MOUBRAY HOUSE

We have now arrived at our final stop.

We are standing in front of Moubray House.

Often overshadowed by its more famous neighbour, the house of John Knox, the building possesses its own fascinating history which makes it a cultural gem in its own right. It is one of the oldest surviving residential buildings in Edinburgh and originally formed part of a small cluster of medieval buildings in the vicinity. This historical significance is what really appealed to The Cockburn Association in 1910 when they purchased the building, saving it from disrepair. The appointment of trustees was made both to enhance the importance of the historical and architectural interest of the building and to allow public access to the interior. (1)

The building has, throughout its history, boasted among its residents the seventeenth century painter George Jamesone and Daniel Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe and a spy in the pay of the English Government. But, again, we are not here for the men but rather the women.

Now, one woman who is connected to this building and who I personally cannot stop obsessing over is the extremely prolific and rather eccentric Mrs Esther Henry, who lived and worked here from 1939 to 1963. Esther took on the lease of the building on the condition that she ensure the preservation of its historic features.

She ran an antiques business out of a shop called The Luckenbooth on the ground floor of Moubray House. It was a far cry from the souvenir shops that line the Mile these days and was a favourite of serious antique collectors, including royalty in the form of Queen Mary, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret in 1948. Apparently during their visit, Esther took them to see the flat above the shop, where the Queen Mother is reported to have said that she would like to live on the Royal Mile.

During the years that Esther worked here, she became a council member of The Cockburn Association from 1955 to 1961. The association during this period had its work cut out. The postwar period had brought with it an ambitious and rather alarming set of plans for modernising Edinburgh, including proposals for a motorway standard inner ring road that would have plunged through a tunnel under Calton Hill and proceeded on stilts across the Meadows. And of course, there was the heartbreaking battle for George Square, which we discussed at our last stop. Esther would have been a part of a lot of this.

Her work also extended to other public services. She was elected councillor to Edinburgh for one of the Canongate wards in 1936, after five unsuccessful attempts. In her election speeches, she made it very clear that her priorities were housing, housewives, child welfare and the treatment of the sick and poor. However, not long into her tenure, she resigned and thereafter dedicated herself to public service for the Canongate in her own name. One of her main focuses was caring for the youth. In her own words: "The youth of the Canongate ward is my special care. I want to mother the young people, I have done it all my days, and to impress them with the same spirit that I have myself. Never to let go, to hold on to the good things of life, because they will be rewarded in the end, the same as I have been." She also supported a number of sports groups, including the Edinburgh Lady Dynamos, a women's football team. (2)

In between all of this work she still managed her antiques shop and sought objects to sell. One entertaining story which I think encapsulates her personality is when she attended a Sotheby's auction in Cairo of the assets of the deposed King Farouk of Egypt. When the Sotheby's auctioneer initially announced the lots only in French and Arabic, she interrupted to protest: "English was good enough for Shakespeare, it should be good enough for these people." He yielded to her request and began to also announce the lots in English. She next stopped proceedings to ask an Egyptian army major to bring her some tea; tea was brought. When asked not to smoke she refused and instead asked for one of King Farouk's diamond-studded, gold ashtrays, an auction lot, be brought to her. And when, outbid on a sixteenth century Scottish clock, she jumped up, grabbed the item from the auctioneer's desk. In her words, “When I saw it I rushed up and shouted, lay off—this is for Scotland. If any twister breaks my bid I'll break his neck."(3)

Esta Henry and her second husband Paul Henry died on 17 January 1963 in an air crash in São Paulo, Brazil, returning from what was described as a belated honeymoon. Her antiques shop was taken over by her son Louis Henry, and in time became home to a succession of trinket and tourist businesses. Her flat above fared better, remaining in the care of the Cockburn Association before being restored.

In 1979 the assets of Moubray House were transferred to the Cockburn Conservation Trust which was merged with the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust in 2010.

The last owner of the house was Debra Stonecipher, an American who had become enchanted with the property whilst retracing her Scottish roots with her grandmother. In 2012 she decided to gift the house to the Scottish nation under the auspices of Historic Environment Scotland.

The longer-term proposal for Moubray House is now to operate the building as a visitor centre offering specialist pre-booked tours. I do hope that the story of Esta Henry makes the cut, not just as an antiques dealer, but as a Cockburn Association council member and a woman whose social and civic work transformed this corner of the Old Town.

Head to the conclusion below.

Sources

1) The Cockburn Association, 'Moubray House', The Cockburn Association. Available at: cockburnassociation.org.uk/about-us/case-studies/moubray-house

2) To read more about Esther Henry, head to Andy Arthur’s fantastic blog post, 'Queen of the High Street: the thread about the life and times of Esta Henry', Threadinburgh, 15 January 2025. Available at: threadinburgh.scot/2025/01/15/the-thread-about-esta-henry-the-life-and-times-of-the-queen-of-the-high-street

3) Kitchener, Pamela, 'Mrs Scotland has an eye for a royal bargain', The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 August 1958, p. 39.