28 Albany Street
until 1901 Eliza Robertson
For most of the 19th century this had been the home of the Robertson family but by 1900 only one daughter, Eliza, lived here, with the support of a lady’s maid, a cook and two housemaids. She died in 1901 and the following year the house was converted and put on sale at an asking price of £1,250, listed as consisting of four flats with an outhouse with separate laundry and two drying rooms in the former stable.
The house then was divided into an office and flats and artist studios.
1903 – 1938 Offices of Murchison and Paterson Murchison and Paterson were Wholesale Tea Merchants. The company moved to Number 31. 1904 – 1907 William Carlisle Baillie and Elizabeth Baillie
William Baillie and his cousin, Elizabeth, had run apartments at Number 6 for ten years and for a few years also ran apartments here. Carlisle was a painter (Impressionist harbour scene) and also gave drawing and painting classes.
In 1907, William and his cousin Elizabeth sued a Mr and Mrs Tod. Their claim was that the Tods had destroyed the will of Henry Cheape Harrison. Harrison, a retired clergyman, who, with his wife, Jane, had lived in the apartments for a number of years. William and Elizabeth claimed that, following the death of Harrison’s wife in 1904, he had indicated that his revised will would leave them a provision for life. The claimants said they had seen Harrison’s will in his own handwriting shortly before his death. However, following Harrison’s death, Mrs Tod had taken all his papers away and the Tods denied that these had contained any will.
Without clear evidence from the claimants that a will had been destroyed the case was deferred. When it reconvened at a later date, neither William nor Elizabeth attended and so their claim was dismissed.
1905ish Adam Albert Tyler
Adam Tyler was another artist who worked in sculpture but no more known.
1908 – 1912 Miss Boyd and Miss Marshall
Nothing traced.
1916 – 1917 John Rankin Barclay John Rankin Barclay was a painter and etcher. He was the first of a number of members of the Edinburgh Group of young Scottish artists to live and work from a studio in the house. He studied at Edinburgh College of Art. He joined the Highland Light Infantry in 1915. In September 1918, he won the Military Cross ‘for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He was seriously wounded while leading his men successfully to their objective under very heavy fire. He led his men with ability and dash, and set a fine example of courage and determination.’ Many of his works are landscapes, and he often depicted Parisian settings. (this etching - One O’ Clock in Edinburgh) The 1920 issue of The International Studio magazine reviewed an exhibition by the Young Edinburgh group: ‘Remarkable dexterity, too, is a quality personal to the outstanding water-colourist member, Mr. John R. Barclay — not that water-colour is the only medium by which he has already distinguished himself, but it is the one which seems to me to adapt itself most readily to his alert nature. Sketching grounds with their subject appeal as places or notable localities have no special attraction for him, as no matter where he is, it is the small and fleeting incidents in nature which call him; and the spirit of which he seldom fails to attain with but a few delightfully spontaneous touches, gaining thereby the truer spirit of the open-air, which is generally lost by more laborious methods. In his figure subjects the same decorative characteristics are invariably to be noted. Young and no thoughtless idler on the artistic road, one may surely predict for him no uncommon future.’
Barclay moved to Cornwall in 1935, living at Zennor, and was known for his decorative and mural paintings. French Impressionism was a great influence on him. He was a versatile artist, also producing woodcuts and book illustrations, and his work included landscapes, London parks, Cornish harbour and moor scenes.
Barclay served as the secretary of the St Ives Society of Artists in 1959. He worked at the St Ives School of Painting, and was reputed to be a kind critic and encouraging to newcomers. He died in 1964.
