We’re still discovering lots of interesting finds through our collaborative project with the Old Edinburgh Club in cataloguing Scottish manuscripts. This particular manuscript ties in quite nicely with the family history research conducted regularly by the Edinburgh and Scottish Collection. Today we are putting a spotlight on a collection of documents held within a leather wallet that mostly date back to the mid-19th century.
Leather document holder, photos and documents from the Robert Adam collection.
They trace the genealogy of a reputable gentleman named Robert Adam who, while having no connection to the famed architect of the same name, was related to Dr Alexander Adam (1741-1809). Alexander Adam was Robert’s great-uncle and headmaster of Watson’s Hospital (now George Watson’s College) and then Rector of the Royal High School of Edinburgh. Alexander was reputed as a classical scholar, and his pupils include many men who would go on to have esteemed careers such as Alexander Kincaid (Lord Provost of Edinburgh), Walter Scott, Lord Brougham and Francis Jeffrey. He introduced the study of Greek into the Royal High’s curriculum and achieved many other impressive feats which led to the University of Edinburgh awarding him an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in 1780.
Page from Robert Adam collection
The relationship between Robert and Alexander is established in a booklet within the collection of documents, titled ‘Genealogy of my Relations’ written in either 1828 or 1846. It gives a thorough account of Robert’s family tree, tracing birthdays, dates of marriage, and dates of death of his lineage going back multiple generations. It is interesting to see such a document created and it is evident that he put a lot of effort into retrieving all the information on his ancestry.
Genealogy of My Relations by Robert Adam
His father was an appraiser and auctioneer and married Jean Stronach in 1806 with whom he had eleven children. Robert was the youngest, with a birth date of 23 June 1824.
He was born in Elgin, Moray, Scotland but several documents within the collection prove that he made the move to Edinburgh to establish a successful career as a city accountant within the town council. One of these documents include a certificate making him a burgess and guild brother of the city of Edinburgh in 1857.
Certificate of award of burgess and guild brother status
Another is a marriage certificate documenting his union with Sarah Douglas in 1850 at St Cuthbert’s Parish. The document states that he is a City Accountant.
Marriage certificate of Robert and Sarah Adam
There is also a letter that he sends to his wife in 1858, which is on business headed paper with the City Chambers logo on the left-hand side.
Letter from Robert Adam to his “dear Sarah”
To attain his job at the City Chambers, he would have needed good references, and two certificates of character are included within the document, dating from 1840 and 1841. They paint a very good image of Robert, noting his attentiveness and skills as a clerk.
His marriage with Sarah appears to have been a happy one, and photos of them are proof that they were a handsome and well-to-do couple. The photograph of Robert was taken by George Shaw’s photographic studios on 143 Princes Street, which specialised in large portraits direct from life.
Photographic studio portraits of Sarah and Robert Adam
There is an advert found in the British Newspaper Archive, from the Mid-Lothian Journal from 6 March 1896, which promoted the studio’s electric light that was extensively used for photographing in any kind of weather.
Advert for George Shaw’s photographic studio on Princes Street
Four years before their marriage, Robert dedicated “A new sang to an auld tune” to Sarah, which is what looks to be an altered version of “There’s Nae Luck Aboot The House” a Scottish song written by Jean Adam (1704-1765), which was commonly heard on the streets from the 1770s.
A new sang to an auld tune
The original song is a tale of a sailor’s wife and the safe return of her husband from the sea. Why Robert would dedicate such a song to a wife, who according to records lived in Edinburgh from at least 1841, is unclear. An envelope enclosing a letter from Robert to his wife in 1846 has a schoolhouse in Stirling as the address. This may indicate that Sarah was a teacher, thus meaning that she may have lived apart from Robert in 1846 before their marriage.
Letter addressed to Mrs Robert Adam, at the Schoolhouse, Doune, Stirling
We found Robert and Sarah in the census of 1861 and 1871, but Sarah’s occupation is not listed. Therefore, her career as a teacher may have been short lived or purely a matter of speculation on our part!
