By Ian Cooper, from his excellent series Records of a Bygone Age, first published in The Stronsay Limpet, and republished here with their kind permission.

In Part 1 of this story we were left with a number of unanswered questions about long-time teacher Scollay Skethway and where he had actually taught. An article written by one James Calder in the John o’ Groats Journal of August 1863 does give a little more information about Mr Skethway and his school but still leaves unanswered the questions of where it was situated and how long it operated, as is the question of where the female school mentioned in the article was located.

In addition to Mr Skethway’s role as schoolmaster, he was appointed as a ruling elder of the Established Church, acting for many years as Session Clerk to the Kirk Session. This too was a post his father had held before him, with John acting as Session Clerk to the then minister Robert Scollay for a long time and this association with Rev Scollay may well have been where Scollay’s unusual Christian name was derived.

The Kirk Session of that period was a powerful body, whose duty included meting out the justice of the time to those who were perceived by the Church to have stepped out of line. In the Session minute of a meeting on 18th July 1847 it is interesting to note a part of this duty recorded as follows:

‘The Moderator stated that he had called this meeting in consequence of a Fama Clamosa concerning Mr Stewart Logie, Parish Schoolmaster, Stronsay, the members present having taken the case into consideration unanimously came to the resolution to refuse Mr Logie admission to the Lord’s Table until he proves his innocence.’

Scollay Skethway continued in the post of Session Clerk until 1856 when John Forbes took on the role, the third consecutive headmaster to hold the post.

Returning to schools once more it seems that Stronsay must have been luckier than many other Orkney schools where, in a lecture given in Kirkwall in 1850, one Dr Paterson painted a depressing picture of the schools of the time:

‘The parochial schools of Orkney are in a state of the most lamentable inefficiency. The average attendance at several of them during the year did not exceed eight or ten pupils, while the education attained at many of them is of the meanest and most trifling kind. Although there are exceptions among the teachers, and although many of them may be inoffensive men, yet in general they are so illiterate, and so disqualified for their situation, that a considerable part of the £470 paid in salaries to them is worse than thrown away.’

In all likelihood this lecturer would have been Rev Dr Robert Paterson, minister of Kirkwall’s East (or Paterson) Church, which is now part of the Orkney Islands Council Offices.

Much of the following information regarding schools and teachers of the 19th century up to the time of the Education (Scotland) Act of 1872 has been gleaned from the Census records of the time so there will be gaps in the timescale and some of the details are my own interpretation of what seems a likely progression of teachers and the schools they taught in.

We firstly return to Stewart Logie, recorded as Schoolmaster of the Parish School in the 1841 census. Mr Logie’s wife had died in 1842 and, by the 1851 census, 58 year old Mr Logie was living at 5 Whitehall with his two sons, with his occupation recorded as a retired schoolmaster. This seems quite a young age to retire from the teaching profession and we are left to wonder if the fama clamosa considered by the Kirk Session a few years earlier could have had any bearing on his retiral.

That same 1851 census shows a 26 year old John Forbes living at Hunton, with his occupation given as a Parochial Schoolmaster and General Teacher, having been appointed to the post in May 1849. It’s interesting to note here that his birthplace was recorded in the census as ‘At Sea, British Subject’.

By the time of the 1861 census he is residing in the Schoolhouse of Stronsay with his wife Catherine and their young daughter, by which time Mr Forbes was recorded as being the Island Registrar in addition to his role as Parish Schoolmaster.

It is in 1861 too that another school first puts in its appearance in a census when the name of 21 year old Miss Peterina Peace first appears, recorded as a Teacher of English at the New School and her name was to be synonymous with education in Stronsay for many years to come. This new school was funded and run by the United Presbyterian Church in Stronsay but it isn’t clear just where the school was. A leading contender has to be at what is now called the Old Schoolhouse, although it may possibly have been sited elsewhere.

Moving on to the 1871 census we find Mr Forbes still in post as a Parochial Schoolmaster, now with a family of six, but, in what I believe must have been an error, his name was recorded as Thomas instead of John. Miss Peace too was still shown as a teacher at the New School, being resident there with her widowed mother and widower grandfather.

