A guide to researching residents of Edinburgh's New Town properties

Today, the power of internet searching and the increased amount of on-line archival material from the nineteenth century makes it possible for almost anyone to discover considerable information about past residents of New Town houses using their home computer.

I created this website to share the experience I gained in researching the nineteenth century residents of Albany Street where I live. When I began trying to trace past residents of I had only a minimal idea of how to go about it, and no expectation of finding a great deal, but as I gained expertise I traced more and more fascinating individuals. Eventually I managed to trace almost everyone who lived in Albany street. Residents included Sir Walter Scott’s three closest friends - William Erskine (Lord Kinneder), Sir Adam Ferguson and Scott’s publisher, James Ballantyne; two of Scotland’s most significant female novelists of the period, Mary Brunton and Susan Ferrier; Catherine Hogarth, later Mrs Charles Dickens; a stay by Felix Mendelssohn, during which he began composing his Scottish Symphony; the scientist and mathematician, Professor John Playfair; James Monro, the Head of the London Metropolitan Police; two of the New Town's most famous architects, James Gillespie Graham and William Henry Playfair; Scotland’s leading portrait painter, John Watson Gordon; and two of New Zealand’s most noteworthy early settlers, John Campbell and William Cargill. Also among the significant events that I found had taken place in the street were the first ever use of chloroform for easing childbirth by James Young Simpson and the Yelverton Case, one of the most infamous Victorian bigamy trials.

Having found so much information I decided to create a website to make my research available to anyone. The quantity and quality of information that can be found by one person working from their home computer can be seen by looking at my Albany Street website.

https://sites.google.com/site/albanystreetedinburgh/home

The process is set out in five main steps:

Step 1 : Maps - learning about the development of the street and area.

Step 2 : Property date - checking the date your property was built.

Step 3 : Tracing the residents - discovering who lived in the property.

Step 4 : Their lives - fleshing out the lives of the past residents.

Step 5 ; Website - creating a website to publish your findings.

Note that confusion can arise about exactly who the resident is given many names were common, and, in the 19th century, the first son/daughter was often given the same forename as their father/mother (and thus the same name as their grandfather/ grandmother), and sons often followed their father’s career. Thus it can sometimes require cross-checking and detective work to be certain the individual is the one who lived in the property.While some of the general principles contained here are applicable to researching residents in other parts of Edinburgh and elsewhere in Scotland, the information contained here focuses on tracing past residents of Edinburgh’s New Town properties as that is my experience. Some of the guidelines and sources are equally relevant to researching the 20th century residents of the New Town, and I have done so, but it should be noted that tracing information after 1910 is more difficult to do solely from one's own computer.

I hope that this website will help and encourage other New Town residents to look into those who lived in their property in the past. If you do, I am certain that you will be amazed, enthralled and engaged by the individuals you find.

To start go to Search Steps

Barclay Price

email: albanystreetedinburgh@gmail.com