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Brae Farm
1790 This photograph was taken in 1951 by James Kellas and looks east showing, on the left, the rear of Brae Farm, located on Morningside Road, and part of 142 Morningside Avenue on the right.
There was originally a Brae Farm to the north west of this location that can be seen the Ordnance Survey map published in 1869 (Aberdeen Sheet LXXV.14). Just to the north of the old farm on the map is a single Aberdeen Water Works reservoir.
An article from The Leopard magazine by Diane Morgan (October/November 1985) explains that in 1885 an Aberdeen Corporation Water Act was passed to empower the Town Council to take eight million gallons daily from the River Dee and to build a second reservoir at Mannofield. This was to keep up with the city's rapid population increase.
To carry out the expansion, the council acquired the land adjoining the initial reservoir including the first Brae Farmhouse and its steadings. They then became known as Reservoir Cottage and Reservoir House and served as the home of the inspector of the water works. A relatively early inspector was called William Clark. On 28th February 1898 he died at the cottage aged 64. He was buried in the John Knox Churchyard (Aberdeen Weekly Journal, 02/03/1898, p.4).
Clark was likely succeeded as waterworks inspector by James Forsyth. The Forsyth family lived at the cottage well into the 20th century. James was married to Margaret (née Jaffray), who died after him on 28th July 1945, aged 85. Their second son, Sapper John Forsyth, died aged 26 at Oldmill Military Hospital on 20th April 1917. He was buried at Springback Cemetery.
The reservoirs continue to play a vital role in supplying water to Aberdeen. The cottage and house however were demolished in the late 20th century and replaced by modern water treatment buildings.
As shown on the 1901 OS map, sometime shortly after the passing of the 1885 act the Brae Farm we can see in this picture was built to the south east, where Morningside Road met Auchinyell Bridge. To the east, Aberdeenshire County Cricket Ground was also built around the same time.
This later Brae Farm was the home to the Kinnaird family for the first half of the 20th century. The heads of the family were Frank Kinnaird and Margaret Amelia Smith.
Their son Lance-Corporal A. G. Kinnaird, of the Royal Scots, was reported as a prisoner of war in Germany in June 1918. Prior to the war he had worked with the Clydesdale Bank (Evening Express, 03/06/1918 p.3).
Frank's eldest daughter, Jessie Sinclair, married James Smith Mathieson at Ruthrieston U.F. Church on 7th September 1927 (Evening Express, 08/09/1927, p.6).
A younger daughter, Edith Kinnaird, married a man from Portsmouth called Andrew Livingstone in July 1936. The marriage took place in Ruthrieston West Church and the reception was at the Caledonian Hotel (Press & Journal, 06/06/1936 p.8).
Daughters Amelia Elizabeth and Margaret Kinnaird both left Brae Farm in the 1920s (1924 and 1920, respectively) to reunite with fiancés who had travelled ahead to Canada.
Frank Kinnaird died on 12th August 1950, aged 84.
At some point during the 1930s-1950s the residential streets we know today, Morningside Avenue, Terrace and Place were constructed between the reservoir and the new farmstead. These streets take their name from Morningside Farm to the east. As can be seen in this photograph, the farm stood into the 1950s. It was eventually demolished when Morningside Avenue was extended to meet Morningside Road. The newer bungalows can be distinguished by their tiled, rather than slated roofs. Treasure 57: James Scott Skinner Collection
233 James Scott Skinner (5 August 1843 - 17 March 1927) was a Scottish dancing master, violinist, fiddler, and composer.
Born in Arbeadie village in Banchory-Ternan on 5 August 1843, Skinner was taught to play cello and violin by his father and brother at a young age and went on to become a successful musician, composer and dancer. He published more than 600 musical compositions, toured the United States and Canada and taught dancing at Balmoral Castle, Queen Victoria's Scottish retreat.
Aberdeen City Libraries hold many copies of Skinner's published work - including his Elgin and Logie Collections - and in 2001 we produced facsimile publications of some of Skinner's works to share with a new generation of readers.
One of our treasures this month is the Skinner collection editions which have been signed by J. Scott Skinner himself. A favourite of our signed collection is the frontispiece to the second edition of the Elgin Collection in which Skinner writes a passage to the father of the first City Librarian, George Milne Fraser.
The dedication reads:
To Joseph Fraser,
"Talent does what it can,
Genius does what it must!"
Patriotically yours,
J. Scott Skinner
Bon Accord,
9th Feb 1914
Find out more about James Scott Skinner and George Milne Fraser in the Treasures from our Collections interactive exhibition on our touchscreens.
