In December, these are dates to note in Edinburgh’s history:
2nd In 1837, Joseph Bell FRCSE, a Scottish surgeon and lecturer at the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in the 19th century and best known as the inspiration for the literary character Sherlock Holmes, was born in Edinburgh.
3rd In 1848, William McNab, former Chief Gardener of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE), died. And in 1894, Edinburgh-born author Robert Louis Stevenson died in Samoa, at the age of 44.
7th In 2002, in the evening, a fire started above the Belle Angele nightclub off the Cowgate; it swept up through the eight-storey structure to other buildings on Cowgate and above it on South Bridge; it took more than a day for the fire, to be brought under control, and several days for it to be completely extinguished; thankfully no lives were lost.
8th In 1669, the Council granted a warrant to Robert Clerk to organise the Pricing Book Lottery.
10th In 1768, the first volume of the Encyclopædia Britannica edited by William Smellie (engraver Andrew Bell and printer Colin Macfarquhar) went on sale in Edinburgh at the printing office on Nicolson Street; it was advertised in the Caledonian Mercury and the Edinburgh Evening Courant.
11th In 1824, the world’s first football club was founded in Edinburgh; the players hired a field, bought a ball, set up goalposts and continued to play regularly for almost two decades.
16th In 1601, Andro Turnbull was beheaded at the Mercat Cross for the murder of Thomas Ker the previous month.
18th In 1661, the SS Elizabeth was lost off the coast of Burntisland along with her cargo of historical documents being returned to Scotland which Oliver Cromwell had earlier taken to London. And in 1780, the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland was founded.
19th In 1887, Rumford Medal-winning Leith-born scientist Balfour Stewart died during a journey from Scotland to his country estates in Ireland. And in 1904, the “Scotsman” newspaper moved to new offices on North Bridge.
20th In 1789, the architect William Burn, FRSE, was born in Edinburgh. And in 1862, surgeon and anatomist Robert Knox died; Knox became notorious as one of the men to whom the murderers Burke and Hare delivered corpses for dissection.
21st In 1965, Stuart Mitchell, Scottish pianist and composer, best known for his Seven Wonders Suite, was born in Edinburgh. And in 1989, the City Bypass was completed.
24th In 1650, Edinburgh castle surrendered to Oliver Cromwell.
27th In 1794, Major Alexander Gordon Laing, the first European to reach Timbuktu via the north/south route, was born in Edinburgh.
- Compiled by Jerry Ozaniec, Membership Secretary of the Old Edinburgh Club, [email protected]
