Misplaced Pages

George Watson's College

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 195.82.106.244 (talk) at 00:27, 6 March 2006 (→Notable Alumni). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 00:27, 6 March 2006 by 195.82.106.244 (talk) (→Notable Alumni)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

George Watson's College is a leading co-educational independent school in Scotland, situated in the Morningside area of Edinburgh.

History

File:Watson's.gif
Front View of George Watson's College

The school was founded by George Watson (1654-1723) who bequeathed the bulk of his fortune, £12,000 (a vast sum in 1723), to found a hospital school for the provision of post-primary boarding education to orphan boys. George Watson had made his fortune through accountancy and having studied in Holland returned to Scotland as the country's first professional accountant. In 1695 when an Act of Parliament founded the Bank of Scotland, George Watson was appointed the Chief Accountant with a salary of £60 a year.

The school was originally called George Watson's Hospital and was located close to the Meadows, almost opposite George Heriot's School. Watson's (as it is commonly known) had to move a short distance west when the city's Royal Infirmary moved to the site. The original building was incorporated as the hospital chapel, and is now at the centre of a redevelopment to turn the recently vacated infirmary into housing. The school was re-established in the former Merchant Maiden Hospital building (another school) in nearby Archibald Place. This arrangement lasted until an expansion of the infirmary, which planned and built a maternity wing on the site, recently demolished. Watson's moved to its current granite-faced neo-classical building on Colinton Road in 1923, by which time it was admitting day pupils.

Amalgamation

In 1974 the school amalgamated with George Watson's Ladies College (of George Square, Edinburgh). Since then it has remained co-educational, and has primarily served day pupils, although various boarding houses have been maintained in the Tipperlin Road area, and on the school's campus (at New Myreside House).

George Watson's College also incorporates the once entirely separate John Watson's School, the former premises of which now house the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

Houses

  • Cockburn Greyfriars
  • Preston Falconhall
  • Melville Ogilvie
  • Lauriston

Sport

The main sports of the school are rugby and hockey for boys, and hockey and netball for girls. The school regularly competes in many athletic and skiing events throughout the year. There is a Former Pupils rugby club known as Watsonians FP, who regularly play in the Scottish BT Premiership.

Notable Alumni

Notable former pupils, called Watsonians, include:

Categories: