ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is our home

Well-known people who have made ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ their home

The is the home for Scotland's literary and historical treasures. It preserves and shares Scotland's

  • history
  • literature
  • cultural heritage.

The library has been working with us to share stories of people who have made ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ their home, enriching our cultural diversity as well as our city’s achievements.

Did you know these well-known people from a variety backgrounds made ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ their home over the centuries?

  • The paternal grandparents of (née Camberg) were from Lithuania
  • Prominent academic and human rights campaigner , who was born in Devon to German refugee parents, lived in ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ from the 1960s.
  • was of Irish descent.
  • Elias Fürst, born to an immigrant rabbi, was one of the longest serving chairmen of Heart of Midlothian Football Club at a time when football remained the bastion of locals and gentiles. He helped the club rise for crisis to financial security and oversaw the development of Tynecastle.
  • , a Jewish-German zoologist and geneticist, fled Nazism in Germany and pursued a PhD in genetics at the University of Edinburgh.
  • Rabbi Salis Daiches and his sons, , and David Daiches, a prolific literary historian and critic, came from Lithuania
  •  was enslaved man from Guyana. Brought to Scotland where he as emancipated and moved to Edinburgh. He became a commercial taxidermist and worked with the University of Edinburgh. He is renowned for teaching Charles Darwin the skill of taxidermy.
  • And well-known milkman and actor  was descended from people from Wexford, Ireland.