by George Beattie Daniel Alexander Fraser was born on 19th June, 1874, at Monastery Street, Dunfermline, the younger son of Alexander Fraser and his wife, Catherine. His career was spent in the family firm of Fraser and Carmichael, the large Dunfermline firm whose interests included milling, wholesale and retail grocery, brewing and the City Hotel. He was also a renowned Provost of Dunfermline. In 1904, he married Beatrice Mitchell, the daughter of Michael Mitchell, Farmer. Daniel Fraser’s lengthy obituary in the Dunfermline Press of 31st July, 1937, centred mainly on his contribution to municipal affairs in his home town, with which he had been involved for several years. He was elected a member of the Town Council in 1920 and quickly showed his business efficiency as Convenor of the Gas Committee. Four years later he was elevated to the rank of Chief Magistrate, or Provost, and occupied that position for three years. If his colleagues’ desires had been fulfilled he would have undertaken another term of office. When his intention to retire was announced, practically all the members of Council signed a requisition expressing “their high appreciation of the manner in which he conducted the business of the Council and earnestly desiring him to stand for re-election”. The reason why he did not accede to this request was that he felt the strain of the duties devolved upon him, particularly on public and ceremonial occasions. Mr Fraser’s Provost-ship was marked by business…
The Millers of Bridge Street
Printers, Booksellers, Bookbinders and Stationers, 1780-1883 by Dr Jean Barclay The early 19th century saw a revolution in the art of printing as the wooden hand presses with moveable type that had been in use since Gutenberg and Caxton`s time in the 15th century gradually became mechanised. Then wooden presses were replaced by iron `screw` presses like the Stanhope press of 1800 which could print 480 pages an hour. By the mid-19th century hand presses were being replaced by steam-powered rotary presses allowing printing to be done on an industrial scale. Lithographic printing in which a flat stone or metal plate was used with grease applied to images to attract the ink while the rest was ink-repellent, enabled complex illustrations to be reproduced. These developments boosted the printing industry. At the end of the first 300 years of printing there were 39 printing towns in Scotland but in the 19th century another168 were added. Among a new generation of printers were the Millers of Haddington, Dunbar and Dunfermline and John Miller and his son, John, printers, booksellers, bookbinders and stationers, were a familiar presence in Dunfermline for nearly 60 years. John Miller, After a water colour by Henry Gilbert John Miller senior was born in Dunbar in September 1780 to John Miller and Mary Deans, who only survived the birth by a few hours. His father died when he was nine and he was brought up by his half-brother George, a printer and bookseller in Dunbar and Haddington….
The Masons’ Marks on Rumbling Bridge
In his article on Thomas Tuckett, Road Surveyor, George Robertson asked if anyone had any knowledge concerning the initials and masons’ marks on the inscribed stone on Rumbling Bridge. Recently, George was contacted by a reader who has solved the puzzle. Read what he learned in “The Masons’ Marks on Rumbling Bridge, An Answer!”
How to Behave in Church
Jean Barclay has been searching through the archives and has discovered an interesting article written in the 19th Century. Proper decorum to be observed in the Church especially during Divine Service by David Birrell (Notes by Jean Barclay) It is not my intention to occupy much of your time on this important subject, but I honestly trust that the few observations I intend making will be listened to with attention, hopeful at the same time it may prove profitable to one and all of us. I would in the first place draw your attention to the practice of some members of the Congregation being always rather late in making their appearance in the Church – I am however very glad in being able to say that this is by no means a general practice in the Free Abbey, indeed I may say far less than in many Churches I have visited, but I would at same time beg of those who are occasionally the last in making their appearance that in future (especially those on the right hand side of the Pulpit) they would use their best endeavours to come one minute or two earlier than they have been accustomed to heretofore – indeed on some days I have noticed our Worthy Minister wending his way with some difficulty from his room to the Pulpit, so much so that I have been thinking it would be a vast improvement to have our friend Robert Marshall (probably the beadle) to walk before in place of after the Minister. I shall now proceed to notice what I may justly call a nuisance that is continued almost…
A Seafaring Adventure
“The Jessie Thoms of Limekilns and the May Queen: A Seafaring Adventure” by Jean Barclay The content of the Dunfermline Monthly Advertiser was generally fairly routine, but in September 1858, the editor published a communication he had received from Lerwick, Shetland, which was out of the ordinary, a tale of daring on the high seas. The ship involved in this adventure was the Jessie Thoms and the crew of nine consisted of Captain John Monro, the master, his father, Andrew, the owner, as `super-cargo – and six men and a boy. The Limekilns sailors were no strangers to long distances and on this voyage the Jessie Thoms was sailing from Archangel in Russia to Liverpool (1). Brig ‘Jessie Thoms’ of Limekilns (Captain JohnMonro) Entering The Harbour of Malta, 1854from `Limekilns and Passagium Regimae’ Edinburgh1929 According to John Monro, at 4 am on Sunday September 5th, when the Jessie Thoms lay between the islands of Faroe and Foula, he was on deck when he spotted through a glass a ship about four miles away, with a signal of distress flying halfway down from the peak and apparently drifting. They immediately made sail and bore down on the ship, noticing as they came near another vessel coming from the west which passed round the stern of the stricken ship and went on its way, rendering no assistance. Receiving no reply when they hailed the drifting ship, John Monro with three men and the boy launched a boat and boarded her. They found the ship…