J. M. D. Meiklejohn

John Miller Dow Meiklejohn (11 July 1836 - 5 April 1902) was a Scottish academic, journalist and author known for writing school books. Born in Edinburgh on 11 July 1836, he was son of John Meiklejohn, an Edinburgh schoolmaster, and was educated at his father's private school at 7 St. Anthony Place, Port Hopetoun. He graduated with an MA from the University of Edinburgh on 21 April 1858, when he was the gold medallist in Latin. At an early age he devoted himself to German philosophy, and became a private schoolmaster, first in the Lake District and then in Orme Square and York Place, London. He also lectured and took up journalism, in 1864 acting as a war correspondent in the Second Schleswig War, and being arrested as a spy. In 1874 Meiklejohn was appointed as assistant commissioner to the endowed schools commission for Scotland, and made educational suggestions in its report. In 1876 Andrew Bell's trustees instituted a Chair of the theory, history, and practice of education at the University of St Andrews, and Meiklejohn was appointed as the first professor. There he influenced educational ideas at a time when the national system of education was undergoing a reconstruction. Meiklejohn unsuccessfully contested the Glasgow Tradeston parliamentary constituency as a Gladstonian liberal in 1886. He died at Ashford, Kent, on 5 April 1902, and was buried there.