John Broadwood
John Broadwood (6 October 1732 – 17 July 1812)
John Broadwood spent his childhood in Oldhamstocks where he inherited his father’s profession as a carpenter/ joiner. In 1761, Broadwood walked almost 400 miles from Oldhamstocks to London where he began working for Burkat Shudi, a Swiss harpsichord maker. Broadwood’s first job was to finish the soundboards and fit them into the harpsichord. In 1765 child prodigy Mozart, visiting London aged 9 played a Shudi harpsichord.
Broadwood later married Shudi’s daughter Barbara. So, in 1771 Shudi handed over the running of his business to his son-in-law. Barbara Shudi Broadwood passed away in 1776, aged 36.
Pianos developed across Europe during the 18th century. The first maker to create an instrument with hammers hitting the strings was Italian, Cristofori who had achieved this in 1709. By 1778, Broadwood was experimenting with the new, ‘piano’.
Broadwood's technical innovations include: patenting the piano pedal and expanding the then-standard five octave range upwards by half an octave and half an octave downwards. By 1784, Broadwood was making more pianos than harpsichords. In 1793 Broadwood completely ceased production of harpsichords altogether.
In 1808, the Firm became ‘John Broadwood & Sons’, when Thomas joined his brother James in the firm. John Broadwood died in 1812.
By 1842 Broadwood were producing 2,500 pianos a year from their factory in Westminster and had grown to be one of London’s largest employers of labour.
After a long period of decline ending in near bankruptcy, the business was rescued in the mid-1980s by a consortium headed up by Geoffrey Simon, a keen amateur pianist and successful businessman from Birmingham. Following the death of Geoffrey Simon, the company was acquired by Alastair Laurence in 2008.
Thomas Broadwood
Thomas Broadwood and Ludwig van Beethoven
In 1817 Thomas Broadwood, set off on an extended tour of Switzerland, Austria and Germany. In Vienna he met Beethoven, who was by then quite unwell and starting to become deaf. Broadwood decided to gift the composer his latest grand piano. He asked five of the most accomplished pianists in London to choose an instrument for Beethoven, from his factory.
The piano was sent from London on 27th December 1817, and arrived at Trieste in early spring, whence it was taken by cart to Vienna. Upon hearing of this gift Beethoven wrote to thank Broadwood, “I have never felt a greater pleasure than your honour’s intimation of the arrival of this piano, with which you are honouring me as a present. I shall look upon it as an altar upon which I shall place the most beautiful offerings of my spirit to the divine Apollo.”
Beethoven cherished the piano, and he used it to write many of his later works including the sonata ‘Hammerklavier’(op.106).
But as Beethoven grew older, he became frustrated by deafness, and inflicted severe damage on the piano. It was reported to Broadwood in 1824 that “the broken strings were mixed uplike a thorn bush in a gale”.
After Beethoven’s death C Anton Spina, a Viennese music publisher purchased the instrument. He subsequently presented it to Franz Liszt in 1845, and Liszt put the piano in his library in Weimar. He later donated it to the Hungarian National Museum, where the piano can still be seen, and sometimes heard.
In 1992 pianist Melvyn Tan, famous for his work with early instruments, played the piano at a number of concerts across Europe (Vienna, Bonn, Bath, and London).
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
John Lennon bought a Broadwood Piano in 1966. It is described as a (Victorian) cottage upright piano.
Lennon gifted the piano to an old friend, but before doing so he had a small brass plaque affixed towards the top of the bass-end sideboard. It reads…
‘On this piano was written:
A day in the life.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Good morning, Good morning.
Being for the benefit of Mr. Kite.
And many others
John Lennon 1971’
The piano sold at auction on 23/04/2019 for $718,750. The purchaser was Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts (American Football Team).
Rev. Thomas Hepburn
Rev. Thomas Hepburn (est. 1506 - 07 June 1585}
The Reformation was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in particular to papal authority, arising from what were perceived to be errors, abuses, and discrepancies by the Catholic Church. The Reformation was the start of Protestantism and the split of the Western Church into Protestantism and what is now the Roman Catholic Church.
The Reformation in Scotland culminated ecclesiastically in the establishment of a church along reformed lines, and politically in the triumph of English influence over that of France.The leader of the Scottish reformation was John Knox.
The Reformation Parliament of 1560 repudiated the pope's authority by the Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560, forbade the celebration of the Mass and approved a Protestant Confession of Faith. It was made possible by a revolution against French hegemony under the regime of the regent Mary of Guise, who had governed Scotland in the name of her absent daughter Mary, Queen of Scots.
He was appointed the first minister of Oldhamstocks in 1562.
