Sir James Steel, 1st Baronet

Sir James Steel, 1st Baronet (1829–1904) was a Scottish builder and businessman who served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1900 to 1903.

[3] His building work is characterised by an enormous flair, and his elegant terraces in the West End were clearly aimed at the more affluent sections of the Edinburgh population.

[7] In 1894 he bought a 33-acre site between Queensferry Road and Comely Bank and developed this as dense (but attractively laid out) four storey tenements.

The grave lies in the first northern extension attaching the main cemetery, just north-east of the huge obelisk to Alexander Russell.

The large red granite obelisk to Steel includes a fine bronze bust by the sculptor John Stevenson Rhind, erected in 1906.