User:Glenmcgregor/John Neilson Institution

The John Neilson Institution was created when John Neilson of Nethercommon, a Paisley merchant, left instructions in his will of 1839 that his Trustees "purchase a feu in the town of Paisley ... and erect; a building or buildings thereon, such as they shall consider suitable to the purposes of the Endowment hereby created". The building is now a well known landmark with its unique architecture received was opened in 1852.

Increasing pressure on accommodation within the school resulted in a roll of over 1,000 pupils by the late 1880s but with the abolition of fees in public schools within the town and changes to school organisation within Scotland the numbers fell steadily until eventual closure. The John Neilson was the only Scottish school to win a Gold Medal in the Paris Exhibition of 1900. It was also in this year curriculum demands along with a reducing income created extreme difficulties for the Directors of the school, and it was only through the generosity of the Trustees of William Boyle Barbour and Peter Brough that these difficulties were overcome.

In 1918 the school was transferred to the new Renfrewshire Education Authority. In 1968 the high school moved to a new site in Ferguslie and was renamed the John Neilson High School. The school was transferred in 1974 to the new Strathclyde Regional Council Education Department where it remained until 1989 when it was merged with Castlehead High School at the Castlehead campus. The building was then occupied by St Mirin's Acdemy until it in 2001 the Ferguslie buildings.

Notable former pupils
Notable former pupils include:


 * Thomas S Tait – Scottish Modernist Architect
 * Ian R Hamilton – QC Repatriation of Stone of Destiny 1950
 * William McLeod Spiers – General Secretary of STUC
 * Hudson Swam – Musician formerly with The Tannahill Weaversnow musical director of The Cornwall Fiddle Orchestra
 * Alex McLeish – former professional footballer now manager of Birmingham City FC