The Postcard
A postally unused Milton Series Renowned Carbonesque postcard that was published by the Woolstone Brothers of London EC1. The card has a divided back.
Portobello, Edinburgh
Portobello is a coastal suburb of Edinburgh in eastern central Scotland. It lies 3 miles (5 km) east of the city centre, facing the Firth of Forth, between the suburbs of Joppa and Craigentinny.
Although historically it was a town in its own right, it is officially a residential suburb of Edinburgh. The promenade fronts onto a wide sandy beach.
History of Portobello
The Early Years
The area was originally known as Figgate Muir, an expanse of moorland through which the Figgate Burn flowed, from Duddingston Loch to the sea.
In 1650 it was the supposed scene of a secret meeting between Oliver Cromwell and Scottish leaders. A report from 1661 describes a race in which twelve browster-wives ran from the Burn (recorded as the Thicket Burn) to the top of Arthur's Seat in central Edinburgh.
Portobello in the 1700's
By the 18th. century the area had become a haunt of seamen and smugglers. A cottage was built in 1742 on what is now the High Street by a seaman called George Hamilton, who had served under Admiral Edward Vernon in the capture of Porto Bello, Panama, in 1739.
He named the cottage Portobello Hut in honour of the victory. By 1753 there were other houses around it. The cottage remained intact until 1851, when it became a hostelry for travellers known as the Shepherd's Ha.
In 1763 the lands known as the Figgate Whins were sold by Lord Milton to Baron Mure for £1,500. They were afterwards feued out by the latter to William Jameson at the rate of £3 per annum per acre.
Jameson discovered a valuable bed of clay near the burn, and built a brick and tile works beside the stream. He later built an earthenware pottery factory, and the local population grew into a thriving village.
Land values subsequently rose, and by the beginning of the 19th. century, some parts had been sold at a yearly feu duty of £40 per annum per acre.
An advertisement for bathing machines for hire on Portobello beach appeared in the Edinburgh Evening Courant on the 11th. June 1795. It stated that:
"The bathing machines have steady horses
and careful drivers, and the bathing sands
are perfectly free from stones and danders,
with the water clear and the beach very
retired."
Danders refers to scales from hair, feathers, or skin that may cause allergies.
Portobello in the 1800's
Portobello Sands were used in the 1800's by the Edinburgh Light Horse for drill practice. Walter Scott was their quartermaster. While riding in a charge in 1802 he was kicked by a horse and confined to his lodgings for three days. While recovering he finished The Lay of the Last Minstrel.
The Scots Magazine in 1806 noted that:
"The lands are a perfect waste, covered
almost entirely with whins or furze".
Whins and furze are both alternative terms for gorse.
Portobello grew into a bathing resort, and in 1807, new salt-water baths at the foot of Bath Street and Regent Street were erected at a cost of £5,000.
In 1822, a visit of King George IV to Scotland organised by Walter Scott included a review of troops and Highlanders held on the sands, with spectators crowding the dunes.
Before Portobello had a promenade and public beach, there was only a belt of dry sand between the firmer sand of the beach and the private properties adjoining the shore.
Access to the beach was restricted by these property holders, as Sir William Rae discovered in 1842 when he tried to gain access to his favourite section for bathing. The proprietor of a villa adjoining the shore had extended his garden to include the sand, and had built a wall leading right down to the sea.
Sir William, a former Lord Advocate, viewed this as interfering with his right of way as a private citizen and as an officer of the Crown.
After legal action over several years that went right up to the House of Lords, the proprietor and his neighbours were forced in July 1849 to demolish the walls that they had erected.
Fifteen years later, Portobello Town Council began to build the Promenade, so securing public access to the two miles (3 km) of beach.
Portobello became industrialized in the 19th. century, manufacturing bricks ("Portobello brick"), glass, lead, paper, pottery, soap and mustard. Joppa to the east was important as a salt producer.
In 1896 Portobello was incorporated into Edinburgh by Act of Parliament.
Between 1846 and 1964 a railway station provided access for visitors to the resort, whose facilities came to include a large open-air swimming pool, heated by waste from the power station. The actor Sean Connery once worked there as a lifeguard. The pool was closed in 1979.
