Archibald Donald McKinnon
Lovingly known as “Archie Mac”
2 November 1935 — 5 February 2020 · aged 84
Govan shipyard welder, UCS work-in steward and tenants' champion for twenty-five years
Glasgow, United Kingdom Born in Govan, Glasgow Resting at Craigton Cemetery, Glasgow, beside IsaAbout Archibald
In June 1971, when the government announced it would let Upper Clyde Shipbuilders go to the wall, Archie McKinnon was thirty-five years old with a mortgage, three children and a welder's mask he had worn for twenty years. He did what Govan men have always done at such moments: he went to a meeting, and then he went to another one.
Archie was born in Govan in 1935, the son of a riveter, and walked through the gates of the Fairfield yard at fifteen as an apprentice. He learned to weld on the plates of ships bound for the far ends of the earth, and he took more pride in a clean seam than in any speech he later made. As a shop steward he sat on the committee that organised the work-in, the famous refusal to stop building ships. He was never one for the cameras, just the man who made sure the tea urn was full and the minutes were taken.
The yard survived, after a fashion, and Archie worked there until 1995, teaching apprentices that safety was not an insult. His own father had lost two fingers to a drop hammer, and Archie held to the rule that every young welder should be able to count to ten on both hands at retirement. He married Isa Dunn in 1959 and they raised Maureen, Billy and Fiona in a tenement flat on Langlands Road, where the front door was never locked.
Away from the yard he chaired the Govan Tenants' Association for twenty-five years, recited the Burns Supper address at terrifying volume, and was the unlikeliest Partick Thistle supporter in a district that belonged to Rangers. He claimed the Jags had taught him patience and the shipyards had taught him hope, and that he needed both. He whistled 'Caledonia' while he cooked mince and tatties, always slightly flat.
Archie died on 5 February 2020 at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, with Maureen holding one hand and the football phone-in murmuring on a small radio. He had missed Isa every day since 2014 and was, he told his children, looking forward to finishing an argument. He leaves three children, seven grandchildren and a street that will not be the same.
“A clean seam and a kept promise: that's all a man is.”
- Place of birth
- Govan, Glasgow
- Resting place
- Craigton Cemetery, Glasgow, beside Isa
- Passed away
- 5 February 2020, Glasgow
Celebration of Life
Thursday, 13 February 2020 at 09:00 UTC
Add to calendarLife journey
Apprentice welder
Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company1950 – 1955 · Govan, Glasgow
Learned his trade on the slipways of the Clyde.
Welder and shop steward
Fairfield / Upper Clyde Shipbuilders1955 – 1971 · Govan, Glasgow
Sixteen years at the same berth, welding hulls for ships he would never sail on.
Steward, UCS Work-In
Upper Clyde Shipbuilders1971 – 1972 · Govan, Glasgow
Helped keep the yards working and the protest orderly.
Senior welder
Govan Shipbuilders / Kvaerner Govan1972 – 1995 · Govan, Glasgow
Trained a generation of apprentices before retiring at sixty.
Married Isabella 'Isa' Dunn
1959 · Glasgow
A marriage of fifty-five years.
Chair, Govan Tenants' Association
Govan Tenants' Association1980 – 2005 · Govan, Glasgow
Twenty-five years of damp, repairs and stubborn phone calls.
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Family & connections
Archibald is survived by
- Maureen Kerr· Daughter
- William 'Billy' McKinnon· Son
- Fiona McKinnon· Daughter
- 7 grandchildren· Grandchildren
Tributes & memories
6 people have shared a memory of Archibald.
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Sign in to write a tribute- DM
His GP in Govan
He arrived at every appointment with a list on the back of an envelope and a joke for the receptionist. When I told him he needed a new hip, he said he had a bus pass and a Partick Thistle season ticket, so what did he need a hip for? He got the hip.
- DR
Season-ticket neighbour at Firhill
Forty years in the same two seats. In 1971, the year of the League Cup and the shipyards crisis, Archie said it was a good year to be a stubborn man. He proved it twice. I'll sit next to an empty seat on Saturday and I'll be annoyed, because he'd have found the referee's mistake first.
- MN
Shopkeeper on Govan Road
When we opened the shop in 1984 some people stayed away. Archie came in on the first morning, bought a newspaper and stood at the counter for half an hour telling everyone who came in that this was the best place in Govan for a roll and sausage. He was right as well.
- CM
Grandson
Grandad taught me to whistle 'Caledonia' badly, so I can't whistle it any other way. Every Sunday at his flat there was mince and tatties and an argument about the football, and I always lost. I would lose a thousand more if I could have him back for lunch.
- SB
Secretary, Govan Tenants' Association
For twenty-five years he chaired our meetings, and fifty times I would swear he had fallen asleep, and every time he woke and summed up the discussion perfectly. We got the dampness fixed on Elderpark Street because Archie refused to put the phone down on the council.
- HG
Fellow welder, Govan yard
Archie taught me to run a bead on my second day in 1974 and never once raised his voice. He stood over me, said 'Again', and kept saying it until the seam looked like a row of coins. I run an engineering firm now. Every apprentice I hire gets an 'Again' on day two.