George Robertson has compiled a history of an early Dunfermline Library, founded well before the current institution came into being. He has taken another piece from Alexander Stewart’s “Reminiscences of Dunfermline” as a starting point, then quoted from a range of other early accounts to bring us “The History of the Tradesmen’s Library“.
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…
“Gude” Mr Erskine and his Fiddle
Jean Barclay starts a new series of short pieces based on a 19th Century compilation of writings about Dunfermline, the “Folio of Oddities”. In “The ‘Gude’ Mr Erskine and his Fiddle” she presents the story of a new father searching for the perfect minister to baptise a new-born child.
`Our Autumnal Remittent’: Dr John Stedman and the influenza epidemic of 1758
As we continue to cope with the current pandemic, it is interesting to learn how epidemics were managed in the past. In “Our Autumnal Remittent: Dr. John Steadman and the Influenza Epidemic of 1758”, Dr Jean Barclay recounts the life of one of the doctors involved in treating those affected by an outbreak of influenza, in the time between the identification of that disease and any real understanding of its causes.
Andrew Allan, Baker
Allan’s bakery was a feature of Dunfermline High Street from the 1880’s to the 1960’s. In another of our series on Dunfermline’s Industrial and Commercial past, George Beattie writes, in “Andrew Allan, Baker”, a short, illustrated history of the firm.