Number 57 - Information on residents
1819 – 1832 David and Theodosia (neé Anderson) Scott
The first owner was David Scott, the son of a watchmaker in Dingwall. He chose law as his career and probably came to Edinburgh around 1811. Law students studied at Edinburgh University. There was no entrance qualification or exam required for students to attend university and in the first half of the century many students entered at ages of 15 or 16. The majority attended for as little as two years, chose which lectures to attend and left without qualifications as the route to qualification was by apprenticeship followed by an oral examination by the relevant law body. David was apprenticed to a Writer of the Signet in Dundas Street and became a WS in 1817. Writers acted as estate agents, conveyancers, factors for landed estates, trustees, and legal advisers. For the first part of the 19th century many also acted as accountants, auditors and bankers.
In 1821 he married Theodosia Anderson.
David was one of a significant number of lawyers who lived in the street. At this time professionals such as lawyers and doctors worked from their house; the ground floor front room often the law chambers or consulting room. Around 1823 David took on a partner, Robert Boog and the firm continued to work from 57.
Theodosia bore a number of children and at least one was stillborn Pregnancy at this time was a period of considerable vulnerability, and many suffered the emotional pain of miscarriages and baby deaths. For most wives birth and child-rearing absorbed almost all reserves of physical and emotional energy for at least a decade.
Their one son, David Wardlaw Scott (1823) wrote a number of books, the most intriguing of which was Terra Firma: The Earth Not a Planet, Proved from Scripture, Reason and Fact, published in 1901, the year of his death. This was his proof that the Earth is in fact flat. In the preface Scott writes: 'I determined to undertake this work, in order to expose the fallacies of Modern Astronomy, which are so contrary to the word of God. I do not enter the lists arrayed in the panoply of Neo-Science, to fight this great Goliath, but only with a few pebbles of the brook, yet I trust that with God's blessing the attempt may not be altogether fruitless.' And later, 'I have no hesitation in saying that I believe the real source of Modern Astronomy to have been Satan!'
There were three daughters. Theodosia (1824) married Henry Cudlipp; Margaret (1827) married Hugh Mackay and Mary married James Scott Balfour.
The Scotts moved to Albyn Place. It appears that the house was still owned by David Scott and for one or two years it was leased to a Mrs Stevenson.
1832 – 1834 Mrs Stevenson
Nothing traced.
1834 – 1848 James John Fraser and his sister Jane Fraser
The house then was leased to James and Janet Fraser. When, in 1838, the house was advertised for sale - possibly as David Scott was ill for he died in 1839 - the Frasers purchased it.
James and Jane may have been twins, as both are recorded as having been born in 1801. They were born in Williamstown, Aberdeenshire. James became a Writer to the Signet in 1821. He was a member of The Maitland Club, a Scottish historical and literary club and text publication society. It took its name from Sir Richard Maitland, the Scottish poet. The club was founded in Glasgow in 1828, to edit and publish small editions of early Scottish texts, paid for by members' subscriptions or by individual members.
In 1836 their brother, Frederick Saumarez Fraser, who was in the Royal Navy, was staying with them and wrote a letter with a claim for proceeds from the Government compensation for freed slaves on the lnvera and Argyll estates in Tobago. As part of the Abolition Act, slave owners received compensation based on the value of the enslaved workers released and, in total, the British Government paid out around £20 million (today's value £60 billion) to the slave owners. Of course no freed slaves received compensation for their years of unpaid labour and suffering, but the plantation owners were richly compensated for the loss of their 'property.' Frederick's claim was based on the fact that he had been a Master's Attendant of His Majesty's Brig Clinker that had captured the Brazillian ship Copioba in 1827. The Brazilian ship had been carrying slaves and Fraser was claiming his share of the captured slaves. It is not known if this progressed, although perhaps not as James followed up his brother's claim, perhaps hoping to add weight through his being a solicitor.
James died in 1839. Jane,, who like her brother never married, lived on in the house until 1847
1848 - 1865 Anne and Margaret Balleny
These two unmarried sisters were the daughters of the deceased William Balleny, a merchant in Leith, and his wife Anne neé Millar. One of the two, served on the Ladies Committee of the Edinburgh Auxiliary Society of Church Missionary for Africa. Founded in 1799 by a group of activist evangelical Christians, including William Wilberforce, the society trained missionaries. Margaret died in 1862 and Anne in 1865.
