The Trades Maiden Hospital of Edinburgh was established in 1704 by the Craftsmen of Edinburgh and Mary Erskine. This is the same lady who, ten years earlier, had founded the present Mary Erskine School with the Merchants of the town. The Trades Maiden Hospital began as a boarding school for “the daughters and granddaughters of decayed craftsmen”, in other words, for girls who could not be adequately looked after at home.