Robert Allan Shoe Shop Edinburgh

[fortiter]

Thank you everyone!  It has been a fascinating journey, and as you say, Monica, it has certainly added some colour for me. I attach two photos of Robert Allan taken when my grandfather visited Scotland in 1908.  Belleville Lodge is the 10 Minto Street address and the party at the Manse at Nigg shows Robert Allan on the left in cap, and William Allan (my grandfather) on the right.

[Jessie 46]

Hi Jonathan ,
                    Thanks for posting the photos. You never get anywhere unless you ask .
no 10 Minto Street I believe is now a doctor's surgery I must have a look next time I am in Edinburgh.
Glad to be of help and it certainly has given 4 friends and Tom a trip down memory lane.
This is a great site and everybody does their best to help each other so remember and give us a shout
if there is anything else.

Cheers,
Jessie

[RedMystic]

Hi Fortiter et al

I came across this thread quite by accident and don't want to hijack it, but there are some coincidences that I wanted to check.

Did you ever find out if there was a family connection between your Robert Allan & the James Allan noted earlier in the thread? I'm only wondering as I have it on reasonably good authority that my James Allan was a shop keeper. I don't know if he was on Minto Street & haven't yet been able to determine what kind of shop he owned.

The James Allan I'm looking for had a wife named Meg Margaret Ayton. MAYBE his father's name was James Allan.

Then I connected your finds & location to another relative of James Allan. His name was Robert Boyd (also married to an Ayton).  (Monica: The following info is courtesy of message on an old photo identified by Gertrude Ayton, Actress of some renown ... remember the merry chase? ):

This is the Boyd family. Grandpa’s Sister’s children. I knew them very well. They lived in Minto Street up the Bridges. Mr Boyd had a tobacconist shop on the Bridges – he was very gay – I liked him, he always brought me sweets & Aunt Fanny his wife (my Gt Aunt) who saved my life. The children all did very well for themselves. They had a bunch of boys and only had one girl, Nellie Boyd who went to the USA 

Thoughts? Do we have a connection given the Allan name &/or the Boyd business which was located on Minto?

I'll continue to try to search out which business my James Allan had in Edinburgh (unless you tripped over that in your verification of Robert's situation).

[fortiter]

Hello RedMystic.

I have nothing further on James Allan.  Robert Allan had a brother James, but he apparently continued to live in Nigg and was described as a "Steam Mill owner" in the 1881 census, and he did not appear to be married at this time.  I still have no idea as to the identity of the "J" of J & R Allan (assuming that the "R" is my Robert!).  I'm afraid I can see no connection with your James Allan, and the names Boyd  and Ayton have not cropped up in my researches.

Thanks for your interest, and I'm sorry that the above does not help much.

Jonathan

[katew2903]

Hi Jonathan. We found your enquiry via an Internet search while also looking into J and R Allan drapers of Edinburgh. Robert Allan is a relative of ours but as yet we haven't managed to link him into the family tree precisely. Our great grandparents were Jane Forbes Paterson b 1838(? a relative of the Paterson and Smith shop bought by J and R Allan for extension in 1920? - see house of Fraser archive) and John Gordon. Our grandmother was their daughter Annie Hunter Gordon who married Alexander Forbes and lived at of Arabella, Nigg. The name Allan first appears with their son Robert Allan Forbes b1909 our uncle. We have a painted dedication from the staff of J and R Allan in recognition of his services. We would be very interested in any photos that you may have for example the family at Minto street. Jane and Liz.

[katew2903]

Hi Jonathan. We found your enquiry via an Internet search while also looking into J and R Allan drapers of Edinburgh. Robert Allan is a relative of ours but as yet we haven't managed to link him into the family tree precisely. Our great grandparents were Jane Forbes Paterson b 1838(? a relative of the Paterson and Smith shop bought by J and R Allan for extension in 1920? - see house of Fraser archive) and John Gordon. Our grandmother was their daughter Annie Hunter Gordon who married Alexander Forbes and lived at of Arabella, Nigg. The name Allan first appears with their son Robert Allan Forbes b1909 our uncle. We have a painted dedication from the staff of J and R Allan in recognition of his services. We would be very interested in any photos that you may have for example the family at Minto street. Jane and Liz.

[fortiter]

Greetings Jane and Liz. Many thanks for you interesting message!
Alexander Forbes is the son of Ann/Annie Allan who is my Great Aunt.
I have quite a bit more information which should be of interest to you, and it may be better to communicate direct.  I have asked Customer Support how to go about getting my email address to you, as I wasn't sure how to do it!  I hope you are happy with this idea, and I look forward to more communication with you both.
Kind regards,
Jonathan

[katew2903]

Hi Jonathan. I'm happy to give you my direct email. I'm liz's daughter and jane's niece or to be precise Annie Hunter Gordon and Alexander Forbes' great granddaughter! We're all together for the weekend and my typing is fastest so messaging on their behalf!. (*)
If we can we'll get you a photo of the dedication to J and R Allen mentioned before. Looking forward to hearing from you again. Kate.

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[gusto123]

Hi, I don't think the Bellville lodge is 10 Minto St, as we live there at no.10 now and it doesn't look like the door? According to the census, R.Allan lived here for 25 years, so it's nice to see a picture of him, thanks!