In 1828 Charles Chalmers started a small school in Park Place on a site now occupied by the McEwan Hall.

In May 1833, Charles Chalmers took a lease of Merchiston Castle (the former home of John Napier, the inventor of logarithms) — which at that time stood in rural surroundings — and moved the school.

Building began in 1928 including the Chalmers and Rogerson boarding houses, designed by Sir Robert Lorimer.

[5] Fifty years on, in 1983, at a time of further expansion and with 350 boys on the roll, their daughter, now Queen Elizabeth II, visited the school for its 150th anniversary.

[11] Gordon Cruden, a French teacher, stood trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and was found guilty in December 2015 of three charges of indecent exposure at the school between 1980 and 1985.

The court did not proceed to a conviction, but dealt with the matter in terms of section 246 (3) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 by way of an absolute discharge.

[12] In 2021 at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, the lawyer representing Merchiston said there was at least one member of the staff where the warning signs were missed.