Number 18 - Information on residents

1819 – 1825 Grace Warrand (neé McComb or Macaul) and her son, John Warrand

Grace Warrand was the widow of Alexander Warrand (possibly Glasgow merchant). She died in 1822. Her son, John, lived on in the house for a further year or two but no more is known.

The 1855 valuation record shows that at the date John Warrand still owned the house The house

Scott had recently been left £5,000 on the death of his uncle, Robert Scott, and grasped the opportunity to obtain a share in a business with excellent long-term prospects. He offered to inject further capital on condition of being made a partner. An agreement was signed in May 1805, whereby Scott advanced a further £1,500 and became owner of a third of the company's stock. However, as at this time it was not though appropriate for a writer to have a direct involvement in the printing or publication of his works, this arrangement was kept a close secret from all but Scott’s other great friend, William Erskine (Number 11). With Scott's capital injection, the press prospered, with its greatest success at this period Scott's second narrative poem Marmion.

Frustrated by the huge profits lining the pockets of his publisher, Archibald Constable, Scott decided to set up a rival publishing house. Looking around for a capable manager, his choice fell on James’ other brother, John. On the face of it, John Ballantyne was a perverse choice, as he had a hard-won reputation as the black sheep of the family. However, he proved successful and impressed Scott with his business skills. Scott took a half-share, again keeping his business involvement a closely guarded secret, and James and John were allotted a quarter-share each. Profits were to be divided in the same proportion and matters of policy to be decided jointly. Later, Scott renegotiated his position with the company, obtaining a half-share in the business through a new injection of capital. Ballantyne and Company's first publication, Scott's The Lady of the Lake, appeared in 1810. The huge profits led the three partners into a wildly optimistic estimate of their future prospects. The selection of future titles for publication fell to Scott himself, who launched a series of commercially disastrous titles and debts mounted rapidly.

At this time Scott was investing large sums into the rebuilding of his house at Abbotsford. Half of this money was raised for him by John Ballantyne on the security of the as yet unwrittenRokeby, the poem by which Scott was looking both to cover his building expenses and to bail out the publishing house. By spring 1813, due to financial strains resulting from the war-ravaged economy Ballantyne & Company were forced to raise ready capital by selling some of the copyrights of Scott's works, the company’s most valuable assets. Rokeby, although a great success by any other poet's standards, fell far short of being the panacea to all the company's ills. The Ballantynes reluctantly approached Archibald Constable who examined the financial state of both the printing and publishing companies, and concluded that they must raise £4,000 immediately to avoid bankruptcy. However, bankruptcy would have made public the secret arrangement whereby Scott profited from the printing, publishing, and royalties of every book he wrote and discredited the writer, forcing him to resign as Clerk to the Court of Session and thus lose his regular income. In desperation, Scott turned to his patron, the Duke of Buccleuch, who agreed to stand guarantor behind a redeemable annuity for a sum of £4,000.

James Ballantyne's relationship with Scott was far more than just business partner and printer. Scott consulted James on the artistic merit and likely commercial success of each work. James read Scott's proofs, acting as editor rather than mere proof-reader. A note by Scott affixed to the manuscript of Rob Roy that he sent to Ballantyne for printing shows their close working relationship: ‘With great joy, I send you Roy; Twas a tough job, But we're dune wi' Rob.’ Ballantyne would point out inconsistencies in detail and gaps in the text, insert names of speakers in dialogue, correct punctuation and grammatical errors, and remove close verbal repetitions.

In the autumn of 1815, James proposed marriage to Christina Hogarth, the sister of George Hogarth (Number 19), and her brother demanded that James first prove himself free from debt. To enable James to fulfil this condition and marry Christina, Scott agreed to discharge him from his liabilities for the publishing house's debts on condition that Scott became the owner of Ballantyne and Company, with James as a salaried manager. Although the Ballantyne Press was kept busy by a massive demand from publishing houses both north and south of the Border, and thanks to Scott's influence, also had cornered the market for printing legal stationery and official documents, money that should have gone on repaying loans had gone instead to pay for the building work at Abbotsford. While Ballantyne was aware that Scott had run up vast debts in the company's name he assumed that the land and buildings of Abbotsford were the firm's security. Unknown to James, though, in 1825, Scott settled the whole estate on his newly married son, Walter, thus putting it beyond the reach of creditors.

The business was already on shaky foundations when the second financial crisis of 1826 occurred. This brought down the Ballantyne Press and James found himself liable for half of the company's debts. To meet his debts he was forced to sell his new home in St John Street and all the family valuables. Yet many Edinburgh businessmen felt that James bore little guilt in the collapse of his firm, and that most of the financial difficulties had arisen due to Scott's incessant demand for funds. So, after a time, business began to return to Ballantynes. Thus James Ballantyne’s fortunes gradually revived and it is at this point that he and his family moved to Albany Street.

