Glimpses of old Glasgow

Part I. Historical

School Board of Glasgow

THIS volume would be incomplete without a reference to what the School Board of Glasgow is doing for education in the city. The Board have under their charge between sixty and seventy schools, quite a small army of teachers, and fully 90,000 children. It will thus be seen that to conduct, govern, and guide such a host requires patience, tact, and business capability. The position of a member of the Glasgow School Board is, therefore, by no means a sinecure.

Of the fifteen members elected to the first Board in 1873 none now remain except Mr. William Mitchell and Harry Alfred Long. At that time the educational destitution of the city was very great. There were 228 schools in existence, many of which were greatly deficient in accommodation, equipment, and in sanitation. A very small percentage was under Government inspection, and some of them were held in dwelling-houses. It is said that one worthy old lady, an octogenarian, wielded the "tawse" with considerable energy in a "but-and-a-ben" in the east end of the city - the "Bible class" being accommodated in the recess formerly used as a set-in bed. The number of children receiving education in Glasgow at that time was about 42,000.

The necessity of providing efficient evening classes was, at an early stage, recognised - the Board in this matter having kept abreast of the requirements of the public. Attractive and efficient evening classes have been opened, where thousands of young men and women are receiving instruction in a wide range of subjects, including languages, literature, mathematics, elocution, music, theoretical and practical chemistry, etc. This year the enrolments for day and evening classes exceed 90,000 scholars.

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Within recent years legislation has given us free education, and secondary education is now in a fair way of being put on a better footing.

The result of twenty years' hard work is now apparent in the creditable educational progress of our youths, in the comfortable and substantial buildings, the property of the ratepayers, and in the army of well-trained teachers.

Of all the popularly-elected bodies in this great city, none deserve more consideration at the hands of the public than the members of the Board for their earnest and self-denying labours.

In noticing the operations of the School Board of Glasgow, reference must be made to the services of its first clerk. While not seeking to detract from the eminent services of all the members of the first Board, and especially Alexander Whitelaw, chairman, yet it was largely due to the skill, energy, and foresight of Dr. Kennedy, the clerk, that the present wise, and economical lines of working were based at the outset. The building and equipping of the schools, and the organising of a staff of teachers for such a large city, was a task requiring administrative powers of no ordinary degree. Dr. Kennedy proved himself equal to this, and the citizens are reaping the advantages to this day. In all that pertains to the advancement of education and the efficiency of school work, he had the full confidence of the different Boards he sat under, and also had their hearty co-operation. He proved himself worthy of the trust.

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He was a native of Forfarshire, and served his apprenticeship as pupil-teacher in Dundee, and was trained at the Free Church Normal School, Edinburgh. He was teacher successively of schools at Dunipace, Arbroath and Free Normal School, Edinburgh. Having graduated as M.A. at Edinburgh University, he was, in 1863, promoted by the Free Church to be lecturer on English in the Training College there. Taking a leading part in the educational movements of the time, he was selected by the Educational Institute of Scotland as their president in 1865. A prominent and incessant advocate of a rational system of education, he took a conspicuous part in connection with the passing of Lord Young's Act in 1872. He was appointed clerk to the School Board of Glasgow in 1873, a position he continued to fill till the time of his death on the 10th December, 1891. Although not a student of Glasgow, the University authorities did not fail to recognise his claims for academic distinction. The degree of Doctor of Laws was accordingly conferred upon him in April, 1888.