About Me
John Gray (also known as "Jock") was an Edinburgh policeman during the 1850s. His companion and police watch-dog was a Skye Terrier named Bobby. That's me! The relationship between man and dog, however, was short-lived when my master died of tuberculosis in 1858 and was buried in Greyfriars Kirk graveyard. Jings! I followed the funeral procession, but was taken home afterward. However, I soon got away and took up residence on my master's grave. Various people took pity on me. James Brown, the church gardener, provided me with food and water, even though his duties included keeping dogs and children out of the graveyard. James Anderson, who lived nearby, would try to coax me into his house during inclement weather, but I'd howl so pitifully to be let out that eventually, a shelter was built for me near the grave. Oh, and I could fair howl back then!My expression of devotion quickly made me a local celebrity in Edinburgh. It is possible that some decided to make money from my loyalty. John Traills, the owner of Traills Coffee House located near the graveyard, would tell of how my master and I had been regular lunchtime visitors to his establishment. Traills also maintained that he was the first to notice my obsession with lying on my master's grave, stating that I arrived one lunchtime shortly after Gray's death, demanded my meal and then took off purposefully. According to Traills, his curiousity led him to follow me and, to his amazement, he found me by the grave in the kirkyard. It is not known how this story might have affected the patronage of Traills' establishment, although one can assume it was not adverse. In other words, he was a bit of a chancer.I stayed by my master's grave for the rest of my life...a total of 14 years. However, because I was a stray, there was some question as to whether I should be allowed to wander the streets of Edinburgh without a license. If nobody had been willing to pay, then the penalty for me would have been death. Gadzooks! The Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Sir William Chambers, came to the rescue. He was so impressed by my devotion to Old Jock that he agreed to purchase the license...and did so for every year thereafter. (But I didn't fetch his sticks, oh no.)On my death on January 14, 1872, the people of Edinburgh determined that I should be interred in the kirkyard by my master. It was an unparalleled decision. A year later, a bronze statue was erected to me at the crest of Candlemakers Row, just outside the entrance to the graveyard and opposite the Traills Coffee House (which is now a public house renamed "Greyfriar's Bobby Inn"). The memorial was commissioned by the famous philanthropist, Baroness Burdett Coutts, who was intrigued and touched by my fidelity. The monument was unveiled on November 15, 1873 without ceremony. My statue is the most photographed in Scotland and tourists can invariably be seen having their pictures taken next to it at all hours of the day.My reputation and acclaim is such that my collar, inscribed with the words: "Greyfriars Bobby from the Lord Provost, 1867, licensed," and dinner bowl are on display in the Huntly House Museum on the Royal Mile. Today my grave always displays fresh flowers...a mark of the high esteem in which I'm still held and a tribute to the very human values which I embodied.There, couldn't have said it better myself. Woof!There's an official website dedicated tae me here! http://www.greyfriarsbobby.co.uk/
