Orkney At War (May-July 1915)

May 5, 2015, 4:56 am

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Here are a few items from our fourth instalment of our Orkney At War exhibition. These archive items are taken from records during May, June and July of 1915. We continue with the diaries of James Marwick and Margaret Tait and find out about problems with meat inspection in Kirkwall, the water supply in Stromness, submarine attacks off Caithness, an escaped prisoner of war, enrolment of boys on trawlers, eggs for soldiers and see a few of the men of Orkney serving in and sadly dying in the war.


From the Diary of Margaret Tait, sister to James Tait, cabinet maker, Kirkwall (Archive Ref. D1/525)

7 May 1915  Monday 3^rdwas feeing market day and although the day was very fine very few people were in town. The farmers are late in getting in their crop so that stopped the people from coming to town. On Monday morning a german submarine was supposed to be in Kirkwall Bay and 6 British Destroyers were racing up and down and out and in among the other ships in the Bay at full speed. The weather has taken a turn for the better and now it is quite warm and summer like. Had a walk up past the back of the hospital and saw my old home. The fields were looking fine and all covered with daisies and the sun was shining brightly. These last few days we’ve been very busy preparing our things for the sale today. We will just have 3 weeks in this house now. Everything is turned upside down even now.

Orcadians serving in the war, kept in a scrapbook by Dr. Duncan, Stromness. (Archive Ref. D1/1127)

From the Diary of James Marwick, Lieut/Capt. O.R.G.A (T) (Archive Ref. D1/1118) Friday, 7-5-15  Very fine and warm. / Officer of day. Barton & Harris here. Marked store near Mess as a "bench" mark for levelling purposes. Denison & I put a rope around it. / Football match, Territorials v. Marines. The former won 2-0. On watch tonight I got word of the torpedoing of the S.S. "Lustitania" off Irish coast. She was struck by 2 torpedoes & sank in 20". There was a terrible loss of life among passengers. Bore stopped. It is now fully 25 feet down.

Orcadians serving in the war, kept in a scrapbook by Dr. Duncan, Stromness. (Archive Ref. D1/1127)

From the Diary of Margaret Tait, sister to James Tait, cabinet maker, Kirkwall.(Archive Ref. D1/525)

8 May 1915  Last evening I went out to buy lard and met Rita Middleton. We both went up to the Temperance Hall to see how the sale was going. There I met Mrs. Middleton, squeezed into a seat beside her and remained there for the rest of the evening. I did not get my lard but enjoyed the sale immensely. When I got home at 9.30 everyone was out, the house in darkness and the fire out. The Lusitania was sunk yesterday, 19 hundred passengers on board, 500 of whom are supposed to have been saved. No particulars to hand yet except that she was torpedoed by a german submarine in the Atlantic. How dreadful to thing of so many innocent lives lost quite needlessly. I hope the Germans will get their just deserts. What a crowd of sailors and provision men are ashore today.

Orcadians serving in the war, kept in a scrapbook by Dr. Duncan, Stromness. (Archive Ref. D1/1127)

From the Diary of James Marwick, Lieut/Capt. O.R.G.A. (T) (Archive Ref. D1/1118)

Saturday, 8-5-15  Fine - bought ½ cwt Sugar at 2½lb & and sent it home, also some dirty clothes, by Harvey the well borer who left today. He finished the bore head and built a few stones around it finishing it off with a big flat stone ready for the pump. / I got a decanter & glass from Nobby Clark. / Man lost off a trawler near Switha island. He was picked up but died later.

Orcadians killed in the war, kept in a scrapbook by Dr. Duncan, Stromness. (Archive Ref. D1/1127)



From the Diary of James Marwick, Lieut/Capt. O.R.G.A. (T)  (Archive Ref. D1/1118) Friday, 14-5-15 Snow showers. / Things are very dull and lifeless her which combined with a want of friendliness among officers make life very dreary. I wish I could get a shift from here. It is over 4 months since I came here. / Goliath sunk in Dardanelles.

Stromness Town Council, 19th May 1915   (Archive Ref. S1/5, page 152)

Water Supply. An application from the Admiralty to connect with the watermain at the Mineral Well for a pipe running to the vicinity of the Braehead.

                                                                   

From the Diary of Margaret Tait, sister to James Tait, cabinet maker, Kirkwall (Archive Ref. D1/525)  Tuesday 25 May 1915 Weather raw and misty. Everything is turned upside down and the house is strewed with packing boxes. Mrs. Wallis has left for good. I wish we were across the street too. Italy has now declared war with Austria. Got a headache.

From the Diary of James Marwick, Lieut/Capt O.R.G.A. (T)(Archive Ref. D1/1118) Wed. , 26-5-15 N. wind – dull and overcast. / was a walk round S. Head and picked Mayflowers also roots. Read a book called “Wrack” which is cleverly written but of questionable quality otherwise. / When round the Head I met a young marine with two hawk’s eggs (kestrel). H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth came in today.

Royal Naval Reserve Letter (Archive Ref. CE55/4/31, page 110) Enrolment of boys in the trawlers section



From the Diary of James Marwick, Lieut/Capt O.R.G.A. (T) (Archive Ref. D1/1118)  Tuesday, 1^st June  Fine day. –was fishing off rocks and altogether caught 43 cuithes/ letters from home. M. coming on Saturday if weather suitable/ Sent home my bank book. Ian Barclay here and he took my letter down. I got a drenching down by a wave. [This is the last entry we have for James Marwick's diary. He was posted overseas not long after this date.]

From the Orcadian 19th June 1915
EGGS FOR OUR WOUNDED SOLDIERS AND SAILORS IN HOSPITAL

Dear Sir - I am pleased to say that the appeal made to the good people of Orkney has met with a magnificent response. Mrs Brownlee, president of the ladies' Guild U.F. Church, Stronsay, indicates that three boxes, containing in all 300 dozen eggs, have been despatched and Mr William Muir, merchant, Sanday, Orkney has also been sent a box, collected from a few customers in his district. Mrs Irvine U.F. Manse, South Ronaldsay, has also done magnificent work in securing and forwarding eggs for the wounded here. Unfortunately our wounded are increasing while our supplies in the south have been falling off so that the very large donations that have come from northern isles keeps us in a fairly good supply. We cannot get too many eggs for the wounded and I hope the liberality of the Orcadians will still be made manifest by further contributions as they can conveniently spare the eggs. I take this opportunity of thanking all the contributors who co-operated in making the collections such a success. Thank you for your kind courtesy in allowing me the use of your columns, I am yours faithfully, John Dobbie, manager, No. 6 National depot, 24 Elbe Street, Leith

Kirkwall Town Council, 30th June 1915 (Archive Ref. K1/1/17) Request by the HM Navy for a stricter inspection of Naval Meat Contracts and for the meat to be stamped for easier identification.

From the Diary of Margaret Tait, sister to James Tait, cabinet maker, Kirkwall  (Archive Ref. D1/525)  5 July 1915 What a time we’ve had this last month. The masons are in every room but 2 bedrooms and these 2 are filled up with the furniture and things out of the other rooms that we only have room to stand up and dress or undress. Lime, plaster, stones and old wood are lying about and the whole place looks as if a cyclone had passed through. I’ve spent a lot of time down in the garden which is flooded with sunshine. The weather has been perfect up till a day or two ago, since when it’s rained all the time. Was at a social last Friday night in the St. Magnus Church Hall. The Queen Elizabeth (Dreadnought) has been lying at Scapa lately. Saw one of her officers in the shop on Saturday. The Archbishop of York has been visiting the Territorials at Flotta last week.

From the Diary of Margaret Tait, sister to James Tait, cabinet maker, Kirkwall (Archive Ref. D1/525)  11 July 1915  King George paid a visit to Stanger Head Battery on Friday and I understand has left again for the south. The Flotta people have been highly honoured. He didn’t come to Kirkwall. Such wet, murky weather we’ve had lately, with no signs of drying up.

Royal Naval Reserve Memo, 12th July 1915. ( Archive Ref. CE55/4/31, p116) Notice of an escaped Prisoner of War



From the Diary of Margaret Tait, sister to James Tait, cabinet maker, Kirkwall (Archive Ref. D1/525)  18 July 1915  (Sunday) Last Wednesday the shop was moved across from No.6 to this place which is not nearly ready nor will be for some time. However they have done a lot and improved it greatly. During these war times the motor cars etc. have all got patriotic flags stuck up in front, some have only the Union Jack, others have France, Russia and Belgium also. Saturday was French Flag Day, the school children were selling flags in the street for a penny each, the money collected being sent to help the French nation in their present crisis. Tartan seems to be all the vogue at present, in all the drapers windows you see little tartan bows or ties, vanity bags etc. of all the different clans. Thursday was St. Swithins Day and a lovely day throughout.