There was also a lido (now demolished) and a permanent funfair, which closed in 2007 and was also eventually demolished in order to make way for new housing.
Portobello in the 1900's
Portobello Baths were constructed in 1898 and completed in 1901 on The Promenade overlooking the beach. These, now known as the Portobello Swim Centre, include one of only three remaining public Turkish baths in Scotland.
Portobello Pier was a pleasure pier near the end of Bath Street, open from 1871 until the start of the Great War. At 1,250 feet (381 m) long with a restaurant and observatory at the end, it cost £7,000 to build to a design by Sir Thomas Bouch, who was infamously linked to the Tay Bridge disaster. The iron supports rusted away, and the pier was demolished as uneconomic to repair in 1917.
The Edinburgh Marine Gardens laid out north of Kings Road in 1908–1909 included an open-air theatre, an industrial hall, a ballroom (later a skating rink), a scenic railway, a rustic mill and water-wheel, and a speedway track.
It fell out of use during the Great War and never recovered, although the speedway/motor cycle track remained in use until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. The site was cleared in 1966 for the Lothian Buses Marine bus depot.
The 1933 Portobello Lido received police and media attention with the July 1983 abduction of five-year-old Caroline Hogg from the Promenade area and her murder by Robert Black.
A formidable red-brick power station was built in 1923 at the west end of the beach. It was extended by Ebenezer James MacRae in 1938, and operated until 1977 when it was closed. It was demolished during the following 18 months.
Portobello's peak as a resort in the late 19th. century gave way to a slow decline through the 20th. century. Whilst visitors were mainly from Edinburgh, it was also once popular with Glaswegians, particularly as the Glasgow Fair trade holiday signalled the start of a two-week holiday for the west of Scotland.
By the 1960's, Portobello had become an area of amusement arcades and permanent funfair attractions. From the 1980's these gradually disappeared, and by the end of the 20th. century the Promenade had hardly any attractions specific to a seaside location, although the Tower Amusements arcade remains in business.
Portobello in the 2000's
The 21st. century has seen the emergence of community activities, some focused on the Promenade. The beach hosts regular beach volleyball, including Olympic beach-volleyball qualifiers, and the annual Big Beach Busk event.
Other community activities focus more on the sea. They include the Portobello, Sailing, Kayaking and Rowing Club, Rowporty, and the Eastern Amateur Coastal Rowing Club.
Other activities concern community gardens, a monthly local food market, a youth theatre, and culture and music. Artistic activity has become popular, including the annual Art Walk Porty. In April 2020 the Portobello Pencil Sharpening Project, thought to be an art installation, went viral on Twitter.
In 2019 Portobello was voted the best neighbourhood in the UK at the 2020 Urbanism Awards. In 2021 it was considered by a Sunday Times panel to be one of the top eight places to live in Scotland.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) classed the quality of the Portobello swimming water as "sufficient" in its 2019 survey, a small improvement on the previous year, when dolphins were sighted off the coast.
In 2020 there was a sighting of what was thought to be a swordfish. A wild swimmers' club has been braving the waves through the year since 2010.
Work in 2019 on re-laying the paving setts in Brighton Place caused controversy over the cost and duration: the main road was closed to traffic until the end of 2019 while the work was done. Ultimately, the new surface proved to be of high quality, including smooth sets for cycling and a refuge for safe turning into the Christian Path.
The final cost of about £750,000 was less than predicted. Minor problems remaining with drainage were dealt with when the spring 2020 lockdown was lifted.
During the 2020 Coronavirus lockdown, police praised the public for curbing the spread of the virus by avoiding Portobello over the Easter weekend, although as the weather improved in May the visitor numbers increased, causing concern to politicians.
Portobello continued busy over the summer of 2020, with some disturbances reported. In August a Ferris wheel appeared on the old Fun City site, but its licence was suspended before it opened, as it broke government rules on the reopening of funfairs; despite this, some smaller attractions in the area have come and gone since. Concerns about overcrowding on Portobello promenade continued into 2021.
In September 2021, it was announced that the Swim Centre would shortly close for a £2.5 million refurbishment.
Portobello Town Halls
The first purpose-built hall (now the Baptist Church in the High Street) was designed by David Bryce, and erected in 1862. This proved inadequate for the purpose, and was replaced in 1877 by a building designed by Robert Paterson, which is now the Police Station.
