Diarmid Mogg
@diarmidmogg.bsky.social
Mostly Edinburgh history, tenement life stories and the like. Current project - Tenement Town; Previous project - Small Town Noir.
For more stories of urban misery and cruel fate, go to tenementtown.com.
October 13, 2025 at 11:42 AM
For more stories of urban misery and cruel fate, go to tenementtown.com.
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.
1835—Alex Peat, bookseller, who was drowned, along with his brother, when the ice cracked under a group of skaters on Duddingston loch—“these two, melancholy to relate, sank before any efficient aid could be afforded.”
October 13, 2025 at 11:40 AM
1835—Alex Peat, bookseller, who was drowned, along with his brother, when the ice cracked under a group of skaters on Duddingston loch—“these two, melancholy to relate, sank before any efficient aid could be afforded.”
1860—Dr James Lawrie (ground-floor-right), who owned the Sciennes Hill Hydropathic Baths, featuring a "NEW and IMPROVED ELECTRO-CHEMICAL BATH for the removal of Mercury and other deleterious substances from the body, as well as a remedy for Paralysis, Sciatica, Rheumatic, and Nervous Complaints.”
October 13, 2025 at 11:40 AM
1860—Dr James Lawrie (ground-floor-right), who owned the Sciennes Hill Hydropathic Baths, featuring a "NEW and IMPROVED ELECTRO-CHEMICAL BATH for the removal of Mercury and other deleterious substances from the body, as well as a remedy for Paralysis, Sciatica, Rheumatic, and Nervous Complaints.”
1866—Miss Margaret Laing, who died of “Natural Decay”, aged 70—the daughter of Major Thomas Laing, who fought in the Peninsular war, where he was nicknamed “Robinson Crusoe” and shunned by the other officers due to his “not being very exact in his dress and being eccentric in his habits”.
October 13, 2025 at 11:40 AM
1866—Miss Margaret Laing, who died of “Natural Decay”, aged 70—the daughter of Major Thomas Laing, who fought in the Peninsular war, where he was nicknamed “Robinson Crusoe” and shunned by the other officers due to his “not being very exact in his dress and being eccentric in his habits”.
1866—John Bent, from Sussex, whose studies in the medical school were financed by an inheritance from his grandfather, who had made a fortune selling sugar grown by his slaves in his plantation in Demerara.
October 13, 2025 at 11:40 AM
1866—John Bent, from Sussex, whose studies in the medical school were financed by an inheritance from his grandfather, who had made a fortune selling sugar grown by his slaves in his plantation in Demerara.
Thomas had practised in various fancy addresses in the New Town before, in his 50th year, moving to Rankeillor Street in the southside, where, within a month, he contracted pneumonia and died of a heart attack.
October 13, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Thomas had practised in various fancy addresses in the New Town before, in his 50th year, moving to Rankeillor Street in the southside, where, within a month, he contracted pneumonia and died of a heart attack.
1883—Thomas Winton, dentist (ground-floor-left), “who has had long experiences in the first houses of London and Paris” and “manufactures and inserts Beautiful Enamelled Teeth at prices so moderate as to defy all competition.”
October 13, 2025 at 11:39 AM
1883—Thomas Winton, dentist (ground-floor-left), “who has had long experiences in the first houses of London and Paris” and “manufactures and inserts Beautiful Enamelled Teeth at prices so moderate as to defy all competition.”
“I never at any other time had a feeling in any way resembling that. At the time, I was in perfect health, and in every way in comfortable circumstances. I may add I never knew of my sister’s illness.”
October 13, 2025 at 11:39 AM
“I never at any other time had a feeling in any way resembling that. At the time, I was in perfect health, and in every way in comfortable circumstances. I may add I never knew of my sister’s illness.”
“By the next mail, I got word that at 11 am on the 7th January my sister died. The island I lived in was St Kitts, and the death took place in Edinburgh. Please note the hours and allow for the difference in time and you will notice a remarkable coincidence.
October 13, 2025 at 11:39 AM
“By the next mail, I got word that at 11 am on the 7th January my sister died. The island I lived in was St Kitts, and the death took place in Edinburgh. Please note the hours and allow for the difference in time and you will notice a remarkable coincidence.
