Canongate Churchyard
Encyclopedia
The Canongate Kirkyard stands around Canongate Kirk on the Royal Mile
in Edinburgh
, Scotland. The churchyard was used for burials from the late 1680s until the mid 20th century.
The most celebrated burials at the kirkyard are the economist Adam Smith
and the poet Robert Fergusson
, but many other notable people were interred in the cemetery, including Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie, the inspiration for Dickens' character Ebenezer Scrooge
, and possibly David Rizzio
, the murdered private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots.
at the foot of the Royal Mile, and Lady Yester’s Church on High School Wynd. In 1687 King James VII
adopted the abbey church as a Royal Chapel, and the general population worshipped in Lady Yester’s Kirk (built in 1647) until 1691. Both of these sites formerly served as burial grounds to the parish.
The new Canongate Kirk was founded in 1688 and completed in 1691. A large area of ground was purchased beyond that required for the erection of the church, and this appears to have been used for burial immediately from the church's foundation in 1688. This area is now fully occupied as a burial ground.
Due to peculiarities in the parish boundaries, the parish also included some properties on the Nor Loch
and, due to an ancient charter linking the castle to Holyrood
, also Edinburgh Castle
, which saw itself as separate from the parish of Edinburgh, under St Giles'. This led to many burials of soldiers from the castle within the section to the north of the churchyard.
In 1952 the old Church Hall to the east, facing the Canongate, was demolished. This area was reformed as a sunken garden and the Burgh Cross, dating from 1128, was relocated here as a centre-piece, having formerly stood in the roadway in front of the church. The cross was restored in 1888, when it was moved from its temporary home in front of the Canongate Tolbooth
to in front of the church, before its transition to the sunken garden in 1953.
". It is incribed "This stone is for the society of Coachdrivers In the Canongate It was chiefly erected by Thomas Jamieson and Robert Maving, treasurer, 1734-65". Below this inscription is a relief sculpture of a coach and horses crossing a bridge. The drivers operated the Edinburgh to London route from White Horse Close, around 200 metres (656.2 ft) to the east. Several of the Company are interred at this spot.
John Frederick Lampe
(1703–1751) was a composer, conductor and writer of hymn-tunes for Charles Wesley
and others. His stone, just to the north of the Fettes tomb, is now badly eroded and for the most part illegible. At the base of the stone is a skull and two crossed bones, and at the top two figures hold a small book with some of his composition inscribed. The stone formerly read:
Bishop Robert Keith
(1681–1757) authored A History of the Church and State in Scotland from the Reformation to 1568.
Professor Charles Alston
(1683–1760), lecturer in Botany and Medicinal Plants at Edinburgh University, was co-founder of the Edinburgh School of Medicine
in 1726.
George Drummond
(1688–1766) was six times Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and the founder of Edinburgh New Town. He was responsible for the redevelopment of Edinburgh, founding the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary
; co-founding the Medical School; draining the Nor’ Loch; founding the Royal Exchange in 1753; and most importantly, initiating and founding the New Town and the first North Bridge
(1763).
John Gregory
MD (1724–1773) and his son James Gregory
MD (1753–1821) were from a long line of Gregorys from Aberdeen, eminent in both medicine and science. John was Professor of Medicine in Aberdeen from 1755 to 1766, and at Edinburgh University from 1766 until his death. James was a doctor and publisher, who succeeded his father in the chair of Medicine at Edinburgh University in 1776, and also had a separate chair in the Practice of Medicine from 1790. He was the inventor of "Gregory’s Powder" a mixture of magnesia, rhubarb and ginger, used in the treatment of stomach complaints for around 150 years.
Poet Robert Fergusson
(1750–1774) was trained as a minister, but abandoned this to take up poetry at the age of 22, supplementing his income by working as a clerk. His career was short-lived, and he died in the Edinburgh lunatic asylum, then called Darien House, on Bristo Street. Robert Burns was inspired to be a poet by reading Fergusson’s work. It is likely that Burns left monies in his will to erect a monument in grateful memory, penning the inscription himself. The year of birth on the stone is incorrect, though the day and month are correct. The monument was erected in June 1828, after Burns’ own death, but at his express wish. The grave was fully restored in 2010, replacing the enclosing ironwork and chains, and cleaning the stone. The gravestone reads:
The reverse is inscribed:
A further plaque within the front enclosure explains how Robert Louis Stevenson
was going to re-inscribe the stone in the mid 19th century. A statue was erected to Fergusson on the pavement at the churchyard entrance in 2007.
Alexander Runciman
(1736–1785) and his brother John Runciman
(1744–1766) were painters. Their bronze plaque on the outer west wall of the church bears their heads, and was erected in 1866 by the Royal Scottish Academy near the then unmarked grave of Alexander. John died in Naples during his grand tour, and is buried there.
