Birthplace of Lord Brougham

Category

Library Item

Item no

5375

Title

Birthplace of Lord Brougham

Description

A street scene in the Cowgate, Edinburgh. The thoroughfare is flanked by tenement buildings which have washing drying from windows. The spires of the Free Church and Magdalene Chapel can be seen in the background. The arch of George IV Bridge is just visible. The road is busy with carts selling goods and groups of women talking.

Artist / maker

Smith, Jane Stewart

Date

1870

Size

34.4 x 24 cm

Type

Watercolour

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

This image has been chosen for the Edinburgh - Past and Present Exhibition by Richard Holloway, writer and broadcaster - "My reasons for choosing this watercolour by Jane Stewart Smith are a mixture of liking the art for its own sake and liking it because of the memories it stirs. Memories first. I was Rector of Old St Paul's in Carrubbers Close during the 1970s and took children, including my own, swimming at Infirmary Street Baths. Coming home, we would buy packets of crisps at a shop on the corner of Blackfriars Street and the Cowgate, which must be close the view in this painting. I loved crossing the Cowgate at night, with excited children around me, and this watercolour brings it back. But I like it for its own sake. I like the strong sense of the street life in the picture, and that wee glimpse of the arch of George IV Bridge." Richard Holloway.

Henry Peter Brougham, first Baron Brougham and Vaux, served as Lord Chancellor between 1830-34. He played an important roll in the passing of the 1832 Reform Bill, and also in significant anti-slavery legislation. There is some confusion as to the place of his birth. His father, Henry Brougham, certainly met his mother, Eleanor Syme, whilst lodging at a house on the Cowgate. The house, known as MacLellan's Land, faced the foot of Candlemaker Row. The birth of Henry Lord Brougham, however, seems to have happened after the couple had moved to St Andrews Square in the New Town.

The Cowgate runs from its junction with St Mary's Street (formerly St Mary's Wynd) and the Pleasance to the Grassmarket. Cattle were driven along this route when entering Edinburgh from grazing land outside the city. The Cowgate Port was a gateway through the Flodden Wall situated at the street's east end.

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Related images

Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Spires

Homes > Residential buildings > Tenements

Places > Edinburgh areas > Old Town

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Transport > Land > Carts and wagons

(55°56′54″N, 3°11′27″W)

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