boarding houses are named after: Mr James Summer Pringle, a benefactor. Charles Chalmers, founder, owner, and headmaster of Merchiston Castle School from 1828-1850. Dr John Johnston Rogerson, headmaster from 1863-1898 and owner from 1863-1896 when it became a public school rather than privately-owned in 1896. Cecil Evans, headmaster from 1936-1957. Irvine Laidlaw, Baron Laidlaw, former pupil and benefactor. Merchiston tartan The Merchiston Castle School tartan was designed by Kinloch Anderson in 1988. It is based upon the Napier tartan as the school was founded in the 1830s in the original home of John Napier of Merchiston, now part of Edinburgh Napier University. The tartan retains the sett of the Napier tartan, but changes the white to royal blue, the royal blue to navy, and the white line to scarlet to reflect the school colours. Historical abuse Gordon Cruden, a French teacher, stood trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and was found guilty in December 2015 of three charges of indecent exposure at the school between 1980 and 1985. The court did not proceed to a conviction, but dealt with the matter in terms of section 246 (3) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 by way of an absolute discharge. This means that although Cruden was found guilty, he was not convicted of the offences for which he stood trial. In 2021 at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, the lawyer representing Merchiston said there was at least one member of the staff where the warning signs were missed. He gave an "unreserved apology" to former pupils who were abused at school. Former pupils described abuse at Merchiston as comparable to "the Lord of the Flies" in further hearings at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. One of the pupils stated that you had to "accept there was a form of corruption" alongside the school behaving "in whatever manner pleased it" and that "staff did 'nothing whatsoever' to help pupils". The inquiry resumed its proceedings in January 2022, already discovering a culture of ‘don’t yell and don’t tell’ at the school with a former pupil stating that "No one would have listened" to issues raised by pupils and that "the school would not have taken action after complaints" during their tenure. Merchiston International School in Shenzhen Merchiston Castle School developed Merchiston International School after a year of collaboration with Chinese investor Lv Jianjun. Merchiston International School in Shenzhen is under Lv Jianjun's management.