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Portrait of James Macbeth
304 Portrait of James Macbeth wearing medal and chain of office as Convener of Incorporated Trades in 1904. Lower Justice Mill, Union Glen
810 Justice Mills of one kind or another are first mentioned in the 1300s, and were the site of a famous battle. In their final form, an Upper Justice Mill occupied a site later partially covered by the Odeon Cinema building, while the Lower Mill stood in Union Glen, at the bottom of the steep slope with its mill dam above and behind it (see water wheel centre left). The left hand part of the building and the wheel were removed when the cinema was built, the dam was drained and a thoroughfare created into Union Glen, but the central and right hand parts survived, albeit derelict, into the 1960s.
The wagon in front of the buildings is painted with the business name James Alexander & Son, Grain Merchants. The 1866-67 Ordnance Survey large scale town plan of Aberdeen indicates that Lower Justice Mill was a corn mill.
A black cat can also be seen in the centre right of the image and a woman carrying some type of load is in front of the waterwheel.
Correspondent Geoffrey Mann has been in touch to inform us that in 1793 there was a miller at the Justice Mills called George Reid. This information was found from an Old Machar baptismal record for his and Margaret Smith's (his wife) daughter Elizabeth.
Coincidentally, there was another George Reid (1826-1881) who was a partner in the prominent seedsmen and agricultural implement makers, Messrs Benjamin Reid & Co., who had their Bon-Accord Works just to the east of the Justice Mills. The obituary of this later George Reid from The Aberdeen Journal 16/07/1881 states that at the time his death he lived with his two sisters in Justice Mill Lane. Lower Justice Mill
1258 Lower Justice Mill, Union Glen. Justice Mills of one kind or another are first mentioned in the 1300s, and were the site of a famous battle. In their final form, an Upper Justice Mill occupied a site subsequently partially covered by the Odeon Cinema, while the Lower Mill stood in Union Glen, at the bottom of the steep slope with its mill dam above and behind it (see water wheel centre left). The left hand part of the building and the wheel were removed when the cinema was built, the dam was drained and a thoroughfare created into Union Glen, but the central and right hand parts survived, albeit derelict, into the 1960s. James MacBeth
1892 A portrait of James MacBeth, wearing the regalia of Convener of the Incorporated Trades. Aberdeen Theatres: Man vs. Stallion at the Music Hall
3373 A glass plate image of the Music Hall on Union Street from the late 19th century.
A young crowd is gathered on the street listening to a brass band. A policeman and bicycles of the time can also be seen.
The advertisements on the steps of the building read "Man vs. Stallion". Using historic newspapers we can work out that this was likely an event called Battle Between Man and Stallion, that took place at the Music Hall on 20th August 1895.
Newspaper adverts from the time read: "To-night at 8, complimentary benefit, and positively the last Five Nights in Aberdeen of Professor Norton B. Smith, THE WORLD'S GREATEST HORSE TAMER, who will handle, on this occasion, the MAN-EATING STALLION, belonging to Mr Youngson Kynoch, Royal Stables, Aberdeen." (Aberdeen Journal, 20/08/1895, page 1) Aberdeen Cinemas: City
3431 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the City Cinema on George Street in 1963. The cinema is showing a war film called Battle of the Beach starring Audie Murphy.
The City Cinema at 197-199 George Street was opened by Aberdeen Picture Palaces on 4th November 1935. The building, the main part of which was tucked away behind George Street, was designed by Thomas Scott Sutherland.
Michael Thomson in Silver Screen in the Silver City explains that until after the second world war, the City's stock and trade was showing second-runs and lesser features from the programmes of up-town cinemas. The City was also popular with Aberdeen's crowds of holidaymakers in the 1930s. See Thomson's book for more on the design and history of this cinema.
The final film shown at the City was Sign of the Pagan on 20th July 1963. The venue was then converted at a cost of £300,000 into a two-floor bowling alley. Originally called ABC Bowl (later known as the Aberdeen Bowl, Super Bowl and Mega Bowl), it opened on 1st May 1964 with celebrity guests Oliver Reed, Jess Conrad and Julia Foster.
