Edinburgh University, schools and the civil service in the early twentieth century
This article is a case study of the relation between urban schooling and university education, using two main sources. Data on the schools attended by history students at Edinburgh University between 1899 and 1933 illustrate the diversity and social ranking of schools in the city. New
higher grade schools had a key role in increasing access to university education for both men and women, especially for prospective teachers; the significance of the Education (Scotland) Act of 1918 for Catholic schools, and the continuing importance of small private schools for girls, are
also shown. The second source analyses the school origins of successful Edinburgh candidates in civil service examinations between 1896 and 1944, supplemented for other parts of Scotland by the report of the Royal Commission on the Civil Service of 1912. This elite career drew mainly from
older schools, and contemporary claims for equality of opportunity in Scotland need to be treated with reserve.
Keywords: Edinburgh; civil service; opportunity; secondary schools; university
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: School of History, Classics and Archaeology, William Robertson Wing, Old Medical School, University of Edinburgh Edinburgh, UK
Publication date: 01 July 2013
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