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Brothers Hugh James Baird and Robert G. Baird were listed at No. 8 in the 1845-46 directory. The following year they were at 2 Grove Street. Hugh James Baird, an accountant, was born in Russia and baptised at the British chaplaincy in St Petersburg on 08 July 1793, son of James Baird and Margaret Gunning….

William Smith, a chemist and druggist, took up residence at No. 1 in 1896 and remained there until his death in 1931. His daughter Catherine Janet Smith, also a chemist, continued to occupy the apartment until 1959. William Smith was born at Lerwick, Shetland on 20 February 1848, son of bookseller Robert Smith and his…

Margaret Milne and three of her children occupied a ground floor apartment at No. 1 when the 1891 census was recorded. She was born Margaret Archibald on 17 February 1831, at Urquhart, Moray, daughter of John Archibald and Margaret Allan. She married John Milne, a mason, on 21 December 1850, at Urquhart, Moray. Margaret Archibald…

James Denholm, ‘writer’, was listed at No. 1 from 1870 to 1873. In the 1871 census his occupation was clerk in a stationery business. He was born at Kilwinning, Ayrshire on 21 November 1847, son of Alexander Denholm and Helen Smith. The family moved to Edinburgh about 1852. Alexander Denholm, a coachman and hostler, died…

Mrs Jane Bookless lived at No. 1 between 1874 and 1876, before moving to No. 5 Reid Terrace. She was the widow of James Bookless, an East Lothian plumber who died in 1867 at the age of 39, in North Berwick. She was born Jane Peffers at Haddington on 01 March 1825, daughter of currier…

William George Cuthbertson, a stationery wholesaler, lived at No. 1 between 1882 and 1886. He was born in Edinburgh on 21 May 1857, son of William Fairbairn Cuthbertson and his wife Mary Tait. William Cuthbertson senior (1821-1883) was a bookseller and stationer, later a stationery wholesaler, with business premises at 4 Albany Street. William Cuthbertson…

Hugh Elder, a commercial traveller, was at No. 1 from about 1891 to 1894. In the 1891 census, taken on 05 April, he was recorded at 5 Clarence Street. He had returned to Clarence Street by March 1895. Hugh Elder was born in Edinburgh on 28 October 1857, the son of Alexander Elder, a sauce…