In October 1525, Archbishop of Glasgow, Gavin Dunbar wrote an angry hellfire and damnation curse upon the Border Reivers to be read out before mass in the areas the Reivers preyed on. 1478 words long, here are some snippits in modern Scots.
“I CURSE thair heid an aa the hairs o thair heid; I CURSE thair face, thair een, thair mouth, thair nose, thair tongue, thair teeth, thair craig, thair shoulders, thair breist, thair hert, thair stomach, thair back, thair wame, thair arms, thair legs, thair hands, thair feet an ilka pairt o thair body, frae the tap o thair heid tae the sole o thair feet, afore an ahint, within an outwith. I CURSE thaim gangin, an I CURSE thaim ridin; I CURSE thaim staunin, an I CURSE thaim sittin; I CURSE thaim eatin, I CURSE thaim drinkin;”
He goes on:
“I CURSE thaim waukin, I CURSE thaim sleepin; I CURSE thaim risin, I CURSE thaim lyin; I CURSE thaim at hame, I CURSE thaim frae hame; I CURSE thaim in the house, I CURSE thaim out the house…”
He also CURSES: their wives, bairns, servants, crops, cattle, wool, sheep, horses, pigs, geese, hens, livestock, halls, rooms, kitchens, stables, barns, byres, yards, kail, ploughs, harrows…
On 15th Jan 1739, a deadly hurricane hit central Scotland. At Loch Leven winds drove pike and perch by the “horseload” onto the fields that were sold for a penny per hundred. 229 yr later (to the day) was the Great Storm of 1968 which killed 50+ people.
I found this drawing in the Glasgow Mechanics Magazine of 1824 and challenged Twitterfolk to guess its purpose.
Guesses included: haggis-catcher, tattie picker, horse dung collector, strawbaler, and I quote “A musical instrument for the separation of confused pine martens in the wild into groups for strip the willow“.
Known by their scarred faces, the Redskins was Glasgow’s (& Scotland’s) largest ever gang. In 1916 its “queen” was Annie Rennie. She once stabbed a woman 14 times during a square-go. The other woman was fined more as she “was married and should know better”.
The fight started after Annie took exception to Mary Glen singing during the music at a dance hall. Someone shouted “Get aff yer shawl and get in at her!” Sympathy was with Annie because Mary was the wife of a soldier, defending his country, while she went to a dance…
References
The Illustrated Police News. 16th November 1916. pg. 4.
Billie Ritchie (1879-1921) was a Glaswegian actor who built a career on impersonating Charlie Chaplin, though he always claimed that Chaplin stole his act and look. He died after being savaged by ostriches he was mistreating on set.
Fortunes in Old Weird Scotland were made through black slavery. Many of the figures revered as “canny Scots”, were directly involved in, or complicit in colonialism, oppression, exploitation and subjugation (e.g. Livingstone, Monboddo, Burns). Here are *few* times Scots stood up for black slaves and were united against racism in their communities, not so Scots can pat ourselves on the back, but as examples perhaps worth aspiring to.
Depiction of the European slave trade by George Morland
David Spens
In 1769, A slave named “Black Tom”, brought to Methil by David Dalrymple, fled to E. Wemyss and was baptized David Spens. A farmer in Methilhill sheltered Spens but Dalrymple had him jailed in Dysart. The local miners, salters, and labourers took up collection for Spens’s bail (£30) and legal fees. Spens was part of their community and they stood up for him.
A letter written from David Spens to David Dalrymple declaring his freedom.
Ned Johnston
Ned Johnston, a black slave brought to Scotland by Archibald Buchanan in the 1760s (Buchanan Street Buchanans) was helped to escape by his local community and given freedom by magistrates in Glasgow. He was badly abused and his community stood up for him.
Buchanan Street, Glasgow. Named for the Buchanan tobacco lords and slave owners.
Tom Jenkins
Tom Jenkins lived in Teviothead having left West Africa on a slaveship in 1803. He attended the village school and taught himself maths, Latin, & Greek in his spare time.
