THE SCOTS CANADIAN Issue X Newsletter of the Scottish Studies Society: ISSN No. 1491-2759 Summer 2001 Tenth Tall Ship Cruise planned for September 2

or the tenth year in a row, the crew of event for all age groups. Canada’s tallest sailing ship the And don’t forget to tell F Empire Sandy will be hoisting the your friends! mainsails and unfurling the jibs to get the We have arranged to Scottish Studies Society’s annual cruise give you a taste of the underway on Sunday September 2. Scots experience with the As in the past, the event has been pipes, fiddle music and organized to commemorate the arrival of the Scottish Country Dancing Scots pioneers who arrived in Pictou, Nova on board the ship. It’s a Scotia back in 1773 on the old ship Hector. great time to be out on We don’t ever want to forget those intrepid Lake Ontario and if you emigrants who made that historic and are looking for a photo difficult voyage. These hardy souls opportunity this is it! encouraged their fellow clansmen to follow There will actually be and help change Canada from a backwoods two cruises, one boarding colony into a nation that is now the envy of at 11:00 a.m., departing at the world. 11:30 a.m., the other So dig out your old or plaid clothing boarding at 2:00 p.m., or anything that might look a bit pioneerlike departing at 2:30 p.m. and come down to Harbourfront in Toronto For those of you who to help recreate the pioneer spirit! This is an have been attending this event in the past, please note that the Empire Scots Wha Hae Sandy will be docked at a different location from a desire to nurture and preserve previous years. It leaves Looking forward to seeing you on board! their heritage in Canada from Pier 6 at Marina Quay West, between Portland St. are invited to join and Lower Spadina.

SCOTTISH SAILING CRUISE

Ticket Prices THE SCOTTISH STUDIES Adults: $15 in advance FOUNDATION $20 at dockside Children age 10 and under: $8 a charitable organization dedicated to actively supporting the Contacts Scottish Studies Program Robert Stewart (905) 294-4389 [email protected] at John Macdonald (416) 756-0345 The Empire Sandy offers a unique blend of The University of Guelph adventure under sail along with the comfort and [email protected] Charitable registration elegance of a bygone era. Driven by a cloud of

No. 119253490 RR0001 billowing white canvas on three lofty masts, Duncan Campbell (416) 633-8974 Website: http://www.scottishstudies.ca you'll glide effortlessly along Toronto's [email protected] spectacular waterfront.

