Professional Documents
Culture Documents
REBELLION
NEW SERIES
WITH A CAUSE?
Behind the
scenes at
National
Museum of
Scotland
Rediscovering
the Jacobites
300 years on
REVEALED
Gaelic
education
in the
19th-century
Highlands
Preparing
for death in
medieval
times
THE FACE OF
DARK AGE
SCOTLAND
VIOLENCE AND MURDER IN
POST ROMAN EDINBURGH
02/12/2015 15:41
2.indd 2
H I S TO RY SC OT LA ND - SE P T E MB E R / O C TO B E R 2015
01/12/2015 15:40
History
PATRONS
David Breeze
Christopher Smout Historiographer Royal
Elizabeth Ewan University of Guelph
EDITORIAL BOARD
Mr Derek Alexander
Archaeologist,
National Trust for Scotland
Dr John Atkinson
Managing Director
GUARD Archaeology Ltd
Medieval and post-medieval
settlement and industry
Dr Aonghus Mackechnie
Principal Inspector of
Historic Buildings, Historic
Scotland (Architecture,
c.1600 - 1750)
Dr Ann MacSween
Principal Inspector, Historic
Scotland (Prehistory)
Dr Colin Martin
Honorary Reader in
Maritime Archeology
University of St Andrews
George Dalgleish
Keeper, Scottish History
and Archaeology, National
Museums Scotland,
Edinburgh. Scottish decorative
arts, specifically silver, ceramics
& pewter; Jacobite collections
Neil McLennan
Writer, education manager
and Past President of the
Scottish Association of
Teachers of History
Dr Piers Dixon
Operations Manager at
the Royal Commission on
the Ancient and Historical
Monuments of Scotland
(RCAHMS), (rural settlement
and medieval archaeology)
Mr Andrew Dunwell
Director, CFA Archaeology,
Edinburgh (Later prehistory
and Roman)
Mark A Hall
History Officer (archaeology
collections) at Perth
Museum & Art Gallery.
Dr Kevin James
Dept of History and Scottish
Studies Programme,
University of Guelph, Canada
Dr S Karly Kehoe
Senior Lecturer in History
in modern history at the
University of Glasgow
Caledonian
Dr Catriona MacDonald
Reader in Late Modern
Scottish History
University of Glasgow
Cynthia J. Neville
George Munro
Professor of History
and Political Economy,
Dalhousie University
www.historyscotland.com
Volume 16, Number 1
January/February 2016
Dr Allan Kennedy
Research Associate in
British/Scottish History,
University of Manchester
Prof Angela McCarthy
Scottish and Irish History,
University of Otago
Dr Iain MacInnes
Lecturer in Scottish
History, University of the
Highlands and Islands.
Prof Richard Oram
Scottish Medieval History
& Environmental History,
University of Stirling
Matt Ritchie
Archaeologist,
Forestry Commission
Dr Alasdair Ross
Reader in Medieval and
Environmental History,
University of Stirling
Mr Geoffrey Stell
Architectural Historian
Dr Simon Taylor
Scottish place-names,
University of Glasgow
Dr Fiona Watson
Historian, writer and
broadcaster
Dr Alex Woolf
Senior lecturer in History,
University of St Andrews
SCOTLAND
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02/12/2015 10:26
Heritage and
Craftsmanship
Cairncross has served the people of Perth
since 1869, and it is with pride that we
present this unique, beautifully crafted
Scottish kilt pin, which celebrates the
Fair City in silver.
The pin, featuring a flowing, Celtic inspired
design to reflect the meandering River Tay,
is topped by Perths emblem - the double
headed imperial eagle.
Cairncross have been granted permission by
the Edinburgh Assay Office to revive the town
mark, which was used by Perth silversmiths in
the 18th century and is now stamped on the
reverse of these superb kilt pins.
Available exclusively from
www.oideas-gael.com
IRELANDS
LANGUAGE
& CULTURE
Ancestors
Bbarabara Davidson.indd 1
Adult Irish
Language Courses
All learning levels
- weekend & week-long
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THE SCOTTISH
03/10/2014
GENEALOGY
SOCIETY
11:45
oideasgael@eircom.net
4.indd 4
01/12/2015 16:11
CONTENTS
IN-DEPTH FEATURES
16 Isobel Gunn in Orkney
The fascinating story of a female Orkney crofter who disguised
herself as a man in order to undertake the harsh and dangerous life
of a Hudsons Bay trader
FEATURES
8
A century of style
Eye-catching fashions from an
exhibition on Victorian style
10
22
History news
Top heritage award for the
Bannockburn Centre and the
achievements of pioneer explorer
Isabella Bird
31
Banished!
Report on a medieval history play
staged by Lismore Gaelic Heritage
Centre and Lismore islanders
ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS
12
23
40
46
50
A CENTURY
OF STYLE
NEW EXHIBITION
Vol.16 No.1
OF VICTORIAN
FASHION
DEATH OF A KING
hi
story
SC OT LA
bruary 2016
January/Fe
DER MANIA
ber 2015
REBELLION
E?
WITH A CAUS
Rediscovering
the Jacobites
300 years on
NEW SERIES
DISCOVERED
THE SCOTTISH
SOLDIER WHO
FOUGHT FOR
GARIBALDI
Preparing
for death in
medieval
times
ER IN
AND MURD
H
VIOLENCE
N EDINBURG
POST ROMA
THE LAST
ST KILDANS
THE FACE OF
DARK AGE
SCOTLAND
ARCHAEOLOG
Y
SCOTLANDS
EARLIEST
PICTISH FORT
DISCOVERED
ND
Behind the
scenes at
National
Museum of
Scotland
REVEALED
Gaelic
education
in the
19th-century
Highlands
PLUS
4.20
UNCOVERING THE
HOW CENTURIES CELTS: ANCIENT DNA RESEARCH
OF
WITH NEW MIDWIFE TRADITION CLASHED
RE-ASSESSING THE RY REGULATIONS
1997 REFERENDUM
02
527019
9 771475
scotland.com
www.history
13
09:31
12
9 771475 527019
www.historyscotla
4.20
02/12/2015
P01 COVER.indd
nd.com
13
05/10/2015 09:08
14
15
49
Curators pick
Three objects with an intriguing
history from the collections of
Glencoe Folk Museum
52
53
Book reviews
The latest Scottish history
and archaeology titles
58
Diary Dates
Lectures, exhibitions and festivals.