One of the Ballantyne daughters, Christiana, when the 83 year-old Mrs Blathwayt, recalled Scott visiting Number 18 when she was a child: ‘I remember Sir Walter Scott dined with us, and Tom Moore, the Irish poet, singing his own songs at the piano. It was on that occasion I remember, that Sir Walter Scott kissed me.’ Sadly, in 1829, Christian died at Number 26 and Scott wrote in his journal: ‘I received the melancholy news that James Ballantyne has lost his wife. With his domestic habits the blow is irretrievable. What can he do, poor fellow, at the head of such a family of children! I should not be surprised if he were to give way to despair.’ Following Christian's death, Ballantyne and his children moved here.

Although Scott had no official business relationship with Ballantyne & Company after 1826, loyalty led him to insist that his new publisher continue to use the press. However, in the final years of Scott's life, hurt by adverse criticism by James of Anne of Gierstein and Count Robert of Paris and appalled by his conversion to Whig politics and evangelical religion. Scott's relationship to James soured. The writer wrote: ‘I hear bad news of James Ballantyne. Hypochondriac I am afraid, and religiously distressed in mind.’ And later: ‘I finished, however, a painful letter to J. Ballantyne, which I hope will have effect upon the nervous disorder he complains of. He must awake, arise, or be for ever fallen.’ Yet a few months later their relationship seemed improved as Scott recounts dining at Albany Street: ‘Dined with James Ballantyne, who gave us a very pleasant party. There was a great musician, Mr. Neukomm, a German, a pupil of Haydn, a sensible, pleasant man.’

However, a letter James wrote in 1832 to Scott’s son-in-law and biographer, John Lockhart, apologising for having failed to attend Scott’s funeral due to his illness, shows that Scott’s coldness to his once close friend had intensified: ‘Ever since my adoption of the principles of the Reform Bill, Sir Walter Scott's conduct, to a certain degree, changed towards me; and as the measure progressed, and also, I may say, as his health diminished, the indices by which the change was made manifest became more and more conspicuous, till at length, after changing his address to me from “Dear James,” to “Dear Sir”, and then “Sir” and for several months, refusing, or at least declining, to write to me at all.… I thought it advisable to abstain from going to Abbotsford during nearly the whole last twelve months of his life; not that I was such a flagrant nincompoop as to have indulged in any pet or spleen against that illustrious man, and my most dear friend and benefactor, but that I really dreaded that my presence might carry increased acrimony into his feelings, and thereby injure his health and tranquillity. Had I obeyed my own emotions of respect and love, and been freed from this dread, I should have hurried to indulge in his society, if not to express the depth of my grief and sympathy.’ This letter was dated October, and just three months later Ballantyne also was dead.

His son, John, took over management of the Ballantyne Press with the help of John Hughes who had originally been the compositor at the print works. By mid-century, the Ballantyne Press was succumbing to serious competition from other steam presses. In Edinburgh, Blackwood's had emerged as serious rivals, and the publishing world was increasingly centred on London. Thus the Edinburgh Ballantyne printing works closed in 1916.

Although Scott mentions a large family, the only one traced is Jane, who married her second cousin, David Hogarth, the Rector of Portland in England.

It was reported that Ballantyne was 'distinguished for the urbanity of his manners, the kindness of his disposition, and for his social qualities. He possessed in a high degree an acute observation of men and manners, with great literary knowledge, and ample stores of anecdote, which rendered him a pleasing and instructive companion.' However Scott's son-in-law and biographer was of a different view: '(James Ballantyne) was a man of indolent habits, and not a little addicted to the pleasures of the table'. See also Unflattering recollections.

1832 – 1835 Benjamin Bell

Benjamin Bell had just become a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons. He was the third generation to enter medicine.

His father, Joseph , had been a surgeon, as had been his grandfather, also Benjamin Bell. Grandfather Bell is commonly described as the father of the Edinburgh school of surgery or the first of the Edinburgh scientific surgeons. He also led the development of the Blacket area of the city. This was the City's first large-scale residential development to the south and through it Bell hoped to fulfil ‘the desire for a house like one for a country gentleman, but more modest and closer to the life of the town.’

In 1833, Benjamin Bell became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in England and would in later life become president of the Edinburgh Royal College of Surgeons. Early in his career he specialised in diseases of the eye, and he devoted much of his time to medical work at the Royal Blind Asylum.

In 1793, the Edinburgh Asylum for the Relief of the Indigent and Industrious Blind (engraving) was established during a time of progressive attitudes towards the provision of care and support to disabled people in Europe, and was the third foundation dedicated to improving the welfare of blind people in the world. It was a charitable institution, and provided work and lodgings for its residents, who learned such skills as basket-weaving (which men learned), brush-making, mat-making and mattress filling. The sale of these goods provided a source of income to pay for their keep. The asylum later amalgamated with the Royal Scottish Blind School.