Major Campaign for Letter from the Chair Scottish Studies launched Dear Fellow Members, have to work to maximize the return on our present capital. The following is an excerpt from the As this is my first letter to you as Chair of We also have to give members a reason to University of Guelph’s literature targeted to the Foundation, I want to let you know that I stay with us and encourage new members to attract sponsor support for the “Chair in consider it a great honour for me to have join. When you think about it, our Scottish Studies” project. been considered for this position. membership level is an indication of support I would like to start by thanking each and from the community at large -- an important ore than two million Canadians trace every one of you for your support and for factor in enticing donor support. M their ancestry to the rugged shores of your generosity in supporting our cause. Our The role of the Scottish Studies Society , but their Scottish heritage belongs membership now includes people from all will be crucial here. It can raise the profile of to all of us - so important are the provinces in Canada as well as from the our cause by way of events, publicity and by contributions that Scots have made to the USA, the UK, Europe and Australia. And I recognizing the contribution of Scots in history and culture of Canada, from its am especially delighted to note that a very Canada. earliest beginnings to today's ever-changing high percentage of membership renewals Our Newsletter and Website can be society. have been accompanied by donations far in vehicles to showcase the talents of students Scots in Canada have made tremendous excess of the basic membership fee. Indeed and faculty at Guelph, our members and the contributions as explorers, political leaders, our membership at the patron level is at an Scots-Canadian community at large. And scientists, teachers, doctors, inventors, all-time high. finally, we have to ensure that every writers and more. Indeed, virtually every I would like to thank our immediate Past contribution, big or small, is acknowledged. facet of Canadian life has benefited - and Chair, Ed Stewart, for the tremendous effort Those of us who have volunteered to serve continues to benefit - from the leadership of he has put in during his terms of office. Ed is on the Board also have some administrative the hearty and colourful Scots. a very modest individual and has been a great work to do. Since the Foundation was There is a growing need to preserve and encouragement to us all and I wish him all established back in 1986 we have been so understand our Scottish heritage if we are to the best for the future. focussed on membership drives and fully appreciate the history that has brought I believe that all of us involved with the fundraising activities that there has been little us to the 21st century. Foundation have a wonderful opportunity time left to review our procedures to ensure The University of Guelph and the Scottish placed before us, a unique opportunity to that they reflect current reality. Indeed, we Studies Foundation invite you to join them in create something that didn’t exist before -- a have recently come under some criticism to celebrating the contributions of Canadian Chair of Scottish Studies at the University of the effect that our enthusiasm has got in the Scots by preserving our Scottish traditions Guelph. way of our following the rules! and supporting North America's most Others have had similar dreams. In To address this situation, in the next few prestigious educational program in Scottish Canada we can look at the Stratford Festival, months we will be undertaking a thorough Studies. the Trans-Canada Trail or the Calgary review of our structure, documentation and The University of Guelph is the best place Stampede -- all started by a small group of procedures and will be recommending steps visionaries who had the dedication, staying to ensure that our organization is on a sound power and the gift of persuasion to see their administrative footing. dreams fulfilled. On the topic of volunteer effort, when I Of course, there are lots of people in have had a chance to speak to our members, Canada involved in Scottish cultural the most popular question I am asked is activities in one way or another. But the “How can I help?” This is especially beauty of our cause is that we are not frustrating for members who live far away competing with other Scots-Canadian from the Toronto-Guelph area. So the organizations. On the contrary, by answer really boils down to the amount of solidifying Guelph’s position as the major time and type of skills that members can centre for Scots and Scots-Canadian culture donate. in Canada we are in the business of providing Keep in mind that the newsletter is a great an academic infrastructure that can be in outlet for those of you with stories to tell, place for generations to come. photographs to show, or trivia to share! So what do we actually have to do? We Those of you good at organizing events are all know we have one big overall goal: the welcome to contact us or, if you have any Chair and the business of raising funds to other ideas, let us know. We are open to establish it. Therefore, we have to provide suggestions! donors with compelling reasons to donate. Now I know all of this is a very exciting We have to look for innovative ways to raise challenge but as we all know -- if we don’t The original 1832 scrapbooks of funds by tapping into the skill-sets of our do it nobody else will! So thank you very William Lyon Mackenzie offer rare members and be on the lookout for much for your endorsement. I’m looking insights into Canada’s early political opportunities. We have to work closely with forward to working with you all. history. They were purchased by the the University of Guelph -- in particular, the Scottish Studies Foundation and are on University’s Development Office to Sincerely, permanent loan to the University of coordinate our fundraising activities. We David M. Hunter Guelph Library.

2 The Scots Canadian next generation of Scottish Studies scholars by providing graduate student scholarships and research support. It will also expand the Program’s unique community outreach activities to promote the ongoing study of Scottish and Scottish-Canadian history and create even greater awareness of and appreciation for the impact of the Scots in Canada. The endowment of the Chair is critical to building Guelph's excellence in teaching and research, in keeping with the traditions of Scottish Studies at Guelph and with the priorities The 2001 Scot of the Year Award being of the University's Strategic presented to Kathy Macmillan by Michael MacMillan Plan.

In particular, the Chair in

Scottish Studies at Guelph will make Scottish and Scottish- Canadian studies relevant for a Award Features new generation of Canadian business and community leaders, while providing a Clan Motto

