Education in Edinburgh in the eighteenth century

Abstract

This study is an attempt to describe education in Edinburgh in the eighteenth century, a period which saw such a remarkable flowering of the intellectual life of the city that it is impossible for the student of literature or history not to feel curious about the circumstances that helped to produce it. One of the contributing factors was the educational system, and its special significance has not been studied in detail before. Fortunately information about the schools is in existence in official records, books, and newspapers.Many elements combined to create the circumstances in Edinburgh at the end of the century that were favourable to the development of genius. Historians and critics have pointed to the expansion of the city boundaries, the imaginative design of the New Town, the completion of public works like the North and South Bridges and the Royal Exchange, the quickening of interest in drama, art, and music, as all helping to produce an atmosphere congenial to the intellectual growth of men like Henry Mackenzie, Scott, Horner, Jeffrey, and Cockburn, and stimulating to the ordinary men of the day. In previous assessments-, the importance of the educational system of Edinburgh has not been stressed, which is unfortunate, not only because it was different from that of other Scottish and English cities, but also because at the very time when most of these men of genius were young in Edinburgh, 2. the University under the Principalship of William Robertson, one of the distinguished historians of the day, was attracting able men as teachers and students, and the High School, where the ablest boys were trained, was in the charge of a great teacher in its Rector, Alexander Adam..Books have been written on the University, the High School, George Heriot's Hospital, and other schools in Edinburgh, but no attempt has yet been made to give a complete picture of the various kinds of schools that existed in Edinburgh in the eighteenth century. It is the intention of this study to try to provide such a comprehensive view. It will include, for example, information about the Charity and English schoöls, where most of the children learned to read and write; the High Schools of Edinburgh, Canongate, and South Leith; the Hospitals of George Heriot and George Watson, and those for the Merchant Maidens and Trades Maidens associated with the name of Mary Erskine; and the great variety of private schools, private teachers, and boarding schools. There will also be some consideration of the books used in these schools, particularly those written by Edinburgh teachers.Before a detailed study of the schools can be begun, it is necessary to sketch, in outline, something of the background. Accordingly, in this first chapter there will be some consideration of the size and growth of the city in the period under review, and of the Town Council which was responsible for it. Secondly, since the place of the Church of Scotland is of prime importance in any study of Scottish education, some estimate must be given of the powers of the Church in general, and its position in Edinburgh in. particular. Thirdly, something must be said, however briefly, about the special and indeed peculiar place of the University in the city.