The Edinburgh Extension Act of 1895, which amalgamated Portobello with Edinburgh, gave effect to a number of undertakings, including extension of the Promenade, building of the Baths, surfacing various streets, providing drainage, extending the trams, providing a public park and a new town hall for public meetings.
The new Portobello Town Hall was intended to hold at least 800 people, and was built on the site of Inverey House to a design by the City Architect, James A. Williamson, opening in 1914.
In June 2019, the town hall was closed by the city council after the masonry and plasterwork were found to be in poor condition. The city council put the building on the market for lease in February 2020, and, following a competitive process, it agreed to enter into exclusive talks with a local community organisation known as Portobello Central in May 2021.
The city council confirmed, in June 2021, that it had allocated £350,000 of capital investment to the town hall project, money provided by the Scottish Government under its Place Based Investment Programme.
Portobello Central indicated that it hoped that the funding would enable it to re-open the building by April 2022. The Town Hall opened for business on the 1st. June 2023, under a 25-year, full repairing lease from the City of Edinburgh Council at £1 per year rent.
Notable People Associated With Portobello
Notable people associated with Portobello include the following, listed In birth order:
-- Alexander Laing (1752–1823), architect based in Portobello, where he died.
-- The Misses Corbett, Grace (c. 1765/1770–1843) and Walterina (died 1837), poets and authors from Portobello.
-- Dr David Laing LLD (1792–1878), librarian to the Signet Library and noted archaeologist, lived at 12 James Street.
-- Mackintosh MacKay (1793–1873), compiler of a Gaelic dictionary and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, died in Portobello.
-- Rear Admiral Thomas Fraser (1796–1870), hero of the First Anglo-Burmese War.
-- Hugh Miller (1802–1856), a founding father of geology, lived in the Tower in Tower Street.
-- Alan Stevenson (1806–1865), lighthouse engineer, lived his final years at 13 Pittville St, then called Pitt St.
-- Stevenson Macadam (1829–1901), scientist and author, lived much of his life in East Brighton Crescent, Portobello.
-- William Durham FRSE (1834–1893), chemist, papermaker and astronomer, lived and died at 16 Straiton Place.
-- Lucy Bethia Walford, née Colquhoun (1845–1915), novelist, was born in Portobello.
-- James Graham Fairley (1846–1934) architect, lived at 47 Abercorn Terrace.
-- Marion Grieve (1848–1938), suffragette, lived at Coillesdene House, Joppa.
-- William Ivison Macadam (1856–1902), chemist and antiquarian, spent his childhood in Portobello.
-- Helen Hopekirk (1856–1945), composer, pianist and teacher, lived at 148 High Street, Portobello from 1856 to 1868, and is commemorated by a blue plaque.
-- Alexander Philip (1858–1932), a lawyer born in Portobello, became a campaigner for calendar reform.
-- William Robertson (1865–1949), recipient of the Victoria Cross, lived at 21 Lee Crescent.
-- Harry Lauder (1870–1950), music hall entertainer, was born at 3 Bridge Street. Although he and his family left the town within weeks of his birth, a Harry Lauder memorial garden was opened in 1970 in the grounds of the Town Hall. Portobello's main bypass is named Sir Harry Lauder Road.
-- William Russell Flint (1880–1969), painter, lived at 9 Rosefield Place.
-- Alexander Heron (1884–1971), a member of 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition and Director of the Geological Survey of India (1936–39), lived in Hamilton Terrace in 1900–1911.
-- Madge Elder (1983-1985), born in Portobello, is a noted gardener and writer.
-- Ned Barnie (1896–1983), born in Portobello, became in 1950 the first Scot to swim the English Channel.
-- Norrie Haywood (1910–1979), born in Portobello, became a professional footballer and football manager.
-- James Rankin (1913–1975), born in Portobello, was an RAF fighter pilot in the Second World War.
-- Johnny Cunningham (1957–2003), Celtic fiddle virtuoso, was born in Portobello.
-- Gail Porter (born 1971), TV presenter, grew up here, attending Portobello High School.
-- Ewen Bremner (born 1972 in Portobello), is a noted film and TV actor.
