A Month of Scottish Gravestones - Memorials

 In addition to gravestones, we often see memorials. Sometimes these are in graveyards, sometimes they are elsewhere. But they are always to pay honour to a person or group of people who have played a part in history. 

Here are a few samples: 

This stone and the one below commemorate the martyrs who died for their religious beliefs (Covenanters) during the Killing Times. Both memorials are in Glasgow 

Perhaps the more familiar of the memorials, this is the cairn on Culloden Moor dedicated to the soldiers who lost their lives during the '45 rising

This memorial is in Rogart, Sutherland and is made from the stones plucked from the rubble of the home of the grandparents of Sir John A MacDonald. His grandparents were part of the Sutherland Clearances. This is dedicated to Sir John

This memorial is in Scalloway, Shetland and is in memory of those who died on the Shetland Bus

This memorial is in Kirkwall Cathedral and commemorates the men of the Royal Oak which sank in Scapa Flow

Another memorial to the Covenanters, this one in Deerness, Orkney where 200 bodies washed ashore

Outside of Glencoe is this memorial to those who lost their lives in the Glencoe Massacre

This is the Commando Memorial outside of Spean Bridge

This memorial is in Princes St Gardens and memorializes Wojtek the soldier bear who served with the Polish military during WWII

A memorial in Princes St Gardens to Sir James Young Simpson who promoted the benefit of chloroform to ease the pain of childbirth

And this memorial is to Robert Louis Stevenson. It adorns a wall in St Giles Cathedral 

A Month of Scottish Gravestones - Calton Weaver's Cemetery

There is a cemetery on Abercrombie Street in Glasgow's east end. Where it is situated would have been between a cotton mill and an iron foundry. The cemetery was set up by the Calton Corporation of Weavers and often gets referred to as the "Weaver's Cemetery". 

Weavers are not the only profession buried here, so the moniker is a bit misleading. However, the weavers certainly have the biggest story in so it is easy to see how the profession came to be the only one associated with the cemetery. 

At the peak of Calton’s prosperity, wages for weavers had risen to nearly £100 a year. However, industrialization and an ever expanding trade market caused a severe downturn for the weavers. The East India Company was importing cheap Indian muslins, causing the price of Scottish cloth to drop. This then saw the weaver's pay being cut accordingly. In June 1787, Manufacturers announced a further cut in pay. A full 25%. Recognizing that this was not going to allow the weavers to afford to feed and house their families, they decided to strike. 

On September 3, 1787, thousands of protesting weavers gathered in Glasgow Green and resolved not to work for starvation wages. The Lord Provost of Glasgow learned of the rally. He and his magistrates showed up at the Green to intervene and quell the crowds, but were immediately pelted by rocks, thrown from the gathering crowd. The magistrates then sent soldiers of the 39th Regiment of Foot who were sent to quell the crowd of protesting workers. The soldiers fired into the crowd, killing three weavers and seriously injuring three others. Over 6,000 people attended the funeral for these men.

This incident was really the first major industrial dispute in Scottish history. As such, the slaughtered men became Scotland’s first working-class martyrs. There is a memorial to them within the cemetery. 

 

A Month of Scottish Gravestones - John Rae

John Rae was born in Orphir, Orkney, on 30th September 1813. As a young teen, Rae studied medicine at Edinburgh University and the Royal College of Physicians, qualifying at just nineteen years old. 

Rae’s father worked for the HBC as an agent and so John signed on to be a ship’s surgeon on the HBC's ship, the Prince of Wales. However, his return trip became untenable due to the ice in that part of Canada in the winter, so the young Rae  accepted a job as surgeon and clerk at Moose Factory. He remained there for 10 years. 

While in Moose Factory, Rae spent a great deal of time with the indigenous community where he learned to make snowshoes, travel by sled, forage for food and make warm clothing. These skills were invaluable for his later Arctic expeditions. 

Rae was tasked with mapping the Artic and set out to learn surveyor skills. He later made a series of expeditions to map the Arctic and also to look for Franklin’s lost expedition. One discovery that became critical was learning that King William Land was not a peninsula as everyone had thought, but was, in fact, an island. The body of water he discovered was named Rae Strait, after the explorer. And this was the last link in a navigable passage to the Northwest: a series of open channels that connected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. 

