Social
History
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Education
Education
The Auld Kirk School
Education
Prior to the turn
of the 19th century the major impetus behind the development of
education in Scotland was provided by the Church.
The history of the early Church shows the growth of
formal education taking place after the landing of St. Columba in Iona
in 563AD. The Celtic and Roman churches founded schools as an extension
of their work and worship. The Reformers also saw the importance of
education both in its own right, and as a means of strengthening
Protestantism. Even into the nineteenth century parish
schools were
controlled by the Church of Scotland. Throughout this period learning
depended much on the vision of the Church. The aim of education was
primarily one of training those who would be participating in church
services.
During the Reformation many Scottish schools were
destroyed. The Reformer’s vision was the establishment of a school in
each parish which would be accessible to all children
alike, whether rich or poor, male or female. Robert Owen was among
those who regarded education as much as a right for
working class children as for their middle and upper class
contemporaries, pioneering a gradual change in attitude.
Most children began their schooling at the age of
five. The normal leaving age varied considerably, from as low as nine
in Libberton and Crawford, to as high as fifteen in other parishes.
Corporal punishment (using the tawse), was common throughout
Lanarkshire; indeed schoolmasters maintaining discipline in this way
seem to have been respected.
Since 1872 educational provision in Lanarkshire, as
in Scotland as a whole, has been expanded to meet an increasing range
of needs. The first stage involved ensuring that as many children as
possible who were of school age in terms of the 1872 Act, actually
attended school. The second stage of education provision involved
organising an effective system of secondary education.
As the standards of provision have improved, so
public expectations of the education service have increased throughout
the century. The upheaval of two world wars and the
social deprivation between the wars created in people a desire for
change. Significant Education Acts were passed in 1918 and 1945/46 and
the prevailing philosophy of the 1960’s also fostered innovation.
The earliest record of a school in the parish dates to around the
beginning of the eighteenth century, From the parochial records we note
that on May 13th 1701 a Mr Richard Steil was recommended by the
presbytery of Hamilton to take the post of school master in Stonehouse.
There being no objections from the church, he took the post. On
November 3rd 1702 the church session met to discuss; “That there should
be three schools in the parish, one in Kittiemuir, the teacher of which
is to have forty merks of the sellary allowed him; another at
Tweedyside, the teacher of which is to have twenty merks of the
sellary; and the principal school to continue in the town of
Stonehouse, as before”. Richard Steil is said to have “quit” the
school
at this meeting to make way for William Walker of Stonehouse as
schoolmaster. Where this school stood is uncertain but the earliest
clue to its siting is again from the parochial records which in May
1708 state; “The school was being
held in the kirk till a fit place
could be had. The committee appear to have latterly got a schoolhouse
from Thomas Cure”. In 1716 the schoolhouse is said to have been
in a
state of “ill condition” and
needed to be thatched. William Walker
resigned as schoolmaster in this year to be replaced by Walter Weir.
In 1780 there existed a school very near to where the present Townhead
Street School is situated. From the Statistical
Account
we are told
that the school masters’ house was at 44 King Street with the school a
little further up the street. The school and school masters’ house are
said to have cost £40 to build, paid by the parish. The school
house is said to have been low roofed, ill ventilated, and earth paved
but reasonably well attended. The working conditions, however, did
nothing to improve the health of the children. This may have been the
first school built in the village, as it appears prior to this
educational establishments were merely rented. Records further state,
besides the parochial school, there were others at the head and
sometimes the foot of the parish. These were probably temporary
dwellings rented due to a lack of permanent premises.
In 1790 the parochial school master was paid the sum of 3 pence per
quarter by 47 contributors, though this money apparently was often
difficult to collect. According to the minister at the time children
often left school at the age of nine or ten to start work. The fact
that schools were run predominantly by the churches for their
congregations, may in part be responsible for the large attendances and
influence the church had within the community. However the Education
Act of 1861 greatly reduced their power. This Act established an
Inspectorate, where schools were visited by inspectors who encouraged
improvements in teaching, school management and record keeping. In 1876
William Borland was Chairman of the Local School Board.
