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Allenvale Cemetery from Kincorth
60 An early photograph of Allenvale Cemetery, taking shape in the middle distance, as seen from Kincorth, with Abbotswell Farm in the foreground.
A limited company called the Aberdeen Cemetery Company was established for the purpose of creating this new graveyard. A prospectus inviting public investment was published in the Aberdeen Journal of 29th January 1873. It reads as follows:
"It is well known that in Aberdeen cemetery accommodation is limited and insufficient, and it is generally admitted that its extension is necessary, and cannot much longer be delayed. It is therefore desirable to acquire additional space for that purpose, and to treat it in accordance with modern ideas and practice.
"This company has been formed for the purpose of providing an extensive Cemetery, in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen, suitable in all respects for the purposes of internment, and of easy access - but sufficiently removed from town to preserve its suburban character."
The new cemetery opened in late 1874 and, as we know, was a big hit. It was officially known as the Aberdeen Cemetery but quickly became known as Allenvale Cemetery, after the property on which it was built.
Allenvale saw major extensions in 1912 and 1932. A London syndicate purchased control of the graveyard from the Aberdeen Cemetery Company in 1958. Aberdeen Town Council subsequently took control of the cemetery in 1965 following the then owners going into liquidation and worries about Allenvale's future. Allenvale remains a fine example of a planned Victorian cemetery to this day.
Notable residents of Allenvale include John James Rickard MacLeod (1876-1935), co-discoverer of insulin, James Scott Skinner (1843-1927), fiddler and composer, and Mary Esslemont (1891-1984), the influential doctor. Though, of course, many interned at Allenvale would have their own interesting stories to tell.
In this photograph, Duthie Park, later created on the right, has yet to be landscaped. St. Machar Poorhouse, Fonthill House and Devanha House can all be seen in the distance. Royal visit by Princess Beatrice
315 A photograph showing Princess Beatrice at Aberdeen Music Hall to open a bazaar in aid of the Sick Children's Hospital.
The bazaar took place in the Music Hall on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th October 1898. Princess Beatrice, then known as Princess Henry of Battenberg, opened the bazaar the day before on Friday 28th October.
The opening ceremony was covered in the Aberdeen Journal of 29th October 1898, page 5. The article states that Beatrice arrived by train at the Joint Station before travelling to the Music Hall from Guild Street by the horse drawn carriage that we can see here.
The route travelled and much of the surrounding area were specially decorated for the occasion. The various businesses and buildings along the route decorated their own premises and many of these decorations are described in the newspaper report.
The city gardeners Peter Harper of Duthie Park and Robert Walker of Victoria Park were tasked with creating floral displays. Harper decorated the interior of the Joint Station and the Music Hall, while Walker decorated the route between the two.
The special royal train arrived at the joint station a couple of minutes before its scheduled time of 12:15pm. Beatrice was greeted at the station by a large civic and military reception and crowds of onlookers.
The newspaper report indicates that travelling in the horse drawn carriage with Beatrice was Miss Minnie Cochrane and Lord William Cecil, both were royal courtiers. The man sat in the carriage is therefore most likely the latter.
Following the opening ceremony, Beatrice was entertained at a luncheon at the Palace Hotel by the directors of the Royal Aberdeen Hospital for Sick Children.
Beatrice and her party returned to Balmoral on a train leaving the station at 2:45pm.
The newspaper also tells us that Messrs. Walker & Company, cinematographers, Bridge Street, filmed the procession as it passed along the railway bridge on Guild Street. Assistant photographers with still cameras captured the rest of proceedings. This photograph was likely taken by one of these assistants.
A sign for Walker & Company can be seen hanging above the Music Hall entrance. This dates the image as belonging to this later royal visit by Princess Beatrice. She previously visited the city on 27th September 1883 to open an earlier bazaar for the Children's Hospital and to open the newly created Duthie Park Duthie Park
1772 The opening of the Duthie Park in September 1883. The park was officially opened by Princess Beatrice, the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria. The park had been gifted to the city by Miss Elizabeth Crombie Duthie in 1880. Members of the Choral Union, who took part in the ceremony are standing in front of the platform.
Queen Victoria was originally intended to perform the opening ceremony but she sustained an accident earlier in the year and was unable to undertake the engagement. Princess Beatrice, the Queen's youngest daughter, then residing at Balmoral Castle, officially opened the park in her place on 27th September 1883.
The day was declared a public holiday and there were great celebrations throughout the city, concluding with a huge fireworks display over the River Dee. On the Lake, Duthie Park
2470 A Valentine's postcard showing the pedalo lake in Duthie Park. Families are seen enjoying the day and an ice-cream seller is also shown. Children's Boating Pond
2472 A Caledonia Series postcard showing the boating pond in Duthie Park. It is a busy day and many families and prams are alongside the lake. Duthie Park
2476 A photograph from an Adelphi Series postcard showing a southern portion of Duthie Park.
The image looks east across the park's old Lower Lake towards Arthurseat House.
This lake was expanded, and made more rectangular, in the 1920s. This was undertaken to provide improved facilities for the sailing of model yachts and for skating and curling in winter. From the time of the park's creation, this earlier lake contained two spray fountains at either end. The more easterly of these is shown here.
Arthurseat House dates from before the creation of the park, when the land was owned by Arthur Dingwall Fordyce. The house remained, primarily as a museum, until it was demolished in 1934.
For a detailed account of the park, its history and creation, see the article 'Miss Duthie's Gift: History and Description of the Park' in the Aberdeen Journal of 26th September 1883 (published the day before the park's official opening) and the park's entry in Historic Environment Scotland's Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes - reference number GDL00166.
Also shown in this picture is the park's main rockery, described in the Aberdeen Journal article as follows:
"A most picturesque rockery has been built upon the brow of the rising ground to the west of Arthurseat House, and immediately above the pond we have just been describing. It is very extensive, being upwards of 100 feet in length and 66 feet broad at the widest part, and is composed of different kinds of peculiar stones, broken into all manner of fantastic fragments, which are set-up on end in groups and cone-like eminences. A footway winds through it from end to end; and as the spaces between the stones are occupied by Alpine plants and flowers of various kinds, the whole as viewed from the low ground in front presents a most charming appearance."
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