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Electric Scotland News
My Canadian Experience
Completed my September page and will now move to the October page which can be read at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/canada_add26.htm
---------
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland and world news stories that can affect Scotland and as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on search engines it becomes a good resource. I might also add that in a number of newspapers you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish which I do myself from time to time.
Here is what caught my eye this week...
What Archaeologists Just Found Beneath Scotland Will Leave You SPEECHLESS
Beneath the quiet fields of Scotland, where children once played football and families walked their dogs, an astonishing secret had been sleeping for thousands of years. It all began with something ordinary - plans for new school pitches, the kind of project that rarely makes the news. Yet when the soil was broken, the ground revealed far more than anyone expected. Archaeologists soon realized they weren’t just dealing with a routine excavation, but with clues to a forgotten world older than anyone could have imagined. What emerged from the earth has left experts stunned and communities proud, rewriting the story of Scotland’s distant past. This is not just about broken pottery or ancient postholes. It’s about a mystery so deep and so unexpected that it truly left archaeologists - and the world - speechless.
Watch this at:
https://youtu.be/p5v4MtB3smE?si=NV-dBEMykOhYfqRw
Ignore the naysayers - Brexit was a success
The Remainiacs who populate academia have, for too long, dominated the post-Brexit discourse. It is now the consensus among mainstream commentators that leaving the European Union was a failure. But as a new book demonstrates, our decision to leave has in fact supercharged trade and free markets.
Read more at:
https://capx.co/ignore-the-naysayers...been-a-success
Conrad Black: Trump exposes the 'Palestine' charade at UN
Recognizing a Palestinian state is an empty, cowardly gesture that rewards Hamas for its massacre
Read more at:
https://archive.is/AYTRg
Solving the 100-year-old mystery of two missing Scottish soldiers
Four years ago, construction workers clearing the land for a new hospital in northern France made a grim discovery. Soon after, they had unearthed the remains of more than 100 people. Such finds are not unusual in this part of France and the police knew exactly who to call. Stephan Naji, the head of the recovery unit from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), arrived on the scene within hours.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7088ynken8o
Stirring Sunday fightback cannot hide US Ryder Cup shortcomings
America's final-day comeback brought unexpected respectability to the final score, but also exposed how far the US lag behind Europe in their Ryder Cup efforts.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/golf/articles/cqje8edyyz0o
Drugs: Strategy of harm reduction is all wrong and causes more deaths than it prevents, say experts
The drugs deaths scandal in Scotland will never end as long as we continue prioritising harm reduction over rehabilitation, experts warn.
Read more at:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/scotla...s-say-experts/
Railway family is keeping Bo’ness and Kinneil line on right tracks
At the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway, teenager Ruth Scott dons her overalls and watches as an engineer carries out a repair on a steam train. The 14-year-old is carrying on a family tradition which goes back five generations to the 19th Century when her family began working on the railways.
Read more at:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/railwa...-right-tracks/
Brace for impact - the sorry state of the UK’s public finances
By Ewen Stewart in Think Scotland
Read more at:
https://thinkscotland.org/2025/09/br...blic-finances/
Electric Canadian
My Canadian Experience
Completed my September page and will now move to the October page.
You can read and view the videos for September at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/canada_add25.htm
The Religious Experience of Neil Currie
A Native of the Island of Arran, Scotland, also his views of all denominations known to him since he came to Canada (1846) (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/Reli...ran-canada.pdf
Rod and Gun in Canada
The Outdoor Man's Magazine. Added volume 3 for you to read.
You can read this edition at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/magazines/rodandgun.htm
Thoughts on a Sunday Morning - the 28th day of September 2025 - Rage
By The Rev. Nola Crewe
I enjoyed this talk about Free Speech... worth listening to this one in my opinion.
You can watch this at: https://tinyurl.com/2pwm7mc6
Wild Life Among The Red Men
By Ella Hines Stratton (1902) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...gred00stra.pdf
The Beaver Magazine
Added No. 3 Outfit 261 December 1930 (pdf)
You can read this edition at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/tran...cember1930.pdf
Electric Scotland
The Family of Dalmahoy of Dalmahoy
Ratho, County of Edinburgh by Thomas Falconer (1867) (pdf)
You can read about them at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...n/dalmohoy.pdf
Chats on Military Curios
By Stanley C. Johnson, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.E.S. (1915) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...00johniala.pdf
Ballads from Scottish History
By Norval Clyne (1863) (pdf)
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/poetry/...cott00clyn.pdf
Clan Currie
Did an edit to this page as discovered dead links and so have updated the page.