cultural focus for Canada's A selection of books from the Scottish Collection in the Scottish community as it A number of readers have asked to learn more about the actual Scot of the Year Award rare book section of the University of Guelph Library responds to the challenges of defining a place for itself in and where it came from. contemporary Canada. As in the past, this year’s award was a Income from the endowment plaque in the form of a shield and this time in North America to pursue Scottish studies: will support the teaching, research and featured the Macmillan tartan and clan crest Guelph's is a first-class interdisciplinary outreach of an outstanding scholar who will along with the clan motto… “Miseris program, supported by the best Scottish assume a faculty position in Guelph's College Succerrere Disco,” which in English means collection outside the United Kingdom, of Arts. The scholar in the new position will "I learn to succour the distressed." excellent teaching and research, and unique travel and lecture widely to encourage new The motto is a quotation from Aenid, the community outreach. educational and cultural activities in Scottish epic by Virgil the Latin poet who lived from The Scottish Studies Program at Guelph is studies programs nationally and 70 to 19 B.C. The complete quote is unique in the world for its treatment of the internationally, while enhancing Guelph's actually… "Non ignara mali, miseris Scots as a separate people in general studies reputation and influence as an internationally succerrere disco," meaning… "Not myself of immigration, settlement and ethnicity, and acclaimed centre in the field. being unacquainted with difficulty, I learn to in making the Scottish contribution to the Endowed Chairs, among them Guelph's succour the distressed.” This famous culture and history of Canada relevant to proposed Chair in Scottish Studies, are quotation has been an inspiration to many contemporary Canadian students and successful at: including French philosopher Jean Jacques community leaders. Guelph's Scottish Rousseau who stated that … "I know no line Studies Program celebrates Scotland's most • focusing research efforts by so beautiful, so profound, so touching, so enduring contribution to western civilization: strengthening the body of work, true." the tradition of excellence in and attracting and engaging interested The actual award was donated by Hector accessibility to education. participants, generating more Russell Scottish Imports in Toronto, one of To ensure that Scottish Studies at Guelph knowledge and expanding research the Foundation’s Corporate Sponsors and remains the leader in its field, the University perspectives one which has been an active supporter of the and the Scottish Studies Foundation, a Society’s Tartan Day Dinner, the Annual charitable organization dedicated to • integrating research and teaching by Tall Ship Cruise and other events. supporting the Scottish Studies Program, are expanding the curriculum, attracting working together to endow a Chair in students to the program, and imbuing Scottish Studies -- the first in North America. the enhancements to the program with The creation of an endowed Chair is part creative and reflective energies of an initiative to expand the horizons of intellectual inquiry in the Scottish Studies • creating and developing links with the Program. As well as providing dynamic community, by initiating dialogue with academic leadership in the form of the Chair, a wider audience and attracting new the initiative will put resources in place to resources to the program  enhance the Scottish Collection and make it The Clan MacMillan Crest more accessible to international researchers and collaborative projects. It will support the

The Scots Canadian 3 Scottish Studies Program News Scott Moir, 5th year The Justice of the Peace in Seventeenth- by M. Cameron and R. Falconer, University of Guelph Scottish Studies Office century Scotland. Janay Nugent, 2nd year The Family in Early Modern Scotland. The Scottish Studies Program was started in 1967 and has since garnered a reputation for academic excellence. The Scottish Studies Program is generously supported by the Scottish For a full list of those graduates, visit the Studies Foundation. Considered the most comprehensive of its kind outside of Scotland, the Scottish Studies Program website at: Scottish Studies Program at the University of Guelph produces a host of talented and http://www.uoguelph.ca/history/scotstudy/pa successful graduates. Currently, there are eleven History graduate students in the Scottish ges/academic info.htm Studies Program at the University of Guelph. The program offers two graduate degrees, the MA and the PhD. James Davies and Natasha Kuran, the two most recent graduates of the program, are profiled below. Fall Colloquium to be held on October 13 JAMES DAVIES, M.A. Abstract: HISTORY/SCOTTISH STUDIES An analysis of the apothecaries and folk The Scottish Studies Foundation and the Age: 23 medicine practitioners who provided Scottish Studies Program at the University of Home: Calgary, Alberta healthcare to the majority of the Scottish Guelph will be holding the annual Fall public. The thesis also investigated the types Colloquium at the University of Guelph on James came directly to Guelph after of herbal medications used in Scotland in the October 13, 2001. receiving his first degree in History (AB) eighteenth century and their perceived use. from McGill University in Montreal. The results of the thesis broadened the As usual, this conference is open to the category of culturally-acceptable medical public and all members and friends are Major Paper: practitioners to include more than physicians, encouraged to attend. More details will be "Tobias Smollett, Principal Personage: An and identified that the majority of healing made available closer to the event Example of a Scottish Intellectual's Response plants used at the time continue to be to the Issue of National Identity in recognized for similar properties today. The theme for this year’s colloquium is Eighteenth-Century Britain." Regulating Culture and Society in Scotland. Future Plans: Natasha has been accepted to Researchers from across Canada, the United Abstract: pursue doctoral studies at the University of States and the United Kingdom will present The works of Dumbarton-born author Tobias Stirling in Scotland but has chosen to defer papers on all aspects of social, political, Smollett (1721-1771) are examined in an for one year while she takes a job as a economic, religious, legal and domestic 18th-century British historical context taking technical writer in Ottawa. regulation within Scotland. into account intellectual immigration, Scottophobic prejudice, and debates The Scottish Studies Program at the concerning national identity that preceded Students currently enrolled in the Scottish University of Guelph is an interdepartmental the Union of (1707). Smollett, Studies program and their prospective group established to co-ordinate graduate more so than fellow Scottish writers in thesis topics: studies in the history, literature and culture of London like David Hume and James Scotland and Scottish settlements in Canada. Boswell, is revealed to be a writer concerned MA: As such, we have strongly encouraged with the position of Scots vis-à-vis their Susan Banks, 2nd year participation from both graduate students and English and Welsh brethren as he argued that Education and Heritage in Nineteenth- faculty members. a true union of the people of Great Britain, century Scotland. rather than their assimilation by the English, Morna Cowan, 2nd year At this year’s colloquium, the Scottish would build a commercially successful and The Labouring Poor in late Nineteenth- Studies Foundation will be presenting the morally superior nation. century Scotland. Frank Watson Prize in Scottish History Michelle Lambe, 1st year honouring the best book, monograph, Future plans: Bastardy in Nineteenth-century Scotland. dissertation or edited set of papers on Open Heather MacDonald, 2nd year Scottish history published between 1999- Cáin Adomnáin: The Familia Columbae and 2000. NATASHA KURAN, M.A. the Politics of Piety. HISTORY/SCOTTISH STUDIES Samantha Miller, 1st year For more information please contact: Age: 27 Scottish Emigration to Canada. Home: Hudson Heights, Quebec Suzanne Thill, 1st year. Rob Falconer The Act of Union, 1707. Scottish Studies Coordinator Natasha worked for McNeil Consumer Scottish Studies Program Healthcare after receiving her first degree in c/o Department of History Biology at the University of Guelph, but PhD: College of Arts "chose to return to school to pursue a topic Mairi Cowan, 3rd year University of Guelph which interested me immensely." Popular piety in Medieval Scotland. Guelph, ON N1G 2W1 Shannon Creps, 3rd year Canada Thesis: Women and the Scottish Reformation. Phone: (519) 824-4120, ext. 3209 Medical Practitioners and the Treatment of Rob Falconer, 1st year Fax: (519) 837-8634 Disease in Eighteenth-Century Scotland For King or Kirk: Scottish Identities during the Long Sixteenth Century. E-Mail: [email protected]