In 1567 he requested the services of John Craig (formerly of Holyrood House) in proclaiming Mary, Queen of Scots’ marriage with his relative the Earl of Bothwell. Two days after the marriage he received the famous Casket Letters on behalf of Bothwell, but was seized, and the casket and its contents taken from him. On the escape of Queen Mary from Lochleven, on the 2nd of May 1568, he and twenty men attempted to retake Dunbar Castle for the Queen but was defeated in his attempts by the forces of Alexander Home, 5th Lord Home.
Later in 1568 he was removed from ministry at Oldhamstocks, and the Assembly deposed him for heresy, he having taught that "no soul entereth heaven until the last judgment." He was restored as minister in 1577.
Father James Bonaventure Hepburn
Bonaventure Hepburn OM (born James Hepburn; 14 July 1573, Oldhamstocks – October 1620 or 1621, Venice, Italy) was a Scottish Roman Catholic linguist, lexicographer, philologist and biblical commentator. He was a scholar of some renown and rose to the post of Keeper of Oriental Books and Manuscripts at the Vatican.
In 1591 he published a work on his study of the Hebrew language and in 1616 his work on other foreign languages was published as The Heavenly Golden Rod of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Seventy-two Praises (also known as Virga Aurea), a listing of 72 different alphabets. He was also known for translating into the Latin language the Kettar Malcuth of Rabbi Solomon.
James was educated in the Reformed religion, and studied at the University of St. Andrews, where he became a convert to Popery. He soon after passed over to France, and from thence proceeded into Italy. He then travelled through Turkey, Persia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Ethiopia, and most of the countries of the East. He is said to have acquired no less than seventy-two different languages. On his return from his eastern travels, he embraced the monastic life, and entered into a convent of Minims in the vicinity of Avignon. After residing there for sometime, he removed to Rome, and retired into the monastery of the Holy Trinity. The fame of his acquirements soon reached the ears of Pope Paul V., by whom he was appointed librarian of the oriental books and manuscripts in the Vatican. In this situation he remained for six years. A Hebrew and Chaldiac Dictionary, and an Arabic Grammar, compiled by him, forming one volume quarto, appeared at Rome in 1591. He also published translations from Hebrew manuscripts, and other works, amounting altogether to twenty-nine. About 1620 he went to Venice with an intention of translating some Hebrew, Syriac, and Chaldiac writings, and died there in that or the following year.
The Virga Aurea of James Hepburn published in 1616
The Virga Aurea, or to give the full title,"The Heavenly Golden Rod of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Seventy-two Praises" consists of a list of seventy two alphabets (actually seventy, plus Latin and Hebrew which are the two languages of the text of the plate). Some of the alphabets are those of known languages - Greek, Hibernian, Phoenician, while others are magical alphabets, Angelic, Coelestial, Seraphic, Solomonic, etc.
[Section below the figure of the Virgin translated by Patricia Tahil]
To Our Most Blessed Father And Lord, Pope Paul The Fifth, In Eternal Happiness Led astray by the deceits and deceptions of the Evil Spirit, antiquity held its peace from assisting seekers of the Laurel Bough; the darkness of error having been dispelled from the Gentiles by the rising of the Sun of Justice, may it now be allowed to seekers to prefer salvation, safety, and the Rod of Jesse, our golden branch, namely the Virgin Mary. So, 0 Most Blessed of Princes, sketched by my pencil from the sacred page, in colours that were to hand, arranged in a garland of seventy-two praises, surrounded by flowers and various pleasant numerical symbols, or adorned with ribbons, I most humbly place and fasten this votive picture at the feet of the Most Blessed Virgin. After much midnight striving, may I make pledge of my soul, yearning and striving long years after the Blessed Virgin, to the success of the Rule in which we are blessed, and to its long and eternal fruitfulness, so that it may please Omnipotent God to be kind to His Church, which you most deservedly lead, and most wisely rule. And whom may I not compel, armed with the Blessed Rod? That which God made as the Staff of Moses, famous and venerable in power, Moses was by this the greater and more heavenly, since he was ruler of a part, the severed bough, and may, by the Good Rod, be ruler of the whole world. With the aid of the Blessed Rod, but also by bloody sacrifice, the one (i.e. Moses) was Head of the Synagogue, the other (i.e. the Pope), by the blessing of the bloodless Rod is Great Pontiff of the Catholic Church. The one knew the appearance of truth, by the blessing of the Rod, and was the predecessor of Christ; the other, by the blessing of the Rod, is his successor, endowed with the twin, or extensive, royal and priestly Rod. For Moses subdued serpents with his Rod, parted the Sea, and drew water from the rock. By his blessed staff, the Pope makes the Rock (or Body of Christ) from bread, and His Precious Blood from Wine, crosses Hell, and bars or opens Heaven; he kills the old serpent,and recent heretical serpents.
