100 year old newspaper found at Moray school
It features the then Prince of Wales, who went on to become King Edward VII, on his first tiger hunt, mounted on elephants in Nepal.
Last updated 6th Jan 2022
A newspaper dating back 100 years ago has been found at Gordonstoun school.
The copy of the Daily Mail from January 12th 1922 was found by staff doing maintenance work.
The 12 page edition was hidden behind a mirror and still in pristine condition.
It features the then Prince of Wales, who went on to become King Edward VII, on his first tiger hunt, mounted on elephants in Nepal.
A class of ten-year-olds in Year 6 at Gordonstoun Junior School were fascinated to see the newspaper:
Tabitha said: "I like how old it looks and how different it is to the way newspapers look now. It’s completely different to the newspaper my grandparents read and most people now have their newspaper on their phone!”
Henrietta said, “I like looking at history and then the present but I don’t like looking at the dead tiger on the back page,”
Amelia said: "It’s interesting to see the adverts for things that are illegal now.”
Rose said, "It looks like a treasure map!"
Gordonstoun’s Archivist, Louise Avery, added: "When this newspaper was printed Gordonstoun was not a school but a large private estate owned by the rather notorious Sir William Gordon-Cumming, who had been ostracised from polite society as a result of the Royal Baccarat scandal, in which Sir William had been accused of cheating in a game of baccarat with his friend the Prince of Wales, who became King Edward VII.
"The laird was not living at Gordonstoun in 1922, however newspapers like this would have been the only way that his staff would get the news from the rest of the UK.”
Principal of Gordonstoun, Lisa Kerr, said they were all very excited by the discovery.
She said: "We might reflect how little has changed over the last century: this ancient edition of the Daily Mail features an outbreak of influenza, a scandal about a 50 year old aristocrat who married his 19 year old secretary and a ‘sex war’ at a university with women ‘fighting control by men’!
"The newspaper will now be kept in our archives so that the children can step back in time by looking at this one hundred year old snapshot of life in 1922 whenever they want."