Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the wife of King George VI and the mother of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. She was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions from her husband's accession in 1936 until his death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, she was the last Empress of India. Born into a family of British nobility, she came to prominence in 1923 when she married the Duke of York, the second son of King George V and Queen Mary; the couple and their daughters embodied traditional ideas of public service. She undertook a variety of public engagements and became known for her cheerful countenance. In 1936, her husband unexpectedly became king when his older brother, Edward VIII, abdicated in order to marry the American divorcée Wallis Simpson. Elizabeth became queen, she accompanied her husband on diplomatic tours to France and North America before the start of the Second World War.
During the war, her indomitable spirit provided moral support to the British public. After the war, her husband's health deteriorated and she was widowed at the age of 51, her elder daughter, aged 25, became the new queen. From the death of Queen Mary in 1953, Elizabeth was viewed as the matriarch of the British royal family. In her years, she was a popular member of the family when other members were suffering from low levels of public approval, she continued an active public life until just a few months before her death at the age of 101 years, 238 days, seven weeks after the death of her younger daughter, Princess Margaret. Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the youngest daughter and the ninth of ten children of Claude Bowes-Lyon, Lord Glamis, his wife, Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck, her mother was descended from British Prime Minister William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, Governor-General of India Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, the elder brother of another Prime Minister, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.
The location of her birth remains uncertain, but reputedly she was born either in her parents' Westminster home at Belgrave Mansions, Grosvenor Gardens, or in a horse-drawn ambulance on the way to a hospital. Other possible locations include Forbes House in Ham, the home of her maternal grandmother, Louisa Scott, her birth was registered at Hitchin, near the Strathmores' English country house, St Paul's Walden Bury, given as her birthplace in the census the following year. She was christened there on 23 September 1900, in the local parish church, All Saints, her godparents included her paternal aunt Lady Maud Bowes-Lyon and cousin Venetia James, she spent much of her childhood at St Paul's Walden and at Glamis Castle, the Earl's ancestral home in Scotland. She was educated at home by a governess until the age of eight, was fond of field sports and dogs; when she started school in London, she astonished her teachers by precociously beginning an essay with two Greek words from Xenophon's Anabasis.
Her best subjects were scripture. After returning to private education under a German Jewish governess, Käthe Kübler, she passed the Oxford Local Examination with distinction at age thirteen. On her fourteenth birthday, Britain declared war on Germany. Four of her brothers served in the army, her elder brother, Fergus, an officer in the Black Watch Regiment, was killed in action at the Battle of Loos in 1915. Another brother, was reported missing in action on 28 April 1917. Three weeks the family discovered he had been captured after being wounded, he remained in a prisoner of war camp for the rest of the war. Glamis was turned into a convalescent home for wounded soldiers, she was instrumental in organising the rescue of the castle's contents during a serious fire on 16 September 1916. One of the soldiers she treated wrote in her autograph book that she was to be "Hung, drawn, & quartered... Hung in diamonds, drawn in a coach and four, quartered in the best house in the land." Prince Albert, Duke of York—"Bertie" to the family—was the second son of King George V.
He proposed to Elizabeth in 1921, but she turned him down, being "afraid never, never again to be free to think and act as I feel I ought to". When he declared he would marry no other, his mother, Queen Mary, visited Glamis to see for herself the girl who had stolen her son's heart, she became convinced that Elizabeth was "the one girl who could make Bertie happy", but refused to interfere. At the same time, Elizabeth was courted by James Stuart, Albert's equerry, until he left the Prince's service for a better-paid job in the American oil business. In February 1922, Elizabeth was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Albert's sister, Princess Mary, to Viscount Lascelles; the following month, Albert proposed again. In January 1923, Elizabeth agreed to marry Albert, despite her misgivings about royal life. Albert's freedom in choosing Elizabeth, not a member of a royal family, though the daughter of a peer, was considered a gesture in favour of political modernisation, they selected a platinum engagement ring featuring a Kashmir sapphire with two diamonds adorning its sides.
