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Foot of Leith Walk Looking up the Walk |
May 1955
© JL Stevenson, with acknowledgement to his son Hamish, and also to Kenneth Williamson for providing a copy of this photo.
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Foot of Leith Walk |
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People and Traffic Photo 1 above shows a busy scene at the 'fit o' the walk'. The photo was taken in May 1955, about 18 months before Edinburgh's tram system closed. A crowd has gathered and a loudspeaker can be can be seen in the lower-left corner of this photo, in front of the statue of Queen Victoria. There is an interesting mix of traffic in the background. Those were the days when traffic at the 'fit o' the walk' was controlled by a Policeman in a white coat on Points Duty, rather than by traffic lights. |
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Questions 1. Do you recognise anybody in the crowd? Please click here to enlarge this photo and see the faces more clearly. 2. Do you know who the speaker was and what his subject was? Might it have been political? 3. Do you have any comments about the traffic in the background? I look forward to seeing if anybody responds to any of these questions. Please email me if you have any comments or answers. Thank you. |
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Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: April 11, 2014 |
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Replies |
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Thank you to all who replied, sending: - their recollections (See Replies Index, below) - more photos. (See Photo 2 and Photo 3, below.) |
Possibly May 1951?
Zoom-out on Photo 1: Independent Candidate, A Murray
See also: Reply 3 below and subsequent replies below
© Reproduced with acknowledgement to Scran. Ref. 13044 02102926.jpg 000-000-038-226-R
May 1955
Labour Candidate, JH Hoy
See also: Reply 8 below and subsequent replies below
© Reproduced with acknowledgement to Scran. Ref. 140414 05012633.jpg 000-000-057-933-R
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Replies Index |
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| 1. |
Andy Hall |
The Brewery Wagon |
| 2. |
David Bain |
The Brewery Wagon |
| 3. |
Brian
Alexander |
Photo 1 - Sunbeam Talbot Photo 2 - General Election Dates - Sunbeam Talbot - Morris Van |
| 4. |
Peter Stubbs |
General Election Dates |
| 5. |
Donald Grant |
Small Van - Morris Mi - Morris Cowley |
| 6. |
Donald Grant |
Small Van - Morris Mi - Post Office Telephones van |
| 7. |
Gus Coutts |
General Election, 1951 |
| 8. |
Brian
Alexander |
General Election Candidates, 1955 - A Murray - JH Hoy |
| 9. |
Kenneth
Williamson |
General Election Candidates, 1955 Man in the White Coat |
| 10. |
David Bain |
Morris Minor Van |
| 11. |
Andy Hall |
The Brewery Wagon Sunbeam Talbot 90 |
| 12. |
Peter Stubbs |
Questions - In the Crowd |
| 13. |
Marjory
Williamson |
General Election Candidates, 1955 - Murray, Meikie and Hoy |
| 14. |
James Lyon |
General Election Candidates, 1955 - Pat Fagan on the soap box |
| 15. |
James Lyon |
General Election Candidates, 1955 - Pat Fagan on the soap box |
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Reply 1. Andy Hall Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland, England |
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Thank you to Andy Hall who replied: |
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The Brewery Wagon "The brewery wagon on the left is from Scottish & Newcastle. It must be fairly old as the Barrels on the rear look like hogsheads which I believe held around 54 gallons. Health and safety would prevent their use today." Andy Hall: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland, England: April 12, 2014 |
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Reply 2. David Bain Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England |
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David Bain added: |
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The Brewery Wagon "Mention of hogsheads above reminded me of my father. He was a cooper, eventually becoming General Secretary of the National Union of Coopers. He always referred to hogsheads as 'huggets'." David Bain, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England: April 12, 2014 |
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Reply 3. Brian Alexander Prestonfield, Edinburgh |
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Thank you to Brian Alexander who replied: |
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Photo 1 Sunbeam Talbot "Photo 1 above is very interesting, particularly the the light coloured Sunbeam Talbot 90 Mk I turning from Leith Walk." Photo 2 General Election Dates "Here is the original image, sourced from the SCRAN website.
