Dollar Academy - History

History

Dollar was founded in 1818 at the bequest of John McNab or McNabb, a merchant who bequeathed part of his fortune - £65,000 - to provide "a charity or school for the poor of the parish of Dollar where I was born".

McNabb died in 1802 but it took another sixteen years before the school opened it doors after much debate about how to use the bequest. It was in 1815 that the Rev. Andrew Mylne, Minister of Dollar, along with fellow Trustees conceived of a great academy to educate the boys and girls of the parish, and also pupils from outside Dollar, who would board with teachers. Full fees would be charged to ‘non-residenters’, while parish pupils would pay fees on a sliding scale, with some receiving free education. To attract pupils from outside the parish, excellent teachers would be appointed.

Mylne engaged the eminent architect, William Playfair, who designed a fitting structure with a splendid Doric façade. John McNabb’s School or Dollar Institution (later Dollar Academy) was finally completed in 1821. In 1818, teaching started, with Rev Andrew Mylne as the first school Rector.

The original campus was landscaped into several gardens including two ponds. In the 19th century the school had a strong emphasis on horticulture, and pupils who wantec to become gardners were allocated plots in the extensive school grounds. Several curious rarities exist in the school grounds in arboricultural terms, including several sequoias. In the 19th century, Dollar pupils sat the Cambridge Examinations or the Indian Civil Service Examinations. It was pioneering in its teaching of science at a time when most private schools followed an exclusively classical education.

John McNabb’s coffin was discovered in the early 1930s in the crypt under Old Gravel Lane Meeting House in London. Former pupils had his remains cremated, and the ashes of Captain John McNabb now rest above the Bronze Doors of the school founded in his name.