Auld Earlston: October 2023

Thursday 19 October 2023

More Earlston Far Flung Connections

Jeff Price's recent blog post took us on a lighthearted tour of Earlston's contribution to world history. It prompted me to consider more Earlston folk who made their mark beyond the village.

What connects Earlston Sunday School trip to Iowa farmland? This blog post takes us from Earlston Sunday School trip to a Scottish offshore prison to the Australian Gold Rush and whaling, before arriving in Iowa. All, of course linked to Earlston.

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Earlston Sunday School trips were by tradition to Spittal, in Northumberland. However after a young girl (not from Earlston) was drowned there, the venue was changed to North Berwick.

North Berwick is notable for many things and one is that you can take the boat trip out to the Bass Rock, famous for its bird colony, described by David Attenborough as "one of hte wildlife wonders of the world".

But the Bass Rock has a dark secret - it was one of Scotland's offshore prisons and one man who was held here was Earlston born Alexander Shields.

ALEXANDER SHIELDS (1661-1700) life spanned Earlston, the Bass Rock off the East Lothian coast and Scotland's failed Darien Scheme for an overseas settlement,

He was born in Earlston at Hauighhead Mill in 1661 - the home for generations of the Shields Family.

The site of Haughhead Mill, 2018

Alexander became a Presbyterian Minister, a Covenanter and an author.

Covenanters were those who signed the National Covenant in 1638 to confirm their opposition to the interference by the Stuart kings in the affairs of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Alexander Shields was brought before the Judiciary Council for holding private worship services and was imprisoned on the Bass Rock before being returned to the Tolbooth Prison in Edinburgh from where he escaped.

The Bass Rock off the cost at North Berwick.

He went onto write his most famous work "The Hind Let Loose" asserting the rights of the individual .

With his brother Michael, he joined the ill fated Second Darien Expedition in 1699.

The Darien Scheme was Scotland's ambitious attempt to become a world trading nation by establishing a colony called "Caledonia" on the isthmus of Panama on the Gulf of Darien in the late 1690s. Thousands of ordinary Scots invested money in the expedition, to the tune of approximately £500,000. Five ships sailed from Leith in July 1698 with 1,200 people on board.

But the project was beset by poor planning and provisioning, divided leadership and finally disease. Seven months after arriving, 400 Scots were dead. More ships set sail from Leith in November 1699 loaded with a further 1,300 pioneers,unaware of the fate of the earlier settlers. The colony was finally abandoned in 1700 after a siege by Spanish forces,

Only one ship returned out of the total of sixteen that had originally sailed. With the loss of the £500,000 investment, the Scottish economy was almost bankrupted.

Alexander set sail to return to Scotland, but died of fever in Jamaica in 1700, never returning to his homeland at Earlston.

A full account of Alexander Shields life can be found HERE.

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The purpose of the Darien Expedition was to establish a Scottish colony in South America which was thought to be "the land of mail and honey".

Another Earlston man had plans to put the village on the map, not in the land of milk and honey, but in the land of gold and butter - Australia.

ISAAC WALLACE (1841-1921),

Scottish history is full of men and women who stepped into the unknown by leaving their homeland behind and emigrating to far flung places. Many of them might not be familiar names, yet they made their mark abroad, but never forgot where they had come from. They also demonstrated a sense of entrepreneurship, community involvement, and a strong belief in their Presbyterian faith.

One such man was Isaac Wallace of Earlston who emigrated to Victoria, Australia, where he named his new home "Earlston", set up a butter factory, and involved himself in community affairs, both in Australia, but also on a return visit to Earlston towards the end of his life.

His Early Life - Isaac was the eldest of eight children, born to master joiner, John Wallace and Martha, nee Brown. His sister was Isabella Wallace. who later became known as "Earlston's friend and benefactor", with two memorial plaques around the village.

In 1859 the 19 year old Isaac, a farm servant who could read and write, set sail for Australia. In 1862 he married Mary Hogarth who had emigrated with her parents from Lauder - a further link with the Borders. Seven children were born to the marriage until Mary's early death in 1876.