Stromness Town Council minute, 22nd July 1915 (Archive Ref. S1/5, page 159-160) Water Supply  An Application to use water for non-domestic use was refused by the local council on this day, while the present demand for water was made by the navy.



This is just a small selection of the items shown in our display for May, June, July 1915. Please do come in, if you can, to view the rest.

 

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VE Day Celebrations in Orkney and the UK

May 8, 2015, 6:18 am

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Notice from The Scotsman newspaper, dated 8th May 1945 (OA Ref: D23/30/7)

 

 

 

Photographs from The Scotsman newspaper, dated 9th May 1945 (OA Ref: D23/30/7)

 

 

On the island of Eday: "The day was observed by many as a holiday. Flags were flown. On both afternoons, 8th & 9th, it poured incessantly with rain and, except where necessary, most people kept indoors. A service of thanksgiving was held in the Church of Scotland at 6pm on the evening of the 8th. Many people were kept from attending by the inclemency of the weather." (Orkney Herald, 15th May 1945)

 

 

In Kirkwall: "The VE Day thanksgiving service, in which the three Church of Scotland congregations in the town and the Congregational Church united, planned to be held in St Magnus Cathedral was changed at the last minute to the Paterson Church owing to the breakdown of the cathedral organ. Upwards of a thousand people attended the service" (Orkney Herald, 15th May 1945)

 

Photograph of Edinburgh from The Scotsman newspaper, dated 9th May 1945 (OA Ref: D23/30/7)

 

"Stromness was a town of flags and down-pouring rain on the official VE Day, the eighth of May, and the combination was not at all harmonious. What promised to be a day of delirious joy and excitement went off like a damp squib. True, there was the excitement of the Prime Minister's radio speech in the afternoon, and the ringing of the church bells expressed the deep thankfulness in all our hearts. In the evening the heavy rain took off and allowed the people to go to the united service in the North Church, but even then a shroud of dampness hung over Stromness and there was no sunshine or fragment of blue sky to gladden this first day in the new era of peace. In spite of atrocious weather there were many celebrations in the evening. At most of the military camps, and in the Town Hall, dancing and merry-making went on all night, and NAAFI beer flowed in profusion. On the following day the weather was almost similar, except in the evening which was fine and sunny. The flags still flew and the beer still flowed and the rain continued to fall" (Orkney Herald, 15th May 1945)

The last few days of the war from an unknown newspaper. (OA Ref: D23/30/7)

 

Longhope: "On Tuesday of last week flags were flying all around the district, and at 3pm the vessels in the bay all began blowing their whistles and hoisting their bunting, which made a pretty sight. The flags were kept up all day on Wednesday, two days holiday being observed by all workpeople. A service was held on Tuesday evening in the Parish Church." (Orkney Herald, 15th May 1945)

 

 

Last All Clear: "Mr Churchill's broadcast on VE Day was brief - disappointingly short for those who had waited for it. The finish of the Premier's broadcast was heralded by the sounding of ship's whistles at Kirkwall Harbour and the prolonged 'All Clear' shrilling of one of the privately operated Burgh air raid sirens" (Orcadian, May 1945)

 



Bad, Bad Boy

May 16, 2015, 8:33 am

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Orkney, like everywhere else I'm sure, has it's share of bad guys and this week, while cataloguing the Halcro Johnston collection (D15), I came across some interesting letters that provide more evidence about one of our baddest guys, General Sir Frederick William Traill Burroughs, described as 'the worst of the 19th century lairds in Orkney'.

The General didn't start out too badly. He was educated in Switzerland before being commissioned into the Sutherland Highlanders, fighting in the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny and the North West frontier. He was even recommended for the Victoria Cross for his part in the relief of Lucknow but wasn't awarded it.

General Burroughs and wife

His Orkney infamy began when he inherited the Estate of Rousay and Wyre from his 'uncle' George William Traill. He had a reputation as a strict disciplinarian in the Army and evidently carried that on into civilian life. During Traill's management of the estate his factor began to clear tenants off the land to make room for sheep and General Burroughs carried on this cruel practice after he inherited it. .

Resentment grew among the tenants and came to a head when the Napier Commission came to Orkney in 1883 as part of a public inquiry into the condition of crofters and cottars in the Highlands and Islands. Burroughs appeared before the Commissioners and explained what a benevolent laird he was and how he'd spent loads of money improving the estate. Unfortunately for him the evidence didn't back this up so, in an attempt to silence his critics, he announced that any tenants that spoke against him would be evicted. And that's what he did.

James Leonard was a tenant and gave evidence at the Napier Commission hearing in Kirkwall. For this he and his family were thrown out of their home.

So this brings us back around to the letters in the Halcro Johnston collection. The letters are a record of the activities of the Rousay and Egilsay School Board from March to September 1885. At the start of that time General Burroughs was Chair and James Johnston, factor of the Baikie Estate which included Egilsay, had just been elected as a member. Another member, receiving the highest number of votes, was James Leonard. This was never going to go well! No sooner had the Board got going the General was up to his old tricks of hurling threats around, this time aimed at the other members of the Board. Their "crime" had been to permit James Leonard use of the school building to deliver lectures on temperance, to which Burroughs objected because of "the terms in which Mr. Leonard referred to me before the Crofters Commission and since". He finished by threatening to apply for an interdict to make the board members liable for any expenses. In a letter written the next day by the local Free Church minister it was pointed out that the lectures would not and could not happen anyway because James Leonard, who was employed as a temperance lecturer, had left the island, writing "I cannot understand how they fail to be aware of it".

General Burroughs days as Chair of the School Board were numbered however. By June he had resigned in protest at the dismissal of the Clerk to the Board George Meikle McCrie. McCrie was also Inspector of the Poor and was considered by the crofters to have aided and abetted the General's policy of providing as little relief as possible to the poor.

If anyone would like to learn more about the saga of General Burroughs and the crofters of Rousay I'd recommend The little General and the Rousay crofters by William PL Thomson. You really could make a great Sunday night television drama out of the story. Poldark doesn't compare!

Remember the days of the old schoolyard

June 2, 2015, 3:29 am

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As we get older we all tend to think that everybody in positions of authority, whether its police officers, doctors or teachers, are getting younger. Well, a new acquisition we received this week takes this to a whole new level!

The acquisition includes a photograph, a letter and an autobiographical account of William Clouston's childhood and young adulthood in Orkney. William wrote about his childhood home at Houton in the parish of Orphir, where he was born in 1854, part of a large extended family of Cloustons living in the area.

William started school at five years of age. In those days schools consisted of one room where children of all ages were taught together. His first teacher was William Tait, an uncle, and he was followed by a succession of different teachers over the years until William turned fourteen.

TK3439 - Houton, Orphir

Being the youngest of three brothers William had to attend school more than most of the boys. Older boys would have had to stay at home in the summer to help with farm work but William attended school both in the winter and summer. The result of this was that, aged fourteen, he was the top pupil at the Petertown school. At that time the teacher was William's cousin but he suddenly decided to leave for Newcastle and the school was left without a teacher for the summer term. So a group of local men met to discuss the problem, and decided to make fourteen year old William the teacher!

It must have seemed very strange to be playing with your school friends one day and to be addressed as 'master' by them on the next! William wrote that he managed the teaching part of his first day without too much trouble but when he went out at break time to join in the games he felt a little self-conscious!

William later worked in Stromness in a Drapers shop for some years before moving to Glasgow in 1874. After that he travelled to Michigan, USA, to join one of his brothers working in the lumber industry.

Everyday I write the book

June 15, 2015, 2:32 am

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Last week we had a visit from Tricia Marwick, Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, and it was a real pleasure to show her around the archive. One of the documents that we showed her is a particularly treasure, D101 - The Wallace Manuscript, and looking at it again reminded me that it is not only a valuable historical record but is also a very lovely object.

The manuscript, written in 1684 and titled 'Ane account of the ancient & present state of Orkney', is probably the oldest written description of Orkney. It was written by the Rev. James Wallace, minister of St. Magnus Cathedral, and contains lots of information about the island, their plants, animals and much more besides. In many places he has illustrated his descriptions. Here's an example of his writing, about a particular fish caught in Sanday:

"Tuo years agoe, in winter, there wes taken a Strainge but beautifull fish in Sanda (where severalls of them had been gotten before) called be them Salmon Stour. Itt wes about ane elne in Length, deep breasted & narrow att the taile.... The flesh of the half next to the head wes Like Beef, & the other half next the taile, wes Like Salmond. The picture of which, as neer as I could draw itt, is heer sett doun."



The 'Salmon Stour', drawn by Rev. J. Wallace 

He also wrote about St. Magnus Cathedral, described by him as "as beautifull statlie a structure as is in the Kingdom...And the steiple elevated to a great hight (standing on four statlie pillars) in which is a sett of as excellent & sweetlie chimed Bells as is in anie Cathedrall in the Kingdom".

