| Description | Most of the glass plates were contained in wooden boxes with a slot for each plate, and the boxes had index sheets pasted into the lids, but some had been rehoused in other containers. The labelling on the original boxes was not always accurate, indicating that the records had been rearranged at some point. The notes from the labels and indexes on the original packaging have been detailed in the catalogue entries for each box (at the sub series level) but may not be accurate.
The original order has been retained, and the details from the original boxes is given at the sub series level.
7000 additional glass plate negatives owned by the Harbour Board were transferred to the University of Aberdeen Special Collections Centre in 1999 (reference MS 3595) and can be searched and viewed on their website: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/historic/harbour/.
It is believed that the glass plates are gelatin plates.
The images are a mixture of subjects: Aberdeen harbour and other harbours around Scotland; family holidays; and engineering work (pavements, bridges, railways, these are largely the lantern slides). |
| Administrative History | We believe the photographer was Harbour Engineer Robert Gordon Nicol OBE (1858-1934). Nicol was appointed assistant engineer to the Harbour Commissioners in 1883, promoted to be chief assistant engineer in 1887 and became harbour engineer in 1895. He was responsible for the Regent Bridge, the reconstruction of Regent Quay, construction of goods sheds and River Dee Dock, privision of floating docks and the deepening of the navigational channel at the harbour. He also served as advising engineer to the Fishery Board from 1913, supporting the development of other harbours around the north east and more widely around the UK, which explains the range of sites shown in the collection.
Several members of his family have been identified in the images, in particular his wife Mary McLeod Mitchell (1859-1945) and some of their six children and grandchildren:
- Lillias Gordon Nicol (1887-1986) Married Douglas Falconer in 1913. They had 4 children: Mary Elizabeth b. 1914, Jean Gordon b. 1916, Ruth Harvey b. 1920 & John b. 1921.
- George Gordon Nicol (1888-1967) Civil Engineer of Henderson & Nicol, married Helen Jane Conner in 1917.
- William Mitchell Gordon Nicol (1890-1891).
- Jessie McAlister Gordon Nicol (1892-1965) married William Williamson, butcher master, Aberdeen in 1916. William also served as a Captain in the Gordon Highlanders during the First World War. They had 5 boys; Alister Gordon b.1917, William Noel b. 1918, Robert Gordon Nicol b. 1922, George Adrian b. 1924, John b. 1929.
- Robert Gordon Nicol (1896-1914).
- Catherine Mary Gordon Nicol (known as Cathie) (1901-1968) married Edwin Taggart in 1923, and had two children: June Margaret Taggert (1925-1984) & Iris Mary Taggart (1928-2016).
Many thanks to Alice Anderson, a descendant of Robert Gordon Nicol, for her assistance in identifying the individuals in the photographs. |