Samuel Bough

Samuel Bough, a landscape painter who established watercolour as a significant medium in Scottish art,¹ was resident at No. 5 from 1856 to 1867.² He was born on 8 January 1822 at Carlisle, the son of James Bough, a shoemaker, and Lucy Walker.³ He moved from Malta Terrace to 7 Jordan Bank, Edinburgh,⁴ where he died on 19 November 1878.

He began work as a professional artist in Carlisle but in 1845 took a position as an assistant scene painter at the Theatre Royal Manchester.⁵ He exhibited at the Manchester Institute, winning the Heywood Gold Medal in 1847.⁶ Another theatre scene painting position took him to Glasgow in 1849. When he moved to Edinburgh in 1855, he was an established artist. He was elected Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1856, and eventually R.S.A. in 1875.⁷ He helped establish the Royal Scottish Society for Painters in Watercolour, becoming its first Vice-President.⁸

Samuel Bough married Mary Ann Isabella Taylor, an opera singer, on 15 April 1849, at Glasgow. She was born on 23 July 1823 in Aldgate, London, daughter of Thomas Taylor, a musician, and his wife, Elizabeth.⁹ She died in Edinburgh on 30 April 1900.¹⁰

1. Hichon, Gil and Hichon, Pat. (2004) Bough, Samuel. In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: OUP. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/2977: accessed 25 August 2021.
2. PO Directories 1856-57 to 1866-67.
3. Hichon, Gil and Hichon, Pat. (2004) Bough, Samuel. In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: OUP. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/2977: accessed 25 August 2021.
4. PO Directory 1867-68.
5. Fraser, A. (1879) Sam. Bough, R.S.A. The Portfolio : an artistic periodical. vol. 10,  pp. 114-115. https://www.proquest.com/historical-periodicals/sam-bough-r-s/docview/7799989/se-2?accountid=14116: accessed 25 August 2021.
6. Gilpin, Sydney. (1905) Sam Bough: Some Account of His Life and Works. London: George Bell & Sons. https://archive.org/details/samboughrsasomea00gilp: accessed 26 August 2021.
7. Hichon, Gil and Hichon, Pat. (2004) Bough, Samuel. In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: OUP. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/2977: accessed 25 August 2021.
8. Gazetteer of Scotland. Samuel Bough 1822-1878. https://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst2961.html: accessed 25 August 2021.
9. Baptisms (PR) England. Aldgate, London. 04 March 1847. TAYLOR, Mary Ann Isabel. P69/BOT2/A/01/MS 9231/3. https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 25 August 2021.
10. Testamentary records. Scotland. 07 June 1900. BOUGH, Mary Ann Isabella Taylor or. Confirmation. Edinburgh. National Probate Index. https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 25 August 2021.