St. Magnus Cathedral, drawn by Rev. J. Wallace

We are delighted to have this document in our collection and we have to thank Highland Distillers, who purchased the manuscript at auction and presented it to the archive in 1998.

Holiday Nightmares in the 17th Century part 2

June 20, 2015, 6:42 am

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Watch out for those whirlinge tides!

This isn't as bad as Thomas Kirk's experience, but it is an interesting early description of Orkney and its dangerous seas.

Richard James, 1620, Account of Poland, the Orkney and Shetland Islands, Scotland, Greenland, Etc - Transcript by Evan MacGillivray, Orkney Miscellany, 1953

"Orkneney are manie Ilands on ye [blank] of Scotland. ye biggest of which is not in length 16 mile in which the chief Towne is calld Kircwawe; these islands are plaine for the most part whereas Schetland is highe and mounteinous. they have store of cattle and of sheepe baringe good wool. they have plovers and partridge and hares but no wood."  

TK1503 North Ronaldsay sheep on the shore. Date unknown.

Sadly we have no photos of plovers, partridge or hares. TK1530 Geese. Date unknown.

"The chiefe fisshinge place is the island of North ronnelsea. on ye other side is South-ronnelsea, betwixt which and Catenesse on the maine of Scotland runs a sea of 12 mile calld Penthland Frith, dangerous with manie whirlinge tides and currents which will sucke in sheepes and botes in the passadge"

 

TK1548 Fishing boats in Hoy Sound, 1902

 

 

Photos by Tom Kent, 1863-1936

Description of Shetland, Orkney and the Highlands of Scotland  Edited, with introduction and notes, by Evan MacGillivray, Orkney Miscellany, Volume 1, 1953, p48-56., Our reference: 941 Y Orkney Room



Life and Liberty in Georgia 1775

July 4, 2015, 7:51 am

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Happy 4th of July to all our American Followers!

As a special treat here is a letter describing life in Snowhill, nr Augusta Georgia in December 1775 written by indentured servant Baikia Harvey to his Godfather Thomas Baikie of Firth, Orkney.

I am very sorry that I did not take your Advice and stay at home with you as I have found to my sad experence that I ought not to have slightig your advice. Mr Gordon was vere good to me but Mr Brown us'd me vere ill and I Runaway from him & wint to the Armey that was mar[c]hing up to the Back parts of South Carolina against a sett of people they will call Torrys in this Country and whin I came back I went to Ane Mr LeRoy Hammond Merchant in So. Carolina & he Bought my time which I am vere glad of for he & his Lady uses me vere will & give me Cloaths & I Ride with my master & loves them Both You'l Please to send me all the money you can Collect that is my Due by the first safe opportunity that I may be enabled to Buy my time & Put myself to some Tradesman to Learn his calling for a Tradsman has good Wages in this Country I beg that none of my Relations may come to this Country Except they are able to pay thir passage thir Selves and then they may come as soon as they may like this is a good poormans Country when a man once getts into away of Liveing but our Country people knows Nothing when they come hear the Americans are Smart Industours hardypeople & fears Nothing our people is only Like the New Negros that comes out of the ships at first whin they come amongst them I am just Returnd from the Back parts When I seed Eight Thousand men in Arms all with Riffel & Barrill

 

 

 

Guns which they can hitt the Bigness of a Dollar Betwixt Two & Three hundred yards Distance the Little Boys not Bigger than my self has all thir Guns & marshes with thir Fathers & all their Cry is Liberty or Death Dear Godfather tell all my Country people not to come hear for the Americans will kill them Like Deer in the Woods & they will never see them they can lie on their Backs & Load & fire & every time they Drawsight at any thing they are sure to kill or Criple & they Run in the Woods Like Horses I seed the Liberty Boys take Between Two & Three hundred Torrys & one Libertyman would take & Drive four or five before him just as the shepherds do the sheep in our Country & they have taken all thir Arms from them and put the Headmen in Gaile so that they will niver be able to make head against them any more - Pray Remember me to my Dear friend Mr James Riddoch Mrs Gordon Madam Allin Madam Young My Uncle & Aunt & all their Femily & in perticular Mr John Gordon -

I am Dear Godfather                                                                                                                                        Your most Obident and Hum'l Godsone

Baikia Harvey

Snowhill Near Augusta in Georgia

Decem'r 30th 1775

P.S. Please to write me the first Opportunity to the Care of Mr. John Houston in Savannah Georgia Province & C-

 

Orkney Archive Reference: D3/385 Watt of Breckness and Skaill Collection: Letter 30-12-1775

Double Dutch Mystery Document

July 18, 2015, 5:19 am

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We have this wonderful document* from September 1659, which we believe was written in Dutch. But we have no idea what it is about.  Can anyone help? Have we any Dutch followers who can also read 17th century documents?

 

We can identify two words which are repeated a lot "Looft God" which means "God Bless" , so perhaps it is a religious document, or connected in some way with St Magnus Cathedral?

 

September 1659 was mid-way between the resignation of Richard Cromwell, son of Oliver Cromwell,ending the Protectorate in May 1659 and the Restoration of the monarchy with Charles II in 1660.

 

*Archive reference: D14/8/8 part of the Walter Traill Dennison papers.

 

After receiving such wonderfully quick responses to the appeal above, I enclose the second page of the document here below:

 

 

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August 3, 2015, 4:26 am

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We have no reason to dread Monday mornings in the Orkney Archive. You never know what is going to happen, who is going to visit and what they are going to ask. Today for example we played host to a Japanese film crew who wished to film the historical records of Magnus Eunson, (1778-1852) the founder of Highland Park whisky.

Here they are filming the baptism of Magnus from the Old Parish Registers for St. Andrews for 1778.

Orkney At War (Aug-Oct 1915)

August 4, 2015, 8:12 am

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Here are a few items from our fifth instalment of our Orkney At War exhibition. These archive items are taken from records during August, September and October of 1915. We continue with the diary of Margaret Tait. We find out about meat supplies in Orkney, employability of men with hernias, schoolchildren in Walls, see huts in St Margaret's Hope and much more. It is now a year since the beginning of the war.

Archive Reference: D1/525 - Journal of Margaret Tait, 1911-1918
1 August 1915

(Sunday) I am sitting down on the garden seat and the air is mild and pleasant and the flowers are blooming lovely. The berries are all ripe on the trees and quite ready for picking. Ruby Marwick is up on top of the dyke or garden wall, which divides their place from this. She is the only sign of life about the place and everything seems very quiet and still. I can see the town clock from here and it is just 6. I was up the willows for a walk this afternoon but it came on a drizzle so I didn’t stay long. This last week a liner was torpedoed off the Birsay coast by a German submarine  and the crew brought into Kirkwall. One of the crew proved to be a german (supposed to be a spy) and was kept aboard the submarine. The mail boat (St. Ola) on her way to Scrabster was ordered to turn and go back to Stromness one day last week. Anniversary services are to be held in the churches next Wednesday (4^th) evening, it being a year since the war began. Rita Middleton stayed to tea tonight as there were stewed prunes. Jim is in Deerness for the week-end.

The shop will soon be finished now and will look very nice. Yesterday morning the boarding was taken down from the front. The office is finished. The little front shop will be finished this incoming week. The house is lying as bad as ever. Since the war the beef has gone up to ¼ per lb and not even fresh at that. 2 half loaves are 9d, before the war they were 6d. Sugar 4d per lb, before it was 2d. Nearly all foodstuffs have gone up in proportion and coal is now 40/- per ton. Last Saturday week (24) was the anniversary of poor Jackie’s death, so I went up and cleaned all the weeds out of the grave and placed a posy of forget-me-nots on it which I had planted specially. Then I went up and had a look at poor Mrs. Wylie’s grave.
 

Orkney Herald newspaper 11th August 1915

A YEAR OF WAR

INTERCESSORY SERVICES AT KIRKWALL

The anniversary of Britain’s entry into the war was marked throughout the county on Wednesday by services “of humble prayer to almighty God on behalf of the nation” In Kirkwall a joint intercessory service was held in the evening in St Magnus Cathedral, at which there was a large attendance. The Rev John Rutherford opened the service with prayer, and the reading and devotional exercises were conducted by Rev. Gee, Millar and Mr Wm. Barclay. An appropriate address was delivered by the Rev. John M. T Ramsay, St Andrews. A collection was taken up on behalf of the Britain to Poland Fund.

 

Archive Reference: CE55/4/31 - Royal Naval Reserve Letter/Memorandum book, 1910-1924 : Letter from 20th August 1915

 

Archive Reference: L8745/2 Royal Navy accommodation at St Margaret's Hope pier, c.1914-1918.

 

 

Archive Reference: CO5/68/1 - South Walls Public School Logbook, 1895-1922, p428.

