George Watson's College

George Watson's College is a co-educational private day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a hospital school in 1741, became a day school in 1871, and was merged with its sister school George Watson's Ladies College in 1974. It is a Merchant Company of Edinburgh school and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. History Foundation The school was established according to the instructions of George Watson (1654–1723) who bequeathed the bulk of his fortune of £12,000 – a vast sum in 1723 – to found a school for the provision of post-primary boarding education. George Watson, since 1696, had been clerk to Sir John Dick. Unlike his father, John Watson, George was not a member of the Merchant Company of Edinburgh, but he was impressed by their co-founding and running of the Merchant Maiden Hospital (a girls school founded in 1707) and so he chose the Company to implement the terms of his will to create an equivalent facility for the sons of merchants. After some years, the Governors bought land known as Heriot's Croft, located off Lauriston Place in Edinburgh, close to the Meadows and opposite George Heriot's School, and engaged an architect. The foundation stone was laid on 22 May 1738, and the building was completed early in 1741. (At the time, there was concern that this site was too far from the city, but today it would be regarded as close to the city centre.)