Plus, spotlight on winter lectures
60
Spotlight on...
The Scottish Archive of Print &
Publishing History Records
61
62
Final word
Matt Ritchie on his approach to
cultural resource management
2 issues for 1
NEWS
See page 52
HISTORY NEWS
Kitchener memorial to benefit
from new round of centenary
war memorial grants
p06-07 News.indd 6
02/12/2015 14:33
SCOTTISH EXPLORERS
Isabella Bird
Not Scots-born, but linked with
Scotland through her marriage and
her home on the Isle of Mull, Isabella
Bird was diminutive, dauntless, and
almost indestructible writes Jo Woolf
orn in 1831 in
Boroughbridge,
North Yorkshire,
Isabella Lucy Bird
enjoyed an extraordinary life
of adventure that shocked and
fascinated her strait-laced peers:
The tripod of my camera served
for a candle stand, and on it I
hung my clothes and boots at night,
out of the way of rats.With these
arrangements I successfully defied
the legions of vermin which infest
Korean and Chinese inns...
Isabellas travels in Tibet
and western China led her
into serious danger. Her
appearance often spooked the
villagers and on one occasion
she was pursued and knocked
unconscious by a howling mob.
One local custom offered
a curious and effective way of preventing violence.
Speaking to the Royal Scottish Geographical Society
in November 1897, Isabella told of her unconventional
bodyguard as she progressed through Sichuan:
Two handsome laughing girls, distaff in hand,
fearless and full of fun... enlivened the way as far as
Chute. Before starting, each of the girls put on an
extra petticoat. Had any molestation been seriously
threatened, after protesting and calling on all present
to witness the deed, they would have taken off the
additional garments, spreading them solemnly on the
ground, there to remain till the outrage had been either
atoned for or forgiven, the nearest man in authority
being bound to punish the offender
Standing less than five feet tall, Isabella Bird
was blessed with courage, common sense and an
insatiable curiosity. She was one of the best-selling
travel writers of her time, and she also became a
skilled photographer. She married an Edinburgh
surgeon, John Bishop, but was widowed within six
years. In later life she lived at Tobermory, where
she paid for a town clock to be built in memory of
her sister, Henrietta. She was made a Fellow of the
Royal Scottish Geographical Society in 1890, the first
woman to receive this honour.
For more on Scottish explorers and the Royal Scottish
Geographical Society, visit: www.rsgs.org
p06-07 News.indd 7
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www.historyscotland.com
A Century of Style
Costume & Colour 1800-1899
Top: dress by R Simpson & Sons, Glasgow, c.1883-85; right: dress, c.1857;
Above: the exhibition includes Victorian fashions for men, women and
children created in an age when Glasgow was renowned for its clothes
production, and exported textiles and finished garments around the world
p08-09 style.indd 8
02/12/2015 09:36
Scottish fashion
p08-09 style.indd 9
02/12/2015 14:33
CUTTING EDGE
CONSERVATION
In the first of a new series looking behind the scenes as the National Museum of Scotland
prepares to open ten new galleries, Isabell Wagner talks about recent conservation work she
has been carrying out on a silver-gilt travelling service which belonged to Napoleons sister
10
p10 NMS.indd 10
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p10 NMS.indd 11
11
02/12/2015 09:38
ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS
Archaeologists have used the latest technology to re-create the faces of skeletons
discovered in a mass grave in Cramond, which include a warrior and a murder victim
he village of Cramond,
situated to the west of
Edinburgh, is possibly the
oldest occupied village in
Scotland, with archaeological remains
dating back to c.8600BC. However,
since its excavation in the 1950s, it is
the Roman fort at the centre of the
village which has been the focus of
archaeological research.
The investigation of this site has
challenged much of what was previously
known about the longevity and nature
of Roman occupation in Scotland
during the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD
and also about the post-Roman and
early medieval occupation of this region.
During the construction works
for a new car park in 1975, the
12
an extensive reinvestigation of
these remains, in partnership with
Aberdeen University, University
of Edinburgh and Natural History
Museum in London.
The most significant early
discovery came from radiocarbon
dating of the adult individuals. The
results showed that the individuals
actually died 800 years earlier than
previously thought, in the postRoman period, probably between
550-600AD.
The new analysis showed that the
twelve individuals had not been
buried at the same time as initially
thought. Instead, they had been
buried individually or in small groups
during two main phases of burial.
The forensic analysis of the
02/12/2015 14:34
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BURIAL 1 (WARRIOR)
skeletons revealed much about the
lifestyles of the individuals. The
results found that they were all in
good health, however some evidence
for minor injuries such as fractured
bones were recorded. The lack of
severe injuries and the fact that three
individuals lived beyond 45 years may
be an indication of high status.
Although the forensic analysis
was unable to determine the cause
of death of six of the Cramond
skeletons, at least two of the other
individuals appear to have been
murdered. Two adult females and
one adult of undetermined sex were
all buried during the last phase of
burial and each had suffered violent
blows to the head. These injuries
happened just before or at the time
of death and were fatal, as there are
no signs of healing in the bone.
Isotype analysis
In order to discover whether the
individuals buried at Cramond
lived locally prior to their death,
archaeological scientists at the
University of Aberdeen carried out
isotopic analysis on the collagen from
the skulls of each of the adult skeletons.