1915, [page] 428,
2nd Aug - very few children at school as Naval Sports are being held the children are away to them, only 14 not going so gave these holiday.
6th Aug - Attendance poor, 88.5%
15th Aug - Ordinary progress
20th Aug - Received word during the week that this school would be closed for the Normal Vacation for 7 weeks commencing 10th September.
27th Aug - Mr Bruce Compulsory Officer visited school today and examined attendance which is very poor only 77%.
3rd Sep - Ordinary Routine
8th Sep - Naval Sports Half holiday given in accordance with note from School Board Clerk.
9th Septr. - Visited this School today & found the Register correctly marked to date. J.M.F. Groat, Clerk.

Archive Reference: L8214/4 - Uploading supplies at Hoxa Battery, South Ronaldsay, no exact date (c1914-1918)

Archive reference: K1/1/17 - Kirkwall Town Council Minute book, 1912-1920Item read at Kirkwall Town Council meeting on the 7th September 1915
 

Supplied of Meat. in view of the increased demands for meat by the British and French Armies and of the relative shortage of vessels equipped for the conveyance of meat from overseas, the Board of Trade wish to call the attention of the public to the great importance of restricting the consumption of meat with a view to economising the national supply and avoiding excessive increase of price. Board of Trade, 20th May 1915.

It was agreed on the suggestion of Bailie MacLennan to call the attention of the Local Government Board to a way in which the food supply might be supplemented, vizt., by utilizing the patrol trawlers when possible in fishing.

 

Orcadian newspaper 25th September 1915

SIGHT TESTING IN ORKNEY

Messrs LEADBETTER & PETERS Deeply regret that it will be impossible to visit Orkney this year owing to Admiralty restrictions. Although applications for permission to visit Orkney have been made both by letter and personally at the Admiralty, this permission has been refused. Messrs. Leadbetter and Peters are sincerely sorry for the inconvenience which will thus be caused to their numerous clients in Orkney and take this opportunity of returning sincere thanks for all orders received during past visits. They will take the earliest opportunity given to them to again visit Orkney as usual.

LEADBETTER & PETERS

Eyesight and Spectacle Specialists

ROTHERHAM, CHESTERFIELD, ILKESTON, DERBY.

 

Orcadians with the Colours

Archive Reference: D1/1127 - World War 1 Scrapbook by Dr Duncan, Stromness

Seaman John Coutts, Walls

 

 

 

 

Trooper Alex. Norquoy, Firth

 

The Orcadian newspaper 9th October 1915

WOUNDED SOLDIERS

News has reached friends in South Ronaldsay that two soldiers belonging to this island were wounded recently. Lance Corpl. Wm Cumming of the Seaforths is said to have been dangerously wounded in France and Pte. John Loutitt of the Seaforths is also wounded although slightly.

Information has also been received that Pte. Robert Laird of the 8th Battalion Seaforths, a native of Burray was wounded on 25th September. His wound which is in one of his legs is not thought to be serious.

We understand that a large number of Orcadians have suffered in the recent fighting. We shall be glad if relatives will co-operate with us in making the details for our roll of honour as complete as possible.

The Orcadian 16th October 1915

DECORATED BY THE KING

On Friday 1st inst. At Buckingham palace, His majesty presented board of trade medals for gallantry  in saving life at sea in various parts of the world to a number of sailors. There were fifteen silver medallists and three bronze medallists each of whom was personally decorated by His Majesty.  Among the list we observe the name of Mr Henry Linklater, who is the eldest son of Captain H Linklater, The Holms, Stromness. The circumstances are these. “Two members of the crew of the steamship Cawdor Castle of London, Henry Linklater chief officer and B. Green seaman were given the silver medal for helping in the rescue of the crew of the schooner Lucie of Mauritius, which was in a sinking condition in the Indian Ocean, in January 1913. The Cawdor Castle launched a lifeboat which, under the command of Mr Linklater and manned by Green and five other men (who have already received their medals), proceeded to the Lucie. The boat was manoeuvred under the stern of the Lucie, and the crew of the eight men were taken off one by one by means of ropes in a heavy sea”

Archive Reference: D1/525 - Journal of Margaret Tait, 1911-1918

20 October 1915

The weather has been lovely these last few days, almost like summer and such lovely moonlight evenings. Had some fine walks with Bunty. Fancy its 2 months since I wrote last. Kirkwall Bay is still crowded with foreign ships coming and going all the time. I hear they are not to be taken in to Kirkwall any more but to be sent to Shetland, and Kirkwall is to be made a base for torpedo destroyers. There’s no sign of the war coming to an end, indeed it seems farther off than ever. Bulgaria has joined now against us.
The shop has been opened up a few weeks now but the house still looks as if a cyclone had passed through it.
Another Zeppelin raid on London last week killing about 40 and wounding over 100. Great damage to property. That’s the second Zeppelin raid within the week, the first one doing not so much damage.

 

 

Cave Where?

August 15, 2015, 1:52 am

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This photograph was taken in South Ronaldsay in the early 19th century, but we don't know where. Can you help?


Archive reference: L9397/4

Ernest Walker Marwick - Writer and Scholar

October 2, 2015, 8:14 am

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Our latest exhibition is all about local historian and writer, Ernest Marwick. This year would have been his 100th birthday, so the Orkney Science Festival decided to celebrate his life and works with some specialevents and we were asked to put on a small exhibition.

In the Orkney Archive we are very lucky to house his collection of research, stories, poems, photos, oral history, folklore and articles about Orkney life, people and culture. About 86 boxes worth! There is hardly ever an enquiry in the Archive that is not helped or answered by something that Ernest Marwick saved or collected.

To exhibit this collection we could have taken over the entire searchroom, so we decided to concentrate on some of his writing and scholarly pursuits.

He began school in Evie in May 1921 at the age of 5.

Archive Reference: CO5/50/8 Evie Public School Admission and Withdrawal Register

Wilhelmina Rosie, Headmistress of Evie Public School wrote in her report of 1925, "In the infant and junior classes the pupils are making satisfactory progress in the main subjects. Poetry and Reading were delivered in a clear and distinct voice, and Spelling was in most cases quite good...It is noted with approval that most of the pupils are at the stage of advancement which corresponds with their age."

Archive Reference: CO5/50/2 Evie Public School Logbook, 1910-1933

He left school soon after this at the age of 10 due to illness and never went back. After that he taught himself everything he needed to know.

In 1941 he moved to Kirkwall to work in Stevensons bookshop and in 1943 he married Janetta Park from Sanday.

After WW2 he compiled and edited An Anthology of Orkney Verse. 

It includes poems by David Vedder, David Balfour, Walter T Dennison, Duncan J Robertson, Ann Scott-Moncrieff, Edwin Muir, John Masefield and George Mackay Brown and Eric Linklater and Robert Rendall (see photos)

He was a collector of local history and folklore.

One such story was: "Rackwick (Hoy) Tradition - the landlord there at one time was a lady who lived in a house called Ootries, just above the boat noust at Rackwick. This lady's house had a floor of baked tiles. It was her custom to go down to the beach each morning as the men set off for the fishing, to choose the man who should do her work for that day. On one occasion a man refused and went to sea. When he came back in the evening he found his house burned to the ground."

This story was passed on through 3 generations before it reached Mr Marwick.





Archive references: D31/1/1/24 Rackwick Tradition and D31/1/2 One of Mr Marwick's History and Folklore folders.

He researched and wrote Sooan Sids for the Orkney Herald from 1954-1961.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He was friend and adviser to George Mackay Brown

 

Archive references: D31/30/4 Folder of correspondence between EWM and GMB; L7556/3 Ernest Marwick's photograph of George Mackay Brown

He was a poet in his own right.

 

 

Archive reference: D31/64/4 - Folder entitled Verse - typescript, manuscript of some fifty poems by E.W.M.

 

From the 1960s to the 1970s, he made over 800 broadcasts for the BBC, many of which are stored on reels, cassette tapes and CDs and can be listened to here in the Orkney Archive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1975 he published the book The Folklore of Orkney and Shetland which was the culmination of all his research into folklore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Archive reference: D31/9/2 - Folder containing reviews of 'The Folklore of Orkney and Shetland'

 

And in 1975 he was awarded the Freedom of the Burgh of Kirkwall!

 

 

Archive Reference: D31/65/6 - Casket containing certificate of Freedom of the Burgh of Kirkwall, presented to E.W.M.

 

The exhibition in the Archive Searchroom will continue until the end of October 2015.

Its a Wonderful Life (in Stromness in 1924)

October 30, 2015, 9:20 am

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A new item in our collection is a journal written by Mary Bailey who was principal teacher of English and Latin in Stromness Secondary School from Aug-Dec in 1924.

The journal tells the very personal story of the life of a schoolteacher in Stromness in the 1920s. She is new to Orkney, having moved from Bramley in West Yorkshire, so she often describes the differences she observes and the new experiences she has. The journal is a mixture of diary entries and extracts of letters to her family.

