The Links, over looking Peterhead South Bay, was built for Captain David Gray in 1880 and remained the family home until it was sold to successful herring curer John Sutherland in 1919.

In 1930, aided by numerous private donations, the local council bought The Links for conversion into a hospital. The photograph, donated by a descendent of John Sutherland, may be a unique record of how the building looked before it was extended in the 1960s and demolished and re-built in the early 1990s.

After he retired from whaling in 1893, David Gray spent many hours in his study on the first floor, watching the ships entering and leaving the South Harbour. He would also have taken great pleasure in the steady construction, by the convicts at Peterhead Prison, of the massive breakwaters across Peterhead Bay. Captain Gray had been in the vanguard of the campaign to build the giant breakwaters, now Peterhead's best known landmarks. He saw the start of the work but they were not to be finished until the 1950s.

For a number of years Captain Gray was a member of the harbour board. In the enquiry held by Sir George Nares as to the most suitable place for a harbour of refuge on the east coast of Scotland, Captain Gray gave important and convincing evidence in favour of Peterhead.
Peterhead Sentinel and Buchan Journal, 1896.

David Gray had long suffered from gout and in May 1896 he suffered a massive stroke, dying on the 16th of the month.

 

©SCRAN/Aberdeenshire Council The Links According to the SCRAN record the photograph dates from 1920. It is likely to be earlier given that the house is surrounded by iron railings. Most such railings were removed for scrap metal during the First World War (1914-18).