John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod
(1727–1789), the son of George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie
and like his father a Jacobite
. He captured Dunrobin Castle
in 1746 during the second Jacobite Rising
and was subsequently convicted of high treason, but pardoned in 1748. He went on to become a Swedish Count, and later a major-general in the British army.
Adam Smith
LLD (1723–1790), economist and author of The Wealth of Nations
, founded the study of political economics. His house was very close by, at the head of Panmure Close, and it survived until 1889. He lived here from 1778 until his death in 1790, having moved from his native town of Kirkcaldy
. The grave is a place of pilgrimage for economists of the world. Although an imposing railed monument, it may have been altered in the 1930s, as it was then described as "too small to notice". It is understood that Dr Joseph Black
, the chemist and physicist, and James Hutton
, the founder of geology, were both at his funeral, being his executors, as would have been David Douglas (see below).
Rev. Thomas Hardy
(1748–1798) was Professor of Church History and Divinity, Chaplain to the King, Advocate of Church Unity, and one of the ministers of St Giles.
(1749–1806) and his son Joseph Bell, (1787–1848), both surgeons, are buried in the same plot. Benjamin Bell was one of the few men to have declined a Baronet
cy. He was related to Wiliam Paterson
, the Scots founder of the Bank of England
and was the great-grandfather of Joseph Bell
, tutor to Arthur Conan Doyle
, J. M. Barrie
and Robert Louis Stevenson
, and the inspiration for the character Sherlock Holmes
. A small stone to the north of Bell’s stone is of interest due to its unusual Greek inscription, taken from The Persians
by Aeschylus
and translated as "Dear the mound for it hides a loved heart."
James Clark (1732–1808) founded of the James Clark Vet School in Edinburgh. His monument was erected by "members of the veterinary profession in Great Britain and America 1950".
Luke Fraser (1736–1821) was a teacher of Sir Walter Scott at the Royal High School. Fraser said of Scott that he was "a good Latin scholar, and very worthy man."
The grave of John Ballantyne
(1774–1821), and his brother James Ballantyne
(1772–1833), publishers and friends of Sir Walter Scott, has no headstone, reflecting their poverty at the end of their lives. A small bronze plaque on the base of the Fettes tomb marks their final resting place. It is inscribed:
The brothers were from a long-standing family of publishers in the Canongate. James, having moved to Edinburgh from Kelso in 1802, was the printer of the Waverley novels
and these were first read in his house, prior to their printing. John, though partly to blame for Scott’s loss of his fortune in the midst of his career, was a very dear friend to Scott, who is said to have openly wept at his funeral and whispered the above words on the plaque to John Gibson Lockhart
. Scott had nicknames for both men: John was "Rigdumfunnidos"; James was "Aldiboronti-phoscophornio".
Dugald Stewart
(1753–1828) was Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh University from 1785 until 1820. The son of Matthew Stewart, Professor of Mathematics, Dugald is principally remembered as author of Philosophy of the Human Mind (1792). His sealed tomb stands in the north section of the churchyard, notable as the only sealed tomb in the churchyard. The Dugald Stewart Monument
erected to him on the south-west edge of Calton Hill is just out of sight from the tomb.
Hugh William Williams (1773–1829), a watercolorist and landscape artist, was known as "Grecian Williams" for his foreign studies. It was allegedly Williams who coined the term "the modern Athens" in reference to Edinburgh, therefore his resting place, with Edinburgh’s "Acropolis" (Calton Hill) standing to the right, is fittingly appropriate.
Sir William Fettes
(1750–1836), a former merchant on the High Street, served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh in the early 19th century. His bequests funded the building of Fettes College
(opened 1870). The monument is a large sandstone mausoleum with gilded, grey marble tablets, inscribed:
George Chalmers (1773–1836) was a master plumber and founder of Chalmers Hospital.
Mrs Agnes Maclehose (1759–1841) was born in Glasgow. She separated from her husband and subsequently befriended Robert Burns
, carrying on a correspondence with him under the name "Clarinda". She lived at 14 Calton Hill, and is buried in the tomb of Lord Craig. Burns wrote several poems to her (not published until 1843, after her death). The most famous of these is "Ae Fond Kiss
", which includes the lines "Had we never lo’ed sae kindly, had we never lo’ed sae blindly, never met, or never parted, we’d hae ne’er been broken-hearted".
Euphemia Amelia Murray (1768–1845) was called "the Flower of Strathmore" by Robert Burns. She is interred in the ground of David Smyth of Methven.
Sir John Watson Gordon
R.A. (1788–1864) was a portrait artist, and a close friend and neighbour of Henry Raeburn
. He exhibited from 1821, and was a member of the Royal Scottish Academy
(RSA) from 1829, exhibiting there from 1830. He was elected president to the RSA in 1850. His most famous work is the portrait of Sir Walter Scott in the National Gallery. Other subjects include Sir David Brewster and Thomas de Quincy. His brother and sister, who founded the Watson-Gordon Fine Art chair at Edinburgh University in his memory in 1879, are also buried here.
