| George Heriot's School | |
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| Motto | "Impendo" ("I Distribute Chearfullie[sic]") |
| Established | 1628 (as George Heriot's Hospital) |
| Type | Primary, Secondary, Independent[1] |
| Chaplain | Mrs. Maclean |
| Founder | George Heriot |
| Location | Lauriston Place Edinburgh EH3 9HE  Scotland |
| LEA | Edinburgh City |
| Staff | 129 (FTE, as of Sept. 2005) |
| Students | c. 1600 |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 3 to 18 |
| Houses | Castle, Greyfriars, Lauriston, Raeburn |
| Publication | The Herioter |
| Website | http://www.george-heriots.com |
| Coordinates: | |
George Heriot's School is an independent primary and secondary school on Lauriston Place in Edinburgh, Scotland, with around 1600 pupils. It was established in 1628 as George Heriot's Hospital, by bequest of the royal goldsmith George Heriot, and opened in 1659.
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Architecture
The main building of the school is notable for its renaissance architecture, the work of William Wallace, until his death in 1631.[2] He was succeeded as master mason by William Aytoun, who was succeeded in turn by John Mylne.[3] In 1676, Sir William Bruce drew up plans for the completion of Heriot's Hospital. His design, for the central tower of the south façade, was eventually executed in 1693.[4] The school is a turreted building surrounding a large quadrangle, and built out of sandstone. The foundation stone is inscribed with the date 1628. The intricate decoration above each window is unique (with one paired exception - those on the ground floor either side of the now redundant central turret on the west side of the building). A statue of the founder can be found in a niche on the north side of the quadrangle. The main building was also the first large building to be constructed outside the city walls. It sits next to Greyfriars Kirk, built in 1620, in open grounds in a fine position, overlooked by the Castle directly to the north. Parts of the sixteenth-century city wall (the Flodden Wall) are still to be found serving as the walls of the school grounds. The grounds contain a selection of other buildings of varying age; these include a swimming pool and a granite war memorial.
History
On his death in 1624, George Heriot left around 25,000 Pound Scots – equivalent to several tens of millions today – to found a "hospital" (then the name for this kind of charitable school) to care for "puir, fatherless bairns" (Scots: poor, fatherless children) of Edinburgh. The construction of Heriot's Hospital (as it was first called) was begun in 1628, just outside the city walls of Edinburgh. It was completed just in time to be occupied by Oliver Cromwell's English forces during the invasion of Scotland during the Third English Civil War; the building was used as a barracks, with horses stabled in the chapel. The hospital finally opened in 1659, with thirty pupils in residence; its finances grew, and it took in other pupils in addition to the orphans for whom it was intended. In the 1880s, it began to charge fees; however, to this day it serves its charitable object, providing free education to a sizable number of fatherless children, referred to as "foundationers". It was not all plain sailing, however, and in 1846 there was an insurrection in the hospital and fifty-two boys were dismissed.[5] In 1979 it became co-educational with the arrival of the first girls, and now has around 1500 pupils. In 1837 the school founded ten "free schools" in Edinburgh, educating several thousand pupils across the city; these were closed in 1885. One of them, with a copy of several of the features of the original Lauriston Place building, is at the east end of the Cowgate. The school also provided funds for the establishment of an institution which later merged with the Watt Institution (named after James Watt) in the 1870s to form Heriot-Watt College, a technical college that became Heriot-Watt University in 1966.
Headmasters
School Headmasters have included :
- 1947 - 1970 Bill Dewar,
- 1970 - 1983 Allan McDonald (Born 1922, Died 2005),
- 1983 - 1998 Keith Pearson,
- 1998 - Present Alistair Hector
Houses
Pupils at the school belong to one of four houses:
- Lauriston (green, after the school's address, Lauriston Place; named after Lauriston Castle)
- Greyfriars (white, named after the adjacent kirk, Greyfriars Kirk)
- Raeburn (red, after a famous former pupil, Henry Raeburn)
- Castle (blue, after Edinburgh Castle to the north)
Magazines
The school magazine is called the Herioter, and the Junior School-specific Magazine is called the Junior School Journal (shortened to JSJ). There is also an annual school newspaper called The Heriot Herald. In addition, there is a less formal internal online magazine written by the pupils themselves and aimed at their peers called The Blazer, which can be accessed through the school's intranet.
Notable alumni
- Nick Abbot, Talk Radio presenter
- J. W. S. Cassels, mathematician
- Gavin Esler, television journalist and presenter of Newsnight
- John Borthwick Gilchrist, Indologist
- Mark Goodier, disc jockey
- Mike Heron, musician, formerly of the Incredible String Band
- Andy Irvine, rugby union player
- Roy Kinnear, actor
- Lord Mackay of Clashfern, former Lord Chancellor
- David McLetchie, former leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Gordon Prentice, MP for Pendle
- Henry Raeburn, painter
- Ian Richardson, actor
- Alastair Sim, actor
- Ken Stott, actor
- Nigel Tranter, historical novelist
- Dougie Walker, sprinter
- Gordon Ross, rugby union player
- Bruce Douglas, international rugby player
Simon Tayor, International rugby player
References
- ^ http://www.scottishschoolsonline.gov.uk/schools/georgeheriotsschooledinburghcity.asp
- ^ Colvin, Howard (1978) A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840 John Murray
- ^ Colvin, Howard (1978) A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, John Murray, p.569-70; Gifford, John, McWilliam, Colin & Walker, David, (1984) The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, Penguin, p.179-82
- ^ Gifford, John, McWilliam, Colin & Walker, David, (1984) The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, Penguin, p.180
- ^ Gilbert, W.M., editor, Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century, Edinburgh, 1901: 116