Isaac Wallace's Family c.1875

Isaac married again - his wife, Nicholes Brown nee Rogerson, a widow with four sons. A daughter Elizabeth was born to the marriage. Together with the twelve children, they moved to Isaac's land allocation of 320 acres, naming it Earlston. It was situated in Violet Town, 108 miles north of Melbourne. Maintaining the floral theme, Violet Town's streets were named Cowslip,Tulip, Orchard, Rose, Lily and Hyacinth.

It was the discovery of gold in the north east of Victoria which led to large numbers of itinerant prospectors passing through the area and the village grew with the railway arriving in 1873.

Isaac's New Business Venture - Isaac, noticing the swing to dairy-farming, purchased Brown's unused flour mill and and converted the building into a butter factory - the first such creamery in the region. Isaac's venture flourished at first and he was greeted as a benefactor of both the town and countryside. But success was short lived as competitors sprang up and circumstance were against him. The company was wound up in 1906.

A Community-Minded Man - Isaac involved himself in his community , becoming a Justice of the Peace and was appointed a Magistrate in 1886, sitting on the bench at Violet Town. An active member of the Presbyterian Church, services were held in his home from 1887. Isaac was president of the Mechanics Institute in the 1890’s and a member of the Progress Association.

A Return to his Homeland - Shortly after the death of his second wife, Isaac left Melbourne aboard "The Runlc" in late March 1907 on a trip to the old country.

A news snippet was traced in "The Southern Reporter" of 20th August 1908 which reported under the Earlston District News:

"Golf: The final tie for the Silver Challenge Cup, presented by Mr Isaac Wallace, Australia, an old Earlstonian, was played on Wednesday afternoon."

"The Berwickshire News" of 4th May 1909 reported on a Parish Council meeting at which the provision of seats in the village was discussed.

"It was agreed that nine of these seats should be provided at a cost of 9 shillings and 3 pence each. The Rev. W. S. Crockett, Minister of Tweedsmuir [also an Earlstonian], and Mr Isaac Wallace, Australia agreed to defray the expenses of one each and these to be placed in the West Green."

A group photograph taken on Isaac's return to Earlston

He is thought to be the tall figure on the left of the back row,

with his brothers, John, Robert & George and sister Isabella.

Isaac died on the 22nd February 1921, aged 80, and was buried with his second wife, Nicholes in Violet Town cemetery. His estate, real and personal, was valued at 7,291 pounds, 13 shillings and 5 pence (equivalent to £211, 880 in British money today) - enough then to buy 265 horses.

With grateful thanks to Garth Grogan, a descendant of Isaac Wallace, through his daughter Mary, for this detailed account of Isaac's life.

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When Isaac returned to the UK, he sailed on board the SS Runic which was built at Harland & Wolff in Belfast for the White Star line, entering the service to Australia in 1901. In 1930 SS Runic was sold and converted to a whaling factory ship and renamed SS New Sevilla.

In Earlston whales are more likely to be associated with two business women, Christian and Marion Whale who, ahead of their time, developed the Earlston Gingham in the first half of 19th century.

Entrepreneurship seemed to run in the family, since a descendant Lancelot Watson established a successful business in the USA in Iowa.

LANCELOT WATSON (1824-1913)

This press cutting caught my eye:

1th April 1913 - Hawick Advertiser.

But who was Lancelot Watson who had Earlston connections, who sailed the Atlantic 40 times including on the paddle steamer Britannia, the first boat of the Cunard Line, whilst his last trip, was on the Lusitania, then regarded as the biggest and most modern boat of the Cunard Line.

Research revealed that Lancelot was born, not in Earlston, but in Hawick in 1824, son of George Watson and Ann Whale. His mother was descended from a long line of well-known Earlston names - Whale and Clendinnen, most notably with links with Thomas Whale and his daughters Christian and Marion Whale,

Lancelot married in 1856 his wife Mary A Spalding Watson. Two years later the young family were in Canada where, where over the next five years, their children were born.

By the time of the 1880 census the family had moved to Mason City, Iowa, where Lancelot , aged 55 was a Land and Loan Agent.

