Edinburgh Evening News former assistant editor Hamish Coghill dies, aged 88

He worked on the paper for over 40 years and was today remembered as an “archetypal gentleman of the press” and a “true guardian” of Edinburgh’s traditions.

After joining the paper as a copyboy, aged 17, in 1953, Hamish was quickly promoted to reporter and later served as local government correspondent and news editor before retiring as assistant editor in 1996. He then ran classes on Edinburgh’s history for 25 years as part of the council’s adult education programme. And he was the author of several books about the city’s past.

Hamish Coghill joined the Evening News in 1953 | supplied

Born in 1936, three years before the start of the Second World War, he grew up in the Tollcross area and went to George Watson’s College. On leaving school, he started work at the Evening News on June 1, 1953 the day before Elizabeth II’s coronation. The paper was based at 18 Market Street and Hamish was paid £2.10s a week as a copyboy, running errands for the journalists.

Writing for last year’s Evening News 150th anniversary supplement, he recalled his first assignments when he became a reporter included reviews of shows at the Gaiety Theatre in Leith and the Palladium at Fountainbridge.

His career was interrupted for two years by National Service when he was posted to Cyprus in the Army press corps, becoming a captain. And he still used to meet up every year with friends he made during that time.

Returning to the Evening News, he took on the crucial and demanding job of covering the City Chambers and later became news editor.

Former Evening News editor Ian Nimmo said: “Hamish Coghill was the doyen news editor of the Evening News for 20 years when the newspaper was at the height of its circulation and influence.

“He led the entire local news-gathering platform for four big city editions plus daily editions for Fife, the Borders and West Lothian, involving massive change edition by edition. He did so with great distinction before being promoted to assistant editor.

“His was a fraught role against the clock and called for a cool head, calm judgement and highly developed skills in handling people. It was mark of his calibre that both as a news editor and as a man his staff gave him enormous loyalty and respect.

Hamish Coghill when he was the Evening News' municipal correspondent | TSPL

“He was an Evening News man through and through, the true professional as well as being the archetypal gentleman of the press.

“‘Facts are chiels that winna ding,’ was his watchword and there are many senior journalists today who bless their luck that they passed through Hamish Coghill’s hands. Hamish was special and in many ways the very conscience of the paper. They don’t seem to make them like that these days.”

Hamish had a long-standing interest in the history of his home city and after retiring started teaching adult education classes on the subject, which he continued until 2020. He had an extensive library of books about Edinburgh. And he wrote some of his own - first using photos from the Evening News archive to explore the Capital’s past, then two more weighty volumes on ‘Lost Edinburgh’ and the Water of Leith.

Hamish Coghill, then assistant editor of the Evening News, in 1989 with two of his books, 'Edinburgh: The Old Town' and 'Edinburgh Then'. Picture: Crauford Tait. | TSPL

He was a leading figure at Canonmills Church, formerly Dublin Street Baptist Church. His wife Mary was a member and he joined after they married there in 1962. He served for many years as church secretary and also sometimes took services. He wrote the history of the congregation to mark its 200th anniversary in 2010 and was latterly honorary life deacon.

For 42 years he was also a member of the prestigious Society of High Constables of Edinburgh, who perform a ceremonial role for the city council and parade for royal visits.

And he was proud to be part of an unusual research project, the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936, which explores how people’s brain and thinking skills change throughout their lives. In 1947, almost every 11 year old in Scotland took an intelligence test and the data was rediscovered in 1997, prompting researchers to track down surviving original participants and recruit them to retake the same test and others, then come back every three years in a bid to discover why some brains age better than others.

In November 2023, Hamish was diagnosed with cancer. But he and his family decided to make the most of the time he had left. And they had a hectic year, including visits to Rome for the rugby and Bologna for his daughter Kari’s wedding, as well as Hamish being chosen as one of the select group of pensioners to receive the traditional Maundy money from the monarch, with Queen Camilla standing in for Charles III.

Hamish died on January 1. His wife Mary had passed away in 2020. He is survived by daughter Kari, sons Sinclair and Bill and five grandchildren.

Former Evening News editor John McLellan said: "Hamish's detailed knowledge of Edinburgh was truly encyclopaedic. His love of the city and its institutions shone through in everything he did, and was reflected in his pride in the Evening News and his unerring eye for detail.

"His retirement in 1996 signalled the end of an era, the last link with the old Evening News before its merger with the Evening Dispatch in 1963, appropriately marked with a sing-song on Fleshmarket Close outside the Halfway House.

"Journalism has lost one of the few remaining links with the great heyday of print news going back to before commercial radio, but Edinburgh has also lost a true guardian of its traditions."

The funeral service will take place in the Lorimer chapel at Warriston crematorium on Tuesday, January 21, at 2pm.