Number 53 - Information on residents
1818 – 1822 Robert Gavin Ogilvie
Robert Ogilvie was a solicitor (WS). He was the son of an advocate Adam Ogilvie. He remained unmarried and as well as being a Writer to the Signet, described himself as a landowner.
In 1837, a Parliamentary Select Committee investigated ‘fictitious votes’ in Scotland and (like a number of other Albany Street residents) Ogilvie was listed as having such a vote in Melrose and Roxburgh. 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 had ended some of the original methods of creating such votes, the practice had continued in more subtle ways, until by the 1780s the system was shamelessly corrupt. Further legislation in the 1790s had some further effect in curbing the creation of such parchment votes, but ingenious Scottish lawyers devised means of evading the legislation.
The cost of buying such votes in Dunbartonshire in 1821 was reckoned to be £1,400. Lord Grey’s Reform Act was designed to end the practice, but slipshod drafting of the sections of the Act led to the manufacture of even more such votes. It was not until the Third Reform Act in 1884 that the practice was fully ended. The Franchise Act gave the vote to all men paying rent of £10 for land or holding land valued at £10. Of course, universal suffrage did not come until much later.
The Valuation record for 1855 shows that the Ogilvies still owned the house at that time so it was leased.
1822 – 1828 George William and Mary (neé Thomson) Knight
Captain George William Knight was the Inspector General of the Coastguard in North Briton. He married Mary in 1804 and they had seven children.
He was the eldest son of Sir John Knight, a senior British Royal Navy officer, who commanded ships during the American and French Revolutionary Wars. In 1799, when lieutenant of the ship, Montagu, he volunteered to man a gun-boat, with three others, to repel an attack. After a lengthy action, his boat was taken prisoner. When exchanged, he was tried by a court-martial, but honourably acquitted and highly complimented on his gallantry and perseverance in maintaining so unequal a conflict. He was commended for his service and given personal responsibility for the naval education of the young Prince William who served aboard his ship. During the French wars he served with the North Sea fleet. In 1801, Knight was promoted to rear-admiral, and in 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars, was commander at Gibraltar, where he remained for another ten years until the war's end. Although he was respected professionally, Knight was not popular with his men or his fellow officers. Discipline aboard his ship was considered poor by naval standards, and his habit of bringing his wife and children to sea with him was criticised.
However, being taken to sea by his father clearly gave George a taste for the sea and in the Royal Navy he served under his father on a number of occasions. In the 1790s, he was engaged in a number of actions, including the Battle of Camperdown and at Cadiz. He served at Gibraltar when his father was Commander there, and later saw action in the Americas and Africa. In 1815, he was promoted to the Treasury of the Preventive Water Guard on the Sussex coast and in 1817, was given the lucrative post of Inspector General of the Coastguard in North Briton.
George died in 1838.
1828 – 1834 James Veitch and John Veitch The Veitch brothers were both lawyers; James, an Advocate, and John a WS. Their father was Henry Veitch, one of the Commissioners of Customs for Scotland, and a partner in Scott, Pringle and Cheap, Madeira wine merchants. Their mother was Zepherina (Loughnan). Their grandfather, James (Lord Elliok), also had been a solicitor, and shortly after his admission to the bar, visited the continent, and, when in Germany, was introduced to Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. James was a tall, handsome man, and during his residence at Frederick’s Court, was urged to join the regiment of gigantic men which the king was forming. When he left the Prussian Court, Frederick presented him with a gold snuff-box as a token of his regard, and Lord Elliok kept up a correspondence with Frederick after his return to Scotland. John became a Commissioner of H.M. Customs for Scotland but died in the house in 1830, aged just 28. A year or two after his brother’s death, James moved to Howe Street. He inherited the estate of Elliok House, near Dumfries, when his father died in 1838. James became Sheriff at Hamilton. He inherited his grandfather’s stature being described as ‘a tall man, but of slender and wiry figure.’ He was a great walker, and thought nothing of walking on foot in one day from Edinburgh, enjoying a day’s shooting at Elliock in Dumfriesshire, and returning to Edinburgh on foot on the third day. This painting, An Extensive View of Elliock, Dumfriesshire was painted by John Watson Gordon (Albany Street resident). In 1846, the Town Council of Sanquhar appointed Veitch to be their commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, a post he held for 21 years. Another brother, William, became Chaplain to the Bishop of Jerusalem and later Curate of St Saviour’s Parish, Paddington, London.
