Issue Number 39 Autumn 2015

2000-2015

CELEBRATING 15 YEARS!

CONTENTS Page Chairman’s notes and Archive news 2 The old chapel by Lawers House 4 An overstayed welcome in the Tolbooth: Robert Glass 6 Celebrating 15 years of the Friends 9 Perth Theatre Memory Collective 17 The northern Highlands and their wider contacts with Perth and its shire in the sixteenth/seventeenth centuries 18 John Kerr 22 First World War: collection flags 23

Notes from the Chair

As some of you will know, this year is the 15th anniversary of the formation of the Friends of Perth & Kinross Council Archive. Thus our charitable association was a Millennium creation in 2000! Its sustainability has been due to the determination and dedication of my predecessors in office and long-serving committee members. I hope very much that we can keep the organisation going into the future and continue to assist the Archive staff in any way we can.

It was appropriate, therefore, that our summer outing this year was such a success. On Monday 15th July, a group of Friends visited the Map Collection of the National Library of Scotland, housed at 159 Causewayside in Edinburgh. Chris Fleet and Laragh Quinney were most hospitable and informative.

Chris gave an excellent illustrated talk about the Map Collection, then Laragh took us on a guided tour of their facilities. All of this was fascinating but the display of historic maps of Perth and its environs was fabulous. Many of us would have stayed there much longer to absorb as much of the data as possible had that been practical. What we learned from these maps you could not appreciate from any other source. I know that some members have been studying the online versions assiduously since receiving a tutorial on using the database during our visit.

Finally in this edition, I am delighted to be able to report that the Kirk Session of the Riverside Church on Bute Drive in Perth have agreed to take custody of the First World War memorials in the former St Andrew’s Church on Atholl Street, to which they are the successors. They intend to commission expert advice on the removal of the plaques from the old church and install them in a public memorial garden adjacent to the Riverside Church. The YMCA, who own the old church, have been very helpful in facilitating access and it is hoped that some funding can be obtained from the War Memorials Trust to help with the work involved. I don’t have a timescale for this but it is hugely satisfactory that these memorials will be able to be seen by the public again a hundred years on from the war they commemorate.

Alan Grant Chair of the Friends Committee

2 News from the Archive

What strange weather we had through the summer! One day it was glorious, the next rain – really, not a great summer overall. However, no matter what the weather throws at us, we are always buzzing in the Council Archive, whether with visitors and events, or behind-the-scenes work. As some of you may know, the Archive is to become part of a new culture Trust, along with Libraries, Museums and Art Galleries, from 1 April 2016. The service continues as usual, but it means that the Archive staff are very busy with background administration work in preparation for the new Trust. The change will not affect the provision of services to customers: we will continue to provide a high quality service. In fact, the only alteration likely to be noticed will be in our logo.

The now annual national Explore Your Archive Campaign kicks off on Saturday 14 November and runs until the following Sunday. As with other years, we will have a display and “explore” box containing copies of some interesting items from the Archive. Before that, The Big Listen 3 survey takes place from 15 September to 24 October. This is your chance to have your say about the Archive, Libraries, Museums and Galleries. Please let us know what you think about our services and what we could do to improve. The online questionnaire is available at www.pkc.gov.uk/whataboutyou.

If you have been visiting the A K Bell Library this year, you will know that the Library has been celebrating its 21st Birthday. This happy occasion culminates on Friday 4 December with a special event at the A K Bell from 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm. Some exciting things are planned for that evening, so keep your eyes and ears open for further details. In conjunction with that, there will be a display on the gallery wall on the first floor of the A K Bell Library throughout November and December. This will feature memories, stories and anecdotes relating to the Library during its first 21 years. Local & Family History and the Archive are taking the lead in this exhibition.

Well, I am sure you’ve had enough of me for now, so until the next time take care and enjoy the festive season when it comes.

Christine Wood Assistant Archivist

3 The old chapel by Lawers House

Travellers journeying west along the A85 road between Crieff and Comrie may sometimes have wondered at an old gable wall, standing in the parkland slightly beyond Lawers House on the right hand side of the road and almost surrounded by trees.

