Old Photograph Donaldson's Hospital Edinburgh Scotland

Old photograph of Donaldson's Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland. The hospital was designed by architect William Henry Playfair in the Gothic style inspired by Elizabethan manor houses. The building is built round a quadrangle in Tudor architecture style with large corner towers which themselves are each made up of four smaller towers. Queen Victoria opened the building in 1850 and is reputed to have said that the building was more impressive than many of her own palaces. Sir James Donaldson, born 10 December 1751, died 16 December 1830, was a Scottish printer and newspaper publisher. He bequeathed a large part of his estate to the founding of Donaldson's Hospital. His father, Alexander Donaldson, born 1727, died 1794, was the founding publisher of the Edinburgh Advertiser. His paternal grandparents were James Donaldson, died 1754, a textile manufacturer, and Treasurer of Edinburgh; and Elizabeth Weir, died 1768. He had an uncle, John Donaldson, a bookseller in London, England. Donaldson married Jane Gillespie, eldest daughter of an Edinburgh physician, on 29 September 1792. They had no children. Donaldson died at Broughton Hall in 1830. He is buried against the southern wall of the churchyard of St Johns at the west end of Princes Street, backing onto the north section of St Cuthberts Churchyard.



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