Along with his twin brother James, my 2nd great-uncle William casts a slight dark cloud over my family history. They were born on 7 September 1817 near Monzie in Perthshire. Both became tobacconists in Edinburgh. The transatlantic tobacco trade made a lot of money by exploiting enslaved people in the Americas. Many Scottish merchants and plantation owners participated, and Edinburgh also benefited from the profits generated by these activities.
The family moved from Perthshire to Edinburgh sometime between 1817 and 1823, settling on Lauriston Street in the Tollcross area. William and James had three more brothers and two sisters. William ran his tobacconist shop at 32 Victoria Street, Edinburgh, which happens to be opposite The Bow Bar, one of my favourite Edinburgh pubs.
He lived at 10 Nicholson Street with his wife Isabella. Number 10 Nicholson Street is a tenement building above the Varsity Music Shop – a shop where I bought my first acoustic guitar – in the early 1970s. I still have that guitar.
He died on 24 July 1865 and was buried in the Edinburgh Southern Cemetery (Grange).
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