4 The Scots Canadian The Slaying of Lady Mondegreen by David Hunter

ay back in the last century, about the memorialized her in one of her W mid-1950s to be more precise, there columns with a neologism. From was a rise in the popularity of traditional folk then on, her newly coined word music throughout the English-speaking “mondegreen” became world. At that time, columnist Sylvia Wright synonymous with a lyric heard or became aware of an embarrassing revelation. misinterpreted incorrectly. As a child she had heard the Scottish ballad This reminds us of the child The Bonny Earl of Moray and for the longest who came home after Sunday time believed that the opening stanza went School and told his mother that he had learned a new song about like this: Castle Doune in near Stirling from where a cross-eyed bear named Gladly. Lady Moray would look in vain for the return of her It took the mother a while to Ye Hielands and ye Lowlands slain husband. The Morays were the hereditary keepers realize he was talking about the Oh whaur hae ye been? of the castle. They hae slain the Earl of Moray, hymn "Gladly The Cross I'd And Lady Mondegreen. Bear!" Or how about the wee girl who The one she would not be looking down “Poor Lady Mondegreen,” thought Sylvia thought that the Battle Hymn of the Republic from is the Castle Doune we have here in Wright. A tragic heroine dying with her included the famous line “He is tramping out Canada! (We have at least one.) Most likely liege, “how poetic!” When she discovered the vintage where the great giraffes are familiar to residents of the Hamilton, this one some years later that what they had actually stored!” was once part of the Dundurn Castle estate, done was slay the Earl of Moray and lay him And I’m sure you absolutely do not want believed to be the old dower house or gate on the green, Wright was so distraught by the to hear about the Scotsman who thought that lodge. sudden disappearance of her heroine that she Nat King Cole’s famous song was “Fly me to Back in 1988, the castle was purchased by Dunoon” and that the Beatles had a song Carl Koprivas and his wife Pat who called “Lucy in disguise with diamonds!” proceeded with extensive renovations.

