Edinburgh, Scotland in the 1750s

Work

Work served the capital

The city’s labour fed a compact world of law, learning, trade and service: domestic service, retailing, craft trades, legal copying, printing, building and food selling. The new Royal Exchange^3,4 shows merchants and magistrates trying to give business a more formal home.

Faith

Parishes counted souls

Official religion was Presbyterian, and in 1755 parish ministers were asked to count Protestants, Roman Catholics and total inhabitants¹. The church calendar and parish oversight still framed ordinary life, charity and reputation.

Law & power

Magistrates and lawyers ruled

Local government rested with the magistrates and Town Council⁵, while national influence gathered around courts, advocates, merchants and burgh officials. The 1752 improvement scheme came through Lord Gilbert Elliot Minto and the Convention of Royal Burghs⁵.

In the air

Improvement was the argument

The city debated improvement, public works, trade, urban expansion and Scotland’s place inside Britain^2,5. The medical school’s lectures and clinical teaching placed the university at the centre of Enlightenment Edinburgh.

What people feared

Sickness met charity

The Edinburgh Infirmary for the Sick Poor² had opened in 1729 and served patients while training medical students. Population returns also counted fighting men aged 18 to 56¹, so military obligation remained part of official thinking.

Home & table

Old Town before escape

Most urban life still centred on the Old Town ridge, High Street, closes, castle end, St Giles and Cowgate. The hoped-for northern escape was not yet built: the First New Town itself did not yet exist⁶.

Who lived here

Students and empire arrived

By the 1750s the university had about 300 medical students², roughly half of its students. The city’s learning economy was tied to empire, including Archibald Ker’s Jamaican bequest, 420 acres and 39 enslaved people².

Roads & news

Plans crossed the loch

News, petitions and print moved through a capital that was already planning beyond its old limits. The 1752 proposals concerned public works, land use and city planning^5,6, including the future draining of the Nor’ Loch and expansion northward.

Year by year

1. 1750The Royal Infirmary learned of Archibald Ker’s Jamaican bequest, tying a city charity to an estate of 420 acres and 39 enslaved people. here²
2. 1752Proposals for public works in Edinburgh set out schemes for improvement, planning and northward expansion. here^5,6
3. 1753The Royal Exchange was commissioned on the north side of the High Street, replacing older closes in the city’s heart. here^3,4
4. 1755Webster’s population account counted Scotland at 1,265,380 people through returns gathered from parish ministers. the country¹
5. 1756The Seven Years’ War began, a global conflict that affected Britain, France, colonies, trade, recruiting and Atlantic news. the world
6. 1759British victories at Quebec, Minden and Quiberon Bay made the war a subject of national celebration and anxious imperial news. the country
7. 1761The Royal Exchange building works were completed after having begun in 1753. here^3,4

Pictures from the time

What the sources say

• Alexander Webster’s 1755 population account, organised through parish ministers, gave Scotland a total population of 1,265,380 and is regarded as the most credible pre-1801 Scottish estimate. from the sources¹
• Edinburgh in the 1750s was still centred on the Old Town ridge, especially the High Street, the closes running off it, the castle end, St Giles, Parliament Close and the Cowgate. inferred
• The coordinate 55.950, -3.200 falls in central Edinburgh, near the Old Town and the later New Town, not at Leith or a rural parish. inferred
• The Royal Exchange on the north side of the High Street was commissioned in 1753, built in 1753–1761, and replaced several closes including Mary King’s, Stewart’s, Pearson’s and Allan’s. from the sources^3,4
• In 1752 Edinburgh improvement proposals included public works, land use and city planning, and later accounts identify these proposals with the draining of the Nor’ Loch and northward expansion. from the sources^5,6
• Before the First New Town was built, the land north of Edinburgh was open ground with scattered villages such as Broughton, Stockbridge, Canonmills, Dean, Picardy and Calton. from the sources⁷
• The First New Town itself did not yet exist in the 1750s; the formal plan by James Craig belongs to 1766, after this decade. from the sources⁶
• The North Bridge was not yet carrying ordinary traffic in the 1750s; later summaries place its construction in the 1760s and 1770s. from the sources⁶
• By the 1750s the University of Edinburgh had about 300 medical students, roughly half of the whole student body. from the sources²
• The Edinburgh Infirmary for the Sick Poor opened in 1729 on Robertson’s Close, received a royal charter in 1736, and served as the teaching hospital for the medical school. from the sources²
• The medical school offered clinical medicine and trained future physicians, surgeons and apothecaries who also gathered for instruction at the Royal Infirmary. from the sources²
• Edinburgh’s university and infirmary were already linked to the Atlantic world: in 1750 the infirmary learned of Archibald Ker’s Jamaican bequest, an estate with 420 acres and 39 enslaved people. from the sources²
• Municipal power in 1750s Edinburgh lay with the magistrates and Town Council, while legal and commercial influence clustered around the College of Justice, advocates, merchants and the Convention of Royal Burghs. from the sources⁵
• The 1752 public-works pamphlet was associated with Lord Gilbert Elliot Minto and the Convention of Royal Burghs committee concerned with purchasing an area for a public forum in Edinburgh. from the sources⁵
• The Church of Scotland shaped official religious life, and Webster’s 1755 parish returns asked ministers to count Protestants, Roman Catholics and total inhabitants. from the sources¹
• The same Webster returns asked for the number of fighting men aged 18 to 56, showing that militia capacity was part of how population was described. from the sources¹
• Ordinary work in Edinburgh included domestic service, retailing, craft trades, legal copying, printing, building, carrying, brewing, food selling and service to students, lawyers and visiting gentry. inferred
• As a Scottish capital after the 1707 Union, Edinburgh had lost its parliament but retained courts, lawyers, banks, the university, publishing and national institutions. inferred
• Arguments in the decade included improvement, public works, trade, urban expansion, the place of Scotland inside Britain, and the intellectual questions later grouped under the Scottish Enlightenment. from the sources^2,5
• No detailed online household budget for an ordinary Edinburgh labourer in the 1750s was found in this quick search. not known
• No single opened source here gives a reliable street-by-street description of ordinary Edinburgh interiors in the 1750s. not known

Sources

1. Webster’s Account of the Population of Scotland in 1755. National Records of Scotland, 2026
2. Slavery, Medicine, and Philanthropy in Scotland. Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
3. The Royal Exchange. The National Archives
4. Edinburgh as described in F. H. Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland. A Vision of Britain through Time, 1882
5. Proposals for carrying on certain public works in the city of Edinburgh. Wellcome Collection, 1752
6. Old and New Towns of Edinburgh World Heritage Site — Management Plan 2017–2022. UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 2022
7. New Town Conservation Area Character Appraisal: Historical Origins and Development. City of Edinburgh Council, 2017