1860  Old Kirk Wynd is widened to form what by the 1890s will be known as Kirk Square.

1860  'Arbroath & It's Abbey; or The Early History of The Town & Abbey of Aberbrothock' by

David Miller (1809 - 1879) is published.

1860  Inverbrothock Church at the corner of James St & Reform St is extended.

1860  The (Voluntary) Corps is combined with the 1st Brigade, Forfarshire Artillery Volunteers

with HQ in Albany Quarters, Bell Street, Dundee. (Source: M.O.D.)

1860 approx (-63)  Shipbuilders J & J Hall operate next to the Signal Tower.

1860  Horner's Wynd, amid much opposition, has it's name changed to Commerce Street.

1860-1872 The Arbroath Shipbuilding Co. operate east of the harbour (now McKay's site).

 

1861  The Academy and the Educational Institution unite to form Arbroath's

first High School in Hill Place. It will in turn become Arbroath's Public Library.

1861  Arbroath Bowling Club is established.

1861  The population is 17,657.

1861  Baltic Works, a four storey building on Dens Road, is built.

1861  David Carnegie's 'Lays & Lyrics from the Factory' is published. Click here:

1861  During improvements on Hospitalfield Estate, 100 - 120 interred human

skeletons are found within a sandy hillock east of Hospitalfield Lodge. Foundations

are also excavated of a building SE of the burial ground, probably of the Chapel of

St John the Baptist, associated with the medieval plague & leprosy hospital.

1861  Helen Aitken is listed as Tuttie's neuk's public house keeper. Her husband

John Aitken died in 1853. (See 'Questions & Answer's' page.

1861  (Nov 23)  James Glen Sivewright is born in Arbroath (son of William

Gibson & Elizabeth Sivewright). He will become an architect, his projects

including London County Council hostel in Drury Lane (1891), West Riding

County Hall in Wakefield (1898) and Middlesex Guildhall (1913). Dies 1951.

 

1862  (Feb)  An Arbroath to Edinburgh return train fare costs 16s 9d.

1862  The jail at the corner of Gravesend is closed due to a shortage of offenders !

1862  Grant's shoemaking firm is established.

1862  George Hay becomes editor of the Arbroath Guide.

 

 

1863  An anonymous Arbroath lady writes the poem 'Frae The Wives At The

Fit O' The Toun' (right), in praise of Mr William Gibson who has gifted a water

supply to the burgh. The editor will write a tune for it in 2011.

1863  The farmer of West Newbigging has found, on a knoll called ' The Pretty

Thing ', two burial cists containing human bones. A clay urn in excellent preservation is also found.  

1863  At the launching of the barque 'Elmgrove', the vessel capsizes with 30 men & boys aboard. Only one boy has a slight chain injury, but boys are banned from future launchings.

 

 

1864  Evangelical Union opens.

1864  Forbes' Fund is founded: Not less than 8 or more than 10 pounds/year to destitute widows & old single females.

1864  The town's gas holders are built.

1864  (Aug 22)  James Malcolm Mason is born in Arbroath. After studying medicine in Glasgow, he works in Portsmouth & Blyth, Northumberland before studying law. He emigrates to New Zealand in 1895 where, in Otaki, he is doctor & soon justice of the peace.. As doctor, bacteriologist & public health administrator, he will be remembered for 'his far sighted contributions to the development of his adopted country's public health system'.

1864 (Sep) The brigantine 'Scotsman', official no. 48641 and built by The Arbroath Shipbuilding Company, is launched. She will ply the coastal trade (at least in the late 1870s) and may have last sailed  in 1893. By the current year, the Arbroath Shipbuilding Co is the only local boat builder. As the linen industry slows in growth, the requirement for vessels decreases.

1864  River walls are being built for the Brothock Water, from the foot of Marketgate to Dangerpoint.

1864-65  The old Burgh Tolbooth, built in 1686 and abandoned in 1779, is eventually demolished.

 

 

1865  The Public Hall is erected on High Street, containing a museum & a large concert & public meeting hall.

1865  The RNLI takes over the Lifeboat Station and a new boathouse is built at East Grimsby.

1865  RM Ballantyne publishes his children's novel 'The Lighthouse'. In it's creation he has spent three weeks in the Bell Rock Lighthouse.

1865  William Briggs & Sons Ltd, tar manufacturers, opens for business at Elliot, on a large site between the railway line & the sea. (see 1970).

1865  Irvingite Church opens.

1865  Ladyloan Church is elevated from 'chapel of ease' to 'quoad sacra church'.

 

1866 (Jan 2)  New Lifeboat 'Peoples Journal No.2' arrives at Arbroath. This & Peterhead sister boat 'No.1' have been paid for by readers of that magazine. The vessel will remain in service until 1888.

1866  Queen Street Independent Chapel is designed by architect William Aitkenhead.

1866  Congregationalist Church opens.

1866  The St Vigeans & Arbroath combination Poorhouse (Rosemount Home), opens on the high ground east of Ward Mill Hill, off Brechin Road.

1866  (Oct 29)  John Edward 'Ned' Doig is born in Arbroath. He will become an exceptional goalkeeper, joining Arbroath FC in 1884 & gaining 2 Scottish Caps whilst with the Lichties. The briefest of spells with Blackburn Rovers in 1889 is followed by his 1890 signing by Sunderland FC where he will remain for 14 seasons & gain a further 4 Scottish International Caps. Later, Sunderland fans will rate him their greatest ever player. He ends his career with Liverpool in 1908, aged 41. In 1919 he will die aged only 53, a victim of the Spanish Flu epidemic.

 

 

1867 (Jan 27)  Princes Street United Presbyterian Church opens at the corner of Queen Street & Princes Street.

1867  Knox's Free Church opens at the corner of Cairnie Street & Howard Street..

1867  The town's 18 spinning mills employ 4,941 people.

1867  The connection between Market Place & Commerce Street opens.

1867  The Western Cemetery is opened on what had been 20 acres of prime farmland.

 

 

 

1868  An upper storey is added to Wesley House, the manse. It receives a water supply in 1888.

1868  Gibson Fund founded: £100 to Educational Trust for the higher education of poor lads by bursaries etc, & remainder annually between the town's poor householders (£20-25 each). Also the Gibson Xmas  Charity, annual revenue of £2,000 applied: One half in coal, one half in groceries, oatmeal & clothes for the necessitous poor of Arbroath.

 

 

 

1869  Barclay Ross are established in Commerce Street.

1869  Abbey Church is elevated from 'chapel of ease' to 'quoad sacra church'. It becomes the Parish Church.

1869  To provide a local water supply, a well is sunk which will become Nolt Loan Pumping Station at the foot of Keptie Hill, supplying a 40'0" tank and becoming the town's first water tower (see map left and 1871).

1869  Duncan's Charity is founded.

1869  The Parish Church (Kirk Wynd) is 'enlarged or repaired'.