This east gable wall is the only surviving part of a chapel that is believed to date from the early sixteenth century. The building measured 33 feet long by 20 feet wide; the gable itself is 20 feet high at its apex and is 2 feet 3 inches thick and there is a panel set into the outside of its wall, but unfortunately it is completely blank. How one wishes that at Photograph of Lawers Chapel supplied by the author least a date had been inscribed on it or even an armorial bearing that would have given a clue to the date of its building!

Mystery surrounds its origins. The earliest records of the estate date back to 1510 in the form of a Precept of Sasine in favour of Mariote (Marion) Forester to hold in liferent, and her son John Drummond to hold in hereditary fee, the lands of Fordew, Glentarkane and Balmuk in the lordship of Strathearn and the Sheriffdom of Perth. All these lands [Fordie, Glentarken and Balmuig] were later incorporated into the estate of Lawers.

Mariote herself was a daughter of Archibald Forester, the fifth laird of Corstorphine, and Margaret Hepburn. In 1493 she married Sir William Drummond of Kincardine who was the second son of the first Lord Drummond and their son was the John mentioned above; he married a lady named Isabella and eventually joined the Order of Dominican Friars. 4

Sir William Drummond died in 1503/04 and subsequently Mariote married again around 1524, her new husband being James Campbell of Lawers on Tayside. He was a son of John Campbell of Lawers who had died on 9th September 1513 at the Battle of Flodden. In turn, it was James’s descendant, Sir John Campbell, whose lands on Tayside were so devastated by the Marquis of Montrose’s Royalist army in 1645 during the Civil War that he left there for his safer lands further south on Upper Strathearn. He took with him the name of Lawers with which he renamed his Fordew estates in Upper Strathearn, so that is the reason why the name of Lawers still appears today on the maps of both Tayside and Upper Strathearn.

James F. Whyte recorded in the Transactions of the Scottish Ecclesiological Society in 1938 that he believed the chapel might have been built around 1519, when the John Drummond mentioned above, who became a Dominican friar, owned the lands. This date is assumed because the bell, cast by Willem van den Ghein, bears the inscription (in Dutch) : “I was cast in the year of Our Lord 1519”.

The chapel’s dedication is unknown but at that time it was popular in Scotland to build chapels dedicated to Our Lady of Loretto. There is a reference in the 1563 Rentals of Inchaffray Abbey to “ane Chapell or ane house ruinous callit the Chapell of Oure Lady of Lawreit”; this may or may not refer to the Lawers chapel but, according to the late Father CDR Williamson of Comrie, sometime around 1751 a Campbell of Lawers gave its bell to the Kirk at Amulree.

When and why was this chapel built in the Lawers parkland long before the present house was built and when did it become a ruin? The gable still stands, nowadays even more camouflaged behind layers of creeper than in the photograph, but the writer has been unable to trace any reference to it in the Lawers House archives and so its mystery remains.

Bernard Byrom

This article provokes our interest in further research. If any reader can offer information in this regard, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact the editors via the Archive (details on back page).

5 An overstayed welcome in the Tolbooth: the case of Robert Glass

Eighteenth century prisons were not intended for long-term incarceration, but rather temporary confinement until punishments, typically whipping, banishment, transportation or execution, occurred. Perth’s ancient tolbooth had long incorporated a prison, but in the 1790s growing numbers of penal guests, who overstayed their welcome, caused magistrates mounting concern. Their vexations with Robert Glass, customs officer at Pitlochry, are documented in the Perth & Kinross Council Archive (and Register House).

Narrowly evading a capital charge, since the case depended primarily on circumstantial evidence, Glass was sentenced at Perth Circuit Court on 28 September 1795 to seven years’ transportation across the seas, with execution if he re-appeared in any part of Britain during that period. Majority verdicts had convicted him of setting fire to a haystack and breaking windows in Baledmund House, Edmund Fergusson’s residence at Moulin. A further charge of destroying 144 fruit trees was found, again by majority verdict, not proven.1 On 5 October 1795 Glass shared the tolbooth with eight others, sentenced to a range of punishments, including the pillory, banishment, and execution.2

Whilst awaiting transportation, Glass escaped during the night of 28-29 January 1796. Embarrassed magistrates offered ten guineas reward for his apprehension and circulated a description: about 30 years of age, 5’10” in height, squint eyes, and pitted with smallpox. They also noted his new coat, distinguished by square lapels of ‘a dark brown mixture with a small gilt button, not lined, having three buttons on the outside cuff’. Glass’s tailor had brought it to the tolbooth on the evening of his escape.3