-- Iron Virgin (1970's), glam punk rock band.
-- The Valves (1977), punk band from Portobello.
-- Shauna Macdonald (born 1981), actress, grew up in Portobello.
-- Emun Elliott (born 1983) Actor.
Sir Harry Lauder
Sir Henry Lauder was a Scottish singer and comedian who was popular in both music hall and vaudeville theatre traditions; he achieved international success.
He was described by Sir Winston Churchill as:
"Scotland's greatest ever ambassador,
who by his inspiring songs and valiant
life, rendered measureless service to
the Scottish race and to the British
Empire."
He became a familiar worldwide figure, promoting images like the kilt and the cromach (walking stick) to huge acclaim, especially in America.
Among his most popular songs were "Roamin' in the Gloamin'", "A Wee Deoch-an-Doris", "The End of the Road" and, a particularly big hit for him, "I Love a Lassie".
Lauder's understanding of life, with its pathos and joys, earned him his popularity. Beniamino Gigli commended his singing voice and clarity.
Lauder usually performed in full Highland regalia—kilt, sporran, tam o' shanter, and twisted walking stick, and sang Scottish-themed songs.
By 1911 Lauder had become the highest-paid performer in the world, and was the first British artist to sell a million records; by 1928 he had sold double that.
Sir Harry raised vast amounts of money for the war effort during the Great War, for which he was knighted in 1919. He went into semi-retirement in the mid-1930's, but briefly emerged to entertain troops during the Second World War.
By the late 1940's he was suffering from long periods of ill-health, and he died in Scotland in 1950.
Harry Lauder - The Early Years
Lauder was born on the 4th. August 1870 in his maternal grandfather's house in Portobello, Edinburgh, the eldest of seven children. By the time of the 1871 census he and his parents were living at 1, Newbigging Veitchs Cottages, Inveresk.
His father, John Lauder, was the grandson of George Lauder of Inverleith Mains & the St Bernard's Well estate, Edinburgh. Harry claimed in his autobiography that his family were descendants of the feudal barons the Lauders of the Bass.
Harry's mother, Isabella Urquhart MacLeod (née McLennan), was born in Arbroath to a family from the Black Isle. John and Isabella married on the 26th. August 1870.
Lauder's father moved to Newbold, Derbyshire, in early 1882 in order to take up a job designing porcelain, but died on the 20th. April from pneumonia.
Isabella, left with little more than John's life insurance proceeds of £15, moved with the children to be with her family in Arbroath. In order to finance his education beyond the age of 11, Harry worked part-time at a flax mill.
He made his first public appearance, singing, at a variety concert at the Oddfellows' Hall in Arbroath when he was 13 years old, winning first prize for the night (a wristwatch).
In 1884 the family went to Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, in order to live with Isabella's brother, Alexander, who found Harry employment at Eddlewood Colliery at ten shillings per week; he kept this job for a decade.
On the 8th. January 1910, the Glasgow Evening Times reported that Lauder had told the New York World that, during his mining career:
"I was entombed once for 6 long hours. It seemed
like 6 years. There were no visible means of getting
out either – we had just to wait. I was once right next
to a cave-in when my fire boss was buried alive. As we
were working and chatting a big stone twice as big as
a trunk came tumbling down on my mate from overhead,
doubling him like a jack-knife.
It squeezed his face right down on the floor. God knows
I wasn't strong enough to lift that rock alone, but by
superhuman efforts I did. This gave him a chance to
breathe and then I shouted. Some men 70 yards away
heard me and came and got him out alive.
A chap who worked beside me was killed along with
71 others at Udston, and all they could identify him
with was his pin leg. I wasn't there that day."
Lauder said that he was "proud to be an old coal-miner," and in 1911, became an outspoken advocate for the welfare of pit ponies. He pleaded their cause to Winston Churchill, when introduced to him at the House of Commons.
Harry later reported to the Tamworth Herald:
"I could talk for hours about my wee four-footed
friends of the mine. But I think I convinced him
that the time has now arrived when something
should be done by the law of the land to improve
the lot and working conditions of the patient,
equine slaves who assist so materially in carrying
on the great mining industry of this country."
