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Submitted by Allison Stevenson - [email protected]
A Partial History of the New Glasgow School
The information herein was obtained from a photocopy of a hand-written narrative of unknown origin. The original pages contained a brief narrative of the history of New Glasgow School, and a list of teachers from 1844 to 1922. The material appears to have been obtained from a report or reports of the Visitor of District schools (i.e. the inspector).
The first school in New Glasgow was opened in the fall term 1845 on the New Glasgow Rd. Under the School Act, it was a 1st-class school, having reading, writing, arithmetic, and grammar in the curriculum. The first teacher was James Douglas, and at the time this was the second school in the lot #23. The first school in the lot was opened at Cavendish one year before.
The teacher in 1846 was Lawrence Buchannan, and in the year 1847 the teacher was Malcolm MacKenzie. In 1847, a second school was built for the Acadians, towards Rusticoville. The teacher was Ciriac Buote.
The teacher was again Lawrence Buchannan in the school term 1848, and remained a 1st-class school under the previous school act.
John McNeil, the visitor of schools for the province , made comments about the school in 1848. The school was kept open most of the term and "the most improved system of education has the fullest development and where the proficiency of the scholars is more satisfactory".
In the years 1849-1850, under the same teacher, there were 41 students on the roll and 25 present when the inspector was there.
Robert Leard took the school from 1850-1853 with an increase in student population to 65 in 1851. At this time, the children attended school from age 6 to 16. It was noted that the school at this time had all the students in a reading program with 10 readers of different types and levels. The other books were 10 spellers & 5 math and grammar books. At this time the school remained a 1st-class school under the 10 Victoria (?) Act.
In 1853 the school was taken by John McKay, a high class teacher who taught algebra and navigation in a new and superior way.
In 1871, the New Glasgow Grammar School was established without assist (sic). It had a schoolroom, classroom, and a large playgound. Previously it had been a common school.
(The following notes are based on data included on the photocopy, but not organized in a narrative, and presumably from the Visitor�s report. )
It appears that in 1844 there were134 schools, with a total of 5272 students, and an average attendance (presumably on the days of the visit) of 39-33. There was an increase since 1833 of 60 schools and 3090 students. The budget for schools in 1833 was reported as 674 pounds, and in 1844, 1544 pounds . Possibly these figures referred to district #6 only, as it appears that district #6 consisted of � of each of lots 20 and 21, all of lots 22, 23 and 24, and part of lot 67. The school population for lot 23 is listed as 250 male and 179 female, and for the district 1962 students (1060 male and 902 female. ) . It appears that 1/3 of the district population was of school age. These figures may refer to 1844, or it could have been 1853 because a statement following reads "this station is occupied by the only teacher of the 2nd or highest class in the county. Algebra and navigation are taught + reg school-new and superior". Those lines would seem to fit with the comment re 1853 in the preceding narrative.
The list of teachers follows:
1845 James Douglas
1846. Lawrence Buchannan
1847 Malcolm MacKenzie
1848-50 Lawrence Buchannan
1851-52 Robert Leard
1853 John McKay
1856 William Anderson
1857 unvisited
1858 Josiah McLeod
1860 Malcolm MacDonald
1861-63 W. Dickieson
1864 James Kennedy
1865 Francis H. Feetham
1869 George Dickieson
1873 George Laird
1874-75 Ewen Stewert
1877-78 Alex McDonald, C Crawford
1879-80 Alex MacDonald
1882-88 Alex MacDonald with assistants Marianna Linkletter(1881-83) and Maggie Smith (1886-88)
1889-91 Fred. T. O. Norton, Maggie Smith
1892 Thomas F. West, Maggie Smith, Lizzie Dickieson
1893 Roderick McNeill, R.E. Stevenson, Lizzie Dickieson (assitant), Florina McCoubrey (helper)
1894-96 R. E. Stevenson, Florina McCoubrey (for 1896, also Miss Esther , Miss Qxenham)
1897 Stevenson, Qxenham, John A. Stewart, Fannie Brown.
1898 John A. Stewart, F.T Aitken, Fannie Brown, Nora Lefurgey
1899 � 1900 Fenton Aitken, Elytha Read
1901 Fenton Aitken ( Went from 1st-class school to graded)
1902 Burdette Stevenson
1903 Ethel Read, Elytha Read
1904 - 05 Cora A. White, Pearle S. Brown
1906 Annie McLeod, Pearle S. Brown
1907 Annie McLeod, Gussie E. Binns
1908 A. M. MacDonald, Gussie E. Binns.
1909 Fred Bagnall, Margaret V. Stevenson
1910 Vera Brown, M.V. Stevenson
1911 Vera M. Brown
1912 -13 Mabel McLeod
1914 - ?
1915 - 16 Evelyn Stevenson
1917 Jennie L. Brown
1918 Ruth Moffatt
1919 Winnifred MacLeod, Martha Brown
1920 Elva Bernard
1921 Harold Yeo
1922 Ethel Ling, Horace Nelson