List of people educated at Edinburgh Academy

Former pupils of the Edinburgh Academy in Edinburgh. They include the following individuals.

Arts and culture

Actors, Directors, Filmmakers

• Graham Crowden
• Mike Day, filmmaker
• Iain Glen, actor (EA 1965-78)
• Frank Taylor, actor ^[1]

Artists, architects and designers

• Francis 'Bunty' Cadell, colourist painter.
• James Eckford Lauder, painted portraits and historical pictures, (EA 1824-8)
• Patrick Grant
• John Henry Lorimer
• Robert Lorimer
• Alan MacDougall, railway engineer in Canada
• Donald Watson

Authors, poets and dramatists

• R. M. Ballantyne, children's author (EA 1835-37)
• John Crommelin-Brown, poet, headmaster (EA 1895-97)
• Gordon Honeycombe, author, playwright and stage actor, TV newscaster (EA 1947-55)
• Andrew Lang, Scottish poet and novelist (EA 1854-61)
• Alan Melville, (EA 1925-27)
• Sarah Pinborough, young adult fiction and adult thriller writer (EA 1988-90)
• Robert Louis Stevenson, writer (EA 1861-63)
• J. I. M. Stewart (as Michael Innes), university professor and mystery writer (EA 1913-24)

Entertainers

• Nicky Campbell, radio DJ and television presenter, (EA 1966-78)
• Adam Alexander Dawson
• Magnus Magnusson, television presenter, and translator of Icelandic origins, (EA 1935-48)
• Catherine McQueen, model and TV presenter. ^[2]

Music

• Guy Berryman, bass player in Coldplay
• John Burgess, piper
• Peter Gregson, cellist and composer
• Paul Jones, singer, actor and presenter, (EA 1958-60)
• Nick Keir, musician (EA 1958-1970)

Business people

• Walter Biggar Blaikie
• Archibald Constable, publisher
• Nick Ede
• Mac Henderson
• Roger Jenkins
• John More Dick Peddie
• Dennis Stevenson, Baron Stevenson of Coddenham
• Wilfrid Stevenson, Baron Stevenson of Balmacara
• Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic

Clergy

• Marcus Dods
• Ronnie Selby Wright
• Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury, (EA 1824-27).
• Kenneth Stevenson, Bishop of Portsmouth.
• Alexander Penrose Forbes, Bishop of Brechin, (EA 1825-32)

Convicted Criminals

• David Jenkins, convicted felon and drug smuggler (1987), Olympic athlete (EA 1958-1969)

Explorers

• Francis Cadell, explorer of the Murray River in Australia.
• Lord Francis Douglas, with Edward Whymper on the ascent of the Matterhorn, died on the descent.
• Sir James Hector, member of the Palliser Expedition, (EA 1844-45).

Lawyers and judges

• William Edmondstoune Aytoun
• John Balfour, 1st Baron Kinross
• Colin Blackburn, Baron Blackburn
• John Cameron, Lord Cameron
• Kenneth Cameron, Baron Cameron of Lochbroom
• Charles Clark
• James Avon Clyde, Lord Clyde ^[3]
• James Clyde, Baron Clyde, Lord Clyde of Briglands
• James Latham Clyde, Lord Clyde
• David Dundas, Lord Dundas
• Derek Emslie, Lord Kingarth
• Nigel Emslie, Lord Emslie, former judge on the Supreme Courts of Scotland
• Charlie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, Lord Chancellor
• Robert Finlay, 1st Viscount Finlay, Lord Chancellor
• William Gloag
• Richard Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane, Lord Chancellor
• David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead
• Malcolm Innes of Edingight
• Andrew Jameson, Lord Ardwall
• Alan Johnston, Lord Johnston
• Henry Keith, Baron Keith of Kinkel
• John Macdonald, Lord Kingsburgh
• Charles Murray, Lord Murray
• Charles Pearson, Lord Pearson
• William John Peterswald, Chief Commissioner of Police of the Colony of South Australia
• William Prosser, Lord Prosser
• James Reid, politician and Law Lord
• Alexander Stevenson
• Angus Stewart, Lord Stewart
• Gordon Stott, Lord Stott
• Colin Sutherland, Lord Carloway
• Sir Frederick Thomson, 1st Baronet
• Robert Younger, Baron Blanesburgh

Politicians and diplomats

• Richard Burdon Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane, Lord Chancellor, 'Father of the Territorial Army' (EA 1866-72)
• Alick Buchanan-Smith
• Tam Dalyell, Father of the House of Commons 2001-05
• Andrew Gilchrist
• Andrew Henderson Leith Fraser
• John Ernest Buttery Hotson
• David Robert Lyall
• Sir James Marjoribanks, career diplomat who presented Britain's successful application to join the European Community in 1967
• Mike Pringle
• Alexander Ramsay-Gibson-Maitland
• Sir Ninian Stephen, Governor General of Australia
• Sir Frederick Thomson, 1st Baronet
• Iain Vallance, Baron Vallance of Tummel
• James Wemyss, New Zealand member of parliament ^[4]
• George Younger, 1st Viscount Younger of Leckie, (EA 1864-67)

