Indian subcontinent
In March 1828, Susan Elizabeth Low, of Clatto House, near Blebo Craigs, Fife, wrote to her son, Peter Low, with news about a recent marriage in the county: Our great Fife heiress, Miss Bruce of Falkland, is married to…
What did the students at St Andrews in the nineteenth century think about slavery, colonialism and empire? Unless they wrote or spoke publicly about it, it’s difficult to say… The archives of the University tend to be…
A donor to the University of St Andrews, alumnus Andrew Bell’s life began in the ‘Auld Grey Toon’, and he travelled around the world, from North America to India, being shipwrecked along the way. His employment as a…
Alexander Dick Grimond (1824-1903) of Blairgowrie was the son of David Grimond, a flax spinner, and Isabella Robertson. He and his brother, Joseph, became early pioneers in the jute carpet trade. The brothers owned a…
Robert Mackenzie Smeaton (1845-1910) was born in St Andrews to David James Smeaton (or Smitton; d. 1871), a local headmaster, and Elizabeth Charlotte née Mackenzie (d. 1903). He attended the University and graduated…
The ‘Smeaton Bursary’ originally began in 1895 as an annual £20 donation given by Robert M. Smeaton to fund a United College prize. In 1905, he gave £750 to establish a permanent bursary ‘in memory of [his] honoured…
The Garth Bursaries were founded by a bequest from Dr Alexander Stewart (d. 1828). He gave the University £3,000 in 3% consols, or ‘war bonds’, to fund ‘as many bursaries as possible’. Five bursaries were funded from…
Alexander Stewart (d. 1828) was part of the Stewart family of Garth, a significant Highland family whose seat was Garth Castle in Perthshire. Stewart probably studied at St Andrews, and then trained for medicine at…
In April 1891, Principal James Donaldson announced to the University Court that ‘a gentleman interested in the University’ had donated £1000 ‘towards the endowment of a Botanical Lectureship, or future Chair in the…
The Forbes Bursaries were founded by John Forbes (1800-1874), who bequeathed £1,500 to the University. The benefaction supported three bursaries: the first was for a student entering United College who was deemed ‘the…