In “A Dunfermline Bluestocking”, Jean Barclay presents a short biography of a Victorian pioneer in women’s education. Jane Duncanson was a primary school teacher who passed the LLA Diploma from St Andrews University.
Captain Gilbert Rae, OBE
During the Second World War, the newly formed BOAC continued flying civilian services to several countries, including neutral Portugal and Sweden. These flights could be of great importance to the war effort and of course, could be very hazardous. In “Captain Gilbert Rae, OBE”, George Beattie discusses this little known aspect of the war and gives us a short biography of one of the brave pilots involved in these dangerous times. Captain Rae was the grandson of Gilbert Rae who founded the well-known lemonade manufacturer in Dunfermline. By George Beattie By the time he completed his apprenticeship, aged 21, Gilbert had enough flying experience, to immediately transfer to the pilot staff of Scottish Airways. For the next two years, he flew light aircraft to the Western Isles. Scottish Airways provided both scheduled passenger flights and an air ambulance service that would land on the grass runways and beaches of the outer islands. Dick Smith, who was brought up in Golfdrum Street, recalled that during the 1930s, Gilbert, on more than one occasion, landed a bi-plane in a field near Berrylaw, on the west side of William Street whilst visiting his parents at Baldridge. Captain Rae’s flying colleagues, when operating in the Fife area, used the factory chimney at Baldridge Works as a landmark, naming it, ‘Gibby’s chimney’. Gilbert left Renfrew in 1940, to join the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). He spent most of that year training on the Flying Boats,…
The Collier’s Bearer who stole a Child
In 1817 a young woman from Edinburgh was arrested in Halbeath, for “stealing” a child. In “The collier’s Bearer and the Stolen Child” Jean Barclay tells the tragic story of Janet Douglas, her crime and her harsh treatment by the authorities.
“Horses” by Mima Robertson, born 1901
Mima Robertson was a prolific Dunfermline author who wrote fiction for “The People’s Friend” for many years, five novels and some non-fiction. The best known is “Old Dunfermline” a history of the town from it’s beginning to the turn of the 20th Century. Jean Barclay is assisting with the archiving of her papers and presents here a short piece written by Mima on the working horses she came across in her childhood, followed by a brief biographical note.
Amelia Robertson Paton
Amelia Paton was a talented artist and an accomplished sculptor, whose best known works are the statues of David Livingstone near the Scott Monument in Edinburgh and of Robert Burns in Dumfries. She was also the sister of the well known artist Sir Joseph Noel Paton and was married to David Octavius Hill, the artist and early pioneer of photography in Scotland. In “Amelia Robertson Paton” George Robertson relates her biography and her involvement in artistic life of Victorian Scotland.