John Taylor, aged about 5 or 6, standing beside the statue of Greyfriar's Bobby

Longstone Primary School Names: left to right in each row
	Back Row	2nd Row	Front Row
1	Mr Munro	John Taylor	Frances Bold
2	Mr Gibson	Stuart Douglas ***	Mae Young
3	Alex Polson	Kenneth ?	Olive Cupido
4	Robert Montgomery	~~Maureen Gold~~ Maureen Goldie ***	Margaret Ellis
5	Robert Robertson	Carole Bruce	Eileen Daly
6	~~ohnny Holt?~~ * John Holt**	Anne Ewan	Helen Borthwick
7	Alan Forbes	Norma Deacon	Margaret Lawson
8	James Green	Irene Bowie	Irene Telford
9	Gordon Black	Carol Herschell	Margaret Gilchrist
10	G Gray	Flora ?	Ann Ford
11	~~Nicholas ?~~ Nichol Hay ***	Robert McMillan
12	Robert Fraser	George Forrest
13	Alan Sinden	Ian Faith
14	?	~~Ally Hope?~~ Alastair Hope ***
15	Norman Collie	Mrs Boyd school cleaner
16	The School Janitor
Acknowledgements Thank you to: - Margaret Leslie, London, England, for providing the photo and names in black above on July 17, 2008, and more names, July 24, 2008. - Stuart Douglas, Hillsboro, Oregon, USA for providing the name in red above: May 6, 2011. - Nichol Hay for providing the names in green above: April 22 + May 20, 2012 - Margaret Leslie (née Ellis), London, England, 25 May, 2012, for confirming the name that was supplied by Nichol Hay on May 20, 2012 - Ruth Humphreys (née Taylor), Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales, for providing the name in orange above. June 26, 2014. - Caroline Baptie, Edinburgh, who wrote on 8 December 2016: "I can confirm that no 6 in the back row is John Holt (my Dad). He still lives in Longstone and this picture hangs on the wall of the local barber shop!" *** Margaret Leslie added on 15 May 2012: "Thank you to Nichol Hay for adding in his own name and correcting that of Maureen Goldie. I remember that Ally Hope was called Alastair. The names Johnny Holt and Stuart Douglas do not ring a bell."
Anybody Else? If you recognise anybody else on this photograph, please e-mail me. Thank you. - Peter Stubbs: April 27, 2008

Longstone Primary School

Here is a photograph of Longstone Primary School, taken around 1960:

School Class and Names

Thank you to Margaret Leslie for providing the photograph of the school class above, and for remembering all the names. Margaret is in the front row, fourth from the left.

July 18, 2008

Longstone School

1949-1955

"The photo at the top of this page was taken at the end of the summer term in 1956. It is of the same class as was photographed in their first year at Longstone Primary school in 1949-50:

1949-50

Here they are in their final year at the primary school. The photo was taken by the class teacher, Mr Gibson, using a delayed action camera. (Mr Gibson, by the way, was a man who made liberal use of the tawse.)

Union Canal Viaduct

In the background is the viaduct carrying the Union Canal across the Water of Leith with a glimpse of the 'waterfall' from the canal that used to freeze into icicles during harsh winters.

The 'waterfall' was created when surplus water was released from the Union Canal, into the Water of Leith at the point where the canal passed over the river. - Peter Stubbs: July 20, 2008

Three Schools

The Longstone school building was too small to cope with all the children coming from the newly built estates of prefabs and later of permanent housing around the village.

Classes were therefore spread between Longstone, Slateford and Juniper Green village schools. We were bussed to Juniper Green. One day the driver, who did not know the way, relied on some of the boys to direct him. They mischievously misdirected him so that we didn't get to Juniper Green till near dinner time. The driver was not pleased.

The head of Longstone School was a Mr Munro.

Margaret Leslie, London, England, for providing the photo and names above: July 17, 2008

Recollection

Ruth Humphreys (née Taylor)

Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales

Thank you to Ruth Humphreys (née Taylor) for sending me the photo below of her Dad, the boy on the far left of the middle row of this Longstone Primary School class photo, wearing the boots.

This photo, taken at the junction of George IV Bridge and Candlemaker Row, was published in the Edinburgh newspaper 'The Evening Dispatch'

Ruth wrote:

1956

"Here is the photo of my Dad, standing beside the Greyfriars Bobby statue.

My Dad tells me that it was taken possibly in 1948 or 1949 when he was 5 or 6 years old. He seemed to think it was taken near Edinburgh Royal Infirmary as he lived nearby. ***

*** Please also see 'Location' below

1948-49?

© Scotsman Publications Ltd. Click here for web site details.
and with acknowledgement to Ruth Humphreys (née Taylor)
for sending me a copy of this photo.

Ruth Humphreys (née Taylor):, Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales. June 26, 2014.

Location

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary was in Lauriston Place, about half 1/4 mile SW of the present location of the Greyfriar's Bobby statue, at the corner of George IV Bridge and Candlemaker Row, close to Greyfriar's Kirk graveyard where Bobby is buried beside his master.

Maybe the 1948-49 photo was taken at the corner of George IV Bridge and Candlemaker Row.

The Plinth

However, I'm puzzled by the position of th dog in the 1948-49 photo, on the pavement.. Whenever I've seen it (even in postcards from the early 1900s) Bobby has been on top of a granite plinth, taking him about 5 or 6 ft above pavement level.

There was:

- a tap (probably now disconnected for 'health and safety' reasons) and basin surrounding the plinth, about 3 ft above the pavement

- another basin, this one with water for dogs, surrounding th eplinth at pavement level.

Here is a photo that I took in 2007, showing Greyfriar's Bobby and the top of his plinth.

Here is a postcard published in the early 1900s by Reginald P Phillimore showing the whole plinth:

Questions

Do you know where the 1948-49 photo was taken and where the plinth might have been when it was taken? If so, please email me

Maybe there will be a caption or article beside the photo in the 1948-49 edition of The Evening Dispatch, but I've not had chance to search for that.

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: July 9, 2014

Recollection

Reply

Reg Taylor

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Thank you to Reg Taylor for commenting on the photo of the boy standing beside the Greyfriars' Bobby statue in Recollections 3 above.

Reg wrote:

Beside the Greyfriars' Bobby Statue

© Scotsman Publications Ltd. Click here for web site details.
and with acknowledgement to Ruth Humphreys (née Taylor)
for sending me a copy of this photo.

"This boy in this photo with his hand on the statue of Greyfriars' Bobby is of one of my older brothers. I think it was of Billy, not John, but they did look a bit alike at that age.

I seem to remember our Dad, Jim Taylor, saying that the statue was taken down for cleaning and he happened to be walking by with Billy. We lived in Lauriston Place at the time, which was fairly close.

Billy immigrated to Perth, Australia in 1966 and sadly passed away in 1986 at age 40.

My parents and I moved to Perth the following year and I am still here, although thinking of returning as the temperature yesterday was 44.6C."

Reg Taylor, Perth, Western Australia, Australia: January 6, 2015