In 1847, Duncan Macfarlan organised a subscription to raise funds for a Cook Testimonial Prize ‘to commemorate the eminent services rendered to the Church of Scotland’ by Professor George Cook (1773-1845), of the…
In 1858, a public subscription raised funds for a Testimonial Fund and Mathematical Prize in memory of the late Thomas Duncan (c.1777-1858), who had been Professor of Mathematics at the University of St Andrews from…
William Hamilton (d.1822) was the son of an Ayrshire ‘writer’ [i.e. solicitor], William Hamilton of Mauchline. The son also went into the law, and was admitted as a writer to the signet [a more senior solicitor] in…
Henry Dundas was Chancellor of the University of St Andrews from 1788 to 1811. His role in the abolition (and/or the delay of the abolition) of the slave trade has attracted a lot of public attention recently –…
Thomas Moncreif (sometimes: Moncrieffe) (1626-1715) was the youngest child of a merchant from Kirkwall, Orkney. In the 1650s, he was involved in negotiations with the exiled Charles II, and did well under the…
Hugh Maxwell (c1681-1751) left funds to create the Maxwell Bursary. He was the son of a Dundee merchant, and had been educated at St Andrews, taking an MA in 1702 before becoming a minister. He served in parishes in…
John Walker (c.1794-1884) was from a farming family in Fife. He was probably a younger son of farmer Arthur Walker of Pitblado and Agnes Millar, and took up the tenancy of his father’s farm at Newbigging of Ceres. He…
Henry Miller was apparently a Scot, living in London in the early 1850s. He gave the University £2,400 in 1853 to fund a series of 12 prizes for the top 3 students in each year group. The University invested the money…
James Rorie was apparently a servant to James Playfair (1736-1819), Principal of United College. Rorie appears to have predeceased Playfair, and had left instruction and ‘a small sum’ to found a bursary. In Playfair’s…
William Thomson was a former magistrate of Anstruther Wester, in Fife. In a will of 1790, he left £700 to create a Thomson Bursary at the University of St Andrews. He died in 1794 (or 1797), and is commemorated with a…