In 1803 an Education Act was established to improve the quality of
education by enlisting the services of more qualified teachers and
offering better conditions of service. The Act stated that each school
master should be provided with a house and garden. This may account for
the next parish school in Stonehouse to be built in Boghall Street,
about 1808, with a room and kitchen house above for the school master.
Originally a single storey building, Camnethan Street School had a
second storey added in 1898. One of the first headmasters to teach
there was ‘Dominie’ Robert S. Wotherspoon (also session clerk) who died
in 1891. Some may still remember Mr Alexander Anderson who succeeded Mr
Wotherspoon and retired in 1924.
In 1836 there were five schools in the parish attended by some 300
scholars. Two of these schools were subscription schools. A new parish
school was erected a short distance from the original school in
Townhead Street in the year 1853, later enlarged in 1870, 1881 and
1912. A house was also built for the teacher near the Free Manse called
Sauchrie Cottage.
The new Education Act of 1872 introduced a revolution in the
educational affairs of parishes, where control of education was handed
over to the state. Responsibility for the parish schools and burgh
schools were transferred to newly created School Boards, which later
gained control of many non-parochial schools. This Act also instructed
that attendance at school should be compulsory for all children between
the ages of five to thirteen. Exceptions were made for children over
ten, whose family circumstances made it necessary for them to find work.
The school board of Stonehouse acquired Greenside School formerly a
subscription school, built in 1853, and then converted it into an
infant school. In 1895 children who were five year old, were taught at
Greenside School which consisted of two rooms. Both teachers were
women, and thus, it became known as the ‘lady school’. The children
were taught reading, writing and arithmetic until they reached the age
of transferring to either Camnethan Street or Townhead Street where
they were taught other subjects such as geography and history.
Greenside later became a school for woodwork and domestic sciences.
The Free Kirk School in Hill Road was
opened in the year 1851 and was
run by the congregation until 1880, when it was disposed of under the
Free Church of Scotland School Properties Act, 1878, and became private
property. The school board rented Hill Road School from the proprietor
for one year intending to build a new school but their lease expired
and they rented the E.U. Church until the new school was erected at
Townhead Street in 1881. Unfortunately Hill Road School was destroyed
by fire in November 1936.
Children of the Victorian era were expected to buy their own books, and
it was common place for books to be handed down through the family as
was so often done with clothing. On the wall at the corner of Sidehead
Road can be seen quite a number of worn grooves in the stonework,
caused by children sharpening their pencils to be used on slate.
Few will remember one of Stonehouse’s most popular headmasters
Alexander McIntosh who earlier in his life was fortunate to escape from
the Tay Bridge disaster in 1879. Initially employed as a monitor he was
promoted to an appointment at the Free Church School in Hill Road,
before being appointed to headmaster of Townhead Street in 1882. Mr
McIntosh was also a very active member of the community before retiring
in 1914.
Another popular teacher was the late Kit Small who resided with her
sister Jen at Holmwood Cottage, Lanark Road End. Born in Swinhill on
21st June 1906, Kit trained at Jordanhill College and graduated at
Glasgow University in 1927. Briefly working for a short time in the old
county buildings, she was successful in obtaining a post at Camnethan
Street School in 1929. For a time, Kit taught the infants at Greenside
School, before moving to Stonehouse Junior Secondary at Townhead, where
she ended her long distinguished career in 1971.
Kit was probably Stonehouse’s longest serving teacher (42 years), and
is often fondly remembered for her teaching. Kit was greatly admired
and loved by one and all who were privileged to know her. A woman of
great attributes in teaching English, History, Arithmetic, Poetry and
Prose, Kit possessed the natural ability to communicate to children
with enthusiasm and a passion for her work. Both in and out of work she
was a teacher of learning and wisdom, whose knowledge of life was an
influence on those she encountered, including myself. Her door was
always open, and few who visited failed to return.
