Diarmid Mogg
@diarmidmogg.bsky.social
Mostly Edinburgh history, tenement life stories and the like. Current project - Tenement Town; Previous project - Small Town Noir.
Plans changed in favour of the more profitable tenement housing that would come to define the city’s new districts in the 19th century, leaving the older buildings oddly stranded in a row of taller neighbours, and giving the last Georgian residents of the southside a taste of the new age to come.
October 13, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Plans changed in favour of the more profitable tenement housing that would come to define the city’s new districts in the 19th century, leaving the older buildings oddly stranded in a row of taller neighbours, and giving the last Georgian residents of the southside a taste of the new age to come.
Rankeillor Street was envisioned as a terrace of elegant townhouses in the style of the New Town, but only two (shaded on the map below) had been built by 1817, when a slump in the market halted construction.
October 13, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Rankeillor Street was envisioned as a terrace of elegant townhouses in the style of the New Town, but only two (shaded on the map below) had been built by 1817, when a slump in the market halted construction.
1874—Samuel Glasstone, father of the above children, a Russian Jew who arrived in Scotland with his parents around 1860. His father went into business as a picture framer, and Samuel followed him into the trade. When he was 25, he married Isadora Mayer, the daughter of another picture framer.
October 13, 2025 at 11:38 AM
1874—Samuel Glasstone, father of the above children, a Russian Jew who arrived in Scotland with his parents around 1860. His father went into business as a picture framer, and Samuel followed him into the trade. When he was 25, he married Isadora Mayer, the daughter of another picture framer.
1896—Dr George Munro Stocks (ground-floor-left), who was called to attend a young woman in a tenement in Nicolson Street who was unknown to him—Alice Davidson, eighteen years old, a lithographic printer, who was “in great pain and very ill.”
October 13, 2025 at 11:35 AM
1896—Dr George Munro Stocks (ground-floor-left), who was called to attend a young woman in a tenement in Nicolson Street who was unknown to him—Alice Davidson, eighteen years old, a lithographic printer, who was “in great pain and very ill.”
When his parents died, the 20-year-old Lockhart Dobbie was just embarking on an amateur dramatic career, acting in short pieces written and produced by his elocution teacher. In 1912, he established his own company of players and took it on a tour of the provinces.
October 13, 2025 at 11:35 AM
When his parents died, the 20-year-old Lockhart Dobbie was just embarking on an amateur dramatic career, acting in short pieces written and produced by his elocution teacher. In 1912, he established his own company of players and took it on a tour of the provinces.
1913—Norman Doggart, a Kirkcaldy boy who lodged in the ground-floor-left flat while studying arts and medicine. He joined the air force and died in Oxfordshire in 1918, when his Bristol F2 biplane “stalled on a gliding turn” and crashed. He was 27.
October 13, 2025 at 11:34 AM
1913—Norman Doggart, a Kirkcaldy boy who lodged in the ground-floor-left flat while studying arts and medicine. He joined the air force and died in Oxfordshire in 1918, when his Bristol F2 biplane “stalled on a gliding turn” and crashed. He was 27.
1918—James Marsden, only son of James and Elizabeth (above), whose corset-making business propelled James through the Royal High School and Edinburgh University, where he gained a BSc (Distinction) four years before being killed in action in northern France.
October 13, 2025 at 11:33 AM
1918—James Marsden, only son of James and Elizabeth (above), whose corset-making business propelled James through the Royal High School and Edinburgh University, where he gained a BSc (Distinction) four years before being killed in action in northern France.
18 Rankeillor Street, Edinburgh—built around 1820. Eight flats in the stair, over two ground-floor flats. Notable former residents include:
October 13, 2025 at 11:32 AM
18 Rankeillor Street, Edinburgh—built around 1820. Eight flats in the stair, over two ground-floor flats. Notable former residents include:
Her best seller was a line of plastic pipers inside miniature bottles bearing the slogan “Frae Scotland”, which can still be found from time to time in auctions of whisky ephemera, where they fetch around £8.
July 15, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Her best seller was a line of plastic pipers inside miniature bottles bearing the slogan “Frae Scotland”, which can still be found from time to time in auctions of whisky ephemera, where they fetch around £8.
Latterly, due in part to his vehement opposition to Communism, he moved the NCLC away from classes based on explicitly Marxist theories and—in the face of great opposition from former comrades—transformed it into a more conventional workers education service.
July 15, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Latterly, due in part to his vehement opposition to Communism, he moved the NCLC away from classes based on explicitly Marxist theories and—in the face of great opposition from former comrades—transformed it into a more conventional workers education service.
In one of his many pamphlets, he wrote: “There are thousands of workers who, given a little encouragement, will transfer their interest from horse racing to the class struggle. But a working class that will not educate itself can never achieve its emancipation.”
July 15, 2025 at 11:27 AM
In one of his many pamphlets, he wrote: “There are thousands of workers who, given a little encouragement, will transfer their interest from horse racing to the class struggle. But a working class that will not educate itself can never achieve its emancipation.”