Isotype analysis also showed that
six of the eight tested had spent
their childhoods in the local area
(Lothian) while two spent their
childhoods further afield. Burial 1,
an adult male aged 25-35, grew up
in either Peebleshire, Lanarkshire or
Argyll/ Loch Lomondside. Burial 8,
an adult male aged over 45, however
probably grew up much further
13
02/12/2015 14:35
Archaeology news
17th-century
Scottish soldiers
found in mass
grave in Durham
New analysis carried out on skeletons discovered
in a centuries-old mass grave in Durham has led
experts to conclude they are the remains of Scottish
soldiers taken prisoner after the Battle of Dunbar
esearchers at Durham
University have
concluded that the
identification of the
remains as the Dunbar prisoners
was the only plausible explanation
when scientific data was analysed
alongside historical information.
The Battle of Dunbar was one
of the most brutal, bloody and
short battles of the 17th-century
civil wars. In less than an hour, the
English Parliamentarian army, under
the command of Oliver Cromwell,
defeated the Scottish Covenanting
army who supported the claims of
Charles II to the Scottish throne.
Although the exact figures are not
known, it is thought that around
1,700 Scottish soldiers died of
malnutrition, disease and cold
after being marched over 100 miles
from the south east of Scotland to
Durham, where they were imprisoned
in Durham cathedral and castle, by
then disused for several years.
What happened to their bodies
has been a mystery for almost 400
years, but the Durham University
researchers believe they have begun to
solve the puzzle.
In November 2013, during
construction of a new caf for the
Universitys Palace Green Library,
human remains were uncovered by
Durham University
archaeologists who were
present throughout the building work.
The jumbled skeletons of at least
seventeen and up to 28 individuals
were subsequently excavated from
two burial pits (a 29th individual
was not exhumed). Since then,
researchers have been carrying out
a wide range of tests to try and
establish their identities.
Experts initially considered that
most of the evidence was consistent
with the bodies being those of the
Scottish soldiers but could not draw
a firm conclusion from research
conducted in 2014 because initial
radiocarbon dating analysis indicated
a slightly earlier date of death than
the Dunbar battle.
However, further radiocarbon
dating analysis of four additional
samples, which were carefully selected
to ensure a more precise result, in
combination with the fact that some
of the prisoners had smoked
clay pipes known to
be in common use in
Scotland after 1620 has
concluded that the date
of death was between
1625 and 1660.
When these dates are
combined with the nature
of the graves; the results
of earlier scientific and
observational tests that
established the adult skeletons
14
Experts at Durham
University worked
on identifying
the remains
02/12/2015 09:50
www.historyscotland.com
he skeleton was
discovered along with
at least three other
burials during an
amateur excavation in 1912. Only
one of the skeletons was taken
off the island, and is now part of
the Hunterian collection at the
University of Glasgow, although
photographs of the others remain.
The skeleton was always assumed
to date from the same period as a
nearby Iron Age settlement.
However, recent radiocarbon
dating by a team from the
Universities of Bradford and
Durham showed the skeleton
was actually much earlier from
between 3340BC and 3090
BC placing it firmly in the
Neolithic period. The skeleton
is a woman, aged between
25 and 30 years, measuring
between 4 9 and 411
(145-150cm) which is short
even by Neolithic standards.
The bones show a number of
deformities that are caused
by rickets particularly in
the breastbone, ribs, and
the arms and legs. These
would have left the woman
pigeon-chested with
misshapen limbs typical
characteristics of the disease.
The isotopic analysis also showed
that she was local to the area
Below: sketch
of skeleton from
the original dig
in 1912
Professor Ian Armit, University of Bradford
levels of strontium
were high, which is a
key characteristic of
ancient communities
living on islands such
as the wind-blown
Hebrides, where crops
were fertilised with
seaweed and subject to
salty sea-spray.
Professor Ian Armit
(pictured) from the
University of Bradford
explains: The earliest case
of rickets in Britain until
now dated from the Roman
period, but this discovery takes it
back more than 3,000 years.
H I S TO RY SC OT LA ND - JA NUA RY / F E B RUA RY 2016
02/12/2015 09:51
www.historyscotland.com
An Orkney woman
in Hudsons Bay
Part One
The
of Isobel
Gunn
Thesecret
storylife
of Isobel
Gunn
Jocelyn Rendall tells the incredible story of why a young female crofter chose
to leave her island home disguised as a man in order to embark upon the harsh
and dangerous life of a Hudsons Bay Company trader
n 29 October, 1809
the Hudsons Bay
Company ship
Prince ofWales was
sighted sailing into
Stromness harbour. The return of
the Company ships was always an
occasion for considerable excitement in
the town. Parents, wives, sweethearts,
who had waited for long years for
their men to return home, eagerly
watched the approaching sails. The
tippling houses prepared for a run of
business. Among all the men on board
impatiently watching the grey strip
of houses grow nearer, one woman
stood, a little apart, holding by the
hand a little boy not two years old.
Hers was the only face that showed no
excitement, no expectation of a happy
reunion with friends and family.
I have imagined Isobel Gunns
return to Stromness. Hers is a
remarkable adventure that was
embroidered in the telling from the
16
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Browns Close in
Stromness, a close
similar to the one
where Isobel would
have grown up
02/12/2015 09:54
www.historyscotland.com
asaas
As soon as their
ship landed,
the new HBC
employees would
have begun
hunting, to build
up stocks for the
harsh winter ahead
Isobel could have
been in no doubt of
the harsh realities
that awaited those
brave enough to
leave Orkney for
Hudsons Bay
18
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The building
housing the
Hudsons Bay
Company agency
until 1835. It is
the furthest right
building gable
end to the sea
19
02/12/2015 09:54
www.historyscotland.com
weather-beaten complexion; if we
had met her we would probably have
taken her for much older than her
25 years. She may have been wellbuilt for a woman, and certainly was
muscular after a life of lifting heavy
creels of peat or sea-ware, steering
a plough through heather and rock,
carrying stones to mend a dyke or
a byre. Her hands were coarsened
with work, ingrained with dirt, just
like those of the other recruits who
picked up the unfamiliar tool on
Geddes desk and fumbled their way
through a signature or an unsteady
cross beside their name. Isobel
Gunn of Orphir disappeared, (if her
family were not party to her plot, was
there no hue and cry at her sudden
disappearance?) and John Fubbister
from St Andrews parish appeared on
the books of the HBC.