OK. I can hear the groans! I’m hoping THE BONNY EARL O’ MORAY Once the property of Sir Allan MacNab, that the only saving grace might be that our the prominent Hamilton resident who readers have a few closet “mondegreens” of Ye Hielands and ye Lowlands, became joint premier of United Canada in their own up their sleeves! O, whaur hae ye been? 1854, it was one of the buildings designed But getting back to the ballad of The They hae slain the Earl o' Moray, and built by architect Robert Wetherell Bonny Earl of Moray, the story is actually And laid him on the green. between 1835 and 1840. based on a historical incident going back to The Hamilton Castle Doune was enlarged 1592. At that time, the Earl of Moray was Now wae be tae ye, Huntly, in 1908 to include a turret and rounded bay married to Elizabeth, the cousin of King And whairfore did ye sae! corner. James VI of Scotland. The king suspected I bade ye bring him wi' ye, Apparently there was a mysterious tunnel that Moray had previously made an attempt But forbade ye him to slay. which once connected it with Dundurn Castle on his life along with the Earl of Bothwell. and which by 1988 had collapsed. Because of this, King James issued a He was a braw gallant, So if any of our Hamilton readers happen warrant for Moray's detainment in 1592, and And he rid at the ring; to be in the vicinity of Locke St. North and ordered George Gordon, the Earl of Huntly, And the bonny Earl o' Moray, Tecumseh St. with a camera, how about to hunt him down and carry out the arrest. He micht hae been a king! sending us a photo?  However, a long-standing feud existed  between the two of them and rather than Thanks to Barbara Brown of the Hamilton He was a braw gallant, arrest him, Huntly killed Moray outside Spectator and Charlene Sardo of the Hamilton And he play'd at the ba'; Moray's castle in Fife. Public Library for their help with this article. And the bonny Earl o' Moray -- Legend has it that Moray's mother took the The flower amang them a'! corpse to Holyrood Palace where it lay

uninterred for months. So it would indeed be He was a braw gallant, a long time before the Earl’s lady would hear And he played at the glove; the sound of him coming through the town! And the bonny Earl o' Moray, The castle that she would be looking down He was the Queen's true love. from was Castle Doune just north of Stirling.

Dating back to the 11th century it was the O lang will his lady hereditary home of the Moray family. Look frae the Castle Doune However, in more recent times, the castle has Ere she see the Earl o' Moray achieved fame of another kind. It was used Come soondin through the toon! as a film set in the irreverent comedy Monty

Python and the Holy Grail and in the Anon. BBC/A&E television miniseries based on Sir Castle Doune featured in the TV Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe. miniseries “Ivanhoe”

