Maxwell Bursary
The Maxwell Bursary was created in 1751 by the will of Hugh Maxwell, the minister of Strathmartine (and alumnus of the university). He left 2,700 merks, to be mortified to produce an income for a bursar to attend the University of St Andrews or Edinburgh. Maxwell’s deed (written in 1749) specified that the bursary should by preference benefit someone from his own family, or with the surname Maxwell, or failing that, ‘any boy descended of honest and well-affected parents’ whom the trustees believed to be ‘fit and well-qualified for enjoying the benefit’ of the bursary.
Hugh Maxwell left the management of the funds, and the right of presentation, to his eldest son David Maxwell and his heirs male – although by 1840, it was in fact being managed by a female descendent from David’s daughter’s line. In 1840, the bursary was worth £7.10s. By the 1890s, it was worth £11 and was tenable for four years.