Burns & Harris's Directory of Dundee 1926-27 – Digital Download or CD-ROM

Step back into inter-war Dundee — the city of "Jute, Jam and Journalism" — and walk its streets as your ancestors knew them. Burns & Harris's Directory of Dundee 1926-27 is a snapshot of the city at its industrial height and its post-war crossroads, recording who lived where, who traded what, and who kept the mills, yards and offices of Dundee running.

What You'll Receive

• Complete scanned images of the original directory — every page preserved exactly as printed in 1926
• Your choice of instant digital download or CD posted to you
• A genuine period record, ideal for family historians, local history researchers and anyone with Dundee roots

Easy to Search — Even as Scanned Images

Because the directory is arranged alphabetically — by street, by trade and by name — it's wonderfully easy to navigate, even in its original scanned form.

Better still, modern PDF readers such as Google Chrome now perform OCR on the fly, meaning you can highlight, copy and search the text of scanned pages. Using Chrome's built-in Google Lens features you can also:

• Translate listings instantly
• Copy and search text within the scanned pages
• Listen to the directory read aloud with text-to-speech (desktop PCs only)

No specialist software required — just open, browse and discover.

Sections of the Directory

• Alphabetical Street & House Directory — the heart of the directory. Every street, lane and court listed A–Z, with householders and businesses at each address
• Trades & Professions Directory — bakers to bonnetmakers, jute merchants to Jam makers — find your ancestor's occupation and workplace
• Alphabetical List of Inhabitants — private residents and principal townspeople listed by surname
• Commercial Directory — the firms, mills, warehouses and offices that powered Dundee's economy
• Neighbouring Districts — coverage extending to Broughty Ferry, Lochee, Monifieth and surrounding communities
• Municipal & Civic Information — town council, churches, schools, hospitals and public officials
• Postal & Transport Listings — post offices and carriers of the day
• Contemporary Advertisements — a treasure trove of local shops, tradesmen and services, wonderful for adding colour to your family story

Why a Directory? Filling the Census Gap

The 1926-27 directory sits in a vital research window for Scottish genealogists:

         The 1921 census (taken 19 June 1921) is the most recent Scottish census available, released in 2022

         The 1931 Scottish census not available until 2031

         No census was taken in 1941 due to the Second World War

That means for the mid-to-late 1920s, this directory may be the only surviving record of where your family lived.

And remember — distrust of government is nothing new. In 1921 many households refused to complete their forms, kept lodgers and extended family hidden from the enumerator, or simply avoided the census taker altogether. If your ancestors slipped through the census net, there's every chance they'll turn up in the pages of this directory instead.

Famous Dundonians & Local Connections

• D.C. Thomson & Co. — already publishing the Courier, Sunday Post and People's Friend from their Dundee offices (The Dandy and Beano were still a decade away)
• Edwin Scrymgeour — Dundee's sitting MP in 1926-27 and Britain's only ever Prohibition Party MP, having famously unseated Winston Churchill in 1922 after Churchill's 14 years representing the city
• The jute dynasties — the Baxter, Cox, Gilroy and Halley families, whose mills employed thousands, appear throughout the merchant and gentry listings
• William Topaz McGonagall — the world's most famously terrible poet, weaver and Dundonian (died 1902), part of the city's rich theatrical and musical tradition
• Born in Dundee: Admiral Adam Duncan, victor of the Battle of Camperdown (1731); mathematician Sir James Ivory (1765); and social reformer Frances Wright (1795)

Dundee in 1926-27 — Facts & Colour

• The Three Js — Jute, Jam and Journalism: Cox's Camperdown Works in Lochee ranked among the largest jute mills in the world, Keiller's of High Street was home of marmalade and the famous Dundee cake, and the city's printing presses rolled daily
• Shipbuilding heritage — Dundee yards built the RRS Discovery (1901) for Captain Scott's Antarctic voyage, thanks to generations of ice-strengthened whaling ship expertise
• Football — Dundee FC at Dens Park and Dundee United at Tannadice, two of the closest league grounds in Britain
• Music & theatre — the magnificent Caird Hall had opened in 1923, and the city teemed with music halls, dance bands, brass bands and musical festivals
• Hard times too — 1926 brought the General Strike and the jute slump as Indian competition bit hard; emigration from the city was high. If your family left Dundee in this era, this directory may show them just before they sailed
• Population at the time: over 160,000 souls

Important Note — Map Disclaimer: The original map is missing from this edition unless otherwise stated in the listing. All street and location information is drawn from the directory's text listings.

Formats: Instant Digital Download or CD (posted). Images are scans of the original 1926-27 publication.