The following year, education in Scotland was to make a gigantic leap with the introduction of the 1872 Education (Scotland) Act which enshrined in law compulsory education for every child in Scotland between the ages of 5 and 13, stating that:

‘There shall be provided for every parish and burgh a sufficient amount of accommodation in public schools available for all persons resident in such parish and burgh for whose education efficient and suitable provision is not otherwise made…’

This Act was to be overseen by the Scotch Education department in London and a vital component of this was the formation of School Boards in every burgh and parish, those Boards being charged to

‘ maintain and keep efficient every school under their management, and shall from time to time provide such additional school accommodation as they shall judge necessary. ‘

With the Act gaining Royal Assent in August 1872, the formation of around 1,000 School Boards in Scotland moved rapidly forward and, with Stronsay and Eday linked together to form a joint School Board, elections were soon held there.

Those successful in the first election were Colonel David Balfour of Balfour, Rev Joseph Caskey of Stronsay, Rev James Ingram of Eday, Mr Adam Horne of Eday and Mr Thomas Scott of Stronsay and they moved to their first meeting on 25th March 1873.

At this meeting, noting that:

‘in performing their duties under this Act, it shall be lawful for any school board to acquire by purchase or otherwise sites for schools, teachers houses and gardens, and to enter into contracts for the erection of schools and teachers houses thereon…’

it was resolved to proceed immediately with the erection of two Female Infant Schools, complete with schoolhouses, one in the north end of the island and one in the south.

Free education for all was still some way off and fees for pupils attending the school were fixed at 1/6d (7½ p) per quarter, quite a significant amount at that time, with the fees payable in advance to be collected by the Clerk and accounted for by him to the treasurer of the Board.

With these fees set, it was also noted that the Act stipulated:

‘it shall be the duty of every parent to provide elementary education in reading, writing, and arithmetic for his children, between five and thirteen years of age’ and that the Board also had a duty of care to pupils whose parents were ‘unable from poverty to pay therefor, to apply to the parochial board of the parish or burgh in which he resides, and it shall be the duty of the said board to pay out of the poor fund the ordinary and reasonable fees for the elementary education of every such child.’

The Board also gave notice to the Parochial Board (the forerunner of the Parish Council) of the island that an assessment of 9d (3½p) in the pound should be added to the local taxes. An annual government grant was also available, its payment rate being dependent on satisfactory school inspections and attendance rates. These three elements together were then expected to fund the educational costs on the island.

At what was obviously a very busy initial meeting of the Board, John Forbes, the present teacher at the Parish School of Stronsay, was appointed to continue as headmaster of the now renamed Public School at a salary of £100 per annum. It was also agreed that it would be most appropriate for ‘accommodations’ of younger children to be taught by female teachers.

Further appointments were made, with William Stevenson, Holland, John Meil, Samson’s Lane and Robert Chalmers, Milltown being appointed, together with Joseph Caskey and Thomas Scott, as Managers for the Stronsay district.

A report before the Board informed them that:

‘the detached peninsula of Rothiesholm was found to contain about 30 children under 13 years of age of whom about 20 were too young to attend any of the proposed schools’

and Rev Caskey was appointed to correspond with the Board of Education as to the best mode of supplying them with a means of education. This was to be the first of many conversations regarding the Rothiesholm children and how their education could best be catered for.

Just three months later, in July 1873, the School Managers were authorised to secure sites, prepare plans and estimates and to do generally whatever may be required to expedite the construction of the two schools and their attached teacher’s houses.

The new Board had on hand £20/11/4d from fees collected from the old Parochial School and agreed to open a new bank account with this. It was also agreed that a suitable coal cellar should be constructed at the school and that the treasurer should arrange the supply 2 tons of coal for school use for the ensuing year. Cleaning the school and tending the fire in the school was to be paid at the rate of 30/- (£1-50p) per year.

Headmaster Mr Forbes drew their attention to the condition of the existing schoolhouse and outbuildings and it was remitted to the School Managers to take immediate steps to put the house and buildings into a state of thorough repair. An estimate of £36 from joiner James Chalmers and mason Caleb Dickson was later received for the necessary repairs while the cost of a 10’ x 8’ coal shed was quoted at £14/12/- and an estimate for the building of a garden wall around the property at 3/- (15p) per linear yard was also submitted. All but the garden wall were authorised to go ahead, with the wall to be reconsidered the following year.

