Innholdsfortegnelse for September-October 2023 i History Scotland

This is the seventh time in the last ten years that Mary, Queen of Scots has appeared as a History Scotland cover star. Perennially popular, it seems that there’ll always be more to discover and talk about when it comes to Mary’s personal life, reign and legacy. Don’t miss our special feature on page 22 looking at the queen’s use of needlework to communicate political messages. Elsewhere in this issue we take a look at plans for a new state-of-the-art home for archive material covering 5,000 years, report on the search for a ‘lost’ medieval church, and look back at the provision of hot dinners for pre-war school children. Rachel Bellerby Editor, History Scotland MEET THE CONTRIBUTORS Dr Neil McGuigan has authored a monograph on the life, times and legacy…

On St Brice’s Day (13 November) 1093, the reigning Scottish king was killed in a skirmish. So ended the 35-year reign of Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, likely more familiar to most readers as either Malcolm III or Malcolm Canmore. He was probably in his late fifties or sixties at the time. Scottish and Irish sources refer to the location of the deadly encounter as Inber Alda[n], ‘Inveraln’, i.e. Alnmouth, in what would later become the English county of Northumberland. In the later Middle Ages he was remembered as the ‘father’ of Scotland’s feudal order. By the 18th century, Malcolm had become an ‘enlightened’ highland chief seeking to ‘improve’ his country by emulating England and marginalising his Gaelic subjects. Thus his reign came to be seen as marking the transition between…

When there are hundreds of books written about Mary, queen of Scots it might seem superfluous to add yet another. Many would argue that the story of the Scottish queen has been sufficiently mined and that the attention she has claimed has deflected interest from other significant women in Scotland’s story. But, with a background in textiles and with Mary appearing as a central figure in my first book Threads of Life: A History of theWorld Through the Eye of a Needle, I felt that there was a unexplored aspect of Mary’s personal and political life that might prove illuminating: her material world. Not being a practised historian, I signed up for an MA in Historical Research at the University of Stirling, under the supervision of Dr Alastair Mann. If…

Donald Ross was the most outspoken critic of the highland clearances in the 1850s. His most famous publication was The Massacre of the Rosses, which described the women of Greenyards in Ross and Cromarty being brutally beaten by policemen for refusing to accept eviction notices. This pamphlet was reprinted three times. Over the years, historians have commented that very little is known about Donald: noone was sure where was born, though it has been suggested that he may have come from Dornoch in Sutherland. In 2004 I started investigating my family history, which became easier when I moved to Scotland in 2008 to take up a job as Principal Curator of Invertebrate Palaeobiology at National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh. I was now in close proximity to the National Records of…

Explore a selection of digital history guides in the History Scotland store: https://scot.sh/hsdownload Edited by Dr Louise Heren reviews@historyscotland.com Human Capital and Empire: Scotland, Ireland, Wales and British imperialism in Asia, c.1690-c.1820 Andrew Mackillop Manchester University Press, (2021); paperback (2023) pp.319 pages Hardback, £85.00; paperback, £25.00; Kindle, £19.99 ISBN: 9780719070730 Andrew Mackillop’s meticulously researched study of the engagement of Scotland, Ireland and Wales with the East India Company is an important addition to the scholarship of the British Empire. He examines each country’s activity in a variety of roles in the Company, demonstrating when and how engagement occurred and considering how significant it was. His key argument is that human capital provided an opportunity for financially poor countries and regions, such as the metropolitan provinces he analyses in the…

Thomas Weir was a respected pillar of Edinburgh society, renowned for his robust Presbyterian piety. Indeed, some people were so awed by the intensity of his godliness that they were afraid even to be in his presence. But Weir was harbouring a dark secret, a secret which, when it was finally revealed at the end of the 1660s, would result in one of the most sensational criminal trials in the whole of Scottish history. It began when Weir, by this point an elderly man of around 70, called to himself a friend named Anna Kerr, claiming he needed to reveal his sins and cleanse his soul. The story he told was shocking in the extreme. For most of his life, he admitted, he had been an enthusiastic adulterer, including with…

What links a London borough, a grand house in Kent, over 20 towns, cities and counties in the United States, two Caribbean slavery plantations and a street in a small town in the Scottish highlands? The answer is a constitutional lawyer and a leading proponent of civil liberties who became a darling of American colonists and possibly of Caribbean slavery plantation owners. That man is Charles Pratt, 1st earl Camden, lord chancellor of Great Britain. In July 1765, Charles Pratt was created baron Camden of Camden Place in Chislehurst, Kent. Thereby, most unusually, he took as his title the surname of another person – William Camden (15511623), antiquarian, grammarian, headmaster, author of Britannia (1586) and of a history of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England. In 1607 he…

