Edinburgh Trades

Trades for 

Photographers, Artists and Painters

in Edinburgh

The Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directories give an insight into some of the other trades being carried out in Edinburgh during the hundred years from 1840.  The tables below show the number of businesses listed in the directories at 10-year intervals.

Photographers were first listed in the directories in the 1850s.  Initially, there was direct competition between photography and with miniature portrait painting.  The number of miniature portrait painters  declined steadily.

However many of the professional photographers would have created work for artists.  Photographs needed to be retouched, and several photographers offered their portraits “finished in oils, watercolours or crayons.”

A few of the 

Other Trades

in Edinburgh

Photography was not the only trade to be expanding 19th century. Other expanding trades included:

-  Boot and Shoe Makers

-  Clock and Watch Makers

-  Engravers and Lithographic Printers

-  Printers

Other trades, quite common in the early 20th century, had almost or completely vanished from the trade directories by 1940:

-  Straw and Leghorn Hat Makers

-  Horse Dealers

-  Van and Lorry Makers