They married on 26 April 1923, at Westminster Abbey. Unexpectedly, Elizabeth laid her bouquet at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior on her way into the Abbey, in memory of her brother Fergus. Elizabeth became styled Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York. Following a
Education in England
Education in England is overseen by the United Kingdom's Department for Education. Local government authorities are responsible for implementing policy for public education and state-funded schools at a local level. England has a tradition of independent schools and home education. State-funded schools are categorized as comprehensive schools. Comprehensive schools are further subdivided by funding into free schools, other academies, any remaining Local Authority schools and others. More freedom is given to free schools, including most religious schools, other academies in terms of curriculum. All are subject to assessment and inspection by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, or Ofsted; the state-funded education system is divided into stages based upon age: Early Years Foundation Stage. At age 16 the students take exams for the General Certificate of Secondary Education or other Level 1/2 qualifications. While education is compulsory until 18, schooling is compulsory to 16, thus post-16 education can take a number of forms, may be academic or vocational.
This can involve continued schooling, known as "sixth form" or "college", leading to A-level qualifications, or a number of alternative Level 3 qualifications such as Business and Technology Education Council, the International Baccalaureate, Cambridge Pre-U, WJEC or Eduqas. It can include work-based apprenticeships or traineeships, or volunteering. Higher education begins with a three-year bachelor's degree. Postgraduate degrees include master's degrees, either taught or by research, doctoral level research degrees that take at least three years. Tuition fees for first degrees in public universities are up to £9,250 per academic year for English and European Union students; the Regulated Qualifications Framework covers national school examinations and vocational education qualifications. It is referenced to the European Qualifications Framework, thus to other qualifications frameworks across the European Union; the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications, tied to the RQF, covers degrees and other qualifications from degree-awarding bodies.
This is referenced to the Qualifications Framework of the European Higher Education Area developed under the Bologna process. Until 1870 all schools were charitable or private institutions, but in that year the Elementary Education Act 1870 permitted local governments to complement the existing elementary schools in order to fill any gaps; the Education Act 1902 allowed local authorities to create secondary schools. The Education Act 1918 abolished fees for elementary schools. Women's colleges were established in the 19th century to give women access to university education, the first being Bedford College, Girton College and Newnham College, Cambridge; the University of London established special examinations for women in 1868 and opened its degrees to women in 1878. University College Bristol became the first mixed higher education institution on its foundation in 1876, followed in 1878 by University College London. Full-time education is compulsory for all children aged 5 to 18, either at school or otherwise, with a child beginning primary education during the school year they turn 5.
Children between the ages of 3 and 5 are entitled to 600 hours per year of optional, state-funded, pre-school education. This can be provided in "playgroups", community childcare centres or nursery classes in schools; the age at which a student may choose to stop education is known as the "leaving age" for compulsory education. This age was raised to 18 by the Education and Skills Act 2008. From this time, the school leaving age and the education leaving age have been separated. State-provided schooling and sixth-form education are paid for by taxes. All children in England must therefore receive an effective education from the first "prescribed day", which falls on or after their fifth birthday until their 18th birthday, must remain in school until the last Friday in June of the school year in which they turn 16; the education leaving age was raised in 2013 to the year in which they turn 17 and in 2015 to their 18th birthday for those born on or after 1 September 1997. The prescribed days are 31 March.
The school year begins on 1 September. The Compulsory stages of education are broken into a Foundation Stage, 4 Key Stages, post-16 education (sometimes unofficially termed Key Stage Five, which takes a variety of forms including 6th Form. Below is a table summarising the most common names of the various stages. Grammar schools are state-funded but selective schools, admitting children from 11 years old onward, but there are exceptions; the government has be
Scottish baronial architecture
Scottish Baronial is an architectural style that developed during the 16th and 17th century and was revived in the 19th century. The style of the first period, the original Scottish Baronial style, was limited to small castles and tower houses in Scotland and Ulster, it introduced Renaissance elements to buildings that preserved many of the features of the Scottish medieval castles and tower houses. The style of the second period, the Scottish Baronial Revival, was considered a British national idiom and was used for public buildings, country houses and follies throughout the British Empire. European architecture of the 19th century was dominated by revivals of various historic styles; this current took off in the middle of the 18th century with the Gothic Revival in Britain. The Scottish Baronial Revival is associated with the Gothic Revival because it includes so many medieval features. However, it originated as a vernacular variety of Scottish Renaissance architecture; the Scottish Baronial Style is called Scotch Baronial, Scots Baronial or just Baronial Style.
