The words in both the above reports could have been written by Alexander Paterson, and perhaps were – he had given evidence before the departmental committee, and co-authored the Commissioners’ reports. He at least inspired them, since they encapsulated his philosophy.

Its origins lay in the fact that Alec was part of the liberal, middle-class Christian activism, so strong in the inter-war years, that believed in close personal ties between the classes and not in class war, and wanted to reshape society but not destroy it. This was reformation, not revolution. It was an alternative and antidote to the fashionable totalitarianisms of Fascism or Communism, or even to ‘systematic socialism’. Those from privileged backgrounds had a duty to get to know, understand, assist, encourage and rescue the less fortunate, and especially the young from a life of grinding poverty and crime. Thus, in his chosen arena of penal reform, he embodied a more imaginative and constructive approach to the treatment of all offenders than had hitherto been countenanced.