Horatius Bonar
(1808–1889), a preacher and prodigious hymn-writer, was minister in Kelso from 1837, and took part in the Disruption of 1843
. He was minister of Chalmers’ Memorial Church in Cockenzie and Port Seton
from 1866.
. It was erected in May 1880, by Mr Ford of the Holyrood Glass Works, and inaugurated in the presence of General Hope and the 71st Highlanders
. The dead lie in the wide open green area all around the cross, which is inscribed:
Verses from the Biblical Epistles to Timothy
are inscribed on the reverse.
.
Architect Robert Hurd (1905–1963) was responsible for the partial redevelopment of the Canongate in the 1950s, and much other work throughout Edinburgh, including the Art Deco Ravelston Garden
(1936). He was interred after the official closure of the churchyard to burials, and his was the most recent interment, other than ashes.
(or Riccio) (1533–1566) was an Italian courtier of Mary, Queen of Scots. Born near Turin
, he became valet to the Queen in 1561 and was promoted to be her secretary in 1564. He was enormously unpopular and was stabbed to death, in the presence of the Queen, in her chamber in Holyrood Palace
. The murderers included Mary's husband, Lord Darnley
. The body was interred in Holyrood Abbey but was allegedly moved to Canongate churchyard in 1688. A small bronze plaque on the east wall of the church, above a worn 17th-century flat tombstone, reads:
It is more likely to be a fanciful story to attach to the old but illegible stone (which may be the stone of Bishop James Ramsay). Holyrood was still a royal chapel in 1688, and there would have been little popular support to move this body to the "people’s" churchyard. Rizzio being a Catholic, it is also hard to explain why he would be buried in a Protestant churchyard. If the story is true, the stone dates from roughly the time of the re-interment, and is a costly stone for someone who, particularly a century after death, would have no living friends or relatives. The bronze plaque is thought to date from the 1950s.
states that his celebrated fictional character Ebenezer Scrooge
stems from a grave marker which he saw in 1841, while taking an evening walk in the Canongate Kirkyard. The headstone was for the vintner
Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie, a relative of Adam Smith
, who had won the catering contract for the visit of George IV to Edinburgh and the first contract to supply whisky
to the Royal Navy
. The marker identified Scroggie as a "meal man" (corn merchant), but Dickens misread this as "mean man", due to the fading light and his mild dyslexia
. Dickens wrote that it must have "shrivelled" Scroggie’s soul to carry "such a terrible thing to eternity". The grave marker was lost during construction work at part of the kirkyard in 1932.
Royal Mile
The Royal Mile is a succession of streets which form the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland.As the name suggests, the Royal Mile is approximately one Scots mile long, and runs between two foci of history in Scotland, from Edinburgh Castle at the top of the Castle...
in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Scotland. The churchyard was used for burials from the late 1680s until the mid 20th century.
The most celebrated burials at the kirkyard are the economist Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
and the poet Robert Fergusson
Robert Fergusson
Robert Fergusson was a Scottish poet. After formal education at the University of St Andrews, Fergusson followed an essentially bohemian life course in Edinburgh, the city of his birth, then at the height of intellectual and cultural ferment as part of the Scottish enlightenment...
, but many other notable people were interred in the cemetery, including Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie, the inspiration for Dickens' character Ebenezer Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge is the principal character in Charles Dickens's 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol. At the beginning of the novel, Scrooge is a cold-hearted, tight-fisted and greedy man, who despises Christmas and all things which give people happiness...
, and possibly David Rizzio
David Rizzio
Davide Rizzio, sometimes written as Davide Riccio or Davide Rizzo , was an Italian courtier, born close to Turin, a descendant of an ancient and noble family still living in Piedmont, the Riccio Counts de San Paolo et Solbrito, who rose to become the private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots...
, the murdered private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots.
History
The Canongate was until the 19th century a separate parish from Edinburgh. This separate parish was formerly served by Holyrood AbbeyHolyrood Abbey
Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by King David I of Scotland. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a royal residence, and after the Scottish Reformation the Palace of Holyroodhouse was expanded...
at the foot of the Royal Mile, and Lady Yester’s Church on High School Wynd. In 1687 King James VII
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
adopted the abbey church as a Royal Chapel, and the general population worshipped in Lady Yester’s Kirk (built in 1647) until 1691. Both of these sites formerly served as burial grounds to the parish.
The new Canongate Kirk was founded in 1688 and completed in 1691. A large area of ground was purchased beyond that required for the erection of the church, and this appears to have been used for burial immediately from the church's foundation in 1688. This area is now fully occupied as a burial ground.