Recaptured, he was returned to prison, but transportation remained elusive. By August 1797, complaining that ‘close confinement’ had ‘greatly injured’ his health, he petitioned the magistrates for a transfer to ‘any of the Burgher rooms’ (within the tolbooth). There was, he predicted, no probability of his

6 Baledmund, Moulin: scene of the crime of 1795. The present house is largely a product of late Georgian times. Photograph courtesy of the author. sentence of transportation being soon given effect, whilst his father and sister were willing to provide caution of £50 that he would make no further attempt to escape. Besides, he claimed, he had ‘not the smallest intention’ of doing so anyway.4

An earlier transportation crisis in 1790, following the loss of America as a dumping ground for felons, had prompted Perth’s Lord Provost Faichney to solicit the Lord Advocate for help. Though sympathetic, Robert Dundas confessed that with the numbers awaiting transportation throughout Britain ‘& the difficulty of transporting them so considerable, … you cannot expect them to be taken off so speedily as the Justice of the case would otherways require.’5 War with Revolutionary France now exacerbated the problem and in May 1798 Circuit Court decisions increased the numbers awaiting transportation in Perth Tolbooth to four. The magistrates appealed to Secretary of State Henry Dundas for immediate relief, pleading that Perth’s prison was ‘not large’ yet ‘completely

7 crowded’.6 The September Circuit then added a fifth felon to the backlog. In desperation Perth’s magistrates appealed in December to Edinburgh to join concerted lobbying of MPs for action; not least of Perth’s worries was the expense of felons’ keep. But Edinburgh was lukewarm: its parliamentary representatives had proved more responsive; the problem there was contained.7

At last, in July 1799, Perth was relieved of the tolbooth’s semi-permanent residents.8 By then Glass had been a publicly-funded guest for nearly four years. His subsequent fate currently remains unknown, but he was not immediately forgotten. In 1811 Fergusson of Baledmund could still angrily recall Glass’s vandalism and sentence in correspondence.9 Meantime, experience of a congested tolbooth, associated burdens on the common good fund in the 1790s, and Glass’s escape, all nurtured the growing demand for a larger, more secure, dedicated city and county jail, jointly funded through public assessment — it eventually opened in 1817.

An additional tantalising thought remains: how many other interesting characters like Robert Glass lurk hidden in Perth’s Archives?

References: 1 PKCA, B59/26/11/2/4/24/1. Memorial for the Provost & Magistrates of Perth, anent the removal of convicts for transportation, 1798. Also: Fergusson of Baledmund: Notes, accounts and letters to Fergusson of Baledmund, MS79/2/Bundle 29. Copy letter, Edmund Fergusson to the Duke of Athole, 30 Jan 1796; MS79/2/ Bundle 133, Copy letter of Edmund Fergusson, 1811. See also, National Records of Scotland, JC26/1795/14. Case Papers in Robert Glass Case. 2 PKCA, B59/24/11/180. List of prisoners in the Tolbooth [of Perth], 5 Oct 1795. 3 PKCA, B59/24/11/183/1-3. Prisoner escaped from Perth Prison. 4 PKCA, B59/26/11/2/8/5. Petition of Robert Glass, a Convict, to the Magistrates, Aug 1797. 5 PKCA, PE51/Bundle 8. R Dundas to Alex[ande]r Faichney, Arniston, 5 Nov 1790. 6 PKCA, B59/26/11/2/4/24/1. Memorial for the Provost & Magistrates of Perth, anent the removal of convicts for transportation; B59/26/11/2/4/19. List of Prisoners in the Tolbooth of Perth, 1798. 7 PKCA, B59/26/11/2/4/24/2-3. Correspondence between Lord Provost Thomas Black (Perth) and Lord Provost James Stirling (Edinburgh), 6-10 Dec 1798. 8 PKCA, B59/26/11/2/4/20. Receipt for Extracts of Sentences uplifted by Alexander Bennet, Sheriff Clerk Depute, from Patrick Miller, Town Clerk of Perth, on 1 Jul 1799 against [Robert Glass et al]. 9 PKCA, Fergusson of Baledmund Notes, Accounts and Letters, MS79/2/Bundle 133. Copy letter of Edmund Fergusson, 1811.

