Whose Town? John Lyle

Whose Town? was an educational resource built on the heritage collections of the City of Edinburgh. It was developed by Edinburgh City Libraries in partnership with Edinburgh Museums and Galleries and Edinburgh City Archives. The resource was launched in 2011 and unfortunately is no longer available in its original format, however, we have created exhibitions here on Capital Collections to provide schools with access to even more material and to allow a wider audience access to the fascinating stories told in Whose Town?

We are also working on recreating the life stories as digital trails on Our Town Stories.

Whose Town? looks at Edinburgh from 1850 - 1959 to discover the city's past through the lives of the people who lived there. We have used people who lived in Victorian times, at the beginning of the twentieth century, during the Second World War and in the Fifties. There are fourteen lives to discover as well as exhibitions about each of the four eras.

John Lyle was born in 1937 and lived in Edinburgh during the Second World War. He was brought up in the Stockbridge colonies and witnessed the impact of wartime on his family and the Stockbridge community. John Lyle's family were originally from Newhaven and were part of the close-knit fishing community for many generations. This exhibition contains images of John and his family including those who undertook wartime work. It also has images of the Stockbridge Colonies from 1885-2008 and of Newhaven.

Find out more about life in Edinburgh during the Second World War.

Whose town? was supported by funding from The Heritage Lottery Fund.