The Thistle Foundation

The Thistle Foundation Village is located on the southern side of Niddrie Mains Road in Edinburgh. The Estate was conceived in 1944  by Sir Francis Tudsbery, its founder and president, to provide appropriate family housing and medical support for disabled ex-service  personnel and their families to enable them to live in their own homes, and with the facility to receive regular and skilled medical treatment on site rather than having to visit, or reside in, a hospital.

Sir Francis Cannon Tudsbery CBE (1888-1968) and Lady Isabella Tudsbery moved from London to Champfleurie House,  which is situated 2 miles west of Linlithgow Palace, in 1921. Francis Tudsbery lectured in merchant law and was awarded  a knighthood in the Queen's Honours List in 1954. Their son Robin was an equerry to the Queen. Sir Francis had witnessed  the consequences that resulted in the lack of adequate housing and support for disabled service personnel after the  First World War. Many had to spend the remainder of their lives in long stay hospital care, which added significant extra  strain and financial hardship for relatives. Sir Francis’s vision was for a community supported by professional staff that  would create as normal an environment as possible for families to live together in comfortable circumstances.  Prominent figures such as Sir Stafford Cripps, Sir John Stirling Maxwell and Lord Linlithgow were party to the  origin and erection of the estate.

In 1946 Sir Francis Tudsbery wrote “When the benefits of this novel and humane undertaking are fully understood,  it is thought that the misery and mental distress caused by the prolonged separation of invalids[sic] from their  homes will no longer be tolerated, and that this new conception of institutional treatment carried on in the  comforting and contented atmosphere of an unbroken family life will be regarded as an essential provision  in the case of all patients requiring long-term care and attention”

The desire to do something for those who had suffered in the service of their country, combined with a realisation that in the Thistle Foundation there would be a real and tangible memorial, was responsible for an immediate and spontaneous response  to the financial appeal.  Sponsorship came primarily from regimental bodies and prominent families, which are  commemorated by crests and carved panels on each individual house. This sponsorship gives each home an  additional status as a war memorial and adds to their historic value.

Numerous offers of sites came from all over Scotland, and the Foundation finally settled on an offer by the Corporation  of the City of Edinburgh of land at Craigmillar which was provided at an advantageous price. The site satisfied the  Foundation’s requirement that the estate should occupy an urban rather than rural site, to avoid the potential isolation of residents. The site was close to shops, schools, local employment centres, and a bus route.

The design was the result of an open competition. The brief for the competition specified that the general layout of  the scheme should be informal and intimate on ‘garden court’ lines and that uniformity should be avoided. Thirty-six entries for the competition were submitted, and Stuart Matthew was the winner of the first prize of £500.  Matthew’s scheme was considered to combine a coherent architectural scheme, spacious courts, direct corridor  connections and varied plan shapes; whilst avoiding being ‘institutional’.

The wife of the founder cut the first sod on 22 June 1946. The building operations were divided into separate contracts,  and the construction work proceeded apace, despite the numerous delays which affected post-war building operations.  140 houses were originally intended, but rising costs saw the scheme stop at 100 houses in 1950, with £600,000  expended to that date on the building operations and equipment (houses and clinic), from subscription and accrued  interest. The first families took up residence in June 1950.  The occupiers paid no rent or rates, but were required to  contribute to the special amenities provided.

The inter-denominational Robin Chapel, which stands in the centre of the Foundation, is a memorial to Sir Francis  and Lady Tudsbery’s only son Robin, who as a 25-year-old lieutenant in the Royal Horse Guards was killed by a  mine as the Allies completed their final push through Germany. The news was broken to his parents within hours  of the announcement of the ceasefire that marked the end of the war in May 1945. The Chapel has historical importance as a war memorial and as a pioneering home of inter-denominational worship, devoted "to  furthering the spirit of unity and concern among Christian people". Every detail of the chapel is a reminder  of Lt Tudsbery's life, even down to the candlesticks and cross on the altar which were cast from the melted  silver of some of his personal possessions.

Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) opened the Foundation on 5 September 1950, and on the  same day laid the memorial stone on the inner wall of the cloister entrance to the Chapel. The Scotsman on the  day reported that Craigmillar was en fete for the event, with local children lining the road to the estate  waving flags and cheering at the Royal car.

The estate was an important resource for all those that had an interest in special purpose housing, and  contributed to the history and development of housing for people with physical disabilities. The level of  community services and support provided on the estate was visionary, predating the Beveridge Report of 1948,  which resulted in the National Health Service.