During the 1930’s and indeed into the late 1940’s, many children were
still without footwear. For this reason a ‘boot fund’ was established
to provide footwear for all children. Attendances at the schools were
affected all year round. Vaccinations were not as common as they are
today, thus diseases such as measles, mumps, flu, diptheria and scarlet
fever were not uncommon. During the Winter these ailments took their
toll, as did the weather which badly affected transport and road
conditions. In the Summer, pupils were often granted absence for
‘potato gathering’ or to help with the harvest.
Until the late 1940’s all Catholic and Protestant children mixed
together at both Camnethan Street and Townhead Street schools. During
the second world war many children from all over Glasgow, including
Carntyne and later Clydeside, were evacuated to Stonehouse and matched
with appropriate families for the duration of their stay. All of the
initial intake (229 from St. Thomas’s) were Catholic and were used to
being taught in separate schools in Glasgow. These children also
brought with them their own teachers and a priest, who insisted they
were taught separately. The priest was surprised to find that in
Stonehouse all children were taught together. When the war concluded,
the priest then pursued having Catholic children transferred to St.
Mary’s in Larkhall and St. Patrick’s in Strathaven, where today the
majority of our Catholic children are taught. Many children could not
settle into their new surroundings and were either redeployed or
returned to Glasgow. During the war years Alexander Anderson was
headmaster of Camnethan Street School and Robert Leggate, a former
pupil of his was the headmaster of Townhead School.
Camnethan Street School, more affectionately known as the ‘Dominie’
(Scots for school master) was closed in 1947 with the children being
transferred to Townhead School. It was briefly opened on occasion while
renovations took place to Townhead School in 1950/51 and as a dinner
hall and overflow of classes from Townhead. In 1956 the school was sold
to the Congregational Church and demolished to make way for a housing
development in March 1995.
Today classes of 30 are regarded as too large, yet in the 1950’s,
classes of over 50 were not uncommon; in 1958, there were four classes
of such a size. With pupils of all ages still being taught in
Stonehouse, school rolls were large. The logbook of Townhead Street
School in 1958 had 530 pupils on the roll. It wasn’t until June of 1953
that both Camnethan Street School and Greenside School removed all its
pupils to Townhead School to be taught under one roof. The growth of
the village after the Second World War, and the developments of the
gas, electric and Westmains housing schemes, found there was a need for
a second school in the village. Thus, in August 1979 Newfield Primary
was opened.
The Auld Kirk School
Early records of education in Stonehouse are difficult to ascertain as
the Session Minutes of the parish only date from 1696. From the time of
the Reformation, the church in Stonehouse was served by several
readers, all of whom are recorded in ‘Damn few an’ they’re a’ deid’.
Whether or not any of these readers served as schoolmasters is
uncertain. The earliest recorded account of a schoolmaster in the
parish dates to 1694, when the parish was said to have given twenty
nine shillings as its portion from the Presbytery to William Simpson, a
poor schoolmaster. It is unclear as to whether or not he taught in the old kirk or elsewhere, but a
visitation by the Presbytery of Hamilton
to the parish in this year indicated that both the kirk and the manse
were in a dilapidated state.
In Scotland ‘teachers of youth’ were recognised and placed under
regulation by statute in 1597. Parochial schools in Scotland were
established by law in 1696.
In 1697, Session Clerk James Clerk of Partickholme farm is recorded as
having sent a letter to the then Laird, Stevenson, on behalf of
‘precentor and schoolmaster’ John Watson. This letter requests the sum
of ten pounds Scots, from the vacant stipends in Stevenson’s hands, to
provide for Mr Watson’s ‘straightened circumstances’. The Stonehouse
Kirk Session Minutes stated that since the church had been vacant for
the past two years, the church accepted that its stipends should be
available for education in the event of an emergency. As the
schoolmaster was not being paid the legal salary under the Act of 1696,
the laird had no choice but to make provision for Mr Watson.
