Overview

A unique recollection of social life and changes in the Highlands of Scotland in the early twentieth century. It documents not only a personal struggle to succeed in the construction industry from straitened circumstances in Inverness before and during the First World War, but also a search for advancement through work in the British Empire. The author enterprisingly sailed for Africa in 1927 and spent several adventurous years working in Kenya. Convinced he could find work at home; he returned in 1931 and was immediately pitched into the difficulties of the Depression. Moving from job to job, he eventually spent time in the army during the Second World War. Encountering further difficulties in finding work at the end of the war he returned to Africa and eventually rose to be senior clerk of works in the western province of Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). After retirement in 1960 he became a Consultant Engineer’s site inspector on several major construction works in Scotland, notably the Cruachan power station and a major graving dock on the Clyde. From Inverness to Africa is a personal recollection of Alexander MacKenzie’s life, edited by his son John M. MacKenzie.

Full Product Details

9781805142881

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Alexander MacKenzie (1902-1987) was born in Inverness and had an adventurous life in Africa rising from being a bricklayer to a senior clerk of works. After retirement from Africa in 1960, he became a building inspector for a Glasgow firm of consulting engineers. He was inspired to write a memoir in the years before his death. John M. MacKenzie was educated in Scotland, Zambia and Canada and had a career as an academic historian, spending more than thirty years at Lancaster University where he became Professor of Imperial History. John is a retired academic and lives in Scotland.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available