Max and Field Studies in Scotland, by Thomas Huxley
Collaboration between Max and my father's first cousin Julian Huxley has been well documented.
Max also had shared interests in Dartington and thereby to my first wife's parents and later
her family home in Canonbury Square. This resulted in my meeting Max and his first wife Mary
several times at my then in-laws, even witnessing on one occasion Max making suitable
noises to twin babies perched on his lap. As the twins were my sons and the date some time
in the mid-1950s, these events were a long time ago and the only point of recollecting them
now is as a reminder that, when later directly or indirectly I experienced the abrasive sides of
Max's complex personality, I could always recall a very different softer side.
As an example of Max's working method, here is how ' as best remembered - he instigated
Scotland's first permanent field centre. Sometime about 1960, Max realised that, although
new field centres were being added to the then existing field centres in England and Wales,
under the aegis of the Field Studies Council, there was no permanent field centre in Scotland.
This was despite the fact that the equivalent organisation north of the border, the Scottish Field
Studies Association, had been running field courses at various 'borrowed' places such as
youth hostels. This made no sense to Max, given the richness of Scotland's habitats and so
he decided to do something about it. Recognising the political unwisdom of encouraging the
experienced FSC to establish a permanent base in Scotland, as it were over the head of the
more cautious SFSA, he set up a series of meetings in Edinburgh to bang heads together and
stimulate action. The meetings were serviced by the Scottish Education Department and
attended by bodies such as the Forestry Commission, the Chief Valuer and, of course, the
Nature Conservancy.
Despite the dour presence of a lady in SED, whom Max referred to as the Black Widow, the
meetings obtained a commitment to funding from the Department, and lists of possibly suitable
properties from the Chief Valuer and the FC. In due course, Kindrogan in Perthshire was
identified, acquired from the Forestry Commission in 1963 and the first field courses held in
1964. In all this, there had to be someone reporting directly to Max. I happened to be that
person and the purchase of Kindrogan took place over my desk. The project was mostly
hugely interesting, in relation to both people and places and before I ended my connection with
the Association I did a stint as its Chairman.
The point of this little story, in relation to Max, is that it exemplifies how he would identify a
need; decide what needs to be done; designate a member of staff as the beaver; bang heads
together and then follow up to ensure action being taken to satisfy the need. Among the many
other examples of this procedure, I think of Tony Colling being winkled out of Wales to work on
a Chart of Human Impacts for the first (1963) Countryside in 1970 Conference. The Chart was a
typical Maxian concept: a comprehensive but concise of way of setting out all the impacts
humans were making on the environment: on ecological habitats, flora and fauna. Alas, I can
no longer consult Tony, but for myself, being sidetracked by Max from whatever else one was
doing was mostly entirely enjoyable and interesting, both in relation to new places as well as
people. But events have a curious way of overturning history; although the SFSA still exists,
Kindrogan is now run by the FSC! I wonder what Max would have thought of that.
