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Presentation to Mr. James MeikleSource: Transactions of the Faculty of Actuaries, Vol. 1, No. 8 (1901-1903), pp. 301-304Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Institute and Faculty of ActuariesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41217147 .

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PEESENTATION

то

ME. JAMES MEIKLE.

Mr. James Meikle, F.F.A., F.I.A., having recently retired from the position of Actuary to the Scottish Provident Institution after a period of sixty-three years' service with that office, was entertained to dinner, and presented with an address, in the North British Station Hotel, Edinburgh, on Friday, 12 December 1902, by his friends in the Faculty of Actuaries and among the officials of Life Assurance Offices in Scotland.

The chair was occupied by Mr. Andrew H. Turnbull, Manager of the Scottish Widows' Fund Life Assurance Society, and the vice-chairmen were Mr. David Deuchar and Mr. Gordon Douglas.

Dinner being over, and the company having pledged the health of the King,

The Chairman said - I feel highly honoured in being intrusted with the business for which we are assembled to-night, although I fear I shall hardly be able to express, as you would wish, to Mr. Meikle the pleasure that it affords us and his friends in Australasia to present him with a tangible proof of our regard, to thank him for all that he has done for our profession, and to wish him continued good health and many years in which to enjoy his well-earned leisure. When active men like Mr. Meikle look back upon their past, I think there is nothing that can give them greater satisfaction than the consciousness of having done something for others ; and I congratulate Mr. Meikle on having a right to a very large share of such satisfaction. He has not merely left footprints on the field of knowledge through which he toiled as a student : he has very materially assisted in laying out a path through that field by which the students of the present day can pass with greater ease and celerity than was dreamt of fifty years ago. If any of those students are blest with the ability, the zeal, and the vitality that characterise Mr. Meikle, they may not only widen that path, but it is possible they may carry it further on. If they succeed in doing this, I am sure that nothing would be more gratifying to their pioneer.

Mr. Gordon Douglas then read the address, which was as follows : -

"Edinburgh, 12 December 1902. " Dear Mr. Meikle, - In the presentation made to you in 1889, on the

completion of half a century of official service, you already possess evidence in a permanent form of the respect and esteem entertained for you by your professional brethren.

"But now that you have retired from official life, it has appeared to your friends in the Faculty of Actuaries and among the officials of Life Assurance Offices in Scotland, that it would be fitting to renew the expression of their regard and appreciation. Your professional friends therefore now cordially assure you of the continuance of their high esteem, and offer their earnest wishes for your comfort and happiness in your retirement. Gratefully recall- ing the services rendered by you to the actuarial profession and to life assurance business during your long and honourable career, they desire further to express their admiration of the high talent and unwearying industry of which these were the evidence and the result.



3O2 Presentation to Mr. James Meikle " In the forefront among these services they venture to place the valuable

work done by you in connection with the Actuarial Society of Edinburgh, which was founded by the Faculty of Actuaries for the benefit of actuarial students, and which after a useful existence of over forty years has now become merged in the Faculty. The papers on the elementary problems of life assurance which you contributed to that Society, at a time when there was no systematic text-book, were of inestimable value to the students of those days ; and many actuaries, who have attained to positions of importance at home and abroad, have acknowledged their great indebtedness to those early papers. You also contributed a number of other papers on more advanced subjects during the later years of the Actuarial Society, and you held office as its Honorary President during four separate sessions. " In connection with the Faculty of Actuaries you did valuable service as Examiner of Candidates, as a Member of Council, as Honorary Librarian, as Honorary Secretary, as Vice-President, and as President. You also conducted an elaborate investigation of the Mortality Experience of the Scottish Life Assurance Offices up to 1863 ; and you took part in the recent mortality investigation conducted by a joint committee of the Institute of Actuaries and Faculty of Actuaries. " As evidence that you are not forgotten by those who have carried with them to distant places the knowledge of those manifold services, it will be of special interest to you to know that the casket intended to contain this document has been chiefly provided by the contributions of actuaries in Australasia who specially desired to be associated with this movement to do you honour.

"Asa Committee chosen on behalf of your many friends in the profession to give expression to the sentiments contained in this Address, we have pleasure in subscribing ourselves, - Dear Mr. Meikle, yours very faithfully,

"Aw- H. TURNBULL. "Hugh Blair. "D. Deuchar. "Geo. M. Low. "Gordon Douglas. "James Watt."

The Chairman then continued : It only remains for me, Mr. Meikle, to hand you this handsome silver casket containing the address, with the best wishes of the donors. And of you, Gentlemen, I have to ask that you will join me in this toast : " The Guest of the evening, Mr. Meikle". The toast was pledged with enthusiasm.

