Number 1 - complete list of residents and shops
1804 – 1821 Duncan and Elizabeth MacfarlaneDuncan Macfarlane was an advocate and is depicted in the middle bottom row in this miniature caricature (John Kay 1810). He was born in Glasgow, where his father was a merchant engaged in the North American trade. Due to the wars with the Americans and the French he died leaving his widow and four young children with little money. However, Macfarlane was bright and became a member of the Dean of the Faculty of Procurators at the unusual young age of 20, practising in Glasgow for a time. He and Elizabeth married in 1792. As he had the ambition to become a barrister they moved from Glasgow to Edinburgh in 1804 and there he became an advocate two years later. He was one of the many dignitaries that attended the visit of King George IV to Scotland - the first visit by a reigning monarch to Scotland since 1650. In 1821 the Macfarlanes moved to Drummond Place. Following Elizabeth’s death in 1831 as a result of an accident while she was in London, Duncan retired from public life. He died in 1839.In 1820, Helen Hay, who had lived at 7 Duke Street remembered her Albany Street neighbours at Numbers 1 and 3 in her will: ‘My yellow Indian shawl to Mrs. Macfarlane, wife of Duncan Macfarlane, advocate and £5 to Duncan Macfarlane and the black girandoles (candlesticks). To Mrs. Richardson of Keithock my purple ring set with diamonds.’
1821 – 1826 Showroom of Andrew Stewart, House Decorator
One of the shop spaces was taken by Andrew Stewart whose advert stated that he had: ‘…commenced business in all the various branches of Plain and Decorative House and Furniture Painting. A.S. flatters himself, from the experience he has had in the practical part of the business, in the principal shops in London, and by punctual attention to orders, that he will merit a share of the public patronage.’
1826 – 1830 Edward West’s Circulating Library 1830 – 1839 Thomas Caithness Circulating Library West lived in Cumberland Street. Like many owners of libraries, he also was a bookseller. His advert stated that he was resuming his business at the new address: ‘On the whole, Edward West confidently hopes that, by the diligence and attention which he trusts will be found to be devoted to his business, he will secure a share of kind patronage and support, not only of his more particular friends, but of the public in general, and more especially that portion in or about that respectable neighbourhood.’ Circulating Libraries were commercial ventures, often run by booksellers as a side-line. In Edinburgh, the Scottish Enlightenment influenced the growth of these and subscription libraries. The earliest circulating library was opened in Edinburgh in 1725 by Allan Ramsay. Unlike subscription libraries the paying patrons had no input regarding the choice of books bought for the library and played no role in its management. By 1800 there were around eight circulating libraries in Edinburgh and Leith, others at Haddington and Dunbar, and another twenty in Scotland's cities and larger towns. Borrowers usually paid to join and they paid to borrow. Circulating libraries were extremely popular during this period. They allowed patrons to access more books than they could ever realistically afford. The average three-volume novel cost a guinea in 1815 which, based on the current worth of a guinea's gold content, was roughly the equivalent of around £100 today. The reasonably priced circulating library subscription allowed members of the middle class, particularly women, to start to read much more than they could if books had to be purchased outright. As can be seen from the advert for Caithness, who took over the business, his library appears to have focused primarily on periodicals. He also sold stationery and in an advert from 1831 is listed as one of two places where ‘Cards of the terms, with other particulars’ were available for Mr. Stirling’s School for 3 to 7 year old children.
James Thin (1824-1915), a well-known Scottish bookseller, stationer and publisher began his career working as a boy in a small Edinburgh bookseller. Thin played a significant role in Edinburgh intellectual society, and the author Muriel Spark wrote all her novels on notebooks from James Thins’. In 1904 Thin looked back at his early days in an address delivered to a meeting of booksellers' assistants, and in it referred to past booksellers, including Edward West: ‘It will interest you to know something of the book-selling trade at this time. The population of Edinburgh at that period was only 136,000 as against 312,000 now; the number of booksellers was 105, of whom 12 are noted as stationers only. The number of booksellers in the present directory is 134, and the number of stationers is 250. The twelve stationers were stationers only, trading, not in books, but in paper, pens, ink, and account books. The majority of present-day stationers are not booksellers, but combine with their stationery business that of newspapers, magazines, and periodicals, with the occasional addition of other articles. The news agency, then unknown, has now become a very extensive business, and is carried on with much activity over the greatly extended city, besides the large number sold at the railway stations. In 1836 no newspapers were sold in shops or in the street, the public being supplied solely by the newspaper proprietors, who enrolled subscribers, and had men of their own for delivering the papers at the houses of their subscribers.’
The premises then divided into two shops, one with living space. Shops during 1840s where no detail traced.
Booksellers - Robert Shand.
Bookbinders - James and Alexander McPherson.
McPherson’s Dairy - John McFarlane and Joseph Crawford.
Grocer - David and Elizabeth Inglis.
Poulterers - Charles Elliot and Mrs McElvrey.
Grocer - George Kerr.
Housepainter - Neil Kerr.
Confectioner - James Scott.