The Scots Canadian 5 exactly what the law said, maybe a child working in James the Serf the mine with his or her father wasn't legally bound by Kenneth McNeill until the child had worked for more than a year post- puberty. But generally the A professor looking for his roots finds they're pit owner put his bid in right a little more down to earth than he’d at the beginning by giving a imagined child or its family a gift at baptism, acceptance of which could later be y great, great, great, great interpreted as agreement of grandfather was a serf, a person the child being part of the M tied to a particular coal company mine. There could of course for life. Of course, 200 years ago, it wasn't be a definite agreement Women mineworkers in the early 1800s so unusual for people to be slaves. The West binding the children. And Indies was full of them before 1833 when what else were the children to do? The winding the coal to the pit-head," or if there slavery was abolished in the British Empire. education system didn't work well for were a number of defaulters, to use them But this wasn't in the west, but in the east, children down a mine and other job instead of the gin-horse (the gin, or engine, in Scotland to be more precise, opportunities were limited. was the non-human motive power for the and the person in question, James McNeill, The wife of a collier was also effectively mine). One hopes these were extreme was not transported but Scottish born, bred bound, as she would normally act as the punishments, not the norm; and doubtless and domiciled. "bearer" of the coal cut by her husband, some owners would think it easier to let the Serfdom was one of the facts that emerged carrying it either to the bottom of the hoist or most recalcitrant go. when I started a retirement project, all the way up to the surface. Considering Why was this bondage permitted? investigating my forebears. I knew that the size of the normal family of those days, Apparently for the economic reason that, traditionally the McNeills came from the this coal bearing would normally take place with few colliers in an expanding market for Hebrides, islands off the West Coast of when she was also bearing a child. coal needed to fuel the Industrial Revolution, Scotland, whereas my own grandfather came This all sounded very medieval, but far a free market would result in high wages and from near . How and when did my from being a hangover from the Middle lower profits. Serfdom could keep the wages McNeills come to the Lowlands, I Ages, I found it was a result of deliberate down, as miners couldn't sell their labour wondered? One romantic, though perhaps action of the Scottish parliaments. In 1579 elsewhere -- and thus, possibly, result in a not heroic, idea was that they came with, or and 1597 Poor Laws allowed vagrants to faster growing economy. Viscount Stair said deserted from, the army of Bonnie Prince bind themselves to employers for life -- to that vestiges of slavery were justihed as their Charlie in 1745. But I found the truth was give up freedom for an at least partially filled services (those of the collier) were necessary more down to earth: for all of the 18th and stomach. for the kingdom. 19th centuries, my family worked in the coal In 1606 coal owners were given even more The word “slavery” was used by Stair. It pits not far from Edinburgh. powers over their workers -- colliers could was also used in court. In the 1746 case of My serf ancestors weren’t just tied to a not take another job unless they had a Clark vs. Ker and Penman, the court particular job, they were bound to a testimonial from their previous employer accepted that…“a boy who enters into coal- particular pit for the rest of their lives unless saying that they could seek other work; by work where his father is a bondsman the coalmaster who owned them decided to withholding such a testimony the owner becomes a slave, not by consent, but from the sell them or trade them to another owner. could ensure the collier was fixed to the nature of slavery which extends from father And if the mine were sold, they would be coalmaster. to son.” True, an anti-slavery lobby was part of the assets of the mine, just as with a What could happen if a miner just upped gaining strength in Britain. In 1772 piece of machinery. Of course nowadays and left? Then a new employer had to return 's Mansfield Declaration when a company is sold very often it is part the collier within a day. Serfs could even be established…"No master ever was allowed of the agreement that all employees are kept brought back from the army or navy -- here to take a slave by force to be sold on - but if the workers don't like it they can though if the collier managed to avoid abroad because he deserted from his service, leave. The serfs couldn't. recapture within a year and a day he was or for any other reason whatsoever." Not only were the colliers bound but their free, a situation that appears to have held at This didn't stop slavery in Britain, children were as well. Maybe that wasn't the time of the Norman Conquest of England. however. Even the declaration's drafter, So escape wasn't easy and recapture could Lord Mansfield, had a slave, Elizabeth Dido mean physical punishment. Lashing was one Lindsay, who was not freed until Mansfield's possibility but another forebear, Peter death in 1793 -- in his will he gave her McNeill, wrote some years later of even freedom and an annuity. A declaration more cruel and unusual methods. McNeill similar to Mansfield's was made in Scotland writes that his great grandfather James spoke in 1778. of three favourite means of punishment -- Change only came when economic factors placing an iron collar on the neck and nailing it to a wooden post at the top or at the bottom "The mark of a Scot of all classes [is that] he ... remembers and cherishes the of the pit shaft for a day or… "tying his memory of his forebears, good or bad; hands in front of the gin-horse and and there burns alive in him a sense of compelling him to run round the gin-gang, identity with the dead even to the Mining families in Prestonpans back foremost, before the horse, when twentieth generation." - Robert Louis Stevenson

