Hamilton Academy
 |
|
| Motto |
Sola Nobilitat Virtus Latin: 'Virtue alone ennobles' |
|---|---|
| Established | 1588 |
| Closed | ceased as an independent institution 1972 |
| Type | Fee-paying senior and junior day and boarding; latterly a Scottish senior selective day school, pupil intake from across the County of Lanark |
| Rector | last Rector, Alfred W. S. Dubber |
| depute-Rector | last depute-Rector, A. M. Robertson |
| Founder | Lord John Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Hamilton, Ducal House of Hamilton |
| Location |
Hamilton Lanarkshire  Scotland
|
| Students | last student roll (1971–72 session) – 1025 |
| Gender | from late 19th. century – co-educational |
| Ages | prep school 5–12 (closed 1952)–senior school 12–18 (last intake 1971) |
| Houses | Cadzow, Calder, Clutha and Kilbryde (Avon, Brandon, Clyde and Douglas in last two school sessions only) |
| Colours | blue & green |
| Publication | Acta – school in-house periodical & the Hamilton Academy (annual school) Magazine (up to last session, 1971–72) |
| School song | "Vivat Academia!" |
Hamilton Academy was a school in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Described as "one of the finest schools in Scotland" in the Cambridge University Press County Biography of 1910, Hamilton Academy featured in the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association Magazine article series on Famous Scottish Schools (1950).
No longer existing as an independent institution, Hamilton Academy had a history going back to 1588 when it was endowed by Lord John Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Hamilton.
The school, then known as the Old Grammar School of Hamilton (not to be confused with the present Hamilton Grammar School) stood near the churchyard adjoining Hamilton Palace until in 1714 Anne Hamilton, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton, great-granddaughter of the Founder, re-located the school to a new building on the newly named Grammar School Square also in the lower part of the town, and presented this to the Town Council of Hamilton. The Statistical Account of Lanarkshire of 1835 notes of this school building that it "is a venerable pile, near the centre of the town, containing a long wainscotted hall, emblazoned with the names of former scholars, cut out in the wood, as at Harrow."
In 1847 this old school building on Grammar School Square was sold for £253 and survived until its demolition in 1932. A plaque commemorating the site of the Old Grammar School of Hamilton (which was renamed Hamilton Academy in 1848) was commissioned by pupils of Hamilton Academy and unveiled by the Academy's rector, David Anderson MC, on 21 March 1932 at a public ceremony in the presence of Academy pupils and teaching staff; the Provost and members of the Town Council, and members of Hamilton Civic Society.
The Town Council were sole managers of the school until, in 1848, the school (having been renamed The 'Hamilton Academy') re-located again, to larger premises on the town's Hope Street, with Rector's residence and accommodation for boarders, built by the Heritors of the Parish of Hamilton, the Town Council and Subscribers, the school then coming under the management of a Directorate chosen of these three parties. The Report on Schools in Scotland, 1868, notes that Hamilton Academy was unusual in this respect, being "a parochial, burgh and a proprietary school combined." In 1866 the Subscribers passed their interest over to the Town Council who, along with the Heritors, managed the school until in 1872 management was transferred to the newly elected School Board of the Burgh of Hamilton under the terms of the Education (Scotland) Act 1872, under the terms of which Act the school was also confirmed (1876) as being an 'Higher-class school.'
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