Robert Somerville

Robert Somerville, bookseller, publisher and stationer, lived at No. 7 from 1892 to 1897.¹ The business premises of R & H Somerville were at 9 and 10 Spring Gardens. Robert Somerville was born at Newlands, Peebles on 17 May 1831, son of Hugh Somerville and Ann Laidlaw.² He was described as a shopman in 1852, and a bookseller in subsequent censuses. By 1881 he was living in Raeburn Place and remained there until he moved to Malta Terrace in 1892. He served twice as a Councillor for St. Bernard’s Ward, was a Justice of the Peace and, for a quarter of century, Session Clerk for the Lothian Road UP Church.³ He retired from bookselling in 1883 and died at 24 Pitt Street on 30 March 1906.⁴

Robert Somerville married his first wife, Elizabeth Hodge, on 25 November 1852, at Leith.⁵ She died of cancer on 13 February 1870 at 19 North West Circus Place.⁶ A year later he married Helen Anderson or Hamilton on 14 March 1871.⁷ She was born about 1842, daughter of George Anderson and Elizabeth Crawford. At the age of 18 years, she married James C Hamilton on 29 September 1859, at St Thomas’s English Episcopal Chapel, Edinburgh.⁸ Their son, George Hamilton, lived with his mother and step-father at No. 7 Malta Terrace (below). Elizabeth Anderson died at 24 Pitt Street on 15 February 1930.⁹

1. PO Directories 1892-93 to 1896-97.
2. Baptisms (OPR) Scotland. Newlands, Peeblesshire. 17 May 1831. SOMERVILLE, Robert. 767/ 30/ 47. Ancestry collection ‘Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 18 September 2023.
3. Obituaries. Edinburgh Evening News. 3 April 1906. ‘Death of a Former Edinburgh Town Councillor.’ p. 2, col. 6. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 04 September 2023.
4. Probate records. Scotland. Edinburgh. Confirmation. 13 November 1906. SOMERVILLE, Robert. Ancestry collection ‘Scotland, National Probate Index (Calendar of Confirmations and Inventories), 1876-1936.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 18 September 2023.
5. Marriages (OPR) Scotland. St Cuthbert’s, Edinburgh. 25 November 1852. SOMERVILLE, Robert and HODGE, Elizabeth. 685/2 470/ 585. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 04 September 2023.
6. Deaths (SR) Scotland. St George, Edinburgh. 16 February 1870. SOMERVILLE, Elizabeth. 685/1 213. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 18 September 2023.
7. Marriages (SR) Scotland. Edinburgh. 06 April 1871. SOMERVILLE, Robert and ANDERSON, Helen. 685/2 73. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 03 September 2023.
8. Marriages (SR) Scotland. Edinburgh. 29 September 1859. ANDERSON, Helen and HAMILTON, James C. 685/1 190. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 18 September 2023.
9. Probate records. Scotland. Edinburgh. Confirmation. 26 May 1930. SOMERVILLE, Helen. . Ancestry collection ‘Scotland, National Probate Index (Calendar of Confirmations and Inventories), 1876-1936.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 18 September 2023.