Alexander Fraser Dawson

Alexander Fraser Dawson, a chemist, lived at No. 7 between 1904 and 1950.¹ He was born on 11 June 1866 at New Deer, Aberdeenshire, son of Thomas Dawson, a railway inspector, and Mary Ogilvie Maxwell.² He registered as a chemist and druggist on 16 April 1889,³ and had chemist’s shop at 14 Deanhaugh Street (later 12-14 Deanhaugh Street) from 1895.⁴ He died at No. 7 on 16 April 1950.⁵

In 1915, Alex. F. Dawson was taken to court by the firm of R. & G. Hay, beer bottlers, to prevent him from ‘putting disinfecting fluid or other liquid’ into bottles which they sent to their customers. As part of his defence, Dawson argued it is common for people who want medicines or disinfectants to bring their own bottles to carry away their purchases and he had no means of telling what right they had to the bottles.⁶ The case was eventually dismissed.⁷

On 04 September 1895, Alexander F. Dawson married Anne Eleanor Nesbitt, at Coldstream, Berwickshire.⁸ She was born at Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland in 1866,⁹ daughter of John Nesbitt, a printer compositor, and Elizabeth Purves. She died at No. 7 Malta Terrace on 08 January 1947.¹⁰ The Dawsons do not appear to have had any children.

1. PO Directories 1904-05 to 1941-42. Electoral register 1950.
2. Births (SR) Scotland. New Deer, Aberdeenshire. DAWSON, Alexander Fraser. 225/ 63. Family Search collection ‘Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950.’ https://familysearch.org/: accessed 07 August 2022.
3. Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. (1919) The Registers of Pharmaceutical Chemists and Druggists. https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 07 August 2022.
4. PO Directory 1895-96.
5. Death announcements. The Scotsman. 17 April 1950. DAWSON, Alexander Fraser. p. 10, col. 1. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 09 September 2023.
6. ‘Use of Embossed Bottles.’ The Scotsman. 08 May 1915. p. 12, col. 6. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 09 September 2023.
7. ‘An Edinburgh Bottle Dispute.’ The Scotsman. 17 July 1916. p. 4, col. 4. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 09 September 2023.
8. Marriages (SR) Scotland. Coldstream, Berwickshire. 05 September 1895. DAWSON, A. F. and NESBITT, A. E. 733/ 15. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 09 September 2023.
9. Births index (CR) England. Berwick, Northumberland. Q2, 1866. NESBITT, Ann Eleanor. vol. 10B, p.372. https://gro.gov.uk: accessed 09 September 2023.
10. Death announcements. The Scotsman. 09 January 1947. DAWSON, Ann Eleanor. p. 8, col. 1. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 09 September 2023.