On each expedition, Rae once again relied on his relationships with the local indigenous communities. One community taught him the value of insulating his home with snow to keep the winds and water out. At an Inuit community, he learned about a group of 40 men who had been stranded on King William Land and had died. Many had resorted to cannibalism in order to attempt to stay alive. He also learned that the ships Franklin had used were ill supplied for any possible adversity, having carried a large library, player piano, silverware and tinned food. None of which were of much use when stranded in the frozen arctic. While the group had attempted to navigate an inland waterway in hopes of finding a settlement, they had not been successful. Their boat was discovered and several skeletons were also discovered nearby. 

When Rae returned to England and met with Franklin’s wife, she was horrified at the thought of her husband turning to cannibalism and so dismissed Rae’s findings altogether. This then altered the information recorded in the history books. Rae was ignored as the person to discover the Northwest Passage and instead, that accomplishment was wrongly assigned to Franklin.

Orkney is incredibly proud of their famous son. A statue of him watches over Stromness Harbour. There is a permanent exhibit retelling his story at the Stromness Museum. And there is a carved memorial to John Rae inside Kirkwall Cathedral. Rae is buried in the kirkyard at the Cathedral and has a rather unassuming headstone for a man who played such a prominent part in history.

A Month of Scottish Gravestones - Duncan Forbes of Culloden

Perhaps my very favourite graveyard in Scotland is Greyfriar's Kirkyard in Edinburgh's old town. I am forever fascinated by the people who are interred there. Some remarkably notable figures from Scotland's history. One such gravestone belongs to Duncan Forbes of Culloden. 

Duncan was born Nov. 10, 1685 in Culloden House near Inverness. He was the second son of Duncan Forbes and wife Mary Innes. 

                                                                    Culloden House

Forbes trained in law and then entered the world of politics. He was instrumental in the Hanoverian cause in both the 1715 and 1745 risings. 

Forbes was elected to Parliament in 1722. He became lord president of the Court of Session in 1737. There is a monument to him in Parliament Hall in Edinburgh

When Charles Edward Stuart came on the scene in 1745, Forbes, a staunch Hanoverian persuaded the chiefs of two powerful clans,  the Macdonalds and the Macleods to take the field on the side of the King and not the side of the Jacobites. In fact, Forbes was the main representative of the government in northern Scotland. 

Forbes was financially ruined by the Rising. His estate was badly damaged during the battle and he was never reimbursed for the money he had spent on behalf of the government. 

Duncan Forbes of Culloden died on 10 December 1747. He is buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard, near the grave of his brother, John.

30 Days Until the Final Scottish ViC

 

We are just a month away from the final Scottish ViC, a virtual conference for those researching their Scottish ancestors. This final conference has an historic perspective to it, and quite nicely also fits in with VisitScotland's themed year, Year of Scottish Stories. 

 

Jimmy Fisher runs Scottish Reformation Tours where he takes people to visit the places associated with the Martyrs who fought to keep their religion out of the hands of the King and in doing so lost their lives. Jimmy will share these stories with us during his presentation on the Covenanters.

 

Hugh Alison is the former manager of the Culloden Visitor Centre. He will be talking about the events leading up to the battle as well as the aftermath following the battle. This battle ended the highland way of life and ultimately led to the outflow of highlanders to north America.

 

Ciaran Jones will share with us some of the incredibly unimaginable stories that are contained within the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft Database. These were extraordinary times and yet many of the accused were quite ordinary folk. Come and hear about the database and the information contained within it.

 

Matthew J Smith will share with us the stories contained within the Legacy of British Slave Owners Database. Following abolition, merchants who had owned slaves were able to apply for compensation from the government for loss of property. The LBS project is now also working to understand and develop the stories of those who were enslaved.

The ViC will run from 9:15 eastern and wraps up at 3:30 eastern. Access to the recordings remains open for 30 days for those with time zone challenges. 

To register: https://www.genealogyvic.com/ViC-2022

Place Names Around Grantown-on-Spey

Scottish genealogist, Chris Halliday, has just released his new book:

'Place Names Around Grantown-on-Spey'. 

Over 1000 place names and walks, many not on current Ordnance Survey maps covering Grantown and the parish of Cromdale, Inverallan and Advie.

