Frank Douglas Mac Kinnon - Other Interests

Other Interests

MacKinnon was an enthusiast for the writing and culture of the eighteenth century and, in particular, the work of Doctor Johnson. He wrote extensively on the period. He also considered Victorian architecture to have ruined much of what came before. When the Temple Church was bombed during The Blitz, he welcomed it with mixed feelings:

Smirke, Cottingham, Willement, and the rest of the gang … To have got rid of their awful stained glass windows, their ghastly pulpit, their hideous encaustic tiles, their abominable pews and seats (on which alone they spent over £10,000) will be almost a blessing in disguise.

Never interested in party politics, MacKinnon was president of the Average Adjusters' Association (1935), of the Johnson Society of Lichfield (1933), and of the Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society, chairman of Buckinghamshire quarter sessions, and member of the Historical Manuscripts Commission.

MacKinnon was a keen walker, climbing Snowdon on two consecutive days in February 1931 when aged almost 60.

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