Due to peculiarities in the parish boundaries, the parish also included some properties on the Nor Loch
Nor Loch
The Nor Loch, also known as the Nor' Loch and the North Loch, was a loch formerly in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the area now occupied by Princes Street Gardens, which lies between the Royal Mile and Princes Street.- Geological formation :...
and, due to an ancient charter linking the castle to Holyrood
Holyrood, Edinburgh
Holyrood is an area in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Lying east of the city centre, at the end of the Royal Mile, Holyrood was once in the separate burgh of Canongate before the expansion of Edinburgh in 1856...
, also Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...
, which saw itself as separate from the parish of Edinburgh, under St Giles'. This led to many burials of soldiers from the castle within the section to the north of the churchyard.
In 1952 the old Church Hall to the east, facing the Canongate, was demolished. This area was reformed as a sunken garden and the Burgh Cross, dating from 1128, was relocated here as a centre-piece, having formerly stood in the roadway in front of the church. The cross was restored in 1888, when it was moved from its temporary home in front of the Canongate Tolbooth
Canongate Tolbooth
Canongate Tolbooth is a historical landmark of the Old Town section of Edinburgh, Scotland . Built in 1591, it served as a tolbooth or toll-collecting gate for those entering Edinburgh from the lower end of what is now known as the Royal Mile. It originally served both as toll collection point and...
to in front of the church, before its transition to the sunken garden in 1953.
18th-century burials
The Coachman’s Stone, dating to around 1770, displays a skull and the motto "memento moriMemento mori
Memento mori is a Latin phrase translated as "Remember your mortality", "Remember you must die" or "Remember you will die". It names a genre of artistic work which varies widely, but which all share the same purpose: to remind people of their own mortality...
". It is incribed "This stone is for the society of Coachdrivers In the Canongate It was chiefly erected by Thomas Jamieson and Robert Maving, treasurer, 1734-65". Below this inscription is a relief sculpture of a coach and horses crossing a bridge. The drivers operated the Edinburgh to London route from White Horse Close, around 200 metres (656.2 ft) to the east. Several of the Company are interred at this spot.
John Frederick Lampe
John Frederick Lampe
John Frederick Lampe was a musician.He was born in Saxony, but came to England in 1724 and played the bassoon in opera houses. His wife, Isabella Lampe, was sister-in-law to the composer Thomas Arne with whom Lampe collaborated on a number of concert seasons...
(1703–1751) was a composer, conductor and writer of hymn-tunes for Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley was an English leader of the Methodist movement, son of Anglican clergyman and poet Samuel Wesley, the younger brother of Anglican clergyman John Wesley and Anglican clergyman Samuel Wesley , and father of musician Samuel Wesley, and grandfather of musician Samuel Sebastian Wesley...
and others. His stone, just to the north of the Fettes tomb, is now badly eroded and for the most part illegible. At the base of the stone is a skull and two crossed bones, and at the top two figures hold a small book with some of his composition inscribed. The stone formerly read:
Bishop Robert Keith
Robert Keith (historian)
Robert Keith was a Scottish Episcopal bishop and historian.-Life:Born at Uras in Kincardineshire, Scotland, on 7 February 1681, he was the second son of Alexander Keith and Marjory Keith . He was educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen between 1695 and 1699; graduating with an A.M...
(1681–1757) authored A History of the Church and State in Scotland from the Reformation to 1568.
Professor Charles Alston
Charles Alston (botanist)
Charles Alston was a Scottish botanist.Alston was born in Hamilton. In 1715 he went to Leyden to study under the Dutch physician Hermann Boerhaave. On his return to Scotland he became lecturer in materia medica and botany at Edinburgh and also superintendent of the botanical gardens...
(1683–1760), lecturer in Botany and Medicinal Plants at Edinburgh University, was co-founder of the Edinburgh School of Medicine
University of Edinburgh Medical School
The University of Edinburgh Medical School is part of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine of the University of Edinburgh. Established nearly 283 years ago, Edinburgh Medical School is one of the oldest medical schools in Scotland and the UK...
in 1726.
George Drummond
George Drummond
George Drummond was accountant-general of excise in Scotland and a local politician, elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh a number of times between 1725 and 1764....
(1688–1766) was six times Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and the founder of Edinburgh New Town. He was responsible for the redevelopment of Edinburgh, founding the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary
Edinburgh Royal Infirmary
The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh or RIE, sometimes mistakenly referred to as Edinburgh Royal Infirmary or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest voluntary hospital in the United Kingdom, and later on...
; co-founding the Medical School; draining the Nor’ Loch; founding the Royal Exchange in 1753; and most importantly, initiating and founding the New Town and the first North Bridge
North Bridge, Edinburgh
North Bridge is a road bridge and street in Edinburgh linking the High Street with Princes Street, and the New Town with the Old. The current bridge was built between 1894–97. A previous North Bridge, built from 1763–72, stood until 1896....
(1763).
John Gregory
John Gregory (moralist)
John Gregory , a.k.a. John Gregorie, was an eighteenth-century Scottish physician, medical writer and moralist....
