George Watson's College, Edinburgh

This school was founded as a Charitable Hospital in 1741 with a £12,000 legacy from George Watson, a merchant and financier. In July 1870 the Merchant Company was granted powers by Parliament to reform all the hospitals under its management and, along with other Merchant Company schools, George Watson’s Hospital was remodelled into a day school. It first opened as George Watson’s College on 26 September 1870 in Archibald Place, with a roll of 1,000 pupils and Dr George Ogilvie as Headmaster. A year later, in 1871, the Merchant Company, having taken the decision to provide similar educational opportunities for girls, established George Watson’s Ladies’ College in Melville House (formerly home to Admiral Duncan who defeated the Dutch fleet in a naval battle off Camperdown in 1797). At the time Bill was at the school the Headmaster was John Alison.

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