The 1970 British Commonwealth Games

The 1970 British Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, from the 16th to the 25th of July, 1970.

Apart from being the first time the Games were held in Scotland, the IX Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh will be remembered for a number of firsts. It was the first time the name ‘British Commonwealth Games’ was adopted and the first time the Games had a unique, trademarked logo, which showed the Games emblem intertwined with a St. Andrews Cross and a thistle. On the field, it was the first time metric units, rather than imperial units, were used and it was also the first time that electronic photo-finish technology was employed. Her Maj the Queen, Elizabeth II, attended in her capacity as Head of the Commonwealth for the first time and, for folks of a certain age, it was probably the first Games they ever watched. It was surely far better entertainment than the soccer World Cup of the same year.

Amongst Scots, the 1970 Games will forever be remembered for the performances of the Scottish athletes and competitors in all sports. With forty-two nations and 1,744 athletes and officials taking part in one hundred and twenty-one events across ten sports, it was a marvelous event. The sports represented in the Games were: athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, fencing, lawn bowls, swimming, diving, weightlifting and wrestling.

Scotland has competed at all the Games since 1930 and the IX Games were not only a chance for some of the world's finest athletes to show their paces, but also for Scotland to prove it was capable of hosting such a prestigious event. It was also important for Scotland to be able to demonstrate that its athletes could compete and win medals at that level. The event certainly lived up to the high expectations and perhaps even exceeded those from a Scottish viewpoint. The home nation achieved success in eight separate sports, amassing a total of twenty-five medals, including six of Gold, eight of Silver and eleven Bronze.

The most unforgettable Scottish medal winners were Lachie Stewart, who tenaciously outran and defeated the legendary Ron Clarke in the 10,000 Metres, and Ian Stewart, who burst clear of a field, including Kenyan track legend Kipchoge Keino, to take the 5,000 Metres title in a thrilling finish. Those two Stewarts, who weren’t related, along with the likes of Rosemary Stirling and Rosemary Payne, who took Gold in the 800 Metres and Discus, respectively, helped take Scotland to fourth place in the medals table. That was quite a feat and highly commendable, considering only Australia, England and Canada gained more medals.

Other Scots should not be forgotten, because they all contributed, in one way or another, to a fantastic Games. Joseph ‘Lachie’ Laughlin Stewart took the 10,000 Metres in a time of 28:12, narrowly beating Ron Clarke and England’s Dick Taylor. Rosemary Olivia Wright (nee Stirling)’s winning time in the 800 Metres was 02:06 and her namesake Christine ‘Christie’ Rosemary Payne (nee Charters) won the Discuss with a throw of 54.46 Metres. Additional Gold Medals were won by boxer Thomas Imrie at light middleweight and Alexander ‘Sandy’ M. Leckie in the fencing Sabre class.

Notable performances came also from James ‘Jim’ Noel Carroll Alder, who was second to Ron Hill in the Marathon, in a time of 02:12:04 and Ian Stewart’s brother, Peter John Stewart, who came fourth in the 1500 Metres in a time of 3:40:06. Track cycling produced a Silver for Brian Temple in the 10 Miles Scratch, with a time of 20:47.56 and, in the pool, a young David A. Wilkie earned the Bronze in the 200 Metres Breaststroke in a time of 2:32.87.

However, the stand out moment must be the 5000 Metres final, which saw an unforgettable Scottish one-two, with Ian Stewart winning in 13:22.8 from Ian John McCafferty, in a time of 13:23.4, both of them beating Kip Keino of Kenya, who trailed in third in 13:27.06. With a last lap of 54.4 seconds, Ian Stewart’s winning time gained him not just the Gold Medal, but the European 5000 metres record into the bargain. Stewart ended an excellent season in 1970 by being ranked by the American magazine, ‘Track and Field News’, as No. 1 in the world over 5000 metres. There is a wonderful account of the Commonwealth Games 5000 metres final, which must rank as one of the greatest races of all time, in a book called ‘The Ten Greatest Races’ by Derrick Young – published in 1972 by Gemini Books.

The Ten Greatest Races

The Commonwealth Games returned to Scotland, in 1986, where they again took place in Edinburgh. Unfortunately, the XIII games were marred by boycott, when thirty-two Commonwealth nations notoriously decided to shun the event, due to their opposition to apartheid in sports. However, the Games will once more take place in Scotland, when all eligible nations will hopefully arrive in Glasgow, in 2014.

The Battle of the Shirts

The Battle of the Shirts, also known as the Battle of Kinlochlochy, took place on what became known as ‘Blar na Léine’ or the ‘Field of the Shirts’, near the head of Loch Lochy, on the 15th of July, 1544.