The name was invented in the 19th century and may come from Robert William Billings's book "Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland", published in 1852. Before, the style does not seem to have had a name; the buildings produced by the Scottish Baronial Revival by far outnumber those of the original Scottish Baronial Style. The original and the revival styles are discussed separately below; the original Scottish Baronial Style was part of the Scottish Renaissance. It developed in the 16th century and was abandoned by about 1660; the style kept many of the features of the high-rising medieval Gothic castles and introduced Renaissance features. The high and thin-walled medieval fortifications had been made obsolete by gunpowder weapons but were associated with chivalry and landed nobility. High roofs and turrets were kept for status reasons. Renaissance elements were introduced; this concerned the windows that became bigger, had straight lintels or round bows and lacked mullions. The style drew on peel towers, retaining many of their external features.
French Renaissance kept the steep roofs of medieval castles as can be seen for example at Azay-le-Rideau, the original Scottish Baronial style might have been influenced by French masons brought to Scotland to work on royal palaces. The style was quite limited in scope: a style for lesser Scottish landlords; the walls are rubble work and only quoins, window dressings and copings are in ashlar. Sculpted ornaments are sparsely used. In most cases the windows lack pediments; the style uses corbelled turrets sometimes called tourelles, bartizans or pepperpot turrets. The corbels supporting the turret are roll-moulded, their roofs were conical. Gables are crow-stepped. Round towers supporting square garret chambers corbelled out over the cylinder of their main bodies are particular the Scottish Baronial style, they can be seen at Claypotts, Colliston, Auchans and Fiddes. Such castles or tower houses are built on asymmetric plans; this is a Z-plan as at Claypotts Castle, or on an L-plan as at Colliston.
Roof lines are irregular. The original Scottish Baronial Style coexisted in Scotland with northern Renaissance architecture, preferred by the wealthier clients. William Wallace's work at the North Range of Linlithgow Palace and at Heriot's Hospital are examples of a contemporaneous Scottish Renaissance architecture; the Baronial style as well as the Scottish Renaissance style gave way to the grander English forms associated with Inigo Jones in the part of the seventeenth century. The Gothic Revival in architecture has been seen as an expression of romanticism and according to Alvin Jackson, the Scots Baronial Style was "a Caledonian reading of the gothic"; some of the earliest evidence of a revival in Gothic architecture is from Scotland. Inveraray Castle, built starting from 1746 with design input from William Adam, incorporates turrets; these were conventional Palladian style houses that incorporated some external features of the Scots baronial style. William Adam's houses in this style include Mellerstain and Wedderburn in Berwickshire and Seton House in East Lothian, but it is most seen at Culzean Castle, remodelled by William Adam from 1777.
Large windows of plate glass are not uncommon. Bay windows have their individual roofs adorned by pinnacles and crenulations. Porches and porte-cocheres, are given the castle treatment. An imitation portcullis on the larger houses would be suspended above a front door, flanked by heraldic beasts and other medieval architectural motifs. Important for the adoption of the style in the early nineteenth century was Abbotsford House, the residence of the novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott. Rebuilt for him from 1816, it became a model for the Scottish Baronial Revival style. Common features borrowed from 16th- and 17th-century houses included battlemented gateways, crow-stepped gables, spiral stairs, pointed turrets and machicolations. Orchardton Castle near Auchencairn, Scotland is a superb example dating from the 1880s. Important for the dissemination of the style was Robert Billings' four-volume work Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland, it was applied to many modest dwellings by architects such as William Burn, David Bryce, Edward Blore, Edward Calvert and Robert Stodart Lorimer and in urban contexts, including the building of Cockburn Street in Edinburgh as well as the National Wallace Monument at Stirling (1
Independent school (United Kingdom)
In the United Kingdom, independent schools are fee-paying private schools, governed by an elected board of governors and independent of many of the regulations and conditions that apply to state-funded schools. For example, pupils do not have to follow the National Curriculum. Many of the older and more exclusive schools catering for the 13–18 age-range in England and Wales are known as public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868, the term "public" being derived from the fact that they were open to pupils regardless of where they lived or their religion. Prep schools educate younger children up to the age of 13 to "prepare" them for entry to the public schools and other independent schools; some former grammar schools converted to an independent fee-paying model following the 1965 Circular 10/65 which marked the end of their state funding. There are around 2,500 independent schools in the UK, which educate around 615,000 children, some 7 per cent of all British children and 18 per cent of pupils over the age of 16.
