Number 9 - Information on residents
1806 – 1814 John Kennedy of Underwood, Landowner, and his wife, Sarah (neé Clegg)In 1785, John Kennedy purchased Underwood Estate in Ayr which contained the ruins of an old baronial castle where, a few years later, he built Underwood House mansion. It is likely that the Albany Street house was the family's city residence. The eldest son, John Kennedy the younger, trained to be a solicitor (WS) and became one in 1808, at which point he also listed at this address in his own right. Sarah died in 1811 and when, in 1814, John junior married Margaret (neé Snodgrass), the Kennedys moved out, and John and Margaret moved to Northumberland Street. John Kennedy senior died in 1836.
1824 – 1828 William and Mary Ann (neé Yates) CargillWilliam Cargill (photo taken in New Zealand) was born in Edinburgh in 1784. His father, a lawyer, died of chronic alcoholism when William was only fifteen, leaving his wife and children with little money. William had to leave school but fortunately his mother's uncle, a colonel on the staff of the commander in chief in India, secured him an ensigncy in the 84th Regiment of Foot in 1802, saving him from a likely future as a weaver's apprentice. Promotion in those times required money, and lacking this William did not rise above the rank of captain. He served under the first Duke of Wellington in the 74th (Highland) Regiment of Foot during the Maratha wars in India, and in the Peninsular War against France. In 1810 he was seriously wounded at the Battle of Busaco in Portugal.
A few years later he met and married Mary Ann Yates, the daughter of an English naval officer and a London actress. As the family grew, Cargill was forced to sell his army commission in 1820 for £1,500, although he continued to style himself Captain Cargill for the rest of his life. While living at Number 9 he ran a wine merchants business. The Cargills had seventeen children, ten of whom survived infancy, and perhaps requiring even more space than the Albany Street house could offer, moved to Dean Lodge. In 1841 the family moved to London when Cargill joined the Oriental Bank Corporation, and later he led a group of settlers to New Zealand. More in New Zealand links.
In 1893, one the Cargill daughters, Isabel, (portrait by her husband Giuseppe da Pozzo) and Miss Ann Babington travelled to Rome with one hundred pounds and the intention of making a respectable living in the Eternal City. They decided to provide the flourishing English community with somewhere to take tea; at that time only found in Italian chemists! Babington’s Tea Rooms opened in Via Due Macelli and was an immediate success, so much so that the following year Babington’s moved to its current prestigious site at the foot of the Spanish Steps. The new Tea Rooms were furnished in the latest fashion – including cutting-edge brown linoleum - and became, according to the English language Roman Herald, a favoured meeting place: ‘where ladies or gentlemen, hard at work sightseeing could go to refresh themselves with a comforting cup of tea.’
1828 - 1835 Major David Hay and Lieutenant-General John Mackenzie.
In 1806 there is a recorded marriage between Lieutenant-Colonel Mackenzie and the daughter of Major David Hay in Dublin, so it is possible that Mackenzie could be Hay’s son-in-law or his daughter’s father—in-law. John Mackenzie died in the house in 1835.
John Hay served with the Angus-shire Fencibles between 1794 and 1802 (when they were disbanded). These were one of the local regiments raised during a time of great turbulence in Europe when there was a real fear that the French would either invade Great Britain or Ireland or that radicals within Britain and Ireland would rebel against the established order. The Angus-shires were a Highland regiment and undertook garrison duties and some police actions, and engaged in some minor skirmishes in Ireland where was a French supported insurrection in 1798. He later served with the Stirling and Falkirk Volunteer Battalion.
1835 – 1876 Lodgings
These lodgings were managed by Mrs Mair and, later, Mrs Waterson.
1833 - 1834 Lodger - Henry Murray
Henry Murray was the third son of John Murray of Tundergarth, Dumfriesshire and after an apprenticeship with William Herries, he became a solicitor (WS) in 1826. He moved to live in Pitt Street where he died in 1844, unmarried when just forty one.
1831-1834 Lodger - Edward Hoggan
Edward Hoggan became a solicitor (WS) in 1821. He lodged at Number 9 in 1831 and there met Elizabeth, the daughter of Mrs Craigie. Mr Craigie worked as a butler for a family in the country and was seldom in the house. Soon after moving in, Edward began a sexual liaison with Elizabeth and she became pregnant. The child was born in September 1832, and sent out to a nurse paid for by Hoggan, but the baby died six months later.
