This is another of our blogs from the historic ‘Annals of Aberdeen’ – the record of the city from “the reign of King William the Lion (1165-1214), to the end of the year 1818.” Over the last few years, we’ve looked at how the city worked, travelled, ate and drank, played and entertained itself, but today I want to consider the Annals’ account of the man after whom our university is named. Here is what they tell us…
“Robert Gordon, merchant in Aberdeen, only lawful son of Mr. Arthur Gordon, advocate, of the family of Straloch, having acquired a competent fortune in the course of trade, as a merchant in the Dantzic (Danzig), returned to his native country about the beginning of the eighteenth century, and settled in Aberdeen. Although a man who had seen a great deal of the world, and enjoyed the first society in the place, yet, having formed the noble design of founding an hospital in the town, for the maintenance and education of young boys, he denied himself for many years, the comforts and conveniences of life, at home, that he might be better enabled to provide a fund adequate to the accomplishment of his favourite object: and in this he completely succeeded.”
His efforts in creating this ‘hospital’ consumed much of the last decade of his life The Annals’ comment about denying himself in order to fund the hospital does not do him justice for, in fact, he left his entire fortune to the project and it was not actually completed until two decades after his death in 1731. The term ‘hospital’ is misleading, because this establishment’s purpose was, as noted in the quote above, to provide a basic education to boys and give them a decent start in life. Here is how the Annals describe the teaching they received…
“The age of admission is from nine to twelve. They are neatly clothed: their dress being a uniform blue coat, with bonnet. They are taught English grammar, reading, writing, arithmetic, &c; and generally remain in the hospital until they have attained the age of sixteen.”
There was no careers’ office in those days, but benefits of such an education, then as now, were obvious, and spelled out by the writer of the Annals thus…
“On indenting with a merchant they are entitled, by the original foundation, to receive L.10 sterling (£10 sterling, equivalent to £1,178 today) each in the name of apprentice fee; and with an artificer, L.5. At the expiry of their apprenticeship, they were allowed L.200 Scottish money (there were roughly 12 Scots pounds in one pound sterling in the early eighteenth century), in the former case, and L.100 in the latter, to enable them to commence business for themselves.”
Over the next few centuries, various educational establishments were founded in Aberdeen and many of these merged over the years, including a union in 1881 between Robert Gordon Hospital and Aberdeen Mechanic’s Institute and Technical School to create Robert Gordon College. Although offering day school classes for boys only, it also had evening classes for adult men and women in what we would now call STEM subjects. Art classes were provided as well, but in 1885 these transferred to a new School of Art, paid for by a local businessman called John Gray. Much later, in 1957, the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture was opened. Ultimately subsequent mergers led to the formation the Robert Gordon Institute of Technology in 1962, which became our university in 1992. The Art School moved to a campus at Garthdee in 1967 where, of course, the entire university is now located. We’re a bit less prescriptive about who can study here now and how they must dress but our overall objectives would still be recognised and, we’re sure, applauded by Robert Gordon himself.
Julie Skinner, Resourcing and Benefits Specialist, RGU