In addition to charging tuition fees, many benefit from gifts, charitable endowments and charitable status. Many of these schools are members of the Independent Schools Council. In 2017, the average cost for private schooling was £14,102 for day school and £32,259 for boarding school; some independent schools are old, such as The King's School, The King's School, Rochester, St Peter's School, Sherborne School, Warwick School, The King's School, Ely and St Albans School. These schools were under their complete dominion. However, it was during the late 14th & early 15th centuries that the first schools, independent of the church, were founded. Winchester & Oswestry were the first of their kind and paved the way for the establishment of the modern "Public school"; these were established for male scholars from poor or disadvantaged backgrounds. For instance, the Queen's Scholarships founded at Westminster in 1560, are for "the sons of decay'd gentlemen"; the transformation of free charitable foundations into institutions which sometimes charge fees came about readily: the foundation would only afford minimal facilities, so that further fees might be charged to lodge and otherwise maintain the scholars, to the private profit of the trustees or headmaster.
Facilities provided by the charitable foundation for a few scholars could profitably be extended to further paying pupils. After a time, such fees would eclipse the original charitable income, the original endowment would become a minor part of the capital benefactions enjoyed by the school. In 2009 senior boarding schools were charging fees of nearly £ 30,000 per annum. However, a majority of the independent schools today are still registered as a charity, bursary is available to students on a means test basis. Christ's Hospital in Horsham is an example. A large proportion of its students are funded by its charitable foundation or by various benefactors; the educational reforms of the 19th century were important under first Thomas Arnold at Rugby, Butler and Kennedy at Shrewsbury, the former emphasising team spirit and muscular Christianity and the latter the importance of scholarship and competitive examinations. Edward Thring of Uppingham School introduced major reforms, focusing on the importance of the individual and competition, as well as the need for a "total curriculum" with academia, music and drama being central to education.
Most public schools developed during the 18th and 19th centuries, came to play an important role in the development of the Victorian social elite. Under a number of forward-looking headmasters leading public schools created a curriculum based on classics and physical activity for boys and young men of the upper and upper middle classes, they were schools for the gentlemanly elite of Victorian politics, armed forces and colonial government. Successful businessmen would send their sons to a public school as a mark of participation in the elite. Much of the discipline was in the hands of senior pupils, not just a means to reduce staffing costs, but was seen as vital preparation for those pupils' roles in public or military service. More heads of public schools have been emphasising that senior pupils now play a much reduced role in disciplining. To an extent, the public school system influenced the school systems of the British Empire, recognisably "public" schools can be found in many Commonwealth countries.
Until 1975 there had been a group of 179 academically selective schools drawing on both private and state funding, the direct grant grammar schools. The Direct Grant Grammar Schools Regulations 1975 required these schools to choose between full state funding as comprehensive schools and full independence; as a result, 119 of these schools became independent. Pupil numbers at independent schools fell during the mid-1970s recession. At the same time participation at all secondary schools grew so that the share of the independent sector fell from a little under 8 per cent in 1964 to reach a low of 5.7 per cent in 1978. Both these trends were reversed during the 1980s, the share of the indepe
Lothian and Borders Police
Lothian and Borders Police was the territorial police force for the Scottish council areas of the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Scottish Borders and West Lothian between 1975 and 2013. The force's headquarters were in Edinburgh. Lothian and Borders Police was formed on 16 May 1975 by an amalgamation of Berwick and Selkirk Constabulary, Edinburgh City Police and The Lothians and Peebles Constabulary; the force had 2,905 officers and 1,384 support staff as of March 2008. The force's last Chief Constable was David Strang who replaced Paddy Tomkins on 29 March 2007. An Act of the Scottish Parliament, the Police and Fire Reform Act 2012, created a single Police Service of Scotland—known as Police Scotland—with effect from 1 April 2013; this merged the eight former regional police forces in Scotland, together with the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, into a single service covering the whole of Scotland. Police Scotland has its headquarters at the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan in Fife.
The Lothian and Borders Police area stretched from Blackridge in the west to Newcastleton in the south. It was split into four territorial divisions, several other non-territorial divisions for specialist and administrative roles. A Division covered the City of Edinburgh, was created in 2002 following the amalgamation of the City of Edinburgh's three previous divisions, it was the largest territorial division in terms of population. Its headquarters were St Leonards Police Station. E Division covered East Lothian and Midlothian, stretching from the Edinburgh City Bypass to Dunbar in the east, its headquarters were in Dalkeith. F Division covered West Lothian with its headquarters in Livingston; the division’s officers were sometimes referred to as "F Troop", although this was regarded as offensive as "F Troop" was a comedy set in the old west of America that followed a group of misfit cavalrymen in the U. S. Army. G Division was the largest territorial division in Lothian and Borders Police and covered the Scottish Borders.