One type of the Blessed Rod is that of Moses, famous for signs and true miracles, the other, more expressive of the Most Blessed Maiden, is of the character of Jesse's Rod.
Deign therefore, 0 Most Blessed of Princes, to accept this tiny little gift of devotion to the Most Blessed Virgin, and to look kindly on my theory of the Holy Rod, and to embrace and cherish me in kindness, as you are accustomed to do with all the smallest sons of the Church.
Father James Bonaventure Hepburn, Scot.
Order of St Francis de Paul.
John Currie
John Currie was born in Ochiltree in Ayrshire, around 1670.
After obtaining licence, Currie received a call in 1694 to the parish of Oldhamstocks, in the shire of Haddington. His ordination took place on the 14th March 1695. Possessed of attractive preaching gifts, he early drew to himself the attention of larger congregations. Two years after his settlement, the parishioners of Elgin desired to secure him as their minister. The Presbytery, however, refused to translate him. About the same time, the people of Prestonkirk sought him to come to them, but their call was also set aside. In 1701 he was instrumental in erecting a new church in Oldhamstocks.
Before he left Oldhamstocks, Currie married Sarah, daughter of Archibald Riddell, minister then at Kirkcaldy, afterwards in Edinburgh. The lady had already been sought in marriage by a neighbouring minister. Turnbull tells the story, for the would-be benedict apparently was too bashful to make his proposal in person. On the 9th April 1701, Turnbull writes “At the desire of Mr Hugh Darlin, minister at Ennerweeke, I proposed a design of marriage betwixt him and Sarah Riddell, to Mr Archibald Riddell, minister at Kirkcaldy, her father,” Even if the ambassador was successful in his delicate mission, the marriage did not take place, owing doubtless to the death, in a few months, of the youthful minister of Innerwick. By Currie’s marriage to Miss Riddell on the 26th November 1703, he became the son-in -law of a man who had fought a good fight in the old days, for he had been imprisoned on the Bass Rock for three years, and had also suffered much at the hands of the French, by whom he was taken prisoner when returning from New Jersey after the Revolution.
He was translated to St Mary's in Haddington in 1704.
In 1709 he succeeded Rev William Carstares as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the highest position in the Scottish church. Despite being notably young for the appointment he was praised for his duties in the office, and mention was made of his "prudent conduct".
He died on 18 June 1720. His position in Haddington was filled by Rev Patrick Wilkie.
Alexander Carse (c.1770 – February 1843) was a Scottish painter known for his scenes of Scottish life.
Carse was born in Innerwick, East Lothian. He studied at the Trustees Drawing Academy of Edinburgh, where he learned Dutch painting. He was taught by David Allan, who was a strong influence on his early style. By 1808 he was described as the best painter of village scenes by the Scottish antiquarian the 11th Earl of Buchan.
The 1796 Carse painted ‘Oldhamstocks Fair’ which is an important record of this village and clearly depicts a vibrant market with some of the landscape setting of the village shown in the background.
By his early thirties Carse exhibited in London at the Royal Academy and at the British Institution. For the next eight years he worked hard to establish himself as a competitor to David Wilkie. One of his largest and most detailed paintings is of the Royal visit by George IV to Leith in 1822.
In the 1830s Alexander Carse was living at 68 Abbey Hill, Edinburgh. Carse died in poverty in 1843, although the precise place and date of his death are unknown.
Sir John Hall of Dunglass, 3rd Baronet (died 3 July 1776), was one of the Grand Jury for the trial of the Jacobite rising of 1745 rebels at Edinburgh, 1748.
He was retoured heir of line and conquest on 4 January 1750, to his uncle, William Hall of Whitehall, near Chirnside, one of the Principal Clerks of the Court of Session. (National Archives, GD206/1/63).
Hall married Magdalen, daughter of Sir Robert Pringle and was succeeded by his son Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet.
Hall made his home at Dunglass Castle, East Lothian, building a summerhouse and bowling green on the site of an artillery fort constructed during the war known as the Rough Wooing.
One of Scotland's pioneering geologists, James founded the field of experimental geology. Born at Dunglass, East Lothian, he studied at Cambridge, Edinburgh, and Brienne in France (alongside Napoleon Bonaparte). While studying in Edinburgh he attended classes taught by Joseph Black and John Walker.
Towards the end of the C18, many theories regarding the origins of Earth’s rocks circulated among the scientific community, one of which focussed on igneous rocks. One school of thought suggested that igneous rocks were deposited in primeval oceans (Neptunists), while another argued that they were derived from the intense heat and pressure of volcanic activity (Plutonists).