MD (1724–1773) and his son James Gregory
James Gregory (physician)
James Gregory FRSE FRCPE was a Scottish physician and classicist.-Early life and education:He was the eldest son of John Gregory and Elizabeth Forbes , and was born in Aberdeen...
MD (1753–1821) were from a long line of Gregorys from Aberdeen, eminent in both medicine and science. John was Professor of Medicine in Aberdeen from 1755 to 1766, and at Edinburgh University from 1766 until his death. James was a doctor and publisher, who succeeded his father in the chair of Medicine at Edinburgh University in 1776, and also had a separate chair in the Practice of Medicine from 1790. He was the inventor of "Gregory’s Powder" a mixture of magnesia, rhubarb and ginger, used in the treatment of stomach complaints for around 150 years.
Poet Robert Fergusson
Robert Fergusson
Robert Fergusson was a Scottish poet. After formal education at the University of St Andrews, Fergusson followed an essentially bohemian life course in Edinburgh, the city of his birth, then at the height of intellectual and cultural ferment as part of the Scottish enlightenment...
(1750–1774) was trained as a minister, but abandoned this to take up poetry at the age of 22, supplementing his income by working as a clerk. His career was short-lived, and he died in the Edinburgh lunatic asylum, then called Darien House, on Bristo Street. Robert Burns was inspired to be a poet by reading Fergusson’s work. It is likely that Burns left monies in his will to erect a monument in grateful memory, penning the inscription himself. The year of birth on the stone is incorrect, though the day and month are correct. The monument was erected in June 1828, after Burns’ own death, but at his express wish. The grave was fully restored in 2010, replacing the enclosing ironwork and chains, and cleaning the stone. The gravestone reads:
The reverse is inscribed:
A further plaque within the front enclosure explains how Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
was going to re-inscribe the stone in the mid 19th century. A statue was erected to Fergusson on the pavement at the churchyard entrance in 2007.
Alexander Runciman
Alexander Runciman
Alexander Runciman was a Scottish painter of historical and mythological subjects. He was the elder brother of John Runciman, also a painter....
(1736–1785) and his brother John Runciman
John Runciman
John Runciman was a Scottish painter.He was the younger brother of the better-known Alexander Runciman, and accompanied him to Naples, where he died. His "Flight into Egypt," in the National Gallery of Scotland, is remarkable for the precision of its execution and the mellow richness of its...
(1744–1766) were painters. Their bronze plaque on the outer west wall of the church bears their heads, and was erected in 1866 by the Royal Scottish Academy near the then unmarked grave of Alexander. John died in Naples during his grand tour, and is buried there.
John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod
John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod
John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod born Castle Leod near Strathpeffer, Scotland eldest son of George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie and Isabel Gordon. He was an initiated Freemason due to his father being the Grand Master, Grand Lodge of Scotland 1737-38. He married Hon...
(1727–1789), the son of George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie
George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie
George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie succeeded his father John, the 2nd earl, in February 1731. In 1745, he joined Charles Edward Stuart and he served with the Jacobites until April 1746 when he was taken prisoner in Sutherland after the Battle of Littleferry...
and like his father a Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
. He captured Dunrobin Castle
Dunrobin Castle
Dunrobin Castle is a stately home in Sutherland, in the Highland area of Scotland. It is the seat of the Countess of Sutherland and the Clan Sutherland. It is located north of Golspie, and approximately south of Brora, on the Dornoch Firth close to the A9 road. Nearby Dunrobin Castle railway...
in 1746 during the second Jacobite Rising
Jacobite rising
The Jacobite Risings were a series of uprisings, rebellions, and wars in Great Britain and Ireland occurring between 1688 and 1746. The uprisings were aimed at returning James VII of Scotland and II of England, and later his descendants of the House of Stuart, to the throne after he was deposed by...
and was subsequently convicted of high treason, but pardoned in 1748. He went on to become a Swedish Count, and later a major-general in the British army.
Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
LLD (1723–1790), economist and author of The Wealth of Nations
The Wealth of Nations
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, generally referred to by its shortened title The Wealth of Nations, is the magnum opus of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith...
, founded the study of political economics. His house was very close by, at the head of Panmure Close, and it survived until 1889. He lived here from 1778 until his death in 1790, having moved from his native town of Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. The town lies on a shallow bay on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth; SSE of Glenrothes, ENE of Dunfermline, WSW of Dundee and NNE of Edinburgh...
. The grave is a place of pilgrimage for economists of the world. Although an imposing railed monument, it may have been altered in the 1930s, as it was then described as "too small to notice". It is understood that Dr Joseph Black
Joseph Black
Joseph Black FRSE FRCPE FPSG was a Scottish physician and chemist, known for his discoveries of latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide. He was professor of Medicine at University of Glasgow . James Watt, who was appointed as philosophical instrument maker at the same university...