1923 – 1924 David Macbeth Sutherland David Macbeth Sutherland was another of the Young Edinburgh group. He studied at the Edinburgh College of Art and was awarded the RSA Carnegie Travelling Scholarship in 1911, travelling to Spain, France and the Netherlands. Sutherland enlisted in the 16th Royal Scots McCrae's Battalion, the first of the so-called ‘footballers’ battalions. It was initially formed when sixteen players from Heart of Midlothian Football Club, along with 500 supporters, joined up in November 1914. Soon after, players and fans from many other football and rugby clubs joined. The unit was named after its charismatic colonel, Sir George McCrae, a former Liberal MP for Edinburgh East. Sutherland fought in the Battle of the Somme, in which three-quarters of the battalion died or were wounded, and, in October 1917, now a Captain, led his men during the grim horror of Passchendaele, also known as Third Battle of Ypres. Although he was seriously injured by gunshot wounds in the cheek and left elbow, he survived and was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery. He too was mentioned in the 1920 review of the exhibition by the Young Edinburgh group in The International Studio magazine: ‘Mr. Sutherland's Painting Student (image) is a successful achievement in colour and design and one of the outstanding pictures in the exhibition. Between the sincere artist and the attainment of his individual vision lies no easy road ; to steer his way amid the babel of siren calls from the past requires something more than merely wilful eccentricity,, and it is the confident sincerity observable in the work of the younger artists in the exhibition that claims attention. It may not appeal to those whose tastes are fixed and settled by tradition, but even they cannot fail to appreciate the genuine sincerity which is there manifest.’
After his return from the war, Sutherland became a tutor at Edinburgh College of Art, where his students included the gifted William McTaggart. In 1924, he married the artist Dorothy Johnstone, and he left Edinburgh to take up the Directorship of Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen. During the Second World War he was appointed an Official War Artist recording Newfoundland lumberjacks on Deeside. He became Inspector of Arts in the Highland Division and painted the landscapes of the North West coast of Scotland. He died in 1973.
1923 – (at least) 1980 James and Margaret Reid
James Reid was a tea merchant. He died in 1941 and Margaret lived on in the house until at least 1975. Then Johan Reid become the owner.
1924 – 1928 W Miles Johnston It seems likely that the artist studio used previously by Sutherland was taken over by Miles Johnston, as he was yet another of the Young Edinburgh group, although later he went to live in Kirkcudbright where there was an established artists’ colony. There he established a craft shop selling woodcuts of animals and birds. He also produced pottery, and created animal decorations on pottery and heraldic work for Sir Robert Lorimer’s Scottish National War Memorial. He died in 1974. (Painting by him - Kirkcudbright Harbour)
1930 George Wright Hall Next to work from the house was the painter, George Wright Hall. (his painting - The Pianist) Later, he served as art advisor to Edinburgh City, becoming Superintendent of Art to the City of Edinburgh Education Committee and, subsequently, Keeper of the City Collection. In this role he advocated the creation of a collection with an emphasis on modern Scottish art, and was partly responsible for the financial bequest in 1961 by Jean F Watson that enable the city to build its major collection of Scottish art. One mention of him later in his life said: ‘Yesterday I had a very good talk with a Scottish painter – George Wright Hall – the director of Edinburgh City Arts Centre. What a character he is – an older man – 60s or 70s - gave me good advice and possible galleries to inquire about – mainly he boosted my ego.’ He died in 1974.
1949 to 1975 Robert Ogilvie Crombie In 1949, the fifty-year-old Robert Ogilvie Crombie moved into a flat here, after having just spent ten years which he described as living ‘in comparative isolation in the country, pursuing my interests in science and literature, and developing a close contact with nature.’ Yet it was in the environs of Albany Street that he had his first extraordinary encounter with nature’s spirits.
In 1814, when fifteen, Crombie was apprenticed to the Marconi radio company, and two years later served in the First World War as a radio operator in the Merchant Navy. On his return gained a place at Edinburgh University where he studied physics, chemistry and mathematics, but illness cut short his studies. Illness returned when he was just thirty-three when a life-threatening heart attack led his doctor to tell him ‘to consider himself retired.’ Crombie took the doctor’s advice, although his early ‘retirement’ involved acting, directing and playwriting. In 1932, he assisted in the formation of a Scottish theatre company and had small parts in Scottish television dramas such as Dr Finlay's Casebook.
