Glasgow Government School of Design / Glasgow School of Art – Founded in 1845, Not in 1840

Another example of providing the wrong date for the establishment of the Glasgow Government

School of Design can be found on page seven of The Scotsman, on Saturday the 24th of

December, 1938. It concerns the School of Art’s “anniversay” in 1940, and reads:

 

“GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART

 

Lord Provost’s Centenary Promise

 

“‘WHEN the centenary of Glasgow School of Art is celebrated in 1940, art exhibitions will be

held in the city, with the support of Glasgow Corporation, on a scale never before attempted

in Scotland,’ said Lord Provost P. J. Dollan when he visited the annual masque and ball in

Glasgow School of Art last night.

 

‘We shall make Glasgow art conscious on that occasion,’ he said. ‘We hope to attract to the

city during the School’s centenary, students, artists, connoisseurs, from all parts of the world.’

 

Complimenting the students on their work in connection with the ball, Mr Dollan said, ‘This

is the most colourful dance that I have ever had the good fortune of seeing in the city. The

decorations are the best I have ever seen, and they are a tribute to the ability of the students

and the city’s School of Art.’ If ever the Corporation held a dance of a similar nature in the City

Chambers, he hoped that the students of the School of Art would assist them in producing

something on such a wonderful scale.

 

Mr Dollan, who waited some time at the ball, was accompanied by Mr W. O. Hutchison,

Director of the School of Art.”

 

 

 

The British Newspaper Archive.

 

 

 

George Fairfull-Smith, June 2025.