Whilst renovating a cottage in Drumlithie, Tony Clarke found an old exercise book from Robert Gordon's College under the floorboards. The book, dated August 16^th 1892, has been kindly donated to the College Archive.

Mr Cumming, Archivist said: "We were able to research its origins. It belonged to a pupil called James Mowat who had lived in the house. He was the son of a shoemaker in Drumlithie and attended the local school. He attended Gordon's for 2 years, 1891-93, starting at the age of 12. In IIC he was top of the class in Geography and Drawing, second in Writing and third in Arithmetic and History. In IIIB he again received very good marks but he left half way through the year, presumably when he reached the age of 14 and needed to start earning his living. It is interesting to see a copy of James Mowat’s timetable in class IIIB. The school started at 9 am and finished at 3 pm, with five lessons of one hour each per day and an hour for lunch. As well as subjects we would recognise today, James also studied Euclid, Freehand Drawing and Physiography (Physical Geography)."