“I got up with a strong feeling that there was something happening at my old home in Scotland. At 7 am I mentioned to my sister-in-law my strange dread, and said even at that hour what I dreaded was taking place.
October 13, 2025 at 11:39 AM
“I got up with a strong feeling that there was something happening at my old home in Scotland. At 7 am I mentioned to my sister-in-law my strange dread, and said even at that hour what I dreaded was taking place.
1883—Mr A C___n (ground-floor-left), who wrote to the Institute for Psychical Research to report an uncanny incident that took place on 7 January 1871, when he was living in the West Indies:
October 13, 2025 at 11:39 AM
1883—Mr A C___n (ground-floor-left), who wrote to the Institute for Psychical Research to report an uncanny incident that took place on 7 January 1871, when he was living in the West Indies:
Samuel died of a heart attack in 1909, aged 60, in Newcastle, where he had opened his own picture framer’s (“Deathblow to Big Profits—Best & Cheapest Picture-Framing Shop in the City”). Isadora went to live with one of their children in South Africa, where she died in 1946, aged 84.
October 13, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Samuel died of a heart attack in 1909, aged 60, in Newcastle, where he had opened his own picture framer’s (“Deathblow to Big Profits—Best & Cheapest Picture-Framing Shop in the City”). Isadora went to live with one of their children in South Africa, where she died in 1946, aged 84.
(They had eight other children— Paulina, Isaac, Louise, Henry, Solomon, Reuben, Jacob and Floretta—who all survived into adulthood.)
October 13, 2025 at 11:38 AM
(They had eight other children— Paulina, Isaac, Louise, Henry, Solomon, Reuben, Jacob and Floretta—who all survived into adulthood.)
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.
1883—Baby Glasstone, name not recorded, stillborn.
October 13, 2025 at 11:38 AM
1883—Baby Glasstone, name not recorded, stillborn.
1884—Agnes Glasstone, who died when she fell and fractured her skull, aged nine.
October 13, 2025 at 11:38 AM
1884—Agnes Glasstone, who died when she fell and fractured her skull, aged nine.
1887—Jacob Glasstone, who died of whooping cough, aged eight months.
October 13, 2025 at 11:37 AM
1887—Jacob Glasstone, who died of whooping cough, aged eight months.
Dr Stocks married his fiancée later that year, and continued in practice into the 20th century.
October 13, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Dr Stocks married his fiancée later that year, and continued in practice into the 20th century.
The BMJ declared that the responsible functionaries, from the “blundering policeman” to the “careless police solicitor”, should be censured in Parliament. That did not transpire.
October 13, 2025 at 11:37 AM
The BMJ declared that the responsible functionaries, from the “blundering policeman” to the “careless police solicitor”, should be censured in Parliament. That did not transpire.
The Edinburgh Evening Dispatch, outraged on the doctor’s behalf, noted that “Dr Stocks was released by means of a note whose laconic and curt tone of officialism touches the sublime, the like of which might be written to announce the release of a dog.”
October 13, 2025 at 11:37 AM
The Edinburgh Evening Dispatch, outraged on the doctor’s behalf, noted that “Dr Stocks was released by means of a note whose laconic and curt tone of officialism touches the sublime, the like of which might be written to announce the release of a dog.”
He remained there for two weeks, until uproar from the medical community—the BMJ called the case “a startling misuse of the powers vested in the representatives of the Crown”—won his release; all charges dropped.
October 13, 2025 at 11:37 AM
He remained there for two weeks, until uproar from the medical community—the BMJ called the case “a startling misuse of the powers vested in the representatives of the Crown”—won his release; all charges dropped.
A post-mortem confirmed that Alice had undergone an abortion; Dr Stocks was charged with murder, brought before the court, then “handcuffed between two pickpockets and conveyed in custody to the town gaol” to await trial.
October 13, 2025 at 11:36 AM
A post-mortem confirmed that Alice had undergone an abortion; Dr Stocks was charged with murder, brought before the court, then “handcuffed between two pickpockets and conveyed in custody to the town gaol” to await trial.