The Moray House School of Education
History of Professional Training

The East Suffolk Road Hostels at Newington, south Edinburgh, were the first purpose built residences developed exclusively for women students in Scotland. At the turn of the 20th century there was only limited provision for accommodating the increasing number of female students attending Edinburgh University, Edinburgh Art College and the Edinburgh Provincial Training College (Moray House). The possibility of providing additional hostels for women students was first raised as early as 1906. Discussions were widened in 1911 and included the involvement of the Carnegie Universities Trust. It was agreed that one large scheme was preferable to a number of smaller hostels.

The First Phase of Hostel Building: 1913 - 1917

Following an initiative by Professor Alexander Darroch, Chairman of the Edinburgh Provincial Committee, and Professor Sir Richard Lodge, Dean of Edinburgh University’s Faculty of Arts, formal agreement was reached in July 1913 establishing The Edinburgh Association for the Provision of Hostels for Women Students. The Association purchased approximately 19 acres of land at Craigmillar Park, East Suffolk Road, Newington, then part of a golf course. The cost was £10,707/1/0p.The pavilion in the adjacent field dates back to this golf course period.

The Architect appointed to design the hostels was Mr A K Robertson of Robertson & Swan, Edinburgh. He had drawn up the plans for the new Main Building at Holyrood (now Paterson’s land) that was opened in 1913. A.K. Robertson and Lady Mackenzie, whose portrait hangs in Old Moray House, visited a number of sites in England before the scheme for the hostels was drawn up. The buildings were designed in the Lorimer Arts and Crafts idiom with the frontages and side elevations incorporating stone from Craigleith Quarry and with brick and harling to the rears.

Original Plan 1913

The original plan for the 1913 scheme was for seven hostels, two gate lodges and recreation facilities, with a projected cost of £80,000. However, detailed drawings were prepared for just three hostels accommodating 156 students. The costs were shared 5/7ths and 2/7ths between the Training College and Edinburgh University respectively. The University met its share via a loan from the Carnegie Universities Trust. These first buildings and their fittings were to cost some £55,000.

In spite of the outbreak of the First World War two of the hostels became available to students in October 1916 with the third opening in the 1916/17 session. Sir Alfred Ewing, Principal of Edinburgh University, formally opened the campus on 1st June 1917. These hostels were named* Buchanan, Balfour and Playfair. Ethel McKnight (pictured left) was appointed as the first Principal Warden. The hostels provided each student with an individual study bedroom, heated by an open fireplace (Balfour study bedroom pictured below). A number of small apartments, fitted with sinks, electric irons, kettles etc, were provided on the bedroom

floors for students use. Each hostel had a spacious dining room‘to which is attached a servery and kitchen, equipped with an efficient and up-to-date installation for cooking by coal and steam’. For general use hostels had common rooms and libraries. Electric lighting was installed throughout but there was no central heating.

Sporting facilities were provided, including tennis courts and hockey pitches.

Transport to and from the Halls to the University or the Training College at Moray House was by tramcar, the journey taking some twenty minutes.

Students' Recollections: 1916-1920

Balfour Study Bedroom 1920

* Hostel Names

The five hostels at Newington were named after famous Scots or Scottish families.
Balfour: Lord Balfour, then Chancellor of Edinburgh University
Buchanan: The Buchanan family, in recognition of its contribution to the arts and humanities in Scotland
Playfair: The Playfair family for its contribution to science, mathematics and architecture
Carlyle: Thomas Carlyle, writer and historian
Darroch: Professor Alexander Darroch, Bell Professor of Education at Edinburgh University, and Chairman of the Edinburgh Provincial Committee for the Training of Teachers from 1909 to his unexpected
death on the island of Jura in 1924. He was a key figure in the establishment of the Hostels Association.

The 1920s and the Second World War

The need for additional hostel places continued to grow. By 1923/4 funding for two further buildings became available and work started in October 1925. Following the death of A K Robertson, Frank Wood completed the architectural work. He also designed much of the hostel furniture and light fitments. He was later responsible for the design of the Moray House Demonstration School at Holyrood. These additional hostels were finished in 1927/1928 completing the south side of the large grass quadrangle. They housed 120 students and also incorporated an administrative block. The total cost was £64,5000. The hostels were named* Carlyle and Darroch.

Carlyle and Darroch each had a common room and library together with smaller music rooms. There was a large shared dining hall with associated kitchens. Central heating was also installed at this time.