1834 – 1841 John and Margaret (neé Crum) Brown John Brown (portrait by Wilhelm Trautschold - National Records of Scotland) was a church Minister. Margaret was the Reverend John Brown’s second wife, and they married when he was around 50 years-of-age. Margaret’s brother, Walter, owned a calico dyeing firm at Thornliebank, and purchased the Birkenshaw Estate (later Rouken Glen Park) and was an early collector of photographs. John Brown’s first wife, Isabella Cranston, had died twenty years before. He had one son from that earlier marriage, John, who in 1845 lived at Number 51 and two daughters, Isabella and Jane. John and Margaret had one further child, Alexander.
John was appointed Minister of Broughton Place church in 1829. Previously he had been minister of the Burgher congregation at Biggar and of Rose Street church, Edinburgh. In 1835, he was appointed one of the professors in the Theological Hall of the Secession church. Brown was one of the strongest advocates for the view that church membership must be entirely voluntary, and so was vehemently opposed to the existing relationship the Church and the State.
At this time there was a levy, The Edinburgh Annuity Tax, imposed by the Town Council and Church to pay the stipends of all the Edinburgh clergy. The rate was 6% of rental value of all houses and shops in the city. The tax was already unpopular and made even more so when, in the 1830s, 650 of the wealthiest households in the city were exempted from having to pay the tax. In 1833, dissenters who had broken away from the established church began a campaign of non-payment, and many members of the Established Church joined the protest. As a result the city, which had mismanaged its financial affairs to such an extent that it was now almost bankrupt, could not pay the city’s clergy. So the Town Council began the confiscation and sale of household goods belonging to the non-payers.
At first Brown paid his tax but, in 1837, changed his mind and became a vociferous opponent. In response to those who attacked those who refused to pay, Brown published his arguments for non-payment in a pamphlet, The Law of Christ Respecting Civil Obedience, Especially in the Payment of Tribute. In his letter to The Scotsman, Brown recounted the visit from the City’s bailiffs: ‘As I was going out this morning, I met in the lobby three persons that had come to distrain me for the Annuity-Tax, civilly apologising for coming on so disagreeable an errand. Looking towards a clock standing in the lobby one said, "This will serve the purpose.” Then doubting whether an article which, a few years ago, was £10, would suffice to pay a charge of £3.3s.6p., they went into the bedroom and impounded a mirror, valued at about £4. I abhor the injustice and despise the meanness of the system, and cannot help thinking that every unprejudiced and reflecting mind must perceive that there is something very far wrong with the system.’ All belongings that were removed from non-payers were offered for sale at the Market Cross, but not always with success as this report shows: ‘Every hour one sees the forms of a sale attempted to be gone through at the Market Cross. I say "attempted to be gone through" because the public have refused to buy the articles exposed; nay, the brokers and dealers of old furniture have published resolutions deprecatory of "the Law-Church" and pledging themselves nor to purchase the property of persons distrained for Ministers' stipend. I witnessed lately one of these exhibitions. A pianoforte was produced by the officers at the Market Cross; a dozen of porters and a squad of boys, who had followed the piano in its progress through the streets, formed the company to whom it was offered for sale. Each oration of the auctioneer was followed by a shout of laughter,—not at his humour, for he was as grave as a parson wanting a dinner, but of derision at the helplessness of the men of the law, and of wonder at what the clergy would do with the piano when they got it for their stipends.’
Sadly, Brown did not live to see the abolishment of the tax, which took place ten years after his death around 1868.
See also Religion
His son from the second marriage, Alexander Crum Brown, studied Arts and then Medicine, and won the gold medal in Chemistry and Natural Philosophy. In 1861, he graduated as a doctor and just a year later became the first Doctor of Science at the University of London. He then married Jane Porter. Later, he became Professor of Chemistry at Edinburgh University, and The Chair of Chemistry at the University still bears his name. Brown carried out extensive pioneering work in relation to molecules and atoms. Although he never practised as a doctor, his medical training gave him an interest in physiology and pharmacology which led him to pioneering work on the connection between chemical constitution and physiological action. He discovered the carbon double bond of ethylene, which was to have important implications for the modern plastics industry, and also made significant contributions to pharmacology, and worked with physiology, phonetics, mathematics and crystallography. In 1912, he introduced the name of kerogen to cover the insoluble organic matter in oil shale. His obituary said of him: ‘Crum Brown presented the refreshing and fascinating contrast of a simple character combined with a brilliant and subtle intellect. He possessed a keen wit, tempered by the most delightful pawky humour. Being besides a born raconteur, he shone in social gatherings, especially at his own hospitable table. He was generous and kindly and his great learning was accompanied by a fine modesty. Although naturally impatient, and although he had counted Clerk Maxwell, Kelvin, and Tait amongst his intimates, he was ready always to listen with sympathy and understanding to the ideas of those who were vastly his intellectual inferiors. A pair of dark, deep-set, sparkling eyes formed the most striking feature of his appearance, and were the fit index of his vivacious temperament. Although physically not very robust, he spent much of his holiday time in tramping in the Highlands and on the Continent.’
