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Rubislaw Terrace, Aberdeen
709 Rubislaw Terrace, Aberdeen in around 1880. This photograph by George Washington Wilson shows the granite splendour of this terrace, which was planned by the architects Thomas Mackenzie and James Matthews, jointly with James Giles, artist.
The houses were to be erected on the property of James Skene of Rubislaw, on the north side of Albyn Place. The Aberdeen Journal of 31st March 1852 describes the plans as thus: "The style of architecture possesses in a high degree the rare merit of combining what is new, at least in Aberdeen, with what is, in point of taste exceedingly beautiful".
The houses have crowstepped gables and plain windows alternating with bow windows which have a balustrade, and had 11-15 rooms.
In 1854, James Matthews actually lived there, and later occupants included a paper manufacturer, a ship owner, and a number of advocates.
Today, many of the houses have been converted into offices for legal firms. Granite balustrades and a garden area separate the terrace from Albyn Terrace. Treasure 33: The Pedigree of the Cruickshanks of Stracathro
2321 Among the Local Studies collection of family trees is a chart from 1847 entitled Pedigree of the Cruickshanks of Stracathro. The title initially referred to the Cruickshanks of Langley Park but this has been scored out and replaced with Stracathro. A pedigree is a form of genealogical table. Collections of pedigrees were first made in the 15th century and, according to The Oxford Companion, were "a matter of aristocratic pride and of practical necessity for legal purposes". The term pedigree comes from the French 'pied de grue', meaning crane's foot, due to the resemblance of the genealogical lines to the thin legs and feet of the bird.
The pedigree of the Cruickshanks was compiled by E. G. G. Cruickshank, who features in the 10th generation detailed on the table.
The pedigree begins with the earliest ancestor at the top of the document with lines dropping down to succeeding generations. Each generation is given a Roman numeral and individuals within each generation are assigned Arabic numbers. The pedigree begins with "John Cruickshank first in Strathspey m. Mary Cumming of Elgin" and extends down to an incomplete 12th generation. The individuals in the 11th generation were mostly born in the 1870s.
The information listed on a family tree is dependent on the sources available and the purpose for which it was created. The information given on the Cruickshank's pedigree varies but typically includes an individual's date of birth, marriage details and date of death. Additional information is also supplied as is the case with the 7th generation of Cruickshanks - Margaret Helen is described as the daughter of Rev. Gerard of Aberdeen, author of a book whose title is unreadable, and sister to a Colonel Gerald. Details of army service are supplied for some individuals and many of the Cruickshanks were involved in the administration of India or served in the army there.
The tiny handwriting, use of abbreviations and sparse punctuation makes the document challenging to read so familiarity with the subject matter and names of places is useful. A later interpreter of the document has made a number of annotations in pencil. For example, one of the later additions points to an individual and reads "Is this W. Robertson of Auchinroath? Yes!"
In addition to a listing of descendants the pedigree is annotated with a number of original notes and a description of a coat of arms. The latin motto of Cavendo tutus translates as 'Safe through caution'. One note, quoting "an old paper", describes from where the family came prior to being in Strathspey. A note on the other side of the chart states that "distinguished Officer and Author the late Colonel Stewart of Garth" links the family to the Royal Family of Stewart and suggests the name of Cruickshank derives from "some deformity in the first cadet of the house."
Attached to the document is a letter dated 23 October 1927 from a Jim Bulloch to City Librarian G. M. Fraser. Bulloch explains that he got the pedigree from a Mr. Mackintosh of Elgin, thinks it is quite rare and that the library might like it for its collection. It has stayed in the Local Studies collection to this day.
The Gazetteer for Scotland website states that in 1775 Patrick Cruickshank, listed at No. 11 of the 7th generation, bought the estate of Stracathro in Angus. The property was subsequently inherited by his brother Alexander Cruickshank (1764 - 1846). Alexander hired the Aberdeen architect Archibald Simpson to build Stracathro House between 1824 and 1827. The Palladian Scottish country house still exists today.
