Peter John Goldie-Scot (circa 1912 to +-1985)
PJ Goldie-Scot was affectionately known as “Goldie”. He was a career school master who taught at Michaelhouse school for many years.
- J. Goldie-Scot attended Durham School in the UK from (1926 to 1930), and his school leaving is marked in at school’s magazine as just:,T. GOLDIE-SCOT.—5a; S.H. ; Ent. Sept., 1926 ; Shooting VIII. 1928-9-30; L.Cpl. D.S.O.T.C. (D.S.O.T.C.stands for Durham School Officers’ Training Corps)
The Durham school magazine reports on him as an old boy in 1971 saying ” He taught at Michaelhouse, Balgowan, Natal, from 1958 to 1969, being a Housemaster for nine years. He then retired and is now a partner in the largest Anthurium Nursery in South Africa. He is a member of the ‘Wilderness Leadership School’ Board. He has just built a house overlooking the sea at Sheffield Beach, 30 miles north of Durban, where all old boys are very welcome.”
But a record in the history of Michaelhouse shows he started there in 1952.
In his youth he had been a champion figure skater, and he fought in WW11.
He was then at Michaelhouse for a great many years, where he was housemaster of Baines in 1963 and of West in 1964 according to records.
An excerpt from the Michaelhouse school magazine in 1964 reads:
TROUT FISHING CLUB
So far this year the Trout Club have been on a number of Sunday outings to nearby dams and rivers as well as spending three days at our annual ” Trout Camp” on Mr. Cathcart’s farm in East Griqualand.
Locally, parties of members have fished Porter’s water on the Mooi, Colonel Francis’s dam up the Dargle, Mr. Starky’s stretch of the Lion’s, as well as one of his dams.
The Lion’s has produced some of the best fishing the Trout Club have experienced locally for some time, a number of fish of over one and a half pounds having been taken from it over the last three Sundays. Rory Hensman grassed the heaviest, a lovely rainbow of two pounds six ounces. The big gest fish, so far this year, however, is a rainbow of three pounds caught appropriately by Mr. Goldie-Scot, our master-in-charge in one of Mr. Starky’s dams.
All except Daryl MacLeod and Rory Hensman were present at the Trout Camp held during the first three days of the Easter holidays. During those three days we fished the Polela, Indwana and Ingagwana in that order, the last day proving the best day for most. All in all, seventy nine fish were kept, the best, one of one pound six ounces caught by Ian Mitchell-Innes’ father who spent the three days with us, very kindly providing some of the transport.
Our thanks go to Mr. and Mrs. Cathcart for another most enjoyable Trout Camp.
Mr. Starky has very kindly let us use what facilities there are, in the way of dams and possible weirs, on his farm for raising trout of our own there. Work on our cottage at Underberg continues steadily and it should be completed and ready for use by November-we hope.
Elsewhere the school magazine notes: “The housemaster was the legendary cigar smoking Peter John Goldie-Scot, who had a brilliant mathematical mind.”
Notes compiled by Andrew Fowler (2026)
Goldie was very bright, very talented and extremely well known. During his time at Michaelhouse, he took the boys on the “trout camp” to the Cathcart’s farm in Swartberg, a tradition on that school and that family which has endured for over 60 years at time of writing this. Stiggs Cathcart remembers Goldie bringing the boys to Emoyeni farm for the fishing trip.
Richard Thring, whose father was a family friend of Goldie, remembers him as a giant of a man in intellect and personality and speaks of his stature as a Trout fisherman of wide renown.
After his retirement he continued to show his commitment to adolescents, and took young school-leavers on tours of Europe , acting as their tour guide and chaperone.
John Fowler (telecon 2026) remembers Goldie taking him, Murray Armstrong and Chris Perry on a six week tour of Europe, before the three of them peeled off to start their studies at Cirencester and Cambridge respectively. “There wasn’t a town we entered in Europe where he didn’t know someone” reports John, who remembers him fondly.
When in his old age Goldie lived in a home for the elderly in Maritzburg, and John remembers going to fetch him to come and spend the day on his farm in the Dargle, and how Goldie would become emotional when it came time to return to the home.
I remember meeting Goldie very briefly at Petrusstroom farm when I was a boy. He was out for the day from the old age home, and the family were excited that such a renowned fisherman was coming to fish the newly stocked Trout dam there. That would have been somewhere between 1981 and 1984.