James was initially a Neptunist but after spending time with James Hutton he set out to help prove Hutton’s theories by designing and building a furnace in which he heated basalt and limestone, and showed that basalt returned to its original structure, while limestone cooled into marble. He went on to demonstrate through various experiments, the extent of the effects of volcanic activity and pressure upon rock formation.
After succeeding to the Dunglass baronetcy aged 15, James was M.P. for St Michael’s in Cornwall in 1807 & 1812, and President of The Royal Society of Edinburgh.
James Hall’s wife, Lady Helen Hall is the subject of a 2013 biography by Sally Wilson Lady Helen Hall,Lang-heidit Lady, which details her life and achievements at a time in which women were rarely recognised for roles outside marriage and child-bearing.
(“Seal Lives 9: Sir James Hall of Dunglass — The WS Society”)
In the Spring of 1788, the geologist Sir James Hall together with John Playfair and James Hutton set off from Dunglass Burn in a boat heading east along the coast looking for evidence to support Hutton's theory that rock formations were laid down in an unending cycle over immense periods of time. They found examples of Hutton's Unconformity at several places, first of which was an outcrop at Siccar Point.
Hutton's Unconformity describes various notable geological sites in Scotland identified by James Hutton. This marks the location where formations created at different times adjoin. An unconformity is any break in the normal progression of sedimentary deposits, which are laid the newer on top of the older.
Basil Hall was born on 31 December 1788, the son of Sir James Hall of Dunglass Baronet and the Honourable Lady Helen Douglas. The entry in the Old Parish Register (OPR) for Oldhamstocks gives the date of baptism at Dunglass as 8 January 1789. He was educated at the Royal High School and joined the Royal Navy in 1802, being commissioned a Lieutenant in 1808, and later rising to the rank of captain.
He served aboard many vessels involved in exploration, scientific and diplomatic missions. Throughout his naval career, he kept a journal, which later became the source for a series of books and publications describing his travels.
While serving aboard HMS Endymion, Hall witnessed Sir John Moore being carried dying from the Battle of Corunna. He also met William Howe De Lancey, who later married his sister Magdalene. De Lancey was struck by a cannonball at the Battle of Waterloo, and it was for her brother that Magdalene wrote A Week at Waterloo in 1815, a poignant narrative describing how she nursed him in his final days.
In 1810 he voyaged to Rockall aboard the Endymion and in 1811 was part of the first landing party there. His described his exploits in Fragments of Voyages and Travels.
In 1813, Hall published a description of the granitic intrusions within the sedimentary sandstone structures that he saw in the Platteklip Gorge near the Table Mountain in the Cape of Good Hope. The phenomenon was re-examined at another location by Charles Darwin in 1836.
Hall explored Java in 1813 and as a part of a diplomatic mission to China under Lord Amherst in 1816 undertook surveys of the west coast of Korea and the outlying Ryukyu Islands of Japan. This resulted in his book Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea and the Great Loo-Choo Island in the Japan Sea (1818), which was one of the first descriptions of Korea by a European.
In 1817 he also took the opportunity to interview Napoleon (who had been an acquaintance of his father) on St. Helena. In 1820 he sailed HMS Conway to the west coast of South America. His journals of this period became the book, Extracts from a Journal Written on the Coasts of Chile, Peru and Mexico.
Following his retirement from the navy in 1823, Hall married Margaret Congalton. In 1826, when Sir Walter Scott was sunk in depression following his wife's death and financial ruin, it was Hall who organised a trip to Naples for Scott, managing to persuade the government to place a ship at his disposal. In 1828 Hall and his wife embarked on a two-year tour of North America. Hall published Travels in North America, which caused some offence due to his criticisms of American society.
Suffering from mental illness, Hall was detained in the Royal Hospital Haslar in Portsmouth, where he died in 1844, aged 55.
Below is an etching made by Basil Hall. The etchings were prepared from "sketches [made with the] Camera Lucida, an instrument invented by the late Dr. Wollaston". The views are of particular value and interest because of the character of truth preserved by the mechanical accuracy of the Camera Lucida.
Sir Alexander Nisbet
Sir Alexander Nisbet (6 April 1796 – 22 June 1874) was a Scottish naval surgeon notable for his role in early convict transports to Australia, and as HM Inspector of Hospitals for the Royal Navy.
Alexander Nisbet born in Oldhamstocks to Margaret Patterson and Captain Alexander Nisbet. At age 16, he joined the British Royal Navy Medical Service. He saw active service during the American War (1812-1814). In 1823 he completed a doctorate in medicine at the University of Edinburgh, submitting a dissertation entitled Pneumonia Typhode. He then began a long and successful career as a surgeon-superintendent serving on seven convict ships transporting convicts from the UK to Australia (1824-1840).