You can see this updated page at:
https://electricscotland.com/webclans/atoc/currie.html
Scotland's Tech for Good Alliance Assumes UK-Wide Reach in Double-Quick Time
Increasing numbers of corporate socially-minded (CSR) organisations are seeking out this compelling ecosystem-based initiative to achieve significantly more meaningful 3rd Sector inclusive skills outcomes.
An article by Bill Magee which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/magee/article0039.htm
Angels of the Battlefield
A History of the Labors of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the Late Civil War by George Barton (1898) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...attlefield.pdf
A Companion
And usefull guide to the Beauties of Scotland, to the Lakes of Westmorland, Cumberland and Lancashire and the curiosities of the District of Craven in the West Riding of Yorkshire to which is added, a more particular description of Scotland, specifically that part of it called The Highlands by The Hon. Mrs. Murray of Kensington (1799) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/travel/...ndus00murr.pdf
Tomar, Portugal: Exploring the Last Stronghold of the Knights Templar
Added this video to our Tomar page
You can watch this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history/tomar.htm
The Pictish Problem - Genetics of Scotland
Added this video to our Picts page which you can watch at:
https://electricscotland.com/history/picts.htm
Dainty Dishes
Receipts collected by Lady Harriett St. Claire (fifth edition) (1866) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/food/daintydishes00mn.pdf
Life of the Late John Duncan, LL.D.
Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages, New College, Edinburgh (1872) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...ohn-Duncan.pdf
Family records of Lemuel Snodgrass and related families
By S.C. Scott (pdf)
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/webclan...sofl00scot.pdf
Story
Angels of the Battlefield
A History of the Labors of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the Late Civil War by George Barton (1898) (pdf)Here is the Author's Preface to this book which I believe shows just how much research and labour goes into producing a book such as this.
The object of this volume is to present in as consecutive and comprehensive form as possible the history of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the late Civil War. Many books have been written on the work of other women in this war, but, aside from fugitive newspaper paragraphs, nothing has ever been published concerning the self-sacrificing labors of these Sisterhoods. Whatever may have been the cause of this neglect or indifference, it is evident that the time has arrived to fill this important gap in the literature of the war.
“The Sisters,” to quote an army chaplain, “do not have reunions or camp-fires to keep alive the memories of the most bloody lustrum in our history, but their war stories are as heroic, and far more edifying, than many the veterans tell.”
That genuine humility so characteristic of the Sisters has made the collection of the necessary data for this work very difficult. Most of the stories embodied in the pages that follow have been gathered by personal interviews, through examinations of various archives and records, and by an extensive correspondence with Government officials, veterans of the war and the superiors of convents and communities. It is impossible to enumerate all those who have aided in the work, but the writer desires to thank especially the Sisters to whom he is indebted for the chapters relating to the Sisters of Mercy who were with the Irish Brigade in the West, and to the Sisters of St. Joseph who were at Camp Curtin, in Harrisburg, Pa.
While the author has not hesitated to avail himself of every possible source of information, it is only fair to say that the great bulk of the material that goes to make up the volume has been drawn from entirely original sources, and is presented in printed form for the first time. In order to form a basis for the work all of the obtainable literature bearing upon the civil conflict was examined in a thorough and exhaustive manner. It is no exaggeration to say that nearly one thousand volumes bearing upon the "late unpleasantness ” were searched with the hope of finding some data bearing upon the saintly work of the Sisterhoods. The books of reference included the more important histories of the war; the memoirs and recollections of the leading generals of both the Union and Confederate armies; the debates in Congress, the lives of the founders of the several religious orders; the histories of the Church and of the Sisterhoods, and a score of miscellaneous works too numerous to name in a preface. The official records and correspondence of the war, issued by authority of Congress, under the supervision and at the expense of the government, consists, in itself, of more than one hundred bulky volumes.