It was twice the size of all the other divisions combined, bordering England in the south. It covered a predominantly rural area featuring isolated population areas, its headquarters were in Hawick. C Division comprised such departments as Corporate Communications, Safer Communities and Conduct and Business Improvement. H Division was concerned with Human Resources functions. J Division was concerned with Secondments. N Division was styled the "Criminal Justice Administration Department". O Division provided, it was predominantly made up of the Roads Policing Units which were based at the headquarters of each division. They provided specialist Firearms and Public Order support to all divisions. Within O Division were the forces Dog Handlers. O Division included The Force Communications Centre. P Division was responsible for career development. Training of probationary constables was carried out jointly by the Scottish Police College based at Tulliallan Castle, "on the job" in the force area. Officers transferring from other Scottish forces were not required to attend the college, unlike those transferring from the rest of the United Kingdom, who were required to attend a conversion course to allow for adjustment to Scots law.
S Division was responsible for the financial management of the force. X Division provided investigative support to the entire force. While detectives may have been allocated to assist other divisions as their main role as detectives, they could be pooled to provide assistance whether their specialist skills are required. Known as the Criminal Investigation Department they were the detectives of the force and investigated major crimes as well as everyday crimes such as housebreaking. Z Division was styled the "Central Services Department". Chief Constables were: 1975–1983: Sir John Henry Orr 1983–1996: William Sutherland 1996–2002: Roy Cameron 2002–2007: Paddy Tomkins 2007–2013: David Strang Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland Fettesgate Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency Scottish Police College Lothian & Borders Police Pipe Band Police Scotland Official website
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Part of the county of Midlothian, it is located in Lothian on the Firth of Forth's southern shore. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament and the supreme courts of Scotland; the city's Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. The city has long been a centre of education in the fields of medicine, Scots law, philosophy, the sciences and engineering, it is the second largest financial centre in the United Kingdom and the city's historical and cultural attractions have made it the United Kingdom's second most popular tourist destination, attracting over one million overseas visitors each year. Edinburgh is Scotland's second most populous city and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom; the official population estimates are 488,050 for the Locality of Edinburgh, 513,210 for the City of Edinburgh, 1,339,380 for the city region.
Edinburgh lies at the heart of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland city region comprising East Lothian, Fife, Scottish Borders and West Lothian. The city is the annual venue of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, it is home to national institutions such as the National Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of four in the city, is placed 18th in the QS World University Rankings for 2019; the city is famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe, the latter being the world's largest annual international arts festival. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the churches of St. Giles and the Canongate, the extensive Georgian New Town, built in the 18th/19th centuries. Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. "Edin", the root of the city's name, derives from Eidyn, the name for this region in Cumbric, the Brittonic Celtic language spoken there.
The name's meaning is unknown. The district of Eidyn centred on the dun or hillfort of Eidyn; this stronghold is believed to have been located at Castle Rock, now the site of Edinburgh Castle. Eidyn was conquered by the Angles of Bernicia in the 7th century and by the Scots in the 10th century; as the language shifted to Old English, subsequently to modern English and Scots, The Brittonic din in Din Eidyn was replaced by burh, producing Edinburgh. Din became dùn in Scottish Gaelic, producing Dùn Èideann; the city is affectionately nicknamed Auld Reekie, Scots for Old Smoky, for the views from the country of the smoke-covered Old Town. Allan Ramsay said. A name the country people give Edinburgh from the cloud of smoke or reek, always impending over it."Thomas Carlyle said, "Smoke cloud hangs over old Edinburgh,—for since Aeneas Silvius's time and earlier, the people have the art strange to Aeneas, of burning a certain sort of black stones, Edinburgh with its chimneys is called'Auld Reekie' by the country people."A character in Walter Scott's The Abbot says "... yonder stands Auld Reekie--you may see the smoke hover over her at twenty miles' distance."Robert Chambers who said that the sobriquet could not be traced before the reign of Charles II attributed the name to a Fife laird, Durham of Largo, who regulated the bedtime of his children by the smoke rising above Edinburgh from the fires of the tenements.
