Earlier this year, the Signet Library was awarded a research grant under the Old Edinburgh Club’s Jean Guild scheme to transcribe and conserve our archive of material relating to the former John Watson’s Institution, the Society’s school for orphans in Stockbridge which closed in the 1970s. The bulk of these records are application forms for orphans of both sexes seeking to enter the school in its first years of operation 1820-1850, and we have just posted an update on our progress with them on the Old Edinburgh Club’s website here.
James Hamilton and his team have covered about 160 applications so far, and they’ve been full of surprises, with applications coming from further afield than we’d expected. We’ve also been mapping administrative records, which have shone light on the early difficulties of the school building, designed by the WS Society’s architect William Burn, and at the same time have made the application records easier to interpret and understand. By the end of the autumn we intend to have the first searchable database of this material online for all to use.
We are interested in locating a portrait of the man (pictures below) who did more than anyone to bring the school into being – Vans Hathorn WS – which hung in the school until its closure. If anyone has information about its current whereabouts, we would be very keen to hear from you – please contact the team at library@wssociety.co.uk .