The Battle of the Shirts was fought in the summer of 1544 between the protagonists, John of Moidart (Iain Moydertach), Chief of Clan Ranald, supported by the Macdonalds and Camerons, and Hugh, 3rd Lord Lovat, the MacShimi Chief of Clan Fraser of Lovat.  The Frasers, together with their allies, the Grants, were returning home along the Great Glen after assisting the Gordon, Earl of Huntly, whose army had penetrated as far as Inverlochy in an abortive campaign against the Highlanders. Reputedly the largest and most bloody inter-clan battle ever fought, close to one thousand men fought in hand-to-hand combat before the Fraser force was almost completely wiped out. The battle was fought on ground now underwater at the head of Loch Lochy and was so called, because it took place on a hot day in July and the two sides threw off their plaids and kilts to fight in just their shirts!

After the death of James V and during the minority of the infant Mary, Queen of Scots, a period of turbulence and oppression ensued in the Highlands, accompanied by scenes of ferocity and lawlessness. Clan Ranald was particularly active in these unruly activities and its long standing mutual enmity with the Frasers was further fuelled by the usurpation of Lord Lovat’s brother in law, Ranald mac Allan of Moidart (known as Ranald Gallda, ‘the Stranger’), by his cousin, John mac Ranald of Moidart. Internecine warfare amongst the clans was rife and it normally didn’t need too much of an excuse for a conflict to start. Ranald Gallda had claimed the Chieftainship of Clan Ranald, but after the episode when he became known to the Macdonalds as ‘Ranald of the Hens’, he was dismissed.

In 1531, John of Moidart had become legitimate leader of Clan Ranald after the death (some say killing) of the sixth Chief, Alasdair. After a period during which John was imprisoned and escaped, and Ranald of the Hens was laughed out of Moidart, John reasserted his authority, in 1542.  Two years later, in extending their territorial claims, John of Moidart and his cronies, Ewen Mlenson and Ronald M’Coneilglas, had caused the whole country of Urquhart and Glenmorriston, which belonged to the Laird of Grant, and the MacShimi country of Abertarf and Strathglass, to be wasted and plundered. As a consequence, the Earl of Arran, acting as Regent, made the Earl of Huntly and the Earl of Argyll Lieutenant-General of all the Highlands and Lieutenant of Argyle and the Isles, respectively, in order to restore peace to the region.

The Earl of Huntly raised a large army, comprised of Macintoshes, Grants, and Frasers and in May, 1544, marched against Clan Ranald and Clan Cameron. Meanwhile, the Earl of Argyll had been successful in persuading many of the invading Macdonalds and their allies to retire from the conquered lands in Badenoch and return to their own western territories. This kind of took the wind out of Huntly’s sails and he withdrew, leaving the Frasers and Grants to return to their own lands.

However, on his way back, Lord Lovat arrived at Letterfinlay and was told that Clan Ranald was on the march to intercept him. As soon as he reached the north end of Loch Lochy, he perceived the Macdonalds, about five hundred strong, descending from the west and sweeping across the burn that cuts the brae at the foot of Ben Tigh. Lovat had no choice; he could neither refuse nor avoid battle.

As a prelude to the slaughter, a sort of skirmish took place with bows and arrows, until both sides had expended their stock of shafts. The combatants then drew their swords and, in time honoured Highland fashion, charged upon each other with deadly intent. It is said that Cameron archers charged headlong into the fray, recovered their spent arrows and fired again at the Frasers, this time with deadly, point-blank accuracy.

The carnage was terrible and few escaped on either side as only the darkness of night put an end to the fighting. Lord Lovat was left dead on the field and his eldest son was mortally wounded. He died three days later, having been taken prisoner. According to tradition handed down in clan records, only four of the Frasers and ten of Clan Ranald remained alive. It seems certain that the Frasers came off the worst as almost the entire able male population was lost. Legend has it that eighty of the deceased Fraser men left pregnant wives at home, each of whom delivered a baby boy and in such fashion saved the clan from extinction.

As soon as news of the battle was brought to the Earl of Huntly, he returned to Lochaber with an army and apprehended many of the leading men of the hostile tribes, including Ewen Cameron, who was executed, in 1547. However, John of Moidart not only survived the battle, he escaped retribution by fleeing to the Isles. Later, during the absence of the Earl of Huntly in France, John returned and recommenced his disorderly deeds.

Some people would have you believe that ‘Blar na Léine’ is merely a corruption of ‘Blar na Leana’, which means the ‘Field of the Swampy Meadow’. My belief is that the battle was fought at a site, which was indeed known as the ‘Swampy Meadow’, but after the battle, in reference to the manner of fighting, it became commemorated as ‘Blar na Léine’ or the ‘Field of the Shirts’. In a sense, though, many battles fought by Highlanders could have been so called as the habit of casting off their distinctive, but cumbersome, garments was entirely practical.

