Number 37 - Information on residents
1812 – 1850 Thomas and Sarah (neé Harriet of Underwood) Johnstone
Thomas Johnstone was a solicitor (SSC), and in 1836 became President of the Society of Solicitors in Scotland. In 1837, a Parliamentary Select Committee investigated ‘fictitious votes’ in Scotland and (like a number of other Albany Street residents) Johnstone was listed as having such a vote for the County of Peebles. ‘Fictitious votes’ was a widespread practice that involved landowners selling the rights to parcels of their land to other wealthy individuals, who thereby gained a vote in the county elections. These were alternatively known as ‘parchment votes’, as few of the voters had any genuine stake in the county. For example, it was revealed that only six of the 19 Cromartyshire freeholders were genuine proprietors. While legislation in 1743 ended some of the original methods of creating such votes, the practice had continued in more subtle ways, until by the 1780’s the system was shamelessly corrupt. Further legislation in the 1790’s had some further effect in curbing the manufacture of such parchment votes, but ingenious Scottish lawyers devised means of evading the legislation.
The cost of buying such a vote in Dunbartonshire in 1821 was £1,400, while in Renfrewshire the cost was £1,000. Lord Grey’s Reform Act was designed to end this practice, but slipshod drafting of the sections of the Act led to the manufacture of even more such votes. It was not until Third Reform Act in 1884 that the practice was fully ended, by instead giving a vote to all men paying an annual land rental of £10 or holding land valued at £10. Of course, universal suffrage did not come until much later.
One of the Johnstone sons, William, became an advocate in 1836. One daughter, Helen, married William Bell Macdonald, a naval surgeon serving with the Mediterranean Fleet. Another daughter, Margaret, married Doctor Mungo Martin, and the couple moved to Singapore.
When the house was advertised for sale in 1850 it was described as including a ‘shop and dwelling place above in York Lane and a share of Queen Street Gardens’. It was on the market for many months and then re-advertised at the reduced price of £1,000. It may have taken even longer to sell as Mrs Johnstone lived on in the house until about 1856, and later advertised to let.
1855 to 1861 James and Agnes (neé Dickson) Balfour
the house was bought by James Balfour, a doctor and surgeon. He married Anne in Kilsyth in 1850 and they had twin sons, one of whom died at birth. In 1856 he reported on on the the transmission of syphilis to babies in the Edinburgh Medical Journal. At this time he was a member of the Edinburgh University Council. He died in 1861.
The surviving twin, also James, followed his father into medicine and moved to Canada where he was the Lieutenant Surgeon to the 1st Hussars, and lectured at the Western University in London, Ontario in obstetrics and diseases of children.
1861 – 1868 John and Margaret (neé Tipper) Richard
In 1861, John and Margaret Richard and their four young children, moved here from Windsor Street. John was the son of Walter Richard, a partner in Miller and Richard, a world famous Edinburgh type foundry. Until the invention of hot metal typesetting at the end of the 19th century, each letter was punch cut to create a mould to produce copies. The metal letters were then sold to printers. The company was begun by William Miller in 1809 in Reikies Court, just off Nicolson Street. Miller’s firm was an immediate success, swiftly expanding, and soon incorporated surrounding buildings, including a chapel, a school, a lying-in hospital and then a whole street that was roofed over for a workshop. By 1825 the company was type founders for His Majesty of Scotland. In 1825 Walter Richard, who had married Miller’s eldest daughter, Mary, joined the firm and became a partner. In 1838 the firm was renamed Miller & Richard. and supplied type to many newspapers, including The Times in London. In 1839, the company designed the special small, concise and legible type required for Bradshaw's railway guides. When Miller died in 1843 William became sole owner, and brought his eldest son John into the business. Under the Richards’ management, the firm continued to expand, supplying type to print firms all over the world. It developed a strong reputation of typographic innovation. In 1858, Alexander Phemister, an Edinburgh born letter cutter joined the company. Phemister already was acknowledged as a metal type cutter of high skill and also one of the few cutters of the day who designed and cut his alphabets. He designed the type form Old Style, later also known as Bookman, for Miller and Richard and it became the most influential type of its day, being copied by all the other type founders within ten years. Later, in America, Miller & Richard types became known as Scotch Roman In 1869 John and his family moved to Royal Terrace. His eldest son, William, later joined the firm. The foundry eventually closed in 1952, and the type designs passed to the English type company, Stephenson.