Stewart Park
308 Opened in 1894, Stewart Park was named after the then Aberdeen Lord Provost, David Stewart. The area was land acquired from the Hilton Estate and was designed to be used by all ages. Three disused quarries were filled in and landscaped as small lakes stocked with fish.
Mrs Taylor, a widow of a Woodside merchant, left £500 to the park, especially for the purpose of becoming the Taylor Playground for children, in memory of her husband. Mrs Taylor was honoured with the memorial fountain by the Aberdeen Town Council.
Although the park may not have the small lakes, and fewer flower beds than when it first opened, it is still widely used, and as stated by the Lord Provost at the opening ceremony "It would be a thing of joy and beauty forever" to the people of Woodside.
Soon after the opening of Stewart Park, cricket clubs were formed. The park was home to many clubs, and memories of the park suggest that as many as twenty games of cricket would be in play at any one time. These games obviously paid off because Woodside Cricket Club won the Aberdeenshire Cup in 1957.
Other popular pursuits were the Woodside Football Club, the Grandholm Choir and the Woodside and District Cycling Club. The Cycling Club began in the early 30's, but had to disband during the Second World War. After the war, Joe Dunn, a cycle shop owner and a previous member, tried to restart the club.
This image is a James Valentine postcard. Treasure 120: Walford Bodie
343 In the late-Victorian and Edwardian periods, at the height of music hall variety, Dr Walford Bodie M.D. was one of the most famous and highly paid entertainers in Britain. He remains an enigmatic and charismatic figure in the history of the North East. Born Samuel Murphy Bodie at 33 George Street, Aberdeen on 11 June 1869, he went on to become a leading showman, hypnotist, ventriloquist, controversial 'bloodless surgeon', and was billed variously as The Electric Wizard, The Modern Miracle Worker of the North, and The Most Remarkable Man on Earth.
Our treasure is a photograph album held by Aberdeen City Libraries that offers an insight into the life and times of Bodie and his amazing family. Walford Bodie was for much of his career the headline performer of an extended and shifting company of artists. Members of his family, and in particular those of his wife, often played important roles in the Bodie Show. In 1890 Bodie married Jeannie Henry (1869-1931), who performed with Walford as an illusionist and mind-reader called Princess Rubie, until her retirement in 1930. Jeannie and 3 of her sisters went on to play important parts in the Bodie show. One of her sisters was Annie "Nan" Henry (1880-1970) and it is her album that we now hold in the library.
The album is a large volume, bound in dark green leather. Within floral endpapers there are around 101 pages each containing approximately 3 photographs. The images are a mixture of postcards and photographic prints. Most appear to have been sent to Nan Henry while she was living in the Bodie family home in Macduff. Many have signed endearments on the front and carry short messages on the reverse.
To learn more about this unique character, have a browse in the Treasures from our Collections interactive exhibition. Tragedy of Douglas; or, The Noble Shepherd
488 This broadside advertises a play on Saturday 20th November 1813 at the Theatre Royal on Marischal Street. The play is Douglas; or, The Noble Shepherd. Printed locally by John Booth of North Street, the broadside modestly declares the play to be of equal quality to any production outside of London.
Accompanying the play were comical songs, a ballad, and a reworking of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew by David Garrick, titled Catharine & Petruchio.
The broadside indicates locations that tickets may be bought, the "Public Library" and the "Musical Repository", and other productions available for viewing. The play's cheapest ticket, for the gallery, cost 1 shilling. This was approximately half a shilling shy of the cost of a loaf of bread (Aberdeen Journal, 7th July 1813).
Douglas was a five-act tragedy authored by John Homes. Performed first in 1756 Edinburgh, it was a resounding success, with productions put on across the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, travelling as far a field as North America. That being said, that week's edition of Aberdeen's Journal only gave the announcement of the play's arrival one line, buried in the third page.
The play's contents was often changed by Home, depending on its audience. The play examines the deep tension between Scotland's people and its nationhood, particularly in regard to Scotland's cultural independence from Britain. On the play's first night in 1756, the play so inspired one playgoer with patriotism that he shouted "Whar's yer Wully Shakespeare noo!" in the middle of the performance. (Megan Stoner Morgan, Scottish Literary Review, vol. 4, no. 1 (2012)).
The play also left a deep impression on the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume. Regarding the broadside, it is interesting to note that Douglas, not the Shakespearean comedy, was the headline act.
The play's protagonist, Douglas, is played by an H. Johnston, most likely a 36-year-old Henry Erskine Johnston. A portrait of him playing the title role is held at the National Portrait Gallery. Impressively, he also serves as Petruchio in Garrick's Catherine & Petruchio. Likewise, other actors play characters in both productions. |