Academic and Burns Enthusiast;
Born: June 19, 1936; Died: September 10, 2011.
Dr Archie Fleming, who has died of aged 75, was an academic and a great Burns scholar. There can be no true Burns scholars who do not recognise the depth of feeling and sincerity expressed by Burns in his lament for his great benefactor.
But I’ll remember thee Glencairn
And a’ thou hast done for me
Those who were privileged to know Archie Fleming probably wish that they could find words to express their depth of feeling for a man well recognised nationally and internationally who sought better understanding of the life, times, poetry, letters, philosophy, motivation and contribution of Robert Burns to mankind.
His death has deprived the Burns world of a great man who was universally liked and appreciated by all who knew him in his professional life or in his contribution to the expansion of the study of Robert Burns. We who knew Archie never heard a bad word about him.
Archie Felming was born in Glasgow but during the Second World War was evacuated to the Borders, where he stayed with his brother at his Aunt Kate’s home.
He always regarded himself as being a Borders man, having been educated at Langholm and Dumfries Academies. As a student at Edinburgh University he graduated MA (English and History) and BCom (Economics and Business Administration) in 1959. He was a non-rugby-playing Borderer but compensated by taking up boxing and becoming Scottish universities bantamweight champion. Dr Fleming subsequently was awarded his PhD from Strathclyde University.
His early career was of a practical business nature. He was appointed lecturer at Strathclyde University Business School in 1968, ultimately becoming director of Continuing Education and Life Long Learning at the University. For three years he was vice-chairman of the United Kingdom Universities Association for Continuing Education. This body (UACE) is regularly consulted by the UK Government on quality assurance issues. In 1995 he was awarded the European Universities Continuing Education Network Medal for Excellence. Dr Fleming was heavily involved in the European Universities Continuing Education Network, leading a team of academics to Moscow resulting in a working link between Russian journalists and Scottish newspapers.
His international recognition was rewarded by the American Association for Continuing Higher Education for Excellence in International Programmes.
Dr Fleming was a great servant of the community and non-executive director of the State Hospitals Board for Scotland. He had a plethora of appointments to various professional and other boards both nationally and internationally. From 1981-1991 he was a member of the Strathclyde Children’s Panel, and from 1998 to 2002 was Vice-President of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow. He was also lay chairman of the Independent Review Panels under the National Health Service Complaints Procedures. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1989 and became a Knight of the Sovereign Order of St John of Jerusalem in 1999.
In 1990 Strathclyde University instituted its famous Burns Conference, open to all, with an excellent mixture of academic, lay and musical contributions. There were 15 of these fabulous study sessions at Strathclyde and a further four at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. Perhaps it was the atmosphere of life in the Borders which sparked Dr Fleming’s interest in Burns.
Apparently in his youth he was inevitably drawn into the endless debates concerning the relative merits of Burns, Scott and MacDiarmid which his widow Joan describes as “the young being marinated into the rich red fermentation of Scotland’s cultural and literary past”. From the outset Dr Fleming was a very keen supporter of the Strathclyde event and for 10 years chaired half of the sessions.
Memorable among many outstanding days was that when Professor Tom Sutherland delivered his talk on his experiences as a hostage in the Lebanon. A regular musical input was given by Kirsten McCue along with significant displays of memorabilia and the like by experts such as Colin McQueen. In other words, “something for everyone” added to the “lad o’ pairts” image of the conference. Many papers delivered by internationally renowned experts stimulated the audience and the interactive discussions at the end of the sessions greatly enhanced the value of those happy days with an expert no-nonsense chairman.
One of Dr Fleming’s great gifts was in delivering a Burns Address and he was very proud to deliver the Immortal Memory at the Mother Club in Greenock. As a result he cherished becoming an honorary president of that club.
In his latter days along with Joan he was a familiar face at the Sandyford Burns Club. The club was most honoured when he became a director and there can be no doubt that in due course he would have become the club president.
Survived by Joan, his son Iain and daughter Hazel and four grandchildren, Archie will be sadly missed by the Burns movement.
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