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For the latest news from Scotland see our ScotNews feed at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/
Electric Scotland News
Britain has a new Prime Minister and new chancellor Philip Hammond has said he cannot envisage a scenario where Scotland has a different relationship with the EU from the rest of the UK.
General negative reaction in Scotland to Brexit but no discussion on whether Scotland could actually join the EU if it got independence. To my mind there is no evidence to suggest that Scotland would be able to join the EU whether it wanted to or not. The facts I have seen suggest that it simply isn't in a financial position to join the EU but as usual spin and counter spin rule the day.
I am still taking a lot of time exploring all the issues that Brexit has caused and the reaction globally. It seems to me that the immediate reaction was all negative but slowly the world seems to be coming to the conclusion that the world is not about to end and there might actually be something positive to take out of this. Along with discussions in the US Presidential election it seems that much closer scrutiny is being taken on the free trade deals from TIPP to the TPP.
I am looking for clues on where Scotland and the UK are heading with their post Brexit strategy.
The Open Golf Championship is going on at Troon and it looks like record numbers are turning up.
Troon Started With Just Five Holes in 1878. With over 130 years of history, Royal Troon is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world. The club was founded by 24 local golf enthusiasts in 1878, and featured just five holes.
Seven years later in 1885 it became an 18 hole course. In its current state, the Club is home to 45 holes: 18 on the Championship course, 18 on the Portland course and a nine hole par three course.
Charlie Hunter laid out the original five-hole course design. At the time, Hunter was superintendent at nearby Prestwick, and served an apprenticeship under Old Tom Morris.
The construction of the 18 hole course is credited to Troon’s first professional, George Strath. The expansion was completed in 1884 and formed much of the layout played today.
Willie Fernie, Open Champion of 1883 became Troon’s professional in 1887. Fernie is responsible for two of the most well-known, and difficult holes: the Postage Stamp and Railway, which did not exist in their current state until 1909.
Troon Golf Club was awarded “Royal” status in 1978 to celebrate its centennial and has since been known as Royal Troon Golf Club.
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines.
Theresa May unveiling new-look cabinet
Michael Gove has been sacked as justice secretary and replaced by Liz Truss as Theresa May forms her new government, in her first full day as UK PM.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-36790710
UK starts post-Brexit India trade talks
The UK is launching its first trade mission since the vote to leave the EU, as Business Secretary Sajid Javid meets the Indian government in Delhi.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36740101
Brexit vote a golden opportunity for Scottish independence
For an independent Scotland to attract skills and investment.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politic...ence-1-4173284
Andy Murray wins Wimbledon
Murray is the first British man to win multiple Wimbledon singles titles since Fred Perry in 1935.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/36758518
Legal bid could delay Named Person Scheme, says Scottish government
The introduction of the Named Person Scheme in Scotland could be delayed because of legal action.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-36765132
Boeing to invest £100m in base at RAF Lossiemouth
Boeing has confirmed it will invest about £100m in an operational support and training base at RAF Lossiemouth, creating more than 100 new jobs.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...iness-36763883
Robert Burns' bathing spot 'transformed' ahead of death anniversary
A commemorative service will take place at the renovated Brow Well near Ruthwell on 20 July.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...tland-36746394
F-35B Lightning II
Everything you need to know about Britain's new £70m stealth fighter
Read more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/...s-it-any-good/
New maritime patrol aircraft to be based at Lossiemouth
Nine maritime patrol aircraft will be based in Moray as part of a £3 billion, ten-year partnership between the UK government and Boeing.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politic...outh-1-4175096
Welfare system not working
Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) called for urgent government action as it revealed a 47% increase in food bank inquiries on its services.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-36774549
The Queen makes surprising visit to Scotland’s oldest pub
Her Majesty had dinner and a drink with two companions in the inn s public dining area, leaving the pub s regulars stunned.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/the-que...-pub-1-4176009
The Food Life dishes up fabulous taste of Angus
A dynamic group of local food and drink businesses have banded together to form a collaboration that is taking Angus by storm.
