General Auchinleck’s Name

Timaru Herald, Volume CL, Issue 22063, 9 September 1941, Page 4

General Auchinleck’s Name

IN recent weeks there has been controversy in 1 England concerning the correct pronunciation of General Sir Claude Auchinleck’s surname. The British Broadcasting Corporation, generally the final arbiter in such delicate maters, seems to have shelved the pedantic exactness for wlfich it is noted, and taken the simple course of pronouncing the name more or less phonetically. The general mispronunciation of the name, however, drew a protest recently from a Scots correspondent to the Manchester Guardian. He wrote: “To hear Auchinleck pronounced ‘ Awkinleck,’ ‘OtchinleCk,’ ‘Okkinleck,’ ‘Owtchinleck’ and so forth, reminds me of the pitiful attempts on General WaUehope’s name in the South African war. Will Englishmen never learn that most Scottish names, Majoribanks, Wemyss, Home, and so on, have arbitrary pronunciations all their own, that are so many traps for the Unitiated ? Auchinleck, when properly prohoUnced, bears no resemblance in the first part of the Word, to the spelling of the first syllable.” This critic then discloses that the true pronunciation of the Word is “Affleck.”

His view, it may be added, is endorsed by James Boswell, the immortal biographer of Dr. Johnson. Boswell lived in Auchinleck House. His father was Lord Auchinleck, and with tender regard for the unitiated, Boswell fixes the correct pronunciation of the name in his book. In discussing with Johnson the question of having the estate entailed, Boswell gives an account of his family history. “In the year 1504,” he writes, “the barony or manour of Auchinleck (pronounced Affleck) In Ayrshire, which belonged to a family of the same name with the lands, having fallen to the Crown by forfeiture, James the Fourth, King of Scotland, granted it to Thomas Boswell.” That fixes the pronunciation for ordinary purposes, but it may be that General Auchinleck is not concerned about Scottish pedantries and is prepared to have the 8.8. C. and the British proletariat do what they wish with his name. Whether he likes it or not, that is wliat is happening.