John Gray, Edinburgh police officer 1487, is believed to be the owner of Greyfriars Bobby, the little dog that sat on his grave for 12 years after John Gray’s premature death of tuberculosis in 1858 aged 45. He was born in Forfar and found work in Edinburgh as a policeman in February 1853. He was 5 foot 7 inches tall, with grey eyes and sandy hair. He lived with his wife Jess and son John in Halls Court, sometimes known as Hells Kitchen, just off the Cowgate. He died on 8 February 1858 as certified by Henry Littlejohn, police surgeon, and was buried in Greyfriars graveyard.

Greyfriars Bobby was then fed by the Traill family whose Temperance Coffee House overlooked the churchyard. In 1867 a newspaper picked up the story when the Burgh tried to collect a dog tax. You can see the photos below in the Museum of Edinburgh across the road from Canongate Churchyard where James McLevy is buried.

There are 128 photos related to Greyfrairs Bobby on the Edinburgh Capital Collections web pages.