Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry Finds Decades of Abuse at Edinburgh Academy

Pupils at Edinburgh Academy suffered dreadful sexual, physical, and emotional abuse over four decades while the school ignored complaints and prioritized its reputation, the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry found.

Lady Smith’s Findings on Four Decades of Institutional Complacency

Inquiry chairwoman Lady Smith detailed how children housed at the boarding school endured decades of harm from the 1950s through the 1980s. Issuing her findings, the former judge stated that the institution operated under the assumption that abuse could not occur, allowing a culture of institutional inaction to take root.

For decades, the school failed to look at itself through a realistic and critical lens. It is clear it was assumed that abuse did not and would not take place; when it did, the school could not accept that it had happened, failed to address it, and failed to recognise the risk of it continuing. Complacency was the order of the day.

Lady Smith, inquiry chairwoman

According to the inquiry, complaints brought forward by pupils were either left unresolved or met with disbelief. Staff members chose to ignore obvious signs of abuse and avoided carrying out investigations or interventions.

Inquiry: decades of abuse at Edinburgh Academy #Shorts

Lady Smith, who chairs the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, published these conclusions as the seventeenth volume of the inquiry’s findings and its eighth case study focusing on boarding schools, examining evidence up to December 17, 2014, within the living memory of survivors.

Abusers Named in the Inquiry Report

The inquiry report named several long-serving staff members responsible for the abuse. Among them were Hamish Dawson, a housemaster and senior school teacher who died in 2009, and John Brownlee, a former housemaster and deputy head of the junior school.

Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry Finds Decades of Abuse at Edinburgh Academy — Photo: independent.co.uk

In 2024, a court ruled that John Brownlee, then 89, had committed cruel and unnatural acts of physical and emotional abuse against pupils between 1967 and 1991. However, he was deemed medically unfit to stand trial and was not sentenced to punishment.

The findings also highlighted prep school teacher Iain Wares, who subsequently abused children at Fettes College and is currently awaiting extradition from South Africa. Physics teacher William Bain, twice convicted of sexual offenses, began his history of abuse at Edinburgh Academy before targeting children at other institutions.

SCAI – Lady Smith – Boarding Schools case study – Edinburgh Academy findings [subtitled]

Regarding Hamish Dawson, the inquiry noted that his eccentric behavior in the classroom was known and celebrated by the school, that pornography found in his desk was ignored, and that his instruments of correction, flagellation, and torture used to abuse pupils were auctioned off when he left.

Testimony From Survivors and Former Pupils

Broadcaster Nicky Campbell, who attended the boarding school between 1966 and 1978, was among the former pupils who gave evidence to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. He described being haunted in the middle of the night by memories of his time at the school.

Other witnesses described an environment where severe violence and humiliation formed part of daily life.

It was normal to groom 11-year-olds with jelly babies….and molest them in front of many others. It was normal to kick, hit, and strangle, to the point of unconsciousness, 10-year-olds. It was normal to inflict physical punishment with a plank of wood with no good reason.

Henry, former pupil giving evidence to the inquiry

Lady Smith noted that some boarders lived in a permanent state of fear, and observed that physical abuse and aggressive school culture persisted. Witnesses recounted that pastoral care was entirely absent, leaving children in an environment where not a single person genuinely cared for them, leading Lady Smith to emphasize that none of this mistreatment was normal or acceptable.

Edinburgh Academy Inquiry Reveals Systemic Abuse Spanning Four Decades

Edinburgh Academy Rector Apologizes and Commits to Supporting Survivors

Barry Welsh, the rector of Edinburgh Academy, issued a response acknowledging the findings and reiterating an apology to all affected individuals.

While we cannot change the past, we can shape the future. We continue to support survivors as fully as we are able whilst also educating our current pupils in a caring and supportive environment.

The school stated that it remains committed to facing past wrongs and expressed gratitude to the former pupils who have given evidence.