Bruce's School

In 1806 John Bruce from Alnwick opened a school on Percy Street in Newcastle.   Day (as opposed to boarding) schools were very unlike those today - they were male only, likely to have a religious base, mainly stressed literacy & numeracy, and fee paying (ragged schools came later).   By all accounts, Bruce's School was very much better than the norm at educating boys - which had a major affect on industry in the region.

Bruce's School (aka Percy Street Academy) in the 19th century

An early photo of Percy Street, with the Academy on the left
(frontispiece of Archibald Reed's 1903 book "Bruce's School")

As well as being keen on literacy & numeracy, John Bruce had strengths in French, geography & science which he passed on to pupils, including his first son John Collingwood Bruce (born 1805, hence the middle name).   In 1834 John Bruce died, but the school continued until 1881 under his son JC Bruce.

I think the school was at the corner of St Thomas Street & Percy Street with the Hotspur Hotel alongside, on the site of the Puritan cemetery, opposite the end of the Hay Market
(1896 OS town plan courtesy of the National Library of Scotland)

The school's most famous pupil was Robert Stephenson, who rode in daily from Dial Cottage on his donkey - see Samuel Smiles' biography of George & Robert Stephenson.

Other pupils of Percy Street Academy included:

John Dixon - civil engineer, including China's first railway & designer of iron viaducts on the NER Whitby coast route

Edward Westley Jacob - of Tees Side Iron & Engine Works, Cleveland Bridge (Darlington), etc, who designed a successful Atlantic cable

John Bell Simpson - of Stella Coal Co, Parsons Marine Turbines, Hawthorn Leslie, etc

Isaac Lowthian Bell - ironmaster, metallurgist, industrial chemist

Charles Mark Palmer - shipbuilder (Jarrow)

William Gray - shipbuilder (West Hartlepool)

Signatures of a few school associates
(from Reed's 1903 book "Bruce's School")

The school brought together generations of boys, some of whom became partners & rivals.   Several of these industrialists were later involved with NEIMME.   The school also educated those who became eminent surgeons, soldiers, clergymen, publishers, academics, etc.

The Bruce Building of Newcastle University commemorates the name