Here we tell the story of how one dog touched the hearts of a city and became the only dog to be buried in the Greyfriers graveyard in Edinburgh – Greyfriers Bobby.
The essence of the story is a night watchman for the Edinburgh Police called John Gray bought a Scottish Skye terrier dog called Bobby. John Gray was was a regular in the Greyfriers area of Edinburgh often stopping off for his lunch in one of the restaurants which today would be more like a pub. He always brought Bobby with him so Bobby became quite popular and well known in the area too.
Two years after this John Gray died of TB and was buried in an unmarked grave in the Greyfriars churchyard. At least it was unmarked except for Bobby who every night would make his way into the graveyard and sit on John’s grave.
He would be there until the sound of the one o’clock Edinburgh gun (which still fires to this day), when he would make his way to the restaurant / inn where John often ate to be fed. This became almost an attraction in itself due to the regularity and the fame which began to spread about him.
As Bobby wasn’t owned and therefore licensed he was destined to be put down as was the case with all strays, but Sir William Chambers – Lord Provost of Edinburgh – was so touched by his dedication that he paid for the dog to be re-licensed and effectively became owned by the City of Edinburgh Council.
Bobby also acquired quite a few other friends including James Brown, gatekeeper of the Greyfriers Kirk graveyard, who tried originally to lock Bobby out of the graveyard as per his job but later would provide sacking for Bobby to sleep on; Robert Ritchie & his daughter who brought Bobby to the attention of William Chambers; William Dow who would accompany Bobby to the Coffe House for his lunch and Sergeant Scott who fired the one o’clock gun and would take Bobby to the castle.
What really makes the Greyfriers Bobby story so remarkable is that Bobby continued to sit on John’s grave for 14 years until he himself died in December 1872.
Bobby could not be buried in the actual churchyard, but instead was buried just inside the churchyard gate. The grave was originally marked by a water fountain with a human and dog level water spouts, but that was replaced in 1981 by a red granite headstone which reads “Greyfriars Bobby, Died 14th January 1872, Aged 16 years, Let his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all”.
A statue of Bobby also stands beside the Bobby Inn which is close to the graveyard. John Gray’s grave is now marked with a proper headstone and Bobby’s grave has almost become a shrine to the little Skye Terrier with sticks regularly left for him, along with the occasional dog toy.
So that’s the story of how one little dog simply being faithful to his owner touched the hearts of the people of Edinburgh and became the famous story of Greyfriers Bobby.
Footnote: The above might not quite fit with the Disney film from the 1960’s, but that was based on a book which altered quite a few facts. John Gray became a farm labourer and was called Auld John, but in essence the film got it right.
More Edinburgh links:
Tourist attractions in Edinburgh
Hotels in Edinburgh
Greyfriers Bobby web site
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