Robert and Sarah would go on to have three children named Sarah Jane (1852-1876), Helen (1854-1916) and Alexander (1857-1902). They lived in Gardener’s Crescent according to a document from 1850 which lists all the expenses of furnishing their home. They would go on to move to 19 Meadow Place at some point between 1861-1871 according to the census.
Why not take a leaf out of Robert’s book, and do your own family history research using the resources within our Edinburgh and Scottish Collection? We have many physical records such as valuation rolls, electoral registers, census records, burial records, directories and old newspapers on microfilm. And of course, there is free access to both Ancestry and British Newspaper Archive from within all our libraries! Or if you feel you need a little extra help, come along to one of our monthly family history sessions for beginners which will give you lots of hints and tips for getting started and using our resources. Contact informationdigital@edinburgh.gov.uk to book your place.
Our current cataloguing project with the Old Edinburgh Club means our manuscript collection is searchable on our online catalogue for the first time. We encourage you to pop into the library and give Robert Adam’s Genealogy notes a look if you’re interested in viewing records that chronicle the span of someone’s life back in the nineteenth century.
Our work cataloguing Scottish manuscripts along with the Old Edinburgh Club is proving very fruitful in the finding of interesting material. This week we thought we would put a spotlight on the contributions the historian Charles Boog Watson has made in sharing obscure information about Edinburgh through his essays and notes. Boog Watson’s work makes up a large part of our manuscript collection, and as a prominent member of the Old Edinburgh Club, he was instrumental in researching different landmarks and historical buildings in the city.
A collection of notes and essays by Charles Boog Watson held by Central Library
Boog Watson was born in 1858 in Bombay, India and was educated at the Edinburgh Academy. He later entered the engineering profession, becoming a partner in the West End Engine Works and retiring in 1908. He dedicated much of his retirement to researching the history of Edinburgh, looking into its social history and tracing its development over the years. He was given a room in the City Chambers to continue his voluntary task of using the City Council records to research all aspects of the city’s history and topography. This extensive and meticulous research comprising 15 volumes he presented to Edinburgh Libraries upon his death in 1947.
He also collected a variety of rare and old editions of books, and was involved in several local committees and charities, serving on the Public Libraries Committee, Edinburgh City Mission, and as vice-president of the local history society: The Old Edinburgh Club.
The work we are highlighting this week from Boog Watson comprises a collection of notes and essays. There is a manuscript of typed notes from 1942 on the Royal Hotel (now known as the Mercure Edinburgh City – Princes Street Hotel) which chart the history of the hotel going back to 1814 including interesting events and various specific details such as former managers. In 1865-1866, a link between the hotel and the Clan of McGregor was made when the hotel was taken over by Donald McGregor. At the time this manuscript was written, the connection was still being made evident by the MacGregor coat of arms, displayed above the main entrance, the same as may be seen on the grave of the celebrated Rob Roy at Balquhidder.
Boog Watson mentions the variety of visitors the hotel attracted, such as the International Rugby teams, who after playing their match at Raeburn Place were in the habit of dining at the Hotel, where they amused themselves by smashing everything in the dining room! As a result of this, from then on, the manager sourced dining room furniture that would incur low replacement costs if victim to damage. Other visitors included the young William Ewart Gladstone in 1815, who from one of the Hotel’s windows watched the guns of the Castle firing a salute from the Half-moon Battery in honour of the victory at Waterloo, the Grand Duke Nicholas, brother of Alexander, Emperor of Russia who resided there in December 1817 and explorer H.M. Stanley who dined there in 1872. The Hotel also ties in with the inauguration of the New College on The Mound as on the 3 June 1844 the Rev. Thomas Chalmers entertained the students of the Free Church of Scotland at breakfast in the Hotel before laying the New College’s foundation stone.
