James Lothian Mitchell

Radical Pioneer

This story begins in the village of Hillend, near Inverkeithing in Fife, and ends 45 years later in Glasgow. But the main events took place in Burntisland in the early years of this century. It is the story of a man who ran Burntisland School for 14 years, and who transformed the inherently conservative Town Council into a catalyst for the common good - a man whose breadth and depth of knowledge was unsurpassed, and who was one of the foremost orators of his time.

The man was James Lothian Mitchell. Mention his name in Burntisland today, and you'll get a blank look. And yet, when he died in 1908, the Dunfermline Journal was moved to remark that there was no better known man in the area. He has no official memorial in the town which he knew so well, and to which he devoted the best years of his life. But there is no more enduring reminder of the man and what he stood for than the fine Public Library in the High Street. His perseverance with the project, in the face of strong opposition, brought the library - and Andrew Carnegie - to Burntisland in 1907.

This is Mitchell's story - and also the story of a uniquely turbulent period in the history of Burntisland. In the early 1900s, the town was deeply divided. Bitter divisions on the Town Council spilled over into the School Board, which itself became a political battleground. A number of the issues of principle being debated in the town at the beginning of this century are still with us today: issues such as public sector jobs for friends and relations; conflicts of interest; the powers of School Boards; and - of critical importance to Mitchell - the right of public sector employees to take an active part in local politics.