John Telfer Dunbar
1912 - 2003
John Telfer Dunbar was born in Edinburgh in 1912 and educated at Sedbergh
School. By profession he was an archaeologist specializing in maritime archaeology
and underwater exploration. In the mid-1950s, he was Archaeological Director of the
British Underwater Research Group based in Salcombe, Devon.
Telfer Dunbar is best known for his work on Scottish Highland and military dress. He
began to collect weapons, samples of tartan, and images of Highland military and
civil dress, and related manuscripts in 1928. In 1947, he succeeded Major Ian
Mackay Scobie as Honorary Curator of the Scottish United Services Museum in
Edinburgh. The collection includes some of Major Scobie' working papers. In 1949,
Telfer Dunbar' collection of material on Highland dress and tartans was exhibited
during the Edinburgh Festival and seen by Queen Elizabeth and other members of
the royal family. His publications include History of Highland Dress, Edinburgh, 1962
and The Costume of Scotland, London, 1981. Telfer Dunbar was President of the St. Andrew Society, 1973-1979, President of the Scottish Tartans Society and Chairman of the Costume Society of Scotland.
During the Second World War, John Telfer Dunbar spent over three years as a
prisoner of the Japanese in Malaysia and Thailand between 1942 and 1945. He
worked on the notorious ' Railway' from Siam to Burma during the entire period
of its construction. During the 1950s, Telfer Dunbar worked on a history of the Far
East Prisoners of War. He was first Chairman of the Scottish Returned Far East
P.O.W. Association and editor of the Association' magazine, Scottish Pow-Wow.
The collection includes numerous incoming letters to William Wilson, Tartan
Manufacturers, Bannockburn. John Telfer Dunbar presented material from the firm'
archive to the National Library of Scotland in 1952 (MSS.6660-7000).