Donald Caskie
| Donald Currie Caskie | |
|---|---|
| Religion | Church of Scotland |
| Personal | |
| Nationality |
 British
|
| Born |
22 May 1902 Bowmore, Islay, Scotland |
| Died | 27 December 1983 (aged 81) Greenock, Scotland |
| Religious career | |
| Post | The Scots Kirk, Paris, 1938-1940, 1945-1961 |
The Rev. Dr. Donald Currie Caskie DD OBE OCF (22 May 1902 – 27 December 1983) was a minister in the Church of Scotland, best known for his exploits in France during World War II, during which he helped an estimated 2,000 Allied sailors, soldiers and airmen to escape from occupied France (mainly through Spain). The 'Fasti' - the record of all Church of Scotland ministers since the Reformation - simply mentions that he was "engaged in church and patriotic duties in France, 1939-1945". In his autobiography The Tartan Pimpernel he states that 'he had been called to Paris in 1935.'
The son of a crofter, he was born in Bowmore on Islay in 1902. He was educated at Bowmore School and then Dunoon Grammar School before studying arts and divinity at the University of Edinburgh. His first charge was at Gretna, before becoming the minister of the Scots Kirk in Paris in 1938. A 2001 Gaelic-language documentary aired on BBC2 stated that Caskie was gay, with documentarian Angus Peter Campbell saying that Caskie lived life as a man who was "straight at home [and] gay abroad".
Having denounced the evils of Nazism from the pulpit, following the German invasion of France in 1940 Caskie had to flee from Paris. Instead of trying to return home (as strongly advised by staff at the Church of Scotland Offices in Edinburgh) he fled south, eventually ending up in Marseilles on the French south coast (having refused the opportunity of a place on the last ship to Britain leaving Bayonne). At the British Seamen's Mission in Marseilles, Caskie set up a refuge for stranded Britons. He would even send telegrams to the Church of Scotland offices in Edinburgh informing them of the number of British service personnel who had escaped. With the help of Lt-Cmdr Pat O'Leary RN (later awarded the George Cross), British Intelligence, local clergyman Pastor Marcel Heuzé, the American consular authorities and others, Caskie helped as many as 500 Allied service personnel to flee France.
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