Obituary: Anne Tynte-Irvine, 83 - Fascinating life of Fife figure involved spying, scorpions and cobras

Anne was a larger than life character who always enjoyed a good laugh

Born in St Andrews in July 1938, Anne went to India as a baby where her father, killed in action in Burma in 1942, was posted with the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles).

Living there for the bulk of the war years, with early memories of having to check shoes for scorpions, and what must have been a terrifying experience of finding a cobra that once came through the plug hole of her bath, Anne returned to Scotland on the second convoy ship allowed out of Bombay in 1944 and the first through the Suez Canal.

Disappointed to be kept below decks when buzzed by enemy planes, she did manage to see Vesuvius erupting by night!

Horse drawn carriages such as the one depicted above were commonplace in 1944

Arriving in St Andrews, she was met from the station by a horse-drawn cab full of fleas she recollected, during what was a bitterly cold winter, and was a shock to her system, being more used the warmer temperatures of India. However, this transition to Scotland was somewhat mitigated by learning to make scrambled eggs with the three eggs very carefully saved by her grandmother from her rations.

After school at St Katherine’s, Anne attended, and as a qualified Cordon Bleu taught at, the celebrated Constance Spry’s finishing school, Winkfield, before a family connection took her to Denmark as a companion to the Royal family.

After a trip behind the Iron Curtain as cook for an archaeological team, on which she was almost detained on suspicion of spying, she met her husband Timothy.

Their wedding in St Andrew’s Episcopal Church was attended by lifelong friend, the then Crown Princess of Denmark, whose attempted kidnap by student pranksters was foiled when she arrived incognito in a farm landrover.

Anne once had to contend with a cobra in her bath!

Following up family connections on both sides by moving to Ireland, Anne and Timothy were drawn into the Troubles when Timothy’s cousin, Senator Jack Barnhill, was murdered by the IRA and he had to take over the family business.

Anne became involved with Save the Children, helping to run playgroups across the community and supporting the Derry Peace Women in their campaign for an end to the violence.

Despite the difficulties Anne and Timothy loved their time in Ireland with a wide and eccentric circle of friends – one dinner party hosted by Desmond and Mariga Guinness included a “very odd” couple who turned out to be Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull no less!

Returning in 1987 to the family home, Anne was a fifth generation St Andrean fiercely proud of her links to the town and an active member of St Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Save the Children, Ladies Putting Club, St Andrews Preservation Trust and the Kate Kennedy Trust among others.

Anne escaped India on one of the very first convoys through the Suez Canal in 1944.

Her Great, Great Grandfather, David Burn, founder of the Ladies Putting Club, came to St Andrews to educate his children at the Madras College, just designed by his brother, the celebrated architect William Burn.

David’s son ‘Bill’, was a founder, and later chairman of, the first Rules of Golf Committee as well as an enthusiastic supporter of the early St Andrews life boats.

Neighbour and stranger alike would be regaled with these and many other stories about family and town and expected to account for themselves in turn. Friends, acquaintances, and students a long way from home will remember many unheralded acts of kindness, hospital visits, dogs walked, lifts offered, meals cooked and hospitality given, all with great energy, humour and an irresistibly positive outlook on life.

Anne is survived by her son and grandchildren. The funeral service will be held at St Andrews Episcopal Church, St Andrews at 11.30am on Friday, February 4.