Friday marks the anniversary of the death of Dr Bedford who was appointed headmaster of Heriot’s School in  1854.

Recommended for the job by the Reverend Dr. Robert Lee the minister of Greyfriars Kirk, Dr Bedford was a charismatic character who had a wide circle of friends including the distinguished scholar Professor Blackie.

When the schoolmaster died in 1880 at the age of fifty six, the route to the Grange Cemetery, Newington via Lauriston, Brougham Place and Chalmers Crescent was so  packed with people who turned out to pay their respects that the police were forced to stop the traffic.