His work involved frequent trips to Britain where he lectured and advised people on emigrating to Iowa, promoting the benefits of farming in the state. Newspapers of the period feature many such advertisements in both England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

North British Agriculturist: 10th November 1880

Advertisement in "The American Settler": 19th March 1881

Online Passenger lists between Britain and New York confirm a Lancelot Watson, born Scotland, making many transatlantic trips including one on the Britannia, named in the first article above. He would have been 56 years old in his most busiest period 1880-81.

Paddle Steam Britannia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia-class_steamship

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lusitania-British-ship

The Steamship Lusitania, built by John Brown & Sons, Clydebank made its maiden voiyagle in 1907 and won the prized Blue Ribbon for the fastest transatlantic crossing. Lancelot Watson's last journey was on this ship. But it was destroyed by a German U-boat - an event which contributed to the USA entering the First World War to support the allies.

Lancelot Watson died in 1913 aged 90, with "The Berwickshire News" of April 8th printing a fulsome obituary, commenting he was "known as one of the most prominent and enterprising of American Borderers" - not born in Earlston but proud of his Earlston heritage.

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Sources:

www.ancestry.co.uk
www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
https://en.wikipedia.org
Descendant Chart of the Whale Family, provided by an Auld Earlston reader.

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Sunday 1 October 2023

From Punk Rock to Moon Buggies

Earlston's contribution to world history (or let's take a light-hearted, time travelling culture tour)

In 2015, there was a TV show called 'Six Degrees of Separation'. The show centred on finding a connection between six unlikely objects.

So, for a change this month, we'll look at the connections between six unlikely topics - punk rock, Caribbean sugar plantations, BAFTA TV Awards, New York book publishing, Bonnie Prince Charlie and Moon buggies - which are all linked to Earlston.

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Tom Davidson (https://tomdavidson.co.uk), the Earlston-based artist, has his gallery on Earlston High Street. The gallery is where his grandfather, Willie Alchin, had the village baker's shop.

The shop now doubles as Tom's studio and gallery, where he creates stunning lino-cut prints of local landscapes. His ability to capture light reflecting off the Leader river or sunshine piercing through the trees of Cowdenknowes Woods is a joy to behold.

But Tom also gained fame in another of the arts - music.

Tom studied at Carlisle University and joined The Limps, a punk rock band. The band released several singles and appeared on the John Peel Show in 1979.

The Limps⁽¹⁾

The band eventually broke up, and members drifted off to do their own thing.

Their music lives on, though. They appear on a recently released compilation album with bands like The Jam, The Stranglers, Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Gary Crowleys Punk and New Wave⁽²⁾

There's a whole new audience that appreciates their music.

A film studio recently contacted the band asking to feature their track 'Someone I Can Talk To' on the closing credits of a new movie still in production. Its release date has not been announced, but look out for its title - 'The Snack Shack'.

Sugary snacks, like music, can hit the right note or, as they call it in the food industry, the bliss point. This is where the snack has just the right amount of sweetness. Any sweeter and it would be too sickly; any less, it wouldn't be sweet enough.

The bliss point makes you come back for more, which is great news for dentists and sugar producers alike.

John Redpath was an Earlston man who made his fortune through sugar refining in Canada.

John was the son of farm servants working on farms in the Earlston area. His father had the foresight to see the changes in store for farm workers due to the 'improvements' between 1760 and 1830.

The 'improvements' centred around better fertilisers, drainage, and more selective crops. As a result, farms became more productive and larger. The downside was that the farms needed a smaller workforce. Thousands of families left farming during this period in what became known as the lowland clearances.

John was fortunate in that he managed to get an apprenticeship with his uncle, a stone mason in Edinburgh. However, by the time John became a master mason, the Napoleonic Wars had just finished releasing thousands of soldiers, including stone masons from the engineering regiments, into the job market. Consequently, John decided to emigrate to Canada.

Within a few years, John had established a successful construction business. Seeing an opportunity and with enough spare capital, he constructed a sugar refinery in Montreal importing raw sugar from Caribbean sugar plantations.

John made his fortune from sugar. He returned to Scotland just once, but he took the time to visit Earlston when the Corn Exchange was being built. He presented the villagers with the clock in the Corn Exchange tower that chimes the hours as his lasting legacy.

