Munsie was aged 16 when his father died, and he was latterly raised by his mother. He became a schoolmaster, initially teaching at the school of Dr William Angus in Glasgow. In 1824 Munsie opened his own academy in Buchanan Street. This moved, successively, to the north side of George Square, to West Nile Street and finally to Albany Place.
Munsie's school built a good reputation and attracted the wealthy and powerful. Munsie himself was also involved in "Sabbath schools" and was editor of the "Sabbath School Union Magazine" as well as writing the "Evangelical Training" series of teaching-aid books.
On his death in 1864 a monument to him, by John Mossman, was erected in the Glasgow Necropolis.
EDUCATION in Glasgow stands now on a very different footing from what it did some sixty years ago. The University was then, as it is still, our most honoured educational institution, and next to it was the "Grammar," or, as it is often called, the "High School." This famous school dates back as far as the middle of the fifteenth century, when Glasgow had not more than two or three thousand inhabitants. Most of the sons of the well-to-do citizens were educated there. It has always been fortunate in the selection of masters, and to this day enjoys its old well-merited reputation. Besides the grammar school there were the parish schools, where the mass of the children of the working people were taught. In many of these the teaching was excellent. Latterly there arose a number of private schools, which were something between the parish and the grammar school, or what we now call an English academy. English, geography, writing, and arithmetic were mainly what they undertook to teach, and this they did well - Latin they left to the grammar school. In those days these schools, as well as the parish and church schools, were called "mixed," boys and girls being educated together. Most of them were centred round George Square. Besides these, there were what were called commercial academies, where only writing, arithmetic, and book-keeping were taught, and these were eminently successful. Mr. John McCall and Mr. William Leiper had for very many years schools of this kind, of the very highest reputation. Mr. McCall was an admirable penman, and was the first man to inaugurate the heading of copybooks with engraved head-lines. These schools were mainly for boys, and those who attended them were rather grown up. Among the private schools the most celebrated and most suitable for children and young people of the better class was that of Mr. William Angus. To this school most of the "genteel" people sent their children, and for very many years it held undisputed sway. Dr. Angus was an able man, many of the best school books then in use were written by him, and he was well supported by competent assistants, and of these Mr. William Munsie was well known as one of the best and most successful. The school-rooms were generally poor, and were either what had been dwelling-houses, or portions of buildings which had been originally meant for warehouses. Nobody then dreamt of such splendid educational institutions as the Glasgow or the Kelvinside Academies. Had such Board schools been proposed as we now see erected all around us, the citizens would have risen up in a body and protested against what they would have called folly and extravagance. Most of us have now come to the conclusion that it is better to pay school rates than prison and police taxes.
William Munsie belonged to an old Glasgow family, his grandfather's name appearing in Jones' Directory of 1789. Born in 1801 and left fatherless at the age of sixteen, he owed much to the counsel of his mother, a person of great shrewdness as well as firm religious principles. The choice of a profession was a matter of difficulty, but as all his leanings were in the direction of becoming a schoolmaster, Dr. Angus had no hesitation in making an opening for him, even though he was then young, as one of his assistants. With Dr. Angus he remained till 1824.
In July of the same year he opened an academy of his own in a building immediately to the north of what is now Messrs. Wylie & Lochhead's warehouse in Buchanan Street, near to which there stood for many years a large wooden structure called "the Rotunda," where panoramic exhibitions were held, and to which teacher and pupils paid an annual visit. This was afterwards removed to the north side of George Square, on the block where now stands the Queen's Hotel. It was not long ere Mr. Munsie's school was as well known and as successfully conducted as his old friend Dr. Angus'. The pupils came in numbers, and came from the best families in Glasgow. Many of them are now filling with honour every rank of the professions in Glasgow - some are merchants, manufacturers, and M.P.'s. From Buchanan Street the school was removed to George's Place, thence to 96 West Nile Street, and finally to Albany Place. This was then the west end of the city, Blythswood Square being only partly built, and Bath Street and West Regent Street both unfinished. The fashionable portions of the city were within a radius of half a mile from St. George's Church.
Mr. Munsie's influence on his young pupils was very great and always for good. He had, it is true, a very superior class of young people to work with. The sympathies of the parents and the teacher drew well together, for he was of the old school as to theology, and so would be most of the parents of the children. He was a loyal son of Calvin - the Bible was his mainstay, but "the Catechism" was next to it, and in this he was a profound believer; it and the Bible were everyday lesson books. People said he was a born teacher. He kept strict order; but while firm, was gentle, persuasive, and kind. He had a constant smile on his face, an eye which saw everything, but saw it with a sympathizing heart. He had a great fund of quiet and ready humour, and a laugh so hearty that while it amused it at the same time gladdened all around.
Out of school Mr. Munsie was ever trying to do good. When young, he became interested in Sabbath schools and took the charge of a class, first under the Rev. Mr. Barr, of the Relief Church, and afterwards with the Rev. Dr. Muir, of St. James'. In 1827 he was elected an elder, and took a deep and lively interest in his district, which was the Bridgegate. He had in this rowdy neighbourhood a class of the roughest lads, and such was his power over them, that if by any chance he happened to be absent they would rise in mutiny and refuse to listen, while in his presence they were attentive and behaved themselves like gentlemen.
At the Disruption Mr. Munsie threw in his lot with the Free Church in St. James' Parish, of which the Rev. Dr. Brown, now Principal of the Free College, Aberdeen, was minister. He remained an active elder in that church till his death. In Sabbath schools he took a special interest. He began in 1842 a class for training their teachers. This class continued for twenty-two years. It met once a week for six months in the year, and during all this long period he was only once absent. Mr. Munsie was editor of the "Sabbath School Union Magazine," and was the author of "Evangelical Training," etc., little books intended as helps to teachers. So highly were his services appreciated that in 1850 he was appointed president of the "Union," and in 1855 was presented by his fellow-citizens with a valuable testimonial, expressive of their esteem and affection. His labours were untiring among rich and poor alike, and these were ever lightened by the unfailing sympathy and assistance of his younger brother Robert. One of Mr. Munsie's sons, long in India, was Sheriff of Madras, and is now a merchant in London.
In 1864 Mr. Munsie died. His friends erected a monument to his memory in the Necropolis. The bust does great credit to the skill of Mr. John Mossman.
Back to Contents