Number 11 - Information on residents

1825 - 1856 Dr Andrew and Janet (neé Spens) Inglis

The Inglis family purchased the house and moved here from Number 25. Like his father, Andrew Inglis was a doctor. He was brought up in Parliament Close, where in June 1778, the Edinburgh Dean of Guild Court recorded that David Stewart, writer and Andrew’s father, William Inglis, surgeon, complained about a collapsed stair. In addition to his skill as a surgeon, William Inglis, was an expert golfer. He was Captain of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers the oldest golf club in the world. This portrait from 1787 shows William Inglis and his caddy on Leith Links, where the club was then located - it is now based at Muirfield. Behind Inglis, the annual trophy presented by the City - a golf club with silver balls attached - is being paraded across the Links. Andrew Inglis practiced at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Royal Infirmary was first established in a small house, opposite Robertson's Close, in today's Infirmary Street. When it opened in 1729 it was the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. There were only four beds and as the facilities were clearly inadequate, a 228-bed purpose-built hospital was designed by William Adam and opened in 1741. An article by Inglis relating to bone fractures was published in the first edition of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal in 1805. Inglis also served as an early Police Surgeon and featured in one report: ‘John Cowan, alias Cowie, stood trial for the murder of his wife by repeatedly striking her with a stick. He was still holding the stick when he called at a neighbouring house and admitted that “he had given her a good licking for letting the fire go out.” The following day the deceased was examined by surgeons Andrew Inglis and James Law. In their evidence they aged the deceased between 20 and 30 years, one of “the stoutest they had seen” and confirmed that several head wounds had been the cause of death. Cowan was convicted and hanged.’ Andrew Inglis died in 1835 and his wife in 1849.

They had four daughters. Isobel married Francis Dickson, a physician at the Wye House Lunatic Asylum in Buxton, who later became a Justice of the Peace. Jane,Jessie and Margaret. remained unmarried and latterly lived at Number 33.

Three of their sons, Archibald, Thomas and John all followed their father and grandfather into the medical profession. They trained at The University of Edinburgh Medical School, established in 1726 during the Scottish Enlightenment. The school soon attracted students from across Britain and the American colonies. Success in the teaching of medicine and surgery through the eighteenth century was achieved thanks to the combination of the city having the first teaching hospital, a strong grouping of physicians and the town guild of Barber Surgeons (later to become the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh). By 1764 the number of medical students was so great that a new 200-seat Anatomy Theatre was built in the College Garden. From the 18th century until the First World War the Edinburgh Medical School was widely considered the best medical school in the English speaking world. After becoming a doctor, Thomas Inglis (portrait by Sir Henry Raeburn) went to India and served during the First Anglo-Burmese War . He would have been kept busy for although the British casualties from the battles were low, the region was notorious for malaria and other diseases, and many soldiers fell ill with tropical fever. He retired from the army in 1839.

John also went to India as an assistant surgeon for the East India Company. He married Julia Rosa Major. Their first child, Julia Jane, was born in India in 1853. John and Julia returned to live in Edinburgh a few years later and had four further children. He died in 1873.

Archibald graduated as a doctor the year before the family moved into Albany Street. At different times he lived at two Albany Street addresses. When single he lived with his parents at Number 11 and after he married Isabella Weir the couple also lived here. Later he and his wife bought and lived in Number 33. From 1850 to 1857 they returned to Number 11 and then from 1857 on were again living at Number 33. He was a family doctor and held various positions at the Royal College of Surgeons,. In the 1850s, he served as President. His obituary said of him: ‘He was a man emphatically without guile; modest and retiring almost to a fault, he never asserted himself or his opinions. He was a man of high culture; in these unlettered days he kept up his classical knowledge and reading. He was one of the old school of Examiners who could give a sensible practical examination well suited to test a candidate’s knowledge in many subjects. Chemistry and Anatomy he knew well. As a family practitioner he was able, conscientious, and, above all, gentle and considerate. As good to the poor as to the rich.’

Isabella Weir’s father, who died in 1820, was Major James Weir of Tollcross. He served in the Royal Marines and in 1799 received a written commendation from Lord Nelson. The letter, which was auctioned in 2014, is of historic significance for Nelson wrote it with his left hand, having had his right arm amputated in 1797. Addressed from HMS Victory Nelson begins the letter: ‘My dear sir - you merit everything which a grateful country could bestow upon your services.’ Also it was Nelson who promoted Weir to Major. Archibald became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Later he was a member of the Committee for promoting vaccination and active on the General Medical Council. He also was a founding member of The Botanical Society of Edinburgh, instituted in 1836. Although the city already had the notable Botanic Gardens, there was a view that an association dedicated to the advancement of botanical science would be advantageous. The Society, still active today, became The Botanical Society of Scotland in 1991. Archibald and Isabella had five children, but one son, died when only five. Their eldest son, Andrew, became the fourth generation to become a doctor, being appointed Professor of Midwifery at the University of Aberdeen. However he died when only thirty seven. Their second son, James joined the Royal Marines and became a Second Lieutenant. His first active service was under Garibaldi in Italy; afterwards he served in the Royal Navy in China and Japan, where he was twice wounded, once by a saber cut across the head and then by a bullet in the leg. His second wound ended his career in the Royal Marines. It was reported that he could speak seven different languages and was well versed in the Latin and Greek classical literature. In 1880, he immigrated to Canada and lived for a while with his brother, Archibald, in Montreal. Afterwards, he moved to Florida, living on the Gulf Coast for about 16 years prior to his death in 1901. He remained unmarried. Their third son, Archibald, immigrated to Canada in 1873 where he married Charlotte Douglas Gordon in New York City. They lived in Montreal where they had three sons. After his wife died Archibald moved to Mayne Island in British Columbia and became a farmer, dying in 1937. The youngest son, Harry, worked in a bank.

Although many experts pointed out that the forgeries were unbelievably clumsy and should not have deceived any knowledgeable person for five minutes, the jury found Smith guilty on all charges. However, they recommended leniency, perhaps as they felt that the dealers who bought his fakes so eagerly were just as guilty as he was. So instead of Alexander being transported, the judge sentenced Scotland’s greatest mass-producer of literary forgeries in Scottish history to twelve months’ imprisonment. In 1891, the lodgers were Margaret Smillie, a music teacher; and Agnes Menzies, an unmarried sixty five year old woman with private means. Also lodging there with her daughter and a nurse was Mary (neé Ellis) Burke, the widow of William Burke (see Sailors), who, when a girl had lived at Number 44.

Alexander and Mary both died in the 1880s, and in the early 1890s the Smiths moved on. Agnes married Patrick Cleland, who lived at Number 2a. He was the son of Peter Cleland, an artist and teacher of painting. Robert who had been working as the apothecary's apprentice, and his unmarried sister Annie, went to Sydney, Australia where he became a pharmacist. After he died Annie returned to Scotland. (Photo of Annie and Agnes Smith)

Jessie Robertson took over as lodging house keeper with her husband, James, who worked as a blacksmith. Patrick Boswell, an advocate, lodged here before moving to Number 7. Later he became Sheriff-Substitute in Skye. Duncan Baillie, a solicitor (WS) lodged here in the mid- 1890s.