The crofter's son who founded a famous Scottish school
A talk by John W. Oliver , D.Litt.
Strangers to Edinburgh who pass along the well-known Queensferry Road that leads to the Forth Bridge often wonder about the great towered and turreted building that stands in its own grounds by the roadside. By the time they reach it, they will already have passed the famous Fettes College, and are now beholding another of the famous schools of Scotland — Daniel Stewart 's College.
The bi-centenary of the birth of the founder, Daniel Stewart , falls this year. Dr. Oliver is English master at the College, and he will tell the story of the crofter lad from Strathtay, who, after serving apprenticeship to an Edinburgh wig-maker, spending years in India, and returning to Scotland to be an Usher in the Scottish Court of Exchequer, eventually left a large sum to found the school that bears his name.
His achievement is the more remarkable because it was made possible by savings out of a very small income.