Harry Lauder's Career
Harry Lauder often sang to the miners in Hamilton, who encouraged him to perform in local music halls. While singing in nearby Larkhall, he received 5 shillings—the first time he was paid for singing.
He received further engagements, including a weekly "go-as-you please" night held by Mrs. Christina Baylis at her Scotia Music Hall/Metropole Theatre in Glasgow. She advised him to gain experience by touring music halls around the country with a concert party, which he did.
The tour allowed him to quit the coal mines and become a professional singer. Lauder concentrated his repertoire on comedic routines and songs of Scotland and Ireland.
By 1894, Lauder had turned professional, and performed local characterisations at small, Scottish and northern English music halls, but had ceased the repertoire by 1900. In March of that year, Lauder travelled to London and reduced the heavy dialect of his act which according to a biographer, Dave Russell, "handicapped Scottish performers in the metropolis".
He was an immediate success at the Charing Cross Music Hall and at the London Pavilion, venues at which the theatrical paper The Era reported that he had generated "great furore" among his audiences with three of his self-composed songs.
Harry Lauder Between 1905 and 1914
In 1905 Lauder's success in leading the Howard & Wyndham pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, for which he wrote I Love a Lassie, made him a national star, and he obtained contracts with Sir Edward Moss and others.
Lauder then made a switch from music hall to variety theatre, and undertook a tour of America in 1907.
The following year, he performed a private show before Edward VII at Sandringham. His performance before Edward VII was satirised by Neil Munro in his Erchie Macpherson story "Harry and the King", first published in the Glasgow Evening News of the 14th. September 1908.
In 1911, Harry again toured the United States where he commanded $1,000 a night. In 1912, he was top of the bill at Great Britain's first ever Royal Command Performance, in front of King George V.
Lauder undertook world tours extensively during his forty-year career, including 22 trips to the United States—for which he had his own railway train, the Harry Lauder Special, and made several trips to Australia, where his brother John had emigrated.
Lauder was, at one time, the highest-paid performer in the world, making the equivalent of £12,700 a night plus expenses. He was paid £1,125 for an engagement at the Glasgow Pavilion Theatre in 1913.
In January 1914 Harry embarked upon a tour that included the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Harry Lauder During The Great War
The Great War broke out while Lauder was visiting Australia. During the war Lauder promoted recruitment into the services, and starred in many concerts for troops at home and abroad. Campaigning for the war effort in 1915, he wrote:
"I know that I am voicing the sentiment of
thousands and thousands of people when
I say that we must retaliate in every possible
way regardless of cost.
If these German savages want savagery, let
them have it".
Following the December 1916 death of his son on the Western Front; Lauder led successful charity fundraising efforts, organised a recruitment tour of music halls, and entertained troops in France with a piano.
Harry travelled to Canada in 1917 on a fundraising exercise for the war, where, on the 17th. November he was guest-of-honour and speaker at the Rotary Club of Toronto Luncheon, when he raised nearly three-quarters of a million dollars worth of bonds for Canada's Victory Loan.
In January 1918, he famously visited Charlie Chaplin, and the two leading comedy icons of their time acted in a short film together.
Through his efforts in organising concerts and fundraising appeals Harry established the charity the Harry Lauder Million Pound Fund, for maimed Scottish soldiers and sailors. Harry was knighted in May 1919 for Empire service during the Great War.
Sir Harry Lauder After The Great War
After Great War, Sir Harry continued to tour variety theatre circuits.
His final tour was in North America in 1932. He made plans for a new house at Strathaven, to be built over the site and ruin of an old manor, called Lauder Ha'. He was semi-retired during the early 1930's, until his final retirement was announced in 1935.
Sir Harry briefly emerged from retirement to entertain troops during the Second World War and to make wireless broadcasts with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
In January 1918, he famously visited Charlie Chaplin, and the two leading comedy icons of their time acted in a short film together.
Sir Harry Lauder in Australia
Sir Harry's strongest overseas connections were with Australia. Both Lauder, his wife and son, brother Matt and his wife, were all in Australia when the Great War broke out. Their brother John had already emigrated, about 1906, to Kurri Kurri (and, later, Newcastle), New South Wales. Matt's eldest son John also emigrated there in 1920. Lauder wrote that:
"Every time I return to Australia I am filled
with genuine enthusiasm.....it is one of the
very greatest countries in the world."
