Scotland > 1882-1915 - Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of Scotland > 1903, Part 2 - Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of Scotland ... (Royal National Directory of Scotland.) With ... map, etc

DIRECTOKY.]
EDINBURGH.
XI
fipecially Scottish features, at each angle is a large square
tower of four storeys, with ornamented parapets and cor-
belled-out turrets : the whole stands on a balustraded tei--
Tace. The original trustees of Heriot's endowment were
the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Town Council, and the
*ity ministers of Edinburgh ; and by them and their succes-
sors in office the trust continued to be administered till
August, 1885. At that date the Endowed Schools (Scotland)
Commissioners issued a scheme by which the governing
ibody was reconstituted, and tlie number of its members
(reduced from fifty-four to twenty-one, of whom twelve are
appointed by the Town Council (one of these must be elected
ifrom among the ministers of religion officiating in Edin-
burgh, not being members of the Established Church of
;Scotland), three by the School Board of Edinburgh, two by
the city ministers of Edinburgh, two by the Seiiatus of the
University of Edinburgh, one by the Royal Society of Edin-
burgh, and one by the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce.
Besides altering the composition and number of the govern-
ing body, the scheme also made considerable changes in the
mode of appljdng the income of the trust ; and the main
■objects to which this is now to be devoted may be summarised
as follows : — (i) The maintenance of a day school withinthe
buildings of Heriot's Hospital, to be called George Heriot's
Hospital School, and open to fee-paying pupils. (2) The
maintenance and extension of the Watt Institution as a
Technical College — to be known as the Heriot-Watt College
— for " providing technical and general education for the
industrial classes, of both sexes, on a scale suitable to the
great and increasing wants of these classes." (3) The
foundation of bursaries for the promotion of secondary and
.higher education, which are tenable at George Heriot's
Hospital School, the High School, the Heriot-Watt College,
St. George's Training College, and the University.
Heriot-Watt College, Chambers street, is mainly intended
:to give a thorough scientific instruction, at moderate fees,
to students in attendance at evening classes. Day classes
for higher technical training were established in the College
in 1888. Attached to the College are various bursaries
covering the cost of education and books or assisting
■students to carry on their education in the day technical
department, or in the University of Edinburgh. There
are at present nearly 4,000 male and female students in
attendance at the evening classes.
The Fettes College and Endowment are due to the bequest
■ of Sir William Fettes bart. of Comely Bank, who was born
-in 1750, and died in 1836. The buildings, which stand to the
nortli of the new town, form a picturesque pile in a highly
ornate style, designed by the late Mr. David Bryce, and
include a chapel in an elaborate form of Decorated Gothic.
The administration of the endowment is now in the hands
of the governors of the Fettes Trust, acting under the
scheme of the Educational Endowment (Scotland) Com-
mission, dated April 3rd, 1886. There are at present fifty
foundationers. There are also foundation scholarships,
restricted to boys who have been pupils for at least three
years in public or state-aided schools in Scotland, or in any
■schools subject to Government inspection under the pro-
visions of the Educational Endowments (Scotland) Act, 1S82.
The scholars are maintained and educated free of charge,
and in addition receive the sum of ^^20 yearly. As a I'ule,
two are offered annually for competition, but this depends
upon the vacancies that occur. Non-foundationers are also
iTCceived, and for their accommodation there are four board-
ing-houses, situated within the college grounds, and mider
the charge of the college masters. The instruction includes
all the branches of a liberal education of the highest class,
and is intended to qualify for the universities and for pro-
fessional life.
The Edinburgh School Board has offices in Castle terrace
and Cornwall street, designed by Mr. Robert Wilson, archi-
tect to the Board, the estimated cost being about ^10,000.
Merchiston Castle School, in Colinton road, was opened as
a private boarding school in 1833. It is now the property
of a company, consisting mainly of old pupils, the directors
of the company forming the governing body of the school.
The school buildings, boarding houses, class rooms, sana-
torium, workshop, gymnasium &c. stand in and around the
grounds of the castle. The old tower dates probably from
the middle of the isth century, but the other school buildings
are modern. The school consists of two departments, the
preparatory and the big school. Tlie former, opened in
1892, takes boys from nine to thirteen years of age, and the
latter, consisting of boys from thirteen to nineteen, follows
the usual lines of a public school curriculum. Near the
school is a playing field, about 14 acres in extent. There
are a few entrance scholai'ships, and three leaving scholar-
ships (called the "Rogerson Memorial ") worth about ,^4:;
annually, one of which is offered each year for competition
among boys who are going to the University.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
The Mint of Scotland. — In the lane called Gray's close
stand the buildings formerly occupied by the Mint of Scot-
land. They were erected in 1574, but no money has been
coined there since the union of the two kingdoms.
