Beard and bowler

“Regarding the recent photograph of Arbroath Town House,” writes Simon Fraser, “the bearded gentleman in the bowler hat, standing within the enclosure but at street level, beneath the right hand lamp, is definitely Patrick Brydon Fraser (1853-1917), of Douglas Fraser and Sons.

“His elder brother John, best known locally as a photographer, was then chairman.

“In 1895 he married Jessie Adam Webster (1853-1920, sister of Sir Francis. They had no children. Patrick’s age would seem about right. The Treaty of Vereeniging was signed on May 31 1902 when Patrick was 48.

“I have tried to identify other prominent citizens among the dignitaries, but without convincing success. I would expect to see Dr James Alexander Dewar (1837-1924), of Dewar House, Hill Terrace, both as a prominent local physician and as his eldest son Surgeon-Captain Thomas Finlayson Dewar (1870-1929) was prominent in the Boer War.

“Tom Dewar wrote a booklet on the sanitation of armies in the field and sent back short articles, describing his experiences, to the Arbroath Guide. Subsequently he became, in succession, Medical Officer of Health for Forfarshire, Fife and Kinross and Scotland.

“He also served with distinction in the First World War, being promoted to Colonel, mentioned in dispatches four times and receiving the CB (Military Division). His middle name is from his mother, a daughter of Thomas Finlayson of Nether Kelly, a leading farmer in the area in the mid-19th Century.”

“This picture of a clump of foxgloves with the sun shining behind them was taken up one of the glens,” says Tricia Brown of Meigle.