, the chemist and physicist, and James Hutton
James Hutton
James Hutton was a Scottish physician, geologist, naturalist, chemical manufacturer and experimental agriculturalist. He is considered the father of modern geology...
, the founder of geology, were both at his funeral, being his executors, as would have been David Douglas (see below).
Rev. Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (minister)
Thomas Hardy, was a Scottish Minister, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and Professor of Eccesiastical History at Edinburgh University. He was better known for his political and social activities than his scholarship, though he was a popular and eloquent preacher. His...
(1748–1798) was Professor of Church History and Divinity, Chaplain to the King, Advocate of Church Unity, and one of the ministers of St Giles.
19th-century burials
Benjamin BellBenjamin Bell
Benjamin Bell of Hunthill FRSE FRCSE is considered by many to be the first Scottish scientific surgeon. He is commonly described as the 'father of the Edinburgh school of surgery', or the first of the Edinburgh scientific surgeons,,...
(1749–1806) and his son Joseph Bell, (1787–1848), both surgeons, are buried in the same plot. Benjamin Bell was one of the few men to have declined a Baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
cy. He was related to Wiliam Paterson
William Paterson (banker)
Sir William Paterson was a Scottish trader and banker.- Early life :...
, the Scots founder of the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
and was the great-grandfather of Joseph Bell
Joseph Bell
Joseph Bell, JP, DL, FRCS was a famous Scottish lecturer at the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in the 19th century. He is perhaps best known as an inspiration for the literary character Sherlock Holmes....
, tutor to Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
, J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
and Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
, and the inspiration for the character Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
. A small stone to the north of Bell’s stone is of interest due to its unusual Greek inscription, taken from The Persians
The Persians
The Persians is an Athenian tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus. First produced in 472 BCE, it is the oldest surviving play in the history of theatre...
by Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
and translated as "Dear the mound for it hides a loved heart."
James Clark (1732–1808) founded of the James Clark Vet School in Edinburgh. His monument was erected by "members of the veterinary profession in Great Britain and America 1950".
Luke Fraser (1736–1821) was a teacher of Sir Walter Scott at the Royal High School. Fraser said of Scott that he was "a good Latin scholar, and very worthy man."
The grave of John Ballantyne
John Ballantyne (publisher)
John Ballantyne was a Scottish publisher notable for his work with Walter Scott, a pre-eminent author of the time.-Biography:Ballantyne, younger brother of James Ballantyne the printer of Walter Scott's works, was born at Kelso in 1774...
(1774–1821), and his brother James Ballantyne
James Ballantyne
James Ballantyne was an editor and publisher who worked for his friend Sir Walter Scott. His brother John Ballantyne was also with the publishing firm, which is noted for the publication of the Novelist's Library , and many works edited or written by Scott.Scott nicknamed both brothers after...
(1772–1833), publishers and friends of Sir Walter Scott, has no headstone, reflecting their poverty at the end of their lives. A small bronze plaque on the base of the Fettes tomb marks their final resting place. It is inscribed:
The brothers were from a long-standing family of publishers in the Canongate. James, having moved to Edinburgh from Kelso in 1802, was the printer of the Waverley novels
Waverley Novels
The Waverley Novels are a long series of books by Sir Walter Scott. For nearly a century they were among the most popular and widely-read novels in all of Europe. Because he did not publicly acknowledge authorship until 1827, they take their name from Waverley , which was the first...
and these were first read in his house, prior to their printing. John, though partly to blame for Scott’s loss of his fortune in the midst of his career, was a very dear friend to Scott, who is said to have openly wept at his funeral and whispered the above words on the plaque to John Gibson Lockhart
John Gibson Lockhart
John Gibson Lockhart , was a Scottish writer and editor. He is best known as the author of the definitive "Life" of Sir Walter Scott...
. Scott had nicknames for both men: John was "Rigdumfunnidos"; James was "Aldiboronti-phoscophornio".
Dugald Stewart
Dugald Stewart
Dugald Stewart was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher and mathematician. His father, Matthew Stewart , was professor of mathematics in the University of Edinburgh .-Life and works:...
(1753–1828) was Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh University from 1785 until 1820. The son of Matthew Stewart, Professor of Mathematics, Dugald is principally remembered as author of Philosophy of the Human Mind (1792). His sealed tomb stands in the north section of the churchyard, notable as the only sealed tomb in the churchyard. The Dugald Stewart Monument
Dugald Stewart Monument
The Dugald Stewart Monument is a memorial to the Scottish philosopher Dugald Stewart . It is situated on top of Calton Hill, overlooking Edinburgh city centre....
erected to him on the south-west edge of Calton Hill is just out of sight from the tomb.
