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We will end the coverage of the event for now with the correspondence in ‘The Scotsman’ about it which was started in the paper of 13th April, 1876 with this letter by M.I. which casts doubt on whether the event ought to be continued.

There was an almost instant response from various interested parties.

Of course there had to be a response from M.I.  (or was it M.J.?) – 

In the course of all this, the Head at Loretto had to correct a few mis-statements –

Given that he referred to the ‘late’ inter scholastic games, it would seem that they had ceased to exist!  Loretto off their own bat appeared to be trying to do something about the situation.   But it would seem that there would be a hiatus and that is where we will leave the Games – for now at least. 

Despite talk in 1869 of the sports being held at Merchiston Castle, they were again held at Raeburn Place and went off well.Although it reported that all the best athletes from all the public schools in Edinburgh were taking part, there were still only four establishments in action.  For the second time in five meetings the qualifying dates for the various age groups was given in the report, and the jumps for height participants were graded by their height.   The speech at the end of the afternoon was abbreviated to the point of almost non-existence.

Crowd size was better than satisfactory, the standard of athletics was high and the report was by far the best of those printed so far in the series.

The Games of 1968 were the third in the series which were limited to several fee-paying schools in Edinburgh.  The opening paragraph of the report below comments on this and repeats the fact that the Games were a copy of the Oxford/Cambridge meetings.   The spirit of the age comes through the report with talk of “more for the honour of the school than personal aggrandisement”.   Well, maybe that was the outward appearance but it is fair to think that it did confer some status on the performer.

A good day’s sport with some interesting comments and conclusions: eg that the venue be changed to Merchiston Castle after four years at the same venue.  The fact that the number of competing schools was now down to four should maybe have caused some stirring in the cloisters of the establishments concerned too.

In an interesting introduction to the coverage of the report, the writer says that they were set up in imitation of the Oxbridge inter-university sports.  That’s the first time that has been mentioned.   What, if anything, does that tell us of the self perception of the schools’ management at the time?   As in the first two meetings, there were the five schools taking part and the event took place at Raeburn Place.  The report is from the ‘Scotsman’   .

Apart from Lord Ardmillan’s rousing speech with its “one word” of advice which runs to ten lines, that the meeting went on until 7:00 pm is a testament to the hardiness of the spectators, or maybe to the determination of mothers and fathers to see their progeny in action.   The programme had flat racing, hurdles racing, high jump, long jump, pole vault and throwing the cricket ball.   

The Merchiston Castle school sports day was on 18th April in 1866.   It was a good day alkthough there was reportedly a wind blowing but it was the only school to games to have a figure for the attendance – approximately 2000 were there for the occasion.   The report from the ‘Scotsman’ is below.

Among all the schools, it was the list of events that was most like the actual upcoming  inter-schools. Pole vault, high jump,long jump, putting the cannon ball, throwing the cricket ball and hurdles were all there.   The only lack was the number of events in each group – eg only one mile race with the nearest distance event being the 440 yards.   Then there is the last event of a flat race for fencing pupils: was there a separate fencing class that was taken at the time when the other pupils were doing their athletics?   A bit of a puzzle.   But like the others, it was a great social occasion with the grounds properly marked out, lots of flags and decorations around the ground.

The picture above is the only one I can find of the school.   It was a private school at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries with a good record of education and of sporting competition.   In 1866 it held its sports on 11th April in grand style with bannerets and so on, guests arriving in coaches and more of that type of celebration.   The report below is from the ‘Scotsman’.

With 29 events it was a fuller programme than that of the Royal High school and the events were more suited to the inter-school competition looming at the end of the month.   There was throwing the cricket ball, putting the cannonball, high leap. long leap and a variety of flat races.   Note too the name Mein in the running and jumping events.

Royal High School

We start with the report on the procedings which, although held on a rather unpleasant day which turned to rain later on, was well attended and even after some of the fashionable ladies and their escorts left when the rain came on there were ‘several hundreds’ of spectators.   The ground had been decorated for the occasion and details are included in the ‘Scotsman’ report.

Despite the weather and the ‘treacherous springing ground’, the sports went off well:

25 events distributed between Past pupils, present pupils and jumping for height with a category for pupils under 5 feet tall.   The Lord Provost was present with a Baillie there too.   The boys should have been well prepared for the inter-schools competition at the end of the month – but not all the events for the latter were on the programme for the Royal High School’s confined sports.

The official SAAA sponsored Inter-Scholastics Championships date from 1900 and were contested by private schools, mainly from Edinburgh but including Glasgow Academy and Dollar Institute.  The concept had existed well before that albeit entirely in Edinburgh.   The 1869 version describes itself as the fourth year of the event, and the 1867 is referred to as the second.  The text of the report below says that the concept had been discussed by a meeting of the various schools two months before that, ie in February 1866. 

The Games meeting on  20th April, 1866 was an interesting one with Royal High School, Loretto House, Edinburgh Academy, Merchiston Castle and Dreghorn Castle, which had started out as Grange, and there were 14 events. It aroused a torrent of letters to the ‘Scotsman’.   But first, the report on the meeting from the same paper of 21st April 1866.

Like all proper athletics meetings of the time there were an assemblage of spectators, a military band to keep the spectators entertained, and a large attendance.   As for the contestants, we were told they were dressed in the uniforms of their respective schools and easily distinguished.   I note these points because they featured in a correspondence which began a week before the Games on April 12th with the following.   The individual schools’ games ,it should be pointed out, had all been held before this meeting.

This elicited several letters in response. 

An interesting correspondence so far with hints that there had been similar events in the previous three years, but the Eronian was not done yet!