1841 – 1894 Robert and Jane Kerr and family
When they lived here, Robert, a retired banker who had worked for the Commercial Bank, and his wife, Jane, were both elderly. Living with them were their seven adult children: Robert, a bank teller who worked for the Commercial Bank of Scotland; Henry, a merchant; Ebenezer, a bank teller with the Royal Bank of Scotland; Charles, secretary of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Bank; William, a clerk at the Post Office; George, a clerk with the Commercial Bank; and two daughters, Grace and Jane. Another daughter, Jessy, married John Donald, a Glasgow Merchant, but following his death returned to live here, dying in the house in 1890. Her sister, Jane, died here in 1894.
Charles Kerr later lived at Number 45.
Robert died in 1867. In seems probable that Janet died around this time too.
George moved to (possibly) Hamilton Place. Robert and Ebenezer both died in 1867.
Later, Henry moved to Annandale Street. William continued to live in the house into the 1870s with his two sisters. Grace was unmarried and Jane, although married, was by 1871, widowed and returned to live here.
By 1881 Grace appear to have died and Jane was living there with just two servants.
1895 – 1897 John Skinner and Lizzie (neé Clyne) Wilson The house was then purchased by St George’s Episcopal Chapel in York Place as its rectory. Sir Walter Scott worshipped there from 1801 to 1825. The church was referred to as ‘the soldier’s church’ as, in 1837, a link had bene established between the church and Edinburgh Castle. Unusually, another Episcopal congregation built a new church, St Paul’s, in York Place in 1818. There is an account that the reason that the second church was created was due to St Paul's being viewed with some suspicion because of its Jacobite leanings, whereas St George's was more like the Anglican church in Scotland, staunchly Hanoverian. However, by the mid-20th century the distinction was no longer a threat, and the two churches merged. The Reverend John Skinner Wilson (photo c.1890s)was educated at Trinity College, Glenalmond and St Catharine's College, Cambridge. He was ordained in 1873 and became an eminent Anglican priest. He married Lizzie in 1883 and they had five daughters, at least one of whom died when a child. He was Rector of St George's, and in 1897 appointed Canon of St Mary’s Cathedral, a post he held until he died in 1926.
Between 1909 and 1914, he was a Manager of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Royal Infirmary Act of 1870 stipulated there was to be a Board of 21 Managers, including the Lord Provost, representatives from the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Canon of Edinburgh Cathedral.
The eldest daughter, Johanna, married the Reverend Jenkins, of St. Peter's Church, Galashiels, and Alice married George Grant and went with him to Trinidad. Mary and Grace probably remained unmarried.
1897 – 1905 Ernest Hilton and Adele (neé King) Molesworth The Reverend Ernest Molesworth replaced Wilson as minister at St George’s and took the house. Molesworth previously served with the Royal Army Medical Corps at No.13 Brigade Field Hospital in the first Boer War of 1880-81 (photo of Boer War Field Hospital), and on his return from serving in the army became Curate of St. George's, Barrow-in- Furness. He married Adele in 1886 and the couple lived in Corfu for a year while he was Chaplain there. They briefly moved to London before he became Rector of Jedburgh from 1889, and then of St George's. In 1901, he wrote to The Scotsman stating that he had received letters from chaplains in South Africa thanking those who had responded to an appeal from Molesworth for ‘magazines and light literature’ to be distributed in hospitals and army garrisons there, and encouraging further donations. Adele and he had four children: Charles, who became Assistant Commandant of Police in Rangoon and was killed in the First World War; Eric, who became a Surgeon-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy; Selwyn, who fought in the First World War, and although wounded, survived; and Dorothea, who married Bernard Swithinbank, a Civil Servant and went to live in India. In 1908, Adele died and Ernest remarried Hilda Cramp a year later. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and became a vicar in Suffolk.