Hugh William Williams (1773–1829), a watercolorist and landscape artist, was known as "Grecian Williams" for his foreign studies. It was allegedly Williams who coined the term "the modern Athens" in reference to Edinburgh, therefore his resting place, with Edinburgh’s "Acropolis" (Calton Hill) standing to the right, is fittingly appropriate.
Sir William Fettes
William Fettes
Sir William Fettes, 1st Baronet was a wealthy Scottish businessman and philanthropist, who left a bequest which led to the foundation of Fettes College, in Edinburgh.-Life:...
(1750–1836), a former merchant on the High Street, served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh in the early 19th century. His bequests funded the building of Fettes College
Fettes College
Fettes College is an independent school for boarding and day pupils in Edinburgh, Scotland with over two thirds of its pupils in residence on campus...
(opened 1870). The monument is a large sandstone mausoleum with gilded, grey marble tablets, inscribed:
George Chalmers (1773–1836) was a master plumber and founder of Chalmers Hospital.
Mrs Agnes Maclehose (1759–1841) was born in Glasgow. She separated from her husband and subsequently befriended Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
, carrying on a correspondence with him under the name "Clarinda". She lived at 14 Calton Hill, and is buried in the tomb of Lord Craig. Burns wrote several poems to her (not published until 1843, after her death). The most famous of these is "Ae Fond Kiss
Ae Fond Kiss
The Scots song "Ae Fond Kiss, and Then We Sever", by Robert Burns, is more commonly known as "Ae Fond Kiss". The song is Burns' most recorded song...
", which includes the lines "Had we never lo’ed sae kindly, had we never lo’ed sae blindly, never met, or never parted, we’d hae ne’er been broken-hearted".
Euphemia Amelia Murray (1768–1845) was called "the Flower of Strathmore" by Robert Burns. She is interred in the ground of David Smyth of Methven.
Sir John Watson Gordon
John Watson Gordon
Sir John Watson Gordon was a Scottish portrait painter and a president of the Royal Scottish Academy.-Life and work:He was born John Watson in Edinburgh, the eldest son of Captain Watson, R.N., a cadet of the family of Watson of Overmains, in the county of Berwick. He was educated specially with a...
R.A. (1788–1864) was a portrait artist, and a close friend and neighbour of Henry Raeburn
Henry Raeburn
Sir Henry Raeburn was a Scottish portrait painter, the first significant Scottish portraitist since the Act of Union 1707 to remain based in Scotland.-Biography:...
. He exhibited from 1821, and was a member of the Royal Scottish Academy
Royal Scottish Academy
The Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...
(RSA) from 1829, exhibiting there from 1830. He was elected president to the RSA in 1850. His most famous work is the portrait of Sir Walter Scott in the National Gallery. Other subjects include Sir David Brewster and Thomas de Quincy. His brother and sister, who founded the Watson-Gordon Fine Art chair at Edinburgh University in his memory in 1879, are also buried here.
Horatius Bonar
Horatius Bonar
Horatius Bonar was a Scottish churchman and poet.-Life:The son of James Bonar, Solicitor of Excise for Scotland, he was born and educated in Edinburgh. He comes from a long line of ministers who have served a total of 364 years in the Church of Scotland...
(1808–1889), a preacher and prodigious hymn-writer, was minister in Kelso from 1837, and took part in the Disruption of 1843
Disruption of 1843
The Disruption of 1843 was a schism within the established Church of Scotland, in which 450 ministers of the Church broke away, over the issue of the Church's relationship with the State, to form the Free Church of Scotland...
. He was minister of Chalmers’ Memorial Church in Cockenzie and Port Seton
Cockenzie and Port Seton
Cockenzie and Port Seton is a unified town in East Lothian, Scotland, situated on the coast of the Firth of Forth, four miles north east of Musselburgh. The burgh of Cockenzie was created in 1591 by James VI of Scotland...
from 1866.
Edinburgh Castle monument
A red granite cross, 26 feet (7.9 m) commemorates the soldiers of Edinburgh CastleEdinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...
. It was erected in May 1880, by Mr Ford of the Holyrood Glass Works, and inaugurated in the presence of General Hope and the 71st Highlanders
71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot
The 71st Regiment of Foot was a Highland regiment in the British Army, which in 1881 became the 1st Battalion, Highland Light Infantry .- First formation :...
. The dead lie in the wide open green area all around the cross, which is inscribed:
Verses from the Biblical Epistles to Timothy
Pastoral epistles
The three pastoral epistles are books of the canonical New Testament: the First Epistle to Timothy the Second Epistle to Timothy , and the Epistle to Titus. They are presented as letters from Paul of Tarsus...
are inscribed on the reverse.
20th-century burials
William McEwan (1827–1913), founder of McEwan's brewery, formerly based at the Fountain Brewery, was the donor of Edinburgh University's McEwan HallMcEwan Hall
The McEwan Hall is the graduating hall of the University of Edinburgh, in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was presented to the University in 1897 by William McEwan, brewer and politician, at a cost of £115,000. Sir Robert Rowand Anderson was the architect.The exterior of the D-shaped hall...
