The Hay's of Edinburgh - A Lesser known branch of my Imperial family

Everyone knows that I stand at the end of a long and illustrious blood-line, tracing my imperial pedigree back to the early Caesars of Rome.

However recently, I have gained a new appreciation of my Scotio-Roman ancestry and a unique insight into a rather less patrician, though no less fascinating, branch of my family heritage.

A couple of years ago now, Granny G gifted me a decrepit leather picture album from her side of the family. It looked rather less than remarkable at the time, yet within the album were a fascinating and extensive collection of turn-of-the-century photographs.

Form what I can gather, the pictures relate to the Hay family who were Granny G's relatives on her Mother's side. They were an Edinburgh family consisting of two older sisters -Annie & Jenny - life long spinsters, who's only remembered utterance to Granny was:

"... all oor boys died in the War." [The Great War]

There were also two brothers - James and Harry - who were both military men. The family owned a substantial terraced house at Parkside Terrace, right on Edinburgh's central Hollyrood park. The kind of place that's worth a small fortune now!

Most of the album pictures are not marked and its almost impossible to identify and trace the countless faces contained within, although I believe they mostly relate to later Victorian Edinburgh. Unfortunately, Granny G now suffers from serious memory problems and does not seem to know too much about the many people in the pictures.

However, one face that has been firmly identified and that regularly turns up in the album, is that of James Hay. It certainly looks like it should be possible to research into his interesting and most obviously military life. I believe from the pictures that James saw service in Africa [Boer War] and India in the Victorian/Edwardian era. There are certainly a number of pictures from the album that depict this era of service life.

This picture [below] of James Hay was taken at the Tower Well at the foot of Edinburgh Castle. The location has changed little even to this day. It shows James (without a moustache) as a young and proud kilted Scottish soldier (c. 1898), almost certainly before he saw action in the Boer War and later service in India.

In future postings, I very much intend to have a closer look at James Hay and the military service career that would see him play a part in such famous historical events as the Siege of Ladysmith.

.... more to follow ....