Girls Education in Scotland

From the early 19th century, education for girls, either at day or boarding school, was centred around the three cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen. The offering of specific subjects by individual teachers at their homes was a particular feature of the age, as Mrs. Furlong commented in 1855  

In every street might, at the period to which I refer [1815-1835], be seen some delicate girl, hurrying from class to class (according 

Scotland did not have the equivalent of England s Miss Buss or Miss Beale (see Chap. 1) instead, the young ladies institutions were administered by men, and men made up the majority of the teaching staff. The Scottish Institution for the Education of Young Ladies (SIEYL) in Edinburgh particularly emphasised the teaching of science. For example, in 1835, the school report noted  

The explanations were accompanied by a great variety of experiments and practical illustrations, and in some of the classes, an examination followed the lecture. In the chemical classes, the ladies answered many questions, and practiced, under Dr. Reid s superintendence, many useful experiments.1 

The rival of SIEYL, the Edinburgh Ladies Institution for the Southern Districts, was equally boastful of its science offerings, including chemistry. On the other side of the country, the Glasgow Institution for the Education of Young Ladies offered physical science from 1847 and even chemistry in 1855, though by the mid-1860s science had disappeared from the basic curriculum.1 

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