Section of list of owners of the Royal Hotel
The next item in the collection is a manuscript of similar notes and newspaper clippings about Murrayfield House, an estate near Corstorphine Hill that was built in the 18th century. It is useful for showing how deep Boog Watson’s research into local areas went. From these notes we can put together a chronology of the house from its original designation as Nisbet Parks and Westfield. The estate was renamed to its current name by Archibald Murray, Esq., of Cringalty who acquired the house in the 1730s for £39,821 16s 8d Scots money. Other notable residents include George Saintsbury for four years from 1895, where he wrote some of his best-known work such A Short History of English Literatureand began A History of Criticism and Literary Taste in Europe from the Earliest Texts to the Present Day (1900–04). Boog Watson’s notes verify that there was once a proposal to demolish the house to make space for the continuation of “Murrayfield Avenue”, into Ravelston Dykes. Two residents who occupied the house consecutively in the early 20th century were strongly opposed to this and sent out this postcard to stir up further opposition in the hopes that people would realise its cultural value. They were clearly successful as the building still stands today.
A postcard of Murrayfield House, with a view of the House and a brief note about it
The last item to highlight is the first volume of Boog Watson’s general notes on Edinburgh. These are extensive and varied and cover all manner of topics relating to Edinburgh. The amount of broad and in-depth research included will prove very interesting for anyone looking to find out more about local history. The notes include sketches, newspaper clippings and family trees. An example is a family tree he creates for the Hope family which begins with John Hope, a French courtier who settled in Edinburgh in 1537 as part of the entourage of Madeleine of Valois. In Edinburgh he made his living as a merchant, possibly in textiles such as velvets, silver lace and cloth-of-gold. John’s son Edward was said to be a supporter of the Scottish Reformation in 1560. The family tree follows a description of Edward Hope’s Close in Boog Watson’s notes, a close that is now demolished but led way to their family mansion. It was situated at the top of the Royal Mile on the north side of Castlehill. It could be that the close disappeared from the streets of Edinburgh along with the Palace and Chapel of Mary of Guise at 533 Castlehill which was demolished in 1845 and replaced with the New College, a new teaching college for the Free Church of Scotland. The palace was no longer fit for purpose prior to demolition, as the Queen no longer resided within its crumbling walls. Some items from the palace are now housed in the National Museum of Scotland such as an oak door and tiles. The family tree shows that John’s grandson was the lawyer Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall whose house built in 1616, was demolished in 1887 to make way for our very own Central Library.
Section from the family tree of the Hope family
Boog Watson records useful and interesting information regarding Gladstone’s Land on the Lawnmarket which was named after Sir Thomas Gladstone who purchased it in 1631. Between James Court and the houses on the West Side of Lady Stairs Close was a narrow close, at one time called Gladstones Close, which according to the map Boog Watson sketches, was the narrow opening directly west of Lady Stairs Close. There is a newspaper clipping included within the notes from 1935 that reports Boog Watson’s pursuits in collecting evidence of the use of arches within Edinburgh such as the one at Gladstone. Within the article there is an extract from a minute of the Town Council, dated 4 September 1736 referring to Gladstone’s Land. It discusses the petition of the tenement’s proprietors for a warrant to be granted allowing them to bring forward their shops, which until then were obscured and hidden by the stone front standing on two pends.
Map sketch of the location of Gladstone’s Close
On the following page, Boog Watson shares a fun piece of Scottish sporting history regarding the now demolished Golfer’s Land in the Canongate dating from the 17th century. It was acquired by shoemaker John Paterson, with the money won by him as his share of the stake in the game of golf won by him and the Duke of Albany and York (who would go on to become James VII and II). Two Englishmen had boasted to the Duke that golf was an English not a Scottish game. To test this, a match was arranged and played between the Englishmen and the Duke and John Paterson who was reportedly the best golfer in Edinburgh. The Englishmen were beaten, the stakes won by the victors and Paterson spent his on Golfer’s Land. On it he carved “I hate no person”, an anagram of “John Patersone”. After the home’s demolition, a bronze coat of arms was placed on the remaining site where the anagram is still inscribed.
Boog Watson’s notes on Golfer’s Land
The legend of St Catherine’s Well is also acknowledged by Boog Watson in his entry of the Gracemount area. He attaches a newspaper clipping to his notes from 1938, which touches on the myth of the old well at St Catherine’s House, where it is said that “lepers came to partake of its healing waters.” The writer of the article, whose husband owned St Catherine’s House for a period of time, claims that she had a copy of an article on “The Oyly Well, St Catharine’s Chappel, Libberton”, by Matthew Mackaill from 1664, that states that King James VI himself visited the well early in the seventeenth century.
