SCHOOL HOUSES

The ‘house’ system at the Glasgow Academy harks back to the time when students who did not live locally, instead resided at 23 Lansdowne Crescent supervised by School Master, John Charles Scott. This arrangement began in 1907 as a private venture, although it was approved by the school Governors. By 1912, Scott proposed that the school purchase a nearby house at 12 Belmont Crescent for the sum of £800 which became the official school boarding house, with Mr and Mrs Scott at the helm, looking after 12 boarders.  

An Irishman by birth, J. C. Scott was educated at Carlisle Grammar School before attending Glasgow University, where he achieved a first-class honours degree in Classics in 1894. His first academic job after he completed his studies was at The Glasgow Academy as Classics Master, where his interest in sports was also fulfilled, as he acted as Games Master too. In his book about the history of the Academy, Iain MacLeod writes that Scott was “pugnacious, witty and debonair, bustling about in knickerbockers every Wednesday afternoon [..] organising games for 150 or 200 noisy shouting boys”. The arrangement with Mr Scott as supervisor of the boarders continued until he left the school to take up a new post as Rector at Hutchesons’ Grammar School in 1919. The Academy’s loss was Hutchesons’ gain, as Scott went on to steer “Hutchie” to great success until his retirement in 1932 at age 60 year’s old, having become an honorary Doctor of Law and OBE during his remarkable career. 

Scott’s departure from The Academy meant it was necessary to find a replacement, and the new Mathematics Master, Mr Paul Mallam, ably fitted the bill until 1927. He was succeeded by Mr R J Solbé until 1930 at which point, the boarders were looked after by Mr and Mrs Coleman Smith, who acted as house ‘father’ and ‘mother’. Captain Jack Coleman Smith was the PE Master and Rugby Coach at the school, who met and married the school Dining Hall Supervisor, Ethel. Jack became well-known due to a radio show broadcast by the BBC Home Service called “Up in the morning early” where listeners could practice 'physical jerks' to keep fit. From December 1939, Jack co-presented the show with May Brown who instructed the listeners on the routines. In 1942, he also published a keep fit manual called "Ten minutes a day". By 1940, the boarding school doubled in size after being gifted no 13 Belmont Crescent, allowing for accommodation of 39 boys. 

The house system which grouped pupils from all years groups together, has gone through several changes since its introduction in September 1910 - four houses were chosen initially and named Hill, North, South and West. A new system came into operation at the start of the new 1932 session which saw six houses replace the original four. These houses were provisionally denoted as A, B, C, D, E and F and subsequently became Temple, Morrison, Arthur, Albany, Clyde and Kelvin, named after two Rectors, (Edwin Temple and Donald Morrison) a former Governor, (John Arthur) the two nearby rivers and the neighbouring Albany Academy whose Rector was a former School Master at The Academy. 

In 1946, the houses were reduced from six to four, and were known as Temple, Morrison, Arthur and Albany, with house colours chosen to denote each: green, orange, dark blue and chocolate brown respectively. In 1991, following the start of the amalgamation with Westbourne School for Girls, the name Albany was dropped in favour of Fraser. This was done as a nod to the new Westbourne students to welcome them into the Academy family as Sir Hugh Fraser was a Governor of Westbourne, and his sister Ann was a great supporter of the school, where a hall was named in her honour years before. Today, the house system still operates although the associated colours have changed to align with the school uniform colours: Temple is white, Morrison is blue, Arthur is navy, and Fraser is purple - which is taken from the Westbourne uniform. ​

Photo Credits:
Dr J C Scott, OBE: Hutchesons' Grammar Archives
Sir Hugh Fraser: The Democrat
Albany Academy: The Glasgow Story / Glasgow City Archives