In 1845 the boy, who had been a "herd" on the farm, went for six months to the grammar school at Aberdeen and was there prepared for a university bursary, which was sufficient to pay his fees, but no more.
In 1857 he gained a bursary at Marischal College, and graduated M.A.
In 1838 he obtained the pension Suard, a bursary of 150o francs a year for three years, for the encouragement of young men of promise, which was in the gift of the academy of Besancon.
He managed, by undertaking private teaching and with the aid of a bursary, to go to the university of Aberdeen, where he took his M.A.
