16 Albany Street
1867 – 1908 Lodgings
Managed by Anna Douglas, a widow.
1909 – 1914 Greenside Young Women’s’ Christian Association
The first YWCA was established in England in 1855, when two groups met to aid women: one group formed a Prayer Union for women, and the other founded Christian homes for young women. Over the next 20 years, YWCA projects spread widely throughout the country from the North of Scotland to the South of England. The two groups merged in 1877, under the name of the Young Women’s Christian Association. The early YWCA groups were influenced by the profound social effects of the Industrial Revolution on the lives of young women, especially in cities. The organization provided young women with a range of services including accommodation, educational and vocational classes, prayer circles and social gatherings.
Then for four years the house was vacant.
1918 – 1923 James C and Jessie (neé Hood) Thomson
Edinburgh School of Natural Therapeutics
James and Jessie Thomson moved here from Number 5, where they had lived with James’s mother, as they needed more space for their Edinburgh School of Natural Therapeutics. James’ mother had been widowed in 1893, and moved from Angus to Edinburgh, where she set up a lodging house in Brunswick Street. She later moved the lodging house to Number 5.
James was apprenticed as a lawyer’s assistant, but he did not take to the life. He wanted to travel, so joined the Navy when only sixteen. During this time he became interested in alternative approaches to health, and on his home visits would seek out books on such subjects as hydrotherapy and dietetic reform. Although the subjects fascinated him, it is recounted that he read out passages to school friends who were studying to be doctors, ridiculing the quacks who had written them.
After only eighteen months in the Navy he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and discharged; being given only three months to live. However, he refused to accept the diagnosis and discharged himself from hospital, and went to live in Perthshire on a relative’s farm so he would benefit from the fresh air. With him he took the books he had previously ridiculed, and from them devised his own approach to diet and exercise. Over time the bleeding from his lungs ceased. He had cured himself of his ‘terminal’ illness. He then left Scotland for London, where he joined the Metropolitan Police. However, his interest in alternative medicine had grown and after just a year, aged 22, he left the police force and travelled to the USA to find out more about the Nature Cure movement that was developing there. He visited various alternative health establishments, eventually settling in Chicago, and training with Henry Lindlahr, founder of the Lindlahr College of Natural Therapeutics.
After two years in the USA, he returned to live with his mother in Albany Street. He was introduced to Jessie Hood, a woman suffering from an ‘incurable heart condition’ as a mutual friend thought that perhaps James could help her. Not only did he cure her, but, in 1913, they married. For a time they lived in his mother’s house, where, in 1914 they had their first child, Charles. James decided to put into practice his alternative naturopath beliefs, so used one of the rooms in his mother’s boarding house as consulting rooms, and, in 1916, published his first book An Introduction to Nature Cure. In 1917, he received his call up papers but sent them back with ‘not known at this address’. Eventually, he was taken to face a tribunal and expected to go to prison, but perhaps due to his previous history of TB was exempted.
In 1918, James and Jessie moved here, where James continued to practice, establishing the Edinburgh School of Natural Therapeutics. Later, they bought a larger house in Drumsheugh Gardens to expand his practice. There, Jessie offered treatment through her Free Clinic to the children of parents who could simply not afford to pay for a doctor’s services and, in 1925, published the book, Healthy Childhood (image).
In 1938, James bought Craigend Park, previously used as a school and a nurses’ home, and revamped it as The Kingston Clinic, with space for thirty patients. His Edinburgh School of Natural Therapeutics taught many students who went on to set up their own practices all over the UK. James died in 1960.
1924 – (at least) 1980 Royal Artillery Association and Club The Royal Artillery Association was started in 1920 as a network organisation in every part of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. Its aim was to foster a bond of comradeship irrespective of rank, between all who are serving or who have ever served as artillerymen. It was also designed to help those in need or distress. This was one of the network of branches throughout the country, offering a place for Gunners to meet up and enjoy each other’s company. In 1945, as part of Royal Artillery Week, an exhibition of artillery equipment was organised on the Mound, including a captured German gun. The Royal Artillery Mounted Band came to the city for the occasion. (advert 1942)
