Fettes College - History

History

To perpetuate the memory of his only son William, who had predeceased him in 1815, Sir William Fettes (1750–1836), a former Lord Provost of Edinburgh and wealthy city merchant, bequeathed the then very large sum of £166,000 to be set aside for the education of poor children and orphans.

After his death the bequest was effected and invested and the accumulated sum was then used to acquire the land, to build the main building and found the school in 1870. Fettes College thus opened with 53 pupils (40 were Foundation Scholars with 11 others boarding & 2 day pupils).

A Fettes headmaster who provoked controversy was Anthony Chenevix-Trench (1971–79), formerly of Eton. The investigative journalist Paul Foot wrote an exposé in Private Eye detailing his excessive use of corporal punishment while he was a Housemaster at Shrewsbury School. Tim Card, a former Vice-provost of Eton College, said Chenevix-Trench's resignation from that school was caused by his heavy drinking and his overuse of the cane.

An all-boys school until 1970, when female pupils were first admitted for the final year, Fettes has been fully co-educational since 1983. Because of its prestige and high profile, several journalists recently described Fettes as "the Eton of the North".

• In 1998 Fettes was placed 4th in the Daily Telegraph league table of Schools.
• In 1999 Fettes was placed 5th in the Sunday Times list of top mixed independent schools in the UK.
• In 2001 Fettes was declared "Scottish School of the year" by the Sunday Times.

Fettes pupils wear distinctive chocolate and magenta coloured blazers. It is said that Fettes "used to have a hearty, rugger-bugger, Caledonian image".

In 2009 Fettes won the Bell Lawrie Scottish School's Cup, at Murrayfield Stadium, for the first time.

In April 2009 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) published a report on Fettes that evaluated the school as “excellent” in four out of five Quality Indicators and “very good” in the other one.