John Gray (also known as Jock), a gardener, with his wife Jess and son John arrived in Edinburgh in the early 1800′s. Due to harsh weather the ground was unworkable and there was no work for gardeners. In order to avoid the workhouse, he joined the Edinburgh Police Force as Constable No. 90 Warrant No 1487.
One of the conditions of service was that he had to have a watchdog so he obtained a Skye Terrier and named him appropriately Bobby. Total companionship developed between them and continued even after death.
After a few years in the Police Force John Gray took ill and was treated by Police Surgeon Dr Littlejohn for tuberculosis.
John Gray died on the 8th February 1858 and was buried in old Greyfriars Churchyard. Bobby followed the funeral procession, but was taken home afterward. However, the little dog soon escaped and took up residence on his master’s grave. Various people took pity on the forlorn little fellow. James Brown, the church gardener, provided Bobby 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 Bobby into his house during inclement weather, but the dog would howl so pitifully to be let out that eventually a shelter was built for him near the grave.
Bobby’s expression of devotion quickly made the small dog a local celebrity in Edinburgh. It is possible that some decided to make money from Bobby’s loyalty. John Traills, the owner of Traills Coffee House located near the graveyard, would tell of how Bobby and Gray had been regular lunchtime visitors to his establishment. Traills also maintained that he was the first to notice Bobby’s obsession with lying on his master’s grave, stating that the dog arrived one lunchtime shortly after Gray’s death, demanded his meal and then took off purposefully. According to Traills, his curiosity led him to follow Bobby and, to his amazement, he found the dog 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.
The little Skye Terrir remained at Gray’s grave for the rest of his life, a total of 14 years. However, because Bobby was a stray, there was some question as to whether he should be allowed to wander the streets of Edinburgh without a license. If nobody had been willing to pay, then the penalty for Bobby would have been death. The Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Sir William Chambers, came to the rescue. He was so impressed by Bobby’s devotion that he agreed to purchase the license, and did so for every year thereafter.
Upon Bobby’s death on January 14, 1872, the people of Edinburgh determined that the small dog be interred in the kirkyard by his master. It was an unparalleled decision. The dog caught the attention of Baroness Burdett-Coutts who, fearing the animal would be forgotten in death, was instrumental in having a permanent memorial build in recognition of Bobby’s loyalty. Completed in 1872, the memorial comprises a life-size bronze of the dog made by famous Scottish sculptor William Brodie. It is mounted on a granite pylon at the sharp junction of George IV Bridge and Candlemaker Row in Edinburgh just opposite the entrance to Greyfriars Kirk.
Bobby’s 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. Bobby’s acclaim is such that his 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 Bobby’s grave always displays fresh flowers, a mark of the high esteem in which this little dog is still held and a tribute to the very human values which he embodied.
