Innes Duffus, archivist of the Nine Incorporated Trades of Dundee, has died aged 93.
An engineer, Innes had a long career in the motor trade in Dundee, after serving as an officer in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
However, he was best known as member of several crafts and for his work cataloguing the long history of Dundee’s Nine Trades.
He was also a past director of Dundee Chamber of Commerce, a founder member of Dundee committee of Cancer Relief, a Samaritans volunteer, and honorary fellow of Abertay University.
Innes Alfred Duffus was born in Dundee in March 1929 and was educated at Downfield primary and then Dundee High School between 1939 and 1946.
In 1947 he won a coveted engineering apprenticeship at Wolseley Motors in Birmingham and it during this time he met his future wife, Muriel Southall, who worked at the Austin Motors plant.
The couple married at Lickey Church, Birmingham, in November 1951 and went on to have two of a family, Carol and Lynn.
His apprenticeship involved studying at technical colleges in Birmingham. Innes then returned to Dundee to complete his apprenticeship to SMTA requirements at Alfred Duffus, the garage on Kingsway founded by his father.
Commission
In March 1952 Innes joined the REME, was commissioned later that year and served in West Germany.
During his later service in the Territorial Army, Innes was promoted to major as a workshop officer.
Between 1954 and 1979, Innes ran Alfred Duffus motors which was agent for Isetta, Triumph, Volkswagen and Opel cars.
He went on to become general manager of A. Simpson and Son Motors in Clerk Street, Brechin, before serving as managing director of Carlyn Services which ran five filling stations and a truck stop.
Appointed
From 1966, Innes was a member of the Hammerman craft, the Bonnetmakers, was an honorary member of the Weaver Trade and, in 1999 was appointed archivist to the Nine Incorporated Trades.
He was also a member of the CREATE project which oversaw the refurbishment of McManus Galleries in the early 2000s.
Iain Flett, former Dundee city archivist paid tribute to Innes, saying that in retirement his interest in the history of Dundee, its trades and Guildry, became a consuming passion that infected all around him.
“For someone who started to study the art of reading ancient handwriting in his 70s, he became an expert at deciphering written 16th century Scots with such words as relict (widow) umquhile (deceased) and coinage such as merks (two thirds of a pound),” said Iain.
“Combined with the fact that Innes was a forward thinker and not one to wallow in nostalgia, he brought a refreshing energy to the evaluation of the past to appreciate the present and future.”