The Merchiston Castle School - Survivor Research Hub exists as a library, research hub, and news source on historic abuse at the school, through the eyes of former pupils, media coverage, documents, and ongoing legal cases.
This site exists for former pupils, educators, researchers into child abuse, journalists, politicians, and anyone committed to ending institutional child abuse.
Nigel Parry attended Merchiston Castle School as a boarding pupil for his O and A-Levels from 1982–1986, entering in Chalmers East, and progressing through Rogerson East, Rogerson West, and Evans House.
Nigel has had a long career in communications, journalism, human rights work, activism, and website design. Contact Nigel directly via nigelparry.net or via the contact form on this website.
To make research into historical abuse at Merchiston Castle School easier. Finding, reading, sorting through and connecting this stuff is exhausting. The less frustrating it is to find what you're looking for—in an intentionally-obfuscated information environment—the better.
It was over a year into my research before I finally found a hard copy of the Merchiston Castle School Register 1974–1993 in an online second hand bookstore. This period encompasses everything before, during, and after my time at the school, which was 1982-1986.
Reading the book, I finally had access to staff and pupil names and dates to fill out my timeline, and the 1-year-long stressful burden of simply trying to remember accurately was lifted. The Internet only became available for most people began in the mid-1990s—including those creating websites—so online records before that period are spotty at best.
There is still a lot online but even present-day record keeping can be scattered. My goal was to collecting all media coverage, research reports, and official institutional documents in one place and tagging them for the BY TOPIC section of this site to save other Merchiston survivors from having to trudge down the same frustrating research road that I took.
There's a lot to do but this is a good start. Feel free to contribute in any way you can.
WHAT'S MISSING? Let us know about key media coverage or documents relevant to Merchiston that are not already archived on this site, or any survivor resources that aren't listed on our Resources for Survivors page.
ORIGINAL MATERIAL: Definitely would like to move towards publishing personal testimonies, as well as original research and writing relating to Merchiston Castle School.
HOW TO GET IN TOUCH? Get in touch via our contact page. This sends email via the Internet directly to the site owner, Nigel Parry. If your communication needs to be more secure, see below.
Our contact page is there for general queries but if you want to send any sensitive materials, we have a Secure Evidence Upload page where you can upload text, image, video, and audio files directly through your SSL-secured browser to a secure hidden directory on this secure server.
You can write a letter in many common text document formats, save it and any files with nondescript file names, and upload it or them via the Secure Evidence Upload system without sending any content via email on the open Internet.
Note that submissions via the Secure Evidence Upload page will receive a brief email confirmation of the upload to the email address you provide, that includes a list of the names of files you upload.
The site admin also receives an identical email notification to check the Secure Evidence directory to access your uploaded files.
It's fine to use "Fake Name" and a fake email address but include your actual contact details in one of your securely-uploaded documents.
If you want a secure response, include a Signal return address.
Check the Secure Evidence Upload page for information on how to send files via Signal. The page is mostly intended for the secure sending of files rather than regular, ongoing communicaton, so any sustained communication needs to go through Signal.
Donations buy time to spend maintaining and expanding the website. Priorities for the site are:
- Priority number one is to finish tagging existing documents to ensure that the BY TOPIC section of this site is comprehensive and genuinely useful. Many SCAI image-only PDFs must be reread and tagged. All existing News items are already fully tagged, as will be any future archived coverage.
- Continuing to track down and archive both historical and contemporary news & documents relating to abuse at Merchiston Castle School to add to the site. Please feel free to suggest articles and relevant documents.
- Expanding the range of the archive is also a goal. Top of the list would be adding historical Merchiston inspection reports, police statements, and archiving government steps directly affecting survivor justice.
- Tracking upcoming civil cases against Merchiston as they start to take place. There are many cases being prepared, brought by a variety of former students.
- Building the forum into a large network and having it serve useful purposes such as mutual support, research, and coordinated action.
Click here to donate here via Paypal
If you're experiencing serious abuse either from staff or fellow pupils, independent of the school's system you can contact Childline and Police Scotland directly.
How to phone Childline
Available 24/7. Call 0800 1111.
Police Scotland has a National Child Abuse Investigation Unit (NCAIU) that has been involved in cases of historic abuse at Merchiston and other boarding schools for over a decade, so has all the background and is now experienced in dealing with the institutions.
How to phone Police Scotland
Call 101 for advice and support or call 999 if you or another child is in immediate danger. If you want to remain anonymous, tell the person you’re speaking to you that you want to remain anonymous.
Police Scotland Edinburgh 24/7 Walk-ins
In an emergency situation, St. Leonards Police Station (the primary 24/7 operational police hub and public counter for the Edinburgh division) is found at 14 St Leonards Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9QW. St. Leonards is accessible by bus via the 45 route from Merchiston Castle School.
First Bus: 6:34 AM
Morning: 7:03 AM, 7:30 AM, 7:56 AM, 8:39 AM, 09:18 AM
Midday: Regular intervals at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour (e.g., 10:15 AM, 10:45 AM, etc.)
Last Bus: 7:24 PM
Get Directions from Google Maps
Web resources for Childline and Police Scotland
- Childline's 1-2-1 onlne chat service
- Police Scotland: How to get help
- Police Scotland: Secure Contact Form
National Child Abuse Investigation Unit (NCAIU) mailing address
National Child Abuse Investigation Unit (NCAIU)
Specialist Crime Division
Police Scotland
West Lothian Civic Centre
Howden South Road
Livingston, EH54 6FF
