IT WAS a search for Commies in the Classroom rather than a hunt for Reds Under the Bed.
The Government suspected one of Scotland's most respected state schools had been taken over by Marxist 'subversives' during the Second World War.
Files in the National Archives, originally marked to be closed for 100 years, reveal senior politici
ans believed Hamilton Academy in Lanarkshire, a selective state school, was a hive of "Communistic propaganda and undesirable teaching" in 1940.
An inquiry led to one teacher – who was to become one of the country's most respected academics – being forced out of the school in disgrace.
Concerned members of the public alerted the authorities after pupils and teachers were seen to remain seated for 'God Save The King' during a school trip to the theatre.
Scottish Office ministers became involved after the school magazine called for the abolition of the House of Lords, while one article concluded: "In this enlightened world, might we not live for our country rather than having to die for it?"
A briefing for Ernest Brown, the then Conservative Secretary of State for Scotland, states: "The school magazine indicates that there is some substance to the allegations of Communistic propaganda and subversive teaching at Hamilton Academy. HM Inspector is keeping a special watch on this matter."
The journal also carried less seditious articles about "association football", a rise in the use of lipstick by female pupils and noted that the debating society had recently endorsed the motion that "Communism is a menace to the world". Nevertheless, concern was such that the Education Committee of Lanark County Council launched a special inquiry in August 1940.
After hours of deliberation, the committee concluded that complaints about four teachers – Robert Brownlie, William Brownlie, Alexander Russell and Ian Smith – had not been substantiated.
But it also found James Inglis, an English teacher, and to a lesser degree William Baillie, an art master, were guilty of "undesirable conduct" and were suspected of carrying out subversive teaching.
They said of the theatre trip: "The failure of these teachers to stand, in the presence of pupils, during the playing of the National Anthem was an objectionable act."
Inglis, the editor of the magazine, was also slated for his "lamentable" reluctance to weed out inappropriate articles and for ill-advised "free expression" in front of pupils.
Major Monteith, a committee member, led calls for his dismissal, stating: "To teach boys that they can write on any matter provided they do so in good English is not wanted by parents…
"I appeal to the churches to proclaim that irreligious, unpatriotic and decadent teaching be eradicated."
Baillie was admonished but Inglis, regarded as the ringleader, was ordered to be stripped of his editorship and transferred to another school.
A letter from the Scottish Secretary to the education department stated: "I do not much like the sound of Mr Inglis. We would be glad of your keeping an eye on Hamilton Academy."
Inglis ended up at Airdrie Academy, where he served with distinction for 20 years. In 1966, he become head of English at Glasgow's Jordanhill College of Education. On his retirement, he published a seminal study calling for more Scottish texts to be included in Higher English and gave lecture tours in Canada. He died in 2005.
Dr Duncan Thomson, art critic, author and former keeper of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, was surprised and horrified by the way his former teacher had been portrayed.
He said: "It is incredible that Jimmy Inglis was once considered to be a threat to society. He was a wonderful man.
"I had him as a teacher from my first year at Airdrie Academy and can remember there were rumours that he had left his previous job with some sort of cloud hanging over him.
"But, my goodness, I could never have imagined that the state saw him as some sort of red menace. His great strength was that he encouraged pupils to think for themselves."
With the introduction of the comprehensive system in the 1970s, Hamilton Academy merged with another school to become Hamilton Grammar.
The full article contains 691 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
