St Ninian's Preparatory School for boys was founded in 1879 by Arthur John Caswall Dowding and Reverend William Henry Churchill.[1] Dowding had previously been an Assistant Master for three years at Fettes College in Edinburgh.[1]E. W. Hornung was one of the nine boys with which the school opened at Easter 1879. In 1887, the Reverend John William Rundall, who was Assistant Master at St Ninian's from 1882-1887, became the new owner and headmaster of the school, until his death in 1903.[2]
Following the death of Rundall, aged 44, ownership of the school passed to his widow Constance Ethel Pearse. Her brother,
the Reverend Francis Wingate (or Wyngate) ‘Frank’ Pearse (1862-c.1943) became headmaster in 1906, having been headmaster at Harlington Preparatory School, later Penrallt Preparatory School, Llanbedr, Merionethshire, Wales.[3][4] In 1910, Constance Pearse died, bequeathing the school to another brother, Hugh (an assistant master at the school[5]), who conveyed ownership to his brother Francis. In August 1934 the Reverend Mr Pearse sold the school to Mr D A Gregory and retired.[6] In 1973 Mr Peter G Spencer purchased the school which he sold in 1979.
Hugh Dowding, son of the founder, was born at the school in 1882 and educated there. In 1987, to honour the contribution made by Lord Dowding during the Second World War, the RAF Association in conjunction with the RAF Benevolent Fund, purchased St Ninian's School, his birthplace.[7] The building was renamed Dowding House and restored to provide sheltered housing for former members of the Royal Air Force or their dependents.[8] The driving force behind this project was Irene 'Sandy' Park, a former Women's Auxiliary Air Force officer, and native of Moffat.[9]
A stained-glass window (by Charles Eamer Kempe) from the demolished school chapel, commemorating former St Ninian's pupils who died during the Second Boer War, can be found in the west window of St John's Church (Episcopal) in Moffat.[10] There is a plaque in the church with the names and details of the ten fallen, among them Captain David Younger, VC.[10]
^Bertie, David (2001). Scottish Episcopal Clergy, 1689-2000. p. 425. T&T Clark. ISBN9780567087461.
^Bertie, David (2001). Scottish Episcopal Clergy, 1689-2000. p. 396. T&T Clark. ISBN9780567087461.
^Wales Census 1891, Public Record Office RG13/5256
^Scotland Census 1901, Moffat, Dumfriesshire 842/5/30, page 30 of 33
^"Sale of St Ninian's School, Moffat". The Scotsman. 29 August 1934. p. 10. ProQuest489822566. The old established boys' school of St Ninian's, Moffat, has been sold to Mr D. A. Gregory, for over four years mathematical master at Scaitcliffe, Enfield Green, Surrey. Mr Gregory was educated at Rossall and at Edinburgh University. The headmaster of St Ninian's is the Rev. F. Wingate Pearse, who is retiring
