Leith burials

[gill]

Hi,
Can anyone please point me in the direction of who to contact to find out where a person would have been buried, who owns the lair, and who else is buried in the lair?

My 5 x great grandfather, Lawrence Skene, ship owner, died 21 AUG 1838 • Albany Street, North Leith. I have the OPR for his death which states he is buried "In front of Thomson's stone"
My 5 x great grandmother, Johanna Thomson, died 26 FEB 1851 • 56 Bridge Street, Leith North. Again I have the OPR which states her as being buried "In front of Thomson's stone".

Lawrence and Johanna's marriage (06 Nov 1790 • Saint Cuthbert's, Edinburgh) list her father as John Thomson, mariner.
Their daughter, Jean, and several of her children are all in OPR recorded as being buried "In front of Captain Thomson's stone".

I don't have any further information on Captain Thomson, or which burial ground he is buried in.

Jean's husband, James Bell Dow, solicitor, died 19 Oct 1854 • Cholera Hospital, South Leith, and his OPR states he is buried in the New Ground. At time of death he lived at Hillhousefield, Leith.

What cemetery would be the New Ground in 1854? And who would hold the cemetery records?

Many thanks in advance
 Gillian

[Little Nell]

The New Burying ground at South Leith was an area taken into the kirkyard in 1822.  When the church was restored a few years later many of the stones were moved or destroyed by the builders.  The parish burial records would probably be the only burial records.

Nell

[gill]

Thankyou for your reply Nell, it's much appreciated.

I'm not familiar with the area, so I'm not sure which kirkyard you are referring to.

Regards the other burials "In front of Thomson stone", do you have any pointers as to how i would find out where I could find further information?

I have a few possible matches for Captain John Thomson dying approx 1804, but can't confirm.

i'm assuming that he would be buried in a different burial ground to the New Burial ground?

Is there one central place in Leith that would hold all of the burial records?

For example, in Inverclyde the Greenock cemetery office holds the records for all burials in the Inverclyde cemeteries.
Is there a similar facility in Leith?

Once again, many thanks.

[Forfarian]

Burial records for Leith will be held by the City of Edinburgh Council. However for 1838 it is very unlikely that there are any other records than the old parish register you already have.

[shanghaipanda]

There is a burial stone (you can view it on find a grave) for a Capt John Thomson RN (1805) at the old North Leith burial ground.  It gives a wife's name as Jean though. 

   

[shanghaipanda]

Having popped into North Leith burial ground (on my way to Leith Market), the wording on the stone is
Sacred
to the memory
of the late
Capt John Thomson RN
who departed this life
on the 12th Nov 1803
and his wife
Jean Thomson
on the 6th Feb 1806
Erected by their grateful son
John Thomson Capt
of the Royal Navy

[Little Nell]

Hi gill,

May I suggest that you explore some old maps of Leith which are available on the NLS site:
http://maps.nls.uk/index.html

This one is a town plan dated 1822 or so:

http://maps.nls.uk/view/74401134

The parish churches of both North Leith (by that date in Madeira Street ) and South Leith (still in Kirkgate now) had a burying ground or kirkyard.  South Leith church stands in that burying ground (just to the west of Leith Links on the map), but that of North Leith was separate and can be found in Coburg Street down by the Water of Leith (centre top of the map).

In my experience, it is not unusual for burials to be described in reference to other marked graves in the burying ground, particularly those of prominent people. The Skenes & Captain Thomson are buried in North Leith burying ground, while James Bell Dow is buried in South Leith burying ground.  Separate municipal cemeteries were only just coming into use by the 1850s.

According to Edinburgh City Council's information here:

https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/directory/40/cemeteries_and_crematoria?page=2

they hold interment records for South Leith from 1843 but only from 1855 for North Leith.  It would be the parish records from ScotlandsPeople prior to that date, if/where they exist.

Nell

[Dexile]

As luck would have it, here's a photo I took of Capt John Thomson's headstone from North Leith Burial Ground the other day 

[gill]

Thank you for everyone who has taken the time to reply to this post.

Dexile, thank you for taking time to photograph the headstone, it is very much appreciated.

I had come across the headstone previously on findagrave website, but his year of death had been mistranscribed as 1805, rather than 1803.

Since my post, I have learned so much more information to 100% verify that this is indeed the correct lair.

shanghaipanda, thank you for taking the time to transcribe the headstone. His wife was indeed Jean (Redpath), which has been confirmed from the OPR burial records, their wills and obituaries.

Little Nell, thank you for the links, again its much appreciated and very helpful. The maps will give me a better idea of where they lived. I have been able to trace where they lived from various OPR burial records, wills, and of course the P.O. directories which have been invaluable in confirming each record.

Forfarian, the OPR burial records for Leith have been a great source, and well kept compared to many other parishes.

I have found so much more information on my 7x great grandfather, John Thomson, charting his impressive naval career, which ended with him as master and lieutenant on Indefatigable during the French Revolution after the battle of Droits de l'Homme in 1797. He retired from the Navy soon after this, having been injured in that battle.

Of my 6x great grandfather, Lawrence Skeen/Skene, I have learned that his ship, The Skeen of Leith, was chartered by Gregor McGregor to transport people to Poyais. Poyais was sold as being the land of milk and honey, and was of course a figment of McGregor's imagination. Fascinating reading for sure, as I had never heard of Poyais, but its had me gripped.

I have also found old court documents and newspaper articles relating to John Thomson's son, John junior, Lawrence Skeen, and James Bell Dow (my 5x great grandfather - who was their solicitor for the court cases). So that was a real treat to find them all on one official document together, and was the icing on the cake for me.

Once again, thank you everyone.