on Auden detects traces of McEachran's "humanist world-view" in Auden's poetry until it was overtaken by the

existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and val ...

of Kierkegaard in the 1940s. McEachran also taught the future communist

James Klugmann Norman John Klugmann (27 February 1912 – 14 September 1977), generally known as James Klugmann, was a leading British Communist writer and WW2 Soviet Spy, who became the official historian of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Background ...

, and the writer

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

used him as the model for the character of the schoolmaster Hector in his play ''

The History Boys ''The History Boys'' is a play by British playwright Alan Bennett. The play premiered at the Royal National Theatre in London on 18 May 2004. Its Broadway debut was on 23 April 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre where 185 performances were staged be ...

''. He was most notably a schoolmaster at

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

, but later a lecturer at the

. At Shrewsbury he taught

Martin Wainwright Martin Wainwright MBE is a British journalist and author. He left '' The Guardian'' after 37 years at the end of March 2013.Martin Wainwrigh"The Northerner - into 2013" ''The Guardian'' (blog), 31 December 2012 Early life He was born in Leeds ...

, who has recalled that "Frank McEachran stood us on chairs at school reciting poetry we’d learned by heart. Probably child abuse these days, but he called it Spells and I can still remember them all." He is remembered in Shrewsbury School through the McEachran room in the English faculty where the student-run Creative Writing Society meets, some still influenced by his writings. McEachran's anthology ''Spells'' (1953), later re-issued as ''Spells for Poets'', is divided into eight parts: 'Sheer', 'Queer', 'Fear', 'Love', 'Death', 'Odd', 'God', and 'Postscript'.Frank McEachran, ''Spells for Poets: an Anthology of Words and Comment'' (Basil Blackwell, 1955; Garnstone Press paperback edition, 1974) McEachran died in 1975 in Shrewsbury.

Selected publications

*''The Civilized Man'' (1930) *''The Destiny of Europe'' (1932) *''Two diaries: Greece, Russia, 1934'' *'Henry George and Karl Marx', a paper presented at the International Conference, London, September, 1936 *''The Life and Philosophy of Johann Gottfried Herder'' (1939) *''Freedom – the Only End'' (Johnson Publications Limited, London, 1966) *''On Translating Nietzsche into English'' *''Spells for Poets: an Anthology of Words and Comment'' (Basil Blackwell, 1955; Garnstone Press paperback edition, 1974, , ) *''More Spells: a New Anthology of Words and Comment'' (Garnstone Press, ) *''A Cauldron of Spells'' (posthumous collection, with introduction by Laurence Le Quesne; Greenbank Press, 1992)

Notes

External links

*Frank McEachran
"... will not find easy acceptance"
paper presented at the 13th International Conference on Land Value Taxation and Free Trade, Douglas, Isle of Man, September 1973 (online text) . {{DEFAULTSORT:McEachran, Frank 1900 births 1975 deaths People educated at Manchester Grammar School Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Academic staff of Leipzig University 20th-century British philosophers Georgists