Alfred Henry Rushbrook

St Leonard's Survey

Edinburgh City Improvement Trust

The Edinburgh City Improvement Trust was established following the passing of the Edinburgh Improvement Act of 1867. Its functions included property acquisition, demolition and slum clearance.

1860s

During the Provostship of William Chambers (1865-1869) the first Improvement Scheme was carried out. Slums were cleared in the Grassmarket, High Street, Canongate and Cowgate, the population density reduced and deaths from infectious diseases fell.

1890s to 1920s

Improvements were carried out throughout Edinburgh, including first, Fountainbridge, Portobello and Stockbridge; later, Cowgate, Grassmarket and Leith

1927 and 1929

The St Leonard's Improvement Scheme was carried out in two phases, the southern part in 1927 and the northern part in 1929.

AH Rushbrook's Photos

These photos were commissioned by the Edinburgh City Improvement Trust in order to record what the streets and houses looked like before they were demolished as part of its urban improvement scheme

- The Edinburgh Room in Edinburgh Central Library has 138 silver gelatin photos of the St Leonard's area of the Old Town of Edinburgh, taken by A H Rushbrook. These are in two volumes, one dated 1927, the other 1929.

- The National Library of Scotland also recently (c.2001) acquired a set of the St Leonard's photos. Some of these photos formed a small exhibition in the entrance corridor to the National Library during 2002.

Two attractive photographs from this set are featured in the endpapers of the National Library of Scotland's Annual Report 2001-2002.

- The Edinburgh City Archive also has copies of the 1927 and 1929 volumes of A H Rushbrook's St Leonard's Survey photos.

I hope to add photos from the St Leonard's Survey to the EdinPhoto web site soon.

Details of the work of the Edinburgh City Improvement Trust above have been taken from notes provided by The National LIbrary of Scotland: August, 2006