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Significant Scots
George Fulton |
FULTON, GEORGE, the author of an
improved system of education, was born, February 3, 1752. He served an
apprenticeship to a printer in Glasgow, and afterwards worked as journeyman
with Mr Willison of Edinburgh. He also practised his profession for a time
at Dumfries. In early life he married the daughter of Mr Tod, a teacher in
Edinburgh. His first appearance as a teacher was in a charity school in
Niddry's Wynd, which he taught for twenty pounds a-year. There an ingenious
and original mind led him to attempt some improvements in what had long been
a fixed, and, we may add, sluggish art. Adopting his ideas partly from the
system of Mr Sheridan, and partly from his late profession, he initiated his
pupils with great care in a knowledge of the powers of the letters, using
moveable characters pasted on pieces of wood, (which were kept in cases
similar to those of a compositor in a printing house,) the result of which
was, a surprising proficiency generally manifested by his scholars, both in
the art of spelling, and in that of pronouncing and reading the English
language. Having thus given full proof of his
qualifications as an instructor of youth, Mr Fulton was appointed by the
town council one of the four teachers of English under the patronage of the
city corporation, in which situation he continued till about the year 1790,
when a dispute with the chief magistrate induced him to resign it, and set
up on his own account. He then removed from Jackson’s Close in the Old Town,
to more fashionable apartments in Hanover Street, where he prospered
exceedingly for more than twenty years, being more especially patronized by
Thomas Tod, Esq., and the late Mr Ramsay of Barnton. In teaching grammar and
elocution, and in conveying to his pupils correct notions of the analogies
of our language, Mr Fulton was quite unrivalled in his day. Many teachers
from other quarters became his pupils, and were successful in propagating
his system; and he had the honour to teach many of the most distinguished
speakers of the day, both in the pulpit and at the bar. During the long
course of his professional life, he was indefatigable in his endeavours to
improve his method, and simplify his notation; and the result of his studies
was embodied in a Pronouncing Dictionary, which was introduced into almost
all the schools of the kingdom.
Mr Fulton was an eminent instance of the union of
talent with frugal and virtuous habits. Having realized a considerable
fortune by teaching, he resigned his school to his nephew, Mr Andrew Knight,
and for the last twenty years of his life, enjoyed otium cum dignitate,
at a pleasant villa called Summerfield (near Newhaven,) which he purchased
in 1806. In the year 1820, Mr Fulton married for the second wife, Miss Eliza
Stalker, but had no children by either connection. He died, September 1,
1831, in the 80th year of his age.
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