University College London's Legacies of British Slave-ownership website indicates that Patrick and Alexander, and two other Cruickshank brothers, owned plantations on the Caribbean island of St Vincent that used slave labour. See Alexander Cruickshank's entry in the database here: 'Alexander Cruikshank of Stracathro', Legacies of British Slave-ownership database, http://wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/8590 [accessed 9th June 2020]. In 1833 when Britain abolished the ownership of slaves the government granted £20 million in compensation to former slave-owners. Alexander Cruickshank made three claims for compensation, two of which were successful.
In 1874, Stracathro House and estate were sold to Sir James Bannerman, Lord Provost of Glasgow, and father of Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. The country house was later used as a World War II hospital and owned by Tay Health Board before being sold to private owners in 2003. Union St, Aberdeen, Looking East
3169 An Adelphi Series postcard showing a crowded Union Street with trams running in both directions. The photograph is looking east down Union Street.
The building on the left, at the junction with Back Wynd, is now inhabited by shops on the ground floor and a nightclub above. It was initially built in 1836-37 to a design by John Smith for the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen. It was their first purpose-built meeting hall and library in the city.
The society sold this building at 120 Union Street in 1870 and moved to new premises in Concert Court, where they remain to this day. The Union Street building was purchased by a confectioners called Lockhart & Salmond, later R. & J. Salmond, and functioned as a restaurant and public hall.
It was taken over in the early 1880s by a prominent Aberdeen caterer called George Watson. He had previously been the proprietor at The Grill and of a restaurant at 1 Union Terrace. For much of that decade the meeting rooms were also the home of the Aberdeen Conservative Club.
Watson opened the Queen's Restaurant at 118 Union Street in 1888 and this appears to be the origin of the building's lasting name. The main hall became the Queen's Billiards Saloon in the 1890s following the death of Watson in 1893.
The building was partially reconstructed and reopened as the lavish Queen's Restaurant and Tea Rooms by the Cabin Tea Rooms company in 1899. Following a stint as an auction house, it became a popular Aberdeen cinema in 1913 that operated for much of the 20th century.
A severe fire at the Queen's Cinema in 1936 led to the reconstruction of the building's interior. After the cinema closed in 1981 the premises laid empty before the reopening as a nightclub called Eagles in 1987. The building has remained in use as a nightclub ever since, becoming De Niro's in 1996 and Espionage in 2002.
This postcard was lent to Aberdeen City Libraries so that we could create a digital copy for public use. Aberdeen Cinemas: Picturedrome / Cinema House
3412 A photograph of the Cinema House on Skene Terrace from the Aberdeen Journals Archive collection.
This cinema operated successfully for many years at this location. It was in January 1971, with Where Eagles Dare - the Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood action adventure, that the venue showed its final film. Its closure, just a few months short of its 61st year, was blamed on the film industry's lack of support for cinemas and its location out of the very centre of town will not have helped.
This photograph dates from April 1970 and so shows the building nearing the end of its time as a cinema. The promotion outside the Cinema House is for showings of El Dorado, the Howard Hawks western with John Wayne and Robert Mitchum. At the time the cinema was operated by the Donald family's Aberdeen Cinemas Ltd. Company.
Next to the Cinema House in this photograph can be seen a branch of Lombank Limited, which specialised in credit finance and leasing facilities for commerce, the motor trade, industry and agriculture. This office, originally a branch of Lombard Banking and Lombank, opened at 44 Union Terrace in late 1960.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Aberdeen Cinemas: Queen's
3422 This photograph shows the Queen's cinema building in January 2021. After the cinema closed in 1981 the premises laid empty before the reopening as a nightclub called Eagles in 1987. The building has remained in use as a nightclub ever since, becoming De Niro's in 1996 and Espionage in 2002. John Duguid Milne
4372 A photographic portrait of John Duguid Milne (1822-1889), an Aberdeen advocate.
On 20th March 1883 Milne read a paper titled The success of free public libraries in industrial towns, and the necessity for a free public library in Aberdeen to the Philosophical Society of Aberdeen. The paper was also published by the society as a pamphlet shortly afterwards. A copy of this paper is held by Aberdeen Local Studies.
Milne draws together the experiences of free public libraries from England and around Scotland. He also points to the example and popularity of John Anderson's library in Woodside, which had opened in 1881.