Archival accounts from the many prisons in both Scotland and England during the mid-18th century are remarkably grim. The horrid conditions were well-documented, both by those who were incarcerated and by those who held the keys. Virtually no significant repair, improvement or expansion was undertaken on British prisons between the two Jacobite risings in 1715 and 1745, yet the number of inmates who were jailed for treasonous activities or suspicion thereof doubled from one to the other. Making matters worse was the nature of this particular class of prisoners, who were seen by many government officials as traitors at best, and at worst, as in the case of some Jacobite Gaels, subhuman. Well over 3,500 prisoners were taken during and after the ’45, and this number represents only around 30…

The Immeasurable Wilds: Travellers to the Far North of Scotland, 1600-1900 Alastair Mitchell Whittles Publishing, (May 2022) pp.224 Paperback, £14.99 ISBN: 9781849954921 Scotland, and in particular the Scottish highlands, began attracting travellers and tourists from the late 17th century, with the greatest increase in numbers of visitors to the region experienced from the late 18th century into the 19th century. A number of factors influenced the attraction of the Scottish highlands as a destination: war in Europe created difficulties with the traditional ‘Grand Tour’ for upper class gentlemen and resulted in Scotland being a safer alternative; the reduction in the threat of Jacobite civil unrest and uprisings following the battle of Culloden provided a safer trip; the advancement of scientific discovery and the advent of Enlightenment saw an increase in…

Mary, queen of Scots - whose embroidery is the subject of an article on page 22 - is surely one of the most written-about of Scottish monarchs. It is a little surprising, then, to dig into the archives of the Scottish History Society and find comparatively few volumes relating to her, including the thin work featured here. This book, however, can tell us a great deal, not just about Queen Mary, but about the history of scholarly editing in Scotland. In 1869, the Clyde shipbuilding magnate John Scott of Halkshill (1830-1903) bought a remarkable thing, a fourteen-page autograph draft of a letter from Queen Mary to her uncle, the duke of Guise. Scott was an avid collector of books and manuscripts, especially about Mary (he also published a bibliography of…

This is the first time National Records of Scotland has crunched the numbers for the most popular names given to babies born in Scotland in every year from 1935 to 2022 The results shed light on how Scotland’s tastes for names have changed over the years, where some of the influences have come from and how some names bounce back after a spell out of the charts. Olivia was the most popular first forename for girls whose births were registered in 2022, whilst Noah topped the charts for boys. A dozen names have stayed in the top 100 for babies born in Scotland over the last 88 years and all of them are for boys. These names are: Adam, Alexander, Daniel, David, James, Joseph, Matthew, Michael, Robert, Samuel, Thomas and…

In 2022, National Records of Scotland (NRS) in Edinburgh bought the papers of the Balfour of Whittingehame family, earls of Balfour, on behalf of the nation. Before its purchase, the collection had been on loan to NRS from the family since the 1960s. It is a remarkable archive which offers insights into the life of an influential Scottish family over a long period of history. The Balfour family was very well-connected in scientific, artistic and political circles. A highlight of the collection is the personal correspondence of Arthur James Balfour, 1st earl of Balfour (1848-1930), prime minister and philosopher. Balfour is best known for his political career and achievements. He was the author of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which conferred official British support for creating a homeland for the…

ONLINE EVENTS Animals in the court of James VI, 20 September Nicole Maceira Cumming explores the role of animals within the court of James VI and considers what the royal beasts can tell us about the relationship between human and animal in early modern Scotland. History Scotland lecture. Starts 6.30pm UK time on Zoom. Tickets £10 including on-demand access to the recording for seven days. Book at www. historyscotland.com/virtual-events/online-lectures//houndishalkis-and-uther-his-hienes-pettis-animals-in-the-court The 18th-century Edinburgh orphan hospital, 3 October Dr Kate Gibson investigates the stories of children cared for in Scotland’s first national institution for vulnerable children. History Scotland lecture. Starts 6.30pm UK time on Zoom. Tickets £10 including on-demand access to the recording for seven days. Book at www.historyscotland.com/virtual-events/onlinelectures//the-18th-century-edinburgh-orphan-hospital-3october ON-SITE EVENTS Scottish Archaeology Month, throughout September This annual event, led by Archaeology…

This collection of essays is in honour of Dr Alexander Grant from Lancaster University, whose breadth of interests across lowland medieval Scotland and northern England are clearly reflected in this volume through the key themes of kingship, lordship and identity. This is not a book for the casual reader, but it will, however, be welcomed eagerly by serious students of the period and region. One of the main strengths of the book is that the reader sees familiar discussions and themes in a different way. The book includes major re-evaluations of the reputations of two medieval kings, Alexander I of Scotland and Henry V of England. Judith Green’s chapter gives a clear idea of the complexities of the intertwined nature of the medieval courts of England and Scotland. Sarah Rose’s…