Life
Born Paisley, Renfrewshire, the son of a successful merchant, he was educated at Paisley Grammar School before entering the Port-Eglinton Spinning Co. in 1811, an affiliation he was to maintain to the end of his life. His early involvement in Sunday School teaching led him to believe in the importance of effective training for teachers at all levels. His motto was "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
A leader of considerable ability and energy, in 1827, Stow set up his first school in Glasgow. Its success led to the establishment of the influential Glasgow Educational Society. In 1836, Stow established a Normal School for teacher training. The school attracted students and observers from across the UK, including James Phillips Kay-Shuttleworth, education in England still being comparatively undeveloped at that stage.
Stow's school became part of the establishment and, following the Disruption of 1843, a legal ruling of 1845 held that the school was part of the Church of Scotland. Stow and most of his colleagues and students were adherents of the Free Church of Scotland; for this reason, they were compelled to resign from what had become state-funded teaching posts. Stow established a new college in Glasgow as the Free Church Normal Seminary.
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