Scientists, educators and academics

• Thomas Anderson
• Lewis Campbell
• Frederick M Bailey, plant collector, discoverer of Meconopsis baileyi
• Isaac Bayley Balfour, botanist (1853-1922)
• Sir George Beilby, FRS. Chemical manufacturer
• Joseph Bell, now recognised as the model for Sherlock Holmes.
• John McConnell Black
• Hugh Blackburn
• John Chiene, surgeon
• Peter Craigie, biblical scholar
• William Cunningham, economist
• A. R. B. Haldane
• John Scott Haldane, physiologist (EA 1870-76)
• Colin Hardie
• Andrew Fergus Hewat, psychiatrist
• Fleeming Jenkin, professor of engineering, (EA 1875-81)
• Charles Kemball
• Sunil Khilnani
• Norman Boyd Kinnear
• John Michael Kosterlitz
• Robert Scott Lauder jnr., M.D.,(Edinburgh), Physician at Morningside Lunatic Asylum, etc., (EA 1852-8)
• Arthur Pillans Laurie
• Wallace Lindsay
• Aeneas James George Mackay
• Colin Mair
• James Clerk Maxwell, physicist, (EA 1841-47)
• William McNab, botanist
• Alan Munro, immunologist and master of Christ's College, Cambridge
• James Henry Skene, author, traveller and diplomat, (EA 1824-26)
• Archibald Campbell Swinton
• Peter Guthrie Tait, physicist, (EA 1841-47).
• Iain Torrance, President of Princeton Theological Seminary, (EA 1954-63)
• D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, mathematical biologist, (EA 1870-77)
• Adrian Woodruffe-Peacock, ecologist
• Alexander Wood

Soldiers

• Frederick Marshman Bailey
• Roy Bucher
• William Frederick Cavaye
• Philip Christison
• Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope, Admiral of the Fleet
• Aylmer Haldane
• Richard Burdon Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane, Lord Chancellor, 'Father of the Territorial Army' (EA 1866-72)
• Colin Mackenzie, Major-General and Chief of the General Staff of the Canadian Army
• Alastair Ogilvy
• Sir Jock Slater, First Sea Lord
• Thomas Bland Strange

Victoria Cross recipients

Nine Edinburgh Academy alumni have received the Victoria Cross. ^[5]

• Colonel Thomas Cadell VC CB
• Lieutenant-General Sir James Hills-Johnes VC GCB
• Colonel John Adam Tytler VC CB
• Captain James Dundas VC
• Major John Cook VC
• Colonel Edward Douglas Browne-Synge-Hutchinson, VC, CB (he also attended United Services College in 1875). He was a Major when he earned his VC.
• Lieutenant Colonel Walter Lorrain Brodie VC, MC ^[6]
• Major Allan Ebenezer Ker VC
• Rear Admiral Sir Anthony Miers VC, KBE, CB, DSO & Bar

Sport

• James Balfour-Melville (1882–1915), cricketer
• Leslie Balfour-Melville (1854–1937), an outstanding all-round amateur sportsman
• Mike Blair, Scottish Rugby International
• Tom Brown
• Charles Campbell, captain of Scotland's football team in the 19th century
• Chris Dean, Edinburgh Rugby and Scotland Sevens Rugby Cap
• Henry Fairweather, cricketer
• Jamie Farndale, Scotland Rugby 7's International
• Charles Fraser, cricketer
• George Gallie
• Sir James Angus Gillan, Olympic oarsman, gold-medallist 1908 and 1912 (EA 1896-1905)
• Alex Harris, footballer
• Nick Hillyard, cricketer
• Gilbert Hole, cricketer and cricket administrator
• David Jenkins, Olympian athlete; 400 meter world record holder
• Hubert Johnston, cricketer
• Blair Kinghorn, rugby player, Edinburgh Rugby, Scotland u20's
• Bill Maclagan, Scotland Rugby International
• William Maitland, cricketer
• Francis Moncreiff
• Robert Miln Neill, Scotland and Great Britain Rugby International
• John Murray, cricketer
• Patrick Oliphant, cricketer
• Norman Noble, cricketer
• Robert Ranken, cricketer
• Ross Rennie, Scotland Rugby International
• Alexander Stevenson, cricketer
• James Stevenson, cricketer
• John Guthrie Tait
• Frederick Guthrie Tait, son of Peter Guthrie Tait, soldier and gifted amateur golfer, (EA 1881-83)
• Ben Tod, cricketer and rugby player
• Bungy Watson, England rugby international
• Iain Woolward, Olympian, sailing

References

1. Frank Taylor IMDbRetrieved 14 December 2022.
2. Edinburgh Academy Alumni – Catherine McQueen Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
3. "Ovituary". The Times . No. 49885. London. 17 June 1944. p. 6. Retrieved 11 January 2011– via The Times Digital Archive.
4. "James Balfour Wemyss". Cambridge Alumni Database. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
5. "Edinburgh Academy Website - list of VC holders". Archived from the original on 27 March 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
6. VCs of the First World War: Gerald Giddon