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Wellington Lodge
811 A photograph showing Wellington Lodge on the corner of Justice Mill Lane and Holburn Street.
The top of Holburn Street, towards Holburn Junction, was previously known as South Street and later as Wellington Place. In the background of this image, on the far left, can be seen the John Smith designed Water House on Union Street.
Wellington Lodge stood across the road from Holburn Church, roughly where the Glentanar Bar stands today. It can be seen on the large scale Ordnance Survey town plan and map sheets from the 1860s.
The property appears to have belonged to the Whytes of Dalhebity, Cults. For some time Wellington Lodge was the residence of Helen Whyte and she was likely the house's final resident.
Helen Whyte died aged 85 on 31st January 1898 (death notice: Aberdeen Weekly Journal, 09/02/1898, p. 4). Newspaper references suggest she was involved in various charitable activities. She was the daughter of Baillie John Whyte, a merchant, and had a brother also called John Whyte (1845-1904), a prominent citizen and advocate.
Another death notice indicates that Mary Ann Hardie, of 48 Victoria Road, Torry, was employed for 38 years as the servant for Miss Helen Whyte. Hardie died in 1895 (death notice: Aberdeen Journal, 17/08/1895, p. 4).
Newspapers also suggest the villa was the home of Miss Mary Murray Gordon. She would likely have been a relation of James Murray Gordon who was a partner in the same law firm as John Whyte, Helen's aforementioned brother.
Wellington Lodge was probably demolished shortly after the death of Helen Whyte. It made way for the extension of the larger tenement buildings on Holburn Street that can be seen in the background of this photograph.
The Aberdeen Weekly Journal's 'Granite Chips' column of 17th May 1899 (p. 9) states "A very large and handsome block of buildings for Mr Peter Farquharson has been erected in Holburn Street, stretching from the office of the Union Bank of Scotland to Justice Mill Lane." This most likely refers to this development.
David Miller in Archibald Simpson, Architect, His Life and Times 1790-1847 (2006) states that this villa was designed by Simpson for Mrs Yeats of Auquharney (page 174). Trinity Lane
1208 Trinity Lane, Aberdeen, c.1975, from Exchange Street.
The Trinity place-name comes from the area once being the site of a Trinitarian Friary.
The building to the right in this photograph was once known as Trinity Chapel, or Trinity Parish Church. It was opened for public worship on Sunday 27th April, 1794.
For a number of years, the chapel was an important centre of religious life and activity. The Disruption of 1843 significantly diminished the congregation. The building was subsequently sold by the Presbytery and became the Alhambra Music Hall.
See Gammie's Churches of Aberdeen (1909) for more information on the history of this congregation and building.
A large part of the exterior still stands and the building currently houses Wagley's public house. In this photograph Alex. McKay, electrical appliance showroom, is in occupation. Newspaper notices indicate that the business moved here, from 41 The Green, in 1966.
The building in the centre of the image is best known, as shown here, as a banana warehouse for Knowles & Sons, fruiterers and later as a restaurant and art gallery. It was originally built as a church for Aberdeen's Catholic Apostolic congregation.
MUSA was a restaurant and art space, with a focus on music, throughout the first two decades of the 21st century. It closed down in October 2018.
8th March 2019 saw the opening of a new bar in the building called The Hop & Anchor, specialising in craft beer. It is owned by a company called the Draft House and this is their first pub outside London. The Draft House is owned by Brewdog, the North East beer company. Grandholm Mills
1715 The dinner hour, workers crossing the bridge over the River Don.
The history of the mills in Woodside has gone through prosperous and bad times with several being closed in the mid-1800s and subsequently reopened towards the end of the century. The success especially of the paper and cloth mills of the area has provided work for many generations of Woodsiders.
A linen and cloth factory moved to the Grandholme mills site in mid-18th century from Gordon Mills and was taken over by James and John Crombie in 1859. J&J Crombie went on to produce the famous worldwide Crombie cloth at the Grandholme Mill, leading to the long association between Woodside and the fabric. The mill at one point employed up to 3000 people.
J&J Crombie were included on a list of government suppliers and one tenth of all coats worn by British officers of the First World War were made with the Crombie cloth. By World War II 467 miles of the cloth was being produced at the Grandholme mill per year.