Lauder was next in Australia (with his wife and her mother) in 1919, arriving at Sydney on the 1st. March on board the Oceanic Steamship Company's liner S.S. Ventura, from San Francisco.
He was staying at the Hotel Australia when he was notified that he was to be knighted upon his return to Great Britain.
His next visit to Australia was in 1923 when his brother John was on hand in Sydney, with their nephew John (Matt's son), to welcome Lauder, his wife and her brother Tom Vallance, after a four-year absence.
Harry visited and stayed with his brother John in Newcastle on several occasions, two well-known visits being in 1925, when he gave several performances at Newcastle's Victoria Theatre for three weeks. and again in 1929.
Lauder departed Sydney for the USA on board the liner SS Ventura on the 27th. July 1929, a ship he was familiar with. In 1934–5, his brother John spent 10 months with him in Scotland.
Sir Harry Lauder in South Africa
Sir Harry Lauder's 1925 reception in South Africa has never been equalled in that country. En route to Australia, he and his wife arrived in Cape Town at Easter. Over twenty thousand people had lined the streets for hours beforehand, and it was reported that every policeman in the city plus mounted police were required to keep order. All traffic came to a standstill.
He played for two weeks at the Opera House to packed audiences every night, producing audience figures which "staggered the management".
Sir Harry moved on to Johannesburg where his reception was equally amazing; one reporter wrote:
"never, as long as I live, shall I forget it!"
The Works of Sir Harry Lauder
Lauder wrote most of his own songs, favourites of which were Roamin' In The Gloamin', I Love a Lassie, A Wee Deoch-an-Doris, and The End of the Road, which is used by Birmingham City Football Club as their club anthem.
In 1907, Sir Harry appeared in a short film singing "I Love a Lassie" for British Gaumont, and in 1914, he appeared in 14 Selig Polyscope experimental short sound films.
The British Film Institute has several reels of what appears to be an unreleased film All for the Sake of Mary (c. 1920) co-starring Effie and Harry Vallance.
Sir Harry also appeared in a test film for the Photokinema sound-on-disc process in 1921. This film is part of the UCLA Film and Television Archive collection; however, the disc is missing.
Sir Harry also starred in three British films: Huntingtower (1927), Auld Lang Syne (1929,) and The End of the Road (1936).
He wrote a number of books, which ran into several editions, including Harry Lauder at Home and on Tour (1912), A Minstrel in France (1918), Between You and Me (1919), Roamin' in the Gloamin' (1928 autobiography), My Best Scotch Stories (1929), Wee Drappies (1931), and Ticklin' Talks (circa 1932).
Recordings Made by Sir Harry Lauder
Lauder made his first recordings, resulting in nine selections, for the Gramophone & Typewriter company early in 1902. He continued to record for Gramophone until the middle of 1905, most recordings appearing on the Gramophone label, but others on Zonophone.
Sir Harry then recorded fourteen selections for Pathé Records in June 1906. Two months later he was back at Gramophone, and performed for them in several sessions through 1908.
That year he also made several two and four-minute cylinders for Edison Records. Next year he recorded for Victor in New York. He continued to make some cylinders for Edison, but was primarily associated with His Master's Voice and Victor.
In 1910 Victor introduced a mid-priced purple-label series, the first twelve issues of which were by Lauder. In 1927 Victor promoted Lauder recordings to their Red Seal imprint, making him the only comedic performer to appear on the label primarily associated with operatic celebrities.
Lauder is one of three artists shown on Victor's black, purple, blue and red Seal records. His final recordings were made in 1940, but Lauder records were issued in the new format as current material when RCA Victor introduced the 45rpm record.
Sir Harry Lauder Portraits
Lauder is credited with giving the 21-year-old portrait artist Cowan Dobson his opening into society by commissioning him, in 1915, to paint his portrait.
This was considered to be so outstanding that another commission came the following year, to paint his son Captain John Lauder, and again another commission in 1921 to paint Lauder's wife, the latter portrait being after the style of John Singer Sargent. These three portraits remain with the family.
The same year, Scottish artist James McBey painted another portrait of Lauder, today in the Glasgow Museums.
