Looking back in history with the Old Edinburgh Club

May 1, 2026 11:00 am

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Each month we take a look back in history with The Old Edinburgh Club.

2nd In 1597, bonfires lit up the night sky above Holyrood on the arrival in Leith of King James VI and his new Queen, Anne, daughter of the King of Denmark.

3rd In 1544, major hostilities in what Walter Scott later named ‘The Rough Wooing’ began with an attack on Edinburgh led by the Earl of Hertford and Viscount Lisle.

5th In 1508, the provost, bailies, and council ruled that Fleshers should have their stalls and stands protected by stout canvas awning and the meat on sale covered with proper wrapping; also, that those selling the meat should be appropriately dressed with clean aprons.

6th In 1544, a letter sent to Lord Russel, Lord Privy Seal of England, the writer stated that “It was determined … utterly to ruin and destroy Edinburgh with fire. This we did not fully achieve … However we set fire to three or four parts of the town.” And in 1870, Sir James Young Simpson, who pioneered the use of chloroform in childbirth, died in Edinburgh. Also in 1941, a 1,000-pound bomb was dropped on Milton Crescent and 100 incendiaries at Jewel Cottages; four were killed and two injured.

8th In 1366, at Holyrood Abbey, a Council was held in which discussion over a peace with England took place; it was agreed that the assessment to raise money for the King’s ransom should be voluntary; the Scottish Mint was also ordered to strike new coins for this purpose. And in 1826, Sir Henry Duncan Littlejohn, surgeon, forensic scientist, and public health official, was born in Edinburgh.

9th In 1909, Robert Garioch Sutherland, Scots language poet and translator, was born in Edinburgh. And in 1911, the famous illusionist The Great Lafayette died in a devastating fire at the Empire Palace Theatre in Edinburgh on Nicolson Street (now the site of the Festival Theatre). https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/1620 Also in 1957, a massive fire at Bell’s Brae in the Dean Village destroyed the premises of the largest theatrical costumiers outside London.

11th In 1660, a report delivered to the council on St Paul’s Work recommended that a seat be provided for the children in the community loft; that there should be five residents and the children sent there be divided among them; that beds and other necessities should be provided for the children; and that the boys should be apprentices for seven years and the girls for five.

16th In 1402, at a Council-General held in Edinburgh, King Robert III (whose Christian name was John) officially pardoned the Duke of Albany (Robert, the king’s next younger brother) and the Earl of Douglas for the death of David Stuart, Duke of Rothesay (the king’s son and heir apparent); N.B. Since the troubled reign of King John Balliol, the name John was considered unlucky for a King of Scots.

17th In 1532, King James V established paid judges to sit as the Court of Session, the highest civil court in Scotland. And in 1590, Anne of Denmark was crowned Queen of Scotland in the Abbey Church at Holyrood. Also in 1617, King James VI returned to Edinburgh for the first time since 5 April 1603. Finally in 1870, pioneering photographer David Octavius Hill died; he is buried in Dean Cemetery beneath a sculpture of him created by his wife Amelia Paton.

21st In 1650, James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, was executed by hanging at the Mercat Cross; his head was removed and stood on the “prick on the highest stone” of the Old Tolbooth outside St Giles Cathedral until the beginning of 1661. And in 1874, the foundation stone of St Mary’s Cathedral was laid by the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry; inside the stone was placed a bottle containing a copy of the Trust Deed, the Edinburgh Post Office Directory, Oliver and Boyd’s Almanac, newspapers, and coins.

22nd In 1562, the Town Council ordered fornicators and others convicted of various misdemeanours to be dooked in the Nor’ Loch; And in 1691, the council granted permission to Mr Mathias Fase, a Dutchman, to exhibit 3 Turkish people (a man, a woman, and a little boy) at any location in the Canongate. Also in 1859, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, was born in Edinburgh at 11 Picardy Place.

25th In 1726, the first circulating library opened in Edinburgh. And in 1859, the last performance at the Theatre Royal in Shakespeare Square was staged; the photo shows the original theatre by Shakespeare Square being demolished later that year to make way for the grand GPO building that would replace it. Also in 1896, the Foundation Stone of the New North Bridge was laid.

28th In 1573, the siege of Edinburgh Castle finally ended. And in 1811, Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, died in Edinburgh at the age of 69; Dundas was a lawyer and politician whose professional career led him into disrepute, ending with him becoming the last ever person to be impeached in the House of Lords; his deft and almost total control of Scottish politics during a long period when no monarch visited the country, led to him being pejoratively nicknamed King Harry the Ninth; he became infamous for obstructing moves to bring about an end to the slave trade in the 1790s. Also in 1905, construction of the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh commenced.

29th In 1687, the Order of the Thistle was founded by King James VII; he directed that the Abbey Church at the Palace of Holyroodhouse be converted to a Chapel for the Order of the Thistle; however, he was deposed in 1688 and the Chapel had been destroyed during riots; the Order did not have a Chapel until 1911, when one was added onto St Giles High Kirk in Edinburgh.

30th In 1936, Portobello Open Air Pool was opened at a cost of £90,000.

31st In 1878, Eugene Chantrelle, a Frenchman, was executed by hanging within Calton Jail for poisoning his wife, Elizabeth. And in 1962, the Gaumont cinema in Edinburgh was destroyed by fire. Also in 2014, Trams formally returned to Edinburgh streets.