In the 16th Century, fighting men wore armour, including lined helmets, hammered steel breastplates with quilted gambesons beneath, and heavy jacks of iron-studded, quilted canvas. Not surprising then, that in the sweltering heat and in a battle of such ferocity and duration, the men disposed of their outer garments; right down to their shirts.

John Gibson Lockhar

John Gibson Lockhart, author, biographer, editor and critic, was born on the 14th of July, 1794.

John Gibson Lockhart was co-editor of ‘Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine’, which he helped transform into one of the leading periodicals of its day, and became editor of the ‘Quarterly Review’. He was the son-in-law of Sir Walter Scott, but was also a noted novelist in his own right, writing, amongst other works, a story about the temptation of a widowed rural minister who has an affair with a married woman. Perhaps nothing out of the ordinary these days, ‘Adam Blair’ caused quite a stir in the 19th Century and has since appeared on the list of one hundred best Scottish books of all time. However, Lockhart is best known as a biographer and the author of the definitive, seven volume ‘Memoirs of the Life of Scott’, although he also wrote noted biographies of Burns and Napoleon.

John Gibson Lockhart was born on the 14th of July, 1794, in the Manse of Cambusnethan in Lanarkshire, where his father was the Church of Scotland Minister. The family moved to Glasgow, in 1796, where John attended grade school and Glasgow High School. He had to be removed from school before he was twelve, however, that was only because of ill-health and, when he recovered, he was sent to Glasgow University. At University, from 1805, he displayed so much precocious talent, especially in Greek, that he was offered a Snell Exhibition scholarship to Oxford. So he was not quite fourteen when he entered Balliol College, in 1808, where he read French, Italian, German and Spanish. In 1813, he graduated with a first in classics and returned to Glasgow, where he lived whilst studying law in Edinburgh. He was called to the bar in 1816.

Lockhart's true vocation lay in literary work and, in 1816, he travelled to Germany on behalf of the publisher, William Blackwood, who paid him an advance for a translation of Schlegel's ‘Lectures on the History of Literature’. On his return to Scotland, Lockhart settled in Edinburgh and, together with John Wilson (Christopher North) and James Hogg, became a contributing editor to ‘Blackwood's Magazine’. The ‘Maga’ was the Tories answer to the Whig party’s ‘Edinburgh Review’ and its popularity escalated with their caustic and aggressive articles. Lockhart’s biographer, Andrew Lang, refutes the view that Lockhart was responsible for the virulent articles on Coleridge and on ‘The Cockney School of Poetry’ of Keats and his friends. He may have written the later, August 1818, article on Keats, but in any case, he showed an appreciation of Coleridge and Wordsworth.

There is no doubt that the reputation of the newly founded ‘Maga’ was established almost overnight, due to Lockhart and his mates. In October, 1817, Lockhart published the ‘Chaldee Manuscripts’, which were a bitter satire of Edinburgh society and his 1819 ‘Peter's Letters to His Kinsfolk’ continued that theme. He also contributed many excellent translations of Spanish ballads, which were also published separately, in 1823.

In 1818, Lockhart met and formed a warm friendship with Sir Walter Scott, whose daughter, Sophia, he married in 1820. That same year, he became embroiled in an unfortunate series of events that led to the death of John Scott, who was the editor of ‘London Magazine’. Scott had written a series of articles attacking ‘Blackwood's Magazine’ and had accused Lockhart of being chiefly responsible for its extravagances. Letters were exchanged and a meeting between Lockhart and Scott was proposed, but after some delays and complicated negotiations, Jonathan Henry Christie and Scott fought a duel in which the latter was sadly killed.

Over the next several years, Lockhart then turned his attention to writing a series of successful novels, including the noteworthy ‘Adam Blair’, the full title of which was ‘Some Passages in the Life of Adam Blair, Minister of Gospel at Cross Meikle’. In 1822, he edited Peter Motteux's edition of ‘Don Quixote’, to which he prefixed a life of Cervantes, which set him on the path of biography. He moved to London, in 1825, to become editor of John Murray's ‘Quarterly Review’ as successor to Sir John Taylor Coleridge. Three years later, he published ‘A Life of Robert Burns’, quickly followed by ‘A Life of Napoleon Bonaparte’. In London, he established his literary position and was quite rightly recognized as a brilliant editor.

He wrote an amusing but virulent article on Tennyson's ‘Poems’ in the ‘Quarterly’ and continued to write for ‘Blackwoods’. His biography of Burns was produced for ‘Constable's Miscellany’ and ‘Napoleon’ opened a series called ‘Murray's Family Library’. Unquestionably, however, his piece de resistance was his ‘Life of Sir Walter Scott’, published in seven volumes between 1837 and 1838. It was praised by Carlyle in a contribution to the ‘London and Westminster Review’ and has been called, after James Boswell's ‘Samuel Johnson’, the most admirable biography in the English language. As a contribution to Scott’s straightened circumstances, Lockhart gave up the proceeds to the benefit of Scott's creditors.