Image is a simple self portrait and signature on lined paper, dated 31st. March 1937, with the message "as ever – ever new."
In the tradition of the magazine Vanity Fair, there appeared numerous caricatures of Lauder. One is by Al Frueh (1880–1968) that was published in 1913 in the New York World magazine. Another is by Henry Mayo Bateman, now in London's National Gallery, and one of 1926 by Alick P. F. Ritchie, for Players Cigarettes, today in the London National Portrait Gallery.
Sir Harry Lauder's Personal Life
On the 19th. June 1891 Harry Lauder married Ann, daughter of James Vallance, a colliery manager in Hamilton; their only son, Captain John Currie Lauder, was educated at the City of London School, followed by a degree from Jesus College, Cambridge.
John became a captain in the 8th. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and was killed in action on the 28th. December 1916 at Pozières.
Encouraged by Ann, Lauder returned to the stage three days after learning of John's death. He wrote the song "The End of the Road" (published as a collaboration with the American William Dillon, 1924) in the wake of John's death, and built a monument for him in the private Lauder cemetery in Glenbranter. (John Lauder was buried in the war cemetery at Ovillers, France).
Lauder was a devout Christian, and with the exception of engagements in the United States, never performed on Sundays.
Lady Lauder died on the 31st. July 1927, at the age of 54, a week after surgery. She was buried next to her son's memorial in the private Lauder cemetery on his 14,000 acre Glenbranter estate in Argyll, where her parents would later join her.
Lauder's niece, Margaret (1900–1966), subsequently became his secretary and companion until his death.
Sir Harry Lauder's Association With Freemasonry
Sir Harry was initiated a Freemason on the 28th. January 1897 in Lodge Dramatic, No. 571, Glasgow, Scotland, and remained an active Freemason for the rest of his life.
The Death of Sir Harry Lauder
Lauder leased the Glenbranter estate in Argyll to the Forestry Commission, and spent his last years at Lauder Ha (or Hall), his Strathaven home, where he died on the 26th. February 1950, aged 79.
His funeral was held at Cadzow Church in Hamilton on the 2nd. March. It was widely reported, notably by Pathé newsreels.
One of the chief mourners was the Duke of Hamilton, a close family friend, who led the funeral procession through Hamilton, and read the lesson. Wreaths were sent by Queen Elizabeth and Sir Winston Churchill.
Sir Harry was interred with his brother George and their mother in the family plot at Bent Cemetery in Hamilton.
In 1932 he had placed the land at Strathaven where Lauder Hall would stand, and its park, in the name of his niece and secretary, Margaret Lauder in order to avoid high death duties should he die, as he wanted it preserved as the family seat and as a museum to himself.
This proved to be a wise move, as although he left moveable estate of £358,971, the death duties on this amounted to £207,581. After personal bequests to family totalling £27,000, the residue went to Margaret Lauder.
Posthumous Associations
In the 1942 film Random Harvest, Greer Garson plays a member of a travelling troupe. She sings "She's Ma Daisy," and tells jokes, doing an impression of Lauder.
Websites carry much of his material, and the Harry Lauder Collection, amassed by entertainer Jimmy Logan, was bought for the nation and donated to the University of Glasgow.
When the A199 Portobello bypass opened, it was named the Sir Harry Lauder Road.
On the 28th. July 1987, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh hosted a luncheon at the Edinburgh City Chambers in order to commemorate the 60th. Anniversary of Lauder receiving the Freedom of the City.
On the 4th. August 2001, Gregory Lauder-Frost opened the Sir Harry Lauder Memorial Garden at Portobello Town Hall.
BBC2 Scotland broadcast a documentary, Something About Harry, on the 30th. November 2005.
On the 29th. September 2007, Lauder-Frost re-dedicated the Burslem Golf Course & Club at Stoke-on-Trent, which had been formally opened exactly a century before by Harry Lauder.
In the 1990's, samples of recordings of Lauder were used on two tracks recorded by the Scottish folk/dance music artist Martyn Bennett.
The Corkscrew hazel ornamental cultivar of common hazel (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') is sometimes known as Harry Lauder's Walking Stick, in reference to the crooked walking stick that Sir Harry often carried.
