Did you know.. …about the ‘Pernicious Society of Dunfermline Wheepmen? By Dr. Jean Barclay In May 1735 Bailly John Lindsay, maltster of Dunfermline, was a worried man. As First Baillie of the Town Council he deputised for the Provost, the Marques of Tweeddale, who was rarely present, and he had had nothing but trouble. There was rivalry for the provostship between the Marques and Sir Peter Halkett, who had been elected provost in 1705, and a power struggle between the Halkett family and James Erskine of Grange, leading to vociferous arguments between councillors from the various camps. Erskine had been chosen in May 1734 to represent the Council at the election of the Member of Parliament for the district and the Halketts hinted at bribery, corruption and leading the councillors astray. There was also a legal dispute underway between the Council and Sir Alexander Murray of Melgum and Lochgelly for an unpaid family debt which seemed to have been going on for ever, and in addition Bailly Lindsay was preoccupied with building a new malt barn north of the Rottenraw, near the Rottenraw port. Now on Tuesday, May 6th the servants or workers of the town were refusing to work and Bailly Lindsay felt obliged to call a special meeting. It appeared that there had been a fracas, between the weavers and the servants, and each side had summoned the other before the Baillie or Magistrates Court. Lindsay reported to council that `several of ye servants in ye Town` had…
William Beveridge and Dunfermline
Did you know… …about the Dunfermline links of the author of the Beveridge Report? by Dr. Jean Barclay The Second World War brought many changes, not least in Britain`s health and welfare services, changes in which the name of William Beveridge looms large. In 1941, William Beveridge was appointed chairman of a Government committee of investigation into Social Insurance & Allied Services, which presented its report in November1942. The ethos behind the report was the banishment of the five `Evil Giants` of want, disease, ignorance, squalor & idleness and, from the outset, Beveridge insisted that the war provided the opportunity to make radical changes for the better, stating that `A revolutionary moment in the world`s history is a time for revolutions, not for patching`. At the heart of the new system was the principle that working people would pay a weekly national insurance contribution and in return payments would be made to the sick, the unemployed retired or widowed. A national health service was also envisaged – the population was to be protected `from the cradle to the grave`. In 1945 Clement Attlee, Labour Prime Minister, announced the introduction of the radical changes outlined in the Beveridge Report and it is still considered the corner stone of the foundation of the modern Welfare State. William Henry Beveridge was born in India in 1879 to Henry Beveridge and his wife Annette, nee Ackroyd, was schooled partly in England and partly in India, and went…
The Burial Place of Margaret Halcro, mother of Ebenezer & Ralph Erskine
By George Robertson. DID YOU KNOW… the story, much repeated, of the birth of Dunfermline’s Secessionist Minister, the Rev Ralph Erskine, taking place after the death of his mother? What follows is a brief outline, as described by Buckham Hugh Hossack (1835-1902) 1. Margaret Halcro was Orkney born and, on 1st September 1674, at the age of 27, she married the Rev Henry Erskine at Dryburgh, Berwickshire – she being his second wife. A short time afterwards Margaret “died” and after being kisted, was taken to the churchyard at Chirnside to be buried. Later that same night, the person organising the burial, knowing she had been placed in the coffin wearing a ring on her finger, returned to the gravesite. He opened the coffin, which he had earlier partially covered with earth and attempted to remove the ring. Unable to do so, he took his knife and began the process of amputating her finger. Margaret, suddenly regaining consciousness, sat up in the coffin and screamed with pain. She, it is suggested, had been in a trance and very obviously not dead. The man then exited the churchyard in a hurry leaving Margaret sitting in the coffin. She eventually succeeded in scrambling out and made her way home, where she surprised her family with her dramatic return from the grave. This incident occurred prior to the birth of her five children, including Ebenezer and Ralph, who could claim their mother “died” before they were born. A final twist to the story is found in Erica…
Andrew Carnegie and the Dinosaur
Dippy the Dinosaur and Andrew Carnegie by Dr. Jean Barclay DID YOU KNOW… that there is a vital link between Dippy the Dinosaur and Andrew Carnegie? Dippy the dinosaur has been much in the news lately because, having been a scene stealer at the Natural History Museum in London since 1905, it is now being replaced in the grand central hall by a blue whale skeleton and, like the old monarchs, is going on progress to eight venues around Britain. But did you know that it is thanks to Andrew Carnegie that Dippy exists in the first place? Dippy is a diplodocus (meaning double beamed because of its very long neck and tail) a class of dinosaur that lived about 150 million years ago. Experts were aware of the existence of such a dinosaur giant but imagine the excitement when the fossilised bones of one were uncovered by workmen in Wyoming in 1898. Andrew Carnegie heard about the find and decided to fund the excavation, at least in part with the view to obtaining the skeleton for his new museum in Pittsburgh. Because it was slightly different from specimens described before, the dinosaur was named Diplodocus carnegii in honour of its new owner and promoter. Apparently it was affectionately named `Dippy` from the start by Carnegie`s friends. Not long afterwards Carnegie was entertaining Edward VII at Skibo Castle (as one does) when the King spotted a photograph of the diplodocus on the wall. He told his host how much he would like one for the Natural History Museum…
Dunfermline’s Prison
“PRISON – WHIT PRISON?” By George Robertson DID YOU KNOW…. that there was a prison in Dunfermline until 1950? Take a walk down Dunfermline High Street today and ask anyone where Dunfermline Prison was and it is almost certain, in the majority of cases, you will be met with a shrug of the shoulders, a blank look and the reply – “Prison – whit prison?” Perhaps the reply is to be expected since the prison referred to, having been in use for over 100 years, ceased to exist around 50 years ago. Having established that there was a prison, the questions to be answered now are why was there a prison in Dunfermline and where was it situated. The 1839 Prison Act was the culmination of much agitation by Prison Reformers such as Elizabeth Fry, who wished to see an improvement in the conditions under which prisoners were held. Dunfermline was no exception to this necessary improvement as prisoners were kept in the Old Town House, the forerunner of our current City Chambers, under conditions which were probably no better than anywhere else in the country and consequently, in the early 1840’s work began on a new prison in what is now Leys Park Road. The architect for the building was Thomas Brown, Jnr., of Edinburgh, who had been appointed Architect to the Prison Board of Scotland during 1838. By January 1845, the prison building work had been completed at a cost of approximately £2070 and by the end of the year it had housed 262 prisoners, all serving…