The History of Schools in Queensferry
In South Queensferry, in 1635, James Livingston was appointed ‘Parish Dominie’ – the term for a Scottish schoolmaster, usually of the Church of Scotland, beginning a long association between church and school. Lessons were often held in Church towers or the schoolmasters house. There are Schoolmasters and Mistresses recorded in Queensferry since 1635, up to and beyond, the…
Keep readingVat 69 in Queensferry
King George IV was the monarch to formally pass the Excise Act 1823, which introduced the first licences to legally distill whisky in Scotland. Vat 69 bottling plant came to Queensferry in 1969 by Sandersons via the Distillers Agency Limited (DAL) and brought employment to many local residents and their families.The plant was not always…
Keep readingRemembrance Sunday, 13th November 2022
Members of Queensferry History group undertook minor repairs to the Community poppy drape which was created in 2018 by the Group and members of the local Community. This has been used each year since, hanging from the top of the steps at Rosebery Hall for the service. May locals have been spotted having their photo…
Keep readingRemembering Queen Elizabeth II (1926 – 2022)
Queensferry History Group are greatly saddened by the death of Her Majesty the Queen on 8th September 2022. This is a time of great sadness for our country and for the Royal Family. The Queen was an inspirational woman who led an extraordinary life of service. She will be greatly missed by us all.
Keep readingSome of the Local Shops and Hotels
J McFarlane’s Inn 1900-1905, what is now the Anchor bar. The Colosseum, c.1914, a ship’s chandlers, naval and sports outfitters, during the 1914-18 War. This was situated where Allium is now on Hopetoun Road. Sandercombe’s Grocer Shop, c.1920’s, where Queens Spice Indian Restaurant and Take Away is now situated, on the High Street. The Corner…
Keep readingReprint of Queensferry at War Booklets
This booklet is now available for a donation of £1 per book, at Queensferry Library, hours Monday and Tuesday 1pm – 8pm, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10am – 5pm. Also available from Allium. We will be distributing around more places in Queensferry over the next few weeks.
Keep readingWartime Family Devastation
Many towns and cities in the UK were devastated by loss during World War One. Not the least was South Queensferry, a small Royal Burgh with a population in 1911, of around 2,000, excluding the naval personnel, due to the proximity of Port Edgar, of 1,510.The Forth Rail Bridge was long since built and many…
Keep readingThe Camera Does Not Lie.
Everyone has heard this expression but is it really true? A look at some postcards may help to make up our minds. All of these postcards are owned by a member of the Queensferry History Group. This post card is postmarked 1956 and the ferryboat and the train look right for that date. This version…
Keep readingTHE BATTLE OF MAY ISLAND
At 18:30 hours on 31st January 1918 a group of Royal Navy ships set sail from Rosyth. They were headed to Scapa Flow where they were to take part in a fleet exercise. There were some 40 ships and boats in the group, including three battleships and four battlecruisers, each with their destroyer screens, and…
Keep readingHistory of the Hawes Garage and the Ferry Fair Cars up to 1977.
BackgroundIt is believed by some that the weekly Fair started around 1068, in the time of King Malcolm III and his Queen, Margaret (whose visits to Dunfermline Abbey via ferry boat, gave ‘Queensferry’ its name). It was a civic duty to walk the boundaries of Queensferry, which were fiercely guarded. Through the course of time,…
Keep readingThere But Not There – Slideshow
The silhouettes shown in this slideshow, produced by Queensferry History Group, were awarded to Queensferry History Group through the Armistice and Armed Forces Communities Programme, funded by the Armed Forces Covenant Trust. Partners in this programme, the charity “Remembered” are responsible for running this project, “There but not there”. These silhouettes are displayed, especially over…
Keep readingQueensferry’s War Heroes Remembered
Soldiers who made the “ultimate sacrifice” are being remembered by local historians.Queensferry History Group has produced a new book and website highlighting the men from the town – and neighbouring Dalmeny – who went to fight in World War I but never returned.The beautifully-illustrated “Queensferry At War” book, which covers 70 pages, is complemented by…
Keep readingA Brief History of South Queensferry
The small town of Queensferry lies on the south shore of the Firth of Forth just eight miles west of Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital city. As a convenient crossing place, the area may have been known before the Romans arrived, but the town is traditionally associated with Saint Margaret, the Anglo-Saxon princess who married King Malcolm…
Keep readingThe 1918/19 Flu Epidemic
Between 1918 and 1919 an estimated 40-50 million people worldwide died from influenza. Some reports put the number as high as 100 million, more than died in total due to World War 1. Alarmingly this flu strain was most deadly to those aged between 20 and 40. Glasgow was the first British city to be…