6 The Scots Canadian freed them all rather than have the hassle of gradually releasing them. The Act of 1799 freed all remaining From the Mailbox Dark as a Dungeon collier bondsmen. Realizing that if miners owed money to the coalmasters (for goods Scottish Studies Society by Merl Travis, Aug 8, 1946 bought in a company store, for instance) P.O. Box 45069 they were still bound, the act made 2482 Yonge Street, incompetent actions for recovery of debts. Toronto, ON M4P 3E3 Come all ye young fellows, It would be nice to think the 1799 Act [email protected] So young and so fine, cured all ills. It didn't. It required 40 or 50 And seek not your fortune years more to prohibit women and boys Way down in the mine. working underground. It'll form like a habit, It is fair to say that genuine surprise was Back in Touch And seep in your soul, my reaction at discovering that my I have been out of the country and just th Till the stream of your blood, ancestors had not been the gallant returned June 19 . I do enjoy the Scots Flows as black as the coal. Highlanders I had once imagined. Perhaps Canadian – keeps me in touch with my because he himself had not known, my heritage. Thanks for keeping in touch. It's dark as a dungeon, father never spoke of our ties to the Constance Stewart Gordon And damp as the dew. Scottish coal mines, but indeed many of Toronto, Ontario The danger is doubled, his generation preferred to forget anything And the pleasures are few. before 1918 -- so many of their friends had Ed: Thanks for the compliment! Great Scots Where the rain never falls, been killed in the war. name by the way! And the sun never shines. In my search, however, I did learn that It's dark as a dungeon, James McNeill was eventually freed but Mac or Mc? Way down in the mine. continued working as a collier; in 1841, at Recently my daughter-in-law returned the age of 80, he was living in Tranent, 10 from Scotland with the information that There's many a man, miles east of Edinburgh and site of the Mc s are Irish and Macs are Scottish and I have seen in my day, battle of Prestonpans in 1745. that if our family is indeed Scottish we Who lived just to labour His great-grandson Peter, the author, should put back the “a” in Mac. Any His whole life away. was born in 1839 and became a pit-boy Comments? Like the fiend with his dope, himself. He attended night school for a William R McLean And the drunkard his wine, couple of years, left the mine in 1859 after Lac Ste. Marie, Quebec A man can have lust, 10 years in it and then for five decades ran For the lure of the mine. a bookstore in Tranent. Peter's brother Ed: You really do not need to worry about David lived nearby in Newtongrange in a putting the “a” back in. Experts assure us that Oh when I am dead two-room house with his wife and eight it is a fallacy that Mc is Irish and Mac is Scottish. Mc is simply an abbreviation of Mac. And the ages shall roll. children. David's eldest boy, also David, My body will blacken (In gaelic: mhic.) Many years ago, people used took some accounting courses and ended M'c and sometimes even M' And turn into coal. as managing director of an Edinburgh Then I'll look from the door, brewery. Of my heavenly home, In the next generation were a provost of And pity the miner, Keeping the Tradition Alive a Scottish town and the mayor of an I happened to be in Canada last May on A-digging my bones. English town, while the next generation holiday from the Birmingham area in after that produced a Queen's Bench judge England and a relative of mine passed me and a Toronto professor. a copy of the Scots Canadian. As I am What, I have sometimes wondered, originally from Scotland I was most as well as humanitarian ones began to be on would James and his descendents have interested to learn things about my native the side of the miners. Remarkably, the costs done if he had had some education? With land from a source so far away! I was of employing serfs in Scottish pits were a greater mind, would the family have had also pleased to see that the Scottish higher than in the (free) English ones, a greater future? Yes, many would insist, heritage is being kept alive so well in probably because owners were increasingly of course. A good friend, however, Canada. On my tour around the Ottawa unable to entice new people into serfdom, reminded me of Maugham's area both in Ontario and Quebec I was even despite the bondage of children. Many story The Verger, who succeeds in constantly reminded of the Scottish pit owners began to urge emancipation business and becomes rich after being fired influence. The best of luck in your possibly so they could lower what they paid from his post at St. Peter's church because attempt to get the University position for their workers. In 1775 the Westminster he couldn’t read or write. With that in established. Parliament passed a bill that said all new mind, my friend says, there is a good Michael Campbell members of the coal industry labour force chance we would all still be working down Brownhills, UK would be free and that current members the pit!  would be freed over the next 10 years. Ed: Thanks for your kind words of support. Wives and children were to he freed on the Professor Emeritus Kenneth McNeill same day as their menfolk. Peter McNeill retired from the University of Toronto’s tells how the miners of the town of Pinkie Physics Department in 1992 but still not unnaturally kept July 3 as a holiday since teaches Physics for the Life Sciences. This it was on that day in 1775 that they became article was originally published in the free. Presumably Abercorn, their owner, University of Toronto Bulletin.

