| Administrative History | Tough School Board covered the area of Tough civil parish in western Aberdeenshire. The activities of Tough School Board were severely limited by the ongoing animosity between James Gregory Moir Byres of Tonley, a board member who was in a position to sell land to the board for the building of a school, Rev. Alexander Milne, board member and parish minister, and Mr. Farquharson, a board member and friend of Mr. Byres.
The problems, which continued with the descendants and successors of these members, seemed to stem from the provision of an adequate site for the school, but relations between board members grew so bad that meetings often had to be abandoned as they were not quorate, and the Scotch Board of Education in London sent warning letters. Mr. Garden, the schoolmaster at Tough Public School, had to sue the Board for salary due to him, and complained about the inadequate water supply to the school house from June 1877 to at least June 1881, when a decision was again postponed. He died in 1884 and the water supply was still in dispute in 1891 although ironically in 1918 a spring of water was discovered in the boys’ playground.
Tough administered Craigievar joint school in conjunction with Lumphanan and Leochel Cushnie school boards (see AS/ASsmc/9-13).
The Education (Scotland) Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict., c.62) created school boards in Scotland with a statutory duty to provide education for all children between the ages of 5 and 13. The boards had an elected membership made up of owners and occupiers of property of the value of £4 or over. They were responsible for the building and maintenance of schools, staffing and attendance of pupils. They were overseen by the Scotch Board of Education.
The Education (Scotland) Act 1901 (64 Vict. and 1 Edw. VII, c.9) raised the school leaving age to 14. School boards were abolished by the Education (Scotland) Act 1918 (8 & 9 Geo. V, c.48) and replaced by education authorities and school management committees. |