Alex Ponton

Alexander Ponton, solicitor and procurator fiscal for the City of Edinburgh lived at No. 6 from about 1826 to 1829.¹ He was born in Edinburgh on 12 August 1769, son of Alexander Ponton, a wright and measurer, and his wife Isobel Anderson.² Alexander junior was a practising solicitor by 1795³ and in 1807 was appointed procurator fiscal in the Dean of Guild and other city courts by the Magistrates of Edinburgh.⁴ He paid £300 to his predecessor as an inducement to resign in his favour.⁵ In addition to a salary he was entitle to receive one-sixth of all fines.⁶ His income from successful prosecutions became a topic of public debate in 1821, when he proposed a Society for the Protection of Private Property, to bring forward prosecutions for theft, robbery and swindling.⁷ Alexander Ponton died about two years after leaving No. 6, on 29 December 1831.⁸

On 28 October 1795, Alexander Ponton married at Edinburgh, Barbara Ponton, daughter of Mungo Ponton, farmer at Balgreen.⁹ Barbara Ponton died on 09 March 1809,¹⁰ two weeks after giving birth to her third daughter, Jane Stewart Ponton.¹¹

Alexander and Barbara Ponton had five children.  When Alexander took up residence at No. 6 Malta Terrace all surviving children would have been adults. Their second son, Mungo Ponton, a writer, was also listed at No. 6 in the Directories for 1826-27 and 1827-28.¹² He was born 20 August 1805¹³ and died of typhus fever on 05 February 1846.¹⁴ He is not to be confused with his cousin, Mungo Pontin, W.S. (1802-1880), who married his sister Margaret, second daughter of Alexander Ponton and Barbara Ponton.

1. PO Directories 1826-27, 1827-28 and 1828-29.
2. Baptisms (OPR) Scotland. St Cuthbert’s, Edinburgh. 12 August 1769. PONTON, Alexander. 685/2 80 383. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 03 November 2023.
3. Aitchison, Thomas. (1795) A Directory for Edinburgh Leith Musselburgh and Dalkeith. 1794-95. Edinburgh: R. Wilson. p. 148. https://digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/archive/83988326: accessed 03 November 2023.
4. Burials (OPR) Scotland. Edinburgh. 29 December 1831. PONTON, Alexander. 685/1 1000/ 219. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 03 November 2023.
5. Eleventh Report of the Commissioners on the Courts of Justice in Scotland, 1822.
6. John McGowan (2012) Policing the Metropolis of Scotland: A History of the Police and Systems of Police in Edinburgh & Edinburghshire. Second Edition. p. 60.
7. David G, Barrie and Susan Broomhall (2014) Police Courts in Nineteenth Century Scotland, Vol. 1, page 108.
8. Burials (OPR) Scotland. St Cuthbert’s, Edinburgh. 29 December 1931. PONTON, Alexander. 685/1 1000 219. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk
9. Marriages (OPR) Scotland. Edinburgh. 28 October 1795. PONTON, Alexander and PONTON, Barbara. 685/1 520/ 201. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 08 October 2024.
10. Death announcements. Scotland. The Scots Magazine. March 1809. PONTON. p. 80, col. 1. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 08 October 2024.
11. Baptisms (OPR) Scotland. Edinburgh. 02 March 1809. PONTON, Jane Stewart. 685/1 410/ 92. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 08 October 2024.
12. PO Directories 1826-27 and 1827-28.
13. Baptisms (OPR) Scotland. Edinburgh. 20 August 1805. PONTON, Mungo. 685/1 400/ 284. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 08 October 2024.
14. Burials (OPR) Scotland. St Cuthbert’s, Edinburgh. 05 February 1846. PONTON, Mungo. 685/2 610 83. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 08 October 2024.