Read more at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news...aste-of-angus/
Scottish Government to be granted new welfare powers
Nicola Sturgeon will get the power to create a Scottish welfare state within weeks, the Scotsman can reveal.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politic...wers-1-4175966
Ruth Davidson appointed to the Privy Council under Theresa May
The Queen has approved four new appointments to the privy council including the Scottish Conservative leader
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politic...-may-1-4176756
Report shows shocking picture of acute poverty in Scotland
Hungry families are seeking help from Citizens Advice bureaux after being without food for several days.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/report-...land-1-4175954
Glasgow Prestwick Airport moves closer to becoming UK spaceport
Glasgow Prestwick Airport has moved closer to launching flights into orbit after teaming up with a space plane firm and launch vehicle designer.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/transpo...port-1-4175867
Surge in number of pubs and bars going bust
Pubs and bars are being hammered by the introduction of the national living wage, poor weather and the Brexit decision
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/business/com...bust-1-4176237
Colin Montgomerie - the pied piper of Troon
He drew people to him as assuredly as the Pied Piper.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/golf/36795993
Nicola Sturgeon: Scotland can avoid Euro like Sweden
Nicola Sturgeon has denied that an independent Scotland would be forced to join the euro in order to join the European Union.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/nicola-...eden-1-4177303
Electric Canadian
BGen (Ret'd) Garry S. Thomson
Added a small bio of this person which you can read at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/make...mson_garry.htm
Policing
I feel I should comment on Policing and Emergency Services in Canada. This week we've found out about sexual harassment at the Police College and in the fire brigade in Halifax. It's by no means the first time this has come up in our news and it's inexcusable in my opinion.
Given also the problem in the US I think it is time for a complete re-look at how we recruit and train our police and emergency services. It seems to me that we need better background checks of people wishing to join those organisations. I also think we need to make it harder to join and demand better qualifications.
Having selected them they then need to be trained better and better scrutiny of their work especially in their early days.
I hear far too many stories of sexual harassment and crooked policing. At the end of the day we need to trust our police and emergency services. It seems to me far too many police officers are cowards and bullies and that is just not acceptable.
They need to be trained in better unarmed combat as too many people are being shot where there is little reason to do so and usually it's down to cowardice by individual police officers in my opinion.
Also most policing is done from police cars so community policing is weak as usually the only engagement you get with the police is through speeding tickets, etc.
I have also heard how police will find drugs on a young person and confiscate them and then either use it themselves or sell them on. There are far to many stories like this going around.
I am quite sure there are good police officers out there but it also seems to me there are far too many poor ones.
So we need to recruit better people and provide better training and better supervision. So how do we go about achieving this?
Electric Scotland
Dictionary of National Biography
I have worked on bringing you some more biographies from this publication. In most cases I have added a link to these at the foot of the page for the name in our "Scottish Nation".
Abercrombie http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...abercromby.htm
Adair http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...tion/adair.htm
Adam and Adams http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nation/adam.htm
Burn's Complete Works
Kilmarnock edition
I have a text file of his complete works on the site but thought it was time to offer an alternative and so have made this version available at http://www.electricscotland.com/burns/kilmarnock.pdf
Dunachton, Past and Present
Episodes in the History of the Mackintoshes by Charles Fraser-Mackintosh, FSA Scot. (1866)
You can get to this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/m/mackint.html
The Old Masonic Lodge of Falkirk
Now Known as Lodge Str. John No. 16. by Thomas Johnston (1887)
You can download this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...lkirklodge.pdf
Scotland in 1298
Documents relating to the Campaign of King Edward the First in that Year, and especially to the Battle of Falkirk edited by Henry Gough of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law (1888)
You can download this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...alkirkhist.pdf
House of Glendining
Added a wee book about them to their page in the Scottish Nation at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...glendonwyn.htm
The Aged Piper
From the Celtic Magazine which you can read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../agedpiper.htm
The Story
The lost pictures of Lewis, Scotland
By Euan Ferguson in the Observer Newspaper
Recently rediscovered, a set of early photographs has revealed a rare glimpse of Edwardian life in the Scottish islands – and the extraordinary story of their creator, the 'Adder king'.