Also at that July meeting, following informal discussions with the Managers of the Stronsay United Presbyterian Church, the Board considered a formal letter offering to transfer ownership of the U.P. Female School to the School Board as follows:

‘We the Session of the U.P. Congregation of Stronsay, Mangers of the Stronsay U.P. Female School, do hereby give over to you any claim we have to said school with its furniture. As a condition of this transference of property we would mention that the present teacher Miss Peterina Peace be continued in the situation now held at a rate of remuneration not less than she is now receiving.

We have no written, or indeed, any title to the site, the free use of which has hitherto been granted by Colonel Balfour of Balfour as a convenience and benefit to the inhabitants of Stronsay.

We have no claim to the dwelling house built to the east end of the school room by Thos. Fotheringham presently residing there, therefore wish it to be distinctly understood that this note of transference conveys no right nor title to said dwellinghouse.’

(Thomas Fotheringhame, who had built the dwelling house in question, was the grandfather of Miss Peace).

After due consideration of this offer the School Board was happy to accept the property under those terms and conditions.

Another task at this meeting was to set the school holidays and, aware that many of the pupils would be expected to help with harvest work, it was agreed that, rather than set a fixed date, the six week summer holiday should commence at the beginning of harvest, with a week’s holiday for the Christmas period beginning on Christmas Day.

By the end of October 1873 grant applications for funding the new schools had been submitted to the Scotch Education Department and had been agreed by them. Sites for the schools had also been agreed, one at the junction of the Housebay and Everbay roads and the other at the junction of the Whitehall road with the main road near Clestrain, both sites being the property of Colonel Balfour.

More appointments were being made by the School Board, with 18 year old Grace Chalmers of Castlehill being appointed as Sewing Mistress at the Central School at a wage of 2/6d (12½p) per week while Edith Forbes, daughter of the schoolmaster, and Alexander Learmonth of Millfield, both about 13 years old, were appointed as Monitors at the same school at a salary of £1 per annum, all appointments commencing on 1st January 1874. What could well have been the first school inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate (HMI) under the new School Board system took place in October 1874. Very good Inspectorate reports were submitted for both the Central and South Schools but it was noted that attendance was below average and the School Board Officer was to be authorised to visit defaulting parents with a view to increasing attendance. This report for the
South School could only have been for the old United Presbyterian school as the new South School had yet to be built.

In December 1874 plans for both the North and South female and infant schools prepared by architect John Scott were to hand and found satisfactory and title to the proposed sites confirmed. By April 1875 plans and specifications for schools and schoolhouses had been finalised and agreed and tenders sought.

The HMI inspector again visited in October 1875 and the resulting report painted a glowing picture of the school, stating that:

‘This is one of the best schools I have seen. There is not a failure in any branch and in several subjects (notably in grammar) the attainments of the children are very considerably beyond the requirements of the Code. Parsing is full and accurate; meanings of words are given with great intelligence. Writing is well formed and Copy books are clean and carefully kept. Arithmetic is very accurate. There was not a figure wrong in the first Standard and scarcely a mistake in the Second and Third. Geography and History are complete, ready and thoughtful.

The leading feature of the school is the admirable organisation and order with which the pupils obey and execute instructions and the general tone of politeness and good breeding is simply admirable. Excellent specimens of sewing were shown. Edith Forbes deserves special praise for her papers’

The members of staff at this time were headmaster John Forbes assisted by 2nd year Pupil Teachers Alexander Learmonth and Edith Forbes, with Grace Chalmers in the role of Sewing Mistress.

In March 1877, in what seems to have been quite a generous gesture by the Board, two Pupil Teachers, who I assume would have been Miss Forbes and Mr Learmonth, the two monitors appointed 3 years earlier, were given 30/- each in recognition of their having passed their latest teacher exams. Around the same time Grace Chalmers resigned as Sewing Mistress, apparently to concentrate on her dressmaking skills at her parent’s new house at Sandybank, and the Clerk was instructed to advertise for a new Mistress.

If any readers have any information or theories about these schools, their teachers or where the schools may have been situated I would be delighted to hear of it by email at ian.cooper56@gmail.com