Kenneth J Cameron

8 CELEBRATING 2000 -2015

15 YEARS!

9 Provost Liz Grant, Honorary President, sent us this message:

"Your 15th anniversary is a significant milestone for the Archive and I congratulate all who have been part of the Friends over these years. The work you have done in producing new catalogue records, listings and area-based information booklets has helped countless people researching their own and their local history." Provost Liz Grant Honorary President

In the beginning ...

Press release announcing the launch of the Friends of Perth & Kinross Council Archive. Perthshire Advertiser, 20 October 2000

10 A piece from our first Chairman, Donald M. Abbott.

I find it hard to appreciate that the Friends have reached their 15th anniversary. When I retired as Chief Executive of the former North East Fife District Council in March 1996, I resumed a boyhood interest in history and made use of the Perth & Kinross Council Archive as well as the Dundee City Archives for some of my research about Pitroddie quarry. My frequent visits to Perth put me in close touch with Steve Connelly and, after talks about setting up a Friends group, culminated in my being asked to chair a steering committee for that purpose.

That steering committee comprised Alan R. Bell, of the Archive, Colleen Burke, of the Archive, Steve Connelly the Archivist, John Davies from Perth, Margaret Laing now of Blairgowrie (Hon Treasurer), the late Iain MacRae (Principal Librarian) Norman Thompson, Auchterarder (Hon Secretary) and Donald M. Abbott, Invergowrie (Chairman).

We held regular meetings over a period, culminating in the formation of the de facto Friends of the Archive. It had been fun setting down the formal principles governing the Friends whilst keeping all of our debates on a fairly informal and very friendly basis.

Early highlights for me were such things as calling with Steve Connelly on Sir William Macpherson of Cluny and Blairgowrie at his home to invite him to become our first Honorary President. The first piece I wrote for the very first Newsletter about Kilspindie School and Schoolhouse in 1819 comes to mind. I could ramble on but will desist.

I shall close by wishing The Friends of Perth & Kinross Council Archive all the very best for the years ahead with similar good wishes to Steve Connelly and his colleagues.

Donald M. Abbott, F.S.A. Scot Honorary President

11 Our Archivist’s perspective:

I am extremely grateful to the Friends of PKCA for all the support they have given us over the last fifteen years. It has taken many forms: serving as office bearers, working as volunteers, producing newsletters, guides and various publications and coming along to the talks and visits. They have all contributed to making the staff feel that what they are doing matters to people.

They have also got me a few pats on the back for activities that fitted into one or other of our major aims and objectives as a service. I cannot take too much credit, however, as I have relied heavily on Alan Bell, Jan Merchant and Christine Wood to take on the major task of supporting and guiding the work of the Friends.

As my own career as an archivist starts to wind down it is reassuring to know that I will be able to keep a foot in the camp as a member of the Friends. I hope to see the organisation continue to grow over the next few years and I shall certainly take pride in its continued success.

My abiding impression of the Friends is that they have become just that and I hope the feeling is mutual.

Steve Connelly Archivist Perth & Kinross Council Archive

[The feeling certainly is mutual! Editors]

12 Recollections of former Assistant Archivist and first editor of this newsletter, Alan Bell:

Finding the Friends

It's an odd feeling; a friend and former colleague hands you a folder of papers about a project from fifteen years ago. You notice immediately the odd bit of clumsy phrasing, the occasional typo. You're struck by the realisation that the graphs you made with Excel in the year 2000 are far less attractive than the ones you can generate now.

But you're also struck by the number of people with whom you worked and the variety in their backgrounds and interests. That together you made something happen. That the papers represent the goodwill and determination of a group that wanted to do something worthwhile. That you spent two years immersed in a project to establish something that has not only endured, but flourished.

Memory is fallible. When Steve handed me the minutes and papers from the first two years of the Friends last month, reading them took me back fifteen years to my first job in recordkeeping at the Council Archive. They called to mind time spent with a group of dedicated, friendly and supportive people, all working towards a shared goal. Using the records to look back on the establishment of the Friends, being reminded of small things subsumed by my memory of the main narrative, provided me with another illustration of the importance of the archive. That’s one of the reasons we wanted to establish a Friends group. We realised how it could help the communities we served engage with their own memories and those of the area. We wanted to find new ways for people to encounter the records and deepen their understanding of their communities and identities. To develop new narratives and generate new memories in turn.