Today, when church scandals are ‘ten a penny’, it’s hard to imagine Lockhart’s ‘Adam Blair’ causing a great uproar, but in 1822, it was heavily criticised for its portrayal of a widowed Minister’s affair with a married woman. It is certainly worth a read as its vivid descriptions of nature provide a powerful subtext and mirror the Minister’s repressed emotions. The novel was based on a true story; that of a local Minister who was deposed in 1746, the year of Culloden, but went on to marry his mistress and be accepted back into the Church. However, there is no such obvious ending to ‘Adam Blair’ of which Lockhart wrote, “I have told a true story. I hope the days are yet far distant when it shall be doubted in Scotland that such things might have been”.

John Gibson Lockhart died at Abbotsford on the 25th of November, 1854, and was buried in Dryburgh Abbey next to Sir Walter Scott. A two volume biography of Lockhart was published by Andrew Lang in 1896.

James Lind

James Lind, surgeon, physician and pioneer of naval hygiene, died on the 13th of July, 1794.

James Lind was a Scottish doctor and the pioneer of naval hygiene in the Royal Navy – almost an oxymoron in the 18th Century. He is best known for his work in developing the theory that citrus fruits cured scurvy and for conducting the first ever, systematic or controlled clinical trial. Scurvy, a deadly disease caused by a vitamin C deficiency, was common amongst those with poor access to fresh fruit and vegetables at a time when it killed more British sailors than did battles. Whilst the earliest documented case of scurvy was described by Hippocrates around the year 400 BC and the practice of giving citrus fruits to sailors on long voyages had been known for nearly two centuries, Lind was the first to attempt to define a scientific basis for its cause. He published his work in 1753, in his ‘Treatise on the Scurvy’.

Although the importance of Lind's findings on scurvy were recognised at the time, it was not until more than forty years later, in 1795, that an official Admiralty order was issued on the supply of lemon juice to ships. With that, scurvy disappeared almost completely from the Royal Navy. Lind further argued for the health benefits of better ventilation aboard naval ships, the improved cleanliness of sailors' bodies, clothing and bedding, and below-deck delousing and fumigation with sulphur and arsenic. In addition to the use of hospital ships, he also proposed that fresh water be obtained by distilling sea water. His work advanced preventive medicine and improved nutrition, and his writings on tropical diseases helped prevent much unnecessary loss of life during British sea campaigns.

James Lind was born in Edinburgh on the 4th of October, 1716. He attended grammar school before being apprenticed, at the age of fifteen, to George Langlands, a physician at the College of Surgeons in Edinburgh. He entered the Royal Navy as a surgeon's mate, when he was twenty-three, and saw service in the Mediterranean, Guinea and the West Indies, as well as the English Channel. In 1747, he was promoted to surgeon and served for a total of nine years by the time he retired, in 1748,  to go to Edinburgh University. He gained a medical degree within the year, due to his previous training and practical experience, and went into practice.

In 1753, he published 'A Treatise of the Scurvy' and in 1757 'An Essay on the Most Effectual Means of Preserving the Health of Seamen in the Royal Navy'. Lind dedicated his ‘Treatise’ to Lord Anson, because a 1748 account of Anson's circumnavigation had prompted his interest in scurvy; at least 380 out of a crew of 510 on one of Anson's ships had died of the disease. In 1758, Lind was appointed Chief Physician at the Naval Hospital in Haslar, Gosport, where he investigated the distillation of fresh water from saltwater. Later, in 1763, Lind published a work on typhus fever and in 1768, 'An Essay on Diseases Incidental to Europeans in Hot Climates'. In that latter essay, which was the leading source of information on tropical medicine for fifty years, he summarised the prevalent diseases in each colony and gave advice on avoiding infections.

Back in 1747, whilst serving on board HMS Salisbury, Lind carried out experiments to discover the cause of scurvy, the symptoms of which included loose teeth, bleeding gums and haemorrhages. Many people knew that far more sailors on British warships died from scurvy than from battle as on long voyages, entire crews could be decimated by scurvy. In the history of science, Lind’s work is considered to be the first occurrence of a systematic trial comparing results on two control groups. Notwithstanding Lind’s clinical first, a couple of centuries before, in 1537, the Spanish physician, Michael Servetus, said that citrus fruits were good for digestion and the British Admiral, Sir Richard Hawkins, noticed, in 1593, that daily feeding his men citrus fruits seemed to eliminate scurvy.

