Robert Gayre
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(George) Robert Gair (6 August 1907St. Martin's Press Staff (2001). ''Who Was Who 1996–2000 Volume X: A Companion to WHO'S WHO – Containing the Biographies of Those Who Died During the Period 1996–2000.'' Palgrave Macmillan, . Some sources give 1905 as birth year. – 10 February 1996), who later assumed the surname Gayre of Gayre and Nigg, was a Scottish
anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...
who founded ''
Mankind Quarterly ''Mankind Quarterly'' is a pseudoscientific journal that covers physical and cultural anthropology, including human evolution, intelligence, ethnography, linguistics, mythology, archaeology, and biology. It has been described as a "cornersto ...
'', a
peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...
academic journal which has been described as a "cornerstone of the
scientific racism Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific belief that the Human, human species is divided into biologically distinct taxa called "race (human categorization), races", and that empirical evi ...
establishment". An authority on
heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealo ...
, he also founded ''The Armorial'', and published a number of books on this subject. He achieved notoriety for claiming to be the Chief of " Clan Gayre" and "Clan Gayre and Nigg", it being subsequently found that such a "clan" had never existed; according to the ''Glasgow Herald'', Gayre created "a Scottish clan from scratch, providing it with traditions, rituals, precedences and privileges". Further, not only did he not have legitimate male-line Gair descent (his father being the illegitimate child of a working-class woman of the name of Gair), but he had falsified a pedigree, given to ''
Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...
'' among others, connecting his ancestor to a minor (not chiefly) family of the name resident at Nigg. Many biographical details, such as ranks, degrees, and titles he claimed, are not independently verifiable, deriving from his own writings..


Early life and education

Gayre was born as George Robert Gair on 6 August 1907 in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
to Robert William Gair (1875–1957), later of
Sprotbrough Sprotbrough is a village in the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England, with a population of 7,548 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. The village is transected by the A1(M) motorway and is situated at the top of the Don Gorg ...
,
Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...
, South Yorkshire, a pastry baker and confectioner, and Clara Hull or Hart. His younger brother and two sisters retained the spelling of "Gair". In bogus pedigrees recorded in Ireland in 1950 and published between 1952 and 2003, he claimed that his father was the son of portrait painter William Gillies Gair (1842–1906), but he was actually the illegitimate son of the painter's sister Jessie Gair (died 1897), both being children of Alexander Gair (1810–1884), a
Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...
joiner Joinery is a part of woodworking that involves joining pieces of wood, engineered lumber, or synthetic substitutes (such as laminate), to produce more complex items. Some woodworking joints employ mechanical fasteners, bindings, or adhesives, ...
. Jessie Gair was described on her son's birth certificate as a "fancy goods shopwoman". Two years after the child's birth, now described as a "drapery saleswoman", she became the second wife of William Sutherland, a
journeyman A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...
plasterer of Glasgow, who died aged 45 at a Glasgow
poorhouse A poorhouse or workhouse is a government-run (usually by a county or municipality) facility to support and provide housing for the dependent or needy. Workhouses In England, Wales and Ireland (but not in Scotland), "workhouse" has been the more ...
. Jessie died in 1897 aged 47 at a
Gourock Gourock ( ; ) is a town in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area and formerly a burgh of the County of Renfrew in the west of Scotland. It was a resort town, seaside resort on the East shore of the upper Firth of Clyde. Its ma ...
asylum, her occupation given as "sewer". He earned an MA from
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
, then completed research but did not take a degree at
Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and the fourth-oldest college of the university. The college was founde ...
.International Book of Honor, American Biographical Institute, 1987, p. 131. He would later also claim to have three PhDs (sometimes mentioning them to be "honorary") from Italian universities: in Political Science from the
University of Palermo The University of Palermo () is a public university, public research university in Palermo, Italy. It was founded in 1806, and is currently organized in 12 Faculties. History The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although it ...
, in Philosophy from the
University of Messina The University of Messina (; Latin: ''Studiorum Universitas Messanae''), known colloquially as UniME, is a state university located in Messina, Sicily, Italy. Founded in 1548 by Pope Paul III, it was the world's first Jesuit college, and today it ...
, and in Science from the
University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II (; , ) is a public university, public research university in Naples, Campania, Italy. Established in 1224 and named after its founder, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, it is the oldest public, s ...
, awarded in 1943 and 1944, at which time Britain was at war with Italy.


