Scotland > 1882-1915 - Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of Scotland > 1903, Part 1 - Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of Scotland ... (Royal National Directory of Scotland.) With ... map, etc

DIRECTORY.]
FORFARSHIRE.
DUNDEE.
717
bell chamber: this "Steeple" forms the tower of the town
churches, of which there are three, all connected with it, and
known as the " East," " South " and " Steeple " churches; the
two first were destroyed by fire in 1841, but were rebuilt in a
very short time, the East church being reopened on the 10th
March, 1844, and the South church in 1847; the same architect,
Mr. Burn, of Edinburgh, designed both churches, which are in
the Decorated style : the parish church consists of a nave of
five bays, with clerestory and open timber roof and side aisles
divided from the nave by arcades of clustered pillars: there are
galleries in the aisles and across the west end : the stained
east window of three lights was erected in commemoration of
the Diamond Jubilee of Her late Majesty Queen Victoria: nearly
all the other windows are filled with stained glass, and there
are two memorial brasses; the South church stands north and
south, and has a western transept, containing a gallery. St.
Clement's, or " The Steeple " church, which is the western of
the three, is a plain edifice of stone in the Perpendicular style,
erected in 1789 : a gallery surrounds all three sides. These
three churches are really one large building, the Steeple church
being the nave, the South church the north and south transepts,
and the East church the chancel, and occupy the site of the
original church of St. Mary. Adjoining these churches is the
Town or Market Cross, moved here from High street, and con-
sists of a pillar surmounted by a unicorn supporting a shield.
St. Paul's United Free church and St. Enoch's Established
church are in the Nethergate, and St. Mark's Established church,
St. John's United Free church, in Ryehill, and the McCheyne
Memorial United Free church, in the Perth road. St. Paul's
Episcopal church, on the Castle Hill, is an edifice in the Gothic
style, from the designs of the late Sir Gilbert Scott R.A. and
has a tower with lofty spire, containing a peal of bells. In
the Cowgate is a meeting-house for the Glassites — a sect founded
by Mr. John Glass, who was made a freeman of Dundee bv the
town council in 1753. The Gilfillan Memorial Hall, in Whitehall
crescent, is used for worship by the congregation of the Rev.
Walter Walsh; it is also adapted for holding concerts and
meetings.
Schools. — The High School, in Euclid crescent, was erected in
1834, at a cost of £10,000, since which extensive additions have
been made to it, including a gymnasium, workshop and physical
laboratory, and class rooms for girls have also been erected
in Euclid street: the institution is largely indebted to the late
ex-Bailie Harris, who gave £20,000 for the purpose of improving
it: Miss Harris, his sister, has also been a great benefactor.
The Harris Academy, in Park place, erected with a sum of
£10,000, bequeathed for the purpose of promoting secondary
education, was opened in 1885. The Morgan Academy, in the
Forfar road, owes its existence to the benevolence of the late
Mr. Morgan, a native of Dundee, who left the bulk of his
fortune, reduced by litigation to £73,500, for its erection and
maintenance. It was originally designed for 100 boys, the
sons of tradesmen, mechanics and persons of the working classes
generally, in Dundee, Forfar, Montrose or Arbroath, the prefer-
ence being given to the boys of parents belonging to this
town, but in 1889 the Endowed Schools Commission converted
it into a secondary school; the building, erected at a cost of
£15,000, is in the Flemish-Gothic style, from designs by Messrs.
Peddie and Kinnear, architects, of Edinburgh, and is quadran-
gular in form, two storeys in height, with an interior open
court, and a centre tower rising to a height of 120 feet. Uni-
versity College, in the Nethergate, was originally founded and
endowed through the munificence of the late Miss Baxter, of
Balgavies, and the late Dr. John Boyd Baxter, who provided
a sum of £150,000 for this purpose, buildings already on the
site were utilised as class rooms, laboratories, and a college
hall : a large chemical laboratory was erected at a cost of about
£12,877, and £69,000 was spent in purchasing and equipping
the buildings, and £100,000 appropriated as a permanent, endow-
ment fund : the deed of endowment and trust directs that the
college shall be for promoting the education of persons of
both sexes for the study of science, literature and the fine arts :
the later endowments include the John Boyd Baxter chair of
natural history, the J. F. White chair of botany, the T. H.
