January-February 2024

History Scotland

The world's premier Scottish history magazine

History Scotland2 min read
Meet The Contributors
Dr Karen E. McAulay is a performing arts librarian and postdoctoral researcher at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Qualified as a librarian, musicologist and pedagogue, she studied for her PhD in music at the University of Glasgow. She is the aut
History Scotland2 min read
Editorial Board
Find out more at: http://scot.sh/his-board David Breeze Christopher Smout Historiographer Royal Elizabeth Ewan University of Guelph Richard Oram University of Stirling Murray Pittock University of Glasgow Mr Derek Alexander Archaeologist, National T
History Scotland1 min read
Welcome...
It is a pleasure to welcome you to the final History Scotland of 2023. As always, we span the centuries and a wide range of topics to bring you the latest research from Scotland’s history and archaeology communities. This summer has seen some excitin
History Scotland2 min read
3,000-year-old Logboat Enters New Perth Museum After Unique Conser Vation Treatment
The Carpow logboat is one of the first objects to enter the new museum and at nine metres long, is also the largest object going on display. Carved from a single, 400-year-old oak tree trunk, it lay buried in the banks of the RiverTay, near Perth, fo
History Scotland1 min read
See Scotland Through The Eyes Of An 18th-century Travel Writer
Welsh-born Thomas Pennant has increasingly been credited with pioneering the ‘home tour’ of the British Isles, and for ‘discovering’ parts of the country previously unknown to outsiders, inspired by the Pacific travels of his contemporaries Captain J
History Scotland3 min read
Thousands Enjoy A Summer Of Archaeology Across Scotland
The national campaign – now in its fifth iteration – was coordinated by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland’s Dig It! project to help deliver Scotland’s Archaeology Strategy. Over the summer, more than 15,000 people volunteered at archaeological e
History Scotland2 min read
ENIGMATIC PREHISTORIC ROCK Art Unearthed In Kilmartin Glen
The joint initiative, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic Environment Scotland, and landowner Rosemary Neagle, began with a series of investigation days at Carnasserie Farm, Argyll and Bute. The project has seen archaeologists,
History Scotland5 min read
The Rebellious Women Of Coigach
Coigach, a peninsula in Wester Ross comprising several small townships, found itself under the national gaze during 1852 and 1853 when five attempts were made to remove sub-tenants from their land within the townships. Through sustained resistance, t
History Scotland3 min read
...the Fall Of James III
Following an almost decade-long minority, James III took personal control of his government in 1469. From the beginning, his rule proved controversial, thanks principally to his reliance on low-born favourites, unusually pacific policy towards Englan
History Scotland12 min read
Annie Grey And Marjory Kennedy-Fraser: Professional Women Singers In The Late Victorian And Edwardian Eras
CLICK HERE TO WATCH a harvest reel by Marjory KenedyFraser played by Yuki Negishi Marjory KennedyFraser’s autobiography reflects that, in 1887, marriage was regarded as ‘the end of a professional woman’s career’. Too often we assume that late Victor
History Scotland7 min read
The Persecution Of Jean Lands: Making A Scottish History Comic
One of the most pressing concerns facing modern historians is the need to connect our research with audiences and readerships beyond the academy. In part, this reflects pressure from government, which through various assessment exercises and funding
History Scotland11 min read
Handshakes In A Pandemic
After four years of war waged on three continents, a new enemy emerged in 1918. Nowadays, ‘a touch of ‘flu’ is a casual label attached to any cold-like ailment real or imagined (at least, in the days before coronavirus), but in the last full year of
History Scotland3 min read
Coin Hoard Gives An Insight Into Life In A Highland Community Before The Glencoe Massacre
The site in Glencoe was used as a ‘summerhouse’ and traditionally associated with Alasdair Ruadh ‘MacIain’ MacDonald of Glencoe, chief of the MacDonalds of Glencoe from 1646 to 1692. The 36 coins, which vary in date, were discovered by University of
History Scotland5 min read
Scotland’s Earliest Christmases
One of my earliest memories of Christmas is the start of the ‘-ber’ months and the countdown to fun! As I write, there are 60 days to Christmas. However, for my father’s generation, Christmas was just for kids (an orange, a penny and the Broons/OorWu
