The 20th Century

Philip Kerr inherited the building of Newbattle and its adjoining grounds (along with the title of 11th Marquis of Lothian) in 1930. By this time he had established himself as a politician, diplomat and journalist. Although he had happy memories of his childhood, spent in the grounds of Newbattle Abbey not far from the house itself, he had no intention of settling there himself. He was a bachelor and roving statesman who could not be tied down to any one place. Little in Kerr’s background would seem to have predisposed him to a concern for adult education. He was every inch a patrician, a man of international affairs, preparing at this time for a mission to India as a government minister. Yet he was also an idealist, worried at the spread of materialism and dictatorship in the 1920’s, and convinced of the importance of education for the survival of liberal democracy. His spiritual development as a Christian Scientist prompted him to consider the question of the spiritual welfare of the working-classes. Without a broad and liberal education, engaging people with the wider world and equipping them not only with skills but also with ideals and values, people could easily act brutally, irrationally or against their own interests. Kerr was a man determined to use his inheritance to make a difference.

Philip Kerr

The individuals who founded the college

Philip Kerr gives his house to the Scottish people to be used as a residential college for adults in 18 May, 1935. Present were: Dr. J. R. Peddie, CBE, LLD, Ernest Lord Greenhill, OBE, Sir Godfrey P. Collins, KBE, CMG (Secretary Of State For Scotland), Professor Sir Alexander Gray, CBE, TLD, MR. J. S. Aikman (Factor to Lord Lothian), H. R. H. The Duke of Kent, KG KT. (Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly), and Dr. James R. Low