In the mid 19th century, Volunteer Rifle Corps were being formed for defence against a perceived threat from France. The Dunfermline unit needed additional funding, so an ambitious event was organised. In this article Sue Mowat tells the story of the hard-working ladies who ran it and gives us a vivid insight into the life of the town 150 years ago. The Dunfermline Volunteers Bazaar by Sue Mowat The Dunfermline Volunteers Old enmities cast long shadows. Although Napoleon had been defeated by Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, British suspicions about French aspirations for European domination took a long time to fade. They re-awoke in 1859 when France declared war on Austria-Hungary. Could an invasion of Britain be next on the French hit-list? If French forces were to cross the Channel extra men would be needed to augment the standing army and the only way to recruit auxiliary troops without increasing taxation was to raise an unpaid force, so on 12 May 1859 the War Office sanctioned the formation of Volunteer Corps throughout the nation. Dunfermline rose to the challenge and on 2 November 1859 eleven gentlemen signed a ‘requisition’ (petition) to the Provost requesting the formation of a Volunteer Rifle Corps in the town. Twelve days later about 1500 townsfolk attended a public meeting in the Music Hall, where, amid immense enthusiasm, the Volunteer Corps was born, its first muster roll containing 218 names. In those days amateur poets often celebrated…
How Important was Queen Margaret to Scotland?
By George Robertson It is generally accepted Margaret, Queen, later Saint, of Scotland, was born in Hungary around 1046. Her father, Edward the Exile, became heir to the English throne of Edward the Confessor, who was half brother to her grandfather Edmund Ironside. It is also generally accepted she travelled to England with her parents, sister and brother around 1056 in order that her father would be on hand to assume the mantle of kingship on the death of the Confessor. However, fate conspired against the family with the death of her father, which preceded that of the Confessor, to be followed, in 1066 by disaster for England at the Battle of Hastings. As a result, around 1067, Margaret’s mother – Agatha – decided to leave England with her three children, possibly with the intention of returning to Hungary. However, it is suggested by the author, she may have intended travelling to Scotland in an effort to enlist the help of the Scottish king – Malcolm III – whom she hoped would assist her son – Edgar – recover the English throne from William the Conqueror. Whatever the reason, legend has it their ship entered the Firth of Forth and was driven ashore during stormy weather at the bay now known as St Margaret’s Hope, between North Queensferry and Rosyth. Margaret, who had been religiously influenced whilst staying at the court of the Confessor, was a very pious young woman and was inclined to spend her life as a nun. …
Frank the Tramp and the Minister’s Dinner
by Dr. Jean Barclay DID YOU KNOW… about Frank the tramp who stole the minister`s dinner? In the 18th century Scotland, when the population was only between one and two millions, hundreds of beggars wandered the roads. A few were privileged `blue gown` beggars under Royal protection but most were poor people with no work and no support. They would carry their meal pock containing oatmeal and other scraps they had picked up and counted themselves lucky if at certain houses they got something to eat and drink and a bed in a barn or garret. Beggars were sometimes welcomed for the news they carried to isolated spots and might even be entrusted to carry messages, but more often than not they were regarded as a nuisance and their increasing numbers alarmed the authorities. Acts of Parliament made an attempt to control the poor and in March 1777 the Sheriff of Fife in Cupar ordered the Dunfermline Kirk Session, who were responsible for poor relief, to return a list of their `begging poor` and what they proposed to do about them. Of their list of about 50 poor, the Session decided to continue to maintain in their homes `those who did not beg from door to door but staid at home and wrought and spun as they were able` and to issue the others with badges to be sewn into their clothing which allowed them to beg through the town and parish. These metal badges were circular and had stamped on them a number or a name, date and round the border `The Town and Parish of Dunfermline`….
The Abbey’s upmarket toolshed
In the following article Sue Mowat corrects some common misconceptions about an unusual small building in the Abbey churchyard and also tells of the opening of the first museum in Dunfermline. The Abbey Graveyard Toolhouse by Sue Mowat Near the east gate of the Abbey Churchyard stands a small building that is sometimes said to be a morthouse for keeping bodies safe before burial. The plot where it stands has also been pointed out as the site of the graveyard’s pauper burial place, but both of these allegations are very far from the truth. The ‘morthouse’ was actually built as a very upmarket toolshed and the place where it stands was never used for burials of any kind because it was too waterlogged. The story of the toolhouse begins in 1895, when an Archaeological and Museum Society was founded in Dunfermline with Andrew Carnegie as its patron. The Society held a series of lectures on suitable subjects but its main aim was to establish a museum in the town and it decided that the rooms in the Old Tower over the Pends would be the best place for this. One of these rooms had been used for many years by the churchyard Superintendant, gardener and gravediggers to store their tools, so the Society agreed to build a new tool store for them. At the Heritors[1] meeting of 29 August 1896 the Rev Mr Stevenson, the Honorary Secretary of the Archaeological Society, submitted plans drawn up by the prolific local architect John Houston for an alternative accommodation for the…
The Abbey Graveyard Gun
By Sue Mowat Guns were a hot topic in Dunfermline in the summer of 1857, more specifically the town’s newly-acquired trophy of the recent Crimean War. Among the Russian armaments captured at the fall of Sevastopol had been more than 300 cannon from the fort of Redan. They were of no use to the British army, and the Government, left with the problem of how to dispose of them, came up with the idea of distributing them among the cities and chief towns of Britain and her Empire, as memorials of victory in the Crimea. The antiquarian Ebenezer Henderson, whose pride in his native Dunfermline knew no bounds (although he actually lived in St Helens) was outraged that his town was not considered sufficiently important to be offered a Russian trophy. He successfully lobbied the Government for redress and in 1857 a gun was duly allocated to Dunfermline. Henderson’s efforts were not, however, received with universal enthusiasm. Feelings about the Government’s gift were certainly mixed among the members of Dunfermline Town Council, especially when they discovered that all they had been given was the barrel of the cannon. The town would have to pay for a gun-carriage for it to rest on and its freight from London to the Forth. Although everyone knew about the gun, and its cost and possible location had been informally discussed, the news was officially broken to the Council by Provost Robertson at a special meeting on Saturday 13 June 1857. The Fife Herald’s report of the meeting…