Greyfriars’ Bobby

Greyfriars’ Bobby


Bobby a terrier-mix was the best friend of Mr. John Gray, or “Auld Jock” as he was locally known. Auld Jock was a Shepherd who died in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1958. At Edinburgh’s Greyfriar’s Churchyard Cemetery, only the man who found him and the gravedigger were there at the funeral, along with Bobby. Despite the “No Dogs” sign at the graveyard entrance, Bobby kept a fourteen-year vigil over his master’s grave.
Bobby was soon a common sight around the neighborhood, he was fed everyday at 1:00pm by John Traill’s family at the Greyfriars Dining Room. In 1967, after being picked up as a stray, Bobby was rescued by Sir William Chambers, Lord Provost of Edinburgh, who paid for Bobby’s Dog License and collar.
When Bobby died, the Scotsman paper printed an obituary, January 17th, 1872, for the only canine Freeman of the City. Bobby was buried next to his master at Greyfriars. A red granite water fountain, with a statue of Bobby in bronze resting on top, in memorial of a loyal friendship by Baroness Burdett Coutts is placed in Candlemakers; Row, near his graveyard. In the seventies, Walt Disney dedicated one of their weekly hour shows to this wonderful little dog, entitled “Greyfriars’ Bobby.”

Great little story that