Johnston Wright Swan (1859-1943)

Johnston Wright Swan was born in 1859 in Edinburgh - the son of Janet Wright and George Swan (baker and refreshment room owner). In the 1881 the family were at 'John Knox Coffee House' on Canongate (Royal Mile). The coffee house can be seen above to the left of John Knox House itself.  A few years beforehand the establishment had caused some controversy when it was reported that "a vandal of a coffee-house keeper who has taken a portion of the house facing the Tron Church has, in glaring black letters on a white ground, painted "John Knox's Coffee House." (The Graphic, 19 Aug 1876).

Aged 21 by the time of the 1881 census, Johnston - the eldest in the family - was a pastry baker at his father's bakehouse, while 15-year-old brother George was a junior baker there. Following the death of George senior, early in 1887 at Sugar House Close off the Royal Mile, Johnston and George junior took over the family business interests between them. Johnston married Mary Brown Wright later the same year, in Dumfries. In 1891, the pair and their two daughters (Janet and Mary) were living in East Adam Street. 

By 1901, Johnston was described as a 'cook and confectioner' at the 'University Hotel' on Chambers Street. The entries above from the 1902 Post Office Directory show the brothers' various establishments in the capital. Throughout this period, over many years,  Johnston was competing in prestigious bakery competitions including the "Scottish section" of the annual "Bakers' and Confectioners' Exhibition" at the Agricultural Hall in London. An example of the many newspaper accounts of Swan's success is shown below (from 9 Sept 1909 Scotsman). 

The 1911 census found the family living in Priorwood House - a Georgian country house in Lasswade, while running multiple business premises in Edinburgh. In 1913 daughter Mary Wright Swan married Hugh Percival (Inspector of the Poor in Largo) and they lived at East Rose Villa in Lundin Links. Once their daughter was firmly settled in Lundin Links  and the once the Swans had sold a number of their business interests in Edinburgh, Johnston and Mary Swan also moved to the village. 

They ran the Victoria Boarding House in Lundin Links from circa 1923. At that time it incorporated a bake house.  Then in 1929 they purchased Bellville on Emsdorf Street from Mrs Dudgeon (see 18 May 1929 Leven Advertiser above) and soon set up the shop in the front of this house. It would seem that the bakery element of their Lundin Links business interests shifted from Victoria Road to Emsdorf Street and the boarding house was styled more as a hotel. The hospitality at Swan's Victoria Hotel must have been quite something - with a baker/confectioner/cook/restaurateur at the helm. And his talents did not end there, for Mr Swan was also a musician. The article below from the 4 Feb 1928 Courier tells of him entertaining as a one-man band!

The advert below advertises the Emsdorf Street bakers and highlights Mr Swan's fine baking pedigree of more than forty gold and silver medals and cups, as well as giving special mention to the wedding cakes for which he won so many of these prizes. There must be folks out there whose forebears celebrated their marriage with a Swan's cake - how wonderful it would be to see a photograph of one! How fortunate the people of 1920s Lundin Links were to have a baker in the village so experienced in 'fancy cakes'.

By 1935 Mr and Mrs Swan had moved back to Edinburgh and he had presumably retired. Johnston Wright Swan died on 2 Dec 1943 at Spring Gardens, Abbeyhill, Edinburgh at the age of 84. The registration of his death shows the informant as Hugh Percival - his son-in-law and also the registrar of Largo Parish (then residing at Crawford Cottage in Lundin Links).