Mr. Meikle, in the course of his reply, which included several poetical quotations, said - Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,4 you almost strike me dumb by the great honour you have done me. I scarcely have a word to say, and I think the most eloquent thing I could do would be to bow myself to the ground and say nothing. With reference to my age, I do not admit that I am an old man. If you count age by the number of times that the earth has revolved round the sun during my life, I may perhaps be reckoned an old man. That, however, is not the right way of looking at the matter. You must measure a man's age by the love in his heart ; and when measured in that way, I claim to be as young as any of you. But although not old, I suppose I must admit that I am so far up in years ; and if you will allow me, I should like to refer a little to old times. There is certainly a melancholy sweetness in looking back over the long period of sixty-three years. I remember well the first day I entered my late office - it was the 21st of October 1839. I climbed to the top of a high stool, and my first duty was to fill up a referee's letter. The conditions of work were very different in these days from what they are now. The hours were from 10 to 4 and 7 to 9, but it was often 10 o'clock at night, and occasionally 11, before the day's work was over. There were no such



Presentation to Mr. James Meikle 303 things as copying letter-books then. There were no messengers then as you have now. The apprentices had to carry all the parcels to the " Black Bull " inn, from which the mail-coach for London started.

After other interesting reminiscences Mr. Meikle went on to say - I always looked up with a reverent eye to the managers of the offices then, of whom perhaps many of you have never even heard the names. There were Gilbert Laurie Finlay, Henry David Dickie, James Borthwick, William Spens, Kobert Christie, William Thomas Thomson, and others. I remember how I stood in great awe of Robert Christie - he was a very accurate man. And then there was David Chisholm, who died only the other day. All these men were big men. I like to think that in my time I have done some little things for love, and I believe I may justly claim this. These papers read to the Actuarial Society were all done for love to the Society and the Faculty. I was never happier than when working hard. The more I had to do, the more I got through. I am very pleased indeed if I have so far succeeded as to make the thin end of the wedge a little sharper for some of you. I have occasionally had the satisfaction of knowing that my work has been of use to individuals. An eminent actuary has told me that he would not have entered the business at all if it had not been for my " Rationale of Life Assurance Premiums " getting in the thin end of the wedge. By the way, it was to the late Mr. M'Candlish that I was indebted for that fine title. When my " Observa- tions on the Rate of Mortality of Assured Lives, as experienced by ten Assurance Companies in Scotland " were in type, I was greatly gratified with what Mr. William Thomas Thomson said to me after perusing them, and with his going personally to ask Messrs. Blackwood to allow their names to appear as the publishers. As Edwin Waugh, the Lancashire poet, says in " The Moorland Flower " :

"Heaven loves the heart that lives and dies To bless its neighbouring waste."

Gentlemen, I feel that I have tried to do what lay in my power to bless the wilderness round about me. Again I thank you for the exceeding great honour you have conferred upon me.

Mr. James Chisholm proposed the toast of "The Committee", in the following terms - This is a unique occasion. I have great pleasure - and I take it as a great honour to be asked to do it - to put before you the toast of the Committee who have arranged this dinner. You have heard their names as they appear at the foot of the address that has been presented to Mr. Meikle. They include the names of gentlemen at the head of institutions known all over the world. Besides the arrangements for the dinner, a great deal of othft1 work, such as correspondence and preparation of the address, has fallen upon the Committee, and especially on the honorary secretary, Mr. Gordon Douglas. I ask you therefore to join with me in drinking the health of the Committee of which our Chairman is at the head, and of which Mr. Deuchar, whose name I couple with the toast, has been an active member.

Mr. David Deuchar, replying on behalf of the Committee, said - I think there is some inappropriateness in connecting my name with this toast ; because it was really Mr. Low the convener, and Mr. Gordon Douglas the honorary secretary, who took the chief share in all the arrangements. The other members of the Committee have however had very great satisfaction in being associated with Mr. Low and Mr. Douglas, in organising this dinner in honour of the guest of the evening, whom they have all known so long, but who in spite of Anno Domini remains ever young.



304 Presentation to Mr. James Meikle Mr. G. M. Low, President of the Faculty, proposed the toast of " The

Chairman ". He said - When the Committee were making their arrangements, it appeared to them that what was wanted to round off these arrangements and give them entire completeness was that our friend, Mr. Turnbull, should consent to take the chair. That feeling was entertained not merely because Mr. Turnbull is the senior life assurance manager in Scotland, but because in his own person he links us with the period in actuarial history in which our good friend Mr. Meikle began to show those conspicuous services to the profession for which, among many other things, we seek to honour him on this occasion. It was in the year 1860 that Mr. Meikle read his paper on " The Rationale of Life Assurance Premiums", with which his name will always be associated in grateful memory by actuarial students - at all events, by actuarial students of the period to which I myself and others here belonged. And it was in the same year (1860) that our friend Mr. Turnbull was admitted an associate of the Faculty of Actuaries, after an examination, and after he had given in a paper which you will not be surprised to hear was described by the examiners as " most creditable ". Mr. Turnbull's qualities are very well known to you all, and I need not enlarge upon them ; but I claim, on behalf of the Committee, that we exercised a wise discretion in asking him to preside to-night.

Mr. Turnbull, in reply, said - I thank you very much for the kind manner in which you have received Mr. Low's toast, and Mr. Low for the kind way in which he has proposed it. It is quite true, I am sure, that I am the senior present. I began my business career in 1850 - rather more than fifty years ago. I remember many of the men who then held positions in the life offices - in fact, all those whom Mr. Meikle has mentioned ; and I recollect a good deal about the customs of the offices in those days. It was exceedingly interesting to me to hear Mr. Meikle's reminiscences.

The proceedings terminated by the singing of "Auld Lang Syne".

A fuller report of the proceedings will be found in the Insurance liecord and in the Post Magazine of 20 December 1902.

