In the next of his articles based on Alexander Stewart’s “Reminiscences of Dunfermline – Sixty Years Ago”, George Robertson FSA Scot describes the provision of pharmacy and medical care available in Dunfermline in the early years of the 19th Century. Old Fashioned Pharmacy Nowadays, when in need of some form of medication, we make our way to the doctor’s surgery where we are given a prescription for the appropriate tablet or, if we feel confident enough to deal with the matter personally, we visit the local pharmacy, where some appropriate item can be purchased over the counter without prescription. There is no doubt the National Health Service, which commenced in Scotland on 5th July, 1948, under the National Health Service (Scotland) Act, 1947, has been to our great advantage and has helped to improve the health of ourselves – and of the nation. This obviously did not apply during earlier times when people were left very much to their own devices to treat ailments and once again we turn to Alexander Stewart’s book Reminiscences of Dunfermline – Sixty Years Ago, in which we are given an idea of some of the home remedies our forebears were required to use – and a sight of some of the people who administered these remedies. Stewart recalls the names of medicines that used to be prescribed for ailments and diseases in those early days – “For pleurisy, take half a drachm (eighth of an ounce) of soot: for nettle rash, rub the parts with…
Peter Chalmers, minister and antiquary
The Dunfermline Historical Society recently received a portrait photograph of the Reverend Peter Chalmers, a minister of the Abbey Church, a local historian and an influential figure in Dunfermline life in the 19th Century. Jean Barclay has researched his life and in this article she summarises his achievements in education, charitable work and historical research and also his difficulties in coping with the Great Disruption of 1843. Reverend Doctor Peter Chalmers, 1790-1870 by Dr. Jean Barclay Peter Chalmers, minister of the Church of Scotland and local historian, was born in Glasgow on September 19th 1790 the only son of Alexander Chalmers, cloth merchant, and his wife Marion Bald. At the age of sixteen, having done well at school, he went to the University of Glasgow, gaining an MA (or AM) in 1808 and decided to enter the ministry. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Glasgow in September 1814 and became assistant to the well-known evangelist Rev. Thomas Chalmers (no relation) at St. George`s (Tron) Church. In July 1817 Peter Chalmers was ordained to the Second Charge (or ministry) at Dunfermline Abbey. He arrived just before the removal of the ruins of the old monastic church and the erection of the New Abbey Church on its site in 1818-21 and gave the last sermon in the Auld Kirk in the nave and the first in the New Church. In 1836, on the death of the Rev. Allan MacLean, Chalmers was promoted to the First Charge of the Abbey. On his promotion, Rev….
Erskine Beveridge’s Business Beginnings
Erskine Beveridge & Co. The Origins of a Famous Dunfermline Business by Donald Adamson Dunfermline in 1914 – A linen town At the outbreak of the First World War, Dunfermline had ten major damask linen mills. They employed over 7,000 people. Erskine Beveridge & Co had the largest factory with 1,000 looms at the St Leonard’s Works, and in addition had another 900 looms in Cowdenbeath, Ladybank and Dunshalt. The company, incorporated in 1893, also had warehousing operations in London, Manchester, New York and Montreal, as well as agencies all across the British Empire. Other notable companies in Dunfermline included Hay & Robertson, Andrew Reid & Co, Henry Reid & Son, Inglis & Co and J & T Alexander. In 1867, it was said that “Dunfermline is the chief seat of the manufacture of table linen in Britain – indeed, it may be said, the world.” The commencement of Erskine Beveridge & Co: retail draper Erskine Beveridge came from a family of trades people, long established in Dunfermline. His father was David Beveridge, master baker, deacon of the Dunfermline baxters, and in due course Convenor of Trades in Dunfermline. David married Margaret Thomson in 1794. They had five sons; John (born 1797), Henry (born 1799), David (born 1801), Erskine (born 1803) and Robert (born 1805). There was also one daughter, Elizabeth (born 1795), who married a wheelwright, James Adamson from Crossgates. Henry was the grandfather of Lord Beveridge, the author of the…
The Tradesmen’s Library
The History of the Tradesmen’s Library By George Robertson, FSAScot. The Library which exists today in Dunfermline is well known and looked upon with much pride by those who frequent it, whether that be when carrying out family or local research, visiting the museum, the art gallery, the café, or simply borrowing a book. This pride is well placed since the library was the first in the world to be gifted by Dunfermline’s own, Andrew Carnegie, who went on to gift 2,811 libraries worldwide. (1) However, Carnegie’s Dunfermline library was not the first in the town and we are fortunate to have Alexander Stewart’s book Reminiscences of Dunfermline – Sixty Years Ago, (2) where we find the story of an earlier library which existed in the town, this being The Tradesmen’s Library. What follows is extracted verbatim from Stewart’s book. An early, c1905, view of the original Carnegie Library. Author’s collection. “The Dunfermline Tradesmen’s Library, which long obtained a prominent position in the town, originated, according to Dr E. Henderson’s account, in 1808. (3) At that period, books were very scarce and dear. There were no shilling volumes and cheap editions such as there are now. There were no cheap weekly and monthly journals, no penny newspapers, nor the endless literary attractions that now exist on all sides amongst us. Like many important undertakings, it had its origins in a very humble way. Richard Gossman, William Carnegie (Andrew Carnegie’s…
Adam Low – Dunfermline’s Bonesetter
Pattiesmuir College and Adam Low, the Dunfermline Bonesetter by George Robertson, FSAScot. In his book Reminiscences of Dunfermline – Sixty Years Ago, Alexander Stewart tells a short story which refers to a former Provost of Dunfermline who, it seems, was blessed with a particular talent. His name was Adam Low and he was Provost of the town from 1787 till 1789. Stewart begins his tale in Pattiesmuir, a small village on the south side of Dunfermline and what follows is related in Stewart’s own words – Adam Low by Sir Henry Raeburn, Courtesy of Fife Council. (c) Fife Council; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation “Although Dunfermline could never boast of having a College or University, the little neighbouring village or hamlet of Pattiesmuir could boast of that. Not only was there a so-called College, sui generis, but there was also a veritable professor. The most of the ‘collegians’ belonged to Dunfermline, and a very lively set they were. The introduction or installation of new ‘collegians’ was observed with all due decorum, yet with much genuine humour. In Pattiesmuir they adhered more to the French and German ideas of what the functions of a ‘college’ really are than those attached to it in England. It was in reality “Collegium,” merely a collection or assemblage of persons; and the one at Pattiesmuir was intended for recreation and amusement. Those who figured at these gatherings have mostly all passed away, “as a tale that is told”, and the…