My role in the project to establish and launch the Friends is one of which I remain immensely proud. Since leaving the Council Archive I have watched the Friends

13 group take enormous strides, fulfilling and surpassing the hopes we had for it in its early years. The various committee members, Steve and my successors, Dr Jan Merchant and Mrs Christine Wood, deserve an enormous amount of credit for all the Friends have achieved and they have my admiration and appreciation. Their work far outstrips my brief involvement in helping to establish the group.

It would wrong of me not to take this chance to acknowledge the contribution of those involved at the outset of the project, some of whom are no longer with us. The steering committee that developed the Friends project included Donald Abbott, Norman Thompson, John Davies, Margaret Laing, Iain MacRae, Colleen Burke, Peter Davies, Steve and me. The first Friends committee proper, along with Steve and myself, comprised Donald Abbott, Archie Martin, Marion Stavert, Stan Keay and Norman Thompson (who was succeeded that year by John Howat). Donald, as the Chair of the steering committee and the first Chair of the Friends was always unyielding in his support of the group, the Council Archive and of me. Without the support of the late Mr MacRae, the then Principal Librarian and one of our senior managers, and Steve there might never have been a Friends group.

Thank you all - together we started something brilliant.

Alan Bell Records Manager University of Dundee

Friends of Perth & Kinross Council launch, Perthshire Advertiser, 7th November 2000

14 A few words from former Assistant Archivist, Jan Merchant:

P&KCA Friends and me

It’s difficult to look back on over ten years of working with the Friends and pick out the highlights. Alan, Steve and the Friends’ steering committee had done an excellent job in getting the group started, laying a template that I must admit was a bit daunting for me to follow. But, when I left P&KCA, I could look at what we’d achieved together over the years and feel very proud.

There’s no one aspect of the Friends that I think makes the group such a success, and one that so impresses the Council and other archives. There are the members, who without fail support the talks programme. Then there are the speakers, who provide broad and interesting topics, attracting such good audiences from our membership and from the public; Miss Fothergill, whose encyclopaedic and forensic knowledge of Perth consistently filled the theatre, is one fond memory to treasure. Another is when we asked Dr Mary Young to come and speak about the Abernyte History Project. We’d booked the meeting room, but so many people turned up we had to move everyone to the theatre – thank goodness it was available!

While the talks have often been the outward sign of the Friends’ activities, it’s been the volunteers who, over the years, have provided the backbone of support to the Archive. The bottom line of all the volunteer projects was to make the collections more accessible. The months and months Jim and Gavin spent weeding planning applications meant a bit more space was available for other collections. Hilary’s work on the Threipland People’s database means users can more effectively pick their way through a quite complex collection to find their ancestors. Graham’s work on the Jacobite and Militia papers have provided a brilliant one-stop shop on the website. Marjory’s unfailing presence each week meant the burial registers are also available online – in the process protecting the originals from unnecessary wear and tear. Other highlights include the schools’ Slavery and Heraldry projects and the new illustrated Highland source list – the first of what will be a very useful

15 series of finding aids. Without the commitment, skills and unfailing willingness of volunteers like Jackie, the two Margarets, Graham, John, Vera, Hilary, Gavin, Jim, Jimmy, Marjory –and others, I have no doubt that the Archive’s services to its users would be diminished.

Over the years, I’ve seen the Friends’ committee grow in confidence and ability, providing the administrative backbone to the work of the volunteers, encouraging the membership and providing unstinting support to the Archive and its staff. But a final word needs to be said about the newsletter. When I first started, it was the bane of my life. Asking for articles, chivvying authors, designing and editing it, all made my head ache! Then a saviour came along in the shape of David, who took the newsletter in hand, gave it a good shake and produced something the members enjoyed reading and were happy to contribute to. Sadly, David retired, but judging from recent issues, Jackie and Margaret’s co-editorship continues to maintain his high standard.

