Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1801, 1929
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PAUPER, n. Also powper (Sc. 1830 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1864) III. 39). Sc. forms and usage: †a school pupil who received free education in return for various cleaning and supervisory duties about the school.n.Sc. 1801 D. Sage Memorabilia (1889) 151:
To the school-hours of attendance we were summoned by the blowing of a post-horn, which the pauper, or janitor, blew lustily . . . After this he proceeded to the school-house to arrange it for our reception, by sweeping the floor and lighting the fire. For all this drudgery the only remuneration he received was a gratis education — whence his designation of the pauper or "poor scholar."e.Rs.1 1929:
Pauper. The boy who swept the school and lit the fire. He was not charged fees. There was a pauper in the school I attended in Kilmuir Easter about 1876.
