Civil engineer responsible for many Scottish power stations. An appreciation
Born: October 10, 1928;
Died: June 16, 2017
MY father James Douglas Graham, known by everyone as Douglas, was a civil engineer whose work included an extremely varied range of engineering constructions and designs, including a 30-year run of Scottish power stations - Kincardine, Longannet, Peterhead, Hunterston B, Torness and Inverkip. He also worked on marine and sea defence works, rock and soft tunnels, foundations, long-span river power line transmission crossings and much more besides. A major feat of his civil engineering was the expansion of Shetland Harbour to accommodate the then newly emerging oil business in Scotland.
He was born in Glasgow's west end on October 10, 1928. His father, Francis Graham, served as captain under commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Winston Churchill in the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. His parents were both graduates of the University of Glasgow, with his mother Janette also attending classes at Glasgow School of Art. In 1936 his father was appointed the first headmaster of Holyrood Senior Secondary School and Winston Churchill provided his reference for the post.
Dad was the baby of the family. Whilst he was still at school his two older sisters Margaret and Monica were already qualifying as doctors.
He achieved top marks for subjects at St Aloysius College and thereafter graduated in civil engineering at the University of Glasgow in 1949 with first class honours. At university he met his future wife Mary (née Dougan) who was studying history, French and zoology.
Dad started his national service in 1951 in the Corps of Royal Engineers and was posted to the British Army on the Rhine (BAOR) . This experience formed such a rich part of his life.
Mary and Douglas were married in the summer of 1953 in St Agnes Church in Lambhill. Michael was born in 1955, the first in an illustrious line of children thereafter to be referred to as ‘The Grahams’ - all nine of us.
My earliest memories of Dad was the building of the garage in our garden in Kelvindale which appeared to involve copious amounts of concrete - he seemed to derive such great fun from the practical construction.
Ahead of the times, he was very involved when we were children, taking us up mountains at the weekends and off to Aberdeen for our holidays. Solving engineering problems was his forte - this did not stop at the office. One family car, a Simca Estate (1500), was designed to his specifications - a split tail gate, wind-down rear window, two fold-down seats in the boot, a bench front seat and column gear change. It was a miracle of engineering resulting in a three-four-two formation giving the required (and legal for the time) nine seats.
The Grahams followed his academic lead and the house was always filled with siblings studying. My older twin sisters, every year without fail, collected first and second prizes at Notre Dame High School and my brother went on to study at Pembroke College, Cambridge.
High achievement became the norm for the Grahams. Every evening, Douglas settled down with his ‘snifter’- a gin and tonic, Bach playing in the background, whilst browsing the papers. He would become a human encyclopaedia for us asking every sort of question – and he always came up with a plausible answer.
He became a Fellow of the Institute of Civil Engineers and commenced his career at Marchwood power station in Southampton.
He had his own view on everything, and this was always backed up with factual reasoning. He was a devout Catholic and actively involved with St Gregory's church in Kelvindale throughout his life. He was an inaugural member of the local Community Council, set up in Glasgow in the early 1970s during which time he successfully campaigned to save both Julian Avenue and Kirklee allotments. The latter part of his career was spent serving Glasgow City Council in building control, where his extensive civil engineering knowledge made a valuable contribution to the safety of Glasgow's magnificent buildings.
His first passion was without doubt classical music, although he also loved jazz - even learning the clarinet – and astounding all who heard him play Aker Bilk.
Douglas had a perfect life, never wavering from his chosen path and his unstinting service and loyalty to his church, his community and his family. He will be sadly missed by his wife, Mary and children Michael, Frances, Katherine, Peter, Anne, Susan, Clare, Barbara and Dorothy- and his 19 grandchildren.
PETER GRAHAM
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