Robert the Bruce, King of Scots

With the coming commemoration of the 700th year of the Battle of Bannockburn, fought near Stirling on the 24th of June 1314, it would not be inappropriate to offer a few anecdotes about Robert the Bruce. During his fieldwork trip to Brae Lochaber at the beginning of 1951, Calum Maclean managed to collect and transcribe over 500 items from John MacDonald of Highbridge alone. It was an astonishing number but it may well be that even Maclean had not managed to collect all there was in MacDonald’s retentive memory. Of these many items, a vast majority may be termed seanchas or local lore, three of which concern Robert the Bruce (1274–1329), King of Scots. The first two historical legends were recorded on the 25th of January, 1951; and the last one, slightly earlier, on the 21st of January, 1951. All three describe Robert the Bruce’s time during his ‘wilderness’ year as a fugitive. After he had been crowned as King of Scots at Scone on 25th of March, 1305, the Bruce was defeated shortly afterwards in battle by Edward I and was forced to flee into hiding in the Hebrides and Ireland. Robert the Bruce would return in triumph in 1307 and from then on would successfully campaign against the English occupying forces by using guerrilla tactics which eventually culminated in open battle at Bannockburn, the scene of his greatest ever victory.

Am Brùsach anns an Uamhaidh

Bha airⁱgead cinn air a chur a-mach airson Ra^èibeart an deadhaidh dha an Cuimeineach a mhar^aadh ann an Dumfries. Agus bha móran de nàmhaidean aige anns an dùthaich a bha ra-thoileach air a mhar^aadh gus am faigheadh iad an t-airⁱgead. Bha e a’ fal^abh air turas gun leis ach dà ghille. Chunnaic iad triùir a’ dlùthadh orra agus iad a’ dèanadh air uamhaidh sònruichte a bh’ aig a’ Bhrusach. Chaidh iad a-staigh do'n uamhaidh agus lean na daoine a bha seo iad. Smaoinich am Brùs gur h-ann air son a mar^aadh a thàinig iad. Agus thuir^st e:

“Chan ’eil sinn a’ dol a dh’ fhuireach còmhla ’s an aon cheàrn. Tha dà cheàrn anns an uamhaidh a tha seo agus gabhadh si-se ’n-ur ceann fhéin dhi agus gabhaidh sinne n-ar ceann fhìn.”

’S ann mar seo a bha.

Las iad teine is ghabh iad am beagan biadh a bh’ ac(hc)a. Agus bha iad a’ dol a chadal is iad gu math sgìth. Thuir^st am Brùsach:

“Feumaidh cuid againn a bhith furachail nach tig iad a-nuas.”

Thuir^st gille òg, a bha sin a bha ra-dheònach air fuireach, gu fanadh esan. Thug am Brùsach an aire gun robh e a’ tuiteam ’na chadal is thuir^st e ris fhéin:

“Feuma’ mi fhìn mo shùil a chumail.” 

Agus leig e leis a’ ghille òg cadal agus leis an fhear eile. ’N uair a chunnaic an fheadhainn a bha shìos gun do chaidil an gille òg, dh’airich iad an t-àite cho sìtheil sàmhach. Smaointich iad gun robh iad ’nan cadal uile. Dh’èalaidh fear dhiubh a-nuas agus e a’ dol gu mar^aadh ’nan cadal. Thug am Brusach an aire dhà, agus cha d’fhuair e greim air claidheamh na air dad a bh’ ann, ach leum ’un an teine agus òthailt a thoir^st leis. Agus spad e an duine air a’ chiad bhuille. Chaidh e an sin a sìos agus mhar^aabh e an dithist eile a bha ’sa’ cheann eile. Agus an uair seo thill e air ais agus thuir^st e ris na laoich a bha leis:

“Faoda’ sibh cadal a-nise. Tha an fheadhainn a tha ’s a cheàrna shiòs ’nan cadal is tha mi a’ creidsinn nach duisg iad an dà latha seo.”

And a translation of the above goes something like this:

Robert the Bruce in the Cave

There was a reward sent out for Robert the Bruce after he had murdered [John] Comyn in Dumfries. He had many enemies throughout the land who would be very pleased to kill him in order to get the money. He was on a journey accompanied by only two servants. They saw three men approaching them as they made their way towards a certain cave known to the Bruce. They entered the cave and the men followed the others. The Bruce thought that they had come to murder him. And he said:

“We’re not all going to stay in the same place. There are two entrances to the cave and you take that one and we’ll take the other one.