1865 – 1869 John and Isobel (neé Lister) Shand
John Shand was the son of the Reverend James Shand, Minister of Marykirk and he became a solicitor (WS) in 1823. He married Isobel in 1827, and, in 1844, was appointed to be one of the Masters Extraordinary in Chancery. This was a post that assisted the Chancellor and acted as a witness to various legal undertakings. The Court of Chancery had long been seen as inefficient and, to a large extent, simply a way for those supposedly administering justice to line their own pockets. In spite of supposed reforms in the first half of the 19th century, Charles Dickens, in his 1852 novel, Bleak House, famously scorns the Court of Chancery through the novel’s plot which revolves around a fictional long-running Chancery case, Jarndyce and Jarndyce. In his introduction, Dickens observed that at the time he was writing, there was a case before the Chancery court ‘which was commenced 22 years ago ... and which is (I am assured) no nearer to its termination now than when it was begun’
Shand also acted as an agent for the Eagle Life Insurance Office. In 1868, he published a letter in The Scotsman addressed to the Ministers and Elders of the Church of Scotland, which was, in effect, an application to take on the position of Agent for the Church of Scotland that: ‘having become vacant by the lamentable death of Mr John Bell, I beg most respectfully to offer myself as a Candidate for the Situation.’ He refers to the fact that he is a son of a Minister, an Elder at a church and has had a seat at the General Assembly. However, no information has been found as to whether or not he was successful in his bid.
John died in 1895. Their eldest son, also John, died the same year in Australia, where he worked as a Station Manager in the Dandenongs, near Melbourne.
1876 – 1898 Donald and Helen (neé Browne) Masson
The house was purchased by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and let to The Reverend Donald Masson. He was born near Nairn, the son of a Tacksman (a Gaelic landowner), and married Helen in 1855. In 1854, he was appointed Minister of the Gaelic Established Church, St Oran’s (photo) - now offices - in Broughton Street . Masson was an active campaigner for the Gaelic language and published a number of books. The Celtic Magazine reported: ‘The Rev John Smith's Gaelic Prophets are about to be reprinted by, and under the supervision of, the Rev. Donald Masson, of the Gaelic Church, Edinburgh, whose interesting and valuable articles on Our Gaelic Bible, now passing through this Magazine, are giving so much satisfaction to our readers. Dr Masson deserves to be supported and relieved of any risk in his plucky and patriotic venture, by an early and large subscription list. It will be seen that the edition is to be strictly limited.’Concerns at the state of Gaelic in Scotland brought calls for the census to ask how many people in Scotland were Gaelic speakers. However, it was not until 1880, and by then too late for the formal 1881 census, that a survey was initiated through a verbal question by the census takers asking whether people could speak Gaelic ‘fluently’. The Gaelic Society of Inverness complained that the question would result in too low a figure, as this would exclude those who had some Gaelic. The result of that research showed there were 231,594 Gaelic speakers out of the then Scottish population of 3.7 million. Although this may have been slightly lower than the actual number, it was not far off as shown by the result of the 1891 census that, with a rephrased question, recorded 254,415 Gaelic speakers. The decline of Gaelic speakers was significantly to do with the Highland clearances and other emigrations but, also, many schools in the 19th century were opposed to the language, as Masson recalled from his schooldays: ‘Another curse of this absurd practice (refusing to allow Gaelic in the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge schools) in the hands of ignorant pedantic teachers, was the utter hopelessness on the part of really thoughtful boys, of the most carnal attempts at learning. I well remember one nice bright boy who was thus sat upon with crushing effect. He was kept for more than a year at the alphabet. All that time he was made the sport of the school. His shy attempts at English were mimicked and grossly caricatured. Hours were spent in making fun of him. To crown it all he was almost daily made to wear the fool’s cap – a huge creation of goatskin with the hair outwards and the tail hanging down behind…to this day my blood boils when I recall the cruel and absurd “teaching” of which he was the hapless victim.’
In 1872, Masson visited Canada: ‘Such a service as we announce today at St Andrew’s Church is rather a novelty in Montreal. It is now some years since Gaelic was heard from a pulpit in our midst. The Rev Donald Masson has come to Canada with a commission from the Church of Scotland, touching the Highland portion of our population. Important results are likely to flow from his visit in the way of encouraging emigration on the part of Scotch people.'
Donald and Helen had five daughters and one son, who at the time of living here was working as a Bank Clerk.. In December 1884, the eldest daughter, also Helen , who had been at school at Edinburgh Ladies College, invited a small number of her ex-classmates to her parents’ house at Number 57 to explore her idea of establishing a support group to help them overcome the barriers that still existed to women wanting to undertake further education. The young women thought the idea excellent, and established a guild with the aim of supporting each other to pursue some form of higher education. Having arranged the meeting, Helen agreed to be the first Guild President. In 1891 the infant Guild found that ‘it was in danger of dying of exclusiveness’ and so, in spite of misgivings from some members, it extended its membership to all ex-students of the Edinburgh Ladies College. The original Guild evolved into the Mary Erskine School Former Pupils' Guild, which has today over 3,000 members throughout the world.
1898 – 1900 George Maclennan
In 1897 Masson retired, and the Reverend George Maclennan replaced him as Minister of the Gaelic Church. Soon after Maclennan and his wife arrived they were welcomed by the congregation: 'Last night, at a social meeting of the Gaelic Church congregation, Broughton Street, the Rev. George R. Maclennan, M.A., minister of the church, was presented with pulpit robes, hood, and bands, and Mrs Maclennan with a silver tea service.' The Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge continued to own the house but for some reason George and his wife moved to live in Danube Street and the house was let.