Simon Somerville Laurie

Simon Somerville Laurie FRSE LLD (13 November 1829 – 2 March 1909) was a Scottish educator. He became Bell Professor of Education at Edinburgh University in 1876. He campaigned energetically and successfully for better teacher training in Scotland.

Laurie also wrote extensively on philosophy, giving the Gifford Lectures in 1905–6.

Biography

Early life Laurie was born on 13 November 1829 in Edinburgh, the eldest son of Rev James Laurie or Lawrie and his wife Jean Somerville. His father was a Presbyterian minister and chaplain to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. His mother was the daughter of a United Presbyterian church minister at Elgin, Simon Somerville. They lived near the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary at 112 Lauriston Place.

Laurie was educated at Edinburgh High School from 1839 to 1844.

Laurie resigned his chair in 1903 and retired from his work with the Dick Bequest in 1907.

Laurie was given honorary LL.D. degrees by the University of St Andrews in 1887, the University of Edinburgh in 1903, and the University of Aberdeen in 1906. Arthur and Malcolm were both elected Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

His sister, Mary Struthers Laurie, married Sir David Orme Masson.

Catherine died in 1895. Laurie then married Lucy "Osy" Struthers (1871–1963), the daughter of Sir John Struthers, in 1901.

He died on 2 March 1909 at his house 22 George Square, Edinburgh. He is buried in the Grange Cemetery in Edinburgh. The grave lies in the western extension against the southern wall, close to the south-west corner.

Works On the Fundamental Doctrine of Latin Syntax (1859) On the Philosophy of Ethics: An Analytical Essay. Edmonston and Douglas, Edinburgh. (1866) On Primary Instruction in Relation to Education (1867) Notes Expository and Critical on Certain British Theories of Morals (1868) Chair of Education, University of Edinburgh: Inaugural Address (1876) John Amos Comenius (1881; sixth edition, 1898) On the Educational Wants of Scotland (1881) Free education, etc., etc.: Chair of Institutes and History of Education: Introductory Lecture (1884) Metaphysica nova et vetusta: A Return to Dualism (under the pseudonym "Scotus Novanticus", 1884) Ethica, or, The Ethics of Reason (under the pseudonym Scotus Novanticus, 1885) The Rise and Early Constitution of Universities, with a Survey of Mediaeval Education (1887) Occasional Addresses on Educational Subjects (1888) Lectures on Language and Linguistic Method in the School, Delivered in the University of Cambridge, Easter Term, 1889 (1890) Institutes of Education: Compromising an Introduction to Rational Psychology (1892) Historical Survey of Pre-Christian Education (1895) John Amos Comenius, Bishop of the Moravians: His Life and Educational Works (1899) Synthetica: Being Meditations Epistemological and Ontological, Gifford Lectures. 2 Volumes (1. On Knowledge; 2. On God and Man). Longmans, Green and Co. (1905–1906)