57 Albany Street
1901 – 1910 Edward J and Catherine (neé Scott) Ward
The Wards ran a boarding house and Ward’s Agency for Servants. Edward Ward had been, for many years, House Steward to various people, including Lord Egerton of Tatten. At the 1901 census, living in the house were Edward and Catherine and one son, aged sixteen and working as a Grocer’s Assistant, and one younger daughter. There were two boarders. Adverts that year offered boarding for ‘families and visitors’, and advertised ‘good cooking’ and the availability nearby of ‘trams to all parts’.
Their Servants’ Agency was advertised as being: ‘Patronised by the nobility and best hotels’ and workers offered ranged from valets to cooks to footmen to barmaids.’ The agency also advertised clerks, estate joiners, plumbers and other tradesmen, and offered: ‘extensive experience in organising the most successful Society Functions, such as balls, Dinners, etc. in London and the Country. Mr Ward is open to arrange similar entertainments in Scotland, and will undertake the furnishing and victualling of Shooting and Fishing Boxes and Country Houses in Scotland.’
The Wards diversity extended to advertising greyhounds for sale, including ‘Cherry Blossom 3, run first time at Falkirk but very unluckily beaten.’
In 1910 the Wards moved next door to Number 55. Catherine died in 1935 and Edward in 1944. Their daughter, Catherine, lived on at Number 55, although it is not known if she continued to manage it as lodgings.
1911 – 1915 John Campbell McGregor
The Reverend John Campbell McGregor (photo) became minister of St Oran’s (Gaelic) Church in Broughton Street in 1911. McGregor was born in 1869 in Adrenny, Argyllshire, and was the son of a surgeon. After studying at Glasgow University, he entered the ministry. He was well known to be devoted to the Highlands, its countryside and language. He served in the Army Reserves and, in 1912, was awarded the V.D. (Volunteer Officers Decoration for long service). In 1915, he obtained a Chaplain’s commission and joined the 4th Camerons and was with them during the Battle of Festubert, in the Artois region of France, where he was reported to have served with great gallantry. He then transferred to the 4th Gordons and was with them in the campaigns at Vermelles, Loos, Souchez and Neuville St Vaast. Invalided home in June 1916 with Trench Fever, he returned to France in August 1916, to serve with the Scottish Rifles. He was killed the following year and was buried with full military honours in Janval Cemetery, Dieppe.1920 – 1928 Alexander AuldAlexander Auld was a Tea Merchant. In 1920, he was admitted to membership of the Edinburgh Merchant Company.
1929 – (at least) 1980 Order of Independent RechabitesThe Independent Order of Rechabites, also known as the Sons and Daughters of Rechab, was a Friendly Society founded in England in 1835, as part of the wider British temperance movement to promote total abstinence from alcoholic beverages. The Order was well connected in upper society and gradually transformed into a financial institution, which still exists and still promotes abstinence. In the early 20th century, membership was over twelve million, and the funds of all the associated societies totalled £57 million.Albany Street was the office of the Edinburgh District No. 35 (door plate). In 1924, the membership of the district was almost 30,000. At its annual Council meeting of that year, a resolution was passed that ‘the directors of Edinburgh Zoological Park be asked to withdraw their application for a licence to sell intoxicating liquors with the grounds of the Zoo.’
1945 - ? Edinburgh Varieties Ltd
The Theatre Royal was situated in Broughton Street (site now the cathedral’s hall) and in 1946 it burnt down. Edinburgh Varieties Ltd, part of the Howard & Wyndham Theatre Group, sought permission to build a new theatre on the site but the application was dismissed. In spite of further pleas, the redevelopment of the St James site did not include a theatre
1949 – 1960ish Jacksons (Edinburgh) Ltd
A public works contractor.
1965ish – 1970ish Sumlock Comptometer Ltd (Edinburgh Office)
The Comptometer was invented by the American Dorr Eugene Felt and was patented in 1887. It was the first truly practical and commercially successful adding machine. Comptometers were very fast in operation when adding up lists, such as required in accounting. Comptometers were widely used into the late 1970s, and were ousted by advances in the use of computers for accounting, rather than the development of electronic calculators.