Military service

According to his own account, Gayre served as an "officer of the Regular Army Reserve" 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 ...
as part of the British Expeditionary Force in France in 1939, later claiming the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He stated that he entered the Royal Artillery in 1931 as a second lieutenant, was promoted to lieutenant in 1934, and to captain in 1940, later being promoted to major; this progression is corroborated by the ''
London Gazette London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...
'': George Robert Gair – late an officer cadet of the University of Edinburgh Officer Training Corps – was to be a second lieutenant in the Supplementary Reserve of Officers of the Royal Regiment of Artillery from 5 August 1931; 2nd Lt G. R. Gair, of the Supplementary Reserve of Officers of the Royal Artillery, was to be lieutenant as of 5 August 1934; Lt G. R. Gayre was to be war substantive captain as of 5 August 1941; War Substantive Captain G. R. Gayre, of the Royal Artillery, was transferred to the
Army Educational Corps The Royal Army Educational Corps (RAEC) was a corps of the British Army tasked with educating and instructing personnel in a diverse range of skills. On 6 April 1992 it became the Educational and Training Services Branch (ETS) of the Adjutant Gen ...
at that same rank as of 27 January 1942; Captain (War Substantive Major) G. R. Gayre, of the Royal Army Educational Corps, was promoted to the rank of Major as of 1 January 1949. Afterwards he claimed to have been Educational Adviser to the
Allied Military Government The Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories (originally abbreviated AMGOT, later AMG) was the form of military rule administered by Allied forces during and after World War II within former Axis-held territories they occupied. The fir ...
of Italy, based in
Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...
, where he fought for the exclusion of left-wing text-books and communist influence from the Italian education system. He was thereafter Director of Education to the
Allied Control Commission Following the termination of hostilities in World War II, the Allies were in control of the defeated Axis countries. Anticipating the defeat of Germany, Italy and Japan, they had already set up the European Advisory Commission and a proposed Far ...
for Italy, based in
Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
; and Chief of Education and Religious Affairs, German Planning Unit,
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF; ) was the headquarters of the Commander of Allies of World War II, Allied forces in northwest Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. US General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the ...
. After the war he spent a considerable amount of time in
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
where he was instrumental in the establishment of the Italo-Indian Institute. He served as professor of anthropology at the University of Saugor from 1954 to 1956.


Heraldry

Gayre was author of a number of books on heraldry. As Chief of Clan Gayre, he styled himself "of Gayre and Nigg", and became Grand Almoner, and Hereditary Commander of Lochore, of the
Order of Saint Lazarus (statuted 1910) The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem (Latin language, Latin: ''Ordo Militaris et Hospitalis Sancti Lazari Hierosolymitani'') is a Christianity, Christian Order of chivalry, order that was statuted in 1910 by a counc ...
. His books on ''Heraldic Standards and Other Ensigns'' (1959) and ''Heraldic Cadency'' (1961) are considered valuable and authoritative contributions to the field, and he also contributed on the topic to the ''
Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
''.


''Mankind Quarterly'' and publications on race

Gayre was one of the founders of ''
Mankind Quarterly ''Mankind Quarterly'' is a pseudoscientific journal that covers physical and cultural anthropology, including human evolution, intelligence, ethnography, linguistics, mythology, archaeology, and biology. It has been described as a "cornersto ...
'' and an editor from 1960 to 1978. He was honorary editor-in-chief thereafter.Gayre, Robert, summary and photo of him on
Race and Nazi Racism and the Latter's Impact on Anthropology.
''The Mankind Quarterly'', Vol. XVIII, No. 4, (April–June 1978), pp. 293–303.
The magazine has been called a "cornerstone of the scientific racism establishment" and a "white supremacist journal",Joe L. Kincheloe, et al., ''Measured Lies: The Bell Curve Examined'', Palgrave Macmillan, 1997, pg. 39 "scientific racism's keepers of the flame", a journal with a "racist orientation" and an "infamous racist journal", and "journal of 'scientific racism'". In 1968 he testified on behalf of members of the Racial Preservation Society who were charged under the Race Relations Act for publishing racialist material. They prevailed in their defence. In his evidence to the court Gayre described blacks as being "feckless" and he maintained that scientific evidence showed that blacks "prefer their leisure to the dynamism which the white and yellow races show."Billig, Michael (1979). in Birmingham: A.F. & R. Publications.


