Friday 9 August 2013

Dog of the Week - Greyfriars Bobby




Greyfriars Bobby is famous for his loyalty. Bobby, a Skye terrier was owned by a night watchman for Edinburgh City Police, John Gray, who died when Bobby was about two years old. Bobby spent the rest of his life at his masters grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard.






Greyfriars Bobby's loyalty is commemorated with a statue by Willian Brodie "A TRIBUTE TO THE AFFECTIONATE FIDELITY OF GREYFRIAR'S BOBBY. IN 1858, THIS FAITHFUL DOG FOLLOWED THE REMAINS OF HIS MASTER TO GREYFRIAR'S CHURCHYARD AND LINGERED NEAR THE SPOT UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1872 WITH PERMISSION, ERECTED BY THE BARONESS BURDETT- COUTTS" and on the statue is written "GREYFRIAR'S BOBBY, FROM THE LIFE JUST BEFORE HIS DEATH" and "W.H. Brodie Sc RSA 1872"







His grave, where people leave sticks and dog toys, is marked with a stone erected by The Dog Aid Society of Scotland in 1981 which reads:

"Greyfriars Bobby Died 14 January 1872 Aged 16 years Let his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all."

Image credits: Top: By National Galleries of Scotland (Greyfriars Bobby) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons, middle: Michael Reeve This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Bottom: Stephen Montgomery licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

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