"It has always been my ambition to travel, to move about in the world and see all kinds of places, to live in strange cities amongst strange people"

So she applied for a post in Stromness:

"I hardly knew where Orkney was, and had to consult a map to find out the exact location"

"I decided that [Stromness] would be a fishing town, perhaps with a very long promenade before the sea, and that it would be very stormy. In this last particular alone, did I guess correctly."

She describes the Baikie family whom she stayed with in 'Bea',  Stromness (Mrs Baikie was the daughter of Dr. Garson) and her surrounding area.

Photo of Stromness Academy by Tom Kent, reference TK2174. Date unknown.

One difference she notes is:"I miss the wireless very much. There are not many sets in Orkney, as crystals won't work, and the others are rather expensive"

 

She also describes the Episcopal Church, the weather, storms and the mail boat from Thurso, knitting, the German fleet salvage, life in the school and her pupils work, and some traditions, particularly Bonfire Night:

 

"It seemed a very queer sort of Plot Night - no bonfires, no fireworks, no toffee, no parkin. Nothing! except those wretched turnip heads"

 

There is a poem by her called "The Stromness Postman", how she celebrated her birthday on 19th November, she describes the Masonic Annual Whist Drive and Dance; mentions many names of people from Stromness, particularly her close friends:

 

 

 "Miss Rae as I have said before is thirty or thereabouts, but doesn't look it. She is small and thin with blue eyes and straight black hair.... She is very conscientious and seems to be an excellent teacher. I like her best of all the secondary staff. 

In summer Miss Rae and Miss Towers spent their holidays on the continent, chiefly in Italy and Switzerland, so you see Orcadian people do not always stay at home!

We all talked and sewed or knitted until half-past eight when we adjourned to the Dining Room for supper. It was fine to have fancy cakes and buns again. (At Bea the "cakes" are always very plain - so plain that one doesn't recognise them for what they are intended to be!)

 

Miss Rae lived above Rae's Bookshop in Victoria Street, Stromness. Photo of Victoria Street by Tom Kent, reference: TK3556.

 

She finds the work very hard, but likes to get out in the fresh air whenever she can.

 

Sunday November 2nd "We are having glorious weather still, much better, I suppose, than you are 'enjoying' at home, and at the weekend I am able to get out and see the country. Yesterday morning I had a lovely walk in a northerly direction, to the Bridge of Waith at the lower end of the Loch of Stenness. In the distance I could see the famous standing Stones, silent witnesses of bygone days, in a place as quiet and unfrequented as it ever was. the only signs of civilisation were the telegraph poles on the Kirkwall Road. I went one way and came back another, doing about five miles. The countryside of Orkney has not changed since the days of the warlike Vikings."

 



Telegraph poles on the Kirkwall to Stromness Road, Tom Kent (date unknown), reference: TK455.


More topics mentioned in the journal are: not lighting the gas lights when there's a moon out; the people don't keep the church festivals; the League of Nations; looking for another post in a junior school; change of boats from the "St Ola" to the "Earl of Zetland"; the journal shows a copy of her timetable on Dec 8th; travel arrangements; a drawing showing the difference between the English Channel and the Pentland Firth; last tea out to Captain Swanson's home; took home a Shetland puppy, a present from the Baikies; 20th Dec - the journey back home in December as far as Inverness, meeting Mr Cox [of Cox & Danks], both seasick, toured to Loch Ness and Fort Augustus together.

Archive reference: D1/1198

Orkney At War (Nov 1915 - Jan 1916)

November 30, 2015, 8:29 am

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Here are a few items from our sixth instalment of our Orkney at War Exhibition which describe how World War 1 affected Orkney and Orcadians. These archive items are taken from records during November, December 1915 and January 1916. We continue with the diary of Margaret Tait and introduce the souvenir book of nurse Lily Gunn. We see the construction of an airship station, stories from the front, elections postponed and football banned.

Electric Theatre, Junction Road Kirkwall

Cinema Ambulance Day

The Orcadian newspaper, 6th November1915: The proceeds of this theatre on Tuesday, Nov 9 will be handed over to the Cinematograph Trade Ambulance Fund. The object of the fund is to raise  the sum of £30, 000 in order to present the British Red Cross Society a complete Motor Ambulance convoy with appurtenances, consisting of  50 motor ambulances for the use of the army in Flanders or elsewhere.

Along with the usual programme of pictures, there will be songs by Mrs Rintoni, Miss M. Gibson. Mr J Lennie, Mr W. Burgess, duet by Miss Cecilia Sinclair and Mr J. F. Shearer and music by a small orchestra. The above songs will be illustrated on the screen by lantern slides. Note change of opening. Doors open at 7.30. Commence at 8. Prices 6d and 1s. No reserved seats.

 

 

Introducing a Souvenir Book containing drawings, poems and messages from patients of the British Farmers Hospital and the Number 2 Anglo-Belgian hospital, Calais, France from 1916 to 1918.

The book belonged to Elizabeth (Lily ) Gunn, ( of Glaitness) an Orcadian nurse

The picture above shows a soldier's feelings of the war early in 1916. Some of the pictures are grim and some are quite pretty, see below.

 

K1/1/17: Kirkwall Town Council minutes, 5th November 2015

 "The Clerk stated that while under the provisions of the Elections and Registration Act 1915 Town Council elections are postponed for a year the office of Provost, Bailies and Honorary Treasurer is not affected by the Act i.e. the holders of these offices do not continue in the office beyond the date at which they would in ordinary course have demitted office though their term of office as Councillors is extended for a year. In these circumstances Bailie Flett becomes by law Senior Bailie and the offices of Bailie and Honorary Treasurer now fall to be filled up. Councillor Maclennan was elected a Bailie of the Burgh and having accepted office thanked the Council for the appointment"
 

The Orcadian newspaper, 27th November 1915: R.N.R. Officer Assaulted:- before Sheriff Mercer at the Orkney Sheriff Court at Kirkwall on Saturday, Charles Spiers, fireman onboard the drifter Dardo, was charged that on 18th November  at St Margaret’s Hope he assaulted an assistant paymaster R.N.R by striking him with his clenched fist; and at the same time and place committed a breach of the peace. Accused pled guilty and was sentenced to seven day’s imprisonment.

Some serving Orcadians:

A local shopkeeper offers topical Christmas presents:

Xmas Presents for Men on Active Service

Marwick The Tailor, Stromness can supply you with specialities

 

The Orcadian 4th December 1915: Grease proof linings for caps: extra light, prevent unseemly grease spots on top, 6d each

Brass supports for cap fronts; greatly improve their appearance; easily fixed unbreakable, 2d each

Waterproof covers (khaki) for service caps; splendid for wet weather; make old caps like new

Proof cloth 1s; all rubber

Knife, whistle or revolver lanyards (khaki and white) very special, ordinary 3d and 4 ½d each; silk finish 1 d each

Button sticks all brass, indispensable when cleaning buttons, no kit complete without one, 3d each

Button brushes, always handy4 ½d and 9d each

Balaclava helmets; very cosy, just the thing for watch keeping during winter: 1s and 2s 6d each

Belts- elastic or plain with pocket 6d and 2s 6d each

Sox suspenders- keep up your sox 1s

Warm woollen gloves- keep your hands warm which is an important point in military efficiency, all prices.

Fleecy khaki mufflers- prevent cols, various prices

Oilskin coats and sou’westers- defy the rain and wind, a fine selection on hand from 12s 6d to 30s

[s = shillings; d = pennies/pence]

In Kirkwall and Stromness, the local council banned the Ba' and football playing:

 

 

 

K1/1/17: Kirkwall Town Council minutes, 15th December 2015

 "It was agreed to recommend that there should be no ba' playing on Xmas or New Years day in the Burgh"

Stromness seemed a little more strict:

 

 

  

 

S1/1: Stromness Town Council minutes, 23rd December 2015

"The meeting agreed unanimously that football should not be played on the streets either on Xmas or New Years day and the Provost was instructed to see the senior Naval Officer of the Port that he may lend assistance in carrying this out"

 

A report from the front of an Orcadian being starved:

 

Lance Corporal W J S Leask of Coldomo, Stenness was a prisoner of war in Germany by Christmas 1915



"Up until a fortnight ago he wrote cheerful letters and postcards, but I noticed when he was removed to another prisoners' camp his postcards were not so cheery, and today I have one from him which has annoyed me very much as it hints unmistakably that he is being starved"

 

 

Mr Ford’s Kirkwall Impressions

Britain Wants Peace

The Orkney Herald  22nd December 1915: Christiania, Saturday.- The steamer Oscar II with the Ford expedition, arrived at half past three this afternoon at Christiansand. There was no official or other reception, and only pressmen went on board. Mr Ford spoke cautiously regarding the manner in which he will act. He said the British were very gracious at Kirkwall, but none of the party were allowed to land and there was no official reception. Mr Ford said he had the impression at Kirkwall that the British wanted peace, and he expressed the opinion that this was also the case with the people in other belligerent countries. The basis for peace must he added, be the status quo ante bellum. Madame Rosika Schwimmer said the intention of the expedition was to agitate for a peace conference with representatives of both sexes from neutral countries. The platform must be accommodated to circumstance.

