Amelia Paton was a talented artist and an accomplished sculptor, whose best known works are the statues of David Livingstone near the Scott Monument in Edinburgh and of Robert Burns in Dumfries. She was also the sister of the well known artist Sir Joseph Noel Paton and was married to David Octavius Hill, the artist and early pioneer of photography in Scotland. In “Amelia Robertson Paton” George Robertson relates her biography and her involvement in artistic life of Victorian Scotland.
Woodrow’s Lemonade
James Woodrow and Sons, Aerated Water Manufacturer By George Beattie Born and brought up in Edinburgh, James Woodrow spent much of his early working life employed as a lemonade bottler in the City. He moved to a similar job in Leven around 1890, where he went on to become manager of an aerated water works for some 18 years, probably that of A. Hutchison, Parkhill Works, Leven. Having worked in the aerated water business for some 20 years, it seemed a natural progression for him to start in the business for himself, and, in 1908, he achieved this aim when he acquired the aerated water business of Frank Danks, at 37 Rolland Street, Dunfermline. The Rolland Street premises had been occupied by Danks from around 1890, having previously been operated by another aerated water manufacturer, Messrs Hardy and Ramsey. Robert Ramsey’s son, James, founded the well known egg merchants firm in Cowdenbeath which bore his name. There is the likelihood that Messrs Hardy & Ramsey were not the original manufacturers on the Rolland Street site, as a house adjacent to Woodrow’s office premises bore the date 1864. It is believed, but not yet confirmed, that the house was built on the site of a burned-out cottage, and that the manufacture of aerated water had been carried on there before the 1864 house was built. On another historical note, the Rolland Street Hall, used as a place for social gatherings by the people of the area, and later used as a store by Messrs Woodrow, once housed the…
Lighting Dunfermline
Lighting up Dunfermline and Public Announcements. Reminiscences of Dunfermline by George Robertson, FSAScot. Once again we turn to Alexander Stewart’s Reminiscences of Dunfermline, this time for information on the early lighting system in Dunfermline and also on how information was relayed to the inhabitants of the town. In this respect, we are lucky as Stewart gives us a first-hand account of life in Dunfermline during the early 19th century, something he personally experienced and obviously closely observed and what follows is in his own words with later comments by this author. Lamplighter giving an oil lamp attention, by William Henry Pyne “Fifty-five years ago (circa 1830’s) there was no gas lamp in the town. The streets were lit up with lamps here and there, placed at wide intervals, and they were furnished with train oil and cotton wick. The feeble glimmer they struggled to send forth only served to make the darkness visible. After burning for a few hours in a sickly way, the lamplighter, with his ladder over his shoulder, went his rounds and blew them out. In dwelling-houses and shops, candles, called long sixes or short sixes, long or short eights, tens etc., also oil lamps, or the ancient cruisie, were used at night. The cruisie was a very primitive lamp, having one or perhaps sometimes two wicks; it was fed with train oil, and it gave a dim light and a disagreeable odour to the house. Cruisie oil-lamp. Courtesy of Andrew Carnegie Birthplace and…
‘Bacca B’ : John Beveridge and his Two Careers
In “Bacca B: John Beveridge and his Two Careers” Jean Barclay gives us a short biography of a well-known Dunfermline tobacconist and Town Councillor, who, in 1850, moved to Edinburgh and began a new career in an unusual profession.
Mitchell’s Soft Drinks
In the next in our series on Dunfermline’s Industrial Past, William Mitchell and Sons Ltd, George Beattie relates the history of another of the soft drinks manufactures. They latterly operated from Garvock Hill, having built the factory which later became the Vine Centre. The firm operated from about 1938 until 1993, when they were taken over by Woodrow.