Logie Bruce Lockhart


Logie Bruce Lockhart MA is a British writer and journalist, once a Scottish international rugby union footballer and for most of his teaching career Headmaster of Gresham's School.

Background

Lockhart belongs to the Bruce Lockhart family, which has long traditions of teaching and playing rugby union and has branched out into other areas. His grandfather was a schoolmaster, while his father, John Bruce Lockhart, and one of his older brothers, Rab Bruce Lockhart, were both public school headmasters who had played rugby union for Scotland. Another brother, J. M. Bruce Lockhart, was an intelligence officer, and a third brother, Patrick, was an obstetrician who fenced for Scotland.
Lockhart’s uncle, Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart, was an author and adventurer whose son, Robin Bruce Lockhart, became an author. One nephew was Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, Baron Bruce-Lockhart; another, Kim Bruce-Lockhart, played squash for Scotland. A great-nephew, Dugald, is an actor and director.

Early life

Lockhart was educated at Cargilfield School, Edinburgh, Sedbergh School, where his father was Headmaster and he became Head Boy, and then at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, with the Second World War just beginning.
From Sandhurst, Lockhart was commissioned into the 9th Sherwood Foresters and then later served in the Household Cavalry in France and Germany during the Second World War. He was one of the first British soldiers to enter Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
After the war, Lockhart continued his interrupted education at St John's College, Cambridge, as a choral scholar, winning a scholarship. At Cambridge, he read French and German, won the Wright Prize for Modern Languages, and was both a rugby union and a squash Blue. He gained a double first and his degree was later promoted to MA.
Lockhart has said of his time at Cambridge
After playing rugby union for Cambridge, Lockhart went on to play for Scotland between 1948 and 1953, mostly at fly half and once at centre. His first and last international games were both against England, on 20 March 1948 and 21 March 1953.

Career

From Cambridge, Bruce Lockhart followed in a long family tradition by deciding to enter the teaching profession. He became an assistant schoolmaster at Tonbridge School, and then in 1955, at the age of 34, was appointed as Headmaster of Gresham's School, Holt.
He became Chairman of the Headmasters' Conference Eastern Division in the 1970s and broke new ground by inviting the heads of the Girls' Schools Association to attend HMC meetings. In 1977, he argued that five subjects, rather than three, should be taught in sixth forms, and that this could be made possible by universities teaching more inter-disciplinary and creative courses.
Lockhart retired as Headmaster of Gresham's School at the end of the Summer Term of 1982.

Journalist and author

For sixty years, Logie Bruce Lockhart has contributed articles to magazines and newspapers, from Country Life and Rugby World to She. He writes mostly on education, fishing, sport, and wildlife.
Lockhart's first book, The Pleasures of Fishing is about his adventures as a fly fisherman, mostly in England and Scotland. His second book, Stuff and Nonsense, gives the philosophy of a retired headmaster and thoughts on educational topics of the last half century, which are the 'Stuff', while a variety of essays on rugby, fly fishing, camping in old age, wind-surfing in France, and so forth are the 'Nonsense'.
Now We Are Very Old is a collection of his cautionary verses for the elderly, while Now And Then, This And That is a reflection on his family history, his experiences in the Second World War, the changes in education during his teaching career, and the changes in society during his lifetime. British Bird Watching for Beginners & Enthusiasts, written for his grandchildren and illustrated with his own watercolours, explores his lifetime passion for ornithology. As a boy, he was taught to paint birds by Talbot Kelly.

Family

In 1944 Logie Bruce Lockhart married Josephine Agnew, and they had two sons and three daughters. Jennifer Bruce-Lockhart teaches music in Paris. Rhuraidh Bruce-Lockhart is a property developer in Norfolk. Fiona Drye is a retired Head of English who gained 'Teacher Trailblazer' award from the Poetry Society for her work in helpingy children to write poetry. Bede Bruce-Lockhart played rugby union for Scotland B and works in the City. Their sister Kirsty was killed in a car accident in childhood.
His granddaughter, Chelsea Bruce Lockhart, is a freelance economic journalist. One grandson, Nicolas, works in property management. Grandsons Alastair and Dacre Drye are developing property in Lisbon and Brazil respectively.

Books