The Orkney Herald 29th December 1915: The Observer in its “At Random” column of December 19 says:- It is a pity that Destiny did not arrange that the Ford Peace Party should be detained at Kirkwall for another week or so. Kirkwall possesses one tree, a fine assortment of wintery breezes, and several interesting ruins. A man of lofty aims and hardy constitution could have spent quite a merry Christmas there.

In early 1915, Henry Ford began to publicly express pacifist sentiment and denounce the ongoing war in Europe. Later in the year, American peace activist Louis Lochner and Hungarian journalist Rosika Schwimmer approached Ford, now commonly recognized a pacifist, with a proposal to launch an amateur diplomatic mission to Europe to broker an end to World War I.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Ship

Killed in Action:

 

 

Major James L. Harcus from Heatherbank, Westray was killed in Anzac, Turkey on  11th December 1915

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Private Robert Harcus from Backaland, Eday was killed on 17th January 1916

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D1/382/1 The S.G. Hall papers - Caldale Airship Station

Caldale Airship Station was built in 1915 and was operational from July 1916. Mr Hall was one of the construction workers on the site and is one of the many soldiers and workmen pictured in the photograph above. We don't have any other names of the men in this photograph.

 

D1/525  - Diary of Margaret Tait, sister of James Tait, cabinet maker, lived at 6 Broad Street, Kirkwall at the outbreak of the First World War and would have been 44 years old in 1916 – according to census returns in 1911.

30 January 1916

(Sunday) It’s over 3 months since I’ve written anything down here and many things have happened since. The war is still going on as brisk as ever and conscription is passed. Jimmie has joined the Navy for the period of the war, has been shipwrecked in a dreadful storm and is in Aberdeen undergoing repairs (I mean his ship). I’ve had all my upper teeth filled and am looking forward to getting a new set. Jim senior went south yesterday morning so we are all alone we three womenfolks. I don’t ever remember such a stormy winter with so many high gales of wind. Kirkwall bay is still as full of ships as ever. This has been an unusually fine day for the time of year. Bunty and I had a walk up the Willow Road as far as the pond.

Sunday. Just after tea Jim and I were sitting quietly one on either side of the fireplace when a knock came to the door. I rose to answer it and saw Tullock the police constable half up the staircase. “Will you put that blind down in your front window” he said. “Certainly” I replied. I had forgot to pull down one of the front blinds but I just thought it was nothing special but because all the windows have to be darkened at the present time. A little later Willie came up the stairs 3 steps at a time and said a Zeppelin had been sighted coming northward and all the Territorial were ordered out to the country to watch and wait for whatever was in store for us. Each of them got 15 rounds of ammunition and had to be out all night. I hurriedly got some tea made for him and while he was taking it I washed out his flask and filled it up with milk, made up some sandwiches for him and helped to strap it on thinking all the while that little I thought when he was a boy staying with us on Scapa Road that the day would ever come that I would have to help buckle him up to go out to fight the Germans. Just as he went out Maggie came in and said every light was out off every ship in the harbour and the street lamps were all out. Jim put on his boots and went out but I calmly sat down and took my supper. Meanwhile I had my coat and hat handy and meant to nip up Bunty and run if the Zepps came. No Zepps came however so I went to bed and slept peacefully until morning.

On Monday forenoon came a wire to say Edinburgh had been raided and bombed the night before with considerable damage to property, a few killed and several injured.

Our current exhibitions chart Orkney's experience of WW1 at home through the use of official documents, letters home, newspaper articles, diaries and photographs. We have six so far, each covering three months of the war. Click on the label "Orkney At War" below to see more.

 

A Westray Winter’s Tale

December 9, 2015, 5:19 am

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Today we are very pleased to introduce The Balfour Blogger, who will share with us all the interesting and wonderful contents of the Balfour of Balfour and Trenaby Collection (D2). In this first blog, we reveal a new mystery!


The Balfour Estate papers are amongst the jewels of the Orkney Archives, contained in 52 boxes, amounting to some 50,000 documents. When the papers came from Shapinsay into the Orkney Library in 1962, a rapid cataloguing of this huge collection was made. The speed with which the task had to be undertaken meant inevitably that much detail was left out and some years later, Archivist Alison Fraser started afresh to produce a detailed catalogue at box 1, and, between a myriad other tasks, catalogued up to Box 15, before her retirement.
I volunteered in 2008 to help with Archive tasks and was asked if I’d take on the Balfour catalogue. I agreed to the challenge and only this week, after 7 years of an hour here, an hour there, I’ve completed boxes 16 to 21 inclusive – 31 to go. In the course of the job so far, I’ve uncovered fascinating information about the Balfours, other Orcadians, life in Orkney and elsewhere, mainly across the 18^thand 19^th Centuries but earlier too. The Balfour papers are indeed a treasure trove and one that needs sharing, and the plan is that now and again I’ll report on what’s happening in the Balfour boxes and I’m starting with a discovery made 2 weeks ago: a Westray  story, quite new and exciting

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Marcus Calder was the factor of the Balfour Estate and on Wednesday, 2^nd December 1863, 152 years ago this month, he wrote to David Balfour who was away on the Continent nursing his and his wife’s poor health from another Orkney winter.

He writes to David Balfour that David Manson, Balfour’s tenant of Ouseness, north-east of Pierowall, Westray had been given the old doors of the aisle in the Ladykirk, St Mary’s, Pierowall, where Stewart, the Laird of Brough was buried in 1858, following the doorway from which they came having been built up. The Reverend Brotchie, the minister, had made the gift to Mr. Manson and Manson made a barn door from the two old doors.

Ruin of Ladykirk, Pierowall, Westray (Ref: L6857/4) no date given

About ten days ago – so, around the 22^nd of November 1863 – Manson’s wife was going about and chancing to look into the barn, what should she see sitting in the door inside the barn, but the Laird o Brough! She screamed and fainted. Her daughter (a great big woman) hearing the noise, came running out to see what was the matter. She saw the same sight and followed the mother’s example. A boy seeing his mother and sister, as he thought, dead, ran down to the shore where his father was working at the ware and told him that mother and sister were ‘’lying in the Close.’’ Of course, David hurried home and saw the Laird still sitting in the door.
Marcus Calder writes that David Manson picked up the women, presumably restoring them to their senses, calming them and his son, and immediately set off for Cocklehouse, south of Pierowall, not far from Fribo House where Mr. Brotchie lived, knowing for some reason that he’d find Brotchie at Cocklehouse. 

Using an older map for reference, we worked out that Cocklehouse was roughly where the X is on the above map.

Mr. Brotchie was much distressed and ordered David to go immediately and put the door back to the Old Kirk.


Well, David got the door in his cart and took off with it to the North Kirk. As he was coming near it he met some man who spoke to him, and who, after a minute, said ‘’The Guid preserve us, there’s the Laird o Brough sitting in your cart’’


David in a fit of desperation couped the cart and cleared himself of the presence of the Laird and the haunted doors.

All this is bad enough for the Manson family but the story doesn’t quite end there: Brotchie requires two men to sleep with him now and a third to watch in the interim!!

The tale ends with the two exclamation marks and the letter proceeds with other estate events.

Interestingly Marcus Calder clearly sees no need to explain to David Balfour why Brotchie is so shaken despite the fact that he, Brotchie, didn’t actually see the Laird. Why does Calder not need to explain anything? Would the Minister not have been more likely, given his calling, to pour scorn and disapproval on David Manson’s account?

The exclamation marks say it all – the death of the Laird took place only 5 years previously and at the time it was rumoured that Brotchie had had a hand in that death. Jocelyn Rendall, a local historian from Papa Westray, recalls a snippet from a verse which alluded to a poisoned cup and Tom Muir, Orcadian story-teller and Orkney Museums Exhibitions Officer, also recalls hearing tales that the Rev Brotchie had fallen out with Stewart of Brough and, aided by two of his kirk elders, they murdered the laird.
So there it is: the Laird o Brough sits himself down in the barn entrance of Ouseness, 5 years after his death and sets out for the Ladykirk in David Manson’s cart, all in broad daylight on a working day in Westray in late November 1863. Marcus Calder writes to David Balfour ten days later with the tale, more in humour than anything else, as if there’s really not much to remark upon at all.

Does anyone out there know more? What is the full story of Brough’s death and Brotchie’s involvement? Is there any truth in the story of a murder? What happened to the doors? Did the Laird haunt anyone else or appear at Ouseness on other occasions? Did Brotchie ever sleep easy in his bed again? It’s a remarkable tale, with much left out of it and unusually, one apparently lost to Orkney’s storytellers. Orkney loves a good story, so why has this one been mislaid?