Keep readingQueensferry’s Bridges
Any visitor to Queensferry cannot help but notice our three very large and very different bridges. Indeed, people come from all over the world to see them. The Forth Bridge The Forth bridge (a railway bridge) was the first of the three to be built. Thomas Bouch, who had built the Tay bridge, originally planned…
Keep readingThe Navy in Queensferry
There are many who will remember Port Edgar prior to 1975 when the Royal Navy was in residence. This collection of dates and events is intended to inform and remind people of the history that was made at Port Edgar, and its contribution to the nation in war and peace. 1850’s – Royal Naval guardships…
Keep readingRoyal Queensferry
Throughout the centuries a variety of kings and queens have passed through Queensferry’s boundaries. The picturesque town was granted Royal Burgh status in 1636 by Charles the First. Queensferry owes its name to that most revered of queens, the saintly Queen Margaret, who established a ferry here in the 11th century for pilgrims journeying to…
Keep readingThe Post Office in Queensferry
We all use our local post office and most of us take it for granted. Our current post office is located in the Scotmid store on the Loan, but it has had more than one home since its beginnings in the 18th century. In 1747, the Town Council needed someone to act as Post Master, carrying…
Keep readingThe Covenanters and Queensferry
Queensferry has an interesting Historical connection to the Covenanters – 1638 – 1680. King Charles I attempted to overthrow the Presbyterian form of religion, which had been established in Scotland in 1560 during the reign of Mary Queen of Scots. “Covenanters” was the name given to Presbyterians in Scotland, of all ranks, who signed the…
Keep readingThe Ferry Fair
The earliest mention of “the fair” almost takes us back to the start of the last millennium. During the reign of King David I in the 12th Century, Queensferry had the status of a burgh town and as such was allowed the privilege of holding a weekly market and an annual fair. King David II,…
Keep readingThe Heraldry of Queensferry
Heraldry in Scotland The development of armour in the 11th century created a need for identification to distinguish knights in battle. However, the resulting coats of arms, or “armorial bearings”, rapidly came to symbolise nobility, rank, authority and ownership. In a society where most people could not read or write, armorial bearings provided a useful…
Keep readingQueensferry in Postcards
The Hawes Inn is well known to all visitors to Queensferry. The visitors seen in this image, taken about 1905, seem about to return to Edinburgh in their horse drawn carriages. These carriages would be replaced in a few years by motor buses. The Galloway Saloon Steam Packet Company of Leith built a wooden pier…
Keep readingWelcome Home to Returning Soldiers
In the West Lothian Courier newspaper edition 5th December, 1919 it was reported that Queensferry had organised a social evening as a thank you to the returning Sailors and Soldiers in the Rosebery Hall. It was arranged by the Local War Service Committee and some 200 discharged and demobilised men and their guests were invited.…
Keep readingOur Poppy Cards
These cards were designed by Erin Boyes, a pupil at Queensferry High School and are available from the History Group. We can be contacted at the email address below. Each card bears the name of one of the men named on the War Memorials in Queensferry and Dalmeny. The cards with the anchor on the…
Keep readingWomen, the War and the Vote
The Suffrage Movement, Women and the War Effort, Peoples Reform Act 1918 World War I was to bring about many social changes for both men and women. The Suffrage MovementThe first of 16,000 petitions was presented to Parliament in 1866 containing over 3 million signatures petitioning for women to have the same voting rights as…
Keep readingArmistice Day in Queensferry
News of the armistice was greeted with joy by people all over Britain on the morning of November 11th 1918. The Fleet based in the Forth were given the news early in the morning and it is likely that people in Queensferry heard the news before people in London! There are three eyewitness accounts of…
Keep readingCeasefire
“At the beginning of 1918 it may have seemed that the War would continue indefinitely but as the year wore on significant events occurred which would bring the conflict to an end. During the German spring offensive the allied troops lost ground and sustained heavy losses, but German losses were also substantial and the attack…
Keep readingThe 100 Days Offensive 1918
The year 1918 saw two major offensives: The Spring Offensive (21st March – 18th July 1918) and the 100 Days Offensive (18th July – 11th November 1918), which brought about the end of the War on the Western Front. Queensferry and Dalmeny lost a total of 16 men to these offensives. The 100 Days Offensive,…
Keep readingThe Spring Offensive 1918
1918 saw two major Offensives, The Spring Offensive 21st March – 18th July 1918 and the 100 Days Offensive 18th July – 11th November 1918, which brought about the end of the War on the Western Front. Queensferry and Dalmeny lost a total of 16 men to these offensives. The Spring Offensive 21st March –…