In 1927/8 the charge for a student’s Board and Residence was £50 for the three terms of the academic year ‘not including personal laundry’.

Sir John Gilmour, Secretary of State for Scotland, opened these two new hostels on 2nd June 1928.

A 1929 report records: ‘It (East Suffolk Road Hostels) is unique in character, and unique in setting. No similar scheme existing in Scotland, and few groups of women students’ residencies in England can show such well arranged buildings or more ample recreation grounds.’

After Miss McKnight’s sudden death in 1929 past students and friends established the McKnight library in her memory. This was situated in the central administration block between Carlyle and Darroch hostels. Miss Elizabeth Looker was appointed as successor Principal Warden. The 1930s were a difficult time for the hostels because of teacher unemployment and for a period the hostels had vacant rooms.

The Second World War: Within 48 hours of the declaration of War in 1939 the War Department had taken over the hostels and grounds. The facilities were initially used by the officers of the Internment Camp and subsequently by the ATS. Windows were ‘blacked out’ with blue paint and most of the furniture put in store by C & J Brown. In September 1945 the hostels were returned to the Association and reopened in October with 260 students in residence. The re-commissioning was a challenging time, with an army of maids and other helpers unpacking van loads of items from store.

A Warden’s Recollections: Elizabeth Carrick

Hostels become Moray House’s Newington Campus

The hostels were expected to be managed on a self-funding basis; however, the cost of maintaining the fabric of the buildings became an increasing burden on the Association. Following consultations it was agreed that the property of the Association should be assigned to the Board of Governors of Moray House College of Education. This was enacted in November 1976.

The Association, originally set up in 1913, was dissolved in 1980.

In 1981 male students attending Moray House were admitted to the hostels for the first time and were based in Darroch Hostel. At this time the hostels housed up to 340 students, of which 40 were overseas students studying at Moray House. The expansion of summer lettings resulted in over 10,000 guests using the hostels during the vacations. A Conference Centre was also opened in Carlyle hostel.

Moray House, like the Association before, found the cost of maintaining the hostels and keeping the accommodation up to date, financially difficult. Consequently, Newington Campus, as it was then called, was closed in December 1997. Marjorie MacCallum (pictured below) was last of the Principal Wardens who so effectively ran these student hostels.

Principal Wardens 1916-1997:
Sept 1916 -Dec 1929 Princip.Warden: Ethel T McKnight, MA, Mor. Sci. Trip
Apr 1930 -Jun 1955 Princip.Warden: Elizabeth Looker, OBE, LLD,BA(Hons)
Jun 1955 -Sept 1962 Principal Warden: M B Fergusson
Oct 1962 -Sept 1976 Principal Warden: Elizabeth L Carrick, BSc
Oct 1976 -Nov 1981 Senior Warden: Ruth Christian, MA,Dip Ed
Jun 1982 -Nov 1990 Sen.Warden: Isobel Colliar(nee Hamilton) BA,LHCIMA
Jan 1991 -Dec 1997 Campus Manager: Marjory McCallum, BA LHCIMA

The collection of Scottish paintings, which had been a prominent feature of the hostels, was transferred to Old Moray House at Holyrood, together with a number of items of the original hostel furniture. The majority of the books from the Ethel McKnight Library were also relocated to Holyrood and are currently in Paterson’s Land LG 25.

After the Merger of Moray House with the University of Edinburgh in 1998 the University sold the campus. The original listed hostel buildings have been converted to high quality flats and renamed Newington Grange by the developers.

Newington Painting Collection:

The East Suffolk Road Hostels were renowned for their collection of paintings by Scottish Artists. This was in part established as a memorial to Elizabeth Looker, Principal Warden for over 25 years until 1955. Former and present students raised a fund that was the start of the collection. A small committee, including M Ferguson, Elizabeth Carrick and former students, visited artists’ studios and selected the paintings. ElizabethCarrick had contacts with local artists being the daughter of a sculptor and having an artist as a sister. The committee continued to receive donations and legacies. In 1955 the Edinburgh College of Art appointed the artist Anne Redpath RSA as its representative on the Board of Management: she had previously been a student in Buchanan hostel from 1916 to 1918.

A portrait of Elizabeth Looker, painted by William Gillies, hangs in the Newington Collection in Old Moray House. Other artists represented include Anne Redpath, John Houston, Charles McCall, Mardi Barrie, Denis Peploe, and Anne Carrick.

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