Sir Robert Grieve FRSE RTPI RIAS FRSGS LLD DLit (11 December 1910 – 25 October 1995) was a Scottish polymath: engineer, planner, academic, mountaineer, poet, raconteur and visionary. Grieve played a pivotal part in both the Clyde Valley Regional Plan and the Highlands and Islands Development Board. Reflecting on his career, he described it as a process of "falling up the ladder".
Biography
Early life
Grieve was born on 11 December 1910 in Maryhill, Glasgow in a tenement, one of six children to Peter Grieve and his wife, Catherine Boyle. Grieve's father, was a Clydeside boilermaker who did little with his family other than provide a weekly wage packet. His mother, Catherine, was radically socialist, well read and a caring and faithful Roman Catholic. Catherine took Grieve out of the local Roman Catholic School, recognising his potential and intelligence. She was upset that she could not send Grieve to St Aloysius or other fee-paying Roman Catholic school, instead sending him to North Kelvinside school.
The greatest influences on Grieve in his early years were his mother and his uncle Tom. He later described his mother as "a caged tigress". Grieve was taken on "enormous walks" by his uncle. They would travel by tram to get to the countryside. This is where Grieve first saw "the hills of the Campsies in the distance, and once far away the bulk of Ben Lomond".
Grieve learnt values from his uncle and mother of nature and book loving, and a questioning and critical mind. He rarely spoke of his uncle without being moved to tears.
At weekends and holidays Grieve continued walking in the nearby countryside in the Campsie Fells, Loch Lomondside, the Trossachs and the west coast. Looking in at Glasgow, rather than being immersed in it, spaked his determination to alter and improve city dwellers' lives.
Early career
Grieve trained and qualified as a civil engineer at the Royal College of Science and Technology. While working for the Glasgow Corporation, Grieve was further encouraged to take night classes and become a qualified town planner, passing the final exam of the Town Planning Institute in 1937.
In the 1930s Grieve held various posts in local government, including with Paisley Burgh Council and Renfrew County Council. Grieve also had periods of unemployment. During these times he would nurture his passion for climbing and walking in the hills.
In 1940 Grieve was responsible for the construction of air-raid shelters in Clydebank. He used his engineering skills to devise a novel strategy of distributing and locating shelters so that they could be reached from peoples homes in the shortest possible time. Grieve is credited with having saved significant numbers of civilians during the Clydebank Blitz.
Later Grieve claimed that there was a time when Scotland had only two qualified town planners, of which he was one.
Marriage and children
In 1933 Grieve married Mary Blackburn, always known as May. They had four children, Ann, Elizabeth, Iain and William.
Grieve was very close with his wife Mary who supported him in his endeavours. She was a charming and powerful lady who kept Grieve in Scotland when he was offered a position as government Chief Planner in London, not wanting to leave her beloved homeland.
After a long illness May Grieve died in 1984, which caused Grieve profound anguish.
Clyde Valley Regional Plan
From 1944 Grieve worked on the Clyde Valley Regional Plan. According to a later colleague Alec Kerr: "He was always involved in seminal works, and he was the person to ask the searching question which simulated reasonable thought and forced people to think in depth about what they were proposing."
Grieve's influences on the plan included the framework for moving Glasgow's overspill into new towns, and ensuring that new towns were not only economic development centres but also viable communities.
The preservation of Eaglesham and the concept of East Kilbride were both examples of Grieve's concern for properly balanced communities.
While the best known name on the Clyde Valley Regional Plan was that of architect Sir Patrick Abercrombie, Grieve and Hugh McCalman did most of the work. Grieve was originally tasked with completing the plan's chapter on recreation. The chapter was so good that Grieve was asked to contribute more and more by Sir Robert Matthew. Grieve's concern was the social aspects of planning and how it would effect people. As a result he was sometimes in conflict with his friend, the civil servant James McGuinness, head of the Scottish Economic Planning Department.
The Clyde Valley Regional Plan had a major influence on the development of Glasgow.