Written by the Balfour Blogger and posted by Dusty.

Orkney Archive Letter reference: D2/21/14

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Late Night Opening

January 11, 2016, 4:53 am

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Guess what? We asked and asked and asked and FINALLY we have been allowed to stay up late.

 

From Thursday 28th January 2016 the Archive (and Library) will be staying open until 9 o'clock! At night! That allows for 4 hours of research time - after 5pm! Before you begin your celebratory dance, please note this is a trial change for 6 months on 1 day per month, i.e. the last Thursday of the month.

Ok, you now have permission to sharpen your pencils, pack your satchel and dance madly...

Storm Report

January 30, 2016, 2:25 am

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"One of the most violent tornadoes in Kirkwall ever remembered, which continued without intermission from sun-set (about three o'clock) the whole night."

"Many boats were also damaged, and some driven to sea"

"Several houses were partly unroofed, peat stacks and cot houses thrown down, and the weather-cock of St Magnus Cathedral blown into the steeple, although it weighed two stone of copper."

These are not quotes about yesterday's Storm Gertrude, but they are actually from an article in the Edinburgh Evening Courant dated 24th January 1803! One of three editions purchased by the Orkney Archive in 1994.

The article goes on to say:

"During this hurricane, a ship was wrecked in the island of Papa Stronsay, name unknown, Capt. Christian Faralson Leyre; crew saved, but the vessel and part of the cargo damaged.

From the 1st of January to the 11th it blew constantly strong gales of wind from the S.E. attended with rain, snow and sleet, during which the sun never made its appearance.

The ship Daedalus, from the east country for Dublin, J MALLET master, is totally wrecked in the village of Dearness; cargo greatly damaged - Four of the crew drowned, two of them mates, and brothers. One of these poor fellows got ashore, and as his brother was climbing up the rock after him, a huge wave pulled him back into the sea; the survivor swam in to his assistance, and both perished in each other's arms.

A large sloop, miserably wrecked, from its shattered appearance, without any cargo or person on board was driven on shore on the Wart Holm. Two sailors, supposed to have come in with this wreck, were found dead in this uninhabited island, owing to cold and hunger."

Wart Holm is a tiny island off the south west tip of Westray. This image is from Ordnance Survey sheet no. LXXIX, dated 1903.

 

 

More sad news:
"A brig, in the same unhappy situation, and not a single person on board, has come ashore on the island of Stronsay. 

A sloop, said to belong to Caithness, is drove ashore at Lopness, in the island of Sanday.

A foreign ship, totally unknown, has come ashore in numerous splinters on the north sands of Quayness, in the island of Sanday, without any living person on board, or any bodies to be seen. Her cargo is drifting to all quarters, but exertions are making to preserve as much as possible, by the Admiral, for the benefit of all concerned."

Archive Reference: D1/295/3

 

A Royal Wedding and its Consequences

February 12, 2016, 7:58 am

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In the Balfour papers, I recently found this curious letter - why did the Prince of Wales send £10 to a Shapinsay man in 1863?

 

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On the 10th March 1863, Edward, Prince of Wales, eldest son of the widowed Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, married Princess Alexandra of Denmark at Windsor Castle. Celebrations were held across Britain, including Orkney. In Kirkwall there was a service in the Cathedral, a procession, illuminations and fireworks; in Stromness and elsewhere all over Orkney, fireworks and bonfires.

On the island of Shapinsay, a 21 gun salute from Balfour Castle was to be the big event, despite the fact that David and Eleanor Balfour of Balfour Castle were in London joining in the capital's celebrations.

At noon on the day, the old howitzers at the Castle made 20 firings, but with that last 21st shot - disaster! Tom Hutchison, a crewman on David Balfour's yacht, and just 26 years old, was ramming home the charge for the final effort when the gun went off and the ramrod took away his right hand and part of his arm. His knee was also severely cut.

Tom was taken by skiff immediately to the Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall (the present West End Hotel) coming into the Mainland at Carness, then into Kirkwall. Doctors Duguid and Mitchell amputated his arm just below the elbow and 2 days later Dr Mitchell writes to David Balfour to tell him there has been an accident and Tom has had his lower arm and hand amputated - let us hope plenty chloroform, the anaesthetic of the day, was available and administered.

Two weeks later he is improving and it is reported he also has an eye injury. On the 6th April, Robert Easton updates David Balfour advising that Tom "is very white and shilpit-like but in tolerable spirits which rose as he began to speak of his child who is one of the darlingest bairns that ever was seen - the wound is still discharging and he is very weak"

Over the next weeks David Balfour's correspondents ask after Tom Hutchison. The enquiries after him from the upper end of society culminate with the letter dated 13th May 1863 (see image above)from General Knollys at Marlborough House to David Balfour, enclosing a cheque for £10 from the Prince of Wales himself for Thomas Hutchison "with whose sufferings occasioned by his accident on the 10th March His Royal Highness sincerely sympathises".  That £10 equates roughly to £1000 today. Thereafter Tom Hutchison, with his one hand, fades from the Balfour papers, leaving me wondering what happened next.

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We know from the Balfour correspondence that he was a seaman in David Balfour's employ, married and had a child and from census records, birth, marriage and death records it is established that Tom married Elizabeth Durham or Durran on 8th December 1859 in Shapinsay.

Her father is John, a farmer, her mother is Barbara Tait, all born in Dunnet, Caithness. There were various Duhams, sometimes Durrans, in Shapinsay at the time perhaps encouraged their by David Balfour's Caithness-born factor, Marcus Calder. The Tait side of the family were from Quanterness Farm, outside Kirkwall.

Tom's parents were Thomas Hutchison and Mary Nicholson, both born in Shapinsay. Interestingly the witnesses to the marriage of Tom and Elizabeth were the Laird himself David Balfour of Balfour and Trenabie and his factor, Marcus Calder. Perhaps this was not an unusual courtesy in Shapinsay at the time, or there was a friendship between Laird, factor and yachtsman.

Tom and Elizabeth are in Kirkwall by the 1871 census, living in Queen Street. They have 4 children, a servant, 3 boarders and 4 lodgers ["boarders" expect accommodation and meals; "lodgers" expect accommodation only]. In 1877 they purchase the property and in the Sasines record of the purchase, Tom is described as Burgh Officer and in the 1881 census he is Kirkwall's Sheriff Officer. Their oldest son, David (named after David Balfour?) has died, but they have Thomas junior (the "darlingest bairn" of Robert Easton's letter), Barbara, Mary and John Moss Hutchison (two of Elizabeth's sisters were married to Moss men).

Tragically young Tom was killed in December 1890 in a construction accident in New York where he had emigrated. He left a widow and children, one of whom, Maggie Hutchison, came to live with her grandparents in Kirkwall. They ran a grocer's shop in Queen Street and may have continued to take in boarders and lodgers. Elizabeth died in 1903 and Tom in 1907 with his son, John, present.

The course of Tom Hutchison's life clearly changed drastically with the loss of his arm and hand on the day of the Prince of Wales' marriage on 10th March 1863. He could no longer go to sea. He and Elizabeth must have feared for their future, but the end up owning a house in Kirkwall and Tom is Kirkwall's Sheriff Officer. Was the Prince of Wales their only benefactor after the accident? It seems likely there was a loyalty between Balfour & Calder and Tom and help came his way after the horrible accident, both perhaps from Balfour and Calder and the friends of Balfour who seek news of Tom in their letters of 1863. It didn't save him from personal tragedy, losing 2 of his 3 sons, but it did keep him from the workhouse.

The Balfour papers are a rich source of information about Orkney and this story is one for the many modern Orcadians connected through many family trees to Tom and Elizabeth. To my amazement I discovered my own connection to them as I researched their story. Nobody in our family remembered the story of Tom's accident until the Balfour papers, box 21, bundle 14, revealed the events of March 1863 and intrigued me into some major research, including establishing the fact that Elizabeth was my great great grand-aunt for my grandmother's mother was her niece.

Posted on behalf of The Balfour Blogger by Dusty

References used:
D2/21/14 Letters dated 12th March 1863; 6th April 1863 and 13th May 1863.
Article from the Orcadian newspaper, 7th March 1863
TK2572 photograph of Balfour Castle by Tom Kent. c.1880-1930
1871 & 1881 census transcriptions by the Orkney Family History Society.
1875 Peace's Almanac p51

A Wedding Trousseau

March 25, 2016, 4:23 am

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Fearne Kinnear and William Edmonstoune Aytoun were married on Christmas Eve 1863 at St John’s, Princes St, Edinburgh. She was 27 years old: he was 50. Fearne was a niece of David and Eleanor Balfour, of Balfour Castle through her mother Mary, David's sister. Aytoun was a lawyer and poet, Sheriff of Orkney and Shetland and his first wife had died in 1859. They had had no children and neither did he and Fearne. He died in 1865, less than 2 years after his marriage to his young bride. She went on to marry Captain James Arthur Forbes, grandson of Sir William Forbes of Monymusk, with whom she had 7 children. She died aged 68, in 1904. 

