most necessitous’ (mostly from St. Andrews) includes orphans and deserted

children, and children of washerwomen, publicans, coopers, fishcurers, bakers,

servants, golf club makers, hotel keepers, labourers and many more occupations.

The addresses for the recipients are not given for the years 1847-49, but in

1851 it was recorded that James Ewan from Strathkinness had been sponsored

by the Rev. Adam Thorburn, the minister of the Free Church in Strathkinness.

He went on to become a teacher in Strathkinness, probably in the Free Church

School.

In 1855 John Collier, whose father was listed as a handloom weaver in

Strathkinness in the census of 1851, was sponsored by Mr. David Peattie,

the schoolmaster of the Established Church School in Strathkinness. He went

on to university and to become minister of the Chalmers Church in Glasgow.

A boy from Monksholm was sponsored by the Rev. David Stewart, the

minister of the Parish Church in Strathkinness in 1864 ‘as his parents cannot

afford education for him to support himself having lost his left hand’. He

was given free education until 1868.

In 1870 the Rev. Thomas Murray (Mr. Stewart’s successor) sponsored

William Munro, a boy of thirteen, from Strathkinness, saying ‘The lad’s parents

are poor bUt industrious and he is desirous of presenting his education beyond

what they are able to afford’. In 1873 the Madras minutes recorded that he

was going on to university.

The first mention of a girl from Strathkinness receiving help to go to Madras

was in 1876. It was stated that Mary Dun’s mother was ‘not able to defray

the whole cost and the girl is capable of encouragement’.

In 1886 the School Board told the Trustees of Madras College that they

did not think the power had been given to them to provide free scholarships

to children from Strathkinness and Boarhills for higher education at Madras.

It seems that up to this time the endowment of Dr. Andrew Bell, made in the

1830s for further education for any who could profit by it had been denied

to children outwith St. Andrews, which was not Dr. Bell’s intention.

The Board was told that such children were in fact eligible and after this

time there were varying numbers of applicants from both Strathkinness and

Boarhills, some of them being successful. The standard of applicants for

free places was not always satisfactory, not only from the rural schools but

also from St. Andrews. In 1896 it was decided by the Madras Board

of Trustees that free scholars must have received the Merit Certificate or else

a pass in an examination, and in 1898 there was concern expressed by the

Trustees of Madras College ‘whether applicants should receive a certain per-

centage in future to qualify for Free Places’. There were some years when

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