 He stayed here for 4 years of study, during which time he befriended Alexander Nisbet Paterson, Frank Worthington Simon and John Keppie.Following the death of his father and inheritance of the house at 1 Beaufort Road, he returned to Edinburgh in 1887 to work as assistant to George Washington Browne where he worked until 1891 whereafter he moved totally to his own practice which he had established in 1888.During this period with Browne he undoubtedly had input into the design of the Central Library on George IV Bridge, the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Wright’s Buildings on Bruntsfield Place and the Solicitors Buildings on the Cowgate.