This photograph shows Edwin’s plane, loaded with casualties, landing on a lake in India at the end of his mission that day. The plane was sunk by a whirlwind later that month. (Edwin wasn’t on board.)
July 15, 2025 at 11:24 AM
This photograph shows Edwin’s plane, loaded with casualties, landing on a lake in India at the end of his mission that day. The plane was sunk by a whirlwind later that month. (Edwin wasn’t on board.)
John’s son, Edwin, who had worked in his father’s hairdressers since he was a boy, had only recently left Edinburgh, joining the RAF at the outbreak of World War 2. When his father died, Edwin was in Canada, training on Sunderland flying boats.
July 15, 2025 at 11:23 AM
John’s son, Edwin, who had worked in his father’s hairdressers since he was a boy, had only recently left Edinburgh, joining the RAF at the outbreak of World War 2. When his father died, Edwin was in Canada, training on Sunderland flying boats.
John had a heart attack five minutes into his walk home from work on a Tuesday evening in the summer of 1942, dying on the pavement outside 28 Pilrig Street. He was fifty-three.
July 15, 2025 at 11:23 AM
John had a heart attack five minutes into his walk home from work on a Tuesday evening in the summer of 1942, dying on the pavement outside 28 Pilrig Street. He was fifty-three.
1942—John Garside, who opened a barbershop on Crighton Place in Leith Walk in 1912 and ran it for the next thirty years. The premises later became a tailors, then a fancy goods store, and lately a blind shop. It has recently become a barbers again.
July 15, 2025 at 11:22 AM
1942—John Garside, who opened a barbershop on Crighton Place in Leith Walk in 1912 and ran it for the next thirty years. The premises later became a tailors, then a fancy goods store, and lately a blind shop. It has recently become a barbers again.
1954—Margaret Mason, a Gaelic singer, who married Angus Ruthven. Both were “popular members of various Clan and Highland Societies” and sang in the Edinburgh Gaelic Choir.
July 15, 2025 at 11:21 AM
1954—Margaret Mason, a Gaelic singer, who married Angus Ruthven. Both were “popular members of various Clan and Highland Societies” and sang in the Edinburgh Gaelic Choir.
30 Newhaven Road, Edinburgh—a corner tenement over one ground-floor shop, built in 1896, with four floors of “superior houses of 3 and 4 apartments”.
July 15, 2025 at 11:20 AM
30 Newhaven Road, Edinburgh—a corner tenement over one ground-floor shop, built in 1896, with four floors of “superior houses of 3 and 4 apartments”.
In 2003, her remains, having been transported in 1927 from her grave in London to Mount Vernon cemetery, were interred in a side chapel in St Patrick’s church, in the Cowgate, where she was baptised just over a hundred years before.
April 17, 2025 at 10:29 AM
In 2003, her remains, having been transported in 1927 from her grave in London to Mount Vernon cemetery, were interred in a side chapel in St Patrick’s church, in the Cowgate, where she was baptised just over a hundred years before.
In 1942, the Vatican declared her a “Servant of God”, the first step on the road to sainthood. Until the late 1960s, her family opened up the flat to visitors every weekend, with her bedroom kept much as she’d known it in life.
April 17, 2025 at 10:28 AM
In 1942, the Vatican declared her a “Servant of God”, the first step on the road to sainthood. Until the late 1960s, her family opened up the flat to visitors every weekend, with her bedroom kept much as she’d known it in life.
The abbess wrote, “She seems to be a great help and source of encouragement to the working classes to whom she belonged and who turn to her for help in every need”. A committee was set up to record all claims of such favours and cures (which came, in time, from across the world).
April 17, 2025 at 10:28 AM
The abbess wrote, “She seems to be a great help and source of encouragement to the working classes to whom she belonged and who turn to her for help in every need”. A committee was set up to record all claims of such favours and cures (which came, in time, from across the world).
1908—Margaret Sinclair, who moved in to a third-floor flat with her family when she was seven. At 13, she became a French polisher at the Shulman cabinetmakers in the Cowgate; at 21, she was a cabinet polisher in a biscuit factory; and, at 22, she left home to become a nun.
April 17, 2025 at 10:27 AM
1908—Margaret Sinclair, who moved in to a third-floor flat with her family when she was seven. At 13, she became a French polisher at the Shulman cabinetmakers in the Cowgate; at 21, she was a cabinet polisher in a biscuit factory; and, at 22, she left home to become a nun.
1924—Catherine McKinlay, a twenty-three-year-old music hall artiste who met Abraham Shulman, sometime pianist in local band the Four Rascals Dance Orchestra, while they were both working in the Shulman cabinetmakers warehouse in the Cowgate.
April 17, 2025 at 10:26 AM
1924—Catherine McKinlay, a twenty-three-year-old music hall artiste who met Abraham Shulman, sometime pianist in local band the Four Rascals Dance Orchestra, while they were both working in the Shulman cabinetmakers warehouse in the Cowgate.