10-08-2025
13 nostalgic photos of Glasgow's lost 'high school of science'
Allan Glen's School was the bright idea of a man who valued education and wanted his legacy to be a place that would give young people a secure future.
Allan is buried in the Southern Necropolis in the Gorbals. The cemetery's heritage guide reveals that Allan was born the son of George and Marion in 1772 and the family farmed the lands of East Cowglen and Maudlans near Pollokshaws.
In 1810, after serving an apprenticeship to a carpenter, Allan set up a business as a builder.
He was one of the first members of the Unitarian Church, which was established in 1808, the heritage guide explains.
The school's new teaching laboratory in 1964 (Image: Newsquest)
'Unitarians attached great value to education and Allan Glen reflected this in the foundation of his school,' it says. 'When he died in 1850, at the age of 78, he left money for two charity schools, one for boys and one for girls.
'They were to be non-sectarian and industrial, meaning they should provide a general basic education as well as the skills on which future trades might be built.'
Unfortunately, there was not enough money for the girls' school, but the boys' school was built on ground Allan owned at the corner of North Hanover Street and Cathedral Street in Townhead.
The school opened in 1853 and became Glasgow's foremost science and engineering secondary, with boys having to sit an entrance examination to get in.
It forged close ties with Anderson College, which became Strathclyde University, and developed as a centre of excellence for science and technical education, often referred to as the "High School of Science".
It charged nominal fees for those who could afford it, but provided bursaries, including clothing for those unable to meet the cost, and free classes for those showed ability but could not afford to pay.
During its centenary in 1953, this photo of 'Mr AA Smith' delivering an engineering lesson was taken.
Science class in 1953 (Image: Newsquest)
Twenty years later, in 1973, it merged with City Public School at its Montrose Street campus and in 1989, Allan Glen's closed for good.
The original buildings on Cathedral Street were demolished in the 1960s - here, in 1964, our photographers captured men on an outside wall during the works.
Workmen during demolition of Allan Glen's School (Image: Newsquest)
The name lives on in Allan Glen's Rugby Football Club, which plays on pitches which opened in Bishopbriggs in 1923.
BA Robertson in 1980 (Image: Newsquest)
Former pupils include musician BA Robertson; Whisky Galore actor Duncan Macrae; artist and sculptor George Wyllie; Sir James McNeill, managing director of John Brown and Co and designer of the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth; and Lord Alexander Todd, a Nobel Prize-winning chemist, whose love of the subject was sparked in childhood.
(Image: Newsquest)
His work laid the foundations for research to establish DNA's general formula.
(Image: Newsquest)
This photos shows two young pupils, Julian Marks and Jas Munn, in the science class, in 1953.
(Image: Newsquest)
Clay models were the topic on the go in pottery class at Allan Glen's in January 1953.
Reciting poetry in the English class (Image: Newsquest)
A young pupil recites poetry in the English class.
(Image: Newsquest)
Schoolboys and former pupils of Allan Glen's School get some help carrying a boat they made in 1952.
(Image: Newsquest)
One of the school's most famous pupils was architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh. He attended Allan Glen's from 1880, when he was 12, until around 1883, when he left to begin his training as an architect at Anderson College.
(Image: Newsquest)
A few years ago, Allan Glen's Membership Secretary Mike McCreery came into possession of the oldest known school photograph, dated as having been taken in 1880, which had notes attached to it which suggest that a young Charles Rennie Mackintosh was present in the photograph.
The University of Dundee's Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification (CAHID) conducted a facial recognition comparison study to try and identify a young Charles Rennie Mackintosh within the school photo.
While the results were not conclusive, many people believe this is a young Mackintosh.
(Image: Newsquest) It wasn't just scientists and engineers that were produced by Allan Glen's School.
Hollywood star Dirk Bogarde (born Derek Niven van den Bogaerde) who was famous for films such as The Blue Lamp and Doctor in the House, attended the school in the mid-1930s.
At the time, the English-born actor was living with a well-to-do aunt and uncle in Bishopbriggs and he admits in his autobiography it was not the happiest time of his life.
