...for quirky historical facts about Dunfermline.
DID YOU KNOW about the Pernicious Society of Wheepmen?
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John Goodall and Co Motor Engineers
In his latest article on Dunfermline’s industrial past, John Goodall & Co Ltd, George Beattie presents the history of a firm which started in the 1860’s with a horse and carriage, grew into a leading carriage hiring business and then made a successful transition to hiring and selling motor vehicles. As always, George’s article is illustrated with a marvelous selection of historic photographs.
William Adamson MP
Born in Halbeath, The Rt. Hon. William Adamson, PC, MP was a miner, trade union leader and MP for Fife West from 1919 to 1931. He was a member of the first Labour Cabinet and became Secretary of State for Scotland. In this short biography, George Robertson summarises his political achievements but also describes his early life and how it influenced politician he was to become.
William Beveridge and Dunfermline
Did you know…
…about the Dunfermline links of the author of the Beveridge Report?
In “Sir William Beveridge“, Jean Barclay describes the family links between one of the founders of the modern welfare state and his second cousin the Dunfermline industrialist and archaeologist Erskine Beveridge, including a visit in 1919 by Sir William to his cousin’s house on the island of Vallay, off North Uist.
The Rev. Ralph Erskine
There is a statue of an 18th Century minister outside the former church in Queen Anne St. and it has been there since 1849. Who is it of, and why was he commemorated like this? In “Rev. RALPH ERSKINE (1685-1752) – SECESSIONIST MINISTER” George Robertson answers these questions and explains some of the complex church politics of the time, between the turbulence of the earlier 17th Century religious strife and the better known, later, Disruption.
Hills Laundry
George Beattie continues his series on Dunfermline’s industrial and commercial past with another 20th Century history, this time of the laundry company Hills of Fife. George has included a large number of photographs and an interview, conducted in 2009, with a former employee, Jenny Ferguson, who worked for Hills between 1928 and 1942.