ABSTRACT
William Robertson of New Greyfriars parish, who had set up his own ragged school in 1846, some months before Guthrie's: It matters little who it was that established the first Ragged School in Edinburgh or in Scotland. This chapter examines the significance of Guthrie's life and work; the relationship between his school and previous attempts to set up similar establishments in Edinburgh; the extent to which the subsequent development of the city's industrial schools was shaped by sectarian division. Guthrie readily acknowledged that the concept of the 'ragged school' had already been put into practice by Sheriff Watson in Aberdeen in 1841 and there were a number of precedents in Edinburgh itself which, like those in Aberdeen, originated in conjunction with existing agencies.