That’s the way things were.

They lit a fire and they ate some of their food. They were going to sleep as they were quite tired, and the Bruce said:

“Some of us have to watch that they don’t come up.”

One of the young servants said that he was very willing to take a watch and that he’d stay awake. The Bruce noticed that he was falling asleep and he said to himself:

“I’ll have to keep a look out.”

And he let the young servant and the other one to their sleep. When the men down below saw that the young servant was asleep, they noticed that the place was very peaceful and quiet. They thought that they were all asleep. One of them crept up and he was going to kill them while they slept. The Bruce noticed this and though he couldn’t get a grip of his sword or anything else he leapt to the fire and took a stick out and battered the man with his first blow. He then went down and killed the other two men at the other end [of the cave]. Then he went back and said to his heroes:

“You may sleep now. The men at the other end are sleeping now and I believe they will not ever awaken.”

Raibeart Brùs agus Gillean na Cailliche

Bha Raibeart Brùs air turas agus gun duine aige ach e fhéin gu math allabanach. Agus thàinig e a staigh ’un taigh far an robh seann-chailleach. Agus thuir^st e am faigheadh e fuireach.

“Chan fhaigh duine fuireach anns an taigh agam-sa,” thuirt i, “ach Righ Brùs,” thuir^st i. “Gheibh esan fuireach.”

“Is mise an duine.”

“Thig a staigh,” thuir^st i, “gu h-eallamh.”

Thug i a-staigh e. Bha triùir ghillean (Z71.1.) aic(hc)e agus iad ag obair air boghachan-saighead a dhèanadh.

“Theirⁱg a-staigh ’un t-seòmbar leotha,” thuir^st i, “agus cuiridh mi am biadh sìos.”

’S e seo a chaidh a dhèanadh. Thug e seòltachd agus dòigh dhaibh air na saigheadan a dhèanadh, ged a bha iad glé mhath orra roimhe sin. Agus cha robh e fada a staigh ’n uair a thainig treud mór de dhaoine. Agus chum fear dhiubh chun an taighe. Is dh’fhaighneachd e do'n bhoireannach:

“A fac(hc)aidh sibh duine a’ dol air adhart an rathad an seo?”

“Chan fhac(hc)a mi duine,” thuir^st i. “Ach chunna mi móran sluaigh a’ dol air adhar^st agus coltas Righ ’nam measg.”

“An robh mòran sluaigh leis?”

“Bhitheadh mu cheud duine leis.”

“O, shin agad an duine a tha a dhìth oirnn.”

Is tharraing iad.

“Dé ’n-ur turas, na dé an rathad a the sibh a’ dol,” thuir^st i.

Dh’innis iad de’n rathad a bha iad a’ dol. Agus an uair seo dh’innis ise do’n Bhrusach a h-uile car.

“Ma-tà,” thuir^st e, tha ath-ghoirid. Gabhaidh sinne e agus bidh sinn rompa ann an oisinn chumhaing, ma gheibh mi na gillean agad còmh’ rium.”

“Gheibh a h-uile duine is nan dèanainn fhìn feum, rachainn ann cuideachd.”

Is dh’fhal^abh iad agus ghabh iad an rathad goirid seòlta a bh’ aig Brùs. Agus bha coille ann. Chaidh iad a-staigh do’n choille.

“Fanaibh sàmhach. Tha iad a’ tighinn,” thuir^st am Brùsach. “Is na tilⁱgibh idir orra a’s an toiseach, ach cumaibh riutha ’nan deireadh. Agus tha an t-saighead cho sàmhach is an fheadhainn a th’ air thoiseach, chan fhaic(hc) iad an fheadhainn a tha air deireadh a’ tuiteam. Is mun toir iad an aire, cha mhór a bhios ann dhiubh.”  

’S ann mar seo a bha.

Thàinig iad a-staigh an rathad cumhann a bha seo is thòisich iad air tilⁱgeil orra an dheadhaidh. Agus bha iad a’ tuiteam cho dlùth. Agus mun d’fhuair an fheadhainn a bha air thoiseach coimhead air ais, cha robh iad comasach air sin a dhèanadh. Thuit iad a-measg chàich is cha d’fhàg iad a h-aon beò dhiubh.

And a translation of the above goes something like this:

Robert the Bruce and the Old Woman’s Sons

Robert the Bruce was on a journey and he was all alone and he was quite lost. He came to house in which an old woman lived. He asked if he could stay.

