Number 49 - Information on residents

1818 – 1822 Captain Pringle and Frances (neé Sprot) Stoddart

Following their marriage in 1807, Captain Pringle Stoddart and Frances set up home in Abercromby Place, where several of their children were born. Needing more space for the seven children, they then moved to Kirkbraehead, a house standing on what is now Rutland Square, and at that time considered to be in the country. However, that land soon became required for the further expansion of the city, and so the family moved back into the New Town.

In 1782, when just fourteen, Stoddart joined the crew of an East-Indiaman ship sailing to Madras. The ship was detained near the Isle of Wight and while there he saw the sinking of the Royal George. The Royal George was preparing to sail with Admiral Howe's fleet to relieve Gibraltar and was anchored to take on supplies. On board were the crew, a large number of workmen on the ship to speed the repairs, an estimated 200 to 300 relatives visiting the officers and men, 100 to 200 ‘ladies from the Point [at Portsmouth], who, though seeking neither husbands nor fathers, yet visit our newly arrived ships of war’, and a number of merchants and traders come to sell their wares to the seamen. At 7am on the morning of 29 August in order to gain access to part of hull requiring work, the vessel was inclined by rolling the ship's guns on one side into the centreline of the ship. Unfortunately, the ship was heeled over too far, passing her centre of gravity. Realising that the ship was settling in the water, orders were given to move the guns back into position to restore the ship's balance. During these operations the lower deck gun ports were not properly secured, so The Royal George quickly filled up with water and sank. Of the estimated 1,000 people on board only 255 were saved, including just eleven women and one child. Some escaped by running up the rigging, while others were picked up by boats from other vessels.

Stoddart joined the Royal Navy and took take part in no fewer than thirteen naval engagements, primarily against the French. Sir Sidney Smith praised his action in Egypt, and he also received commendation for his part in the siege of Copenhagen, where he fought a prolonged battle with a Danish flotilla. That he was a man of strong character was shown by his actions off Texel, in Holland, where the fleet lay at anchor ready to transport British troops back to England as soon as the weather was favourable. Stoddart tired of the inaction, and worried as his men were sickening of dysentery, locked his tipsy commander into his cabin, set sail for England, dis-embarked his troops, and returned to Texel ready for a new cargo. This smart action came under the head of insubordination, so their Lordships administered reproof with one hand and promotion with the other, though only the honorary rank of Rear-Admiral.

Stoddart was a member of the committee that coordinated the Royal Navy’s erection in 1823 of the monument in St Andrew Square to the memory of the late Lord Viscount Melville. Things did not go as originally planned as at one meeting the discussion was 'for the purpose of considering and determining upon the Ulterior Measures necessary for extinguishing the debt incurred, and providing the means necessary for the completion of the Monument by Surmounting it with the Statue by Francis Chantrey prepared for that purpose.’

1822 – 1826 John Gardiner and Mary (neé Smith) Kinnear

John Gardiner Kinnear was a banker and a director of the Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society, established in 1815. Scottish Widows, Scotland's first mutual life office, was created by a number of prominent Scotsmen who gathered in the Royal Exchange Coffee Rooms in Edinburgh in 1812 to discuss setting up ‘a general fund for securing provisions to widows, sisters and other female relatives of fundholders so that they might not be plunged into poverty on the death of the fundholder during and after the Napoleonic Wars.’

Kinnear also was a member, and at one time Treasurer, of The Bannatyne Club, an exclusive Edinburgh bibliographical society, established by Sir Walter Scott in 1823. The Club arranged for the printing of unpublished or long out-of-print material relative to the history and literature of Scotland ‘in a uniform and handsome manner’ through members’ annual contributions. Kinnear himself presented a number of reprinted books to the Club, including an edition of Palice of Honour, a 15th century poem. He also personally collected noteworthy books and among his collection was a book about Vasari, the Italian painter, architect, writer and historian, published in Florence in 1568.

Kinnear wrote and published at least two books: The crisis & the currency; with a comparison between the English & Scotch systems of banking, and, perhaps more surprisingly, Cairo, Petra, and Damascus. He explained in his introduction that this was: ‘little more than a transcript of letters written to my own family (while travelling there in 1839), after suppressing those passages which were of a purely domestic character, and adding some observations.’ What is certain is that his letters home were hugely entertaining and informative.

‘I arrived (in Cairo)after a very wearisome and uncomfortable journey, and am now in what is called an English hotel, kept by Mr. Hill, who has similar establishments at Alexandria and Suez. I find nothing very English about the house, except the bills, which are extravagantly high, and the passengers to Suez, who in bad dinners, Khamsin (hot) winds prickly heat and fleas, have abundant opportunities of indulging their national privilege of grumbling. Would you believe it? There is neither bottled porter nor Harvey's sauce in the house ! Such are the dreadful privations of which I sometimes hear loud complaints.’