It came about, in part, because of a Jiffy bag. Some years ago the now-late Peggy Macleod, a native of Shawbost on the beautifully stormswept west coast of Lewis, decided to get a print made from a box of glass photographic plates which had languished, quite unremarked, in her barn for decades. She wondered, in her quiet, contained manner, if the Stornoway Gazette could be of any help. Well, yes and no.
They printed up her century-old picture, right enough. But some harried office junior decided to post back the fragile glass plate in said Jiffy, with the inevitable consequences. If it's not an error quite up there with that of the London gopher who, tasked with processing Robert Capa's photographs from the Normandy landings, went for a too-liquid lunch and left them in the drying-oven an hour too long and thus rendered them all but indecipherable, it still, historically, irks. But it prompted Peggy to make a few inquiries of friends, and of the local historical society. Were the plates, perhaps, of cultural significance – a slightly daunting thought to her? And should she take steps to have them preserved?
She asked but tentatively: even though Facebook was arriving in the Outer Hebrides, some stoic right-thinking souls there still believe all life need not necessarily be an urgent voiding of personal information. And slowly, so slowly, it was realised that they had been the work of one man, whose images had somehow ended up (probably via a neighbour's house-clearance in the 1950s) in Peggy's barn, and Dr Norman Morrison was thus rediscovered.
Morrison, Gaelic name Tormod an t-Sẹladair, was an extraordinary man, even for those isles. Born in 1869 also in Shawbost (Siabost), he was denied, mainly through circumstances – relative poverty, a large family, the harshness of life on Lewis – the benefits of anything but the bones of an education. "My father did not believe in education for people so humble as we were," he would write in his 1937 autobiography, nor was he obliged to facilitate it: the Education Act had not yet reached Lewis. Norman, a strong and tall youth, worked the croft, built drystane dykes and paid the occasional visit, when allowed, to Shawbost Old School, where he drank up the chance to learn, and never stopped doing so until his death in 1949.
On reaching early adulthood he was meant to do duty on the trawlers (not really trawlers – 24ft open boats, fishing with long lines with baited hooks), but found that he suffered from crippling seasickness. He decided to get on the steamer to Glasgow, and join the police. His book, My Story, contains harrowing tales, drily told, of the world of Glasgow policing in the 1890s, and of the politics of the police: he was a keen believer in the rights of the worker, and summarily dismissed (only to be reinstated by public demand). Today he is credited as co-founder of the Scottish Police Federation.
Posted to Argyll, he developed a fascination with snakes. He would walk around Kintyre counting snakes' heartbeats. He became known as the "Adder King", occasionally came to work with a snake in his sleeve and would go on to publish seven highly regarded books on herpetology (and prove, inter alia, that snakes are not susceptible to music). But despite becoming a Fellow of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland – accorded a doctorate in France and winningly peer-reviewed in the US – British universities refused to consider his thesis, because he was not a graduate.
Such honest photos, taken before the photographic art was even into long trousers, yet shorn of the romanticising tendencies of the Victorian age, should perhaps speak for themselves – but I'll insist on co-opting this paper's own photographer, Murdo MacLeod, who also comes from Shawbost: "They are truly, truly remarkable, these shots. Not just because of the early times, but because of the slant it affords us into how the people wanted to be seen – not as simple folk, sickle in hand, in a picturesque landscape. See, the islanders knew Norman as one of their own. And as such, they wanted to present themselves as they wanted to be seen. There are guns, and jewellery. And they were faintly ashamed of the local blackhouses, preferring instead to be pictured against the newfangled harling. But there's also a severe nod to the real fear of the devil: you'll see Bibles, with thumbs held in them, in case this new photography should be the work of Satan."
Peter May, author of the bestselling Lewis Trilogy, concurs. "I've been following recently the story of these photographs, and it's a fascinating one. What we're discovering here is no less than the young days of an early art, and how people wanted to be seen, which had never happened before."
For picture of The family of Iain 'ic Aoidh (John MacKay 1845) visit:
http://www.tormod.co.uk/home.html
And that's it for this week and hope you all enjoy your weekend.