"It's time now bairns, to tak' the beuks, gang to our beds, for yonder's Auld Reekie, I see, putting on her nicht -cap!"Some have called Edinburgh the Athens of the North for a variety of reasons. The earliest comparison between the two cities showed that they had a similar topography, with the Castle Rock of Edinburgh performing a similar role to the Athenian Acropolis. Both of them had fertile agricultural land sloping down to a port several miles away. Although this arrangement is common in Southern Europe, it is rare in Northern Europe; the 18th-century intellectual life, referred to as the Scottish Enlightenment, was a key influence in gaining the name. Such luminaries as David Hume and Adam Smith shone during this period. Having lost most of its political importance after the Union, some hoped that Edinburgh could gain a similar influence on London as Athens had on Rome. A contributing factor was the neoclassical architecture that of William Henry Playfair, the National Monument. Tom Stoppard's character Archie, of Jumpers, said playing on Reykjavík meaning "smoky bay", that the "Reykjavík of the South" would be more appropriate.
The city has been known by several Latin names, such as Aneda or Edina. The adjectival form of the latter, can be seen inscribed on educational buildings; the Scots poets Robert Fergusson and Robert Burns used Edina in their poems. Ben Jonson described it as "Britaine's other eye", Sir Walter Scott referred to it as "yon Empress of the North". Robert Louis Stevenson a son of the city, wrote, "Edinburgh is what Paris ought to be"; the colloquial pronunciation "Embra" or "Embro" has been used, as in Robert Garioch's Embro to the Ploy. The earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond, where evidence was found of a Mesolithi
William Fettes
Not to be confused with Sir William Fettes Douglas Sir William Fettes, 1st Baronet was a wealthy Scottish businessman and philanthropist, who left a bequest which led to the foundation of Fettes College, in Edinburgh. The Fettes family came from north east Scotland, where the name can be encountered in such variants as "Vettese", "Fittes" and "Fiddes". Fettes was born on 25 June 1750, the eldest son of Margaret, daughter of James Rae, William Fettes, an Edinburgh merchant. At the age of 8 he attended the Royal High School in Edinburgh; when he was 18 years old he commenced his business life, trading in wine and tea from premises in the High Street. In 1787 he married Maria Malcolm and in 1788 their only son, William Fettes was born, his life covered a period of economic expansion in Scotland and, at the commencement of the Napoleonic Wars, he was ideally placed to establish connections with Durham and Newcastle becoming an underwriter, a military contractor and, in 1800, a director of the British Linen Bank.
A merchant, underwriter, Fettes lived not far from Fettes College present location on Comely Bank, in the Stockbridge district of Edinburgh. He had made his money trading tea during the Napoleonic wars, used this to buy the estate of Comely Bank, he was by living at Comely Bank in the Stockbridge district of Edinburgh and he had other estates which he had bought but he was to retire from trade in 1800 to look after these interests. He was involved in many public charities and the general welfare of Edinburgh, serving as Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1804 to 1806, he became a baronet in 1804. In 1815, his only son, William Fettes died at the age of 27 of typhoid in Berlin, while on a tour of Europe, he had been admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1810 five years previously. Without an heir, Fettes was to live on to May 1836, they are buried together in Canongate Kirkyard on the Royal Mile. In life Fettes lived at 13 Charlotte Square and this is where he died. Fettes had intended that money from his estate should pay for a hospital rather than a school but he decided to make it a school for orphans and the needy.
In his will he made a bequest, to lead to the foundation of Fettes College. His bequest, of £166,000, in memory of his only son, was for the endowment of a school for orphaned or needy children. Fettes College, cannot be taken to fulfil this bequest as it is an exclusive and expensive private school these days, his will declares: "It is my intention that the residue of my whole estate should form an endowment for the maintenance and outfit of young people whose parents have either died without leaving sufficient funds for that purpose, or who from innocent misfortune during their lives, are unable to give suitable education to their children." After his death the bequest was invested. His Trustees allowed the investments to accumulate for more than 25 years before they decided that with £166,000, there was enough capital with which to acquire the land, to found the school, to fund scholarships; the main school building was designed by David Bryce, nearly 20 years after Fettes’ death, it opened in 1870, 34 years after his death.
Fettes College thus opened with 53 pupils. By 1875 200 boys enrolled. George Heriot, "Jinglin Geordie", the Edinburgh merchant whose name appears in Heriot-Watt University and George Heriot’s School. Collins Encyclopedia of Scotland Short biography of William Fettes Ex-pupils save Fettes tomb from grave state of affairs
