Above, the old Perth Academy building on 7 Rose Terrace.

The Perth Academy was created in 1542. However, its antecedent, Perth Grammar School was founded in the 12th century, and until the 1870s, the two schools existed as separate entities.

Perth Grammar School was first mentioned in the Registrum de Dunfermlyn (1165-1214) as the principal grammar school of the borough of Perth. Average attendance was 360 boys and consisted of the sons of noblemen and rich burgesses who were intended to follow a career in the Church. Early teachers in the school were churchmen. The school was called a Grammar School because Latin grammar was the main subject taught. Other subjects in early days were music and arithmetic. The Latin text book used for many years in grammar schools was the Donat, written by Aelius Donatus in the 9th century. A notable rector of the Grammar School, Andrew Simson, published a new grammar in 1587, which was generally adopted in place of the Donat. Teaching would have been largely oral during this period. After the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, books were introduced and gradually became more plentiful.

The Perth Grammar School's students practiced archery on the South Inch. (Perth's North and South Inch are the city's two main park areas and border on the Tay River. The word inch comes from the gaelic term for island and means a piece of land adjacent to a river.) Today's Scholar's Knoll marks where one end of the archery butts was located at the South Inch. Besides archery, another popular activity for students was futeball. By 1424, it had became so popular in Scotland as a whole, that authorities became concerned that the next time that England invaded, they'd have to resort to throwing footballs at them. Well, they may not have said it in those words exactly, but the sentiment was same. The authorities issued a decree that nae man was to play at the futeball under the paine of fiftie shillings. The increasing use of gunpowder in the 1400/1500s did away with the need to practice archery, but the scholars still paraded from time to time through Perth with their bows and arrows. (Sadly nobody thought of cramming the footballs with gunpowder and heaving those at the English. that would have given a new meaning to the term a blow out game.)

The Perth Academy's name first appeared in the literature in 1542 when it was founded by the Perth town council. The first Rector of the school was the Honourable John Murray, later the Duke of Atholl. The position of rector at this time was a purely honorary title.

In the 17th century, a school week lasted 7 days. For example, on Sundays, the scholars marched to church. Then afterwards, they marched back again to school, where the masters questioned them to determine if they had paid due attention to the sermon. At first, there were no seats for the scholars in the church, and the boys were restless and inattentive. Seats were eventually provided, and this, purportedly, put a stop to their tumult and running through the church.

In the early 17th century, the Grammar School stood on a site bounded to the north by South Street and to the east by Speygate. It was a long, low building entered from South Street. The Grammar School scholars of the day had a lively time supporting the coronation of Charles II at nearby Scone, which had been chosen for the ceremony because fire had made Holyrood Palace unsuitable. The school was destined to pay dearly for their display of loyalty to King Charles. When Cromwell entered Perth later in the year, he gave orders that several buildings were to be pulled down to provide material for his new Citadel. To teach the scholars a lesson, the Grammar School was one of the buildings destroyed. After this demolition, it would be some time before another site was secured. This was at the south-west corner of St. Ann’s Vennel, fronting South Street. There were two floors in the building. The school occupied the upper one, and there were two shops on the ground floor.

In 1710, a new Perth Academy was opened to provide more up-to-date education than the Grammar School. As of 1762, we know that the Academy was situated in a two-storey building on King Edward Street, near to St. John's Kirk. The Academy building would later house Perth's city hall.

By the 1800s, Perth had a number of small schools, each operating in its own particular field. The disparate nature of their, often cramped, buildings was detrimental to the efficiency and success of the schools. This, combined with a new appreciation for the value of education, led to the construction of a single building on Rose Terrace, near the North Inch, that could house the different schools. Work on this building was started in October 1803, and was finished for the start of the teaching year in 1807. Known as the Seminaries, the building housed the old Academy (at the time specialising mostly in Maths and the Sciences), the Grammar School (specialising in mostly Classics, History and Philosophy), the English School, the French school, the Drawing and Painting school, and the Writing school. The Grammar school and the Academy were separate entities and had different masters. I assume the other schools were separate too.

In 1873, the term Seminaries was no longer used and the institution began to be officially termed Perth Academy, with the other schools being considered as departments within the school. Teachers were still paid separately and collected their share of the tuition fees directly from the students in their classes. In 1881, this was changed, with the fees going into a central treasury before being redistributed.

In 1887, the listing for Perth Academy in Leslie's Perth Directory revealed that the Rector was R. McCrea Chambers. There were 8 departments taught by a staff of 12.

• The Classics: R. McCrea Chambers (master) and William Macqueen (assistant).
• English: Walter Gillies (master) and Peter Seath (assistant).
• Preparatory classes: Miss Hodge (lady teacher) and Miss Robertson (assistant. (Yes, girls attended Perth Academy.)
• Modern languages: Daniel Sinclair (master) and William Macqueen (assistant).
• Mathematics, Arithmetic and Science: John Macmillan (master) and William Mackie (assistant).
• Writing and Arithmetic: James Greig.
• Drawing F.M. Black.
• Janitor and Drill instructor: Alexander Stephen.

In 1892, control of the schools was transferred from Perth City Council to the newly created school board under the terms of the 1878 Education Act.

In 1915, the Academy was amalgamated with the rival Sharp's Educational Institution, also located in Perth. From the Perth Directory, we can find that Sharp's had the following departments/schools: senior, junior, infant, sewing, technical (math and science), drawing and workshop, modern languages, Latin, drill, fencing and calisthenics (taught by a quarter-master sergeant), and music.

Perth Academy was moved to a site in Viewlands in 1932. The old Academy building on 7 Rose Terrace was refurbished as office accommodations in the mid 90s.

Sources

Schools of Perth: http://www.alternative-perth.co.uk/schools.htm

Early history of the Grammar School, http://www.visitdunkeld.com/perth-grammar-school.htm

History of the Perth Academy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth_Academy

Leslie's Perth Directory, 1887 published by D. Leslie and costing 3 shillings. (http://deriv.nls.uk/dcn23/8569/85698399.23.pdf) Perth Academy is listed in a number of locations in the directory; its most extensive is on page 21 or page 43 of the pdf file.