In the section 'Who should move for a free library?' Milne writes:
"The Free Library is not especially for the wealthy, nor even for the well-to-do, but for the people, for the industrial classes; and it is for the industrial classes themselves to say if they want it. They have also the power in their hands, as they form a majority of the ratepayers." (page 17).
Milne was the director and legal advisor of Aberdeen's Mechanics' Institute. He ends his paper by stating that should the Public Libraries Act be adopted by Aberdeen, the Mechanics' Institute was prepared to hand over to the Free Public Library their whole stock of books and their substantial premises on Market Street.
Milne's paper, and the offer within, was likely a determining factor in the initiation, and ultimate success, of Professor Alexander Bain (1818-1903) and Baillie George Walker (1821-1910) putting forward a motion for the adoption of the Public Libraries Act at a meeting in the Music Hall on 25th March 1884. This meeting took place around a year after the first reading of Milne's paper.
Opening in March 1886, the Mechanics' Institute building did become the first location of Aberdeen's new Free Public Library and its collection of books formed the core of its stock. If you look at some of the older items in the collection of Aberdeen City Libraries today, stamp marks for the Mechanics' Institute can still be seen. Act Anent Murthering of Children
487 This 19th July 1690 act, as the title suggests, regards dead children. Specifically, it draws attention to mothers who 'conceal her being with Child'. The act declares that, should a child die, their mother would be tried for murder if they did not use others' assistance or declare that they were pregnant. This would remain the case if the deceased child were without wounds or bruises. The act declares that it must be read across the land, at all Parish Churches.
At the time, the Scottish Parliament was particularly concerned about undeclared births, infanticide and the abandonment of children. Parliament desired to rid councils of the expense of caring for these abandoned children. As a result, this act was passed.
The act posed particular difficulties for single mothers of illegitimate children, who did not desire to call attention to the fact. Accused women were typically unmarried and employed as servants. This act increased executions of mothers in Aberdeen - in 1705, four women from Aberdeen were hanged for murdering a child, with a further three executions carried out in 1714. The legal status of the law was unique in that it presumed the woman guilty. Of all offences against the person, it was the second most common in indicting women. (Annie Harrower-Gray, Scotland's Hidden Harlots and Heroines: Women's Role in Scottish Society From 1690-1969 (2014), pp. 44-45). To the Independent Electors and Friends of the Country, the Constitution, and the Queen
492 This broadside from 2nd August 1837 implores those eligible to vote for William Gordon (1784-1858) in the upcoming General Election.
It suggests that Gordon's opponent, Thomas Burnett, was attempting to mislead the electorate. Gordon, a Conservative, held his Aberdeenshire seat from 1820 to 1854. The broadside informs the electorate that Gordon is a friend of farmers because he supports the Corn Laws.
In parliament, Gordon advocated for separate banking systems for England and Scotland. He also worked to prevent illicit distillation and increase legal distillery trades. Gordon was Lord of the Admiralty, chief of the British Navy, from 1841 to 1846.
The broadside was printed on a Wednesday. The Monday preceding, the nominations for candidates had been opened. When Gordon was nominated, 'he was heartily hissed' and had unpleasantries expressed towards him.
Sir Thomas Burnett (1778-1849), 8th Baronet of Leys, was the Whig candidate and was so well received by the crowds at the nominations that proceedings were delayed for several minutes. (London Courier and Evening Gazette, 4th August 1837, p. 3). Burnett's obituary in the Aberdeen Herald (3rd March 1849, p. 3) indicates that he was a long-standing advocate of parliamentary reform. In the election, Burnett received 807 votes to Gordon's 1,220. (Perthshire Courier, 10th August 1837).
In the text, Gordon's support of Hanover refers to his support of Queen Victoria's familial line, which traces itself to Hanover. Gordon accuses Burnett of wanting to rid Britain of Hanoverians while professing to support the Queen. The Aberdeen Herald was dismayed at the news of Burnett's defeat in the election over the issue (London Courier, 8th August 1837, p. 3).
This broadside was printed by R. King of Peterhead.
Other broadsides referring to Gordon can be found here. |