Cox chair of anatomy, the Harris chair of physics, the philology
chair, the Armitstead busaries, the David Myles bursaries,
the Smart busary in engineering, the Laing bursary in engineer-
ing, the Caird physics laboratory, the Ellenbank extension given
by Miss Symes, of St. Helens, and others, and the joint medical
school by Sir W. Ogilvy Dalgleish bart. and others; a large
general fund has also been started to provide and equip new
buildings, and to preserve to the community the open spaces
in front, used as botanical gardens : the institution is entirely
unsectarian, and has been incorporated with the ancient Uni-
versity of St. Andrews, and Faculties of Arts, Medicine and
Science have now been established, and a beginning made
with Law: there are at present thirteen professors and a number
of lecturers. The Technical Institute, in the grounds of Uni-
versitv College, opened in 1892, was established with a sum of
£20,000 ("afterwards increased to about £26,0001, left by the late
Sir David Baxter bart. for the establishment of a school for the
instruction and training of artisans in their various trades and
arts; there are upwards of 1,040 students in attendance during
the session 1902-03. The School Board includes under its control
the Harris Academy and the Morgan Academy, and haB
altogether 23 schools. The Royal Orphan Institution, founded in
1815, is at Craigie terrace, overlooking the river. The Dundee
Industrial Schools Society's School for girls, at Balgay, Black-
ness road, was erected in 1896, at a cost of £12,000," and will
hold 120 ; the school for boys is at Baldovan, a healthy village
to the north of the town. The " Mars " Training ship for Home-
less and Destitute Boys, is an old three-decker, moored in the
'fay, at Woodhaven, and here four hundred boys are trained,
chiefly with a view to their joining the merchant service or
entering the Royafl Navy. The Institution for the education of
the deaf and dsnYb, established in 1846, and situated at Dudhope
Bank, Locshee road, is maintained by the directors of the Dundee
Institution if©r the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, from the
interest of invested funds, and from property left by the late
James Eey esq.
The Royal Lunatic Asylum, at West Green, in the parish off
Liflf, about 4 miles west of Dundee, was erected in 1882, at a
cost of £50,000, from designs by Messrs. Edward and Robertson,
architects, of Dundee, and will hold upwards of 400 patients r
tue directors in 1899 erected a private asylum as an addition
to the present building, at a cost of about £20,000, so as to-
provide 70 more beds ; the grounds in connection extend to
nearly 100 acres. The Poor House, opened in November, 1856,.
at a cost of about £10,000, and since enlarged, at the sole-
expense of Mr. Molison, chairman of the Parochial Board, at
a cost of upwards of £1,000, will now hold about 300 inmates;
in 1893 a sick hospital containing 320 beds was built, at ai
cost of £25,000. The Curr Night Refuge, in West Bell street,.
erected by money left by the late Mrs. Curr, affords a retreat
for the night to homeless strangers. The Royal Infirmary,
erected in 1853, near to Dudhope park, from designs by Messrs.
Coe and Goodwin, of London, has two wings, a central tower,.
and embattled parapets ; the infirmary provides for 300 in-
patients ; in 1895 a new operating theatre was built at a cost
of £2,000; in 1895-7 two Nurses' Homes were erected at at
cost of £7,000, and in 1898-9 a section for obstetric and gyneco-
logical cases, with a nurses' home, at a cost of £8,000. The
Victoria Hospital for Incurables, Balgay, Blackness road, estab-
lished in 1899, at a cost of £10,000, is a building of stone in
the Renaissance style, from designs by Mr. J. Murray Robertson,
and has 40 beds; the hospital has an endowment of £40,000.
In 1899 Mr. Alexander Moncur, of this city, gave £10,000 to
establish and equip a hospital for consumption. The Public-
Gymnasium, in the Ward road, opened in 1892, and designed by
Bailie M'Culloch, of Dundee, is in the French Renaissance style;
it is spacious and well appointed, and available also for in-
struction in cycle riding. Adjoining the old entrance to the
barracks is the public bleaching green; near this spot a time
gun has been placed.