By 1960 Grandholm was the largest supplier of tweed in the UK and also produced silk, wool, cashmere and yarns. Sadly the business has now been moved away from the Woodside area to the Borders.
St. Fittick's Well
1853 A photograph from 1906 of St. Fittick's Well, located in the Bay of Nigg.
An account of the well is given by Thomas W. Ogilvie (1861-1908) in The Book of Saint Fittick, a history of Torry, written and presented as a Bazaar Book to Saint Fittick's Church, Torry, in December 1901.
Ogilvie worked as a doctor in Torry for seven years and was prominent in the public life of the district. An account of his life is given in the introduction to a posthumously published collection of his verse, Poems (1911).
Ogilvie suggests use the well dates to pagan times and gives an account of its storied healing powers and the tradition of offering gifts in the hope of good health and fortune. He suggests St Fittick, the patron saint of Torry, became the object of these benefactions after the arrival of Christianity.
He details the tradition of visiting the area and leaving gifts on the first Sunday of May. Ogilvie writes:
"Town Council and Kirk Session struggled by laws and punishments to stop those Sunday wanderings and to efface those vestiges of old superstitions, but the customs of centuries die hard, and to-day young and old, to whom the name St. Fittick is a meaningless term and the repute of his well quite unknown, ramble on Sundays and week-days to the bay once called by his name, and they find the old power still lingers, for the beauty of the Bay, the fresh sea-breeze, and the pure draught from the old spring still bless and heal."
The well is understood to have been washed away by coastal erosion in the early 20th century. Its location, latterly its site, is recorded in old large scale Ordnance Survey maps. Alexander Ledingham Portrait of Fanny
2139 This studio portrait is of a young woman called Fanny. The stamp on the lower right of the image indicates it was taken by Ledingham of Rosemount. The easel and brush design of the stamp suggests Ledingham's artistic aspirations as a photographer.
Alexander Ledingham ran a photographic studio at 101a Rosemount Place from 1911 until well into the 1950s. He took over these premises from John S. Greenacre who opened his studio in June 1899. Prior to this Greenacre had worked with G. W. Wilson & Co.
Ledingham's father, another Alexander, run a newsagent and took a prominent part in public life. He ran his shop from 27 Bank Street, Ferryhill for 10 years before moving in 1890 to premises at 41 Victoria Road, Torry. He eventually retired from business in 1904. He played a large role in the incorporation of Torry into the city of Aberdeen and was involved in many improvements to the area.
Ledingham Senior died in August 1926 and his obituary is available to view on the Silver City Vault. It gives further details of his involvement in politics, the church and his work as an author - many of his titles are held by Aberdeen Local Studies. A School of Dolphins: Splashy Walker at Torry Library
2188 Mia and Fern's designs won the school competition but both were so good that the girls got together and merged their winning designs. This spectacular and talented piece of team work shows us as we are - a school that works together to be the best we can be! Milk from the Kirkhill Dairy
2236 Milk being delivered by two milk boys on Victoria Road, Torry. The milk came from the Kirkhill Dairy, Balnagask. The photograph shows a horse drawn cart.
Ian Smith has kindly been in touch to inform us that the man behind the cart is his grandfather, Albert Corbett. He ran Kirkhill Farm for much of his life.
The golden anniversary of Albert and Georgina Corbett (née Todd) was reported in the Press & Journal of 9th September 1970, page 18. The article explains that the couple had left South Kirkhill Farm, where Albert had farmed for 47 years, the previous year, moving to 28 Leggart Terrace.
They met when Georgia, an Aberdonian, moved to Fraserburgh. Albert worked on his family's nearby farm, called Watermill, and delivered milk to Georgina's landlady.
After marriage, and before moving to Balnagask, the couple lived in Strichen and ran a diary there. The article concludes stating, both aged 71, Albert and his wife had two daughters, named Mrs Irene Smith and Mrs Ethel Douglas, and three sons, Bert, James and Alistair. They also had nine grandchildren.
A family notice from the 10th January 1978 issue of the same newspaper states that Albert B. D. Corbett had died after a short illness, aged 79, the day before. A service was held for him on the 12th of that month at the Aberdeen Crematorium, Hazlehead (West Chapel).
