Iain Noble

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Sir Iain Andrew Noble, 3rd Baronet (born September 8, 1935 in Berlin , † December 25, 2010 in Isleornsay ) was a British businessman, landowner of the Estates Ardkinglas and Eilean Iarmain on the Isle of Skye and whiskey producer. As an activist of the so-called "Gaelic Revival" for the preservation of the Scottish-Gaelic language and culture, he is one of the most important private individuals of the 20th century for the preservation of the language.

Youth and family

Noble came from a family of bankers and diplomats, his grandmother was married to a Norwegian diplomat and his father Sir Andrew Napier Noble was the British ambassador to Poland, Mexico and the Netherlands. The family property was in the west of Scotland, where Prime Minister Harold Macmillan sought protection during the Profumo affair .

Noble was born in Berlin on September 8, 1935, he spent the first years of his life in Rome, while his father worked in China until the beginning of the war with Japan. As a result of the war, Noble was sent to South Africa for a while as a child. Later his father became ambassador to Argentina, and Noble went to St Andrews College in Buenos Aires . He then attended Eton College . He disappointed his family by not wanting to become an officer and instead doing his military service as a private with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders . He then studied at Oxford University , where he visibly flourished. However, Noble was homesick for Scotland. He had a close relationship with his paternal uncle, Michael, who was a shepherd, Member of Parliament for Argyll, Secretary of State for Scotland and Minister of Commerce. At the time, Noble was considering standing up as a Member of Parliament for the Liberals, with the assistance of his uncle.

In 1987, when his father died, he inherited the title of Baronet , of Ardkinglas and Eilean Iarmain in the County of Argyll.

work life

After leaving university, Noble worked for Wrightson's Stockbrokers and Accountants in London, but then returned to Scotland to work as an economic consultant for the Scottish Council for Development and Industry between 1964 and 1969. Noble was a member of the Edinburgh Speculative Society, and together with his friend Aonghas Grossart he founded a merchant bank in 1969 under the name Noble-Grossart . In his opinion it was important and necessary to have such a bank in Scotland itself as the traditional large commercial operations were in decline and merchant banks began to put more emphasis on new business outside Scotland. Despite the difficult economic situation at that time, he was very successful with the bank. When he was in his 30s, Noble left the partnership with a severance payment at the same time that 23,000 acres of Macdonald Estates were up for sale.

Isle of Skye

The gallery on Eilean Iarmain, beyond is the hotel

Noble got all of the parts of the Macdonald Estate he had bid on. The estate was in disrepair at the time and the community lost many young people and jobs. But Noble's plans for his estate were geared towards jobs for the Gaelic-speaking population, he set up joint ventures such as a knitwear cooperative, the whiskey marketing company Pràban na Linne , an investment trust and a program for community ownership of fishing boats. In many of the projects he founded, he chose Scottish Gaelic as the language of the workplace, such as B. in his hotel, on the farm and in the art gallery. He also encouraged the use of the language in everyday life and was the first owner of a Gaelic checkbook issued by the Bank of Scotland .

Regarding the Scottish Gaelic language, he said:

Ma dh'ath-bheòthaicheas tu do chuid cànain, bidh cothrom nas fheàrr agad do choimhearsnachd ath-bheòthachadh .
If you revitalize your language, you will have a better chance of reviving your community

Although not all of his plans were successful, the Sleat parish's economic decline gradually slowed and Noble's actions sparked new growth. Noble was torn about building the bridge between the mainland and the Isle of Skye. At first he was in favor of the bridge to stimulate industry, then he was against the bridge when he saw the disappearance of Gaelic culture, only to be for it again later when the economic boom began.

Classy and the Scottish Gaelic language

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (the large barn of Ostaig) that Noble made available for college.

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the only Gaelic-speaking college in Scotland, is one of his most important projects. It was established in an old stable building from his estate, which he donated to the community and converted into a number of classrooms and student accommodation. Today the college is a large corporation contributing more than a million pounds to the local Sleat economy.

Fight for bilingual street signs

In 1973 Inverness County Council wanted to improve the roads on Skye and needed some of Noble Land to do so. Instead of selling it, Noble offered the land for free in exchange for permission to put up three bilingual street signs. This was rejected by the council, in the words of Lord Burton, among others:

" It does become a matter of principle. If it raises itself in Viewfield Road, it might raise itself through out the whole of Skye ".
(It's a matter of principle. If they appear on Viewfield Road, they could appear all over Skye anytime soon.)

The mediation attempts were rejected by Noble with the words:

" He [Burton] said my attitude was holding up the road and that the cost to the country would rise up to £ 20,000. I told him I was surprised […] to consider such a prize in order to prevent five words of Gaelic appearing in public ".
He [Burton] said that my attitude was stopping the construction of the road and that the cost to the state would rise to £ 20,000. I replied that I was amazed [...] to consider such a price to prevent five Gaelic words from appearing in public.

But in the end Noble prevailed and these were the first bilingual road signs ever to be erected in Scotland, a sight that has become common in much of the Highlands today.

Honors

Noble received numerous honors, including:

death

Noble died on December 25, 2010 on Eilean Iarmain at the age of 75. He leaves behind his wife Lucilla.

literature

  • Roger Hutchinson: A Waxing Moon - The Modern Gaelic Revival. Mainstream Publishing Company, Edinburgh 2005, ISBN 1840187948 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Maxwell MacLeod: Sir Iain Noble; banker landowner and champion of Gaelic . In: Herald Scotland , December 28, 2010. Archived from the original on January 13, 2014 Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved January 6, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heraldscotland.com 
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Tam Dalyell: Sir Iain Noble: Entrepreneur who championed the Gaelic language and culture . In: The Independent , December 31, 2010. Retrieved January 6, 2014. 
  3. ↑ a b c d e Phil Davison: Obituary: Sir Iain Noble, Banker, hotelier, distillery owner and champion of Gaelic culture . In: The Scotsman , 27 dhen Dùbhlachd 2010. Retrieved January 6, 2014. 
  4. ^ Hutchinson: p. 115
  5. ^ Hutchinson: p. 117
  6. ^ Banker Sir Iain Noble, champion of Gaelic, Skye and Scotland, dies at 75. In: The Scotsman . December 27, 2010 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Noble, Iain
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Noble, Iain Andrew, 3rd Baronet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British businessman
DATE OF BIRTH September 8, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH December 25, 2010
Place of death Isleornsay