In January 1830 Nisbet returned to Australia to work as assistant commissioner for the Australian Agricultural Company. In 1841 he was included on the list of surgeons for the Royal Navy. In 1844 Nisbet became deputy director of Hospitals at Greenwich. Nisbet also worked in 1844 as deputy medical inspector of hospitals and fleets on half-pay.
On 12 December 1854, at Arley, Staffordshire, he married Lucy Susannah Davenport, daughter of the Rev. E.S. Davenport. In 1855, Nisbet was appointed Inspector of Hospitals and Fleets at Haslar Royal Hospital, retiring from the Royal Navy in 1861.
He was appointed as Honorary Physician to Queen Victoria in 1873 and later that year he was knighted by Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone.
He died of "natural decay" at his home Arley Lodge in Lee, London at the age of 79, and is buried in Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries.
John Nesbitt
Formed in 1586, the Scots Brigade was a brigade of the Dutch States Army. By the late 17th century it usually comprised six infantry regiments, three recruited primarily from Scotland and three from England.
During the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748), part of the Scots Brigade was in garrison in the city of Bergen-op-Zoom in 1747 when a French army besieged the city. What started as a diversion to draw away the British, Austrian and Dutch troops from the main attack on Maastricht, became a lengthy siege that ended in tragedy when French troops stormed and captured the city. The battalions counter attacked several times, until forced to withdraw. By then, only 200 officers and men of an original number of 800 remained.
In 1800 the Edinburgh Herald recorded the death of “John Nesbitt, at Oldhamstocks, in his 107th year, an old brigademan who had been wounded by a bayonet at the famous siege of Bergen-op-Zoom.”
The image on the right is "The attack on Bergen-op-Zoom" from p. 513 of the 1873 book British Battles on Land and Sea, volume 2.
Alexander Somerville
Alexander Somerville (1811–1885), journalist and soldier, was born on 15 March 1811, at Springfield, Oldhamstocks, East Lothian, the youngest of eleven children of James Somerville, a farm labourer, and Mary Orkney, who before marriage had been a servant in a farmer's house.
Somerville joined the Royal Scots Greys regiment of the British Army. In May 1832, during the disturbances caused by the Reform Bill, Somerville wrote to a newspaper claiming that the army would protect property but would not stop citizens exercising their rights and would not support a military government. Officers in the army wanted to punish him but because he had not broken the law they ordered him at riding school to ride an unruly horse. When he dismounted and refused to remount he was court-martialled and sentenced to 100 lashes. He was supported by newspapers and MPs as they believed he had been punished for his political opinions. The court of inquiry acquitted his commanding officer but Somerville's questioning of the officers aroused suspicions that he had been flogged for the letter. He purchased his discharge from the army after a subscription was raised.
Writings
- History of the British Legion, and War in Spain (1839).
- Public and Personal Affairs (1839).
- Dissuasive Warnings to the People on Street Warfare, 7 numbers (1839).
- Memoirs of Serjeant Paul Swanston, being a Narrative of a Soldier's Life (1840).
- The Autobiography of a Working Man (1848)
- The Autobiography of a Working Man (1848); new edition with introduction by J. Carswell (1951).
- The Autobiography of a Working Man (1848); new edition with introduction by J. Carswell (1951).
- The Whistler at the Plough, 3 vols. (1852–3).
- The Whistler at the Plough, 3 vols. (1852–3); facsimile edition with introduction by K.D.M. Snell (1989), pp. iii–xxxi.
- The Whistler at the Plough, 3 vols. (1852–3); facsimile edition with introduction by K.D.M. Snell (1989), pp. iii–xxxi.
- Free Trade and the League, 2 vols. (1853).
- Life of Roger Mowbray (1853)
- Cobdenic Policy the Internal Enemy of England (1854).
- Conservative Science of Nations, being the First Complete Narrative of Somerville's Diligent Life in the Service of Public Safety in Britain (1860).
- Narrative of the Fenian Invasion of Canada (1866).
- Case of Colonel Booker. The Court of Inquiry Reviewed RG 330 Brock University Library Digital Repository
James Hardy
James Hardy LL.D. born 1st June 1815 in Oldhamstocks was a Scottish naturalist and antiquarian.
He was secretary of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club from 1871 until at least 1896. At least two species have been named in his honour.
