Robert Leckie Marshall (27 August 1913 – 21 October 2008) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

educationalist who was principal of the

Co-operative College Co-operative College is a UK educational charity dedicated to the promotion of co-operative values, ideas and principles within co-operatives, communities and society. Origins and development The Co-operative College is an educational charity w ...

. Marshall was born into a miner's family in

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...

and attended primary school at

Chryston Chryston is a village in North Lanarkshire, around east of Glasgow, in Scotland. It lies north of its sister village, Muirhead, which is on the A80. The village has around double Muirhead's population, although the exact boundary between the t ...

. He went on to

Coatbridge Coatbridge (, ) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as the Monklands (popula ...

secondary school. Thanks to a Carnegie Foundation grant, a miners' scholarship and a university bursary, he was able to attend

St Andrews University The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

whence he graduated in 1935 with two degrees – medieval and modern history, and first-class honours in English. He was active in college life, editing the university magazine, captaining the soccer team and acting as union president. He then gained a

Harkness Fellowship The Harkness Fellowship (previously known as the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship) is a program run by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. This fellowship was established to reciprocate the Rhodes Scholarships and enable Fellows from several co ...

which funded a two-year stay at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

where he gained an MA in politics. On his return to Scotland he worked for the

Scottish Office The Scottish Office was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1999, exercising a wide range of government functions in relation to Scotland under the control of the Secretary of State for Scotland. Following the es ...

until 1939 when he volunteered for the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

. He was commissioned into the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and do ...

and served in France before being evacuated from Dunkirk. After a spell in hospital and with his general fitness reduced, he joined the

Royal Army Education 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 ...

. He was appointed chief instructor at the army school of Wakefield. However, he was subsequently posted to the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

, where he was responsible for editing a series of booklets known as ''

The British Way and Purpose ''The British Way and Purpose'' was an educational programme set up by the British Directorate of Army Education within the British Army in the autumn of 1942. The series of accompanying pamphlets were subsequently collated into an eponymous boo ...

'' (BWP). He was appointed commandant of the school of education with the rank of lieutenant-colonel before leaving the army in 1946. He received an OBE for services to army education.

References

1913 births 2008 deaths Royal Army Educational Corps officers British Army personnel of World War II Royal Army Service Corps officers Scottish military personnel Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire {{edu-bio-stub