© Reproduced with acknowledgement to Scran. Ref. 13044 02102926.jpg 000-000-038-226-R The date attributed on SCRAN is 17 May 1951 and the caption reads, 'General Election Campaign at Leith - Sir A. Murray at Open Air Meeting'. The dates given on the SCRAN site are not always accurate, but it is probable the date of 1951 is correct as it was an election year. (I agree with your comments about the reliability of SCRAN dates. Please also see my Reply 4 below. Peter Stubbs) Sunbeam Talbot and Morris Van The Talbot 90 Mk I was manufactured from 1948 to 1950, so that fits. However, I was initially put off this theory when I looked a bit closer at what looks like a Morris Minor Van (with some kind of attachment on the roof) to the left of the image coming down The 'Walk' with a lorry on its left and a large van on the right and the Minor vans were not made until 1953! Closer inspection shows a Split Windscreen on the 'Morris', the vans were never fitted with split screens so it can't be a Morris Minor, and that takes us back to 1951. I can't determine what make this small van is, if it is a van! However, others may be able to throw more light on the matter. Brian Alexander, Prestonfield, Edinburgh: April 13, 2014 |
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Comments |
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Reply 4. Peter Stubbs Edinburgh |
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Hi Brian: General Election Dates Thanks for your comments, in your Reply 3 above, about the possible date of the photo Yes, 1951 was a General Election year - but so was 1955! In fact the General Elections were held on: - 25 Oct 1951 and - 26 May 1955. Photo 1 and Photo 2 both have a month of May attributed to them, so 1955 would seem to me to be the more likely year for the photo to have been taken. i.e. about a week (rather than about 5 months) before the General Election. A little more investigation into the political activities of Sir A Murray in the 1950s might help to confirm the date of this photo. Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: April 13, 2014 |
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Reply 5. Donald Grant Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland |
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David Grant wrote: |
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Small Van Morris Minor "I read Brian Alexander's comments above, regarding what he thought may have been a Morris Minor Van. Unfortunately because I don't have a large enough version of the photo I'm unable to see the vehicle he mentions. It my have been a Morris Cowley MCV." Morris Cowley "It's not generally known by people born after the mid- 1950s that prior to the introduction of the Morris Minor there was a much bigger and very similar looking vehicle produced i.e. the Morris Oxford. A commercial version was released as a van, pick up and chassis cab model and was produced from 1950 to 1956 as the Morris Cowley MCV. It would be easy for the untrained to to mistake a frontal shot of the Cowley for a Minor. Here is a photo of Morris Cowley MCV to illustrate the similarity. I have to say that although this photo appears on various websites, I'm unable to attribute copyright ownership." ** Donald Grant, Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland: April 14, 2014 |
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Reply Photo of Morris Cowley MCV ** For copyright reasons, I've not added Donald's photo of the Morris Cowley van to the EdinPhoto web site. However, a copy of it can be found on this Wikipedia page. It's the photo of the cream and maroon van that appears on the right-hand side of the page beside the heading: 'Morris Cowley MCV (1950-1956)'. Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: April 14, 2014 |
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Reply 6. Donald Grant Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland |
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Thank you to David Grant for writing again. Donald wrote: |
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Small Van Morris Minor "Further to my last email, I've managed to get a large version of the Photo 2 and can confirm that the van that Brian Alexander mentions is in fact a Morris Minor. Contrary to Brian's statement, Morris Minor vans were indeed produced with split windscreens from 1953 onwards. The split windscreen would have survived until 1956 when the single screen was introduced across the range." Post Office Telephones Van "In all probability the van in Photo 2 is a Post Office Telephones vehicle and the attachments on the roof that Brian mentions are the engineers' ladders. Here is a photo of one of these vans. Again I'm unable to attribute copyright for this photo." *** Donald Grant, Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland: April 14, 2014 |
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Reply Post Office Telephones Morris Minor Van *** For copyright reasons, I've not added Donald's photo of the Post Office Telephones van to the EdinPhoto web site. However the photo can be seen by clicking on this Internet link. Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: April 14, 2014 |
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Reply 7. Gus Coutts Duddingston, Edinburgh |
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Gus Coutts wrote: |
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General Elections 1951 "Were there not 2 General Elections in 1951/2 (I'm not sure if they were both in 51) the first where The Attlee Government just held on to power and the second where the Tories under Churchill were returned" **** Gus Coutts, Duddingston, Edinburgh: April 14, 2014 |
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Reply 1950 and 1951 **** Hi Gus: This wikipedia page shows that the two UK General Elections that were held close together in the early-1950s were, in fact, held on: - 23 February 1950 and - 25 October 1951 Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: April 14, 2014 |
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Reply 8. Brian Alexander Prestonfield, Edinburgh |
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Brian Alexander added: |
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General Election Candidates A Murray 1955 "A bit of further research shows that A Murray stood as an Independent candidate for Leith in the General Election held on 26 May 1955 and came third. He did not stand in 1951, so the correct date of Photos 1 and 2 above must be 1955. Another Photo 1955 Here is another photograph taken at the Foot o' the Walk, again from SCRAN and dated 17 May 1951. This time the date is clearly wrong as the image shows a speaker on his soap box ether supporting the candidate Hoy or Hoy himself. JH Hoy did stand as Labour candidate for Leith, and took the seat, at the General Election in 1955 but did not stand in 1951. The film advertised over the entrance to what was the Palace Cinema is 'Loophole' released on 28 March 1954. The speaker has a neck tie in his hand and seems to be making a point about it, or with it.