The Parliament House, erected 1640, to take the place of
the old Parliament Hall in the Castle and the Tolbooth
which had been used for the meetings of Parliament from
1560, occupies the south and west sides of Parliament square,
formerly known as Parliament close, on the south side of
High street, and behind St. Giles's Cathedral. The present
front is in the Italian style, by Reid, and has a rusticated
ground storey, the upper storey being relieved by columns
in the centre and at the wings. The bufiding has now been
remodelled to serve as the Law Courts. The hall formerly
used for meeting of Parliament is 122 feet in length and 40
in breadth, the ceiling being of massive carved oak, and the
floor also of oak : it now forms a handsome promenade,
in which advocates meet daily during session to transact
business and attend cases pending before the supreme
courts. The subject of the stained window on the south
side of the hall is the inauguration of the Court, in 1537,
by James V., who is in the act of presenting the deed
oi confirmation, by Pope Clement VII., to the Lord Presi-
dent. The other figures represent Dunbar, Archbishop of
Glasgow, the Abbot of Cambuskeuneth, and judges and
nobles of the time : this window was executed at Munich, in
1868, from a design by Kaulbach, and cost ;£2,ooo. The
hall is ornamented with statues and portraits of distinguished
lawyers, more or less connected with Scotland. Of the
former, the principal are those of Lord President Forbes, in
his judicial robes ; Viscount Melville, Dundas of Arniston,
Blair of Avonton, Francis Jeffrey, Boyle, and Cockburn.
Among the portraits are : Lord Brougham, by Sir Daniel
iMacnee ; Lords President M'Neill and Hope ; John, Duke of
Argyll ; Lord President Lockhart, of Carnwath ; and other
distinguished leading functionaries. Within this hall was
held the great banquet given by the corporation of the city
to George IV., on his visit to Scotland in 1822. The Outer
House, where the Lords Ordinary sit, is reached from below
the window mentioned above, and consists of four small
courts, where civil cases are tried for the first time. The
Inner House is divided into two divisions (first and second),
where appeals are heard from the Outer House and Sheriff
Courts. The High Court of Justiciary is the supreme
criminal tribunal of Scotland, and is situated in another part
of the building. There are also entrances from the hall
leading to the Advocates' Library, the Writers' to the Signet
Library, and the Library of the Solicitors before the Supreme
Courts, which occupy rooms in the main building ; the first
named was founded "in 1682 and is entitled to a copy of every
book published in Great Britain. In the centre of Parlia-
ment square is an equestrian statue of Charles II. ; the
fi2ure, which is in Roman costume, was erected in 168 s.
The County Buildings for the Midlothian County Council,
Constabulary &c. at the corner of the High street and of
George IV. bridge, were completed in 1903, and are in the
Italian style ; the west front is adorned with allegorical
sculpture.
The Sheriff Court House, George IV. bridge, erected in
186S, is an edifice in the Renaissance style, and contains
criminal and civil courts for the city and county, chambers
for the sheriffs and procurator fiscal, and numerous offices.
H.M. Geological Survey of Scotland and the Society of
Procurators of Midlothian also have rooms here.
The Municipal Buildings, formerly known as the Royal
Exchange, in High street, were founded in 1753 and com-
pleted in 1761, at a cost of upwards of ;^3i,ooo. They are
built round a quadrangle and contain the City Council
Chambers, the Magistrates' Court Room and a number of
municipal offices ; considerable additions are now (1903)
being made, at an estimated cost of about ^150,000. A
tablet placed by the corporation in 1894 at the entrance
of the building has the following inscription : — " On
this site stood the Mansion of Sir Simon Preston, of Craig-
millar, provost of the City of Edinburgh, iS5<5-7> 'n which
mansion Mary, Queen of Scotland, after her surrender to the
confederate lords at Carberry hill, spent her last night in
Edmburgh, 15th June, 1567. On the following evening she
was conveyed to Holyrood, and thereafter to Lochleven Castle
as a State prisoner."
The General Post and Telegraph Office, erected on the site
of the Old Theatre Royal, at the end of Princes street, is a
large building in the Italian style, completed in May, 1866,
at a cost of about ^120,000. The foundation stone was laid
by H.R.H. the Prince Consort in 1861.
The Inland Revenue Office occupies a spacious building in
Waterloo place.