Besides the burial grounds belonging to the corporation, the
Dundee Cemetery Co. Limited, has a fine cemetery in the Per tb
read, covering an area of 12 acres : in this cemetery lie the
remains of William Thom, known as the Inverury Poet, and the
author of the " Mitherless Bairn." To the east of the Baxter
Park is the Eastern Necropolis, a beautifully laid out cemetery,
and to the west of the Balgay Park is the Western Necropolis.
Baxter park, at the east end of the city, and upwards of 30
acres in extent, was presented to the town in 1863 by the late
Sir David Baxter bart. and endowed with funds necessary to>
maintain it at a total cost of not less than £50,000 ; the park was-
beautifully laid out by the late Sir Joseph Paxton. In 1869 the
corporation acquired Balgay Hill, a wooded eminence at the
west end of the town, to be used partly as a public park an<2
partly as a cemetery for the west end of the burgh : the por-
tion retained as a public park is 36 acres in extent, finely wooded,
and from the higher parte of the ground magnificent "views are
obtained. The Law Hill, behind the town, has also been laid
out as a place of recreation. The inhabitants have also the
use of Magdalen Green, close by the river at the west end of
the town, and Dudhope Park, which was acquired by the cor-
poration early in 1895; the Castle is used as a museum of
mechanics, engineers, and other industries. The " Esplanade "
was formed by an arrangement with the railway companies when:
the Tay Bridge Works were constructed, and was later extended!
westward.
Newspapers. — There are two daily morning papers, the " Dun-
dee Advertiser" and "The Dundee Courier," and two daily
evening papers, " The Evening Telegraph " and " The Evening:
Post " (halfpenny papers). The weekly papers, five in number,
are " The People's Journal," " The Weekly News," " The
Dundee Catholic Herald," "The People's Friend" (a penny
weekly magazine journal), and " The Red Letter." Immediately
opposite the Kinnaird Hall stands a building, 215 feet in length,
the printing establishment of the "Dundee Advertiser,"
"People's Journal," "Evening Telegraph" and "People's
Friend." The proprietors of "The Dundee Weeklv News"
acquired the site of the old Post Office, and erected a printing
and publishing office on it.
The principal market days are Tuesdav and Friday; and there-
is a cattle and sheep market held at Caroline port every Tuesday-
Fairs — Stobb's fair, for cattle, sheep and horses, on the lltb
July, or the first Tuesday following (o.s.); Dundee first fair,
for cattle, sheep and horses, on the 26th August, if that day
falls on Sat. Sunday or Monday, then the first Tuesday after";
and the second Dundee fair on the 19th September, the same-
rule observed as that regulating the first fair. Feeing markets
for servants are held on the 28th May and on the 28th November,,
or on the first Friday thereafter.
In the parish, the Earl of Home K.T., A.D.C., Y.D. of Hare-
craig and Douglas, David Charles Guthrie esq. of Craigie, and?
Robert McGavin esq. J. P. of Ballumbie, are the principal land-
owners. The area of Dundee Combination civil parish is 10,732
acres, and the population in 1891 was 109,875, and in 1901,
163,626, of whom 159,335 were in the burgh and 1,865 in,
Droughty Ferry police burgh. The population of the royaE
and municipal burgh, which includes part of Mains and Strath-
martine civil parish (exclusive of shipping), in 1901 was=
160,8id, and of the parliamentary, 159,083. The population of
the municipal wards in 1901 was:— -first, 15,269; second, 14,722-
third, 17,019 ; fourth, 19,340 ; fifth, 22,039 ; sixth, 15,351 ;
seventh, 19,213; eighth, 19,303; ninth, 18,622; total, 160,878-
Included in the total population of Dundee civil parish was
66 officials and 234 patients in the Royal Infirmary and Maternity
Hospital, 66 officials and 423 inmates in the Royal Asylum,.
48 officials and 938 inmates of Dundee East Combination Poor-
houses, 10 officials and 219 inmates of Dundee West Combinatiorr
Poorhouse, 6 officials and 177 prisoners in Dundee Prison, 130 3
in the Industrial School for Girls. The rateable value of
the city is £890,601; of Liff and Benvie, £17,449 10s.; of
Dundee Landward, £11,216; and of West Ferrv, £12,999;
total, £932,265 10s.