New Light on the Mary Erskine Story

An exciting addition to the Company’s archive has just been secured: an early-to-mid 18th-century cartulary, or leger, won at auction in London last week by none other than our featured Member this month, Vince Mason.

With guidance from the National Records of Scotland and Edinburgh City Archives, the Archives & Treasures Committee was able to secure this 456-page handwritten volume, which details transactions connected to the Merchant Maiden Hospital, now The Mary Erskine School.

The rare document is expected to shed new light on the hospital’s early organisation and development.

The Company plans to display the ledger in the Hall for members before it joins the wider archive at Edinburgh City Archives. In time, it is hoped this record will support further research into one of the most formative periods in the institution’s story.

A huge congratulations to the Archives and Treasures Committee for securing this hard-won acquisition.