At age 17, Tom was recommended as the new parish school teacher, but the racist presbytery refused to appoint him. Clearly the best candidate, his community started a fund for a salary and created an independent school for him to teach in. Between 1814 and 1818 he taught up to 45 pupils at a time in the Teviothead Smiddy. With his salary and donations he took classes at the University of Edinburgh and went to teacher training school in London.
Tom Jenkins was Britain’s first black schoolteacher. His community rallied around him and gave him the support he needed when the system in power denied him it.
Peter Burnet, an American runaway slave (but born free in Virginia) came to Paisley and worked as a weaver in the 1780s. Said to be the best dressed man in town, he was well-liked in the weaving community.
Peter was falsely imprisoned after his landlord lied about him owing money. Without work, the weavers, led by the Tannahill family, got him a bed and food and organised his release. The radical weavers looked after their own.
Incidentally, it was Peter who dived into the Candren Burn and retrieved the body of his friend Robert Tannahill after the poet drowned himself in 1810. In 1841, a friend published Peter’s life story so he could support himself in his old age.
“A Sketch of the Life of Peter Burnet”, which went to at least 8 editions, was subtitled “who came to Paisley sixty years ago, where he still lives, a very old and respectable man”. It is well worth a read. Peter Burnet died in 1847 aged 86, an auld Buddy.
Scots today are taught very little about Scotland’s history in establishing and profiting from black slavery. The modern day legacies of the slave trade also get little attention.
You can sit back and say “it wisnae me” when it comes to racism, or you can stand up for those on the receiving end.
These Old Weird Scotland stories are examples of communities using their privilege to help black Scots. We maun dae the same the day.
References
Whyte, I. (2006) Scotland and the abolition of Black slavery, 1756-1838, Edinburgh University Press. 278pp.
A old story goes that “wee Pechs” (Picts) from Rutherglen built Glasgow Cathedral using tunnel network under the Clyde to get to work. A piper and his dog tried to find the route but never came back. His pipes were last heard under Dalmarnock.
Extracts from burgh and kirk session records can sometimes paint a *really* vivid picture of the day to day soap operas that played out in Scotland at the time. Often folk were called in to account for swearing or slandering a fellow citizen. Sometimes, the minute taker took down verbatim what insults were exchanged. Here are some by town:
Stirling (16th and 17th Century)
ane friar’s get! ane friar’s yawde! sclaverand knaif! ane brekair o spowsage! huir (of various kinds, including, raistit, glengoir, blawid, commoun) base borne swyngeour! scheipsteillar! theifous loun!
Dumbarton (17th Century)
ane harlott! witches get! ae baise knaive! a wud thief! a wud loon! huir (debuschit- vile-) clattie badrouns! druken dyvor! slavering, no wordy to dicht schoone! ane rascall!
But it those insults hurled by folk from Elgin between 1592 and 1628 that are my favourites. These are all from the Elgin burgh records:
Elgin (1592-1628)
Ye glangorie witche! Ye auld doitit dyvour! Theiffis get, yir father is borrowit from the widdie! Harlot! Ye hen pyker ye! Ye ar lyk ae witche cairling! Filthy swonjour! Ye choppit on yir teithe lyk ane grandgorie loun! There is lytill guid in yir face ye grandgorie lipper! Spyced harlat! Druken harlat! Wyle harlat! Yir mother is a witch an rowit in a riddell! Awa harlat and thow com heir I sall pat ane boykin in thy hipp! Wagabond! ane fals lyar! Egiptian knaive! Ye skowkand sow, a sow sittis in the sadell! Ye gae wi blanket about yir arse, taw ledder and auld clout schoyn! ane Englisch kneif! Ye mensworne dog! Ye ar tarvaill, ye debtit dyvour!
On the 25th and 26th November 1454, the entire town of Govan was put “in ane flote” by “ane richt gret spait”. Every inhabitant had to sit on the roofs of their “houssis, bernis, and millis” as the flood took them sailing down the Clyde.
he Erskine Ferry was an important part of the Glasgow to Greenock trade route and was the oldest ferry on the Clyde, started in 1777. Here are the tolls for the year 1845. Roughly equivalent to 50p per foot passenger and £15 for a four wheeled carriage.
