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John Dick Peddie
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John Dick Peddie
John Dick Peddie (24 February 1824 – 12 March 1891) was a Scottish architect, businessman and a Liberal Party politician.
John Dick Peddie and his twin brother William were the second and third sons of James Peddie WS and Margaret Dick. The twins were educated at the University of Edinburgh, studying law, but in 1842 John was articled to the architect David Rhind. His sons, John More Dick Peddie (1853–1921) and Walter Lockhart Dick Peddie (b.1865) were also architects.
Peddie set up his own practice in 1845, winning the competition for the United Presbyterian Synod Hall in Edinburgh (demolished), possibly through the influence of his family, who were prominent members of the United Associate Synod. Through another family connection, his cousin Benjamin Blyth, Peddie also secured work for the Caledonian Railway at their Princes Street station (demolished). He undertook study tours to central and eastern Europe, and on 21 July 1851 he married Euphemia Lockhart More. He was appointed architect to the Royal Bank of Scotland, designing several branches across Scotland in the mid-1850s. In 1857 Peddie was responsible for the addition of an opulent banking hall to Dundas House, the Royal Bank's head office in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh; the large blue domed ceiling pierced with gold stars featured on the Royal Bank's "Islay" series of banknotes which were in circulation 1987–2016.
Peddie was also involved in the creation of Cockburn Street, linking Edinburgh's Royal Mile with Waverley Station, from 1851, which led him to take on his assistant Charles Kinnear as a partner from 1 January 1856. The partnership of Peddie and Kinnear was very successful, winning numerous commissions for churches and public buildings, including the municipal buildings in Aberdeen (1856) and branches of the Bank of Scotland.
Peddie was elected in 1870 as an academician of the Royal Scottish Academy, and served as its secretary for six years. In 1878 his son John More Dick Peddie joined the firm, and the following year John senior retired from practice. In 1887 John senior was reported to be the owner of Muckrach Castle.
Peddie secured the Liberal nomination for Kilmarnock in 1878, and was elected at the 1880 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kilmarnock Burghs, on a disestablishment platform. In 1884 he introduced a private members bill on disestablishment, although it never came to a vote. In Parliament he also represented the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. Peddie narrowly lost his seat in the 1885 general election, due to a split in the Liberal vote. Although Gladstone asked him to consider it, he did not stand again.
Despite great success the family suffered several financial humiliations.
He spent much of his life supporting his unmarried sisters, but also had to support his unmarried brother James Peddie and their father. He had specifically built a house for his father at Lansdowne Crescent in Edinburgh's fashionable west end, but this had to be sold to meet his father's debts and his father thereafter rented accommodation from John on Chalmers Street.
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John Dick Peddie
John Dick Peddie (24 February 1824 – 12 March 1891) was a Scottish architect, businessman and a Liberal Party politician.
John Dick Peddie and his twin brother William were the second and third sons of James Peddie WS and Margaret Dick. The twins were educated at the University of Edinburgh, studying law, but in 1842 John was articled to the architect David Rhind. His sons, John More Dick Peddie (1853–1921) and Walter Lockhart Dick Peddie (b.1865) were also architects.
Peddie set up his own practice in 1845, winning the competition for the United Presbyterian Synod Hall in Edinburgh (demolished), possibly through the influence of his family, who were prominent members of the United Associate Synod. Through another family connection, his cousin Benjamin Blyth, Peddie also secured work for the Caledonian Railway at their Princes Street station (demolished). He undertook study tours to central and eastern Europe, and on 21 July 1851 he married Euphemia Lockhart More. He was appointed architect to the Royal Bank of Scotland, designing several branches across Scotland in the mid-1850s. In 1857 Peddie was responsible for the addition of an opulent banking hall to Dundas House, the Royal Bank's head office in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh; the large blue domed ceiling pierced with gold stars featured on the Royal Bank's "Islay" series of banknotes which were in circulation 1987–2016.
Peddie was also involved in the creation of Cockburn Street, linking Edinburgh's Royal Mile with Waverley Station, from 1851, which led him to take on his assistant Charles Kinnear as a partner from 1 January 1856. The partnership of Peddie and Kinnear was very successful, winning numerous commissions for churches and public buildings, including the municipal buildings in Aberdeen (1856) and branches of the Bank of Scotland.
Peddie was elected in 1870 as an academician of the Royal Scottish Academy, and served as its secretary for six years. In 1878 his son John More Dick Peddie joined the firm, and the following year John senior retired from practice. In 1887 John senior was reported to be the owner of Muckrach Castle.
Peddie secured the Liberal nomination for Kilmarnock in 1878, and was elected at the 1880 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kilmarnock Burghs, on a disestablishment platform. In 1884 he introduced a private members bill on disestablishment, although it never came to a vote. In Parliament he also represented the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. Peddie narrowly lost his seat in the 1885 general election, due to a split in the Liberal vote. Although Gladstone asked him to consider it, he did not stand again.
Despite great success the family suffered several financial humiliations.
He spent much of his life supporting his unmarried sisters, but also had to support his unmarried brother James Peddie and their father. He had specifically built a house for his father at Lansdowne Crescent in Edinburgh's fashionable west end, but this had to be sold to meet his father's debts and his father thereafter rented accommodation from John on Chalmers Street.
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