Mrs Craigie urged Hoggan to marry Elizabeth but he refused. However, he agreed to pay her an allowance of £10 per annum. The couple continued to have sex and in early 1834, Elizabeth again became pregnant. At this point, Hoggan wrote a letter stating that in the event of his death, the letter could be produced as a declaration that she was his lawful wife and thus eligible to claim the annuity from the Writer to the Signet Widow’s Fund. However, he pointed out that the arrangement must be kept confidential. Elizabeth wrote in reply: ‘I do hereby declare to take you for my lawful husband and will not make this known to any but my father, mother and those friends which I wish to be on intimate terms with. But should the fact become known and I have no hand in it, I will not forfeit my claim.’
All of this had been kept from Mr Craigie, and on discovering the situation, he demanded that the marriage be made public. Hoggan then wrote proposing to pay her £50 a year and in the letter used the phrase ‘while we are unmarried’. Elisabeth objected and he altered it to ‘while we are separate from each other’. At this point, Elizabeth appointed another WS to seek an immediate solemnisation of the marriage from Edward. Edward met Elizabeth and convinced her to collect all the letters and papers and bring them with her, and the couple went to spend the night at a hotel in North Queensferry. There Edward burnt all the papers. Then they travelled to Glasgow, where they stayed under false names of Mr and Mrs Meikleham. Edward had to go to Dumfries as his brother had died, leaving Elizabeth in Glasgow. However, she followed him to Dumfries and was put up in a local hotel. Hearing that her father had come to find her she returned to Glasgow. Edward re-joined her there and a number of times was overheard to call Elizabeth, ‘his wife’.
Eventually the whole affair came to court. Hoggan argued that Elizabeth was ‘much inferior’ to himself and that the £10 per annum allowance clearly showed he saw her merely as his mistress, not his wife. That her mother had allowed them to cohabit in the Albany street house showed she was privy to the illicit nature of the relationship. This was simply an attempt to betray him into marriage against his wishes. That they had travelled together, and registered under false names of Mr and Mrs at various inns and lodgings was just to disguise their affair.
Elizabeth claimed that all the evidence of their relationship fit with the Scottish law’s recognition of an informal marriage. She had only agreed to intercourse on a promise of marriage and although there was no means of proving that Edward had agreed, there was sufficient evidence to confirm that Hoggan had accepted they were informally married.
The court found in Elizabeth’s favour and the judge stated: ‘the court finds them married persons, husband and wife of each other, accordingly: therefore ordains the defender to cohabit with the pursuer, treat, cherish, and entertain her as his wife.’
Edward Hoggan left Edinburgh to live in Bellevue in Dumfriesshire. The 1851 census records that he was living there with his two sisters, and while he is recorded as married, there is no mention of Elizabeth. He is recorded as a 'WS not practising' and is mentioned in various reports on the local curling club. He died in 1867.
1861 Lodger Augustus and Hannah de Betts
Colonel Augustus de Betts and his wife Hanna, and their two young children lodged here. Betts served in the Madras Engineers and had retired in 1859 having just been promoted to Colonel. Their son, also Augustus, joined the 17th Lancers. Later under Royal Licence, Augustus changed his surname to Burdon under the inheritance terms of the will of his cousin, William Burdon, and later served as the magistrate for Northumberland.
1862 Lodger - Mrs Colonel Bethune
Mrs Colonel Bethune was one of five women in Albany Street listed as subscribing in response to the advert: ‘Gift to the Princess Alexandra. Ladies of Edinburgh, Among the many public manifestations of welcome to H.R.H. the Princess Alexandra and congratulations on her marriage with H.R.H the Prince of Wales, you will probably be of opinion that a Presentation Gift for the Ladies of the Scottish Metropolis would be a very suitable tribute of their loyalty and regard. The design and execution of the work will be entrusted to Her Majesty’s Goldsmith in Edinburgh.’
1876 – 1887 David and Elizabeth (neé Dalziel) Brand David Brand (photo c 1880s) was an advocate and had lodged at Number 5 before moving here after marrying Elizabeth. Brand acted in a number of high profile cases. One in 1881 was linked to the bombing campaign in Britain by ‘The Dynamitards’, as the Irish Fenians were known by their frequently frustrated opponents in the intelligence services. The Fenians exploited the new technology of high explosives. Ten men were arrested for attempted acts in Glasgow and accused, unusually under the Treason Felony Act, of plotting to ‘wickedly, and feloniously, imagine, invent, devise or intend to levy war against her Majesty’ by using dynamite. Brand was one of the prosecutors and all were convicted. Brand, later knighted, became Sheriff of Ayrshire, the first Chairman of the Crofter’s Commission, Chairman of the Royal Commission (Highlands and Islands) and a Commissioner of Northern Lighthouses.
1887 - 1899 Janet and James Drummond
James lived in the house with his mother, Jane, the widow of the Reverend Drummond. James became a solicitor (WS) in 1881. He was a Freemason and a member of the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge, and in the mid-1880s one of the office bearers of the Lodge. See Freemasonary