The bowling alley, and with it what remained of the City cinema, was demolished in 2007 to make way for an apartment block and the Hilton Garden Inn hotel.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Treasure 50: Heroines of Shakspeare
221 Celebrating 400 years since the death of the literary great, one of our April treasures looks at an unusual publication concerning the works of William Shakespeare.
Published in the mid-19th Century, this wonderful volume was donated to Aberdeen Public Library by Miss Emily Jane Duthie, a retired teacher living on Skene Terrace.
Born in India in 1868 Miss Duthie was the daughter of Robert Duthie, Superintendent of the Scottish Orphanage in Bombay during the days of the British Empire. The school was founded in 1847 by Scottish Christian Missionaries to educate the daughters of Scottish Presbyterian Soldiers based in India. Since then, the school has continued to thrive and is now one of the most prestigious in Mumbai.
It is highly likely that Miss Duthie's early years based at the institution, followed by her own studies and subsequent career would have introduced her to the world of Shakespeare and perhaps piqued an interest in the many female characters depicted therein. The kind donation clearly demonstrates her continuing desire and passion to educate others in later life, once her career as a teacher had come to an end.
"The heroines of Shakspeare" is chiefly an art book; a means to showcase the forty-eight imagined portraits of the Bard's fictional characters. The attempt to capture a visual representation of the prominent female characters provides a neat bridge between Shakespeare's contemporary audiences (who would have seen female roles assigned to young boys), and our modern age of television and film which is frequently dominated by physical appearance.
Although educated Victorian audiences would have been familiar with the written words, the illustrations attempt to capture a definitive image of each character, including approximate age, costume, physical features and demeanour as revealed by the playwright.
The images are portraits of Hamlet's Ophelia, Othello's Desdemona, Romeo and Juliet's Juliet and of course - Lady Macbeth (from the Scottish play!)
The illustrations are printed on thick paper from original engravings by portrait artists including Augustus Egg, John Hayter and John William Wright. The book is bound with gilt edges and also contains sturdy decorated endboards.
The curious spelling of Shakespeare in the title reflects the fact that during the Bard's own lifetime there was no single accepted form - the man himself spelling his own name differently in various editions of his work. Although this may seem strange to modern readers the tradition harks back to an era when language was much more fluid, and established forms of spelling simply did not exist in the way that we know today.
Treasure 85: Diary of the Battle of the Somme, July-Sept. 1916, by Corporal H. Robertson
297 To mark Remembrance Day on 11 November, we are exhibiting one of the most poignant and remarkable treasures in our collection - the diary of Corporal Harry Robertson featuring a first-hand account of life in the trenches during World War One.
The diary was gifted to former City Librarian William Critchley by Harry Robertson when they met in Motherwell, Scotland. As Robertson had fought in the 1st Battalion of Gordon Highlanders, he suggested that Aberdeen Public Library may be the best place to preserve it.
Robertson was born in Greenock in 1893 and went on to become an analytical chemist with Glasgow City Analysts and Glasgow's Royal Technical College prior to the First World War. In August 1914, he enlisted in the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys) and trained with them at Dunbar and York, transferring to the Gordon Highlanders in June 1915. He rose through the ranks to become Sergeant at General Headquarters 3rd Echelon in Rouen in November 1916, where he remained until the end of the war. He was demobilized in March 1919.
In the diary, Corporal Robertson shares his experiences during the 'Big Push' and the Battle of Bazentin Ridge (14-17 July 1916). It was a British victory, but at a huge cost with over 9000 British casualties and losses. The 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders were part of the 76th Brigade, 3rd Division, XIII Corps of the British Army, commanded by Lieutenant-General Walter Congreve.
View our Treasures exhibition on the interactive screen to read more detailed extracts from the diary and gain an insight into the moving and often traumatic experiences of soldiers on the front line. "We Did It!" Witnesses' Glee
490 This broadside pokes fun at a Parliamentary decision made over Aberdeen's railways. Parodying William Shakespeare's Macbeth, it presents a scene taking place in the lobby of the House of Commons following a recent "Railway Case".
The broadside is undated and the personae dramatis are identified only as "J", "B" and "O". The lack of detail makes it difficult to establish the exact case to which this relates. If you can clarify this matter, please get in touch using the comment button located below the image.
The broadside concludes with an echo from "the Electors of Aberdeen." This suggests a connection to electoral politics, but details beyond this are unclear. |