Recent History of the Department

The German Department used to be with French and Spanish and Russian as the Modern Languages Department. A nineteenth century German/French teacher, Samuel Messeiux, was a fine golfer and for a long time had the longest recorded drive on the Old Course!

The principal teacher of Modern Languages from 1956-79, the late Ian M Hendry, went on to be Rector of Dunoon Grammar School and Dollar Academy.

The language department was split into French and German/Spanish in 1974 when Mr Michael Wills (French) and Mr Donald Macgregor (German) were placed in charge. The former was succeeded in 1994 by Mr Chasser Jessop.

A characteristic of the Madras College language department is the long time most stay in post: in recent years the two longest serving members of the department had a total of 66 years service between them!

While we are proud of our Kiel Exchange and visit programme, we also regularly act as hosts for visiting students and staff. In 1999 we hosted the Goethe-Institut Sixth Year German Day which had previously always been held in Glasgow.

Credits