The Dick Bequest: The Effect of a Famous Nineteenth - Century Endowment on Parish Schools of North East Scotland

Abstract

From Reformation times it was not uncommon for the successful businessman or merchant at the end of his life to make material provision for the benefit of his birthplace. Perhaps he left money to alleviate the burdens of the aged poor, or he sought to assist those at the start of life by some form of educational endowment. Alas, many such legacies suffered from the hazards of time, from declining money values, and from inefficient trusteeship. The Dick Bequest, applicable to education in the rural parishes of North East Scotland from the early years of the nineteenth century, was one of the most remarkable and rewarding of endowments. Shrewdly administered, it was through the years adapted to changing circumstances to nourish and sustain the best traditions of the past.