Contribution of Holy Cross Academy to the life of Edinburgh

This article has been prepared by Norah Carlin as a summary of the contribution made by Holy Cross to the life of Edinburgh. We plan to expand it into a book as a permanent legacy of the Centenary. Please help with this project by emailing more material to Norah at

hcaorganiser@holycrossacademyedinburgh.co.uk

It may be unusual to celebrate the centenary of an institution that no longer exists, but former pupils of Edinburgh’s Holy Cross Academy are preparing to do just that. Holy Cross, the first Catholic senior secondary school in the city, was opened in Ferry Road by the Edinburgh Catholic Diocesan Education Board in 1907. In 1919, along with all Catholic schools in Scotland, it was transferred to the local education authority, which at that time was Leith, but continued to draw pupils from across Edinburgh, Midlothian and even East Lothian.

Holy Cross was opened with the principal aim of providing a supply of better-educated Catholic teachers, which had become an urgent need as the pupil-teacher system had been abolished (1906) and in future all teachers would have to have three years’ secondary education and serve as “junior students” in a secondary school. But the new school also offered preparation for university entrance and “Advanced Instruction in preparation for Commercial and Professional pursuits”, to quote an early advertisement. Educationally but not socially selective, it was a school where boys and girls from the old tenements and new housing schemes of Edinburgh sat alongside the children of professional people and took advantage of the opportunities offered by secondary education to broaden their horizons and employment prospects. Selection was by the Qualifying Examination and the secondary school was always free, unlike the city’s two convent schools for girls and later the Christian Brothers’ Scotus Academy for boys.

Between 1907 and 1969, this highly successful state-sector senior secondary school, which was always run and managed by lay people, was at the centre of Catholic education in Edinburgh. This contrasted with Glasgow, where the most successful Catholic secondary schools were run by religious orders, and with non-Catholic education in Edinburgh, where independent schools long held the limelight.

The primary school set up at the same time charged a low termly fee, and was for a time named Holy Rood, but with close ties to the secondary it was renamed Holy Cross and integrated with the management of the secondary school, so providing an opportunity for all-through education from five to eighteen years of age in one school, an idea now in favour again. The primary school survives and still flourishes on premises close to the original site in Ferry Road, which is now covered by the mansion flats of New Cut Rigg.

Holy Cross Academy turned out many successful pupils who went on to distinguished careers in areas such as sport, the arts and business, as well as teaching and academia. Those best-known in Edinburgh include the artists Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Demarco and Felix McCullough. Hibernian stars Pat Stanton and Jimmy O’Rourke, the same club’s former chairman, Tom O’Malley, and current majority shareholder and successful businessman, Tom Farmer, were all pupils of Holy Cross at one time, as were Jimmy Wardhaugh and Barney Battles who played for Hearts, and rugby international player Maurice Henderson.

The school produced two British Ambassadors, James Hodge in Thailand and Anthony Layden in Libya; a Solicitor-General for Scotland, Lord McCluskey; and a Secretary of SOEID, Gerald Wilson. The Lord Mayor of London in 1992, Frank McWilliams, dubbed “Jock Whittingon” by the press at the time, also attended the school. The present Archbishop of St Andrew’s and Edinburgh, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, and his predecessor Cardinal Gray, were among the many pupils from Holy Cross who have served as members of the Catholic clergy and religious orders in Scotland and abroad.

From the beginning, large numbers of Holy Cross former pupils entered the teaching profession as intended by the founders, a high proportion of these being women. As well as legions of primary and secondary school teachers, these have included head teachers in Edinburgh such as Eileen Murdoch (St Augustine’s High School) and Veronica Laidlaw (St Cuthbert’s Primary School), a number of university lecturers such as Dr Frances Harding (London’s School of Oriental and African Studies) and Norah Carlin (Middlesex University), and at least one Ofsted inspector (Patricia Scollin). Another former pupil, Mary Rose Caden, served in recent years as Convener of the General Teaching Council for Scotland. Boys who went on to university teaching and research include John Govan, currently Professor in the Centre for Infectious Diseases at Edinburgh University Medical School; the late Professor Roy Geddes of Auckland University of Technology, who became UNESCO’s Commissioner for the Natural Sciences.

The distinctive green blazers with their gold badge and motto Sancta Crux est Spes Nostra (the holy cross is our hope) disappeared from the streets and buses of Edinburgh in 1969, when the school was merged with St Andrew’s Junior secondary to become part of St Augustine’s RC High School. “The proud traditions of both schools live on through our work today”, says the current head of St Augustine’s, Andy Gray, “and the fact that former pupils of the school have organised such an impressive series of events to commemorate the centenary is marvellous testament to what Holy Cross provided for its students.”

Richard Demarco, who is one of the committee organising the events, points out that this is an important anniversary for Edinburgh as a whole, because Holy Cross Academy was “a very significant Edinburgh institution”. This is confirmed by the words of Andrew Burns, Executive Member of Edinburgh City Council for Children and Families - "It is very fitting that the centenary of Holy Cross Academy is being celebrated in this way. The large number of former pupils who have already registered on the site is a clear indication of the high regard in which the school is still held across the City and beyond. Clearly, the school provided a wonderful educational experience, still treasured by many and the wide ranging list of distinguished former pupils bears witness to this. I wish the Committee every success with the organisation of their events and am sure that many old friendships will be rekindled during the weekend celebrations"