Dundee Schools

[ariedl]

Hello everyone! I am continuing my research into my grandparents' early years in Dundee, and I'm now interested in where they may have gone to school. Unfortunately, I only have two hints: my grandmother went to several schools off and on, and she mentioned that she briefly went to a Catholic school. My mother also remembers my grandmother saying that my grandfather went to Stobswell at some point.

I have looked at all of the available records on the http://www.fdca.org.uk/Dundee_Schools.html site and not found anything, but I have emailed the archivist to see if they have any further records that are not online. I also searched for pictures on the http://photopolis.dundeecity.gov.uk site.

My grandparents were both born in 1899, and they were both done with school by the time they turned 14, which means I am interested in the period from about 1904-1913. I found lists of all the Public and Catholic Schools in several of the Dundee Directories from that period and plotted them on a map of the city from 1911. I then added my grandparents' known addresses and compared them. This leads to my first question: is it safe to think that they most likely attended the schools closest to their homes? For my grandfather, this would make things fairly easy, as he only lived at 2 addresses during that time, and both were less than 120 meters from a school. My grandmother's family moved around more often, and some addresses are close to multiple schools.

Here are the addresses and my guesses as to the school they most likely attended when living there. I would welcome any and all comments or advice:

Grandfather: John Nicoll, born 11 October 1899
Address: 37 Catherine Street from 1901-1909
Address: 40 Lilybank Road from 1911-1913

Catherine Street is just 60 meters from Stobswell PS, although that school only opened in 1907, and I'm not positive what gender or ages it served when it first opened. If not Stobswell, possibly Clepington PS, which would have been about 400 meters from his home. Lilybank is only 120 meters from Glebes Land PS, so I think that seems likely.

Grandmother: Ethel Keenan, born 1 July 1899
Address: 230 Hilltown in 1905
Address: 15 McDonald Street in 1905
Address: 20 Charles Street in 1906
Address: 39 Wellgate in 1907
Address: 54 Hilltown in 1911
Address: 1 Hedge Road in 1912

While there are a lot of addresses, most of them are clustered fairly close together. McDonald Street and Hedge Road are very close to Rosebank PS, as is 30 Hilltown. They are also fairly close to St. Mary's Catholic girls school on Powrie Place. Charles Street and Wellgate are very close to both Victoria Road PS and Cowgate PS, so I have no idea how to know which of those she might have attended. The 230 Hilltown address is a little more difficult, as it's right in the middle of Hill Street PS, Rosebank PS, and St. Mary's RC.

Finally, I am attaching two school pictures from my grandmother, which appear to both be taken at the same school. I have tried finding pictures of Dundee schools to see if I can figure out which one it is, but with no luck so far. If anyone has an idea, please let me know.

Thanks so much for reading this and offering suggestions/comments/advice--
Alec

[dowdstree]

Hi Alec

What wonderful pictures to have.

You have a very comprehensive list of schools already and it would be difficult to hazzard a guess as to which ones your grandparents attended without actually finding records.

My dad was from Dundee as were my grandparents. Most children went to the school nearest to home. If there was more than 1 school locally then it would probably be the parents choice. No help in your quest at all, sorry.


Good luck with your research and I hope you get a positive reply from the archivist.

Dorrie

[ariedl]

Good luck with your research and I hope you get a positive reply from the archivist.

Dorrie

Thanks, Dorrie. Fingers crossed that the archivist or someone on here have good news for me!

Alec

[ariedl]

... Fingers crossed that the archivist or someone on here have good news for me!

Alec

Just realized I never posted an update, so here goes:
When I did hear back from the archivist, it was with good news; he was able to locate records for both of my grandparents!

To my surprise, the record for my grandmother revealed two schools that I hadn't even seen in my research, and the third was a school I only thought a slight possibility! The entry was when she was leaving Victoria Road School for St. Salvador's, and noted that she had been at St. Paul's prior to Victoria Road. My mother and I had no idea that Ethel attended not one, but two Episcopalian schools! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find good pictures of these two schools, and the pictures I have found for Victoria Road School neither prove nor disprove where her class pictures were taken.

My grandfather's record is from the date of his leaving school at the age of 14. This was an important event, as he apparently excelled in school, especially in drafting, and his teachers were adamant that he should stay in school. His father and stepmother insisted that he needed to go to work to help support the family, however. The record indicates that he went to Clepington Primary prior to enrolling at Stobswell.

So while I am over the moon to find concrete evidence of some of my grandparents' schooling, there are still many questions about the various schools my grandmother attended. And the records I now have show that you can't make assumptions regarding schools attended based solely on proximity to their home!

I'd like to end by praising Martin and Sarah at the Dundee City Archives. They have both helped me immensely over the years, and I hope I can visit the Archives in person one day to thank them.

Hope everyone has a great year!
Alec