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Barron's
Rag Merchants
Southside |
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Thank you to Rod Barron, Sevenoaks, Kent,
England who wrote: |
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Asa Wass'
"I was very interested to read Ken Miller's
information on
Asa Wass
and the other messages and recollections
regarding "rag and bone" men of the Dumbiedykes area of Edinburgh."
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John Barron
"My great-great grandfather was called John
Barron and, like Asa Wass, also came to Edinburgh from Yorkshire in about
1859/1860 and set up business in Edinburgh as a rag merchant.
I am told the business involved collecting
"shoddy" which was then cleaned, sorted and packed up to be sent down by
rail to mills in Morley, West Yorkshire, where it was recycled into new
cheap-quality cloth, a lot of it for export."
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1860s Onwards
"The family rag business in Edinburgh thrived
under John, who died in the 1880's, his son Samuel Barron (b.1848), John's
son-in-law Edwin Lawton, and for another couple of generations through to
the period between the wars I believe.
In the 1861 the family are at 31 Blair Street.
In 1871 John and family are at 6 Montague Street, where John (b.1824) is
described as "Rag Merchant employing 18 men". The family business began to
decline after WW1 I think primarily because one of the brothers was killed
in the Somme and the other brothers took up business in other trades and
professions."
Rod Barron, Sevenoaks, Kent: March 1, 2007
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Question |
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Barron's Rag Merchants
Dumbiedykes Depot
"I am told that the business had a depot in
the Dumbiedykes area of Edinburgh and wondered if anyone had any
recollections of this.
I have not done much research on the location
of the depot as yet, but it would be interesting to know if anyone has any
recollections or memories of the Barron's depot. Any assistance or
feedback would be greatly appreciated"
Rod Barron, Sevenoaks, Kent: March 1, 2007
If you can help to answer Rod's question,
please e-mail me and I'll pass on your comments to Rod.
Thank you. - Peter Stubbs
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Answer |
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Thank you to Bob Sharp for sending his recollections. Bob was in
the Edinburgh Police from 1955 to 1967. His beat included
Dumbiedykes.
Bob wrote:
Barron's Rag Merchants
Dumbiedykes Depot
"I've just been passed this site today and was
reading about the rag site.
I'm sure the property you are referring to was
in (I believe it was called) Dumbiedykes Lane. When walking on Dumbiedykes
Road towards Holyrood Road you turned right into the lane. I remember it
as really old property and a wee bit scary.
We used to work a beat on night shift from a
police box on Dumbiedykes Road, across from Arthur Street, I think it was.
The box was into the wall, right at a foot gate to the park. This of
course was all before any of the reconstruction.
The beat in question was '14 beat'. It
was strictly a night-shift beat and was part of the old '9 beat' which
worked out of the police box at Simon Square on day shift."
Bob Sharp, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada:
February 19, 2008 |
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Dumbiedykes Lane
I've checked the old maps. Dumbiedykes Lane does not appear to be
shown on the large-scale maps of Dumbiedykes on the EdinPhoto web site -
1915, 1925, 1940.
However, it can be found on the A1 'Geographia' Atlas and Guide to
Edinburgh, published probably around 1950s. The lane is where
Bob Sharp describes it. to the east of Dumbiedykes Road, close to Holyrood
Road. It's to the north of the bowling greens in Dumbiedykes Road
and SW of the two gas holders in Holyrood Road.
Peter Stubbs: February 24, 2008 |
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