‘To tell the truth, I could give you no intelligible description (of The Great Pyramid in Egypt) …But it is something to say that you have been in the interior. …As to the puzzling questions. When ? By whom were the pyramids built? — that is "too hard a knot for me to untie," and I dare say you do not expect me to attempt the solution of it. Lord Lindsay would date their erection before the days of Abraham ; but I do not think his argument very conclusive. There is good reason for believing that they are not native Egyptian structures, but the work of those nomad tribes known in history as the shepherd kings.’

‘I have been so fortunate as to meet with Mr. David Roberts, with many of whose works you are well acquainted. He returned two or three months ago from Upper Egypt, with a splendid collection of drawings, which it would delight your eyes to look over; and he is now preparing to travel, by way of Mount Sinai and Petra, into Palestine. I have been invited to join his party; and, although I had no intention when I left home of undertaking such a journey as this, I have agreed to accompany them. Petra is an object of very great interest; the party is a very agreeable one, and all the circumstances are more than usually advantageous.’

In 1826, the Kinnears moved to Great King Street, where they bore one son, Alexander, who became an Advocate in 1856 and Dean of the Faculty of Advocates between 1881 and 1882. Later, Lord Kinnear and then 1st Baron Kinnear, of Spurness, Orkney, he was invested as a Privy Counsellor in 1911.

1826 – 1831 Marion (neé Anderson) Rhind and family

Following the death of her husband, John Rhind, Accountant for the National Bank of Scotland, Marion (neé Anderson) and her five sons moved here.

One son, John, was Cashier to the Edinburgh Friendly Insurance Company, and had significant legal and professional connections. Fire was an ever-present danger in the Old Town of Edinburgh and in 1703 the city suffered a series of devastating fires, which led to the appointment of 'firemasters' who could recruit men to fight fires, the forerunner of a municipal fire brigade. Fire insurance companies, first established in London, were also introduced. The first fire insurance society in Scotland is thought to have been the Friendly Society of the Heritors of Edinburgh, founded in 1720. Contributors to the Society paid a small percentage of the total value of their properties in return for perpetual insurance and were entitled to interest from stock and profits of the insurance fund.

Another son, Macduff, was an advocate, and later became Sheriff-Substitute of Wigtownshire. In 1834, Macduff attended the British Society for the Advancement of Science meeting in Edinburgh in 1834; the fourth meeting after the Society’s formation. At this meeting the diverse subjects discussed included the Geology of North America, the Laws of Contagion, Zoology and Hydraulics.

There were three other sons. Two, William and Robert, became solicitors and, in 1840, they moved to live and work from Number 19. In 1847, William died and Robert moved to Number 8.

The other son, David, was aged around 20 at this time. He had an interest in architecture. However, it appears his father had not seen this as an appropriate career path, and so he did not begin his training until after his father’s death. He apprenticed with various architects, including Augustus Charles Pugin in London, and then began his practice working from his mother's house. His first commissions were from the Commercial Bank, probably through family connections there. James Gillespie Graham, hitherto the bank architect and a friend of the younger Pugin, and a previous neighbour in Albany Street, may have helped Rhind earn these early commissions. Rhind unsuccessfully entered the competition for rebuilding the Houses of Parliament, but in the 1830s, won the competition for the Scott Monument in Glasgow. This led him to meet the sculptor Handyside Ritchie, who influenced his use of sculptural ornament in his architecture and executed the sculpture of many further commissions.

Rhind's use of sculpture came into fruition with his first major commission, the Head Office of the Commercial Bank of Scotland in George Street, today The Dome bar seen here. Thereafter he became architect to the bank, designing virtually all its branch offices, many of which were to reflect the opulence of the head office. The most ambitious of these branch offices was that in Glasgow, a Roman palazzo style design from 1854, but nearly all of the branch offices in smaller towns had real distinction in an astylar palazzo form as at Perth, Hawick and Jedburgh, the earlier ones being very similar to those designed by his pupil John Dick Peddie for the Royal Bank.

A project to design a new head office for the Life Association of Scotland by combining two existing buildings on Princes Street became a public controversy. The commission was ultimately damaging to Rhind's reputation, in part due to structural problems because retained internal walls proved unable to support the new structure. Nonetheless, Rhind remained a prominent designer of commercial buildings and was active in professional organisations. In 1836, Rhind was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh and contributed to the development of the Society for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Scotland. By 1840 he was a founding member and treasurer of the Institute of Architects in Scotland, and in 1855 he became the first architect to be elected President of the Scottish Society of Arts. He also was an active Mason.