As there was no legally administered salary with respect to the
schoolmaster in Stonehouse, the position became vacant by the 18th
century, after John Watson left in 1700. Richard Steel took the post
briefly, on the legal minimum salary of 100 merks. However, he was
later to discover the salary was intended to be divided with others and
thus vacated the position. The Presbytery of Hamilton grew impatient
with the failure to fill the position and Rev.
Archibald
Foyer of the
Church in Stonehouse was instructed to call a meeting of the session
and the heritors to appoint a schoolmaster. Rev. Foyer intimated to the
Presbytery that no heritors had appeared at the meeting, thus he was
unable to appoint a schoolmaster. It would appear that this situation
was a recurring problem with the heritors and resulted in a procession
of many short term schoolmasters, who simply moved on when a better
opportunity prevailed.
In 1702 the kirk session agreed that the school at the kirk did not
adequately serve the needs of the whole parish. It was thus agreed to
erect three schools; at the Kirk, Kittiemuir and Tweedieside. From the
legal salary of 100 merks, 40 went to the teacher at Kittiemuir, with a
further 20 deducted for a man to serve at Tweedieside. This decision by
the kirk session was regarded as highly irregular, whereby teachers on
appointment were asked as a condition of employment to swear an
obligation to ‘voluntarily’ decline the sum of £60 merks to their
appointed school. A further condition stated that if no Winter classes
were held, then the principal schoolmaster would receive the full
salary of 100 merks. Richard Steel being informed of such conditions,
left his appointed position within a few months. As a result of the
kirk sessions unpopular conditions, finding willing schoolmasters to
take on such poor terms of employment proved difficult, leaving the
school without a schoolmaster for four years.
According to session records Robert Naismith wrongly indicated that
William Walker replaced Richard Steel after his departure. In 1706
Robert Donaldson of Roseneath was chosen by the kirk session to fill
the vacancy but on learning of the kirk sessions conditions, chose not
to appear before the Presbytery for further consideration regards his
personal qualification for the post. James Hamilton of Vicars was
chosen as interim schoolmaster until an official appointment could be
made. After serving in the post for one year he was approved by the
Presbytery and appointed schoolmaster. However, despite satisfying the
kirk session and heritors of his abilities, the parishioners were less
than pleased with James Hamilton, as he was said to have continued his
studies at Glasgow University and neglected the school during the
Winter months until he completed his studies in 1710. He was further
said to have neglected his obligations to the school by undertaking
ministerial duties outwith the parish to supplement his wages. Shortly
before his departure, the schools at Kittiemuir and Tweedieside were
left deserted, thus under the kirk session agreement of 1702, the legal
salary reverted to the schoolmaster at the kirk. This renewed calls
from parishioners regards the suitability of the kirk school and the
session agreed in 1706 to look for a suitable alternative whilst the
kirk was being used.
After Mr Hamilton’s departure, Thomas Mutter took the position of
schoolmaster on a salary of 100 merks, but he felt he was unable to
sustain a living from the salary provided to him. He was replaced in
1711 by William Walker, whose parents were said to have been regular
complainants regards the poor condition of the kirk school, which they
claimed endangered the lives of the children.
A local heritor Thomas Aire is said to have gifted a schoolhouse to the
parish, but the cottage was found to be badly constructed and finance
for its completion was soon lost to its continuing need for repair. The
kirk session known for its own interpretation of the law governing the
salary of the schoolmaster decided to utilise the mort cloth money to
undertake repairs to the roof of the schoolhouse.
“The Session do appoint
Robert Marshall to cause to pull 60 threive of
heather for thatching it and allow William Callan to give him 5s 6d out
of the mort cloth money to pay the person that pulls it.”