In his ‘Treatise’, Lind stressed that his work was founded "upon attested facts and observations, without suffering the illusions of theory to influence and pervert the judgement". His ingenious, but modest experiment, began when he selected twelve men from the crew, all of whom were suffering from scurvy. He separated them into six control groups, although he wouldn’t have used such modern terminology, and gave each group different complements to its normal rations. Basically, he tested the efficacy of dietary supplements on the disease as various groups were given cider, seawater, spoonfuls of vinegar or elixir of vitriol to drink. Other groups were administered a mixture of garlic, mustard and horseradish or citrus fruits – oranges and lemons.

Those who received the citrus fruits, full of vitamin C, experienced rapid and visible improvements, indeed a remarkable recovery, whilst the others didn’t. Although the sample sizes were grossly inadequate and other aspects of modern, clinical trials were not adopted, Lind’s results conclusively established the superiority of citrus fruits above all other 'remedies', that they were effective in preventing the disease. His discovery and proof demonstrated an effective way to treat and to prevent scurvy, but it was to be years later before it was adopted by the Navy’s ‘Sick and Hurt Board’.

It is often stated that the Pacific explorer, James Cook, benefitted from Lind’s remedy as his sailors survived several notably long voyages without succumbing to scurvy. However, Cook, along with Lind’s counterpart in the Army, Sir John Pringle, was skeptical and favoured unfermented malt or wort. Their stance was reasonable, because of Lind’s unfortunate mistake of believing that a condensate, called ‘rob’, made by evaporating citrus juice would have the same effect. Whereas ‘rob’ was cheaper and easier to store than fresh fruits, the process of evaporation actually destroys much of the ascorbic acid. Cook’s success had little to do with wort, which does contain vitamin B complex, and everything to do with being able to get fresh vegetables for his men. Ultimately, the Navy’s 'Sick and Hurt Board' adopted Lind’s method and instigated the daily regimen of sucking the juice of a lime. The Americans’ derogatory use of the term ‘limey’ as applied to Brits, originated from that practice.

Lind retired from the Royal Naval Hospital in 1783 and died on the 13th of July, 1794, in Gosport.

David Douglas

David Douglas, botanist, died on the 12th of July, 1834.

David Douglas was an adventurous traveller and inveterate botanical collector. He wasn't named after a tree; it was the other way round. Oor Davie was the character for whom the Douglas Fir and the primrose genus ‘Douglasia’ were named and he became a famous naturalist and botanist on the North America Continent and in Hawaii. He is famous for having discovered well over two hundred new plant species in the United States and Canada. Albeit the Douglas Fir (‘P. douglasii’) takes his name, Douglas gave it the botanical name ‘Pseudotsuga menziesii’ after the botanist Archibald Menzies, who was also from Perthshire and who had sailed to Oregon some years earlier with Captain Vancouver. In the grounds of Scone Palace, still growing today, is a Douglas Fir, which grew from a seed that David Douglas planted. Most interestingly, David Douglas died in Hawaii under mysterious circumstances when he was just thirty-five.

David Douglas was born on the 25th of June, 1799, in Scone, which is famous for its Moot Hill, where Robert the Bruce and many other Kings of Scots were crowned. Between the ages of seven and eleven, Davie went to the nearby Kinnoul School. That was a three mile walk, but Davie was often late because he preferred to study the flora and fauna. When he left school, he was employed as an apprentice gardener on the estate of the Earl of Mansfield at Scone Palace. He worked there for seven years, before being taken on by Sir Robert Preston at Valley Field in Fife. Douglas made the most of his opportunity and was allowed the use of Sir Robert’s extensive botanical library, which he used to absorb more of the scientific aspects of horticulture.

In 1820, he moved to the Botanical Gardens in Glasgow, where he was employed as a gardener, and attended botany lectures at Glasgow University. His potential was recognised by Sir William Hooker, who took him on plant-finding and collecting expeditions in the Highlands. Three yeas later, in 1823, Sir William recommended Douglas to the Royal Horticultural Society in London, as it was looking for a suitable plant collector to send to China. However, because of the unsettled nature of that country, he was sent instead to America.

Douglas was the first ‘plant hunter’ to work in a temperate climate, collecting plants not in cultivation or not described. In 1823, he visited Niagara Falls, being particularly impressed “with a red cedar which grew out of the rocks on a channel of the river”. In 1825, he was sponsored by the Hudson's Bay Company to explore the Columbia River. That trip was a spectacular success, resulting in the introduction of 240 new species to Britain, including the Douglas Fir, Sitka Spruce and Monterey Pine, plus flowers like the Lupin (‘Lupinus polyphyllus’) and the Rose of Sharon (‘hypericum’). It’s fair to say that the species he introduced to Britain transformed not only the forestry industry, but many parks and gardens. He enthusiastically wrote to Hooker, suggesting, “You will begin to think that I manufacture pines at my pleasure”. However, he did have problems drying specimens when it rained constantly and, on one journey, lost as many as forty-five bird specimens.

