Old Photograph George Heriot's Hospital Edinburgh Scotland

Old photograph of George Heriot's Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland. Heriot's Hospital was founded pursuant to the will of George Heriot, goldsmith and banker to King James VI, who died in 1624. The building was begun by his trustees in 1628 and finished in 1659. It is an ornate quadrangular structure with towers and turrets at the angles. It was completed just in time to be occupied by Oliver Cromwell's English forces during the invasion of Scotland during the Third English Civil War; the building was used as a barracks, with horses stabled in the chapel. The hospital opened in 1659, with thirty sickly children in residence; its finances grew, and it took in other pupils in addition to the orphans for whom it was intended. In the 1880s, it began to charge fees; however, to this day it serves its charitable object, providing free education to fatherless children, referred to as " foundationers ". In 1846 there was an insurrection in the hospital and fifty two boys were dismissed.



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