Edinburgh Trades

 

Trades for 

Photographers, Artists and Painters

in Edinburgh

The Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directories give an insight into some of the other trades being carried out in Edinburgh during the hundred years from 1840.  The tables below show the number of businesses listed in the directories at 10-year intervals.

Photographers were first listed in the directories in the 1850s.  Initially, there was direct competition between photography and with miniature portrait painting.  The number of miniature portrait painters  declined steadily.

However many of the professional photographers would have created work for artists.  Photographs needed to be retouched, and several photographers offered their portraits “finished in oils, watercolours or crayons.”

1840

1850

1860

1870

1880

1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

Photographers

0

2

27

41

43

52

57

63

56

27

22

Artists

12

8

33

44

78

131

128

139

100

81

38

Landscape Painters

8

7

8

15

14

10

5

2

0

0

0

Miniature Painters

12

9

8

3

4

2

4

6

4

1

1

Portrait Painters

26

28

21

24

31

28

16

13

11

1

3

 

A few of the 

Other Trades

in Edinburgh

Photography was not the only trade to be expanding 19th century. Other expanding trades included:

-  Boot and Shoe Makers

-  Clock and Watch Makers

-  Engravers and Lithographic Printers

-  Printers

Other trades, quite common in the early 20th century, had almost or completely vanished from the trade directories by 1940:

-  Straw and Leghorn Hat Makers

-  Horse Dealers

-  Van and Lorry Makers

1840

1850

1860

1870

1880

1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

Boot & Shoe Makers

178

158

167

278

310

314

268

218

148

115

72

Brushmakers

12

16

20

24

32

31

18

20

11

12

8

Candlemakers

15

10

7

5

5

6

6

5

2

1

0

Clock and Watch Makers

33

40

44

80

111

136

132

131

81

49

31

Engravers & Lithographic Printers

49

70

74

83

113

119

116

103

69

36

25

Golf Club and Ball Manufacturers

1

0

0

3

4

4

21

30

29

15

7

Horse Dealers

9

3

7

12

19

19

14

18

11

3

0

Opticians, Philosophical Instrument Makers & Chemical Dealers

10

9

12

14

19

29

43

60

39

10

14

Printers

61

85

63

76

99

125

140

137

115

110

92

Saddlers & Harness Makers

20

18

19

29

32

34

31

31

24

14

10

Sculptors

4

14

17

26

34

39

38

26

27

32

23

Straw & Leghorn Hat Makers

30

25

19

19

14

10

9

8

4

0

0

Van & Lorry Builders

0

0

0

0

0

26

19

16

10

6

4

 

 

 

Edinburgh

Why Edinburgh?     Events     Trades    History     Years     Transport    Tours     Maps

 

  

 

__________________