Douglas made a point of being friendly with the local tribes and lived off the land, preferring to sleep wrapped in a blanket or under a canoe. By the time he left the Continent, in 1827, he had covered over 10,000 miles in rough territory, far from civilisation, driven by his love of science and a passion for nature. He was the first European to climb the northern Rocky Mountains and named Mount Hooker after the Glasgow Professor. When in the Rockies, he met Thomas Drummond, who had been with Sir John Franklin's Arctic expedition, and with whom he eventually sailed back to Britain. On his return, he was made a fellow of the Geological and Zoological Societies of London.

His final adventure began in 1829, when he embarked for California and the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), planning to return via Alaska and Siberia. He was the first botanist to describe the giant Redwood (‘Sequoia sempervirens’), even though it had been discovered by Archibald Menzies some years before. In one incident on the Fraser River (named after the Scots explorer Simon Fraser), in Fort George Canyon, he almost drowned and lost his entire collection, maps, scientific instruments and journal. He also visited Stuart Lake (named after another Scot, John Stuart) and became almost blind in his right eye as a result of snow-blindness. In 1833, having given up the idea of travelling home via Russia and "Much broken in health and spirits", he sailed for Hawaii, from where he sent home his California collection of 670 species.

Douglas died in mysterious circumstances at Kaluakauka, in Laupahoehoe, Hawaii, on the 12th of July, 1834. He was found dead in a pit intended to catch wild cattle and his injuries were attributed to a rather mad bullock. Few believed he could have accidentally fallen into the pit, which he had earlier safely passed, accompanied by a guide. Despite an inquest finding no evidence, most locals suspected foul play. Amongst the information, which came to light in the decades afterwards was the following:

At the time, the Rev. Diell, the Rev. Goodrich and the carpenter who built the coffin, noted that the gashes on Douglas’ head didn’t seem to be the kind a bull's horns or hooves could inflict. Twelve years later, a reliable source was quoted as stating that Davis, with whom Douglas had stayed the night before, saw him with a large purse of money, which he took to be gold and that no money or gold was found after his death. In 1896, the ‘Hilo Tribune’ published an article in which a seventy-years-old hunter called Bolabola said that the “Haole” (foreigner) was murdered. "We all felt so at the time, but were afraid to say so and only whispered it among ourselves,” he said. Ten years after that, it was reported in the ‘Hawaii Herald’ that a surveyor called Löbenstein said natives spoke of Douglas having been careless enough to show some money at the house of escaped convict and bullock hunter, Ned (Edward) Gurney, on the morning of his death, and that Gurney was said to have killed Douglas with an axe.

Whatever the truth, Douglas was buried at Kawaiaha'o Mission House in Honolulu, where a bronze plaque now commemorates his achievements. In 1934, one hundred years after his death, a stone cairn was erected near where his body was found, but perhaps the most fitting memorial for the intrepid Scot is the forest of Douglas Fir that was planted at its dedication.

Robert the Bruce

Robert the Bruce was born on the 11th of July, 1274, in Turnberry Castle in Ayrshire.

Robert de Brus was born on the 11th of July, 1274, into a noble family of Norman descent that had become one of the prominent families of the Scottish nobility. Just two years before Brucey’s birth, another famous figure who was set to play a major part in his life, Edward Plantagenet, had become King Edward I of England. The birthplace of Bruce is not certainly known, but the likely place was Turnberry Castle, his mother’s castle in Carrick, on the coast of Ayr. Alternative claims have been made for Lochmaben Castle in Annandale, which was the seat of the Bruce family and some sources give his birthplace as Whittle, in England.

You might be forgiven for thinking that the de Brus family didn’t have much imagination in naming him Robert, after this father and grandfather and great-grandfather, all the way back across six generations. He was the ninth of the name, but being the eldest of four brothers, a tradition that is still practiced today prevailed. However, he was not the ninth in succession as his paternal great-great-grandfather was called William (and significantly, his maternal great-great-grandfather was David, Earl of Huntingdon). The 3rd Lord of Annandale had no issue and Bruce’s great-grandfather became the 4th Earl. Bruce’s father was the 6th Lord of Annandale and his mother was Marjorie, the Countess of Carrick. His mother’s family was of a Gaelic-Celtic-Scots pedigree as her father was Niall (Neil or Nigel), Earl of Carrick and her mother, Margaret Stewart, daughter of Walter, the High Steward of Scotland.