Almost all the accounts of Isobel
Gunn assume that the motivation for
her disguise was to follow her lover
to Hudsons Bay. A man, John Scarth
from Firth, seventeen years older
than Isobel, had entered the service
in 1789, come home on leave in 1796
(did he meet and impress the sixteenyear-old Isobel then?) and signed
on again for another eight years in
1797. He came home on leave in
September 1805 and travelled back
out to the Bay on the Prince of
Wales with Isobel in the summer of
H I S TO
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FURTHER
READING
Hudsons Bay Company
Archives, Manitoba
The Orkney Parishes, containing
the Statistical Account of Orkney
1795-98, drawn up from the
Communications of the Ministers
of the Different Parishes by Sir John
Sinclair, Bart. Clouston, J. Storer,
1928 (Kirkwall)
Men of Spirit and Enterprise. Scots
and Orkneymen in the Hudsons Bay
Company 1780-1821, Rigg, S., 2011
(Edinburgh)
Many Tender Ties, Women in FurTrade Society 1670-1870, Van Kirk,
S., 1980 (University of Oklahoma
Press, Norman and London)
1989 Amazons and Military maids:
women who dressed as men in
pursuit of life, liberty and happiness,
Wheelwright, J., (London)
21
02/12/2015 09:55
Part 2
www.historyscotland.com
n 29 August,
1715, 300 years
ago, Jacobite clans
led by the earl of
Mar gathered at
Braemar Castle, Aberdeenshire.
On 6 September, 1715, they raised
the standard of the Old Pretender
James Edward Stuart, son of the
exiled James VII and II, to claim the
throne from the new Hanoverian
king, George I. Although the Old
Pretender himself did not arrive in
Scotland until 22 December, 1715,
the rebellion known as the Fifteen
had officially begun.
To mark the Jacobite anniversary,
The National Archives, with the
valuable help of volunteers, has
been cataloguing its State Papers
collection for the period from 171547, which cover Military (SP 41),
Naval (SP 42), Scotland (SP 55),
Domestic George I (SP 35) and
George II (in SP 36).
These series include papers on
the aftermath of the better-known
Forty-Five Rising which was
led by the Old Pretenders son,
Bonnie Prince Charlie. There is
also the Scotland series II (SP 54
files series) collection of papers
which is a particularly rich source
relating to internal affairs in North
Britain. Within these collections
you can find manifestos and letters
as well as poems, songs, and maps.
Tracing the path to rebellion
Although the Treaty of Utrecht
of 1713 had barred the Catholic
James Edward from succeeding his
Protestant half-sister, Queen Anne
(the last of her line) as ruler of a
recently unified Great Britain, the
Hanoverian succession was opposed
by a significant minority of the
population in many parts of the British
Isles. Subsequently Mar, the outgoing
Secretary of State for Scotland,
was commissioned as LieutenantGeneral of the Jacobite forces and
was increasingly assured the support
of the nobility (together with many
22
An account of the
Battle of Dunblane
(Sheriffmuir) in
a letter sent to
Edinburgh,
17 November, 1715
(SP 54/10/46B)
02/12/2015 09:58
For more than fifty years, the Scottish Tour Guides Association has guided visitors
around some of the countrys most popular destinations. We find out what it is like to be
a tour guide, and how the expectations of travellers have changed over the years
Mary Kemp Clarke is course director of
tourist guide training at the STGA and has
been guiding visitors around Scotland for
more than fifteen years
How has the job changed since you started?
In 1999, when I became a Blue Badge STGA guide, visitor
attractions, hotels and agents did not expect phone calls during
the actual tours. We would call and confirm everything prior to
the day of the tour, so we had to be very organised beforehand.
Similarly, we now search online and on-the-go for information such as contacts
and ticket prices, translating a particularly obscure ingredient in some menu,
routes or even something forgotten about geology or history.
In Scotland, new types of tours have developed since 1999 too. Now, in addition to
ancestral tours or gastronomical tours, we have adventure tours, sporting tours, Harry
Potter or Outlander tours. So many wonderful new ways of seeing Scotland.
23
02/12/2015 14:36
Part 2
www.historyscotland.com
THE DEVON
COLLIERY
A Clackmannanshire conundrum
T
Jennifer Geller explores the history of the Devon Colliery and Iron Works
which dominated industrial life in Clackmannanshire yet were the
focus of tension due to their environmental impact
here is probably
no Scottish county
so underrated as
Clackmannan, wrote John
Carvel in 1944. One would
never gather, he continued, that
the slopes rising from the plain
of Clackmannan were grander
than those in any other part of
the range hillscape, romantic
river stretches, deep ravines,
woodlands, fertile carselands, all
24
Devon Colliery
engine house, built
in 1865. In the
front wall is a large
arched opening,
partly timbered,
through which
worked the cast-iron
beam of a Cornish
pumping engine,
built by Neilson and
Co, Glasgow in 1865
02/12/2015 10:01
Industrial history
25
02/12/2015 10:01
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26
02/12/2015 10:01
Industrial history
27
02/12/2015 10:01
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28
Contemporary view
of the Cornish Beam
Engine House with its
pumping engine beam
still clearly visible
Transformation versus
preservation,1960-2015
Following its closure by NCB
in 1960, the Devon Colliery site
remained disused for fifteen years,
a classic wasteland, even more
easily ignored by the public than
when it served a crucial economic
role in the community. Resolving
the paradox of the sites legacy
became the challenge for the
CRC as it made preparations to
rehabilitate the bing beginning
in 1976. Ironically, for the first
time in its 200 year life, the
former mine was fully in the
public eye. Plans drawn by the
CRC in 1977 for the mitigation
of the derelict land at Devon
Colliery show a tip 72.5 meters
high adjacent to a space directly
to the east consisting of extremely
irregular, haphazard contours,
with an elevation of 45 meters.