Hardy was the eldest son of George Hardie and his wife Elizabeth. He was educated at a local village school or schools. In about 1833, he entered the University of Edinburgh, where he studied for four sessions (including one spent at Glasgow, to attend a special class). It seems that his health was never good, and that (despite having been a good student) he was for one reason or another unsuited for a profession. He returned home, where he remained for some years, although he continued to study. From 1840 or 1846, he taught at an academy in Gateshead, for some years; but his health again gave way. He returned to Berwickshire, and remained there for the rest of his life.
He subsequently became a prolific writer about, and an authority on, the natural history and folklore of Berwickshire and the Scottish Borders. He formally joined Berwickshire Naturalists' Club until 1863; but in 1871 was appointed its co-secretary, with Dr Francis Douglas; and after the death of Douglas in 1886, served as sole secretary until 1896, when he was joined in that office by the Rev. George Gunn.
In 1881, in recognition of his voluntary services, the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club presented him with an inscribed microscope, and a cheque for £111 towards the binding of his collection of books, pamphlets and manuscripts. In April 1890, the University of Edinburgh conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. honoris causa, a high distinction. Two months later, the club not only acclaimed it, but presented him with a handsomely illuminated address and a cheque for £400.
Following his death on 30th September 1898 he was interred at Coldingham Abbey, Berwickshire; where he is commemorated in a stained-glass window.
George Wilson
George Wilson was born 1845 and declared in the 1901 Census that he had been born at Oldhamstocks, East Lothian.
When his friend, architect Sydney Mitchell went into professional practice using family contacts to gain commissions, and having a prestigious office at 122 George Street, Edinburgh, Wilson became his assistant. They had a lifelong relationship. Their first commission came in 1883, for the proprietor of The Scotsman newspaper, John Ritchie Findlay, whose home, 3 Rothesay Terrace, they remodelled. Another significant early commission was for Well Court, a workers' housing development in Dean Village, Edinburgh, which they worked on between 1883 and 1886. The same year, Mitchell was appointed architect to the Commercial Bank and designed or remodelled over 20 branches. In 1885, he restored Edinburgh's Mercat Cross. This led to a commission to recreate several of Edinburgh's demolished medieval buildings, including the Netherbow, as part of the Edinburgh Exhibition of 1886.
Wilson became a partner in 1887; practicing as Sydney Mitchell & Wilson, they were appointed by the Board of Lunacy in Scotland, with commissions for Craighouse in Edinburgh, the Crichton Royal Institution in Dumfries, Melrose Asylum, and the Royal Victoria Hospital in Edinburgh. Their last major project was the United Free Church of Scotland Offices on George Street, Edinburgh (1908).
Wilson was elected FRIBA on 2 December 1907. Not long after his election to Fellow he retired from the professional life, ceasing to 'take an active part in business matters'. Having been 'in indifferent health for some time' he died in St Andrews on 13 September 1912.
Robert Cranston
Robert Stafford Cranston (10 March 1890 —20 November 1959) was a Scottish first-class cricketer and civil servant.
Cranston was born in March 1890 at Oldhamstocks. He played for both Brunswick and Dunfermline Cricket clubs and made his debut for Scotland against Ireland. He played two further first-class matches for Scotland in 1923, against Ireland at Dublin and Surrey at Glasgow. Cranston scored 35 runs in his three matches at an average of 17.50, with a highest score of 31. Outside of cricket, Cranston was employed as a clerk by the Air Ministry.
William Geddes
William George Nicholson Geddes CBE DSc FRSE FEng (29 July 1913 – 10 November 1993) was a Scottish civil engineer.
George Geddes was born in Oldhamstocks to Ina Nicholson and William Brydon Geddes. His early education was at Dunbar Grammar School.
He studied civil engineering at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with a BSc in 1934 and gaining a "blue" in football. He worked for the various companies before joining Babtie, Shaw and Morton in 1942. He became a partner of the firm in 1950 and senior partner from 1976 to 1978. His specialist experience was structural engineering which led to an interest in hydro-electric projects, dams, shipyards, docks and industrial developments.
Geddes' notable projects include the design of the Allt na Lairige dam, Argyllshire. This was the first concrete dam in western Europe, and possibly the world, to be prestressed by using high tensile steel bars, bolted either end, to compress the structure.
One of his outstanding achievements was the major shipbuilding dock at the head of the Musgrave Channel in Belfast for Harland and Wolff. The dock was the largest in the World when it was completed in 1970. In 1975, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
As well as being active in Scottish branches of professional institutions, he was elected President of all three of the Institutions in which he took a keen interest: the Institution of Structural Engineers in 1971–72, the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland 1977–79, and the Institution of Civil Engineers between November 1979 and November 1980. In 1975, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1978.
JAMES BATHGATE
James Traill Bathgate
Age 22
Private (325542) 1/8th Battalion, Royal Scots.
