Whose Town? Arthur Pordage

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.

Arthur Pordage was Firemaster of Edinburgh Fire Brigade from 1896 to 1927. Like most in the Fire Service, he was dedicated to his job; he lived with his family above the Fire Station, and even had his own pole to descend when called out. Pordage was officer in charge at the fire that burnt down the Empire Theatre and killed the great showman, the Great Lafayette in 1911. His Fire Brigade were known for their quick turnout and he had even trained the horses to assemble for duty when called. This exhibition contains images of Pordage and the Edinburgh Fire Brigade from 1860s to 1930s. Many different types of equipment and uniforms can be seen as well as different Edinburgh fire stations.

The exhibition also contains images from the collections of the Museum of Fire.

Find out more about life in Edinburgh at the turn of the twentieth century.

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