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History of the Buchanites by Richard Hopkins

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History of the Buchanites by Richard Hopkins History of the Buchanites by Richard Hopkins Crocketford owes its foundation as a village mainly to the Buchanites. I was unaware of the Buchanite sect until I read the Crocketford Millennium Book in 2000 which had a very interesting item about them written by Ann Botel. At that time I found the story very interesting but it was not until Saturday 7th October 2006 when my wife Maggie and I went to see a play called The Heretics Tale written by Hamish MacDonald and performed by the Dogstar Theatre Company that my interest was re kindled. The performance was excellent with very basic staging, lighting and props. The characters portrayed were played by Annie Grace as Elspeth Buchan and Matthew Zajac as Andrew Innes, music was by Amy Geddes, program photography by Laurence Winram, graphic design by Karen Sutherland, Andrew Innes was interviewed many times by Joseph Train a lawyer and writer of The Buchanites First to Last who encouraged him to write down his memories of Elspeth and the sect. It transpired that Andrew had quite a collection of letters and other documents, some written by Elspeth Buchan. It is this book and a book called History of The Buchanite Delusion written by John Cameron, which I have used to research this story. Elspeth Simpson (1738-1791) was born in the parish of Fordyce, Banffshire. Her father, John Simpson, owned a small public house on the road between Banff and Portsoy at a place called Fatmacken; her mothers name was Margaret Gordon. It is interesting to note that within a ten to twelve year period of Elspeth Simpsons birth two other women were born, who would go on to become well known for their strange religious beliefs. The first of these was Ann Lee (1736-1784) who was born in Manchester. She came from a poor family. She was responsible for founding the “Shakers”, an offshoot of the Quakers. The name Shakers came from the tendency of its members to shake violently during prayers, “an epidemic form of religious hysteria not unknown to history” which would eventually subside into a uniform rhythmic dance with hand clapping as they sang their hymns. They migrated to Watervliet, New York, in May 1774 due to persecution. The Shakers are are still thriving in America. The second of these unusual ladies was Joanne Southcott (1750-1814) who was born in Exeter. She had a normal life for that time as a domestic servant and at about the age of 40 she met a man who claimed to be the spirit of prophesy. Joanne caught the bug, feeling that she had as much right to the claim as he and in 1792 declared herself a visionary prophetess. Local harvest failures and food riots as well as international war and revolution provided the backdrop for her mission to proclaim these disasters as signs that the Second Coming of Christ was imminent. Provincial preaching tours, numerous books, newspaper columns and posters won her thousands of followers across the country. In 1814, she announced herself pregnant by the Holy Spirit and managed to convince several reputable doctors of her condition. No child was ever born and her death soon after resulted in the fragmentation of her sect although it is still active especially in Australia, New Zealand and North America, The Beginning Elspeth Simpsonʼs mother died when she was about three years old, and Elspeth was sent to live with a strange family “whose circumstances were in such a hampered state, that her bedding consisted of a bag stuffed with straw laid on the ground beside the fire at night, with an empty sack for a coverlet, which were removed in the morning, and stowed away till required again in the evening” During the day she herded cows and according to her own words she was not very happy with the work. “I had no pleasure in working, and ever forgot the directions given me; so that I learned more by the eye than the ear” She was allowed to run wild and was given to strange speculations and often spoke of having visions. According to reports of neighbours “she became careless of her opinions as to what was proper conduct for a young woman” A cousin of her mother heard of her careless ways and took her in hand, teaching her to sew and read. This young woman who was also named Elspeth had recently married a West Indian planter, a native of Banffshire and she was intending to accompa- ny her new husband to his plantation in Jamaica, taking young Elspeth with them. They arrived in Greenock and had to wait several weeks for a ship which would take them to their destination. While waiting there young Elspeth found life around the docks and surrounding area much more interesting and fun, particularly after the strict supervision she had been under living with her rela- tive; according to Joseph Train “she left her friends to associate with idle company, and appears to have contracted those depraved habits which she afterwards inculcated respecting matrimony”. She eventually found herself in Ayr when, probably in her early twenties she met, fell in love with and “married” Robert Buchan, a potter, although there is no record of their marriage. They had several children of whom only three survived, two girls and a boy. They eventually moved to Glasgow where Robert found employment at the historic Delftfield Potteries and Elspeth gained employment as a servant in the household of Mrs Martin, the wife of a partner in the Delftfield Potteries. Being married did not stop Elspeth from carrying on her loose ways. Robert Buchan became heartily ashamed of his wifeʼs behaviour at Ayr and thinking she might settle down in her native area moved to Banff where he set up his own pottery business. The pottery business did not do well and after what appears to have been quite a short time he returned to Glasgow leaving Elspeth and the children to provide for themselves as best they could. Elspeth now fell back on the education she had received from her kind relative and opened up a Dameʼs School. Very few qualifications were necessary for this in the middle of the eigh- teenth century: the ability to read the Bible and Catechism, teach the girls to sew and the boys to make “pot hooks” and combine them into a clumsy scrawl were enough and these skills Elspeth possessed if only in a moderate way. She was now able to make a reasonable living for herself and the children and would have con- tinued to do so if she had not become bored with the standard Scottish theology which she was churning out to successive classes of children. Her Mind returned to her younger days as a herdʼs lassie and the visions and revelations she had seen which once more kindled her imagination. She began to teach the children her own interpre- tation of the Bible which was independent of all precedent of that time and of course included meanings which she had evolved that were to say the least original! She was at first quite cau- tious knowing that her beliefs were not quite the orthodox ones of the time. She attended fellowship meetings and pretended to be a diligent enquirer after truth. She became highly valued as a very pious person among the more religious people of the area and managed to persuade a few of the locals that she had discovered a mine of hidden truth and that she was indeed a prophetess. In a letter to a friend she writes: In the year 1777 the power of God wrought such a wonderful change in my senses that I over- came the flesh so as not to make use of earthly food for some weeks, which made all that saw me conclude that I was about to depart this life, and many came to hear me speak, which was all about Gods love to mortals……Had there been a gallows erected at every door where I had an opportunity of speaking of Christ, or of hearing him spoken of , I would not have stayed from going there, and the more they sought to keep me back it only tended the more to stir me up to run the faster. She had now found her mission in life: no more teaching sewing, reading, writing, these things were now below her, she who had been granted divine visions and revelations. This of course had a dire effect on her school, local people began to shun her, children no longer came to the school, and even her own children were opposed to her ways at one point even her life was in danger. One of her converts was a Mrs Cook, the wife of Captain Cook commander of the Prince of Wales revenue cutter. He was not happy with his wifeʼs involvement with Mrs Buchan and used every means possible to keep her from seeing Mrs Buchan. Mrs Cook took a fever and began to speak of nothing but religion and called continually for Mrs Buchan, he concluded that Buchan had “ put her mad with religion” so they put poor Mrs Cook in a darkened room for three weeks, this only made things worse and rumours were abound that Captain Cook was intending to kill Mrs Buchan.. Having few friends and no means of support she returned to Glasgow in March 1781, back to her husband who it seems welcomed her back with open arms. Little is heard of her for the next couple of years.
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