1868 – 1877 Offices of Graham and John Binny
At this point the house became one of the first in the street to be primarily offices. Graham Binny and his son, John, lived in Hart Street, and so this was only their law chambers. The only people living in the building were the ‘office keeper’, William Clark and his wife.
Graham Binny was a member of the Board of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. The Highland Society of Scotland was established in Edinburgh in 1784 as a society for the improvement of the Highlands, and in 1787 received its first Royal Charter as The Highland Society of Scotland at Edinburgh. The original objects of the Society included ‘the improvement of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and the conditions of their inhabitants, an enquiry into the means of their improvement by establishing towns and villages - facilitating communications by roads and bridges - advancing agriculture - extending fisheries - introducing useful trades and manufactures , and the preservation of the language, poetry and music of the Highlands.’ In December 1822, the Society held its first General Show (poster), the first open to competition from any part of Scotland, in the back garden of Queensberry House, then a barracks, in the Canongate. Between sixty and seventy five cattle were exhibited and, having paid one shilling each, 1,052 visitors and members attended the show. Here is one of the medals awarded a few years later in 1827. These and other initiatives led to the Society's title changing in 1834 to The Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, later adding Royal to the title. The change was appropriate and significant, as the Society had become less of a Highland Society, and more of an Agricultural Society. At the January 1877 Board meeting, in addition to the usual matters of future meetings , finance and office bearers, the minutes recorded an unfortunate glitch at the Aberdeen show: ‘The Secretary stated that in the poultry awards the first premium for grey dorking pullets was (in accordance with the report signed by the Judges and attending members) stated to have been awarded to Mr James Annand and the second to Mrs George Armitstead, but that the first prize ticket was placed on the pen belonging to Mrs Armitstead, and the second on that belonging to Mr Annand; and that, after communicating with the Judges and these parties, it had been agreed that the prize tickets had been correctly placed, Mrs Armitstead being declared the winner of the first prize. The Board approved of the transference.’ Embarrassment all round.
There also was discussion about the Society’s attendance at the International Dairy Exhibition in Hamburg. In 1868, another solicitor, James Webster also moved his office here, and then a few years later Robert Will, another solicitor joined them. An obituary of Robert Will recounts his career with Webster’s firm: ‘Before Will was out of his teens he went to Edinburgh and entered the office of Mr. James Webster, S.S.C, who had one of the largest practices in that City. Mr. Will, by his close attention to business, secured rapid promotion, and became Managing Clerk within two years of entering the office. Later he became the senior partner, the firm being then known as Messrs. Webster, Will, & Ritchie, and enjoying a law business which was one of the most extensive in Edinburgh.’ Will moved to Number 27 in 1874.
1877 – (around) 1960s Catholic Girls’ School, then Catholic Girls and Boys School
The house was bought by St Mary’s Cathedral to be a Catholic Girls’ School. At the 1881 census the living in staff were Mother Superior Mary McLoughlin and three teachers of English and one of music.
In 1892, Number 35 also was purchased and the two houses combined the Catholic Girls and Boys School. On St Andrews’s Day in 1892, as part of Catholic celebrations in the city, an audience of over 2,300, including the Archbishop and about 40 priests from all parts of the diocese, attended a concert given by the school’s 450 pupils at St Mary’s Cathedral. It was reported that ‘that the young ladies attending the upper class school, Albany-street, performed the "Reaper's Song and Drill" in character, and so successfully as to elicit unbounded approval.’
In 1894, the Sisters of Charity took charge of the schools. A newspaper reported the imminent arrival of ‘Sisters from Paris and London whose peculiarities of dress - the white hood with streaming cornettes – are well known.’
In 1907 a large hall was built in the garden areas behind, and contained a stage, dance-floor and balcony.