1849 – 1862 CowfeederJames and Elizabeth Scott ran their cowfeeder business here. The Scotts had one child already and another four were born in Albany Street. Cow-feeders were dairymen, supplying fresh milk to Edinburgh residents, and trading on their cows once they were past providing milk to butchers. Higgs Riggs that continues on from West Port, was once called Cowfeeders Row, but cow-feeders establishments were scattered throughout the city. This painting of a Cow Keeper’s Shop in London is by George Scharf. The existence of such cowsheds in populated areas was a significant health risk and even by the end of the nineteenth century a report by the Medico-chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, stated that there were one hundred and fifteen licensed cowsheds, containing around three thousand cows. ‘From the time they are bought as milk-giving cows until they are sold again, they are kept closely confined. Not only is this the case in towns, but the same holds in suburban districts. I know of byres on the outskirts of the city containing large numbers of cows, not one of which is ever outside the sheds.’
1850 – 1861 Fruiterer
The fruit shop was run by Mr Boyd from 1850 to 1855. In 1855 he advertised the business for sale: ‘That Fruit Shop, No. 1 Albany Street with stock and fixtures for sale. Rent moderate – with good dwelling-house and cellarage. For small capitalist in Green Grocer or Victual Dealer such an opening seldom occurs.’ Taken over by Robert White in 1855, who then moved across the road to Number 2.
1843 – 1892 Flesher (Butcher) Originally housed in one shop and then expanded to take over both shop spaces from 1865.
Owned by George Wight, who also owned land near Edinburgh where he raised animals. He first lived in Barony Street with his wife Elizabeth (neé Hume), though they later moved to Duke (Dublin) Street. In 1859 the Wight’s daughter died and three years further tragedy struck. Their teenage son, together with a friend who lived in Henderson Row, were fishing from a bridge over the River Tweed near Peebles. One of the boys, seeing a hat coming down the river stretched out to grab it but unfortunately lost his balance and fell in. His friend tried to reach him but in doing so also tumbled into the river, and the two were swept downstream by the force of the water which was swollen by recent rains. In spite of a brave attempt by a local labourer to save them, the two boys drowned. The deaths of two children may have affected Elizabeth Wight’s health for she died in 1864.
This advert from 1835 announced that at his shop ‘(Wight) will expose for sale a most superior Ox of the Teeswater breed, which is allowed by the most competent judges to be one of the finest animals in the three Lothians.’ In 1847 Wight was elected a General Commissioner of Police for the area. In 1805 Edinburgh introduced the unique approach of residents being able to vote for police commissioners to serve on the police boards, both to oversee policing matters and regulate the police force. These commissioners were to provide: ‘a more regular police for apprehending vagrants, suppressing begging, removing nuisances, lighting and cleaning the streets, etc. and also for giving more ample powers to the Magistrates for regulating hackney coaches, sedan chairs, and crafts, and for porters…..(and) to adopt regulations with respect to the weights of bread in the city.’
Wight was a judge at many of the cattle shows in the city and often mentioned in reports on cattle sales. A report of the All-Hallows Fair in November 1859 recounts that the fog was so thick that the animals could not be seen even up close. However, the mist lifted by midday and the ‘fat cattle’ Wight bought for £26 were reportedly the best in the market. Clearly one of the city’s leading butchers, in 1854 Wight took the Chair at the Annual Dinner of the Edinburgh fleshers in the Café Royal. The report says that it was ‘more numerously attended than on previous occasions…and the evening was spent with the greatest harmony and glee.’
George Wight died in 1885. Sadly the reputation of Wight butchers was blackened in 1891-2 when his stepson, also George Wight, was accused of a serious crime. In December one of the bullocks on his farm had suddenly died. When Wight visited the next day his overseer said that in his opinion the animal had died of anthrax poisoning. Instead of reporting the death of his animal from this deadliest of infectious diseases, Wight ordered the shepherd on his farm to skin the dead animal, and then had the carcass transported by cart under a covering of straw, presumably to ensure no inspector saw the carcass, to his shop in Edinburgh ready for sale the next day. Distressingly, the shepherd had a slight wound on his arm and through this he became infected with the anthrax and died a few days later. Before that, Wight had the carcass butchered and sold the meat on Christmas Day. Fortunately no customers died. Wight’s heartless cover up for profit was far from an unusual act in the meat and fish trade. The newspaper report on the case said that in the last year alone, over 375,000 pounds of diseased meat and fish had been seized or prevented from being put on sale by the sanitary officers. In spite of the gravity of Wight’s actions, and the court’s expressed abhorrence at his action, the Sheriff could only fine him £20 being the maximum sentence for the breach of regulations. It seems certain that the adverse publicity around the case brought an end to Wight’s business for in February 1892 Hogg and Hogg took over the premises.
1892 - 1900 Butchers
Hogg and Hogg also had butchers shops in Drumsheugh Place and West Maitland Street. Owned by William Brydon Hogg, the firm advertised themselves as ‘butchers, poulterers, game dealers, and sausage makers’. In the early 1900s the firm’s address for telegrams was ‘sausage’!
In 1901 the shop at Number 1 was advertised to let at an annual rent of £35 and described as ‘commodious’.