Hugh Elder

Hugh Elder, a commercial traveller, was at No. 1 from about 1891 to 1894.¹ In the 1891 census, taken on 05 April, he was recorded at 5 Clarence Street.² He had returned to Clarence Street by March 1895.³

Hugh Elder was born in Edinburgh on 28 October 1857, the son of Alexander Elder, a sauce and pickle manufacturer, and his wife Grace Spittal Walker.⁴ His occupation in Post Office Directories and the 1891 census was recorded as ‘commercial traveller,’ but in 1901 Hugh Elder was described as a coffee essence manufacturer in Leith⁵ and in the electoral register of 1905 as a sauce manufacturer. He died at 89 East Trinity Road, Leith, on 29 October 1946.⁶

Hugh Elder married Maggie (Madge) Medcalf at Kendal parish church on 16 July 1885.⁷ She was born at Kendal, Westmoreland and baptised there on 11 September 1863, daughter of Edward Medcalf, a linsey (linen) manufacturer, and Margaret Cragg.⁸ She died in Leith in 1941.⁹

They had two children born before 1891 who would have lived with them at No. 1 Malta Terrace. The elder, Margaret Medcalf Elder, was born at Kendal in early 1885¹⁰ and baptised there on 01 October 1886.¹¹ She married John Husband, a solicitor, living at 131 Whitehedge Road, Garston, Liverpool in 1921¹² and at the same address in 1939.¹³ She died at Bangor, Caernarvonshire in 1965.¹⁴

Alexander Elder was in Edinburgh in 1890.¹⁵ He was a (temporary) 2nd Lieutenant in the 15th Battalion of the Royal Scots when he was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 01 July 1916.¹⁶

1. PO Directories.
2. Census records. St Andrew, Edinburgh. 05 April 1891. ELDER, Hugh (Head). 685/2 82/ 03. Ancestry collection ‘1891 Scotland Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 20 May 2024.
3. Births (SR) Scotland. St Andrew, Edinburgh. 20 March 1895. ELDER, Edward Medcalf. 685/2 315. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 31 August 2024.
4. Births (SR) Scotland. Heriot and Warriston, Edinburgh. 28 October 1857. ELDER, Hugh. 685/7 521. Ancestry collection ‘Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 20 May 2024.
5. Census records. Scotland. Leith, Midlothian. 31 March 1901. ELDER, Hugh. 692/1 23A/ 47. Ancestry collection ‘1901 Scotland Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 20 May 2024.
6. Death announcements. Scotland. The Scotsman. 30 October 1946. ELDER. p. 8, col. 1. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 19 May 2024.
7. Marriages (CR) England. Kendal, Westmoreland. 16 July 1885. ELDER, Hugh and MEDCALF, Maggie. vol. 10b, p. 930. Ancestry collection ‘England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 20 May 2024.
8. Deaths index (SR) Scotland. Leith, Edinburgh. 1941. ELDER, Madge. 685/8 336. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 20 May 2024.
9. Deaths index (SR) Scotland. Leith, Edinburgh. 1941. ELDER, Madge. 685/8 336. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 20 May 2024.
10. Births index (CR) England. Ulverston, Westmoreland. Q1, 1885. MEDCALF, Margaret. vol. 08E, p. 787. https://gro.gov.uk: accessed 20 May 2024.
11. Baptisms (PR) England. Kendal, Westmoreland. 01 October 1886. ELDER, Margaret Medcalf. Ancestry collection ‘England & Wales, Christening Index, 1530-1980.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 20 May 2024.
12. Census records. England. Liverpool, Lancashire. 19 June 1921. HUSBAND, John (Head). RG15/17931. https://findmypast.co.uk: accessed 21 May 2024.
13. Census records. England. Liverpool, Lancashire. 29 September 1939. HUSBAND, John. RG 101/4371F. Ancestry collection ‘1939 England and Wales Register.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 21 May 2024.
14. Deaths index (CR) England and Wales. Bangor, Caernarvonshire. Q3, 1965. HUSBAND, Margaret M. vol. 8a, p. 92. Ancestry collection ‘England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 20 May 2024.
15. Births index (SR) Scotland. Edinburgh. 1890. ELDER, Alexander. 685/2 96. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 31 August 2024.
16. ‘UK Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-1919.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 31 August 2024.