Melancholy Circumstances at St Peter’s

The tales of six tragic deaths from the St Peters Churchyard Burial Register.

My Ancestor was… a Shipmaster or a Sailor

Find out what records are available for sailors and shipmasters

My Ancestor was… a Jute Mill Worker

Our guide to finding out information about someone who worked in a jute mill

Grand Opening of the Caird Hall

As we have seen from our previous posts the Caird Hall was open for performances and events from September 1921. There were discussions about holding an official opening in that year but arrangements seem to have been difficult. As the Duke of York (later George VI) was visiting Scotland in November 1921 a request was...

A Syncopated Sensation

In our last blog we discussed some the early events held at the Caird Hall. There is one event that we'd like to look at in a bit more detail. At the Caird Hall Management Committee meeting on 21st December 1921 there was a complaint heard from Methven Simpson. They had organised for an Orchestra...

Who first played the Caird Hall?

As many of you will know the Caird Hall was officially opened on 26th October 1923, which is why we are celebrating the centenary later this month. However we should have really been celebrating the centenary of the opening of the hall a couple of years ago, as the Caird Hall first opened for events...

Who built the Caird Hall?

In last week's post we looked at the process of building the Caird Hall and why it took so long. This week we thought we would take a look at what we were able to find out about the people who were actually involved with the construction. We know the names of the companies -...

Building the Caird Hall

The foundation stone for the Caird Hall was laid on 10th July 1914 by King George V and Queen Mary. However further work on the building didn't start immediately. It took about a year to start work on the rest of the building. This was mostly due to the fact that the plans for the...

Story of a Photograph: The Man in the Boater Hat

Last week we posted about the event of the laying of the foundation stone for the Caird Hall. Today I would like to focus on one particular picture of that event (the one above). And more precisely one person in that picture. Although you can't see it in the version above, in the album all...

“This stone is well and truly laid”: Laying the Caird Hall Foundation Stone

In April 1914 Dundee Corporation agreed to accept James Key Caird's offer of £100,000 to pay for the new City Hall they had planned. Although the plans needed to be altered, reviewed and approved by the Council, Caird arranged for the laying of the foundation stone for the building in July that year. By this...