.
Architect Robert Hurd (1905–1963) was responsible for the partial redevelopment of the Canongate in the 1950s, and much other work throughout Edinburgh, including the Art Deco Ravelston Garden
Ravelston Garden
Ravelston Garden is a 1930s Art Deco development of residential buildings in the suburb of Ravelston in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.It was designed by Andrew Neil and Robert Hurd, 1935-36, and consists of three white-harled International Style blocks of 4-storey flats. They were originally...
(1936). He was interred after the official closure of the churchyard to burials, and his was the most recent interment, other than ashes.
Reputed burials
David RizzioDavid Rizzio
Davide Rizzio, sometimes written as Davide Riccio or Davide Rizzo , was an Italian courtier, born close to Turin, a descendant of an ancient and noble family still living in Piedmont, the Riccio Counts de San Paolo et Solbrito, who rose to become the private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots...
(or Riccio) (1533–1566) was an Italian courtier of Mary, Queen of Scots. Born near Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, he became valet to the Queen in 1561 and was promoted to be her secretary in 1564. He was enormously unpopular and was stabbed to death, in the presence of the Queen, in her chamber in Holyrood Palace
Holyrood Palace
The Palace of Holyroodhouse, commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. The palace stands at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle...
. The murderers included Mary's husband, Lord Darnley
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
Henry Stewart or Stuart, 1st Duke of Albany , styled Lord Darnley before 1565, was king consort of Scotland and murdered at Kirk o'Field...
. The body was interred in Holyrood Abbey but was allegedly moved to Canongate churchyard in 1688. A small bronze plaque on the east wall of the church, above a worn 17th-century flat tombstone, reads:
It is more likely to be a fanciful story to attach to the old but illegible stone (which may be the stone of Bishop James Ramsay). Holyrood was still a royal chapel in 1688, and there would have been little popular support to move this body to the "people’s" churchyard. Rizzio being a Catholic, it is also hard to explain why he would be buried in a Protestant churchyard. If the story is true, the stone dates from roughly the time of the re-interment, and is a costly stone for someone who, particularly a century after death, would have no living friends or relatives. The bronze plaque is thought to date from the 1950s.
Unmarked graves
Other burials, for which no monument survives, include:- James RamsayJames Ramsay (bishop)James Ramsay , bishop of Dunblane, bishop of Ross, was son of Robert Ramsay . The latter was successively minister of Dundonald , of Blackfriars or College Church, Glasgow , and of the High Church , Glasgow ; was dean of the faculty of Glasgow University 1646 and 1650–1, rector in 1648, and...
, Bishop of Ross (1624–1696) - Sir William Hope (1641–1724)
- David Douglas, Lord RestonDavid Douglas, Lord RestonDavid Douglas, Lord Reston was a Scottish judge and the heir of Adam Smith.He was born on 24 July 1769, in Strathendry, the fifth and youngest son of Col...
(1769–1819), judge, and heir of Adam Smith - Nicolo Pasquali (died 1757), musician
- John Schetky (1740–1824), composer and co-founder of the Boar Club
- Alexander CampbellAlexander Campbell (musician and writer)Alexander Campbell , was a Scottish musician and miscellaneous writer.Campbell was born in 1764 at Tombea, Loch Lubnaig, and first educated at the grammar school, Callander, was the second son of a carpenter who, falling into straitened circumstances, removed to Edinburgh, where he died when...
(1764–1824), Jacobite, music-teacher and publisher of Scots songs - William Wilson (1709–1815), known as "Mortar Willie," having fought with Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745, rose to the rank of Colonel of the Black WatchBlack WatchThe Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The unit's traditional colours were retired in 2011 in a ceremony led by Queen Elizabeth II....
Inspiration for Ebenezer Scrooge
In his diaries, Charles DickensCharles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
states that his celebrated fictional character Ebenezer Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge is the principal character in Charles Dickens's 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol. At the beginning of the novel, Scrooge is a cold-hearted, tight-fisted and greedy man, who despises Christmas and all things which give people happiness...
stems from a grave marker which he saw in 1841, while taking an evening walk in the Canongate Kirkyard. The headstone was for the vintner
Vintner
A vintner is a wine merchant. You pronounce it like this In some modern use, in particular in American English, the term is alsoused as a synonym for winemaker....
Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie, a relative of Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
, who had won the catering contract for the visit of George IV to Edinburgh and the first contract to supply whisky
Whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and corn...
to the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. The marker identified Scroggie as a "meal man" (corn merchant), but Dickens misread this as "mean man", due to the fading light and his mild dyslexia
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...
. Dickens wrote that it must have "shrivelled" Scroggie’s soul to carry "such a terrible thing to eternity". The grave marker was lost during construction work at part of the kirkyard in 1932.