Henry Macnicol

Born in 1914, Henry Macnicol’s first years were spent in Leven, Fife, where his doctor father, a G.P. of the old school, had many miners among his patients.

Graduating at Edinburgh University with a first in English, his first job was as a social worker and probation officer in the slums of Stockbridge. ln the work of Moral Re-Armament in East London he met Tod Sloane and others who had built the Labour movement with Keir Hardie. Later, these friendships with workers and their families in the factories and shipyards of Scotland, gave him the back-ground and inspiration for writing the play, Keir Hardie - the man they could not buy .