Gallomachia: The Formality of Cockfighting in Scottish Schools

Ever since the Privy Council in Scotland directed in 1616 that a school be established, where possible, in every parish in the kingdom and that ‘a fit person be appointed to teach the same upon the expense of the parochinares, according to the quality and quantity of the parish’, schooling had been available in principle to all boys irrespective of rank. This was ratified by Act of Parliament in 1633. Another Act in 1646 ordered the heritors (property or landowners) in every parish to provide a schoolhouse and a stipend for the master. This law, like its predecessors, was largely ignored and it was repeated in 1662. These Acts were incorporated into the Act for Settling Schools, 1696, in the reign of William II, which ordered ‘that there be a School settled and established, and Schoolmaster appointed, in every parish not already provided by the advice of the heritors and ministers of the parish’. Many burgh councils took it upon themselves to administer parish schools that fell within their ambit.