John Mackay

January 3, 1998

JOHN Mackay of Oxton was a prolific artist whose distinctive drawings of Scottish historic characters and events enthralled generations. He carried on working well into his eighties illustrating books and articles for magazines and newspapers including Scottish Memories, the Scots Magazine, the Edinburgh Evening News and the Highlander in the US.

But it was as a photographer that John first made his mark. After leaving Bruntsfield Elementary School he found work as an apprentice photographer in a news agency, and soon was covering everything from football matches to newsworthy weddings. In the evenings he attended art classes at Tynecastle School where his tutor was the artist Donald MacIntyre. Later John enrolled at Edinburgh College of Art, where fellow pupils included Charles Napier, William Wilson, ARSA, and Alexander Graham Munro, RSW. John's first exhibit was an etching at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1928 and he had a further 13 exhibits at the RSA between 1930 and 1940.

His watercolours of Edinburgh's historic wynds and closes and his beloved Border country were much sought after by collectors. In the 60s every Scottish schoolboy and girl had their history lessons brought to life by John's magnificent illustrations in a series of four books, Chambers Mayflower Histories. Book one has a full-colour cover which shows Vikings rowing. The rowers are facing the bow. Years after publication a boy from St Andrews wrote to point out the error. John delighted in telling this story against himself, a mark of the modesty and unassuming character of the man regarded by some as the finest illustrator in Scotland this century.

He could create a sense of movement, bringing out expression of feelings and emotions with only a few lines in his effortless style. His caricatures and scant background figures created the illusion of finer details that only a master could achieve.

John eschewed the telephone, and publishers like myself had to rely on communication by old-fashioned letter or, in an emergency, a phone message to the Carfraemill Hotel, where the great man enjoyed lunch twice a week.

There was little room in John's life for material things. Indeed, he acquired his first watch only five years ago, a gift from author Gordon Main who, under the pseudonym, Kendric Ross, wrote Classic Children's Games from Scotland, which John illustrated.

Although he covered tens of thousands of miles on drawing and painting expeditions all over Scotland, John never learned to drive. He confided to me this was so he need never be far from his beloved wife, the late Kay Copeland, who was delighted to drive him everywhere.

John's books included Scotland's Capital, a light-hearted history of Edinburgh, and an A to Z of Scotland, a quirky collection of our nation's characteristics, both of which originally appeared as articles in the old Scotland's Magazine.

The dozens of books he illustrated included Famous Edinburgh Crimes, bringing to the page graphic images of Burke and Hare, Deacon Brodie, The Porteous Riots and Firth of Forth Pirates, Strange Tales of Old Edinburgh, Ghosts Witches and Worthies of the Royal Mile, Scottish Battles, Greyfriars Bobby, Songs of Scotland, Scottish Proverbs, Strange Old Scots Customs and Superstitions, and Strange Tales of Scotland.

John died at the Borders General Hospital after falling ill at his cottage in Oxton a few weeks ago. Considering all that he achieved in his lifetime, he was unassuming and modest in character, the epitome of the perfect gentleman. Scotland is poorer for his passing.