Sunday 17 June 2012

Scholars


This was Isabella's school; an old house on a steep hill in the Georgian part of Edinburgh known as New Town.

To my eyes, the road reminds me of Bath.



Four storeys visible from the road, but look over the railings and there's not one but two basements:




From the back of the building, there are stunning views across the Firth of Forth.


A school that was a wonderful place for day-dreaming?

The view from the front was no less delightful; there were gardens where I can imagine crocodiles of little girls being taken for exercise of some sort or another.





How do I know this? How can I be sure?

When I arrived in Edinburgh, my first stop was the University Archive to look at the record of Isabella's medical studies. The first document recorded her matriculation - the qualifications that made her eligible to study for a degree. It said, 'School Education: 11 Abercromby Place'.

Each student's record was in different hand writing, so I was looking not at the work of a University administrator, but at a declaration by Isabella in her own hand writing. That gave me a thrill, I can tell you. But 11 Abercromby Place is a strange name for a school. Thankfully more help was available. 

I'd already been in touch with Irene Townsley, a family history researcher. She pointed me towards a street directory held in the Central Library. Off I went to look up 11 Abercromby Place. 'Miss Williamson,' said the directory. Well that wasn't very helpful. A dead end? 

Time for a ponder. Wandering into Waterstones, I spotted a book entitled 'Crême de la Crême', which claimed to be a study of girls' schools in Edinburgh. Being mean and stingy, I didn't buy it, but ordered it for study in the National Library of Scotland. A short wait and there it was for me to examine. 

Go to the back, search the index: Miss Williamson. p.32

"The 1901 census recorded 16 rooms in the house and six boarders from counties as far apart as Sutherland and Devon. One girl was born in India. The sister of another pupil helped Miss Williamson in class, and there were two resident governesses - one for music and the other teaching the language of her native France. Miss Williamson's old aunt lived among these young people, and the household was completed by a cook and two maids."

It reminds me of the school in the film of 'A Little Princess'. 

'Crême de la Crême' describes the development of the school, which thrived and grew under Miss Williamson's direction. In honour of the magnificent view of a particular church across the water, it was renamed St. Serf''s in the 1920s. How many successful students emerged in those early years? None of Isabella's sisters went to University. It would probably be hard to find out, because sadly the present incarnation of the school, Clifton Hall, has no record of their past pupils.

The census record only tells us of the people who actually lived in the school. What about day visitors? Isabella and her sisters were living in their parents home in the 1901 census, but they were all described as scholars. Were they day pupils? At what age did they begin attending the school? How many other such pupils were there? And how did they get to school? It was a couple of miles from home. Did they walk to school? Were they alone or accompanied by an adult? Which adult - their mother or a servant? Or did they go in a carriage?

And what did they learn apart from French and music? Isabella's University record says she had passed school examinations in the traditional subjects of English, Latin, Mathematics and French 1904, when she would have been 16 or 17 years old. And that was enough to get her into Medical School.

1 comment:

  1. How wonderful to stumble upon this blog ! As a former pupil of St Serfs School in the early 1960's I am always searching for information regarding it's history. I do know that it was founded in the 1860's by an unknown lady and was based in Albany Street which is a straight continuation of Abercromby Place going east. An eccentric establishment in my time and I loved it's quirky rules in order to turn us out into the world as individual and confident young ladies. I'm off to order the book and look forward to making the acquaintance of a fellow former pupil.

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