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com/
Electric Scotland News
Britain has a new Prime Minister and new chancellor Philip Hammond has said he cannot envisage a scenario where Scotland has a different relationship with the EU from the rest of the UK.
General negative reaction in Scotland to Brexit but no discussion on whether Scotland could actually join the EU if it got independence. To my mind there is no evidence to suggest that Scotland would be able to join the EU whether it wanted to or not. The facts I have seen suggest that it simply isn't in a financial position to join the EU but as usual spin and counter spin rule the day.
I am still taking a lot of time exploring all the issues that Brexit has caused and the reaction globally. It seems to me that the immediate reaction was all negative but slowly the world seems to be coming to the conclusion that the world is not about to end and there might actually be something positive to take out of this. Along with discussions in the US Presidential election it seems that much closer scrutiny is being taken on the free trade deals from TIPP to the TPP.
I am looking for clues on where Scotland and the UK are heading with their post Brexit strategy.
The Open Golf Championship is going on at Troon and it looks like record numbers are turning up.
Troon Started With Just Five Holes in 1878. With over 130 years of history, Royal Troon is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world. The club was founded by 24 local golf enthusiasts in 1878, and featured just five holes.
Seven years later in 1885 it became an 18 hole course. In its current state, the Club is home to 45 holes: 18 on the Championship course, 18 on the Portland course and a nine hole par three course.
Charlie Hunter laid out the original five-hole course design. At the time, Hunter was superintendent at nearby Prestwick, and served an apprenticeship under Old Tom Morris.
The construction of the 18 hole course is credited to Troon’s first professional, George Strath. The expansion was completed in 1884 and formed much of the layout played today.
Willie Fernie, Open Champion of 1883 became Troon’s professional in 1887. Fernie is responsible for two of the most well-known, and difficult holes: the Postage Stamp and Railway, which did not exist in their current state until 1909.
Troon Golf Club was awarded “Royal” status in 1978 to celebrate its centennial and has since been known as Royal Troon Golf Club.
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines.
Theresa May unveiling new-look cabinet
Michael Gove has been sacked as justice secretary and replaced by Liz Truss as Theresa May forms her new government, in her first full day as UK PM.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-36790710
UK starts post-Brexit India trade talks
The UK is launching its first trade mission since the vote to leave the EU, as Business Secretary Sajid Javid meets the Indian government in Delhi.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36740101
Brexit vote a golden opportunity for Scottish independence
For an independent Scotland to attract skills and investment.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politic...ence-1-4173284
Andy Murray wins Wimbledon
Murray is the first British man to win multiple Wimbledon singles titles since Fred Perry in 1935.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/36758518
Legal bid could delay Named Person Scheme, says Scottish government
The introduction of the Named Person Scheme in Scotland could be delayed because of legal action.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-36765132
Boeing to invest £100m in base at RAF Lossiemouth
Boeing has confirmed it will invest about £100m in an operational support and training base at RAF Lossiemouth, creating more than 100 new jobs.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...iness-36763883
Robert Burns' bathing spot 'transformed' ahead of death anniversary
A commemorative service will take place at the renovated Brow Well near Ruthwell on 20 July.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...tland-36746394
F-35B Lightning II
Everything you need to know about Britain's new £70m stealth fighter
Read more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/...s-it-any-good/
New maritime patrol aircraft to be based at Lossiemouth
Nine maritime patrol aircraft will be based in Moray as part of a £3 billion, ten-year partnership between the UK government and Boeing.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politic...outh-1-4175096
Welfare system not working
Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) called for urgent government action as it revealed a 47% increase in food bank inquiries on its services.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-36774549
The Queen makes surprising visit to Scotland’s oldest pub
Her Majesty had dinner and a drink with two companions in the inn s public dining area, leaving the pub s regulars stunned.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/the-que...-pub-1-4176009
The Food Life dishes up fabulous taste of Angus
A dynamic group of local food and drink businesses have banded together to form a collaboration that is taking Angus by storm.
