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DON'T FORGET BOBBY - FIGHT FOR CAPITAL TO MARK ANNIVERSARY OF FAMED STORY

Greyfriars Bobby

Friday February 8,2008

By Tom Fullerton

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One hundred and fifty years ago today, he was an unremarkable little Skye terrier who trotted the cobbled streets of Edinburgh and answered to the name of Bobby.

But he was about to become Greyfriars Bobby, and is now up there with Lassie as one of the most famous dogs of all time.

Bobby’s master, John Gray, died of tuberculosis exactly 150 years ago and the little terrier refused to leave his grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard until his own death 14 years later.

But, despite the fact that Bobby, with a little help from Walt Disney, took the name of the Kirkyard, and Edinburgh, around the world, the city council has no plans to commemorate the anniversary. Yesterday, Edinburgh Central’s Labour MSP Sarah Boyack called for official recognition of the occasion and added: “The story of Greyfriars Bobby has touched people around the world and, apart from being an important part of Edinburgh’s history, has attracted tourists.

It would be nice if the city council would officially recognise the death of John Gray

Edinburgh Central’s Labour MSP Sarah Boyack

“It would be nice if the city council would officially recognise the death of John Gray. After all, if it had not been for him, there would have been no Greyfriars Bobby.

“I have written to council leader Jenny Dawe urging her to give Mr Gray and the Greyfriars Bobby story the appreciation they deserve.”

Edinburgh’s One O’Clock Gun Association is commemorating the anniversary with a display of memorabilia in the Central Library on George IV Bridge.

Organiser George Robinson said: “We wanted to do something special.

“About the time the one o’clock gun was introduced in 1861, Colour Sergeant Donald McNab Scott, a clerk at the Castle, adopted Bobby and would take him for lunch at Currie’s Eating House.

“It was one of the colour sergeant’s duties to prepare the gun for firing and it became a signal for Bobby to trot out of the kirkyard to go for his dinner.

“Very soon, word got around and crowds would gather at the kirkyard gates to watch Bobby leave and return to his vigil. Any other city would have jumped at the opportunity to promote such an asset, but there’s little interest in Edinburgh.

“There are too many intellectuals here and they think this is just tartan tat. But it is an important part of Edinburgh’s heritage and I am delighted that Sarah Boyack has written to the council.”

John Gray arrived in Edinburgh with his wife Jess and their 13-year-old son, also named John, around 1850.

He joined the police force as a nightwatchman and, in 1856, enlisted Bobby as his guard dog.

But after only two years of pounding the beat with his dog, John died on February 8, 1858.

FIDO

08.02.08, 10:13am

One of Landseer's most celebrated paintings "The old shepherd's chief mourner" is a real-tear jerker showing a dog sitting disconsolately by his master's coffin. And it is said that only Mozart's little dog followed his coffin on its way to the cemetery, braving the foul storm that raged throughout the day.
Some nice reminders of the devotion of "man's best friend" to counteract some of the stories of dogs reared as killers by those whose own mentalities are worse than bestial.

• Posted by: gimleteye7 • Report Comment