In Canada, you can buy Redpath sugar in almost any grocery store or supermarket to satisfy your bliss point. Of course, not just humans enjoy sugar; horses also have a notoriously sweet tooth.

Redpath Sugar⁽³⁾

Satisfying your sugar tooth and eating too much sugar will likely result in putting on weight, which in turn will slow you down. Presumably, the same is true for horses as well as humans.

Slow Horses was the name of a TV series starring Earlston High School former pupil Jack Lowden. Jack graduated from the prestigious Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2011. He was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award (2023) for Best Supporting Actor in his role of River Cartwright. The series follows a team of intelligence agents who serve as a dumping ground department of MI5 due to their career-ending mistakes.

Jack Lowden⁽⁴⁾

The series is based on the book 'Slow Horses' by Mike Heron and published by Baskerville.

Slow Horses⁽⁵⁾

And talking of publishers, Robert Carter was an Earlstonian who established a publishing company in New York.

Robert was born in Earlston in 1807 with an apparent unquenchable thirst for knowledge. At an early age, Robert showed his love for books when he watched an auctioneer dispose of the household effects of a neighbour.

Robert Carter⁽⁶⁾

Included in the sale was a copy of Josephu's works, complete in one thick volume. When the auctioneer asked, 'How much am I offered for this?' Robert replied in a faint voice, 'Fourpence'. The auctioneer immediately handed the book to Robert, saying, "You shall have it, for you are the smallest customer I have had today'.

By age fifteen, Robert was holding night classes for local boys. Robert went on to attend university.

Years later, he gave up his teaching job in New York and opened a bookstore on the corner of Canal and Laurens Street in 1834. From selling books, he began to publish books at his New York book publishing company, Robert Carter and Brothers.

That first book no doubt changed Robert's life just as some of the books he published and sold would change the lives of others.

No wonder they say that the pen is mightier than the sword.

Of course, the most famous type of Scottish sword is the claymore, the weapon of choice for hundreds of years.

In 1745, when Bonnie Prince Charlie led his Jacobite army south towards London, the army camped at Fans, a few miles from Earlston. When the army marched southward again, it was discovered that a soldier had left his claymore behind.

Bonnie Prince Charlie⁽⁷⁾

When news of the army's imminent arrival in Earlston, locals feared the Jacobites' notorious reputation for looting. Valuables were hidden wherever possible. Horses were hidden in a hollow below Caldies Hill known as 'Howe of Hope'. The exact spot had provided Covenanters a meeting place one hundred years before.

Caldies Hill is part of the old Earlston Golf Club.

On August 8th 1906, a meeting was held in the Smaller Exchange Hall to discuss the formation of an Earlston Golf Club. Twenty men attended, and the site chosen for the proposed course was Caldies Hill, owned by Lord Binning. The Chairman of the meeting, Rev N C Keith, advised the group that he had already gained permission from Lord Binning and his tenants.

On August 30th, Willie Park, a professional golfer and course designer, visited the site to draw up the plan for a nine-hole course.

The course was officially opened on Wednesday, November 7th 1907. However, the first competition occurred in October 1907 for the Silver Challenge Cup, presented by Issac Wallace, an Earlstonian who had emigrated to Australia. The Cup was won by Robert Lountain with a score of 79.

The game prospered in the village with both ladies and gentlemen sections. Two businesses, John McDonal, Saddler, and John Weatherston, Watchmaker, stocked clubs and balls.

Despite the best intentions, the Club was forced to close by the end of World War 2 due to a lack of members and funds.

However, the Club members were undeterred and boldly decided to open a golf course on the Moon.

To quote the Club's website (https://www.earlstongolfclub.com/):

With the purchase and restoration of the original golf course being unattainable at an Earlston Golf Club Committee Meeting in 2000, it was agreed to pursue the purchase of land to build a course on the Moon. This transaction was completed on November 3rd 2000, and initial planning was soon under way.

There are 18 Seas on the surface of the Moon, each of which has a Latin name which has been translated and given a Scottish Borders flavour to reflect the origins of the Club.

The holes on the Earlston Golf Club Moon Course were named to keep the authenticity of the course location whilst ensuring that the history and traditions of the Club are echoed in each hole.