Throughout the 18th century kirk sessions and ministers often failed to
attend kirk session meetings and obey the rule of law governing
education. Stonehouse was a renown offender of such practices, which in
turn hindered the progress of education in the parish. The presbytery
found it increasingly difficult to supply Stonehouse with a minister
from 1712. William Walker departed his position in 1716, only one year
after the parish is recorded as having taken part in a national fast
because of the Rebellion of 1715. Finding a suitable replacement proved
difficult until principal heritor Lady Stevenson, nominated Walter Weir
for the vacant position. Walter Weir, like James Hamilton, also studied
divinity, though studying at Edinburgh University. Approved by the
Presbytery, he served at the schoolhouse until 1716.
After the 1715 Rebellion the unsettled nature of the country led to a
greater choice in the number of schoolmasters. This resulted in the
appointment of several schoolmasters throughout the 18th century
including; Thomas Clerk (1721-35), Robert Donovan (1735-56?), James
Gillespie (1774) and Thomas Smith (1799).
In 1735 Robert Donovan was responsible for the collection of
£13:4:6 from the parish of Stonehouse, as was his duty for the
Presbytery of Hamilton. This is recorded as being a significant
contribution considering the small size of the parish and recent bad
harvests. Under law the Presbytery of Hamilton had to ensure all
schoolmasters were qualified and taken the oaths of government. With
respect to Robert Donovan they were unable to assure the authorities
that he had taken such an oath. Robert Donovan’s headstone is located
in the old cemetery dating to 1771. His memorial however, contradicts
the information given before, as his epitaph clearly states he taught
in the parish for 41 years, not 21 years as suggested by a previous
researcher.
An Act of Parliament in 1752 ensured that the parish kirk provided a
building for education until such times as a school house could be
found.
In 1793 the schoolmasters salary of 100 merks was paid by 47
individuals. The school was attended by around 50 scholars, paying 1/3
per quarter with one third deducted for the vacation quarter. The
schoolmaster could earn no more than £18 annually and according
to the historical accounts of the year in question, great difficulty
was had in obtaining such monies from those using his services. As the
parochial school could not meet the demand for educational needs in
Stonehouse, two subscription schools were located at either end of the
parish. The cost of these establishments were met by the parents of the
children attending the schools.
In 1799, the Presbytery of Hamilton demanded that each parish provide a
written account of their educational facilities, including an account
of subject matter, number of children attending, how the schools were
funded and whether or not classes were held on the Sabbath. The parish
minister Rev. Morehead being
unavailable to provide such, Thomas Smith
the school master was said to have given an ‘inadequate’ report on such
matters. He informed the Presbytery that, as well as teaching the
parochial school, he also taught a Sunday Evening School financially
supported by a donation from Mrs Lockhart of Castlehill. A private day
school was also reported to have been taught by Thomas Gilmour, a
seceder student of the Anti-burgher persuasion.
In 1795 a Dissenters Church was formed in Stonehouse, namely the
Associate Congregation of Burgher Seceders. Rev. William Taylor was the
first minister of the church in 1798 and is recorded in the minutes of
the Hamilton Presbytery, as a Sunday School Teacher. He was understood
to be one of only two teachers providing evening classes in the
Presbytery in 1799. According to the minutes, Rev. Taylor was known to
be ‘non-conforming’ to orders given by the Presbytery. He is recorded
as refusing to appear before Presbytery, nor would he take an oath of
allegiance to the government. As a result of his disobedience, a parish
officer was appointed to issue him a summons. Rev. Taylor continued to
ignore the Presbytery’s demands, and was forced to relinquish his
school.
By 1803 the parochial schoolmaster was paid a minimum salary of 300
merks. The school and its house were said to have been in a dilapidated
state, built only 19 years previously in 1781, at a cost of £40.
Another teacher whose memorial rests in the kirk yard is that of John
Walker, who died in 1809.
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