he Scottish Conjurers' Association was the fourth magical society to be founded in the city of Glasgow but is the only one to have endured.

The first, the Universal Society of Magicians (1917), was succeeded in 1919 by the Glasgow Society of Magicians (G.S.M.), and then in 1920 came the Mystic Twelve founded by F.R. Burnette. When the G.S.M. was wound up in 1924 after its Treasurer had decamped with the funds the Scottish Conjurers' Association (S.C.A.) arose, phoenix-like, from its ashes. Duncan Johnstone and his boyhood friend Jimmy Findlay, as teenagers, had been very junior members of the G.S.M. but now became Founder Members of the S.C.A. together with their older G.S.M. friends, De Vega (Alex M. Stewart) and Richard Armour. These names were to become synonymous with Scottish magic.

De Vega was the first President and W.P. Wilson the first Secretary but within a couple of years Duncan Johnstone, aged 21, took over the latter office, which he was to hold continuously for a record fifty four years. Although he also served for a short time as President he did not relinquish his role as Secretary during this period. De Vega, a personal friend of Houdini, subsequently became Treasurer, a post he occupied for almost forty years and ended only when he left Glasgow for Wakefield following the death of his wife Nan.

In the early years members from other Scottish towns joined the club and the concept of the S.C.A. becoming a national society, with branches known as Clans being formed in other locations, was envisaged. Initially there were three such Clans (Dumbarton & Alexandria, Ayr Brother Conjurers and Paisley Magical Society) but the idea did not appeal to some existing societies, particularly Aberdeen, and thus it fairly quickly foundered.