Fearne's mother was a widow - her husband had been James Kinnear and he was a Writer to the Signet, a lawyer. He came from a family of bankers and the Kinnears were wealthly members of the Scottish upper middle classes, as were the Balfours.

The wealth of the Balfours and of the Kinnears is clear in the arrangements for Fearne’s wedding, described by her mother in various correspondence around December 1863. Fearne receives gold jewellery from various relatives and writes to her uncle David to say thank you for such a magnificent present of money.

But the best detail we have about Fearne’s wedding is in her mother’s letter of 18 December 1863. Mary describes her daughter’s trousseau ‘for Eleanor’s behalf’ and over 150 years later, the richness and luxury of that trousseau remain vivid.

‘The wedding dress is of the richest white watered silk, trimmed with Honiton lace…

Queen Victoria had specified English lace for her wedding dress in 1840 and its use in wedding dresses and other special robes e.g. christening gowns, continued for many years. Honiton lace was made in East Devon, by hand – bobbin made lace, of fine threads, created by women working at home, a cottage industry, with Honiton the main collection point for work from the wider geographic area. Factory-made imitation of a lesser quality became available as a result of the demand created by royal patronage but it seems unlikely that Fearne’s wedding dress of gorgeous white silk was trimmed in anything other than hand-made lace, taking up to 5 hours to make every square centimetre. 

In 1863 fashion demanded a cage crinoline, dresses draped over a spring steel framework, to create a very full skirt, up to 6 yards in circumference. The framework was amazingly light and created a fashionable shape, without the need for heavy, hot and unhygienic underclothing and padding of previous fashions. It's hard to imagine navigating the world encircled in spring steel and confined by the corset, petticoats, drawers and stockings which fashion and modesty demanded. (Light steel crinolines could lift and reveal all very easily). The width of the church aisle must have been a factor in how a Victorian bride approached the altar.

The marriage of Fearne and William took place in St John’s Episcopal Church, Princes Street, Edinburgh, with Dean Ramsay officiating. The church interior is spectacular with a strikingly lovely plaster ceiling in the nave, inspired by Henry V11’s chapel in Westminster Abbey. Between 1857 and 1861 the most beautiful array of stained glass windows of any Scottish church had been inserted where previously there had been plain glass. Fearne’s uncle Thomas Balfour, had died, aged only 28, in 1838, and he is buried in the cemetery there. The Balfours had strong ties to St John’s and the wealth of the Kirk’s ornament reflects the wealth of its mid-19^th Century congregation and contrasts starkly , as does every other aspect of Fearne’s wedding, with the living conditions and expectations of thousands of Edinburgh’s poorer inhabitants.
It’s very likely that Fearne’s wedding day hairstyle was a centre parting, tied into a low chignon at the back of her neck and with loops or ringlets covering her ears. She wore turquoise earrings, necklace and brooch on her wedding day, turquoise being much favoured by Victorian girls with diamonds worn more by older women. And over it all, she wore ’a large and beautiful veil, from head to foot, of Honiton Lace.’

Fearne and William left Edinburgh and ‘set off south’ after the wedding meal, probably by train. Her travelling outfit was a blue camlet dress, embroidered with velvet, a blue camlet cloak and a white bonnet trimmed with lace and fern leaves. Camlet was a fine fabric of wool, probably mohair, and silk – luxurious, warm and beautiful.

For evening wear, she had dinner dresses of peach silk and of blue silk. She visited friends outfitted in violet silk, perhaps wearing her ordinary bonnet of mauve terry or her pale, fawn crepe dress-bonnet with roses and one white feather, with her black velvet pelisse or coat. She received visitors in a gown of corded blue silk. She had another dress of striped, pale lavender and, saving the best for last, one of white alpaca and black lace. It sounds stunning and I hope it looked like this:

Example

She is dressed in the finest fabrics – silk, mohair, alpaca and velvet. She favours blues, mauves and lavenders which would suit fair hair and a fair complexion, or were these simply the fashionable colours of the day?

High style was easily accessible to the 1860s Victorian lady via magazines with wonderful fashion plates, such as Samuel Beeton’s The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazinewith which he also included paper dress patterns. Fearne Kinnear’s engagement was announced in early December 1863, and she had less than 3 weeks to prepare for her marriage. Both her level in society and the limited time for preparation make it certain that Fearne did not create any of her own outfits. She would have gone to a firm of dressmakers from whom she selected styles and fabrics and who then, quickly, created the beautiful outfits she took with her into her marriage. There is barely a page of the Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory for 1862-63 without a listing for a dressmaker, or establishments such as Blythe, Yule & Co (Misses), milliners and dressmakers, 112 George St, Edinburgh.

Her clothes would have been cared for by her servants, or those of the houses and hotels she visited. They would have been brushed and pressed, mended and looked after as befitted their quality and she would have expected them to last, but augmented by each Season’s new fashions and styles.

The Balfour Papers contain no photographs so we don’t know what Fearne looked like. She was however the grand-daughter of George Kinnear and Fearne Gardiner and her grandmother is the woman in the portrait of Mrs George Kinnear by Sir Henry Raeburn on display in the Scottish National Gallery: a striking woman in her early 30s looking wistfully out beyond us and the artist. Did Fearne look like her?

Fearne’s mother, Mary, had told her brother that she never saw a better prospect of happiness in a union. …. It is completely a love match on both sides and it is a pleasure to see two people so happy! The Balfour papers don’t reveal more (so far) about Fearne and her marriage but she set out into it, beautifully dressed.

Fearne was widowed on 4^th August 1865. Prince Albert had died in 1861 and Queen Victoria mourned him deeply for another 40 years – in black. Fearne’s blues and lavenders would have given way in August 1865 to black also and she probably stayed in deep mourning for a year and a day, until 5 August 1866. She would have worn no jewellery and either a black veil or widow’s cap. Second mourning followed, for another year and again her wardrobe was black but her widow’s veil could go and some jet jewellery was permitted. In August 1867 she would have entered the third period of mourning and half mourning when greys and mauves would become her main choices. But on 10 July 1867 Fearne remarried, to Captain James Arthur Forbes. There is no detail, as yet, in the Balfour boxes about her second wedding but the conventions of the day would have made it a subdued affair, with bride and groom mindful of the memory of William Aytoun, her first husband who had died only two years previously.

One last detail: in this centenary year of the Battle of Jutland, with Britain’s national commemoration to take place in Orkney, we need to remember Fearne’s grandson, James Arthur Charles Forbes who died, aged 18 on 31 May 1916, in the Battle of Jutland.

Posted by Dusty on behalf of the Balfour Blogger.

Archive reference: D2/21/14 - excerpts from a letter dated Decr 18th, 1863 from Mary Kinnear to her brother David Balfour in Shapinsay. Image of dress taken from this website.

Fascinating Friday - Vampire Dogs and Wartime Sabotage

April 1, 2016, 3:45 am

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Two articles caught my eye recently from our local newspapers, The Orcadian and The Orkney Herald which I thought you might like.

This first from 1st October 1915 from a page of WW1 news from Europe an unusual story of war sabotage:

An Old Woman's 'Comforts' for Soldiers - Paris, Wednesday. A woman of Montmartre known as Old Susan, received such numbers of letters from the front that curiosity was aroused. She pretended she was acting as godmother to a number of soldiers without families, but a discreet inquiry revealed the astounding fact that Susan was a German named Krialager, and packets of comforts she sent to the front contained cocaine, which she was supplying to devotees who, even fighting, could not wean from the drug habit. Susan was arrested.

The second from 9th May 1946, a report of a disturbing nature from Harray:

 

HARRAY - WILD DOG NOW A "VAMPIRE" - Harray's wild dog was still at large yesterday, according to reports from the West Mainland.

The spaniel raider has not been seen at close quarters, however, since Sunday, when he escaped from a big party of guns out seeking him.

The dog's keen sense of scent enabled him to make a get-away.

The latest report of attack upon poultry occurred early on Saturday when three fowls were the dog's victims. This occurred at a farm in the Lyde Road district.

This time, instead of carrying off the carcases and devouring them or burying them for future eating, the dog sucked the blood and left the dead birds at the scene.

With the tightening up of the guard upon fowl yards, it is feared that the dog may now turn to attacking lambs.

Meanwhile there is considerable nervousness among women who will soon be needed to help with the peat work in the hills.

 

References:Orkney Herald, 1st October 1915 - An Old Woman's Comforts; Orcadian 9th May 1946, p3 - Harray Wild Dog.