Luminaries' details revealed as 1911 survey made public

CENTURY-OLD census records released today offer a fascinating glimpse into the lives of some of the Capital's most celebrated figures from a bygone era.

Buried among the reams of data from the 1911 Scottish census are entries highlighting the lot of two distinguished Capital luminaries - pioneering female physician Elsie Inglis and actor Alastair Sim.

The 1911 records provide a snapshot of an increasingly industrialised Scotland and have been released following the completion of the "100-year rule" - an allotted period in which census details must not be disclosed.

Innovative doctor Elsie Inglis (1864-1917), best known for her heroic role in founding the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service during the First World War, was visiting Florence White, a friend who worked as a social worker and matron of a girls' club and lived in Strathkinness, near St Andrews, when census recorders came calling.

Dr Inglis, below, then 46, was described as a physician and surgeon at the Brunstfield Hospital for Women in Edinburgh. Eight years after her death the Elsie Inglis Memorial Maternity Hospital was built in Abbeyhill in her honour.

Alastair Sim, one of Scotland's great actors, was just a schoolboy when his details were recorded in the 1911 census.

The character actor, who memorably played Scrooge in the film adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, was just ten years old and living at 73 Viewforth with his parents, Alexander, a tailor and clothier, and Isabella. Also living in the house were his three siblings: William, 16, an apprentice law clerk, Kathleen, 15, and Johanna, 11.

Sim left school about three years later, working as a delivery boy before later founding his own school of drama. He turned stage professional only at the age of 30.

Another Scottish great, engineer John Logie Baird (1888-1946), was 22 at the time of the census and working as an apprentice draughtsman in a motor car works.

In 1911, he was living in Helensburgh with his parents John, a retired minister, and Jessie, and his sister, Jean, 25.

Later, he was to be credited with inventing the world's first publicly-demonstrated TV.

As well as great Scots from the early 20th century, the ancestors of more contemporary celebrities can also be found. Among them is the family of comedy star Ronnie Corbett, whose father, William, was just 12 years old and a described as a scholar. He lived with his father Walter, a lorry coal man, and step-mother Margaret Corbett at 121 Lauriston Place.

Details from the 1911 census are available through the ScotlandsPeople website.