One sunny afternoon, not long after moving into Albany Street, he strolled the mile down to Edinburgh’s Botanic Gardens and there rested on a seat under a tall beech tree. He later wrote of the moment: ‘Suddenly I saw a figure dancing round a tree about twenty yards away from me - a beautiful little figure about three feet tall. I saw with astonishment that it was a faun, the Greek mythological being, half-human half-animal. He had a pointed chin and ears and two little horns on his forehead. His shaggy legs ended in cloven hooves and his skin was honey coloured. I watched him in astonishment, not believing my eyes. For a moment I wondered if perhaps he was a boy made up for a school show. Yet he could not be - something about him was decidedly not human. Was he an hallucination? There were one or two other people walking about in the gardens. I looked at them and then back at this beautiful little being. He was still there and seemed to be as solid and real as they were. I tried hard to analyse this experience and explain him away. Suddenly I was brought up sharp - what was I trying to do? Here was a strange and wonderful experience. Why should I not accept it, see what happened and analyse it later? I began to watch the little being with delight as he circled around another tree. He danced over to where I was sitting, stood looking at me for a moment and then sat crossed-legged in front of me. I looked at him. He was very real. I bent forward and said: “Hallo." He leapt to his feet, startled, and stared at me.”Can you see me?” "Yes." I don't believe it. Humans can 't see us."Oh, yes. Some of us can.”
Further encounters were to follow. On Princes Street he met Pan who accompanied him home while playing ‘a curious melody’ on his pipes but ‘when we reached the downstairs main door of the house where I live, he disappeared. I had a strong feeling, however, that he was still with me when I went in.’ He recounted his encounters with the great God Pan, elemental beings, elves, and other nature spirits in his book, in the book, Meeting Fairies: My Remarkable Encounters with Nature Spirits, written in the early 1970s towards the end of his life.
In the 1960s, Peter and Eileen Caddy established the Findhorn Foundation and Crombie worked with them on the project, providing accounts of his encounters with nature’s spirits as part of the educational programme. The Caddys had their own extraordinary experiences and through what they believed to be guidance from the secret world of nature were able to grow substantial plants, herbs and flowers, including legendary 40-pound cabbages in the barren sandy soil of Findhorn Bay. Horticultural experts were amazed and the garden at Findhorn became famous, and today is a remarkable holistic community of more than 500 people.
Crombie, who lived in Albany Street until his death in 1975, impressed most who met him. He was described as ‘a loving and gentle man, a wondrous story-teller, a musician, and an embodiment of the best of Scottish charm. He was the wise old man, the grandfatherly figure children adore and the magician who guides heroes and heroines on their paths to accomplishment. He was a man of culture who had one foot in this world and one foot in the world of spirits and mystery”.
The faun he met for the first time in the Botanics told him his name was Kurmos and accompanied Crombie back to Albany Street. ‘We walked through the west gate out of the Garden and through the streets of Edinburgh back to my flat. I was amused to think of the sensation it might have caused had this strange, delightful little faun been as visible to the passers-by as he was to me. We entered my flat. I have a fairly large collection of books and my two main rooms are lined with bookshelves. Kurmos showed great interest. What were they and why did I have so many? I explained to him that they contained facts, ideas, speculations and theories, accounts of past events, stories invented by the writers and so on. All of which were written down, put into print and nude up into books which could be read by others. His comment was 'Why? You can get all the knowledge you want by simply wanting it.' I told him human beings could not do that very wonderful thing—at least not yet.’
1931 – 1952? E. W. Shanley
Nothing traced for either.
1939 – 1955 David Short & Son
Office of a print company, established in Elder Street around 1900.
Mid 1950s – (at least) mid 1970s David Bertram & Co
Paper merchants. There also were flats and one resident in the 1960s and early 1970s was Mrs Johan Reid..