The return from this immense crop of literature, so far as the Sisters were concerned, was ridiculously small. It did not begin to be commensurate with the amount of time, labor and patience involved in the research. A rare letter or document, and the occasional mention of a Sister in the reports to the War Department constituted the sum total. The oft-quoted hunt for the needle in the haystack furnishes the only adequate comparison of the work in this instance. The Generals and the officials who had the direction of the awful struggle were, in the main, too busily engaged in making history to pause long enough to mention the modest hands that bound up their wounds, soothed their fevered brows and performed those other acts of faith and charity that seem to belong essentially, not to the weaker but to the gentler sex.
In addition to this, the files of the secular and religious newspapers, from 1860 to 1865, were minutely examined and the results carefully collated. Magazines and other periodicals, including the illustrated weeklies of the time, were also searched. The material thus evolved while more promising than in the case of the histories and books of the war was not entirely satisfactory. The paragraphs were not only meagre and disconnected, but the dates and places were uncertain and at times unreliable. But where these newspaper stories could not be utilized, they were useful in furnishing clues upon which complete stories were afterwards built.
The general reader may not be deeply interested in these details concerning the making of the book, but they are given for the purpose of emphasizing the care and industry involved in the compilation and production of the work. Through it all there has been a conscientious effort to avoid political, sectional or religious controversy. In short, the desire has been to present a modest picture of the grand work done by the Sisters for HUMANITY.
Of course, there has been no intention of presenting a history, or even a sketch, of the war itself and the merest thread of its events has been introduced solely for the purpose of making the narrative of the Sisters as connected as the scattered data permitted. The aim has been constantly to present facts in an impartial manner. How far the writer has succeeded remains for the reader to judge.
The chivalrous men wearing both the Blue and the Gray, who caused American manhood and valor to be known and respected the world over, have on many occasions, and in various ways, given expression to the esteem and affection in which they hold the women who devoted their lives to the care of the sick and wounded. The ranks of the war Sisters have been gradually thinned out by death until but a handful of them remain. These survivors rest in their convent homes, tranquilly awaiting the final summons to a land where conflict is unknown. They may die, but the story of their patriotic and humane work will live as long as love for loyalty, regard for duty and admiration for self-sacrifice exist in the hearts of the American people. G. B.
You can read the whole book at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...attlefield.pdf
END.
Weekend is almost here and hope it's a good one for you.
Alastair
My Canadian Experience
Completed my September page and will now move to the October page which can be read at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/canada_add26.htm
---------
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland and world news stories that can affect Scotland and as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on search engines it becomes a good resource. I might also add that in a number of newspapers you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish which I do myself from time to time.
Here is what caught my eye this week...
What Archaeologists Just Found Beneath Scotland Will Leave You SPEECHLESS
Beneath the quiet fields of Scotland, where children once played football and families walked their dogs, an astonishing secret had been sleeping for thousands of years. It all began with something ordinary - plans for new school pitches, the kind of project that rarely makes the news. Yet when the soil was broken, the ground revealed far more than anyone expected. Archaeologists soon realized they weren’t just dealing with a routine excavation, but with clues to a forgotten world older than anyone could have imagined. What emerged from the earth has left experts stunned and communities proud, rewriting the story of Scotland’s distant past. This is not just about broken pottery or ancient postholes. It’s about a mystery so deep and so unexpected that it truly left archaeologists - and the world - speechless.
Watch this at:
https://youtu.be/p5v4MtB3smE?si=NV-dBEMykOhYfqRw
Ignore the naysayers - Brexit was a success
The Remainiacs who populate academia have, for too long, dominated the post-Brexit discourse. It is now the consensus among mainstream commentators that leaving the European Union was a failure. But as a new book demonstrates, our decision to leave has in fact supercharged trade and free markets.
Read more at:
https://capx.co/ignore-the-naysayers...been-a-success
Conrad Black: Trump exposes the 'Palestine' charade at UN
Recognizing a Palestinian state is an empty, cowardly gesture that rewards Hamas for its massacre
Read more at:
https://archive.is/AYTRg
Solving the 100-year-old mystery of two missing Scottish soldiers
Four years ago, construction workers clearing the land for a new hospital in northern France made a grim discovery. Soon after, they had unearthed the remains of more than 100 people. Such finds are not unusual in this part of France and the police knew exactly who to call. Stephan Naji, the head of the recovery unit from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), arrived on the scene within hours.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7088ynken8o
Stirring Sunday fightback cannot hide US Ryder Cup shortcomings
America's final-day comeback brought unexpected respectability to the final score, but also exposed how far the US lag behind Europe in their Ryder Cup efforts.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/golf/articles/cqje8edyyz0o
Drugs: Strategy of harm reduction is all wrong and causes more deaths than it prevents, say experts
The drugs deaths scandal in Scotland will never end as long as we continue prioritising harm reduction over rehabilitation, experts warn.
