Sunday 7 January 2018

Edinburgh passport.


 Whilst in Edinburgh I was called in to stand guarantor for a friend who was hiring a kilt but had no UK address. All I needed to do was to provide a utility bill and a 'means of identity, such as a passport' they said.

Well, that was too much of an invitation for me.

To the consternation of the shopkeeper I pulled out one from my collection: a passport issued by the Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh to a Scotsman and his nephew allowing them to go to Paris via Calais, Boulogne or other port in 1851.

Until 1914 it was possible to obtain a passport from the Lord Provost who had the authority to issue such documents in his capacity as 'Admiral of the Frith of Forth.' 

And no, that is not a typo. Read the passport carefully. It was oft-times called the Frith of Forth.

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