Greyfriars Bobby, Scotland’s Most Famous Dog
National Galleries of ScotlandA print thought to be of Greyfriars Bobby. Circa 1865.
Anyone who has been to Edinburgh, Scotland, may have noticed the statue of a small dog on the corner of Candlemaker Row and George IV Bridge. The statue was erected in honor of Greyfriars Bobby, the city’s most loyal dog.
Born around 1855, Bobby, a Skye Terrier, spent the first few years of his life under the care of a local nightwatchman named John Gray. By all accounts, Bobby and Gray, who was known to locals as “Auld Jock,” were inseparable. But in 1858, tragedy struck when Gray died of tuberculosis.
Bobby reportedly led Gray’s funeral procession to Greyfriars Cemetery. Then, after Gray was laid to rest, Bobby refused to leave his grave — despite attempts by cemetery caretakers to shoo him off.
For the next 14 years, Bobby, or Greyfriars Bobby as he came to be known, continued his vigil. At 1 p.m. each day, he would leave the graveyard to eat upon hearing the daily guns fired from Edinburgh Castle and then scamper back to the cemetery.
Michael Reeve/Wikimedia CommonsThis statue was erected in Bobby’s honor in 1873 and still stands in the city today.
After hearing his story, people began to flock to the cemetery to see Bobby. Locals in Edinburgh started to care for him and built a small shelter in the graveyard so he would be more comfortable. In 1867, after a law passed requiring all dogs in the city to be licensed, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh even gave Bobby a special collar with a brass plate inscribed: “Greyfriars Bobby – from the lord Provost, 1867, licensed.”
Bobby, who was just two years old when Gray died, continued his routine until his own death on Jan. 14, 1872. He was buried near his beloved owner, and the city erected a statue in his honor the following year. Today, the statue’s snout has turned coppery from all the people who have rubbed it for good luck.