The book can be purchased on Amazon

84th Regiment of Foot: Royal Highland Emigrants

From 1775-1784, 2000 Scots highlanders were recruited to the 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants)  which defended the lands in the 13 colonies and then fought on the side of the British government in the American Revolutionary War. These men had military experience in the Seven Years War. The 84th Regiment of Foot was divided into two companies. The muster and pay lists for both companies can be found here: 

https://loyalist.lib.unb.ca/node/4722

After the Revolutionary War, the 84th Regiment of Foot disbanded and about half of the men settled in Nova Scotia while the other half settled in Eastern Ontario where they were given land grants for remaining loyal to the Crown. They were given land grants of between 100 acres (for privates) and 500 acres (for Officers).  To search the indexes for these early land grants, consult:

http://novascotia.ca/archives/virtual/?Search=THlan&List=all

Researching Jacobite Ancestors

The Jacobites believed that being King was a God given right and passed on through heredity and were opposed to parliamentary interference with the line of succession to the throne. They saw this interference as being illegal. People were expected to swear allegiance to their King and his authority. Jacobites wouldn't swear allegiance since William was not a direct descendant of James, while Charles Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) was. Hoping to reinstate the Stuart regime, the Jacobites rose in rebellion on a number of occasions, notably in 1715 and in 1745.

Beginning in 1716, Jacobites were rounded up, imprisoned and subsequently transported to the Americas. Approximately 1,500 Jacobite prisoners were exiled to the American Plantations. Since Jacobites were charged with Treason they were tried before the High Court. Documents pertaining to the Jacobites, for genealogical purposes, are Royal Warrants, Letters, and a variety of letters.

While there are some records contained within the High Court records at the National Archives in Scotland, the primary repository is the National Archives in London.

There are also registers of ships that were used for transportation. PDF listings of Jacobite prisoners for various regions of Scotland can be found here: http://www.jacobites.net/lists.html

Hugh Tornabene, a volunteer for the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild has uncovered the

passenger lists for the ships that were used to transport the Jacobites. He has transcribed the lists for the 10 ships that arrived in the Americas. 

There are another 8 ships that went to the Caribbean (Barbados and the Leeward Islands). Here is the website to view the transcriptions of the 10 ships (there are 13 lists, with two of the ships having made the voyage more than once) that Hugh has transcribed: 

http://immigrantships.net/jacobite/indexjacobite.html

Arbroath Harbour Home of the Smokie

In medieval times, the fishing village was located in Auchmithie, three miles north of Arbroath. Auchmithie had no harbor and the conditions were terrible. Along with the move to a harbour (first built in 1394 and paid for by the Abbot) the fishermen were offered plots of land along the harbour on which to build houses.

The first harbour was a wooden structure, slightly north of the current harbour and remained in use from 1394 until it was destroyed by a gale in 1706. This gale gave the area of the harbour the name Danger Point. 

The current harbour opened in 1734 and was again expanded in 1842.

At the foot of the road by the original harbour at Danger Point sits the Old Brewhouse, first built in 1754. The building remains as it was then, although the interior has been refurbished.

In 1809, Robert Stevenson, father of author Robert Louis Stevenson, built the Bell Rock Lighthouse on a rock in the sea, 11 miles from the shore of Arbroath Harbour.

Arbroath, of course is famous for it's Smokies - smoked haddock. The smoke shops continue to dot the harbour.

Arbroath Abbey

Had a lovely wander around Arbroath Abbey, a medieval monastery established by William I (William the Lion) in 1178. Although in ruins, the Abbey shows an impressive size and the importance of it in the life of the town as well as its place in history. 

 The bases for the pillars show just how large these structures were

 The 'O' transept is thought to have been used as a beacon for ships to show them safely to harbour when lit. It was restored by Robert Stevenson's father when he built the Bell Rock Lighthouse in 1809.

When this house was restored, several medieval graves were uncovered in the floor. These are thought to be the burial places for abbots, bishops, senior officials and benefactors for the abbey

When William was killed in Stirling in 1214, his body was returned to Arbroath and buried in front of the high altar.

Perhaps the most famous place in history for the abbey is that this is the place from where the Declaration of Arbroath was issued. The Declaration is a letter to the Pope (the United Nations of the time) outlining Scotland as an independent, sovereign kingdom. The most well known lines of the Declaration outline this position: "It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.”

A framed copy of the Declaration hangs in the visitor centre of the Abbey, a gift to the Abbey from the National Records of Scotland

The letter was signed by 40 noblemen, freemen and barons who affixed their seal, urging the Pope to recognize Scotland as an independent sovereign kingdom.