By Betty Kirkpatrick
The other day in Edinburgh I was asked for directions to George IV Bridge by a group of people whose sole purpose in visiting the city was to view the statue of Greyfriars Bobby. Admittedly, they had only come from Glasgow and their party included several children. Still, it shows you that the faithful pooch still has pulling power.
People from many far-flung places choose to fit in a visit to Bobby’s statue as part of their sightseeing schedule, often risking danger to life by going out into the road to photograph it. Many of these will be from the United States, but I wonder how many of them realise that the popularity of Greyfriars Bobby was greatly enhanced by two of their countrymen?
It is easy to guess who one of these was: no less a person than Walt Disney (1901–66) – who, having heard about the true tale of Bobby’s incredible loyalty to his master, was moved to make a film of it. Released in 1961, Greyfriars Bobby: The True Story of a Dog, was more of a romanticised tear-jerker than the more recent version, released in 2005.
Still, never underestimate the power of Disney. It was the 1961 film, in which many of the scenes were filmed not in Auld Reekie itself, but in the Shepperton film studios in Surrey, which put Bobby on a global map. The Skye terrier had become quite famous in his native city and in his native country for his refusal to leave his master’s grave – and when he died in 1872, 14 years after his master had died, his death was reported in the Scotsman. Disney, however, extended Bobby’s fame a great deal.
But how did Walt Disney come to hear of Greyfriars Bobby and his loyalty to his dead master? That is where the other American associated with Bobby comes in. Her name was Eleanor Atkinson and she was the author of a book entitled Greyfriars Bobby.
Atkinson (1863–1942), whose maiden name was Stackhouse, was a teacher in Indianapolis and Chicago. She became a journalist on the Chicago Tribune, writing under the name Nora Marks, and later became publisher of a Chicago publishing company called the Little Chronicle Publishing Company.
The company published some of her own works, which included fictional romances and educational books. Her most famous work, however, was Greyfriars Bobby, published in 1912. It became very popular in America and has been reprinted several times. It is currently available here.
Atkinson did her research well and her book contains quite detailed descriptions of the architecture, history and social perspectives of Edinburgh. She even wrote much of the dialogue in an attempt at the Scots language, and it was quite a fair attempt. She may well have gleaned some of the information about Bobby and some details about the Scots language from Scots immigrants encountered in the American Midwest.
Much of the main thread of Atkinson’s story is true, but she also made good use of her imagination and creative powers. In her attempts at embellishment, she produced some inaccuracies which found their way into other accounts of Bobby, including the Disney film. For example, Bobby’s owner was apparently a policeman, but in Atkinson’s version he became an old shepherd.
Still, we should probably forgive Eleanor Atkinson for the inaccuracies. Her story makes a good read, despite the rather over-the-top philosophical comments which she inserts from time to time. And Bobby would not have nearly so many visitors, especially American ones, if she had not penned his story.
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