Perth People


Robert Graham ~ Town Clerk

Robert Graham (born c. 1660 and died 1719 in Perthshire). Owner of Drumsad and also acquired other lands: Damside, Kirklands of Aberuthven, Woodside of Kincardine, Wester Lands and Baillie lands of Abe Ruthven (this land he sold to David Haldane (married to Mary Graeme) of Aberuthven). Writer (Solicitor) in Perth. […]


Thomas Telford ~ Engineer

Born in 1757, the son of a simple Dumfriesshire shepherd, Thomas Telford became one of the foremost civil engineers of the 18th and early 19th century. He was responsible for the Menai Suspension Bridge (at its time the longest spanning bridge in the world) and the Caledonian Canal. He built […]


Patrick Blair ~ Botanist, Surgeon and Anatomist

The first ever dissection of an elephant was undertaken by Patrick Blair in 1706. Blair was born around 1680 at Lethendy in Perthshire, the third son of George Blair, a farmer and Euphame. Blair was apprenticed to a surgeon-apothecary from the late 1680s, probably in Coupar Angus. He spent the […]


Isabel Allison ~ Covenanter

Located on the memorial in the Grassmarket to the Covenanters executed in Edinburgh is the name of Isabel Allison, a woman of Perth. “ISABEL ALISON was an unmarried woman who lived at Perth, and probably did not exceed twenty-seven years of age. Among her religious acquaintances she maintained a high […]


Charles Wordsworth ~ Clergyman and Writer

Born in 1806, Charles Wordsworth was the second son of Christopher Wordsworth (1774-1846) – an English clergyman, educator and writer – and a nephew of the poet William Wordsworth. Charles Wordsworth became prelate in Scotland; was warden of Trinity College, Glenalmond (1847-54); and, consecrated bishop of St. Andrews, Dunkeld and […]


Hugh Cameron (Eobhan Camshran, Eobhan na Pillie) ~ Miller and Inventor

Hugh Cameron (1705?-1817) – miller – invented a machine for scutching flax and travelled across the Highlands (including Gaidhealtachd, Perthshire, Caithness, Ross, Sutherland and Inverness) constructing some eighty mills, including one at Inverar at Glenlyon – almost every lint mill in the Highlands of Scotland. He also designed spinning-wheels and […]


Robert Louis Stevenson ~ Author

 Robert Louis Stevenson ~ there is a plaque to this author at Kinnaird Cottage in Pitlochry. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote three stories whilst staying at Pitlochry: Thrawn Janet; The Merry Men; and, The Bodysnatcher. To acknowledge this and his stay at the cottage in Kinnaird Road, a plaque was raised: consisting of a […]