Falsified ancestry; creation of "Clan Gayre"

Even according to the falsified pedigree he provided to Burke's Peerage for publication, previous generations of Gayre's Gair ancestors all used the spelling "Gair" as far back as the 17th century. Gayre's university degree in the mid-1920s was likewise issued with the "Gair" spelling, but he began spelling it "Gayre" at least as early as 1943. In 1957, after the death of his father, he changed his surname to "Gayre of Gayre and Nigg", a title that had never before been used. Gayre claimed to be the Chief of " Clan Gayre" and "Clan Gayre and Nigg". In 1947, he wrote a book titled ''Gayre's Booke: Being a History of the Family of Gayre'', in which, without mentioning his illegitimate descent, he presented an ancestry that supposedly established his claim to be the chieftain of the Clan of Gayre; however no clan or sept by that name is mentioned in any record prior to Gayre's use of it in the second quarter of the 20th century. ''World Orders of Knighthood and Merit'' by Guy Stair Sainty (published by Burke's Peerage) refers to Gayre as "...the late Robert Gayre (first Chief of the newly formed Clan Gayre)...". The ''
Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...
'' Newspaper, on 14 June 1975, wrote "Robert Gayre, of Gayre and Nigg, is singular among genealogists, dynasts and the like, if only for the reason that, alone among them, he has been able to create a Scottish clan from scratch, providing it with traditions, rituals, precedences and privileges..."


Titles and styles

In 1967 Gayre established a Commandery of the Order of St Lazarus. In 1971 he bought St Vincent's Church. He established it as a collegiate church, and the seat of the Commandery of
Lochore Lochore is a former mining village in Fife, Scotland. It takes its name from the nearby Loch Ore. It is largely joined to the adjacent villages of Ballingry to the north and Crosshill to the south. Education Most of the children in Lochore go ...
. It was the first church to have been acquired by the Order of St Lazarus since the Reformation. Gayre also claimed to be "Baron of Lochoreshire"."The Hospitaller Order of Saint Laazarus"
by Charles Savona Ventura, Association for the Study of Maltese Medical History, 2005
This was not a title that Gayre inherited or was bestowed but rather one that he assumed after he purchased the ruins of the castle which constituted the seat of the feudal Barony of Lochore. Nor was the feudal Barony ever previously described as "Lochoreshire"; it was always the "Barony of Lochore", which was located within an area that was known in medieval times as Lochoreshire. Other titles and honours that he said he had include being Chamberlain to the
Prince of Lippe Lippe (later Lippe-Detmold and then again Lippe) was a state in Germany, ruled by the House of Lippe. It was located between the Weser river and the southeast part of the Teutoburg Forest. It originated as a state during the Holy Roman Empire, an ...
(a prominent member of the Order of Saint Lazarus), Knight of the
Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George The Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George (; ), also historically referred to as the Imperial Constantinian Order of Saint George and the Order of the Constantinian Angelic Knights of Saint George, is a dynastic order of knighthood ...
of Naples, Knight Commander of the Cross of Merit (Military Division) of the
Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic lay religious ...
, Knight Commander of the House Order of Lippe, Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem and Knight Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy. In the early 1960s, Gayre was appointed "Commissioner-General of the English Tongue" of the
Order of Saint Lazarus The Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, also known as the Leper Brothers of Jerusalem or simply as Lazarists, was a Catholic military order founded by Crusaders during the 1130s at a leper hospital in Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem, whose car ...
, one of the many neo-chivalrous
self-styled orders A self-styled order or pseudo-chivalric order is an organisation which claims to be a chivalric order, but is not recognised as legitimate by countries or international bodies. Most self-styled orders arose in or after the mid-18th century, and ...
that arose in the early twentieth century. In 1964, Gayre formed the
International Commission on Orders of Chivalry The International Commission for Orders of Chivalry, established in 1960, is a privately run and privately funded organization consisting of scholars specializing in chivalric matters and systems of awards. History Initial controversy (1964†...
(ICOC), an ostensibly academic but non-authoritative panel whose purpose was to review and approve of or reject claimed Orders of Chivalry. The Commission originally included many holders of legitimate titles and honours, but when it became evident that Gayre intended to bolster the legitimacy of the Order of St. Lazarus through the commission's published Register, some of the original members resigned in protest. The privately run and privately funded ICOC continued to act as a vehicle for promoting the cause of establishing the Order of St. Lazarus' legitimacy until Gayre's death in 1996. In this, he was assisted by his friend, protege, fellow member of the Order of St Lazarus, and vice-president of the ICOC Terence MacCarthy, whose pedigree has been shown to be similarly bogus.


