Gillis Centre

The site of the present Gillis Centre was originally known as 'Whitehouse' and gave its name to the lane that runs alongside it, Whitehouse Loan. The house had many literary and academic occupants and must have had a connection with the University of Edinburgh, because it was there that some of the university's leading figures wrote various pieces of literature. Such as Principal Robertson who wrote his The History and Reign of Charles V in 1769.[3] In 1756 John Home wrote his tragedy Douglas there and in 1783 Dr. Hugh Blair wrote his famous Lectures.

Bishop Gillis in 1841 by Agnes Xavier Trail

In the 1830s, the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland was not yet re-established. James Gillis was a young priest, without influence, experience or worldly means but he wanted to establish a convent and so was sent by Bishop Paterson to the Continent to raise funds. On his journey via London, he was introduced to Miss Ann Agnes Trail,[4] the daughter of a minister of the Established Church of Scotland. Subsequently on his return to England, Miss Trail wrote to him offering herself as a member of his projected Community. The other Scottish lady, Miss Margaret Clapperton, who was to be one of the founding members of the Community, came from Fochabers and had known James Gillis for much of her life. It was agreed that Miss Trail and Miss Clapperton should go together to Chavagnes, the Mother House of the Ursulines of Jesus[5] and they arrived there on 31 August 1833. Meanwhile, James Gillis managed in June 1834 to purchase a suitable house, known as Whitehouse, for his proposed Convent with 2 acres of ground for £3,000. The initial group of eleven Sisters comprising Miss Trail (now Sister Agnes Xavier), Miss Clapperton (now Sister Margaret Teresa), The Reverend Mother St Hilaire, Mother St Paula, Sister St Damian, Sister Alexis, Sister John Chrysostom, Sister Mary Emily, Sister Angelina and two lay Sisters, Sister Stephen and Sister Eustelle then travelled to Scotland but had to live elsewhere for four months while the Convent was being made ready. On 26 December 1834, the Community took possession of St Margaret's Convent, which was the first post-Reformation convent in Scotland. At St Margaret's, arrangements had been made for the reception of young lady boarders, whose education was to be the principal work of the Sisters. In 1835, the Feast of St Margaret was kept on 16 June and the new St Margaret's Chapel, which had been built alongside the Whitehouse Mansion House, was finished. In 1863, this chapel went on to house a relic of St. Margaret of Scotland. given by Bishop Gillis who had become Vicar Apostolic of the Eastern District (Scotland) in 1852. For over 150 years, until it was closed in 1986, it was well known in Edinburgh as St Margaret's Convent and School under the ministry of the Ursulines of Jesus.

The chapel dedicated to St. Margaret of Scotland was designed by James Gillespie Graham (probably under significant influence from A.W.N. Pugin) and opened in 1835. From the same period, the gatehouse and convent building were also designed by James Gillespie Graham, and Edward Welby Pugin (son of A.W.N. Pugin) designed the school building which was completed in 1863.