Marjorie Gullan

Margaret Isabel Morton Gullan was born in Reading, Berkshire. In 1883, she and her family moved to Glasgow, where her father was appointed minister of the Augustine Free Church. Family friends included suffragist Helen Moyes and actor Graham Moffat. Gullan studied elocution and voice production in London, and by 1901 was listed on the census as an "elocution teacher". == Career and verse speaking ==

In 1904, Gullan established a "School of Elocution" at 534 Sauchiehall Street, which went on to be successful. forming the first verse ever speaking choir, the Glasgow Nightingales, in Glasgow around 1922. Gullan encouraged the inclusion of speech courses as part the curriculum in schools and teacher training institutions. She was President of the Speech Fellowship, an association founded to promote these goals. From 1926 to 1938, Gullan taught speech training and voice production to teachers at the London Day Training College (now the UCL Institute of Education). In London, Gullan became Head of the Department of Speech Training and Dramatic Art at Regent Street Polytechnic. In 1932, with Clarissa Graves, she opened the Speech Institute, where courses included choral speaking and puppetry. The trend for verse speaking spread to America, where Gullan undertook tours and gave lectures. Shortly before the formal declaration of World War II, Gullan volunteered as a director in a relocation center in Kettering, where she was responsible for the care and education of over 200 children from London's poorest districts. Gullan was also the author of eight textbooks and anthologies, and the sponsor sponsor the journal Good Speech (later Speech News). In 1952, Gullan was made an MBE, for her achievements in establishing speech training in schools and renewed interest in choral speaking. Facing declining enrolments as many schools established their own voice training courses, the Speech Institute closed in 1953. == Death and legacy ==

Marjorie Gullan died in Reading in 1959. John Hampden, writing in The Times, said:The news of Marjorie Gullan’s death in hospital on October 8 will sadden her friends and admirers in many countries of the English-speaking world. Her ideas have spread so far that many people must have adopted them without knowing them to be hers, but her books are still widely used and the older generation of teachers and educationists remember the great pioneer work which she did between the two world wars, in revitalising the teaching of poetry in schools, especially to young children, and in reviving choric speech. == Mitchell Library Collection of Gullan's scrapbooks, etc ==

The Mitchell Library in Glasgow contains a collection of newspaper cutting scrapbooks of Gullan's, and also includes a dissertation about her, several 78rpm records featuring her, the medal she was awarded and some other items, Full details, including how to book an appontment to view them, can be found here https://libcat.csglasgow.org/web/arena/gullan == Bibliography ==