Read more at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news...aste-of-angus/
Scottish Government to be granted new welfare powers
Nicola Sturgeon will get the power to create a Scottish welfare state within weeks, the Scotsman can reveal.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politic...wers-1-4175966
Ruth Davidson appointed to the Privy Council under Theresa May
The Queen has approved four new appointments to the privy council including the Scottish Conservative leader
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politic...-may-1-4176756
Report shows shocking picture of acute poverty in Scotland
Hungry families are seeking help from Citizens Advice bureaux after being without food for several days.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/report-...land-1-4175954
Glasgow Prestwick Airport moves closer to becoming UK spaceport
Glasgow Prestwick Airport has moved closer to launching flights into orbit after teaming up with a space plane firm and launch vehicle designer.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/transpo...port-1-4175867
Surge in number of pubs and bars going bust
Pubs and bars are being hammered by the introduction of the national living wage, poor weather and the Brexit decision
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/business/com...bust-1-4176237
Colin Montgomerie - the pied piper of Troon
He drew people to him as assuredly as the Pied Piper.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/golf/36795993
Nicola Sturgeon: Scotland can avoid Euro like Sweden
Nicola Sturgeon has denied that an independent Scotland would be forced to join the euro in order to join the European Union.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/nicola-...eden-1-4177303
Electric Canadian
BGen (Ret'd) Garry S. Thomson
Added a small bio of this person which you can read at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/make...mson_garry.htm
Policing
I feel I should comment on Policing and Emergency Services in Canada. This week we've found out about sexual harassment at the Police College and in the fire brigade in Halifax. It's by no means the first time this has come up in our news and it's inexcusable in my opinion.
Given also the problem in the US I think it is time for a complete re-look at how we recruit and train our police and emergency services. It seems to me that we need better background checks of people wishing to join those organisations. I also think we need to make it harder to join and demand better qualifications.
Having selected them they then need to be trained better and better scrutiny of their work especially in their early days.
I hear far too many stories of sexual harassment and crooked policing. At the end of the day we need to trust our police and emergency services. It seems to me far too many police officers are cowards and bullies and that is just not acceptable.
They need to be trained in better unarmed combat as too many people are being shot where there is little reason to do so and usually it's down to cowardice by individual police officers in my opinion.
Also most policing is done from police cars so community policing is weak as usually the only engagement you get with the police is through speeding tickets, etc.
I have also heard how police will find drugs on a young person and confiscate them and then either use it themselves or sell them on. There are far to many stories like this going around.
I am quite sure there are good police officers out there but it also seems to me there are far too many poor ones.
So we need to recruit better people and provide better training and better supervision. So how do we go about achieving this?
Electric Scotland
Dictionary of National Biography
I have worked on bringing you some more biographies from this publication. In most cases I have added a link to these at the foot of the page for the name in our "Scottish Nation".
Abercrombie http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...abercromby.htm
Adair http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...tion/adair.htm
Adam and Adams http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nation/adam.htm
Burn's Complete Works
Kilmarnock edition
I have a text file of his complete works on the site but thought it was time to offer an alternative and so have made this version available at http://www.electricscotland.com/burns/kilmarnock.pdf
Dunachton, Past and Present
Episodes in the History of the Mackintoshes by Charles Fraser-Mackintosh, FSA Scot. (1866)
You can get to this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/m/mackint.html
The Old Masonic Lodge of Falkirk
Now Known as Lodge Str. John No. 16. by Thomas Johnston (1887)
You can download this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...lkirklodge.pdf
Scotland in 1298
Documents relating to the Campaign of King Edward the First in that Year, and especially to the Battle of Falkirk edited by Henry Gough of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law (1888)
You can download this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...alkirkhist.pdf
House of Glendining
Added a wee book about them to their page in the Scottish Nation at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...glendonwyn.htm
The Aged Piper
From the Celtic Magazine which you can read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../agedpiper.htm
The Story
The lost pictures of Lewis, Scotland
By Euan Ferguson in the Observer Newspaper
Recently rediscovered, a set of early photographs has revealed a rare glimpse of Edwardian life in the Scottish islands – and the extraordinary story of their creator, the 'Adder king'.
