Lt. Col., Sir Hugh Lyon Playfair, K.C.B., LL.D

Sir Hugh Lyon Playfair LLD (1786-1861), third son of Principal Playfair and uncle of Sir Robert Lambert Playfair. Born at Meigle and educated at Dundee Grammar School and the University of St Andrews, he trained at Woolwich as a cadet of the East India Company . He joined the Bengal Artillery as a lieutenant at Calcutta in 1805 and immediately gained renown for marching his detachment 800 miles to Cawnpore without a single case of sickness or indiscipline. He was involved in action against the Sikhs and in the Nepal War of 1814 to 1815, having become quartermaster of horse artillery in 1809, and was twice wounded. On his voyage back to Europe on leave in 1817, he landed at St Helena and met Napoleon. During his 3 years' sick leave, he travelled widely on the continent and, returning to St Andrews, was given the freedom of the burgh. On his return to India, he became the superintendent of the great military road - a 440 mile stretch, from Calcutta to Benares: a post which his brother, Lieutenant Colonel William Davidson Playfair (1783-1852), had held before him. He was promoted to major in 1827 and given the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel in 1854. He resigned from the Bengal army in 1834 and returned to St Andrews. There, a keen golfer and gold medallist in 1818, 1840 and 1842, he was closely involved with the development of the sport at St Andrews, was convenor of the committee that built the present clubhouse in 1854 and became the captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in 1856. He was also extemely interested in the development of photography, working closely in that field with Sir David Brewster (1781-1868), inventor of the kaleidoscope and with Thomas Davidson (1798-1878), a keen proponent of the daguerrotype. Playfair became provost of St Andrews in 1842 and, for his services to the town and university, he was knighted and recieved an honorary LLD in 1856. A somewhat autocratic provost, who had many critics during his forty years in power, Sir Hugh Lyon Playfair was a man of great vigour and determination. He introduced reforms to the town that saw the paving of the streets, the repair of the harbour, the cathedral ruins tidied, handsome, new terraces built and the university quadrangle completed., whilst, at his urging, the schools were improved and the railway brought to St Andrews in 1852.