Nazi ties

In 1944 Gayre wrote ''Teuton and Slav on the Polish frontier: a diagnosis of the racial basis of the Germano-Polish borderlands, with suggestions for the settlement of German and Slav claims'' using photos by the Nazi Hans F. K. Günther and refers several times to "Professor Hans F. K. Günther's authoritative work on German racial science". Like Günther, he was a leading member of the post-war Neo-Nazi Northern League and according to Joseph L. Graves and others had close ties to other neo-Nazi organisations. Graves and William H. Tucker state that Gayre considered himself a
Strasserist Strasserism () refers to a dissident current associated with the early Nazi movement. Named after brothers Gregor and Otto Strasser, Strasserism emphasized revolutionary nationalism, economic antisemitism, and opposition to both Marxist socialis ...
, an ideology "which emphasized the 'socialism' in National Socialism, rejecting both communism and capitalism as Jewish-dominated systems that had to be overthrown in favour of an approach based on white racial solidarity." He denied any links between Nazism and ''Mankind Quarterly'' while lamenting the identification by most of the word "Nazi" with "Hitlerian Nazi".


Publications on ancient Zimbabwe

Gayre wrote some articles and a book proposing a Semitic origin for
Great Zimbabwe Great Zimbabwe was a city in the south-eastern hills of the modern country of Zimbabwe, near Masvingo. It was settled from 1000 AD, and served as the capital of the Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe from the 13th century. It is the largest stone struc ...
, maintaining that the Lemba are descended through their
male line Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...
from the creators of the original Zimbabwean civilisation, and citing evidence including burial and circumcision practices. He suggested that the Shona artefacts which were found at Great Zimbabwe and in numerous other stone ruins nearby, were placed there only after they conquered the country and drove out or absorbed the previous inhabitants; he added that the ones who remained would probably have passed some of their skills and knowledge to the invaders. According to Gayre, the agricultural terracing and irrigation channels in the
Nyanga District Nyanga District is located in Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe. The administrative center is Nyanga village. The 2022 National Zimbabwe census reported its population at 146,227, with 51.9% female and 48.1% male population. Geography Nyanga Dist ...
of northeast of Zimbabwe was a product of the same ancient civilisation – as too were the hundreds of ancient gold mines in the country. Most archaeologists disagree with Gayre's interpretation and conclusions: they maintain that Great Zimbabwe was constructed by ancestors of the Shona,Ndoro, W., and Pwiti, G. (1997). Marketing the past: The Shona The Shona village at Great Zimbabwe. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 2(3): 3–8. as were the terraces, furrows and settlements of ancient Nyanga.


Selected publications

* * * *; with Richard Leslie Gair (4 vols) * * * * * * * * * * *; with Reinold Gayre (2 vols) * *; with E. Layland * * (2 vols) * * * *


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gayre, Robert 1907 births 1996 deaths 20th-century British anthropologists Alumni of the University of Edinburgh British Army personnel of World War II Scottish anthropologists Scottish Nazis Scottish neo-Nazis Scottish people of Irish descent Writers from Dublin (city) Royal Artillery officers Proponents of scientific racism Recipients of the Order of Saint Lazarus (statuted 1910) Great Zimbabwe