Read more at:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/scotla...s-say-experts/
Railway family is keeping Bo’ness and Kinneil line on right tracks
At the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway, teenager Ruth Scott dons her overalls and watches as an engineer carries out a repair on a steam train. The 14-year-old is carrying on a family tradition which goes back five generations to the 19th Century when her family began working on the railways.
Read more at:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/railwa...-right-tracks/
Brace for impact - the sorry state of the UK’s public finances
By Ewen Stewart in Think Scotland
Read more at:
https://thinkscotland.org/2025/09/br...blic-finances/
Electric Canadian
My Canadian Experience
Completed my September page and will now move to the October page.
You can read and view the videos for September at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/canada_add25.htm
The Religious Experience of Neil Currie
A Native of the Island of Arran, Scotland, also his views of all denominations known to him since he came to Canada (1846) (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/Reli...ran-canada.pdf
Rod and Gun in Canada
The Outdoor Man's Magazine. Added volume 3 for you to read.
You can read this edition at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/magazines/rodandgun.htm
Thoughts on a Sunday Morning - the 28th day of September 2025 - Rage
By The Rev. Nola Crewe
I enjoyed this talk about Free Speech... worth listening to this one in my opinion.
You can watch this at: https://tinyurl.com/2pwm7mc6
Wild Life Among The Red Men
By Ella Hines Stratton (1902) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...gred00stra.pdf
The Beaver Magazine
Added No. 3 Outfit 261 December 1930 (pdf)
You can read this edition at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/tran...cember1930.pdf
Electric Scotland
The Family of Dalmahoy of Dalmahoy
Ratho, County of Edinburgh by Thomas Falconer (1867) (pdf)
You can read about them at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...n/dalmohoy.pdf
Chats on Military Curios
By Stanley C. Johnson, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.E.S. (1915) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...00johniala.pdf
Ballads from Scottish History
By Norval Clyne (1863) (pdf)
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/poetry/...cott00clyn.pdf
Clan Currie
Did an edit to this page as discovered dead links and so have updated the page.
You can see this updated page at:
https://electricscotland.com/webclans/atoc/currie.html
Scotland's Tech for Good Alliance Assumes UK-Wide Reach in Double-Quick Time
Increasing numbers of corporate socially-minded (CSR) organisations are seeking out this compelling ecosystem-based initiative to achieve significantly more meaningful 3rd Sector inclusive skills outcomes.
An article by Bill Magee which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/magee/article0039.htm
Angels of the Battlefield
A History of the Labors of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the Late Civil War by George Barton (1898) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...attlefield.pdf
A Companion
And usefull guide to the Beauties of Scotland, to the Lakes of Westmorland, Cumberland and Lancashire and the curiosities of the District of Craven in the West Riding of Yorkshire to which is added, a more particular description of Scotland, specifically that part of it called The Highlands by The Hon. Mrs. Murray of Kensington (1799) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/travel/...ndus00murr.pdf
Tomar, Portugal: Exploring the Last Stronghold of the Knights Templar
Added this video to our Tomar page
You can watch this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history/tomar.htm
The Pictish Problem - Genetics of Scotland
Added this video to our Picts page which you can watch at:
https://electricscotland.com/history/picts.htm
Dainty Dishes
Receipts collected by Lady Harriett St. Claire (fifth edition) (1866) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/food/daintydishes00mn.pdf
Life of the Late John Duncan, LL.D.
Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages, New College, Edinburgh (1872) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...ohn-Duncan.pdf
Family records of Lemuel Snodgrass and related families
By S.C. Scott (pdf)
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/webclan...sofl00scot.pdf
Story
Angels of the Battlefield
A History of the Labors of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the Late Civil War by George Barton (1898) (pdf)Here is the Author's Preface to this book which I believe shows just how much research and labour goes into producing a book such as this.
