(in 1612) to be used in all schools ; Dr John Roebuck,
who, with William Cadell ofCockenzie, established the Scottish
iron- founding industry at Carron near Falkirk in 1759 ; The
Rev. Alexander ("Jupiter ") Garlyle, whose autobiography is
of considerable importance to students of i8th century Edinburgh
and district ; and General Thomas Alexander, who, as Director-General
of the Medical Department of the British Army after the Crimean
War, did much to improve the Army Medical Service.
Population.- Prestonpans is the most densely peopled
parish in the county with noo persons per square mile. In
1931 its total population was 5986 ; of these 2426 lived in
the burgh and just under 1400 each in Preston and Cuthill.
The 1931 population was just over three times that of 1801
which stood at 1964. In the following seventy years the numbers
fluctuated about 2000, but since 1871 they have increased
by leaps and bounds. This expansion is largely associated
with the growth of Cuthill and Preston, for during the same
period (1871-1931) the burgh population increased by only
just over 800, and that practically all since 1901, when its
inhabitants numbered 1721. The 1951 Census gives the population
of the parish as 7593 and that of the burgh as 2907, indicating
continued expansion since the 1931 Census. In the parish males
exceed females by 5 ; in the burgh females exceed males by
41. The proportion of children and young people is above the
county average.
Occupations -Mining.- Coal mining is the industry which
employs the greatest number of people. Two important pits
are situated on the coast, Prestongrange in the west and Preston!
inks in the east.
Until taken over by the National Coal Board in 1947, Prestongrange
Colliery was owned by the Summerlee Goal and Iron Company
which acquired the mine in 1895 from the Prestongrange Coal
and Firebrick Company, which in its turn had succeeded the
English Company of 1850. A Cornish pump of the beam type brought
by that English company is still in use.
The colliery is now highly mechanised and it is hardly possible
to detail the different types of employment. The majority
of its 660 employees live in East Lothian, and, as |
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