James of Drylawhill (East Linton) enlisted as Private (1849) in the Territorial 8th Royal Scots in November 1915. He joined his battalion in France in May 1916. James was wounded and taken prisoner at Cambrai in March 1918.
Born 1896 at East Linton.
Son of Adam and Marion Miller (Hall) Bathgate of Drylawhill and of Ferneylea, Oldhamstocks.
Died of wounds on 12 April 1918 and buried in Niederzwehren Cemetery, Kassel, Germany. His Headstone is inscribed ” He Gave His All For Us”.
JOSEPH COLTHERD
Age 23
Private (S/5751) 7th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders.
Joseph enlisted at Lauder and he landed with his battalion at Boulogne in May 1915, but he was killed four months later on the first day of the Battle of Loos.
Born 1891 in Innerwick.
Son of the late John Coltherd (died 1910) and Janet (Stewart) Coltherd of Aikengall, Oldhamstocks.
Missing in action on 25 September 1915 and named on the Loos Memorial, France.
JOHN GRIEVE
John Skeldon Grieve
Age 24
Private (15004) 12th Battalion, Royal Scots.
John was a gardener on the Dunglass Estate when he enlisted. He landed with his battalion in France in May 1915. He fell in the attack on Bernafay Wood which was captured with relatively few casualties. However the Germans then heavily shelled the wood causing numerous casualties amongst the garrison of Royal Scots and the 6th Kings Own Scottish Borderers.
Born 1892 in Bilsdean.
Son of the late Agnes (Skeldon) Grieve (died 1914) and of James Grieve of Dunglass.
Missing in action on 8 July 1916 and named on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, France.
ROBERT GRAINGER
Adam Robert Grainger
Age 39
Private (45841) 12th Battalion, Royal Scots.
Robert was a clerk living at 50 Park Road Westin, Glasgow when he enlisted in December 1915. He was posted to France and joined the 13th Royal Scots in June 1917, but he was wounded at the end of July and after treatment at the 18th General Hospital he was evacuated to Cambuslang War Hospital near Glasgow. He returned to France and joined the 12th Royal Scots in December 1917. He fell during the German Spring Offensive on the River Lys where the foe was pushing back the British 19th Division near the White Chateau which was just south of the Ypres-Comines Canal sector. The Battalion at this stage prevented the Germans from turning the flank of the 19th Division and helped to prevent any break through. Most of the casualties were caused by very heavy artillery shelling.
Born 1878 in Oldhamstocks.
Son of the late Elizabeth Davidson (Bishop) Grainger (died 1913) of the Schoolhouse, Oldhamstocks and of Adam Grainger of Corrennie Drive, Morningside, Edinburgh.
Missing in action on 11 April 1918 and named on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.
THOMAS GRAY
Age 26
Private (15345) 13th Battalion, Royal Scots.
Thomas landed with his battalion in France in July 1915. He was captured in May 1916 and died two and a half years later in the Working Camp at Wulkau near Stendel. On the 13th May 1916 the Battalion was subjected to a surprise German assault near the Hoenzollern Redoubt in the Loos sector of the Front. After a devastating bombardment some of the front line trenches were lost and 236 other rank were killed wounded and missing. It may have been here Private Gray was captured. He was re-interred in Berlin in 1922/23.
Born 1892 in Cockburnspath.
Son of Thomas and Janet (Lyall) Gray of Cove, Cockburnspath.
Died on Service on 23 October 1918 and buried in Berlin South-Western Cemetery, Germany.
RICHARD S. LITSTER
Richard Scambler Litster
Age 19
Gunner (67936)"A" Depot, Royal Garrison Artillery.
Richard was employed as a grocer in Cockburnspath when he enlisted. He was discharged from the army and died of consumption at the family home at Bilsdean.
Born 1897 in Oldhamstocks.
Son of George and Isabella (Tod) Litster of Bilsdean.
Died on 19 December 1916 and buried in Oldhamstocks Parish Churchyard. (CWG)
WILLIAM B. ROBERTSON
William Beaufort Robertson
Age 22
Lance Corporal (1779) 1st Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
William had been serving with the 2nd Black Watch for five years. In August 1914 they were at Bareilly in India and moved to France, landing at Marseilles on 12 October 1914. William was invalided home in early 1915 and was posted to the 1st Black Watch when he had recovered. He fell in the attempt to recapture part of the Hoenzollern Redoubt which had just been taken by the Germans. His Company reached the German trenches but the wire was uncut and there were machine guns on the flanks. Time and time again attempts were made to get through the wire but in vain. Six officers and 66 other ranks were killed and four officers and 163 other ranks were wounded in these attempts.
Born 1892 in Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Son of George and Hannah Robertson of Bilsdean and of Lawson Place, Dunbar.
