9 Albany Street

John Hislop was the owner of Hislop & Day, a photo engraving firm that produced reproductions from photographs, wash engravings, pen and ink sketches etc. for illustrated books, magazines, catalogues and estate sales. The firm also sold stamp cutting products, such as tools for bookbinders, moulds and stamps for pottery and soap manufacturers, printing blocks, brands and stencil plates.The company began operation in 1876 and operated out of No 1 St James Square. In 1880 they moved to Ferry Road and then in 1884, after a split in the company, John Hislop moved to Rose Street, and then Swinton Row, where he shared premises with Harley Brothers (lithographers). In 1894 John Hislop was joined by Thomas Cuthbert Day and by 1897 the firm was called Hislop & Day. In 1900 Hislop and Day moved the firm to Albany Street, where it traded until 1963. It was then taken over by Philipsons of Newcastle and the then owner, W. B. Hislop retired and moved to Canada. Philipsons of Newcastle went into administration in 1992 and the then managing director Jack Craig bought out Hislop & Day and renamed the Company Interface Graphics Ltd and moved the company to Coburg Street. When Mr Craig retired in 1998 the company was sold to an American company that subsequently went into administration.John Hislop’s son, W B Hislop, who took over the business was the secretary of the Edinburgh Rotary Club from 1928 – 1930 and the Rotary Club’s address was Albany Street for that period. The Club was established in 1912 and its first president, R. W. Pentland, conceived the idea of uniting the eight clubs that then existed in Great Britain and Ireland, Dublin, London, Belfast, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Birmingham into a British Association "that would be beneficial to all". The British Association of Rotary Clubs was formally constituted in May 1914. The first Rotary International Convention outside North America was held in Edinburgh in June 1921 at the invitation of the Edinburgh Club. W B Hislop welcomed Paul Harris, the founder of Rotary in Chicago in 1905, to a meeting of The Rotary Club of Edinburgh in 1928. In 1943 William Hislop was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.William Bruce, who worked for the firm as a fine and coloured etcher joined the Lothians and Border Horse regiment in the First World War and died in October 1914 of pneumonia at Rustchuk, Bulgaria.1901 – 1902 Offices of Robertson Dods & Rhind

This law firm of J Erskine Dods and W D Robertson acted as the Scottish office for Haseltine Lake, a trade mark and intellectual property law firm that began in 1850 and continues to this day. The firm moved on to Rutland Square and later J Erskine Dods became a MP for the South East of Scotland.

1901 – 1913 James G McQueen, Alexander Young, and Peter Robert McLaren

These three solicitors may have lived in the house, as well as operating their legal businesses from here.

1906 – 1914 Studio of Walter Stevenson

He termed himself as an artist and a designer but no more traced.

1913 – 1919 W Hunter Smart

W. Hunter Smart, a Chartered Accountant, moved here from York Place. He then moved to Number 9. From 1932 he acted as secretary to the Scottish Laundry Company that had been established in 1894 to operate ran steam laundries, the first in Falkirk.

1920 – 1927 Studio of David Frater

David Frater was a Lithographic Artist who lived in Macdowall Road. He died in 1927 and soon after someone advertised for the return of a ‘Portfolio (brown leather) lost. Containing sketches by the late David Frater’.

1925 - 1945? Thomas Foulis

Foulis was a tailor.

1922 – 1942 Office of James Horne

James Horne was a solicitor, but nothing further traced.