Department of Science and Art, Glasgow School of Art, 1859
On page two of The Glasgow Herald, on Friday the 16th of September, 1859, under the heading “DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND ART. GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART,” there is a “LIST of PARISH and other SCHOOL TEACHERS, of PUPIL TEACHERS, STUDENTS of the SCHOOL of ART, and SCHOOL CHILDREN, who have gained HONOURS or PRIZES in the EXAMINATION of June 1859.”
Among the names are the teachers named are: Mr. John Dickie, of St. John’s Parish Church and Miss Margaret Smith, of Anderston Burgh School. The pupil teachers include Helen Walker and Robert Primrose of the Established Normal Seminary. The School of Art students who received medals include John S. McIntyre, Mary Borland, Anne Tindal and Lewis Shanks. The list covers other categories of students, schools and teachers.
A short notice on page four, reads:
“The list of prizes awarded by the Department of Science and Art to masters and other teachers of parish and other public schools and private schools, to students of the Central School, and to school children – amounting altogether to one hundred and fifty-seven prizes, and to twenty-nine honourable mentions – exhibits in a favourable manner the progress of the departmental system of art-teaching in Glasgow. We hope soon to see a good practical training in drawing a part of the education afforded in every school in the country; it is invaluable to the working classes, and is calculated immensely to improve their practical skill. Our school teachers are gradually qualifying themselves, by taking certificates, to teach drawing; thus obtaining the Government allowance, which is liberal, as well as the amount of fees which their pupils are able and willing to pay.”