We are 151 years old today! On September 19th 1873, the Rev Charles Darnell opened the door of his house in Trinity and the first pupils of Cargilfield began their education. Darnell’s aim was “to provide a liberal education and teach the merits of hard work and honesty under conditions of happiness and well-being”, and this remains at the core of our ethos today.In 1898, Cargilfield moved to its present site in Barnton, and in 2023 we celebrated our 150th anniversary!

To all Old Cargundians

Today, Thursday 19th September, is Foundation Day at Cargilfield School: the anniversary of the day on which the first boys arrived at the School in 1873. Following the 150^th anniversary last year, we have decided to mark this day annually and we met in chapel this morning for a service followed by events on the Headmaster's Lawn.

Please do go to the Cargilfield website (and the former pupils' news page) to see the reading delivered in chapel this morning which says something of the life and work of Reverend Charles Darnell and the photograph taken to mark our 151st birthday.
https://www.cargilfield.com/former-pupils/news-from-former-pupils

I have invited the children to come up with some ideas for ongoing traditions on this day. We will share their ideas in due course.

Next year, Foundation Day will be Friday 19^th September 2025 and we would love to welcome any former members of our community to join us for these events. We are hoping to have the bell that sits above the School back in operation for next year and to ring it for the first time on Foundation Day. Likewise, we would be happy to host any groups of former pupils (or parents/staff/governors) who might like to meet up again for tours and refreshments here at Cargilfield on that day.

For those of you further afield and less keen to travel, might I suggest that you use the 19^th September as a prompt to contact old school friends or to gather and share your news. We would love to hear any news or photographs that arise from this. Do continue to encourage friends and family to register on the former pupils' page so that we can share news and other invitations. I am aware that some people have expressed their disappointment at missing Cargilfield 150 events last year and we are keen to avoid this in future.

https://www.cargilfield.com/former-pupils/

Deo Custode!

Rob Taylor 

Here is the reading that was read in Chapel this morning, to remember Rev Charles Darnell, Cargilfield's founding Headmaster.

The Reverend Charles Darnell was born on 31st March 1841 in Nassau, New Providence in the Bahamas. He was the son of another church minster – the Reverend Daniel Darnell and his wife Francis.

Darnell was a scholarly boy and was educated at Pembroke and Downing Colleges of Cambridge University. Here he was ordained – in 1864 - in preparation for a career in the church.

His first experience of teaching was at a small boarding school at the Stone House in a village called Welton in Northamptonshire. This was established by his father and was primarily for the children of family friends who were working abroad, mostly in the West Indies.

He then moved on to teach at Rugby School – perhaps the most innovative of all 19th Century schools - under the renowned Victorian headmaster, Dr Temple.

Darnell moved to Edinburgh aged 32 and, with his wife Elizabeth and their five children, he invited his first group of boys to his home in Trinity. The School opened on 19th September 1873 – initially to a handful of boys.

Darnell’s aim was “to provide a liberal education and teach the merits of hard work and honesty under conditions of happiness and well-being”. His good friend and former colleague from Rugby – Dr Potts - had opened Fettes College two years before and he intended to create a school that would meet the demand to prepare boys to move on to Fettes.

Cargilfield was the first preparatory school in Scotland and soon boys were travelling from across Scotland and the north of England to be educated by Darnell and his assistants.

Charles Darnell retired from Cargilfield in April 1898 – aged 56 - and was appointed Vicar of St Thomas’s Church Portsmouth in 1899

He died on 6th January 1903 – aged 61 – having caught septicaemia during repairs to his church in Portsmouth. His obituary featured in The Scotsman newspaper and The Fettesian magazine. Here it said of him 'The real greatness of Mr Darnell as a schoolmaster was the fact that he took a much larger view of life than intellectual success. He had a marvellous intuition for discerning the moral qualities of a child, recognising qualities that were not immediately obvious.'

He was a genuine upholder of all that he felt to be true and fair and wise.