The object of this volume is to present in as consecutive and comprehensive form as possible the history of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the late Civil War. Many books have been written on the work of other women in this war, but, aside from fugitive newspaper paragraphs, nothing has ever been published concerning the self-sacrificing labors of these Sisterhoods. Whatever may have been the cause of this neglect or indifference, it is evident that the time has arrived to fill this important gap in the literature of the war.
“The Sisters,” to quote an army chaplain, “do not have reunions or camp-fires to keep alive the memories of the most bloody lustrum in our history, but their war stories are as heroic, and far more edifying, than many the veterans tell.”
That genuine humility so characteristic of the Sisters has made the collection of the necessary data for this work very difficult. Most of the stories embodied in the pages that follow have been gathered by personal interviews, through examinations of various archives and records, and by an extensive correspondence with Government officials, veterans of the war and the superiors of convents and communities. It is impossible to enumerate all those who have aided in the work, but the writer desires to thank especially the Sisters to whom he is indebted for the chapters relating to the Sisters of Mercy who were with the Irish Brigade in the West, and to the Sisters of St. Joseph who were at Camp Curtin, in Harrisburg, Pa.
While the author has not hesitated to avail himself of every possible source of information, it is only fair to say that the great bulk of the material that goes to make up the volume has been drawn from entirely original sources, and is presented in printed form for the first time. In order to form a basis for the work all of the obtainable literature bearing upon the civil conflict was examined in a thorough and exhaustive manner. It is no exaggeration to say that nearly one thousand volumes bearing upon the "late unpleasantness ” were searched with the hope of finding some data bearing upon the saintly work of the Sisterhoods. The books of reference included the more important histories of the war; the memoirs and recollections of the leading generals of both the Union and Confederate armies; the debates in Congress, the lives of the founders of the several religious orders; the histories of the Church and of the Sisterhoods, and a score of miscellaneous works too numerous to name in a preface. The official records and correspondence of the war, issued by authority of Congress, under the supervision and at the expense of the government, consists, in itself, of more than one hundred bulky volumes.
The return from this immense crop of literature, so far as the Sisters were concerned, was ridiculously small. It did not begin to be commensurate with the amount of time, labor and patience involved in the research. A rare letter or document, and the occasional mention of a Sister in the reports to the War Department constituted the sum total. The oft-quoted hunt for the needle in the haystack furnishes the only adequate comparison of the work in this instance. The Generals and the officials who had the direction of the awful struggle were, in the main, too busily engaged in making history to pause long enough to mention the modest hands that bound up their wounds, soothed their fevered brows and performed those other acts of faith and charity that seem to belong essentially, not to the weaker but to the gentler sex.
In addition to this, the files of the secular and religious newspapers, from 1860 to 1865, were minutely examined and the results carefully collated. Magazines and other periodicals, including the illustrated weeklies of the time, were also searched. The material thus evolved while more promising than in the case of the histories and books of the war was not entirely satisfactory. The paragraphs were not only meagre and disconnected, but the dates and places were uncertain and at times unreliable. But where these newspaper stories could not be utilized, they were useful in furnishing clues upon which complete stories were afterwards built.
The general reader may not be deeply interested in these details concerning the making of the book, but they are given for the purpose of emphasizing the care and industry involved in the compilation and production of the work. Through it all there has been a conscientious effort to avoid political, sectional or religious controversy. In short, the desire has been to present a modest picture of the grand work done by the Sisters for HUMANITY.
Of course, there has been no intention of presenting a history, or even a sketch, of the war itself and the merest thread of its events has been introduced solely for the purpose of making the narrative of the Sisters as connected as the scattered data permitted. The aim has been constantly to present facts in an impartial manner. How far the writer has succeeded remains for the reader to judge.
The chivalrous men wearing both the Blue and the Gray, who caused American manhood and valor to be known and respected the world over, have on many occasions, and in various ways, given expression to the esteem and affection in which they hold the women who devoted their lives to the care of the sick and wounded. The ranks of the war Sisters have been gradually thinned out by death until but a handful of them remain. These survivors rest in their convent homes, tranquilly awaiting the final summons to a land where conflict is unknown. They may die, but the story of their patriotic and humane work will live as long as love for loyalty, regard for duty and admiration for self-sacrifice exist in the hearts of the American people. G. B.
You can read the whole book at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...attlefield.pdf
END.
Weekend is almost here and hope it's a good one for you.
Alastair