Background
Dick grew up in a house in Forres High Street. His father employed him as his bookkeeper and it was during this time that Dick wished to marry the family"s household servant.
Dick grew up in a house in Forres High Street. His father employed him as his bookkeeper and it was during this time that Dick wished to marry the family"s household servant.
James Dick is also the WWE ring name of John Toland
Dick became a successful merchant in the West Indies and later in London. Following his death, he bequeathed £113,787 to encourage "learning and efficient teaching" among the parish schoolmasters of Elgin, Banff, and Aberdeen shires. This fund is known as the Dick Bequest, and awards continue to be made to school boards in the region.
In the summer months, he herded cattle and during the rest of the year he received his education at Rafford grammar school about 3 miles from Forres.
He settled in Kingston, Jamaica where he became clerk in a merchant house. Dick"s brother John sold the business when he retired and returned to Scotland but suddenly fell ill in and died.
James inherited his fortune. lieutenant being my wish to form a fund for the benefit of that neglected though useful class of men, and to add to their present trifling salaries
Most of the masters were arts graduates who taught only while they waited for a career in the church.
By 1833 the endowment yielded between £3300 and £5500 annually and had grown to around £200,000.
The fund was administered by trustees belonging to the Society of Writers to the Signet. Applicants were rigorously examined for suitability and were required to be proficient in teaching classical languages, humanities, mathematics and science. Those who were successful doubled their salaries.
The Education (Scotland) Acting 1872 changed the way in which the grants were dispensed by ensuring that endowments were transferred to school boards.
The Royal Commissioners in their third report on endowed schools stated
any fund has done so much good … no fund that has produced a shilling"s worth for a shilling so fully as the Dick Bequest
From 1856 to 1907, Simon Somerville Laurie was Secretary to the Dick Bequest. In Forres in 1928, a group of beneficiaries from the fund marked the anniversary of Dick"s death by the erection of a memorial.