© Reproduced with acknowledgement to Scran. Ref. 140414 05012633.jpg 000-000-057-933-R Brian Alexander, Prestonfield, Edinburgh: April 14, 2014 |
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Reply 9. Kenneth Williamson Silverknowes, Edinburgh |
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Kenneth Williamson who originally sent Photo 1 to me, wrote: |
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General Election Candidates 1955 "Thank you to all for your interesting comments so far. - The date of Photo 1 is definitely 1955. - I spoke to my wife, Marjorie, about Sir A Murray and she told me that when he was campaigning she and other children would chant: 'Don't vote for Murray, he's in a hurry, Vote for Hoy, he's the boy'. I don't know who Hoy was.
Man in the White Coat "The chap in the white coat is not a policeman. He is controlling the points box so that the trams go in the correct direction. There were boxes throughout Edinburgh for this purpose." Kenneth Williamson, Silverknowes, Edinburgh: April 14, 2014 |
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Reply 10. David Bain Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England |
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David Bain wrote: |
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Morris Minor Van "The van mentioned certainly looks like a Minor to me and I would further offer that the attachment on the roof is a Post Office Telephones ladder rack. I must confess, though, that I thought they mainly had Morris 8s until fairly late on." David Bain, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England: April 14, 2014 |
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Reply 11. Allan Dodds Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England |
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Allan Dodds wrote: |
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The Brewery Wagon "The photo is 1955. However, the dray wagon on the left is Scottish Brewers as they didn't merge with Newcastle Brewers until 1960. The logo on the driver's door is Youngers Ale." Sunbeam Talbot 90 "The Sunbeam Talbot 90 was produced right up to 1957. I was the proud owner of one!" Allan Dodds, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England: April 14, 2014 |
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Reply 12. Peter Stubbs Edinburgh |
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Questions Thank you to all for your prompt and helpful replies to the three questions that I asked near the top of this page. Two of the three questions have now been comprehensively answered. That just leaves my question 1. i.e. In the Crowd 1. Do you recognise anybody in the crowd? Please click here or on the thumbnail image above to enlarge this photo and see the faces more clearly. Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: April 15, 2014 |
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Reply 13. Marjorie Williamson Silverknowes, Edinburgh |
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Marjorie Williamson wrote: |
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General Election Candidates 1955 "I remember the chant mentioned in Recollections 9 above 'Don't vote for Murray, he's in a hurry, Vote for Hoy, he's the boy'. I also remember that when Meikie was a candidate., we used to sing: 'Don't vote for Meikie, he's too cheeky, Vote for Hoy, he's the boy'. " Marjorie Williamson, Silverknowes, Edinburgh: April 23, 2014 |
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Reply 14. James Lyon Luncarty, Perthshire |
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Thank you to James Lyon who wrote: |
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General Election Candidates 1955 "I am like the coos tail, aye ahint**, but just came across this photo for the General Election 1955: ** This is a Scottish expression, meaning 'always behind'. - Peter Stubbs
© Reproduced with acknowledgement to Scran. Ref. 140414 05012633.jpg 000-000-057-933-R
The gentleman standing on the soap box with the caption: 'Vote for Hoy. He’s our Boy' is my step grandfather, Pat Fagan. He lived in North Fort Street. This is the first photo I have ever seen of him." James Lyon, Luncarty, Perthshire: 24 February 2014 |
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Reply 15. Kate McDaid Bonnington, Edinburgh |
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Thank you to Kate McDaid who wrote: |
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Policeman on Duty 1955 "The policeman at the foot of the walk in this photo was my dad, Gerry McDaid. We lived in Great Junction street, so my mum could see him from the window."
© JL Stevenson, with acknowledgement to his son Hamish, and also to Kenneth Williamson for providing a copy of this photo.
"I used to meet my dad at the police box in Henderson Street when it was his break. As the police boxes were all metal, they were freezing inside. Kate McDaid, Bonnington, Edinburgh: 16 March 2019 |
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