The event seemed to go off well despite the fears expressed by this series of letters to the ‘Scotsman’.   It might be useful however to have a look at the individual Schools games in 1866 before these took place.   They were not in any sense a national inter-scholastics sports meeting but they did sow the seeds of the SAAA-supported series from 1890 which led to the present Scottish Schools Athletic Championship.

The  records of the 1867 Games have not yet been unearthed but the results for the others will appear below:

1868   1869   1870   1871  1876   .

We can and maybe should have a look at some of the individual school games that came before this gathering to put them in some sort of context.   The Royal High Schools Games came first being contested on 7th April, 1866, followed by Dreghorn and Merchiston Castles.

Royal High School Games     Dreghorn Castle    Merchiston Castle

1925 provided further proof of the attractiveness of the championships, with 36 schools taking part.  The ‘Glasgow Herald’ of Monday 18th May commented: “The inter-scholastics meeting, which is held in Edinburgh in May each year, shows no sign of waning in popularity, no fewer than 36 schools being engaged at Inverleith on Saturday.   All the circumstances favoured a successful meeting, the weather being fine, the attendance good and the competitors showing enthusiasm in the various events.  Performances generally were of a high standard and two new records were created.   The inter-scholastic sports, which were largely fostered by the late Mr DS Duncan are now a firmly established event in the Scottish athletics calendar.”

The final sentence tells us what we had maybe guessed at: the championships were a great success despite the absence of some of the original (soon to be returned?) schools. Those taking part included several first timers in Kelso Academy, Stanley House, Robert Gordon’s,  and other who had previously dipped their toes into the event but missed at least the 1924 meeting were St  Mungo’s, Vale of Leven Academy and Ayr Academy.   The Edinburgh Evening News also told us that –

The ‘News’ went further in its actual report on the meeting when its first paragraph said:

It has not been mentioned so far but the ‘Coatbridge Leader’ (below) of 25th May reminds us that not all secondary schools were eligible to enter – Junior Secondaries were not included.   The cutting also shows the pride that all communities of whatever standing took in any sporting success won by their school pupils.

The results as published in the ‘Scotsman’ are below:

Comment was made by several reporters of the sprinting shown by the Dunfermline HS pupils as well as th performances by the only two pupils from Argyll.   A summary of winners and their schools follows.

Open Events

Under 16

Under 14

It was a good meeting with the spread of schools across the country being greater than ever – from Kelso in the South to several Aberdeen schools, eg Robert Gordon’s in the north; and from Kintyre in the West to Waid Academy in Fife in the East.   There were schools from big cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow and from smaller more rural schools like Kintyre and Vale of Leven.    As for the standard, records continued to be broken – in 1925 these were for sprints and throw, and in previous years we have seen them go for the jumping events too.   

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JFA Wood, Stewart’s College, winning the quarter-mile at the 1924 Inter-Scholastic Sports

The numbers continued to rise and in May, 1924, at Inverleith in Edinburgh there were 33 schools contesting the events with well over 400 pupils showing off their skills although the crowd could have been bigger.   Among the newcomers were Kelvinside Academy, Dundee Harris Academy, Hamilton Academy, Alloa Academy, St Mungo’s, Coatbridge and Hyndland High Schools.

The meeting started at 2:30 pm and entry fee was £1, the stand being double that and boys and girls half price.   The purchasing power of the £1 in 1924 would be £50 in 2023.     That maybe goes some way to explaining the disappointing attendance.   The report on the event in the ‘Edinburgh Evening News’ began as follows.

“Though there was only one record broken at the inter-scholastics at Inverleith, there were some performances which must rank among the best ever seen at this meeting.   It is safe to say that no one will ever run a race like JFA Wood did in the quarter-mile and not break a record.   From an Edinburgh point of view his success in this race was the most gratifying of the day, for he was disappointing in other events in which he was expected to shine.   Despite the fact that the number of entries for the quarter-mile warranted the race being run in heats, it was decided to start some 20 runners at once and get the event over.   As in former years the limited accommodation of the track was much in evidence and someone had to suffer.   Wood’s position was a most unenviable one and for him to win the race seemed an impossible task.   Three times he tried to burst through and three times he failed.   When at last he did manoeuvre into position he was yards behind Piggott of Bellahouston Academy who was leading.   Wood however put in a great finish and got home by the narrowest of margins.   His success was a most popular one and but for his unfortunate experience he would probably have beaten A McKay’s 1923 record of 54 1/5th seconds.   As it was Wood was only 2 seconds out.   His exertions here prevented him turning out in the high jump.

“It was interesting to note the way in which some of the fancied candidates were beaten by the ‘dark horses’.    A McLean, Dunfermline High School, upset calculations in the sprint, by beating C Harrison, Eastbank Academy, in a fast final.   The Dunfermline boy is a fine runner capable of good finishes.   Wood, the Stewart’s champion had to be satisfied with third place. “

The report concluded with a report on the record breaker.   “It was left to D Honeyman, Dunfermline High School, to set up the only new record.   In the 300 yards Under 14 he covered the distance in 38 1/5th thus beating A McGeorge’s 1919 record of 39 seconds.   Honeyman also won the 100 yards and was the outstanding boy in his class.   In the Under 16 events, WG Wylie, Hutchesons Grammar School, caught the eye in the sprint and should be heard of again though the standard in this class has often been better.   

“As a result of the Sports, Stewart’s carried off the honours with four firsts and two seconds, while Heriot’s had three firsts and two seconds.   Dunfermline High School also did exceptionally well having three firsts and winning both relay races.”

Results from the ‘Scotsman’ of May 19th, 1924.

Summary of winners:-

Open Events

Under 16

Under 14

11 schools provided event winners, there were 19 schools listed in the more detailed results above, and the Dunfermline High School seemed to have a conveyor belt of sprinters – 1100 yards and relay in the Open category, 100 and 300 yards plus relay for the Under 13’s.