Keep readingExhibitions Remembering the Great War
Queensferry History Group has presented two major exhibitions relating to World War I. In 2013 Queensferry History Group, like many other community Groups throughout the country, was aware the time was approaching to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. In our area the communities of Dalmeny and Queensferry lost significant numbers of men…
Keep readingOur Family’s Unknown Soldier
By John Watkinson On Remembrance Day, I often think about my great uncle, David McIntosh. He died with the Canadian infantry in France in 1916 at the age of 23. I call him our family’s Unknown Soldier. About twenty years ago when I visited my mother in Scotland, she gave me a large bronze medallion.…
Keep readingQueensferry War Memorial
Listed below are the names of the men commemorated on Queensferry’s World War I War Memorial, with information about them. If you are related to the men – or want to share additional information about them – please get in touch. Email: queensferryhg@gmail.com Private Louis Alfred Anderson, 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots, was born in Queensferry in…
Keep readingDalmeny’s War Memorial
Listed below are the names of the men commemorated on Dalmeny’s World War I War Memorial, with information about them. If you are related to the men – or want to share additional information about them – please get in touch. Email: queensferryhg@gmail.com Private Peter Anderson, of 12th Royal Scots, was born in Selkirk in…
Keep readingRemembering the Fallen
The War Memorials of Queensferry and Dalmeny . . . . Queensferry’s World War I Memorial was unveiled on Saturday 26th November 1927. The Memorial consists of a bronze plaque bearing in bold lettering the names of the 66 fallen and is surmounted by stone scrolls with the burgh coat of arms and supported on…
Keep readingSurrender
The surrender of the German Fleet took place in the Firth of Forth on 21st November 1918, but the first moves took place two days earlier when the German ships set sail from Wilhelmshaven. Admiral Hipper, the Commander in Chief of the High Sea Fleet, refused to lead his ships into internment and chose Rear…
Keep readingNegotiations in the Forth
Article XXI of the Armistice required the surrender of the entire German submarine fleet and a total of seventy four ships, including ten named battleships, six named battlecruisers, eight named light cruisers and fifty modern torpedo-boat destroyers. These were to be interned in neutral ports, or failing them, allied ports. The Germans were warned that…
Keep readingConscription, Conscientious Objectors and Military Tribunals
Conscription Conscription was introduced in January 1916 for single men aged 16-41. A few months later married men were also included. Men who were called up for service could appeal to a Local Military Tribunal. Tribunals were held at town level and also at county level. Reasons for appeal included ill health, hardship, moral or…
Keep readingThe Royal Visit to Queensferry in 1918
Their Majesties King George V and Queen Mary accompanied by the Prince of Wales visited the Grand Fleet in the Forth on the eve of the surrender of the German High Sea Fleet. They arrived at Barnton railway station in the evening of November 19th and slept there aboard the Royal Train. The following morning,…
Keep readingForth Bridge War Deaths
‘… Defending the Forth Bridge could be a dangerous business. In 1914 Pte. Paterson was killed while on sentry duty. In 1915 a company of the Royal Garrison Artillery suffered a terrible accident as they marched from the Inchgarvie Fort.’ Defending the Forth Bridge could be a dangerous business. In 1914 Pte. Paterson was killed…
Keep readingThe Queensferry Tank
Souvenir Tank Tank banks was the name given to a World War I, British Government, fund raising campaign for War Bonds and War Saving Certificates. William Goss and his son Adolphus are credited with the idea of making souvenir China items bearing the arms and names of seaside resorts which they manufactured from 1858 to…
Keep readingWar in the Forth
‘… The British Grand Fleet was based at Scapa Flow at the beginning of WW1. The battle-cruisers moved to Rosyth in December 1915, but it took until April 1918 to make the estuary safe enough for the rest of the Fleet to join them.’ The British Grand Fleet was based at Scapa Flow at the…
Keep readingCall to Arms
‘… On the third of August 1914 policemen posted notices around the Royal Burgh of Queensferry calling men to the Colours. War was declared the following day.’ On the third of August 1914 policemen posted notices around the Royal Burgh of Queensferry calling men to the Colours. War was declared the following day. Reservists and…
Keep readingWomen at War
Emily Borrowman was the postmistress and telegraphist in Queensferry. She became the darling of sailors and soldiers who passed through Queensferry. Her office, where the Clydesdale Bank is today, was often swamped with servicemen sending telegrams and Emily’s collection of postcards from her admirers and memorabilia of the time tell the story of wartime life…
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