| Description | This photograph shows Rev William Anderson at the Scottish Catholic Archives in Edinburgh; he is photographed reaching up with his left arm to retrieve an item from the Archives; Rev Anderson was born near Arbroath on 1st December 1894 and brought up as a Presbyterian but sought baptism as a Catholic while stationed at Weymouth on 18th December 1917; he was ordained priest at St Edmund's College, Ware on 18th July 1926 and in 1934 was appointed senior curate to Bishop Edward Myers at St Mary's, Chelsea, in which parish he worked for 20 years; in 1954, now 60 years of age, Rev Anderson was invited by the Scottish Hierarchy to become archivist of the Blairs Archives and he accepted and went north to Aberdeen; in 1958, the Columba Trust provided money for the purchase of a house at 16 Drummond Place, Edinburgh, as a permanent repository for the Scottish Catholic Archives and, in August 1958, the Blairs Archives were moved to this new centre in the capital, where Father Anderson now took up residence; here he was to remain until his death 14 years later, on 30th June 1972, aged 78; full details of Rev Anderson's life can be found in his obituary on pp 317 to 323 of The Catholic Directory for Scotland for 1973. |