I was asked to write a paragraph about my time with the Friends, but as you can see, that just isn’t enough – and neither is just four paragraphs. They just don’t adequately convey the fun – and the stresses (and the cake!) – we had together. All I can really say is thank you. Thank you for your hard work, your time and your commitment. Thank you for helping me do a good job.

All the very best to you all.

Dr Jan Merchant Senior Archivist, University of Dundee

PS They want me to start a Friends’ group here at the University Archive – any volunteers?

2000 -2015

16

Perth Theatre Memory Collective

Perth Theatre—the old canopy (with the old logo above it) before renovations in 1980. Ref: MS8/47/Ph58/11

If you have an interest in all things theatre, why not become involved in the Perth Theatre Memory Collective? This group is made up of volunteers who will be researching the Perth Theatre by oral and written history means from now until the Theatre re-opens in 2017. The Council Archive holds the Perth Theatre collection (Ref MS8) and the volunteers will be using the collection in their research. All the hard work undertaken by the volunteers will come together in an exhibition at the time of re-opening in 2017. If you would like to be involved, please email project leader Kirsty Duncan at [email protected] or telephone Creative Learning at Horsecross on 01738 477729.

17 The northern Highlands and their wider contacts with Perth and its shire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

In the first part of his article (see Spring 2015 edition of the newsletter), Dr Thomas Brochard wrote of the extensive cattle trade between the northern Highlands and Perth. In this second part, he outlines significant educational, political and social links with the city and the shire.

The material presented in this article, although mostly not from Perth & Kinross Council Archive, helps broaden the presence of northern Highlanders in the town and shire beyond a commercial purpose examined in the first article.

Other sources stress the educational concerns of these northern families. Around the time of the Reformation, Rory Macleod of Lewis had organized for the schooling of his son Tormod in Perth. The Clan Macrae also entrusted the burgh with the cultivation of Farquhar (born 1580), son of chief Christopher, where he stayed for four or five years and becoming ‘a great master of the Latin language’. Besides, burgesses, like Donald Kemp in Dingwall, were equally able to fund the placement of their offspring in schools in the Lowlands. Kemp was able to register his unnamed son in the grammar school of Perth by March 1575/76 and boarded him nearby with David Horn, probably a local saddler, while making additional payments to teachers at the school. Indeed, the same series of deeds in the Council Archive (B59/8) identifies the renting of Wall plaque at the junction of South Street and Princes Street, Perth

18 Highlanders in general in the town, once again for educational purposes. In October 1571, Donald Cameron of Lochaber settled his accounts with Robert Salmond, burgess of Perth, for the sums spent by Salmond over the years for Donald’s ‘burding [boarding] and clothing’ assuredly when younger. In September 1562, an assignation revealed that Mr Donald Davidson alias Bruce in Caithness owed Mr James Martin, a Catholic Ramist1 and pedagogue at Bordeaux, 37 francs. It would seem likely that Donald was one of Martin’s pupils in Bordeaux. Pressed by time, James Martin whilst in Perth assigned this and various similar debts to William Martin, a local burgess and presumably a relative.

Elite ladies travelled via and sojourned in urban settings, at times running their own business errands, as in the case of Moir Macleod [see Spring 2015 edition]. From other sources, we learn that, while waiting for her husband, Donald Macdonald of Sleat, who had gone home for money after their travel south, Mary Mackenzie obtained a loan from the above-mentioned Macrae chief, Christopher, then in Perth. Sleat’s father, Donald Gormeson Macdonald of Sleat, was also in Perth in the early days of August 1569 in an attempt to resolve conflicts with the Mackenzies. The parties appeared before the Privy Council then sitting in town. It may well be that Donald’s wife, Mary Maclean, was present with him. Whatever the case, the Crown gratified her with clothing worth £33 10s. His antagonist, Colin Mackenzie of Kintail, and his retinue had travelled to Perth in late July 1569 for the arbitration. They stayed there for about a week, enjoying the local entertainment such as going ‘to ye play’.2

These movements were certainly not a one-way traffic. On the west coast of the Black Isle, at St Martins’ fair in November, stalls were stocked with plaids, skins, and ‘benokis’ (i.e. a species of skin or hide), among other merchandise. In November 1566, among other customers could be found Perth residents

______

1 Follower of the French philosopher Pierre de la Ramée. 2 A reference either to a festival/theatrical play or, more likely in this case, to the playing of cards.