The family moved to Forres Street.

1831 – 1837 Miss Hardie

It seems likely that Miss Hardie moved here from Number 43 but nothing traced.

1838 Patrick Dalmahoy

Patrick Dalmahoy was a solicitor (WS) and only lived in the house briefly, as when he married Anna (neé Sawers) this year, they set up house in Hart Street.

While living in Albany Street, Dalmahoy attended a meeting in the Assembly Rooms to object to a proposal for a national education system. John Knox’s belief in the importance of education had led to many Scottish landowners establishing schools in their parish. Such schools were overseen by the local Minister and the Church presbytery had responsibility for appointing teachers. Although the differing economies of parishes meant that not all schools were of a good standard, compared with England the system was advanced, with parish schools teaching mathematics and Latin. Thus many boys went straight to University from their parish school. Also, the literacy rates were higher in Scotland: in 1855 the literacy rate for males was 89%, and for females 59%. However, there was growing opposition, particularly in England, to church control of education and, in 1839, the Whigs proposed a national education system that would reduce the church’s influence. At the meeting in the Assembly Rooms feelings ran high. The potential threat to the Scottish Parochial System was objected to as: ‘the superintendence of the Ministers of the Gospel, hitherto so beneficial in the training of the Scottish youth, is likely to be undermined and ultimately destroyed.’ One speaker saw this as ‘a great evil, and ‘fraught with the utmost danger to our National Faith and Protestant Constitution.’ Another contended that ‘Scotland’s Scriptural System of Education is most influential, in promoting the temporal prosperity and eternal happiness of mankind; and that Ministers of the Gospel are the proper Guardians of Schools, and bound to protect the young from false and dangerous principles.’ Yet pressure continued for education to be non-sectarian, and eventually, in 1872 the Education (Scotland) Act took control of education away from the church, with the exception of the Catholic and Episcopalian churches, and established elected school boards. The Act made schooling compulsory for children in the age group 5-13. In 1883, the nominal leaving age was raised to fourteen in 1883 and education was made available free.

1839 – 1849 John and Davida (neé Sutherland) Geddes

John Geddes, a Mining Engineer, lived here with his family, and worked from the house. Davida’s widowed mother also lived with them. See Weddings for an image of David's wedding dress and a honeymoon going-away dress when she married John Geddes in 1828.

Around 1844, he and Robert Bald entered into partnership. Bald was one of Scotland’s best-regarded surveyors and civil and mining engineers. In 1808, Bald had travelled with Thomas Telford to survey the Göta Canal from Lake Mälaren to the lakes of Vänern in central Sweden.

Geddes and Bald published reports on a range of projects, including the scale of mineral deposits, and colliery drainage, and Geddes acted as agent for the lets or sales of properties: ‘The shale in the Estate of Bardowie is now to be let. The Paraffin Oil got from this shale is of excellent quality, and the estate is within six miles of Glasgow. Offers for a Lease will be received by Geddes, Mining Engineers, Edinburgh.’ As well as reporting on a range of mining issues, Geddes submitted proposals for a variety of engineering projects, including new railway lines.

The partnership with Bald ended and Geddes moved to Shandwick Place.

There were two sons. One, Dasius, died when young and the other, George, carried on his father’s Mining Engineer business. He also was a director of the Edinburgh and District Tramway. The first trams began in 1871, with a horse-drawn tram between Haymarket and Leith. These were double deck vehicles seating 18 inside and 18 on the top deck. By 1873, there were a number of routes, but the costs of keeping horses meant that eventually steam driven trams came into service. However, the hilly landscape of the city created problems and a cable system opened in 1888, and by 1900 most of the tram routes has been converted to cable operation. By 1923, the cable system had been replaced by electric trams.

There were three daughters, Margaret, Mary and Isabella. Margaret married Thomas McLauchlan, Minister of St Columba’s Church and Head of the Free Church of Scotland in 1857. She was his second wife, and died around 1865 and he married for a third time. Nothing has been found for Mary or Isabella though both remained unmarried and lived into their eighties.

1850 - 1875 William Dumbreck and Anne (neé Bassanville) Dumbreck and 1875 - 1890 Margaret Dumbreck

William Dumbreck qualified as a doctor at Edinburgh in 1822 and married Anne in 1827. William’s father owned Dumbrecks Hotel at 35 St. Andrew Square. It was the leading hotel of the New Town and is often mentioned in literature of the period. The hotel was sold in 1825 to the newly formed National Bank of Scotland for £13,000. Dumbreck's father also owned a number of lodgings in and around St Andrew Square. In 1815, John Dick, a farrier, rented premises from Dumbreck in Clyde Street, consisting of rooms for his family and a workshop for his forge.