On 8th May 1845, a number of members and ministers of the newly formed Free Church of Scotland met at the Star Hotel in George Square in order to discuss the extension of the church’s activities into the sphere of education. It was decided that they would build an “academic institution”. The original minutes of this meeting show that it had been first proposed that the school should be for “children of the better classes”, but this precise wording was later deleted. It was agreed by all, however, that the school would be established “for the purpose of teaching youth the various branches of secular knowledge, based upon strictly evangelical principles and pervaded by religious instruction”.

On 5th May 1847, a formal opening ceremony was held for the Academy’s buildings in Elmbank Place, after a delay in their completion. Four years later, on the departure of the school’s first Rector, James Cumming, it was decided that the schoolmasters would collectively run the Academy themselves on a collegiate basis without a Rector. This system stayed in place for ten years until Donald Morrison was appointed in 1861, both to lead the Classical Department and to superintend all classes in the school. He remained Rector for an astonishing 38 years.

In 1878 the Academy moved from its site in Elmbank Street to its current location at Kelvinbridge, leaving its original buildings to be occupied by the High School of Glasgow. The Academy has remained in the West End through turbulent times: the First World War touched every part of the school, with teachers and pupils going abroad to fight and the lives of those left at home being greatly altered. The boys who were too young to fight were urged to serve in their own way, by joining the Officers’ Training Corps and even by knitting, to provide soldiers at the front with much needed woollen garments. In 1919 the War Memorial Trust was established to take over ownership of the school and to commemorate those who had served and fallen in the War. The Academy’s brave tradition of military service was then repeated in the Second World War, sadly producing another high death toll amongst those connected to the school.

Since then, the Academy has been part of altogether more positive changes. The merger with Westbourne School for Girls in 1990 turned the Academy into a co-educational school, which not only brought greater diversity to the body of students but also helped to boost numbers. Further mergers have followed as the Academy has extended its borders beyond Kelvinbridge and the long-established but often extended playing fields at Anniesland. Atholl Preparatory School in Milngavie and Dairsie House School in Newlands are now part of the Academy community and the school looks set to continue to prosper in the future.

The history of the school since its foundation, The Glasgow Academy 150 Years, written by Mr Iain MacLeod, Deputy Rector, is a celebration of what has been achieved since 1845. Copies may be obtained by contacting our External Relations Department.