19 purchasing these goods at the fair. Indeed, the Perth guildry book records that an Alexander Rob shipped to Flanders six pine-marten skins which he got ‘furth of Inverness’ but was accused in January 1552 of not having paid customs for the same. In the freighting of cereals from the earl’s estate, the Sutherland household employed in May 1617 Thomas Rock, skipper in Perth, to carry the cargo from Unes (modern Littleferry south of Golspie) on behalf of an Edinburgh merchant. Yet, such ventures could be a risky business. When John Pullett and Robert Blair, burgesses of Perth, passed with their ship to Loch Broom for fishing in the early 1600s, the rebel Neil Macleod and a company of 40 men swooped on them. Two of the fishermen were put on land and the rest of the crew of seven or eight men were murdered. The ship and its cargo of wines, London cloth, and other ‘furnitor’ were disposed of.

The sheer weight of evidence based on the mere location of the writing of writs testifies to this taste of urban life by the clan élite and to the essential and practical role it played in the management of their personal and clan affairs. Having visited his children then at school in Glasgow, Sir Rory Macleod of Harris resorted to Stirling around late April-early May 1615 where by accident he fell from his horse and recuperated for another couple of weeks in Perth prior to his return home.

It would, however, be untrue to think of the clan gentry as self-centred and immersed only in their local affairs. They further contributed money towards public works especially the restoration of those destroyed or damaged by weather calamities. For instance, Colin, first Earl of Seaforth, pledged 800 marks to rebuild the bridge of Perth, which had collapsed due to a flood on 14 October 1621. Moreover, any view of southerners ‘civilizing’ and providing for northerners needs consideration of the greater interaction between the two sides. In May 1616, Constantine Malice, merchant burgess of Perth, then indebted to Mr Alexander Mackenzie of Kinnock (later of Kilcoy), assigned various bonds to the value of 1,900 marks (as principal sums) to Mackenzie to pay that debt.

20 It is clear that at times these temporary and transitory northern Highland contacts with the Royal Burgh of Perth became more durable. This was particularly visible for urban burgesses. Men enjoying burgess status in two burghs or burgesses relocating to another burgh through the vicissitudes of life present a less sclerotic and much more mobile urban population. The series of deeds in the Council Archive illustrates such a migration. Having moved with his wife, Isobel Anderson, to Inverness, Andrew Henderson, burgess of Perth, wadset (i.e. mortgaged) a rent of a tenement there in July 1584 to local skinner, John Melville. In the late 1570s-early 1580s, Andrew Dalgleish, an Inverness saddler, did not live to see two of his sons (Thomas and Walter) become burgess and guild brother of the Fair City. Prior to July 1554, William Bryson, burgess of Perth, sold white fish in England. He would purchase the fish from Mark Brown, burgess of Edinburgh, whose factor had obtained it in Caithness from a John Kennedy. Fast forward a few years, and Bryson is found in May 1558 as an indweller in Caithness, probably in Wick, still maintaining his trading links with England. Around Easter 1558 he made a commercial journey to Hull to sell ling, recruiting the service of a mariner in Leith who owned the fish.

Apart from burgesses, incomers from Perthshire obtained residence in the northern Highlands, through the purchase or gifts of lands. One example is Sir Patrick Murray of Binn, son of the Perthshire aristocrat Sir Andrew Murray of Arngask and Balvaird. In 1598, he received a grant of lands formerly owned by the Abbey of Fearn and renamed Geanies, as a reward for his Crown service in the pacification of the north. Sir Patrick Murray of Geanies was thus the only northern Highland landowner employed in the royal household between 1567 and 1603.

Finally, the mobility of churchmen should not be forgotten. They too carried out pastoral work at times far removed from their original homes. David Rag, ‘black friar of Perth’, was minister of Inverness in 1561. Another such ecclesiastic was Hugh Gordon, the third son of the first laird of Carrol (in eastern Sutherland), who was admitted to the parish church of Fortingall prior to October 1654.

21 Closer ties between these two areas are most visible in family marriages. One such union was that of Colin Campbell of Glenample, second son of Colin, laird of Glenorchy, with Margaret Munro, fourth daughter of Robert Munro of Foulis (north-east from Dingwall), in May 1584. Later in February 1632, John, fourteenth Earl of Sutherland, took as wife Jean Drummond, only child of James, first Earl of Perth, at Seton.