Ian also checked with family members and informs us that the boy on the right in this photograph is Andy Cowe, who later moved to Seattle, USA, and on the left is Jocky Milne.
The Ordnance Survey, 25 inch to the mile, map of Balnagask published in 1899 indicates that there was once three houses called Kirkhill in the area; North, South and East.
South Kirkhill was located on the south side of Balnagask Road, a bit to the east of Balnagask House and Mains. East Kirkhill was not far to the east, on the other side of St. Fittick's Road and North Kirkhill was up towards Greyhope Road.
Later maps tell us that the original South Kirkhill was demolished by the early 20th century and by the 1950s East Kirkhill had taken its name. None of the residences remain today, the area of North Kirkhill is now part of Balnagask Golf Club and St. Fittick's Community Garden is now roughly where East (later South) Kirkhill once stood. North Kirkhill used to be the home of the greenkeeper of the golf course.
The use of the name Kirkhill likely refers to the nearby old St. Fittick's Church and the hilly terrain of Balnagask and Torry. Torry bus
2255 This image shows a Torry bus. The driver and young conductor stand outside the vehicle, which has Rover written on its side.
Correspondent Dr Mike Mitchell has provided us with excellent, more detailed information:
"Rover Bus Service started operations on 22 August 1927 between Kings Gate and Torry, extending to Bay of Nigg at the weekend. The company was owned by Scott and Mearns, and by George Scott alone from 1928. It was the only independent bus company in Aberdeen to survive competition with Aberdeen Corporation Tramways, and was bought out by the Corporation in November 1935. This bus is a 19 seat Chevrolet, RS9049, and was Rover's first bus. It had been withdrawn by 1932."
Many thanks for this fantastic information. Fishwife
2260 A fishwife, most likely from Torry, with a creel on her back, a basket and shopping bag in her hands.
The history of Torry is inseparable from fishing. Like Torry itself the fishing industry and its related activities saw great change over time.
Going to sea to fish was challenging and dangerous, but those left on shore did not have an easy life either. The Torry fishwife in this picture likely had to walk many miles into the centre of Aberdeen and back again every day carrying very heavy loads. Other time would be spent mending nets or curing fish.
The 20th century saw increased industrialisation of fishing. S.S. G. Koch
2705 An Adelphi Series postcard showing the wreck of the S.S. G. Koch off Girdleness, Aberdeen.
The G. Koch was a Danish cargo steamer of 1159 tonnes that was registered in Odense. Due to a particularly bad storm the ship was dashed on the rocks south of Aberdeen harbour on Saturday 13 January 1913.
Despite heroic efforts of three life-saving brigades, and many volunteers, seven of the nineteen on-board drowned. The rescue operation was not completed until Sunday morning. Treasure 38: The J. T. McIntosh Collection
207 J. T. McIntosh was a pen name of James Murdoch Macgregor (1925-2007). Born in Paisley, MacGregor moved to Aberdeen with his family at the age of 7 and stayed in the city for the rest of his life. He studied at Aberdeen Grammar School and graduated from the University of Aberdeen with an honours degree in English and literature.
After leaving education he taught music and English at Aberdeen Grammar School and became a journalist for the Bon Accord Magazine and sub-editor of the Press and Journal newspaper. MacGregor was a prolific writer from a young age and developed his skills producing many early short stories.
After finding success submitting stories to science fiction magazines on both sides of the Atlantic, MacGregor became a full time writer in 1952. He borrowed the pseudonym J. T. McIntosh from an old school friend and from September 1951 this became his most common pen name.
Aberdeen Local Studies has collected copies of many of his better known works, including editions from around the world. His science fictions novels from the 1950s are his best remembered: World Out of Mind (1953), Born Leader (1954), One in Three Hundred (1954) and The Fittest (1955). He published regularly until the late 1970s.
To accompany our wide selection of J. T. McIntosh works we have a collection of material on the author assembled by pupils and teachers from Torry Academy. The above biography has drawn heavily on their excellent work. We also hold a copy of a fascinating interview from 1986 in which MacGregor discusses his life and work. The National Library of Scotland has a significant collection of his written works too and in 2010 acquired his literary papers and correspondence.
MacGregor remains a neglected figure, awaiting the recognition deserving of this prolific Aberdeen author. |