John Gustave Pilley (1899-1968)
John Gustave Pilley (1899-1968) held the Bell Chair of Education at Edinburgh University from 1951 to 1968.
Having studied at Dulwich College, Pilley joined the Army at the age of eighteen, serving in France with the Royal Engineers until October 1918. He then studied at Exeter College, Oxford, graduating in Natural Science in 1922 and going on to conduct postgraduate research in Physics. Pilley became a Lecturer in Education at Liverpool University in 1926. He moved to Bristol University in 1927 where he specialised in Methods of Science Teaching and in Theory of Education. In 1937 he was a Visiting Professor at Wellesley College, Massachusetts, then in 1939, became Head of its Education Department. Following the retirement of Sir Godfrey Hilton Thomson (1881-1955) in 1951, he was appointed Professor of Education at Edinburgh University. Thomson had also simultaneously held the post of Director of Studies of the Edinburgh Provincial Training Centre (later Moray House College of Education), but these posts were now separated, with William Buchan Inglis (1901-1971) following Thomson at Moray House.