In conclusion, this short sketch of the existing ties between the northern Highlands and Perth and its shire has underlined in a limited way two interesting points. First, the northern Highlands was an area with greater and more dynamic mobility, not only in terms of its goods but also of its people, than is presented in popular history books. Conversely, for Perth, this shows a more complex and complementary interaction with outlying areas beyond its surrounding countryside or the major Scottish towns. Dr Thomas Brochard

John Kerr, 1932-2015

Born in London's Euston Fire Station in June 1932, John Kerr passed away in August 2015. A chance conversation while passing through Blair Atholl rekindled his interest in old roads and communications and he began to spend holidays researching old foot roads through the Grampians and then the military roads. John devoted the next 45 years to exploring the glens of Blair Atholl, Struan and Tenandry, covering an area of some 500 square miles, more than 250 settlements and over 100 shielings, as well as water mills, churches, schools, boundaries, mountains and glens. John researched source material in national and local repositories, photographed and plotted sites on OS six-inch maps. John, and his wife Pat, collated all this information and generously gifted it to the Archive as The Atholl Experience, which is well-used by researchers. A huge task, and a remarkable legacy. John will be sadly missed.

22 First World War Collections

Interesting glimpses into life on the Home Front in 1914-1918 can be discovered in the Archive, for instance, from a group of collection flags. These were printed on card or paper, and attached to a steel pin to be worn on the lapel in exchange for a donation to a particular cause — the illustrated example is for sphagnum moss dressings.

Cotton wool was increasingly being used in the manufacture of gun cotton in the First World War, and there was a desperate need for field dressings. Sphagnum moss can Collection flag. Ref: Acc 14/26 absorb around 20 times its own volume in fluids, and also has antiseptic properties which help to inhibit the growth of bacteria in open wounds. Although the moss had been used in this way for centuries, it was officially approved for surgical dressings in early 1916, and it was gathered (usually by volunteers, see photo below), dried and sent away to be made into dressings on an industrial scale.

Other collection flags in the group include: YWCA for Woman Munition Workers, RSPCA Food for Sick and Wounded Horses, Church of Scotland Woman's Guild (Women's War Work at Home and in France), and the Harry Lauder “Ladies from Balbeggie Rural out gathering sphagnum moss for use as dressings for the troops during the Great War” £1,000,000 Fund for Ref: MS201/Bundle 9/6 Scottish Sailors and Soldiers.

For more information on First World War related material held in the collections, see the source list in the Archive Search Room, or go to the website: www.pkc.gov.uk/archives.

23 Friends’ Talks 2015-2016 session

All talks take place in the Sandeman Meeting Room at the A K Bell Library, Perth, except for the AGM and talk in May, which will be held in the Soutar Theatre. Please note the varied times. All are welcome to attend the talks, which are free to members and £5 for non-members. Places are limited so, to avoid disappointment on the day, please contact 01738 477012 or [email protected] to reserve your seat.

Date Time Talks

2015 Thursday 24 Dr Simon Taylor 7 pm September The place-names and evolution of Kinross-shire

Thursday 22 Mike Taylor

October 2 pm 1915 – a serious disappointment

Thursday 19 Tommy Smyth

November 2 pm Perth’s Fallen: First World War Memorials

2016

Thursday 25 Dr Nicola Cowmeadow

February 2 pm Noblewomen of Atholl: Work, Welfare and War

Thursday 24 Dr John Hulbert

March 2 pm “Perth – A comprehensive guide for locals and visitors”

Thursday 21 Dr David Dobson

April 7 pm Scottish Emigration to Colonial America 1607-1785

Thursday 19 6.30 pm AGM May 7 pm Paul Adair th Magnus Jackson – 19 Century Perth Photographer For information about the Archive and the Friends, log on to www.pkc.gov.uk/archives

Friends of Perth & Kinross Council Archive A K Bell Library, York Place, Perth PH2 8EP 01738 477012 [email protected]

Honorary Presidents: The Provost Sir William Macpherson Mr Donald Abbott Scottish Registered Charity Number: SC 031537

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