The proposed rehabilitation
involved spreading the waste
02/12/2015 10:02
Industrial history
FURTHER
READING
One Hundred Years in Coal:
The History of the Alloa Coal
Company, John Lees Carvel,
(Edinburgh, 1944)
A History of the Scottish Coal
Industry, Volume 1: 1700-1815, A
Social and Industrial History, Baron
F. Duckham (Newton Abbot, 1970)
Tillicoultry A Centenary History:
1871-1971, Eric J. Evans,
(Tillicoultry, 1972)
Mining From Kirkintillock to
Clackmannan and Stirling to
Slamannan, Guthrie Hutton,
(Ochiltree, 2000)
The Firth of Forth: An
Environmental History, T. C.
Smout, and Marie Stewart,
(Edinburgh, 2012)
29
02/12/2015 10:02
30
p30 opinion.indd 30
Futility
Move him into the sun
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown.
Always it woke him, even in France,
Until this morning and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know.
Think how it wakes the seeds,
Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides,
Full-nerved still warm too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earths sleep at all?
Wilfred Owen
02/12/2015 10:05
Part 2
kjshfhskj
y
la
p
l
a
v
ie
d
e
m
A
D
E
BANISH
Jennifer Baker reports on a history play staged by Lismore Gaelic Heritage Centre
which was inspired by historic accounts of a violent encounter between a 15th-century
bishop and his power-hungry officials
In 1452, Lauder made a rare
journey north to Lismore with
his entourage to take, it was
rumoured, church benefices away
from Sir Gilbert McLachlan (the
cathedral chancellor) and Sir Morris
McFadyen (treasurer), and install
Master Hercules Scrymgeour,
parson of Glassary, in their place.
Sir Gilbert and Sir Morris were
both locals, and cathedral canons
(taking the title sir as senior, but
non-graduate, churchmen), who
had taken advantage of the bishops
long absence to move into positions
of power, probably dispossessing
Hercules Scrymgeour in the process.
For fifteen years they had enjoyed
authority and wealth on the island.
All parties had agreed to meet
to discuss this state of affairs in a
civilised way (to make gud trety).
Instead, Sir Gilbert and Sir Morris
met Lauder with a mob, taunting
him in Gaelic, pulling him from
his horse and stripping him and
his men of all their jewels and fine
silks, thus ridiculing them and
causing maximum humiliation to a
senior churchman. These were bold
men indeed.
Finally, they threatened to kill
Lauder if he did not grant them
absolution from the great sin that
they had committed by attacking
a man of God. A very frightened
Lauder absolved them all and then
left the island never to return. Ten
years later the Pope issued an indult
permitting him to live outside the
diocese, in Glasgow, or elsewhere
within two days ride of the diocese
on account of strife rageing between
temporal lords and other magnates of
31
02/12/2015 10:11
Dear reader, we are keen to find out what you really think of History
Scotland. Please return this questionnaire by 13 February to be entered
into a prize draw to win a collection of Scottish History books and a
Castles of Scotland three DVD box set.
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12/11/2015 16:22
In part II of her study of the 1915 Midwives Act, Lindsay Reid demonstrates how the outbreak of
World War I caused the need for qualified midwives to become an urgent one, as many doctors
were called up for military service, leaving a void in maternity care
or midwifery in Scotland
to progress, statutory
legislation was necessary.
As shown in the first part of
this series (vol 15.6) this was provided
in England and Wales by the 1902
Midwives Act which epitomised a
major legislative milestone in the
professionalisation of midwifery. This
Act included neither Scotland nor
Ireland. It was to be another thirteen
years before the Midwives (Scotland)
Act was passed in 1915. This second
article explores why the Scottish Act
was enacted when it was, and the
early after effects.
p33 midwives.indd 33
02/12/2015 10:07
www.historyscotland.com
p33 midwives.indd 34
02/12/2015 10:08
Inside a ward of
the Glasgow Royal
Maternity Hospital,
known as Rottenrow,
c.1902
p33 midwives.indd 35
02/12/2015 10:08
www.historyscotland.com
Covering of howdies by
medical practitioners
After the passing of the Act, and the
time allowed for enrolment, unless
it was an emergency, howdies could
only continue to practise legally
under the direct supervision of a
medical practitioner.
The CMBS did its best to stop
the practice of howdies. Its statutory
role in the regulation of midwifery
36
p33 midwives.indd 36
02/12/2015 10:08
Title page of
Aristotles
Compleat and
Experienced
Midwife, showing
midwives attending
a mother and child
p33 midwives.indd 37
02/12/2015 10:09
www.historyscotland.com
p33 midwives.indd 38
An English midwife
on her rounds.
Scotlands Midwives
Act came thirteen
years after that of
England and Wales
02/12/2015 10:09
Conclusion
Before 1915, midwifery in
Scotland was alegal with no
existing regulations or licensing
requirements. Early attempts to
formalise midwifery training in
Scotland preceded the eventual
statutory regulation of midwifery
in Scotland in 1915, thirteen years
after a similar Act for England and
Wales. Scotlands unique Schemes
of Maternity and Child Welfare
in Scotland, and the removal of
doctors to the Front during World
War I, acted as significant levers for
the Acts passing at this time. An
important objective, only fulfilled
four decades later, was to prevent
unqualified, unsupervised midwives
attending women in childbirth.
p33 midwives.indd 39
FURTHER
READING
The Rottenrow: The History of the
Glasgow Royal Maternity Hospital
1834-1984, D Dow (Carnforth, 1984).
