of the wood-panelled Central Hall, rising two storeys with gallery to an arched ceiling, was the six large stained glass windows with figures representing Literature, Science, Art, Music, Technology and Gymnastics. This new Hamilton Academy building was officially opened on 22 September 1913, a programme and souvenir of this event being published by the Hamilton Advertiser newspaper. This building remains and is a 'listed building,' category 'B.' Following the First World War a handsome memorial to masters and former pupils who had fallen in that 1914–18 war was erected in the Central Hall which also housed the girl and boy school Dux medallists commemorative boards. In 1934 plans were instigated to extend the school's junior department to accommodate up to 500 pupils, and on 3 August 1939 plans were passed that would have seen alterations to the main building to create two new luncheon rooms, further staff rooms, offices and two new libraries; and a new annex to include two new gymnasia. Due to the outbreak of the Second World War in September, these plans were not followed-through. Earlier in 1939 the local Air Raid Precautions committee had announced that it had been arranged that in the event of war and air raids, Hamilton Academy would be used as a first-aid post in case of emergency. On 19 February 1954 a war memorial, commemorating the one schoolmaster and 68 former pupils who had fallen in the Second World War, was unveiled at the school by its former rector David Anderson, who had himself been awarded the Military Cross (with bar) for gallantry in the Great War. Hamilton Academy continued at the 'new' Academy building from 1913 to 1972, when it closed down as an independent institution. Most pupils in the last intake (1971) to the former Hamilton Academy are still surviving, the school roll in 1971–2 session being 1025. What would have been Hamilton Academy's quadricentenary (1588–1988) was celebrated in 1988 by a reunion in Hamilton of remaining former pupils and staff. Intake and education Intake Hamilton Academy was a senior and junior fee-paying day and boarding school. The Statistical Account of Scotland, 1792, states that the school "has had, for a long time past, a good reputation, and, besides the youth of the place, a great many boarders at a distance have been educated at it," and the Statistical Account of Lanarkshire, 1835, mentions that "many of (the school's