Allan Glen's School

Coordinates: 55°51′49″N 4°14′36″W / 55.863512°N 4.243298°W / 55.863512; -4.243298

Allan Glen's School was, for most of its existence, a local authority, selective secondary school for boys in Glasgow, Scotland, charging nominal fees for tuition.

It was founded by the Allan Glen's Endowment Scholarship Trust on the death, in 1850, of Allan Glen, a successful Glasgow tradesman and businessman, "to give a good practical education and preparation for trades or businesses, to between forty to fifty boys, the sons of tradesmen or persons in the industrial classes of society". The School was formally established in 1853^[1] and located in the Townhead district of the city, on land that Glen had owned on the corner of North Hanover Street and Cathedral Street.^[2][3]

School's evolution

Although notionally fee-paying, the school offered a large number of bursaries and enrolled pupils from all social classes, selected on the basis of academic ability. The school's emphasis on science and engineering led to it becoming, in effect, Glasgow's High School of Science. As such, in 1887 its management merged with the nearby Anderson's College to form the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College ^[1] which later became the Royal Technical College in 1912, the Royal College of Science and Technology in 1956, and ultimately the University of Strathclyde in 1964. By the end of 1888 a new building was ready for the school in North Hanover Street.^[2][4][5]

Glasgow corporation

In 1912, the school was transferred from the newly designated Royal Technical College to the School Board of Glasgow run by Glasgow Corporation.^[2][3][4] Parents who paid domestic or business rates to Glasgow Corporation were charged a much reduced fee, enabling children from less wealthy households, but who had passed the entrance exam, to benefit from the high standard of teaching at the school. In 1923, playing fields were acquired for the school in the suburb of Bishopbriggs^[6] and in 1926 the school itself moved into the building previously occupied by Provanside Public School in North Montrose Street.^[3] In 1958 a new school building was planned on Cathedral Street, adjacent to the existing one. The new school building was opened in 1965.

Merger with City Public School

Selective schooling was discontinued in Scottish local authority schools in 1972, and Allan Glen's was merged with the City Public School to become a local co-educational comprehensive school on 22 August 1973, known as Allan Glen's Secondary School.^[4][7] Following a major re-organisation of school provision, brought about by falling birth rates, population migration and declining school rolls throughout the city, including Allan Glen's, the school was formally closed in 1989.

City of Glasgow College

Following the closure of Allan Glen's Secondary School, the buildings on Cathedral Street were converted into an annexe for the nearby Glasgow Central College of Commerce. The Cathedral Street buildings were demolished in 2013 to enable construction of new buildings for the City of Glasgow College a new entity created by the merger of three former further education Colleges, Central College, Glasgow Metropolitan College and Glasgow College of Nautical Studies.^[8][9]

Playing fields

The playing fields first opened at Bishopbriggs in 1923 and are still owned by the Allan Glen’s School Club.^[10] They provide the home ground for Allan Glen's Rugby Football Club,^[11] which currently plays in the West Regional League Division 1. In 2012, proposals were announced to sell part of the playing fields, following a change in the legal structure of the Trust that controls the assets of the Allan Glen's School Club.^[6][12]

Notable alumni

Although the school emphasised science and engineering,^[13] many of its former pupils are present throughout politics, business, industry, the arts, sciences and engineering.

• Bill Aitken MSP, Politician
• Sir John Anderson, 1st Baronet of Harrold Priory, Businessman
• Prof Dr James Allan Jamieson Bennett, Pioneer of helicopter flight and designer of the Gyrodyne^[14][15][16]
• Sir Dirk Bogarde, actor and writer
• Hugh Dunbar Brown MP, politician
• Walter Brown, engineer and mathematician
• Admiral Sir Lindsay Sutherland Bryson KCB, engineer, Controller of the Navy
• Sir Kenneth Calman
• Donald Cameron, engineer
• John Arnold Cranston FRSE, co-discoverer of Protactinium
• Sir Harold Montague Finniston FRS, engineer and industrialist
• Dr Ian Greer, obstetrician; Vice-President, University of Manchester
• Bernard Parker Haigh, professor of applied mechanics in the Royal Naval College, Greenwich
• Robin Hall, singer and broadcaster
• Dr John Vernon Harrison, structural geologist and explorer
• Prof John Gordon Harrower FRSE, anatomist
• Sir James Colquhoun Irvine, scientist, academic and educator
• Sir William Alexander Jeffrey, KCB, civil servant
• David Cunningham King, South African businessman
• Sir Robert Alan Langlands, academic, educator; Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds
• Angus John Macdonald, Baron Macdonald of Tradeston
• Michael William Frederick MacKenzie, MSP
• Charles Rennie Mackintosh, architect, artist and designer
• David Forbes Martyn, physicist, radiographer; founder of Australian Academy of Science
• Ian McCallum, engineer
• Sir John Mills McCallum, MP, politician
• Sir Andrew McCance, industrialist
• Sir Robert Arthur McCrindle, MP, politician
• Henry Bell McCubbin, MEP, politician
• Harry Duncan McGowan, 1st Baron McGowan KBE, Chairman and Managing Director of Imperial Chemical Industries
• Jack McLean, journalist, author^[17][18][19]
• Sir James McFadyen McNeill, Principal Naval Architect for the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth
• Jon Rankin, MP, politician
• Dr Gordon Rintoul, CBE, Director of National Museums Scotland
• Brian Alexander Robertson, actor, singer, composer
• Sir David Robertson, MP, politician
• John Kendrick Skinner VC, DCM
• Robert Haldane Smith, Baron Smith of Kelvin, Chairman of the Green Investment Bank; BBC Governor
• Rev Campbell Stephen, MP, politician
• Prof Hugh Brown Sutherland, OBE, Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering, Vice President, Institution of Civil Engineers, renowned Soil Mechanics expert^[20]
• George Walker Thomson, prominent trade unionist, President of the Trades Union Congress for 1946/47.
• Alexander Robertus Todd, Baron Todd, OM, PRS, FRSE, Nobel Laureate; biochemist
• Sir John Weir, GCVO, Royal Victorian Chain, Physician Royal^[21]
• William Douglas Weir, 1st Viscount Weir GCB, PC, engineer, industrialist
• Robert Winter, politician, former Lord Provost of Glasgow
• George Ralston Wyllie, MBE, artist and sculptor

References

Sources

• Allan Glen's School Club
• The Glasgow Story