Death in Childbirth, I Loudon
(Oxford, 1992)
Midwives, Society and Childbirth, H
Marland, A M Rafferty (London, 1997)
Midwifery in Scotland:
A History, L Reid (Erskine, 2011)
Scottish Midwives: Twentieth
Century Voices, L Reid
(East Linton, 2000)
39
02/12/2015 10:09
Part 2
www.historyscotland.com
James I
and the
character of
15th-century
Scottish
kingship
he centrepiece of
the 2014 Edinburgh
International festival was
undoubtedly the National
Theatre of Scotlands
performance of the trilogy of plays
written by Rona Munro about the
reigns of the first three Stewart kings
named James. The James Plays used
the reigns of these rulers as the basis
for a dramatic recreation of Scotland
in the 15th century. Both critics and
audiences responded positively.
For a historian of late medieval
Scotland, the main reaction was one of
pleasure that someone had chosen to
look beyond the tales of Wallace, Bruce
and, especially in 2014, the sacred
field of Bannockburn to consider
other elements in their countrys
long, rich and eminently dramatisable
history. Munro encouraged audiences,
both of Scots and from around the
world, to consider a period of the
countrys past when it enjoyed full and
internationally-recognised sovereignty.
The plays succeeded in creating
scenarios and raising themes which
had contemporary resonance in that
most politically engaged summer but
which never turned the drama into
crude allegory. Instead audiences were
invited to think about the nature of
40
p40 James.indd 40
A carving of King
James on the
Scott Monument
02/12/2015 10:26
King James I
p40 James.indd 41
41
02/12/2015 10:27
Part 2
www.historyscotland.com
f, on a winter evening
in 1831, you had
been walking through
Achnacarnin in Assynt,
you might have wondered
why one large building was so
brightly lit. Had you crept through
the doorway you might have
slipped into a seat with about
40 adults and 40 young people
listening to David Munro as he
used his grammar book and his
Bible to explain the rudiments
of reading Gaelic. This was one
of the six night classes Munro
conducted each week on top of his
daytime teaching commitments.
There were a few other schools
in the area, but this one, financed
by the Edinburgh Society for
42
p42 Schools.indd 42
The crofting
township of Laid can
be seen scattered
out along the road on
the far bank of Loch
Eriboll. People were
moved to townships
like this during the
Clearances and it
was isolated
communities such as
this which benefited
from the provision of
a Gaelic school
02/12/2015 10:12
History of education
A missionary organisation
The ESSGS were sometimes
asked to provide schools for
communities recently placed
on an insecure economic and
cultural footing by Clearance
policies. In 1824 many Gaelic
speaking people uprooted
from the fertile inland straths
of Sutherland were trying to
resettle in English speaking
parts of Caithness. In Heathfield
Rev Alexander Campbell
A cluster of longhouses
and outbuildings
at the township of
Caen, Sutherland.
Gaelic schools were
designed to serve
such communities.
School buildings,
being constructed
by members of the
community, were
doubtless similar to
peoples houses
p42 Schools.indd 43
43
02/12/2015 10:46
www.historyscotland.com
44
p42 Schools.indd 44
Balnakeil church
at Durness. William
Findlater was
minister here and
tried to get a Gaelic
school provided for
the inhabitants of
nearby Laide
02/12/2015 10:47
History
In the next issue
ofof
education
history
SCOTLAND
Vol 16.2
MAR/APR 2016
On sale:
13 Feb
FURTHER READING
The People of the Great Faith: The Highland Church, 1690-1900, Douglas
Ansdell Stornoway: Acair, 1998)
2 issues for 1
p42 Schools.indd 45
45
02/12/2015 10:12
Part 2
www.historyscotland.com
PREPARING FOR
THE AFTERLIFE
Ann Galliard explores the many rites and rituals associated with death in the medieval era
ne of the first
printed books
which circulated
soon after Sir
Duncan Campbell
endowed the
church at Kilmun in 1442 was Ars
Moriendi (The Art of Dying). To a
world reeling from the devastating
effects of the Black Death, it was a
timely publication. Then, as now,
death was part of being human, but
infant mortality was high, there were
plagues, leprosy, syphilis and famine,
and people did not expect to live a
long life. The main consideration was
preparation for a good death and
publications such as Ars Moriendi
helped people make their plans as
well as providing consoling thoughts
of salvation. There was a universal
fear of dying suddenly, unprepared
for the afterlife.
Disease and illness were associated
with sin and it was important that bad
46
p46 Funerals.indd 46
The catastrophic
effects of the Black
Death were a stark
warning that life
could end at any
time, meaning that it
was wise to prepare
for a good death
02/12/2015 15:08
Church burials
Burial within the church was favoured
for the clergy who worked there and
also the nobility; the early Campbell
burials were indeed beneath the floor
of the medieval Kilmun church. It was
important to be buried in consecrated
ground (so that the body would be
reunited with the soul at the Day of
Judgement) and aligned to the east in
preparation for Jesuss arrival. A grave
close to the altar was the most sought
after position, but obviously restricted;
not least because it reflected the status
of the deceased. This was an important
aspect of church burial; not only was
the deceased remembered, but his
family could continue their enjoyment
of his or her high status. Even in
the graveyard there was an order.
Historically, women or lay people were
often buried in the less desirable part
and monks in the better areas.
The General Assembly outlawed the
practice of church burial in 1576, with
punishments extending to possible
excommunication for anyone ignoring
the injunction. This was difficult to
enforce, and it took some years before
communities began to comply. The
early burials under the earthen floor
of Kilmun Church were still causing
problems as late as the end of the
17th century, but the Campbells had
followed the rules by using a side
chapel for burials, which was not
considered part of the main church
and therefore was permitted. We know
that the 7th earl, who died in 1638, was
known to be buried in the area now
occupied by the mausoleum, then a
side chapel of the church; the previous
earl (who died in 1584) as well as
the 5th earl (who died in 1573) were
probably also in the same area. This
was the beginning of the foundation of
a separate mausoleum.