History Scotland13 min read
The Emotions Of A Calvinist In Early Modern Scotland
We might not expect the emotional lives of 16th century Scottish Calvinists to be the most fertile territory for historical exploration. Scots historically, and perhaps not just historically, do not enjoy a reputation for strong expression of feeling
History Scotland7 min read
Making Places: Scotland’s Jewellery Craft In The Age Of Industry
For centuries, Scotland has had a reputation for producing high-quality jeweller y and silverware. From enormous pieces of decorative silver displayed on gleaming woodwork in grand homes, to the tiniest of brooches worn as charms on the bodies of chi
History Scotland7 min read
Bound In Honour
Loyalty is an intricate concept that eludes simple characterisation and manifests in a myriad of ways. Sentiments of genuine loyalty in the historical record are not always so easy to identify based upon behaviour alone, and they were even more diffi
History Scotland12 min read
The Treaty Of Union: A NECESSARY EVIL?
This article examines the correspondence of Sir David Dalrymple, 1st baronet of Hailes and lord advocate in 1709-11 and 1714-20. For some, the Dalrymple family might appear to epitomise that Robert Burns’ ‘parcel of rogues’ who allegedly gave up thei
History Scotland5 min read
What Happened To Madeleine Hunter?
Madeleine and James’s divorice case was covered in vol. 23.4 of Histor y Scotland. At the time of publication, nothing further was known about what happened to Madeleine; the only clues were a newspaper report she had gone to live with an aunt in Por
History Scotland5 min read
John Grierson: Stories Of Scotland Through The Lens
The stories of Scotland and its people have long been an inspiration to writers and artists. In this article we look at John Grierson (1898-1972), a key figure from the early years of British cinema. Grierson ranks as one of the earliest documentary
History Scotland4 min read
Ways To Faith
Explore a selection of digital history guides in the History Scotland store: https://scot.sh/hsdownload Edited by Dr Louise Heren reviews@historyscotland.com Eds Chris R. Langley, Catherine E. McMillan, & Russell Newton, St. Andrews Studies in Sco
History Scotland3 min read
On The Sugar Wealth Trail James
R. P. J. Blake Buskin Books (2023) pp.351 Paperback, £25 ISBN: 9781399943529 This is a well-researched history of the Grant family – Caribbean plantation owners and Scottish estate owners - between 1750 and 1860; the author is a lawyer and descendant
History Scotland3 min read
Scots: A Secret Life
CliveYoung Luath Press Ltd., (2023) pp.348 Paperback, £16.99; Kindle, £13.20 ISBN: 978180250495 If you ask ChatGPT to write a witty introduction to a book review on the Scots language, it comes back with the following: ‘It’s time to step into the lit
History Scotland2 min read
Foundation, Declaration And Reformation
Ishbel Barnes Strathmartine Press, paperback (December 2022) pp.330 Paperback, £20 ISBN: 9780995544130 This book tells the history of Arbroath Abbey from its foundation in 1178 through to Bannockburn, and from the Declaration of Arbroath to its closi
History Scotland2 min read
Diary Dates
Turner in January, 1-31 January Scotland’s famous collection of Turner watercolours was left to the nation by art collector Henry Vaughan in 1900. Since then, following Vaughan’s strict guidelines, they have only ever been displayed during the month
History Scotland3 min read
The Writings Of A TORTURED SOUL
It would be easy to imagine that a 16th- or 17th-century Calvinist would pay little attention to private emotional matters; indeed, the stereotype of such a man or woman would seem to ensure it. But nothing could be further from the truth. As we have
History Scotland2 min read
Building A Family History Archive: What Do You Have At Home?
When I run my beginner’s course in family history research, I advise students to think about what they have at home and also to plan their research. It’s an inevitable fact in our family history research that we are going to have disparate amounts of
History Scotland3 min read
Final Word
My favourite part of the redevelopment is the retention of the character of the building. Mecanoo, our architects, were so careful to preser ve as much of the original interior as they could, which really honours its status as a physical reminder of
History Scotland1 min read
History SCOTLAND
Volume 24, Number 1 January/February 2024 www.historyscotland.com EDITORIAL Editor: Rachel Bellerby rachelb@warnersgroup.co.uk Tel: 0113 200 2922 Consultant Editor: Dr Allan Kennedy Division of Humanities, University of Dundee, DD1 4HN editorial@his

History Scotland

More Issues From History Scotland