Boog Watson’s notes on the Gracemount area
Boog Watson used sketches throughout his notes to help readers visualise the various buildings he details. An example is a sketch he reproduces from an 1872 photograph of the House of the 6th Earl of Galloway situated in the West Side of the Horse Wynd. The house was built by Lord Alexander Garlies, son of the fifth Earl of Galloway in the 1740s after which it was passed down through successive Earls of Galloway until 1908 where it then served a variety of functions.
A sketch reproduced from an 1872 photograph of the House of the 6th Earl of Galloway
Boog Watson also sketches plans of many old Edinburgh streets such as Hart’s Close which was demolished and replaced by North Bridge in 1765. The map depicts the location of the close and surrounding streets as it would have appeared in 1763. The close may have also gone by Henry Nisbet’s Close, and Ballantyne’s Close, after writer James Ballantyne who resided in the close in the seventeenth century.
A sketch of several old Edinburgh streets including Hart’s Close
Home’s or Humph’s Close is another extinct close that Boog Watson sheds some light on with a sketch which shows that the close existed at the back of the Old Fishmarket Close, west of Borthwick’s Close.
One of the largest sketches in the notes is that of Calton Hill, which Boog Watson reproduces from Faden, William & Jefferys, Thomas. ‘General plan of the City, Castle and suburbs of Edinburgh’ London: 1773. The plan outlines Edinburgh’s centre six years after plans made were for construction of its New Town. This map has a useful key to all the Closes on the High Street and also to the public buildings within Edinburgh at the time. YOu can view this map on the National Library of Scotland’s Maps website.
Sketch of Calton Hill
A sketch of the location of Adam’s Square
Lastly, a sketch of the location of Adam’s Square shows where Adam House on Chambers Street got its name. The square was an 18th century residential square that stood where you can find Chambers Street. It was demolished as part of the 1867 City Improvement Act where many buildings met their demise. The square and the house get their name from the Adam family of architects, and it was John Adam who designed the square. While he may be lesser known than his father William and younger brother, Robert, he had the longest and most varied career of the family, and the square was one of his crowning achievements, attracting some of the wealthiest residents in the city.
We at Edinburgh Libraries owe a huge debt of thanks to Charles Boog Watson for the wealth of information he has shared with us and made available to our library users. Our current cataloguing project with the Old Edinburgh Club means the collection is searchable on our online catalogue for the first time. We encourage you to pop into the library and give Watson’s manuscript collection a look if you are interested in finding out more about the history of Edinburgh.
Come to the opening of the Edinburgh Zine Library (E.Z.L) on Wednesday 1st November. Established in August 2017 and located in the Art & Design Library, the E.Z.L is a collectively run reference library of contemporary zines.
Don’t know what a zine is? Come along to find out more, and why it’s important to collect and catalogue them!
The event runs from 4 – 7.30pm and you can drop in anytime. There’ll be zine making workshops (materials provided) as well as some short talks, a zine swap, space to browse the collection and chat to E.Z.L members and the opportunity to contribute a page to E.Z.L’s first collaboratively made zine! Oh and cake! Lots of cake!
Practical stuff: The Art & Design Library is not wheelchair accessible and there is no level access – using the lift there is an additional twenty steps. There will be an area downstairs which is level access and where there will be a stall, seats, zines and members of E.Z.L to chat. Get in touch for more information at edinburghzinelibrary@gmail.com. Kids are welcome, however they require the supervision of a parent or guardian!
Find E.Z.L on social media for more info:
Insta: @edinburghzinelibrary
Twitter: @edzinelibrary
Facebook: @edinburghzinelibrary www.edinburghzinelibrary.WordPress.com
Come to the opening of the Edinburgh Zine Library (E.Z.L) on Wednesday 1st November. Established in August 2017 and located in the 
Tales of One City 