The change in attitudes gives
some explanation to the question
of why there are only two effigies
Paintings and
illustrations relating
to death became
popular, such as
The Dance Macabre
which showed that in
death, all are equal
p46 Funerals.indd 47
02/12/2015 15:08
www.historyscotland.com
A final goodbye
When someone was dying, the many
preparations associated with the
passing began. Friends and family
would gather in the hope of saying
goodbye, and the passing bell would
be tolled, a relic of the days when
it was believed that the noise might
frighten off evil spirits. Nine rings
for a man, six for a woman and
three for a child, followed by one
ring for each year of the persons
life. Someone would be sent around
the community to let everyone
know when the person died and a
flurry of activity would begin in the
household. If the death occurred
away from home, the arrangements
would be even more complicated.
Around the beginning of the
17th century, a searcher who was
a person of suitable moral standing,
and often an elderly woman of the
parish, would be called upon to
determine the cause of death.
The body would then be cleaned
and embalmed before being dressed
in appropriate clothes, often to
reflect the status of the deceased, and
48
p46 Funerals.indd 48
02/12/2015 15:08
Curators pick
The remarkable
Dr Grant
Clockwise from top left: Grants teapot; the doctor on his travels; the Grant & McFarlane washing machine
created by Grants father; Grants devotion to his workers resulted in the Ballachulish lock out
49
02/12/2015 10:15
Part 2
www.historyscotland.com
DAVID DALE:
the forgotten
entrepreneur
n 21 March,
1806, the streets
of Glasgow were
thronged with
mourners for the
funeral procession of one of the
citys most prominent citizens.
Guests included the magistrates,
members of the Established and
Secessionist churches and between
200 to 300 respectable inhabitants.
In addition, The Times noted that
what it called the concourse of
spectators was immense. Behind
the coffin as it made its way to the
Ramshorn Kirkyard walked the
still unfamiliar figure of Robert
Owen, accompanied by his fiveyear-old son. After the funeral, small
sums of money were distributed to
several hundred of the citys poor.
The deceased would certainly
have approved. Described by Sir
Tom Devine as the greatest cotton
magnate of his time in Scotland,
David Dale was finally at peace.
50
02/12/2015 10:17
Industrial history
Practical philanthropy
It is true to say that Dale was as
well known for his philanthropy
and public works as he was for his
entrepreneurial success. He was an
evangelical Dissenter and donated
large sums to various religious
causes but his philanthropy took
many practical forms. Concerned
about poverty and emigration in
the Highlands, he sent more than
one vessel loaded with grain for the
starving population. Families were
offered work (hence Caithness Row
in New Lanark).
He invested in a small cotton
mill in Spinningdale, Sutherland, in
the full knowledge that the venture
was unlikely to be profitable and he
continued to support it long after
other partners had abandoned the
scheme. In Glasgow, Dale played
a major role in the establishment
of the Royal Infirmary and as a
director/manager of the Towns
Hospital, the Humane Society and
the Chamber of Commerce. Local
newspapers also knew him as the
benevolent Magistrate.
Recent research has revealed that
Dale became the first Chairman of
the Glasgow Society for the Abolition
of the Slave Trade in 1791. This was a
courageous position to take, given the
issue of slave cotton and the fact that
many of his business colleagues were
West India merchants, uncommitted
to the cause. Nevertheless, reports
of Dales involvement appeared
regularly in the newspapers as the
society raised funds, distributed
literature from Clarksons London
committee and gathered names for a
petition to Parliament.
Dales involvement in these
business and philanthropic ventures
continued until the last year or two
of his life. He began to reduce his
commitments from c.1800 when
Owen (by now married to Dales
eldest daughter) took over the
management of New Lanark and
advised him to sell some of his
businesses. When Scott Moncrieff
retired from the Royal Bank in 1803,
Dale rather reluctantly did likewise.
Robert Owens
institution at New
Lanark. By the
time Owen took
over the mills, the
community already
had initiatives
set up by Dale which
combined industry,
education and
community
FURTHER
READING
David Dale: A Life, David J McLaren
(Stenlake Publications, 2015)
51
02/12/2015 10:17
FAMILY PORTRAIT:
THE SCOTS-ITALIANS
1890-1940
FREE EXHIBITION
3 DECEMBER 2015 29th JANUARY 2016
rd
64.indd 2
H I S TO RY SC OT LA ND - SE P T E MB E R / O C TO B E R 2015
01/12/2015 15:53
BOOKREVIEWS
Military might
53
02/12/2015 10:20
BOOK REVIEWS
A landmark excavation
The excavation of Broxmouth Hillfort near Edinburgh provided an invaluable record of
an important Iron Age site which has now been destroyed, writes Dr Kate Buchanan
An Inherited Place:
Broxmouth Hillfort and the
South-East Scottish Iron Age
Ian Armit and Jo McKenzie
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 2013
538 pages
Hardback, 35
ISBN: 9781908332059
An Inherited Place:
Broxmouth Hillfort and
the South-East Scottish
Iron Age is a beautifully
produced excavation
report of one of the
most thorough rescue
excavations undertaken
in Scotland. The site was identified in 1956
by J.K. St Joseph when he observed the crop
marks which revealed the site. Under the
direction of Peter Hill, excavations began
in 1977, when the site was threatened by
expanding cement quarrying which has
since destroyed it. As is the case with many
excavation reports, publication of the finds
were long delayed. In 2007, the material was
used by the University of Bradford for new
assessment and analysis; the compilations of
research of many people on the Broxmouth
finds has resulted in this book. It has
summaries in English, French and German
and is divided into five parts.
