Page 17 - Microsoft Word - Guiding lights final version 0841 1007 big print.doc

Returning to Edinburgh University he graduated in History and won the Cousin Prize in Fine Art. In 1951 he became librarian at the Glasgow School of Art.
He had a remarkable career becoming Assistant Keeper of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery when he was just 31.
Among the successful exhibitions he staged were ‘Scots in Italy in the 18th Century’, in 1963; ‘Shakespeare in Scottish Art’, 1964; and the Sir Walter Scott Bicentenary Exhibition, held in Parliament Hall, Edinburgh, in 1971.
He also wrote a book about Scots in Italy in the 18th Century which was published in 1966.
His great passion was local history and one story of his research studies was related by the former Scottish MP Tam Dalyell in his obituary of Basil Skinner in The Independent.
Skinner led a team who were studying the old turnpike roads in the city, and particularly a stretch of hilly roads in the Pentland Hills. A horse- drawn coach was used for this purpose, and the students had to get out of the coach and help push it up hills. This exercise brought home to students the difficulties of travel in the 1700s.
Skinner also helped to stop a five-mile section of the Union Canal in Stirlingshire from being filled in, in his role as convenor of an Edinburgh University Conference on the future of the Union Canal.
Sadly he died in 1995 before being able to see the building of the Falkirk Wheel which would never have happened had it not been for his earlier action.
Dalyell also paid tribute to his role as saviour of Hopetoun House in 1979.
Hopetoun House had been neglected for many years and it was in crisis. ‘It was fortunate indeed, therefore, that a man with a passionate zeal for local history should urge the setting up of a Preservation Trust and become its chairman.’ he said. ‘That man was Basil Skinner. If Hopetoun has returned to its former glory, the Hope family would be the first to say how much is owed to Skinner, and his rescue operation. And as a much- involved local MP and fellow council member with Skinner of the National Trust for Scotland at the time, I know they are right. Skinner was a champion of local history in Scotland - erudite and a conveyer of enthusiasm.’
Guide work was always seasonal and participation in the course and success in examination did not in themselves guarantee employment. However in 1967 the STGA said that in the height of the season the demand for guides often exceeded the supply.
Indeed 1967 was a watershed year for the STGA.
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