Roslin Remembered

This online exhibition features a collection of photographs named after the Bryce family of Roslin.

From around 1880 to the 1940s, two generations of the family lived and worked in a draper’s shop and post office on Roslin Main Street. One daughter of the family married a keen amateur photographer, Thomas Ritchie and, in the early years of the twentieth century, Ritchie took many photographs in and around Roslin, some of which were made into postcards and sold in the Roslin Post Office.

(continues below)

George Bryce was born in Roslin on 6 April 1827 and married Fanny Crawford Law (born in Glencorse) in 1858.  The couple had two daughters, Marion and Maggie. The 1881 census shows the Bryce family living in the Post Office on Roslin Main Street. George’s occupation is given as a millwright and Maggie a letter carrier. In the 1891 census, the family are still at the same address with George described as a gunpowder packer, Marion a milliner and Maggie a telegraphist. By 1901, George had become postmaster and newsagent.

On 21 March 1902, the Midlothian Journal published an obituary to ‘Mrs Bryce of the Post Office’. George Bryce died in Roslin in 1912.

By the 1940s, Meg Campbell (nee Bryce), the great niece of George Bryce, moved from Glasgow and took over the family business in Roslin. The collection of photographs had been stored away and largely forgotten but, in 1993, Mrs Campbell donated the collection to Midlothian Local Studies and stipulated that it should be known as ‘The Bryce Collection’. Subsequently, members of the Roslin Heritage Society researched and identified many of the images and some were included in the book Old Roslin (published by Stenlake in 2003).

Thanks to members of Roslin Heritage Society, who have researched and identified many of the images in the Bryce Collection, and to Winnie Stevenson for scanning them.

The Bryce Collection images are used with permission from Midlothian Council Libraries and Archives.

Our online gallery is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, administered by Midlothian Council.

A number of the images were included in the book Old Roslin (published by Stenlake in 2003).