The first part of the book introduces the
site of Broxmouth, which sits 40km southeast of Edinburgh. The geological make-up
of the site, composed primarily of limestone
and alkaline-rich soil, has resulted in a wealth
of preserved material. Radiocarbon dating,
along with Bayesian analysis (a method to
guide the inference of predicted dates) of 158
dates, has been used to identify seven main
phases of human use at Broxmouth. Part two
discusses the phases of the hillfort in detail.
The first phase was in the early Iron Age and
dates to approximately 640/570 cal BC.
During this time, a palisade and ditch
were formed with one large roundhouse.
Only the east half of the first roundhouse
survives, as the west half was destroyed by
54
02/12/2015 10:21
The development of
the legal profession
Allan Kennedy reviews an in-depth study of Scotlands legal system in the 18th
century, which uses print and manuscript sources to explore the lives of the countrys
legal practitioners and their use of patronage and networking
Legal Practice in
Eighteenth-Century Scotland
John Finlay
Brill, 2015
447 pages
Hardback, 114
ISBN: 9789004294936
The extensive back
catalogue of John Finlay
will be familiar to
anyone with an interest
in Scottish legal history
or the development of
the legal profession,
particularly (but by no
means exclusively) in the early-modern
period. Having already published books
on pre-Reformation lawyers and on the
College of Justice, Finlays latest volume,
building upon a stream of recent essays
and articles, offers by far the most detailed
extant investigation into the professional
lives and activities of legal practitioners in
the 18th century. The authors declared
aim is to cast some light on those who
practised [the law] and on an important
area of life in 18th-century Scotland
(p.30). Finlay is perhaps guilty of excessive
modesty here; the book is much more
important than that.
The book begins with a sizeable
introduction providing useful background
information about both the structure
and size of the lawyer community, while
also previewing some of the main issues
and lines of argument developed later.
Ten thematic chapters follow, covering, in
turn, lawyer-client relationships; income;
business management; ethics; pro bono;
legal societies; practitioner solidarity; the
linkages between burghs and lawyers;
procurators fiscal; and notaries. The text is
illustrated with six good-quality black-andwhite images, and boasts useful indexes
02/12/2015 10:21
56
02/12/2015 10:21
RECENTLY PUBLISHED
Preserved LNER Gresley A4
pacic No. 9 Union of South
Africa on the Lochty Private
Railway in 1970
Glasgow:
Mapping the City
Birlinn, 30
This lavishly illustrated
book features eighty
maps which have
been selected for the
particular stories they
reveal about different political, commercial and
social aspects of Scotlands largest city.
The maps featured provide insights into
topics such as the development of the Clyde
and its shipbuilding industry, the villages which
were gradually subsumed into the city, how the
city was policed, what lies underneath the city
streets, and the growth of Glasgow during the
Industrial Revolution.
Scottish Railway Icons:
Central Belt to
the Borders
Amberley, 14.99
Railway Mania changed
Victorian Scotland forever.
Fortunes were made
and lost as rival railway
promoters transformed
the landscape with
stations, cuttings, tunnels
and bridges. Scottish railways had a flavour,
evident in their engineering and architecture, the
more innovative of which attained icon status, at
a local, national and even international level.
Love Among the
Archives: Writing the
Lives of Sir George Scharf,
Victorian Bachelor
Edinburgh University
Press, 19.99
Part biography, part
detective novel, part
love story, and part
meditation on archival
research, Love Among
the Archives is an
experiment in writing a life. This is the story
of two literary critics attempts to track down
Sir George Scharf, the founding director of the
National Portrait Gallery in London, famous in
his day and strangely obscure in our own. The
written record of his nightmares, debts, gifts,
and dinner parties comes together to produce
a rich Victorian character whose personal and
professional lives challenge what we think we
know about sex, class, and profession in his time.
57
02/12/2015 10:21
DIARY DATES
History lectures
EVENT
Make the most of the winter evenings with our pick of history
and archaeology lectures on subjects ranging from Bronze Age
ceramics to modern-day tower blocks
TALK
Scandals and Reay House, 21 January
A talk by Roger Young relating to
Reay House scandals, including
bankruptcies, fornication, kidnapping
and the pursuit of debt.
Tickets 3, starts 7.30pm.
West Church Hall, Cromarty
LECTURE
The Bronze Age Neolithic: Problems of
continuity and chronology, 11 January
Lecture by Dr Alex Gibson, Reader
in Prehistory, University of Bradford,
in association with The Prehistoric
Society. For some time it has been
commonly acknowledged that
Bronze Age ceramics developed
from Neolithic forms. Radiocarbon
chronology, however, has shown
that there was almost a millennium
between the demise of Impressed
Wares and the advent of food vessels
and urns. Given this chronological gap,
how do we explain the undeniable
similarities? Runs 6pm to 7pm.
Auditorium, National Museum
of Scotland, Chambers Street,
Edinburgh EH1 1JF; e-mail:
info@socantscot.org; website:
www.socantscot.org
LECTURE
6,000 Years of Architecture,
Innovation & Design, 1 February
A journey through Scottish
architecture from the earliest
buildings to todays tower blocks.
The three speakers have each been
58
p58 events.indd 58
02/12/2015 14:38
SPOTLIGHT
TALK
EXHIBITION
EXHIBITION
EVENT
p58 events.indd 59
02/12/2015 14:38
SPOTLIGHT ON
60
02/12/2015 10:25
es
61
02/12/2015 10:25
PICTURE CREDITS:
FINAL WORD
62
p62 final word - add crisp logo to top of flannel.indd 62
02/12/2015 12:55
KINGS &
QUEENS
SOUVENIR ISSUE
OF SCOTLAND
THE STEWARTS
Guarantee your copy by pre-ordering for just 3.99,
saving you 1 on the normal cover price!
63.indd 2
02/12/2015 15:17