大象传媒

90-102 Inchview Terrace, Portobello Road, EH7 6TT

During the First World War, Portobello was home to thousands of British troops and some were billeted in a former chocolate factory.

German-born Charles William Schulze set up business in 1906 in Portobello to make luxury Belgian-style chocolates. As residents watched the factory go up, they remarked on the depth of the foundations and the thickness of the floors. This was necessary they were told, to take the weight of the machinery. When the war broke out, rumours began to circulate: perhaps the strengthened floors were to bear the weight of heavy guns; what if the imported German workers were spies? As speculation grew, the factory was investigated by the Edinburgh police and the military. Nothing was found but at the end of October 1914, it was taken over anyway and for the duration of the war was used by the military to accommodate troops.

While researching their book, Portobello and The Great War, local historians, Archie Foley and Margaret Munro discovered how the war resulted in more than financial loss for Schulze.