Missing in Action on 13 October 1915 and named on the Loos Memorial, France.
JAMES SCAMBLER
Age 34
Private (9395) 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
James was a foreman surfaceman with the North British Railway Company when as a reservist he was mobilised in August 1914 and he joined his battalion in France on 21 August. He died on the first day of the Battle of Loos along with 79 of his Argyll and Sutherland comrades.
Born 1880 in Innerwick.
Son of Richard and Janet (Litster) Scambler of Branxton.
Husband of Elizabeth (Manderson) Scambler of Bilsdean who he married in 1911 in Olhamstocks.
Killed in action on 25 September 1915 and buried in Cambrin Churchyard Extension, France. His Headstone is inscribed ” Father In Thy Gracious Keeping Leave We Now Thy Servant Sleeping”.
GEORGE A. SCOTT
George Archibald Scott
Age 40
Private (45718) 10th (Works) Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers.
George was transferred as Private (175468) to the 258th Area Employment Company, 4th Labour Battalion, Labour Corps when it was formed in April 1917. Sometime after that he went to France but he died in the 14th Stationary Hospital at Wimille.
Born 1878 in Dunbar.
Son of George and Jane Bruce (Heugh) Scott of 97 High Street, Dunbar.
Husband of Ellen Elizabeth (Elliot) Scott, of Oldhamstocks who he married in 1901 in Edinburgh.
Died on active service on 19 August 1918 and buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, France. His Headstone is inscribed ” Waiting For The Coming Of Our Lord Jesus Christ”.
ADAM T. SKELDON
Adam Tulloch Skeldon
Age 33
Private (235338) 4th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders.
In November 1915 Adam was a gardener, living at High Street, Lauder when he was injured in a car accident. He enlisted and served as Private in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders but he was transferred to the Seaforths in France.
Born 1883 in Oldhamstocks.
Son of the late Isabella (McKenzie) Skeldon (died 1887) and of David Skeldon of Oldhamstocks.
Husband of Helen or Nellie (Preston) Skeldon of East Pinkerton, Dunbar who he married in 1910 in Oldhamstocks.
Missing in action on 20 September 1917 and named on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.
JOHN THOMSON
Age 23
Private (325412) 1/8th Battalion, Royal Scots.
John as Private and his brother George enlisted in the Territorial 8th Royal Scots in November 1914.
Born 1893 in Oldhamstocks.
Son of George and Euphemia (Hendrie) Thomson of Oldhamstocks.
Missing in action on 1 August 1916 and named on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, France.
and his brother
GEORGE THOMSON
Age 22
Private (43687) 16th Battalion, Royal Scots.
The 16th Battalion was known as “McRae’s Battalion” after its founder Sir George McRae. It was formed in November 1914 from professional footballers from Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Falkirk, Raith Rovers, Dunfermline and their supporters. By 1917, however, many of the originals had gone.
George of Oldhamstocks Mill enlisted as Private in the Territorial 8th Royal Scots in November 1914. He went to France in July 1916 and was posted to the 16th Royal Scots in October but due to illness he was evacuated home. George rejoined his battalion in France in March 1917, but he was fatally wounded a month later during the Battle of Arras.
Born 1895 in Oldhamstocks.
Son of George and Euphemia (Hendrie) Thomson of Oldhamstocks.
Died of wounds on 25 April 1917 and buried in Haute-Avesnes British Cemetery, France. His headstone is inscribed ” Thou Wilt Keep Him In Perfect Peace Whose Mind Is Stayed On Thee”.
Above information courtesy of The Scottish Military Research Group - Commemorations Project and The Coldstream & District Local History Society
David Stuart Drysdale (born 19 March 1975) is a Scottish professional golfer.
Drysdale currently (2023) competes in The Challenge Tour and The Asian Tour.
The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe.
The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for World Golf Ranking points.
'David Drysdale has revealed how skipping school in Dunbar to spend his days playing golf led to a career that has enabled him to join an exclusive club in the European game.
Drysdale lived in Oldhamstocks, which sits right on the boundary between Berwickshire and East Lothian, when he used to get the school bus to Dunbar, the nearest big town. "He completed that journey for the first couple of years at secondary school, but not after he’d caught the golf bug.
“We used to pass Dunbar Golf Club,” he recalled. “Bob Purvis, who was a member at Dunbar, used to drive the bus. He used to kindly, if it was a nice day, let me off at the top of the golf course road. I would walk down, play golf all day, and he would pick me up on the way home. My mum would always ask how school was and I would say, ‘Oh it was fine’'.
(“David Drysdale: From bunking off school to play golf to European Tour ...”)
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