Dr Guthrie's Girls School, Gilmerton. Edinburgh.
Children who have been abused within the walls of the school
have cried so much that the building is
filled with horror.
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Guthrie's
Ragged School - Exclusively
for Child Torturers
to Abuse the Impoverished.
If you are a former Guthrie girl
or a family member of a former Guthrie girl
and would like to leave a comment on the Girls' School page,
please don't hesitate to contact me using the links
at the bottom of the home page.
Your feedback will be kept confidential.
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Some articles from the British Newspaper Archive that are easy to find on the web.
Some old newspaper stories.
DUNDEE COURIER - MONDAY 05 JANUARY 1953
Five girls said to have been largely responsible for the unfavourable state of affairs at Dr Guthrie's approved school for girls, Gilmerton, Edinburgh, appeared in Edinburgh sheriff court on Saturday charged with escaping from the school.
DAILY RECORD - THURSDAY 07 MAY 1953
Dr Guthrie's girls approved school, Edinburgh.
In the bright sunshine, they walked out of school and escaped unnoticed.
Police have issued an alarm, and all the beat and mobile patrols are out on the lookout for the girls, both of whom are quite young.
In November of last year, a disturbance broke out in the school.
EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS - TUESDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 1956
Mr. T. J. Cochrane, deputy procurator-fiscal, said on September 2nd that a number of the inmates of the school escaped while attending church.
EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS - WEDNESDAY 26 JUNE 1957
A girl who was given 14 days' leave from Dr Guthrie's approved school for girls at Gilmerton last January did not return, it was stated at Edinburgh sheriff court today.
These are the windows
of the single rooms
in the girls'
torture centre
at Guthrie's.
Comment #1 Caroline
I was sent to Dr. Guthrie's School for Girls when I was thirteen years old.
After being transferred to the girls' school, I never saw my social worker again.
While I was at the girls' school, I didn't have any visitors.
All the school's cleaning was done by the girls.
We received no education, no math, no English.
We were just taught how to cook, clean and wash clothes.
As the weeks went by, I got more and more hungry. I never got much to eat.
I was given breakfast, dinner and tea, but it was never enough.
I was always hungry.
I was never given snacks or biscuits or anything like that.
There was one staff member. A man who was an animal. He wore glasses.
This pervert was supposed to be a social worker.
This man would watch the girls showering while he stood by the shower doors
and 'said he was there if there was any trouble'.
If any of the girls started a fight or said something he didn't like, he would take them to the cells.
He was always in the school at night and he wasn't a very nice man.
I spent a lot of time in the cells - sometimes for weeks.
You could hear the girls screaming and it was the sound of hell.
When I was taken to the cells,
this pervert would give me a glass of water and his hand would be over it.
He would make me drink this water and it would put me to sleep.
When I woke up in the morning, I was sore and bloody.
This man also put young girls in cupboards and locked the door. The girls were kept in the cupboard overnight.
The cupboard was so small you could hardly stand up and this bastard would not let you out to go to the toilet.
He was evil.
When I ran away from Dr Guthrie's, I reported this man, I reported the sexual abuse and cruelty to the police, but they completely ignored me and just took me back.
They told me to stop making up stories.
There's a lot more but I can't put it here
because it would upset me and it would upset others if they read it.
I kept it all in for thirty years, until in 2011, when I was in my forties, I decided to call the police.
I gave them a statement and they promised to get back to me. I never heard from them again.
Dr Guthrie's was not a school at all. It was a nightmare place of abuse, cruelty, and neglect.
I'm now seeking redress after reporting the abuse to the police and the Child Abuse Inquiry.
Every survivor should contact the police and the inquiry.
The pervert may be dead. But I still live a very stressful life filled with daily suffering and terrible memories.
I haven't been able to spend enough time with my children because of what that animal,
that beast, did to me.
The abuse I suffered at Dr Guthrie's Girls' School will always haunt me.
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Please sign the petition below.
Do not let them get away
with this appalling abuse of our children.
https://www.change.org/p/remove-the-thomas-guthrie-statue