In 1834, Bell moved to St Andrew’s Square, following his marriage to Cecilia Craigie. The couple had nine children. Their eldest son, Joseph, also became a surgeon. Thus was created the extraordinary alternation of Benjamin and Joseph Bells as Edinburgh surgeons over four generations. Bell’s son, Joseph, is regarded as the inspiration for Arthur Conan Doyle’s literary character Sherlock Holmes.

1835 – 1839 Helen Dymock and her sons

Mrs Dymock was the widow of William Dymcock, a solicitor (WS) who died in 1833.

Three of her sons followed their father into the law. John, a WS, married Margaret Waugh in 1831 and he lived in Buccleuch Place, although he shared the house as his chambers with his solicitor (WS) brother, William. William married Margaret Watson in 1838.

Robert became the Procurator Fiscal of Edinburgh. He was a member of the Scottish Meteorological Society, founded in 1855 with private funding, particularly from wealthy landowners who wished to compile meteorological records in order to improve agriculture.

In 1839, Robert married Eliza Ramsay. She was the only sister of Sir Andrew Ramsay, a Scottish geologist who began life working in his father’s chemistry business but holidays on Arran gave him an interest in the rocks of the island. He published The Geology of the Isle of Arran and became a Professor of Geology at University College, London and Director-General of the Geological Survey.

Archibald was a surgeon at the North-West Dispensary (hospital) and later moved to Louth in Lincolnshire where he practiced as a doctor and became a Justice of the Peace.

Helen died in 1858.

Their family jewellery business was J & G Hunter Marshall (later Marshall and Sons). Founded in the early 18th century, it was reported that: ‘Marshall has laboured most assiduously for twenty years past in working out designs, which, while peculiarly suitable for production in the precious metals, have had the effect of creating a distinct character and celebrity for Scotch jewellery. He has studied the national antiquities to good purpose, and has borrowed hints from the most unlikely quarters. The enamelled and engraved jewellery of a runic type received its first development from Mr Marshall, and his designs in that class number many hundreds. He has also applied himself most successfully to designs for plate. The saloon of the firm contains a collection of native workmanship which would do credit to any country; and that its merit is recognised beyond the borders, is attested by the honours they have won at the London, Paris, and other Exhibitions. Messrs Marshall & Co. are the most extensive makers of plate and jewellery in Scotland.’ This Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Plaide Brooch from 1882, stamped on back: Marshall & Sons, 87 George St, gives an idea of their style. In 1835, with the New Town now the fashionable part of the city, Marshalls moved their showroom from the Old Town to 87 George Street. The architect David Bryce was commissioned to completely remodel the building, creating an impressive interior featuring Corinthian columns. The shop, considered to be amongst the finest surviving 19th century shop interiors in Edinburgh, is now the premises of the jewellers, Hamilton and Inches. At the 1851 Great Exhibition, Marshall & Sons showed a variety of often specifically Scottish objects, including pebble jewellery and trinkets, as well as Highland dress accoutrements 'studded with carbuncles and cairngorms.’ (Brooch)The company also became the Goldsmiths to Queen Victoria. In 1891 the business was acquired by Brook & Son.

When William married Isabella Auld in 1845, she moved into the house with him, and George moved to Number 22 and James to Royal Terrace. Isabella’s father was Hugh Auld, Cashier of the Commercial Bank of Scotland.

William died in 1851, and Isabella lived on in the house until 1872. Their son, William, followed his father into the law, becoming a solicitor in 1874.

1871 to 1880 William M. Dunn

The only traced W.H. Dunn that looks possible is a Dunn who, at the time, was involved in the sale of four breweries to Edinburgh United Breweries. He was involved in on-going litigation arising out of alleged fraudulent accounting that inflated the price he received for the sale.

1882 - 1891 Mrs Bow and her three sons.

Mrs Agnes Campbell Bow was the widow of John Bow, a solicitor. In 1887 Mrs Bow was one of a small group assisting with collecting subscriptions for ‘Homes in the Hills for Lady Nurses in India. The advert stated: ‘The Government of India having agreed undertaken to maintain a staff of lady nurses for European hospitals, Lady Roberts, wife of the Commander-in-Chief, is desirous of providing “Home in the Hills” as health resorts for ladies so employed. The Government recognises the importance of the scheme but considers that the money might be left to the benevolence of individuals interested in the welfare of the British Soldier in India.’ In 1890, Mrs Bow was elected to be one of five members of the Edinburgh City Parochial Board.

Living with her at this time were her two sons; Arthur Bow, who worked at the British Linen Bank, and Maxwell Bow, who at this time was studying to be a doctor. Mrs Bow and her sons moved to Bruntsfield Place.

1894 to 1897 Mrs Hutcheson

Nothing traced. She may have been running a lodging house here.

1897 – 1913 Lodgings

The Misses Purves moved their lodging house here from Number 19.