1979 A. S. Neill: Jonathan Croall: Author: Part 2
Croall was the author of two books on Neill and Summerhill
His research led Croall not just to Aitkenhead but also to Bill and Kate MacKinnon, teachers at Kilquhanity who also spent some time in Summerhill.
In the following notes, BM is Bill Mackinnon, KM is Kate and JC is Jonathan Croall.
I am not sure as to who kept this record of their conversations.
Accompanying these notes was a letter from Croall to Bill and Kate with supplementary questions. Included are a some referring to letters Neill had sent to Bill and Kate Mackinnon. These letters can be found in an accompanying 1950s Archive article.
The second last paragraph mention that:
John is definitely retiring in the summer.
It suggests that this was the summer of 1980.
In March 1980 the Mackinnons wrote a six page response to Croal's questions in which the names of several members of staff who also worked at Kilquhanity are mentioned.
Dr Ernst Wangermann – authority on Austrian history, spent a year at Kilquhanity.
Ernst Wangermann emigrated with his sister from Austria to England in 1939 on one of the Kindertransport following the Anschluss and the antisemitism his family faced. After working in Summerhill and Kilquhanity he studied history at Baliol, Oxford and went on to become a well-known academic in a number of Universities.
John Wood – headmaster at New Sherwood School, Epsom – was at Kilquhanity for a period.
Two pupils are also given a mention.
Gilly and Noel Ross. Both eventually came to Kilquhanity.