It was that lineage on his mother’s side, which gave legitimacy to the claim to the throne of Scotland that he was later to make. By all accounts, Marjorie was a formidable operator who ordered the capture of Bruce’s father and refused to release him until he agreed to marry her. She was the Countess of Carrick in her own right and sought a suitably aristocratic husband for the title of Earl and to maintain the line. Robert the Bruce’s father, Robert de Brus, was of Norman descent, whose antecedents came from Bruis, (Brix) in Normandy. That was in an area between Cherbourg and Valognes, where the founder member of the family, Adam de Brus, erected a castle in the 11th Century. Reflecting the Normans’ Scandinavian origins, the Bruces were also connected to the Royal family of Norway, through marriage, and also had a noble line in Sweden.

The first Robert de Brus was then a Norman knight who most likely crossed to England with Duke William of Normandy, better known as William the Conqueror, in 1066. A de Brus was granted lands in Yorkshire after the Battle of Hastings and the family added to that by acquiring considerable lands in Huntingdonshire. The first Robert de Brus in Scotland was he who travelled north with David I and was granted the Lordship of Annandale, in Galloway, probably between 1124 and 1130. A tiny charter still survives in evidence, albeit it’s not dated. It consists of a mere eleven lines of script, written on a strip of parchment measuring 6.5 inches by 3.5 inches. That Robert was a grandson of the Norman knight, the third of the name and responsible for strategic border territories on behalf of King David I. In such a manner, the Bruce family became one of the most powerful in Scotland.

The right of Robert the Bruce to the throne of Scotland derived from his grandfather, known as ‘The Competitor’, one of the claimants for the throne during the Interregnum, which was marked by the succession dispute between 1290 and 1292. That was when Edward I stepped in to interfere and judged that John Balliol had the better claim to be King of Scots. With that decision, Robert’s grandfather renounced the title of Earl of Carrick rather than swear fealty for it to Balliol. Robert the Bruce, ninth of the name, thus inherited the long held family title when he became the 7th Lord of Annandale. It is not clear if he did that in 1292, when his grandfather ‘resigned’ or in 1295, when his grandfather died. In any event, he became Earl of Carrick in 1292, when his mother died and his father had to pass on that inheritance.

It was the son who went to present his grandfather’s deed of resignation to King John I at Stirling in August. 1293. And it was there that Robert the Bruce would have offered the homage, which his grandfather and his father were unwilling to render. Feudal law required that the King should take possession of the title before re-granting it and receiving homage, and of course, Bruce had homage to offer for both Annandale and, in his own right, Carrick. Some histories suggest that the Sheriff of Ayr was directed to take Bruce’s homage on Baliol’s behalf, but as Balliol’s dispute with ‘Longshanks’ began in 1293, it may be doubted whether Bruce ever rendered homage.

Bruce’s grandfather’s claim rested on his being a grandson of Earl David of Huntingdon, a great-great-grandson of King David I and cousin of two earlier Kings, Malcolm ‘the Maiden’ and William ‘the Lion’. William’s line died out with the tragic death of Alexander III in 1286 and the failure of the ‘Maid of Norway’, daughter of Eric II and Alexander’s granddaughter, to make it to Scotland, when she died on route from Orkney. Thus, the line of succession passed legitimately to Earl David’s line. However, it’s difficult to argue with the judgement of Edward I as David had no sons and Balliol was a great-grandson of the eldest daughter, Margaret. Robert Bruce, the Competitor, was John Balliol’s second cousin (Balliol’s mother, Devorguilla, was that Robert’s cousin) and as John’s father had died, staked his claim on the basis of being of the same generation as Balliol’s father. In fairness, the decision could have gone either way, but there’s little reason to doubt Edward chose the man most likely to be bent to his will.

When Balliol abdicated, the succession was once more brought into question, but this time nobody was daft enough to ask Edward I for his opinion. Robert the Bruce’s father died in 1304 and the legitimate claimants still alive were John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, who was a nephew of Balliol, and our man, Robert the Bruce, Earl of Carrick. Both men became joint Guardians of Scotland, but their rivalry meant theirs was an uneasy alliance. No doubt Bruce was convinced of his family’s entitlement to Scotland’s crown, but that probably took second place to his ambitions. Or, as seems more likely, the ambitions that were forced upon him by circumstance.

Nigel Tranter tells the story of Robert the Bruce up to this point in his novel, ‘The Steps to the Empty Throne’, the first part of a wonderful trilogy about the Bruce.

Robert Chambers

Robert Chambers, author, journal editor, naturalist and publisher, was born on the 10th of July, 1802.

Robert Chambers was co-founder, with his brother William, of W. & R. Chambers, a highly influential firm of book publishers in 19th Century Edinburgh. The brothers were responsible for the publication of the well known ‘Chambers Encyclopaedia’ and ‘Chambers’ Edinburgh Journal’. Robert was the principle author of several works, including the ‘Life and Works of Robert Burns’ and ‘The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar, Including Anecdote, Biography, & History, Curiosities of Literature and Oddities of Human Life and Character’, which is a bit like this blog, except with a longer title. Whilst his brother was also a politician, Robert was active in scientific circles and is now, but was not then, known as the author of the controversial book ‘Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation’.