It came about, in part, because of a Jiffy bag. Some years ago the now-late Peggy Macleod, a native of Shawbost on the beautifully stormswept west coast of Lewis, decided to get a print made from a box of glass photographic plates which had languished, quite unremarked, in her barn for decades. She wondered, in her quiet, contained manner, if the Stornoway Gazette could be of any help. Well, yes and no.
They printed up her century-old picture, right enough. But some harried office junior decided to post back the fragile glass plate in said Jiffy, with the inevitable consequences. If it's not an error quite up there with that of the London gopher who, tasked with processing Robert Capa's photographs from the Normandy landings, went for a too-liquid lunch and left them in the drying-oven an hour too long and thus rendered them all but indecipherable, it still, historically, irks. But it prompted Peggy to make a few inquiries of friends, and of the local historical society. Were the plates, perhaps, of cultural significance – a slightly daunting thought to her? And should she take steps to have them preserved?
She asked but tentatively: even though Facebook was arriving in the Outer Hebrides, some stoic right-thinking souls there still believe all life need not necessarily be an urgent voiding of personal information. And slowly, so slowly, it was realised that they had been the work of one man, whose images had somehow ended up (probably via a neighbour's house-clearance in the 1950s) in Peggy's barn, and Dr Norman Morrison was thus rediscovered.
Morrison, Gaelic name Tormod an t-Sẹladair, was an extraordinary man, even for those isles. Born in 1869 also in Shawbost (Siabost), he was denied, mainly through circumstances – relative poverty, a large family, the harshness of life on Lewis – the benefits of anything but the bones of an education. "My father did not believe in education for people so humble as we were," he would write in his 1937 autobiography, nor was he obliged to facilitate it: the Education Act had not yet reached Lewis. Norman, a strong and tall youth, worked the croft, built drystane dykes and paid the occasional visit, when allowed, to Shawbost Old School, where he drank up the chance to learn, and never stopped doing so until his death in 1949.
On reaching early adulthood he was meant to do duty on the trawlers (not really trawlers – 24ft open boats, fishing with long lines with baited hooks), but found that he suffered from crippling seasickness. He decided to get on the steamer to Glasgow, and join the police. His book, My Story, contains harrowing tales, drily told, of the world of Glasgow policing in the 1890s, and of the politics of the police: he was a keen believer in the rights of the worker, and summarily dismissed (only to be reinstated by public demand). Today he is credited as co-founder of the Scottish Police Federation.
Posted to Argyll, he developed a fascination with snakes. He would walk around Kintyre counting snakes' heartbeats. He became known as the "Adder King", occasionally came to work with a snake in his sleeve and would go on to publish seven highly regarded books on herpetology (and prove, inter alia, that snakes are not susceptible to music). But despite becoming a Fellow of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland – accorded a doctorate in France and winningly peer-reviewed in the US – British universities refused to consider his thesis, because he was not a graduate.
Such honest photos, taken before the photographic art was even into long trousers, yet shorn of the romanticising tendencies of the Victorian age, should perhaps speak for themselves – but I'll insist on co-opting this paper's own photographer, Murdo MacLeod, who also comes from Shawbost: "They are truly, truly remarkable, these shots. Not just because of the early times, but because of the slant it affords us into how the people wanted to be seen – not as simple folk, sickle in hand, in a picturesque landscape. See, the islanders knew Norman as one of their own. And as such, they wanted to present themselves as they wanted to be seen. There are guns, and jewellery. And they were faintly ashamed of the local blackhouses, preferring instead to be pictured against the newfangled harling. But there's also a severe nod to the real fear of the devil: you'll see Bibles, with thumbs held in them, in case this new photography should be the work of Satan."
Peter May, author of the bestselling Lewis Trilogy, concurs. "I've been following recently the story of these photographs, and it's a fascinating one. What we're discovering here is no less than the young days of an early art, and how people wanted to be seen, which had never happened before."
For picture of The family of Iain 'ic Aoidh (John MacKay 1845) visit:
http://www.tormod.co.uk/home.html
And that's it for this week and hope you all enjoy your weekend.
Alastair
Comment