The Scots Canadian 7

Directors of the Scottish Studies Benefactors John H. Macdonald, FSA(Scot) Foundation: Dr. Colin R. Blyth and Valerie Blyth Jim MacNeil, Scottish Imports Thomas L. Foulds Gordon Main William and Nona Heaslip Wilson Markle President (Chairman) James N. Hepburn Gordon Menzies David Hunter Dr. William Ross McEachern William Ross McEachern D.D.C. McGeachy (Nechako Investments Ltd.) Ian A. McKay Vice President & Webmaster Gordon and Shirley Grant M.R. MacLennan Dr. Paul Thomson Dr. E. E. Stewart O.C. Margaret MacLeod The Toronto Gaelic Society Dr. Hugh MacMillan, FSA(Scot) Treasurer Dr. Cicely Watson J.H. Iain MacMillan, FSA(Scot) Alan McKenzie, FSA(Scot) The Hon. Bertha Wilson, C.C. Mary MacMillan, FSA(Scot) Lynton “Red” Wilson, O.C. Jack Martin Secretary Ms. Doris McArthur John H. Macdonald, FSA (Scot) Patrons Dr. K. J. McBey Olwen Anderson Alan McKenzie, FSA(Scot) Directors at large: Mary G. Barnett Capt. Duncan D. McMillan Duncan Campbell John Borthwick John B. McMillan Gordon Hepburn G. Laurence Buchanan William & Audrey Montgomery Dr. Kevin James John H. C. Clarry Ms. Patricia Rae J.H. Iain MacMillan, FSA(Scot) John E. Cleghorn Alastair G. Ramsay Dr. Edward E. Stewart, O.C Bill Sheldon Rankin Dr. James & Mrs. Elma Connor Sadie Reynolds Dr. John H. Cooper Rodger E.T. Ritchie Staff Phyllis M. Corbett Iain Ronald Catherine McKenzie Jansen, Membership Secretary Kenneth L. Coupland Mr. & Mrs. Gary Seagrave 580 Rebecca Street, Oakville, ON L6K 3N9 Nola Crewe & Harold Nelson Helen B. Smith Res: (905) 842-2106 Donald A. Crosbie Bill & April Somerville [email protected] Antony A. Cunningham Helen C. Stevens Custom Scottish Imports Dr. Roselynn Stevenson Dorothy Dunlop A.E. Stewart School for Scottish Studies Office Prof. Elizabeth Ewan David R. Stewart Room 235, MacKinnon Building Dr. & Mrs. G.T. Ewan Dr. Edward E. Stewart, O.C. College of Arts Fergus Scottish Festival & Ian G. Stewart Holdings Ltd. University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1 Mr. & Mrs. Harry S. Ferguson Prof. Ron Sunter Bus: (519) 824-4120 x3209, Fax: (519) 837-8634 Dr. Harry K. Fisher Donald Campbell Sutherland [email protected] Ian Fisher Dr. Paul Thomson and Michelle Perrone Allan C. Fleming Prof. David B. Waterhouse W. Neil & Marie Fraser Mr. & Mrs. M. Watt Honorary Patrons Dr. William & Mrs. M. Fraser John E. Cleghorn John M. Gammell Directors of the Scottish Studies Professor E.J. Cowan Gendis Inc. & Associated Corporations Society: Gina Erichsen Constance C. Gibson Col. the Hon. Henry N.R. Jackman, C.M., O.Ont., Douglas M. Gibson KSt.J. John D. Gilchriese Chair The Hon. Donald S. MacDonald, P.C., C.C. Alastair W. Gillespie, P.C., O.C. John Macdonald, FSA(Scot) MGen. Lewis W. MacKenzie, MSC, O.Ont., C.D. Stan Glass Res: (416) 756-0345, Fax: (416) 756-0549 Kathie Macmillan Malcolm M. Gollert [email protected] Michael I.M. MacMillan Hon. Edwin A. Goodman Q.C., P.C., O.C. Bill R. McNeil Alan Gordon Treasurer Philip Reid James M. Grant, Society of Canada Alan McKenzie, FSA(Scot) Lloyd Robertson, O.C. Mrs. Jean Hedges The Hon. Bertha Wilson, C.C. Iain Hendry Secretary Lynton “Red” Wilson, O.C. Gordon Hepburn Dr Paul Thomson Ms. Geraldine Howitt Maureen Hunt Newsletter Editor The following organizations and David Hunter David Hunter individuals have made charitable contributions James Lamont Hunter to the Scottish Studies Foundation in excess of John & Lorna Hutchinson Directors at large: the basic membership fees since Jan. 1, 2000: Andrew MacAoidh Jergens Christine Boyle Douglas Lackie Duncan Campbell Corporate Sponsors Marion F. Livingston Gordon Hepburn The Harold E. Ballard Foundation Roger Alexander Lindsay Archibald H. McCallum Citibank Canada Ruth S. MacBeth Dr Hugh MacMillan GE Canada Miss Duncan MacDonald J.H. Iain MacMillan, FSA(Scot) Hector Russell Canada Ltd. Hugh K. N. Mackenzie Dr Edward E. Stewart, O.C.

8 The Scots Canadian