‘Vestiges’ was the pioneering work on the theory of evolution and so controversial that Robert’s authorship was not acknowledged until after his death. Integrating research in the burgeoning sciences of anthropology, geology, astronomy, biology, economics, and chemistry, it described the evolution of the universe, from planets to people, being driven by a self developing force, which acted according to natural laws. It reached a huge popular audience and was widely read, and not just by the social and intellectual elite. Of course, it sparked debate about natural law, setting the stage for the controversy over Darwin's ‘Origin’.

Robert Chambers was born in Peebles on the 10th of July, 1802, at a time when Britain was at war with the French. His family was relatively prosperous at first, however, his father’s business suffered dramatically as a result of extending credit to French prisoners-of-war. They reneged on the repayment, which led to straitened circumstances and denied Robert a chance at University and a career in the Church. In a sense, Robert educated himself, through becoming an avid reader. He was born with a deformity in his feet and an attempt at its correction left him lame. Consequently, he was less active than most young boys and wasn’t able to take part in sports. So Robert sought an alternative pastime, which involved reading everything on which he could lay hands.

He was well served by a small circulating library in Peebles, Elders Library in the High Street and his father’s copy of ‘Encyclopedia Britannica’. By the age of twelve, his future career looked certain as he was to write later, "Books, not playthings, filled my hands in childhood. At twelve I was deep, not only in poetry and fiction, but in encyclopedias". By the age of sixteen, Robert had opened a bookstall in Leith Walk, with his brother William. Their entire stock consisted of the remnants of his father’s library, a few cheap Bibles and their schoolbooks.

Despite such modest beginnings, they did well enough, helped by the future politician’s business acumen. An early success for the embryonic publishers came as a result of being offered £10 worth of books from an Edinburgh book fair, with the money only having to be repaid once they had sold the books. Thankfully, the books sold well and the profits were given to the purchase of a small, second hand printing press. The firm of W. & R. Chambers, publishers at large, Edinburgh, Scotland, was off and printing.

A first, inspired success came from printing, binding and publishing 750 copies of ‘The Songs of Robert Burns’. They also printed more mundane stuff, but Robert’s literary and scientific interests led to his first attempts at writing, which the brothers duly published. ‘Traditions of Edinburgh’ was published in 1824, which brought Robert to the attention of Sir Walter Scott. Numerous works followed, which Robert either wrote, contributed to or edited. Five volumes of ‘A History of the Rebellions in Scotland from 1638 to 1745’ was published as were ‘The Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen’, the ‘Cyclopedia of English Literature’, and the ‘Life and Works of Robert Burns’.

The successful ‘Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal’ appeared weekly from 1832, which contained many articles written by Robert. These were on subjects as diverse as history, religion, language and science. It seems to make sense, that after having been denied a formal, higher education, Robert and William turned their business into an educational publishing house. The topic sheets published as ‘Chambers’ Instruction for the People’ were an example. Dealing with subjects such as science and mathematics, they were widely sold at home and abroad. The theme continued with the first part of ‘Chambers’ Encyclopedia’, which appeared in 1859. It was published in 520 parts, between 1859 and 1868, and edited by Dr. Andrew Findlater. In 1867, Chambers’ first dictionary appeared and by the end of the 19th Century, W. & R. Chambers was one of the largest English language publishers in the world.

Robert was the more literary and intellectual of the brothers and became interested in geology, again, despite having little formal scientific training. That interest led to his greatest achievement, which predated Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ by fifteen years. Published in 1844, his 400-page ‘Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation’ offered a comprehensive account of the history and evolution of the Earth, from the formation of the Solar System, right through the development of plants and animals to the origins of mankind. It received a lot of flack, not least because it rejected the myths of Genesis in the Bible, which is no doubt why he published anonymously, in order not to damage the business.

It was written in an attractive and accessible style to appeal to the widest possible readership and as a result, became a ‘best seller’. Charles Darwin called it "that strange, unphilosophical, but capitally-written book," and noted that a few people suspected him of being the author. Thomas Henry Huxley, hardly surprisingly, called it a “notorious work of fiction". During Robert’s lifetime, only seven people knew that he was the author and it wasn’t until 1884, long after his death and when the 12th edition was in print, that the truth emerged. He deserves much credit and praise alongside his more famous contemporary, Charlie is my Darwin.

Robert Chambers died on the 17th of March, 1871, at his house in St. Andrews. He was honored by being buried in St. Regulus Tower, St. Andrews.