Merchistonian Club

As we mark #DDay here are some stories of young Merchistonians who gave their lives in those first weeks of the invasion ... two on the 6th of June itself. The youngest was 23, the oldest just 29.

Calling all Merchistonian Olympians! As we watch Merchiston alumni Hammy McMillan & Grant Hardie in the Men's #Curling Team during the #BeijingOlympics, we look back at our Merchistonian Olympians. But have we missed anyone out? Please let us know! merchiston.co.uk/article-pages/…

Advent Facts 2021 Final Day - In The Merchistonian published in April 1991, the following quotation is of note:“Mr Pearson has given 2 science lectures and electrified his audience in the process”!! A very merry Christmas to all our Merchistonians!🎅

Advent Facts 2021 Day 27 - In the School Prospectus published in March 1939, the fee for Board and Education was £165 per annum. For the boys’ pocket money, one shilling (5p) pw was given to boys in the V and VI Forms, and 9 old pence (4p) to boys in Chalmers West and East.

Advent Facts 2021 Day 26 - The building plans for Castle Gates, the Headmaster’s house, had to be cut back because of shortage of funds. It was originally planned to look symmetrical, with an additional wing built towards the tennis courts.

Advent Facts 2021 Day 25-The Merchiston Register, a historical record of names and addresses of pupils, Staff, governors, and an overview of School life, was first published in 1906. The eighth edition was published in 2008 and will probably be the last due to GDPR regulations.

Advent Facts 2021 Day 24 - The Spawforth Library was 21 years old this year. Previously, it was the Music Auditorium, and prior to that it was a sportshall / gym.

Advent Facts 2021 Day 23 - the pillars in the Memorial Hall were put there around 1990 to stop the balconies from collapsing. In an end-of-year Prizegiving ceremony, a loud crack disrupted the Headmaster’s speech, and the balconies had to be emptied of pupils and guests.

Advent Facts 2021 Day 22 - Evans House is now in its third incarnation: in 1986, it was the name given to the House for the UVI, in 2009, when Laidlaw opened, it was the name given to the House for LVI and UVI day boys, in 2021, it became the House for V and LVI dayboys.

Advent Facts 2021 Day 21 - The current Headmaster of Merchiston International School, Shenzhen, is the son of a former Art teacher at Merchiston, Edinburgh.

Advent Facts 2021 Day 20 - The Queen’s Table, the top of which is currently displayed on a wall in the Old Library, was carved by the School’s joiner to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to the School in 1983.

Advent Facts 2021 Day 19 - Merchiston’s new Tennis Dome is the second “air hall” facility which the School has possessed. Its predecessor the School’s sportshall, was sited in the area currently occupied by the Napier and Mappa Mundi buildings, and was dismantled in 1985.

Advent Facts 2021 Day 18 - Until 40 years ago this year, it was the tradition that the Captain of School always sang the first verse of the School Song as a solo.

Advent Facts 2021 Day 17 - One of the members of Shackleton’s expedition to the Antarctic, who died on the expedition in 1916, was a Merchiston member of staff – the Rev AP Spencer-Smith.

Advent Facts 2021 Day 16 - When the name of this year’s Captain of School is added, there will be 202 names on the Captain of School boards outside the Dining Hall.

Advent Facts 2021 Day 15 - David Spawforth became Headmaster of Merchiston in 1981, forty years ago.

Advent Facts 2021 Day 14 - The oldest continuous annual inter-schools rugby fixture in Britain, between Merchiston and The Edinburgh Academy, was first played on this day in 1858.

Advent Facts 2021 Day 13 - The Merchiston tradition of hand-shaking at the start of term, which has been temporarily stopped because of COVID-19, dates back to the Autumn Term of 1856.

Advent Facts 2021 Day 12 - The School Register records that in 1885, a group of boys celebrated Queen Victoria’s birthday in their dormitory with fireworks. This caused a fire sufficiently extensive to gut the Headmaster’s rooms below.

Advent Facts 2021 Day 11 - It was originally planned that Merchiston’s preparatory school would be housed in Colinton / Gibson House. This plan was subsequently abandoned and the ‘Prep’ closed.