“No one can stay in my house,” she replied, “but King [Robert the] Bruce himself. He could stay.”

“I’m that man.”

“Quickly, come in,” she said.

She took him. She had three sons (Z71.1.) who were making bows.

“Go into their room,” she said, “and I’ll take some food down.”

This was done. He showed them a better way of making arrows even though they had been pretty good at that previously. He had not been long in when a great drove of men arrived. And one of them was sent to the house. He asked the woman:

“Have you seen a man going by this way?”

“I’ve not seen anyone,” she replied. “But I’ve seen many people going by and one of them looked like a king.”

“Where there many other men accompanying him?”

“There would’ve been around a hundred men.”

“That’s the very man we’re after.”

They set off.

“Which way are young going?” she asked.

They told her the way they were going. And she then told the Bruce everything.

“There’s a short cut we’ll take and we’ll be there before them in a narrow pass, if I can have your sons to come with me.”

“You’ll get every one of them and if I could be of any use, then I’d come along too.”

And they set off and they took the short cut that the Bruce knew. There was a wood and they entered it.

“Keep quiet. They’re coming,” said the Bruce. “Don’t shoot those at the front but wait until the rear. The arrow is so quiet that those at the front will not see those at the back falling. And before they notice, there will not be so many of them left.”

That is how things turned out.

They came along this narrow road and they began shooting them. And they fell so close to one another that before those at the front could look back it was impossible for them to do so. They fell among the rest and not one of them was left alive.

Raibeart Brùs agus na Cruidhean

’S iomadh càs agus cruas, mar a tha fios aig a h-uile duine, a thàinig air Raibeart ’n uair a bha e ’na Rìgh air a chrùn. Bha iad ’ga ruagadh thall is a-bhos agus iad toileach fhaotainn agus a ghlac(hc)adh. Agus bha airⁱgead cinn a-mach airson a ghlac(hc)adh. Ach cha deach a ghlac(hc)adh riamh an duine còir agus ’s mór am beud gun rachadh. Agus bha iad glé dhlùth air a ghlac(hc)adh Agus fhuair e ainⁱmhidh bho neach anns an àite. Agus thuir^st e ris:

“Innsidh mi mar a nì thu agus tha ùine agad air sin a dhèanadh. Bheir thu na cruidhean dheth agus tionnainnidh tu an rathad eile air an each iad. Agus mar sin ’s ann an rathad eile a bhios iad a’ dol agus cum thusa romhad (K534.1.).”

Agus ’s ann mar seo a bha.

Thàinig iad dlùth air an àite ’s an robh e gun teagamh. Agus chunnaic iad an uair seo gun do thionnainn e, mar a bha am beachd ac(hc)a ’n uair a chaidh na cruidhean a thionndanadh air an each, agus gur h-ann a’ tilleadh an rathad eile a bha e a’ dol. Ach aig an aon àm ’s ann a bha am Brùs a’ cumail roimhe agus na luirⁱg a bh’ air an talamh a’ sealltuinn gun robh an t-each a’ dol an rathad eile (K500.). Agus fhuair e mar sin cuidhte is iad. Agus sin agad fear de na turasan air an robh e air a shàbhaladh

And, finally, a translation of the above goes something like this:

King Robert the Bruce and the Horseshoes

As everyone knows King Robert the Bruce suffered great hardship and deprivation. They pursued him here and there for they wished to capture him. There was a reward out to capture him. But they never caught him and it would’ve been a great pity if they had. They came very close indeed to capturing him. He received a horse from someone in the district. He said to him:

“I’ll tell you what do and you’ve enough time in order to do it. You’ll take the horseshoes off and you’ll turn them the other way round. And so they’ll go the other way and you keep going on [with the work] (K534.1.).”

And that is how things turned out.

They came near to the place where he was. And when they saw this that it had turned, as they thought, when the horseshoes had been turned the other way round, and so he was going the other way. At the very same time the Bruce kept on going and the footprints left on the ground looked as it the horse was going the other way (K500.). He got rid of them. And there you have one of the ways in which he was saved.

Obviously there are a number of folklore motifs that may have been grafted onto these historical anecdotes but they may yet contain some elements of a true historical narrative.

  

References:

SSS NB 6, pp. 578–80

SSS NB 6, pp. 581–83

SSS NB 8, pp. 700–01

Image:

Statue of King Robert the Bruce, King of Scots. First unveiled in 1964, the sculptor Charles d’Orville Pilington Jackson (1887–1973) designed the statue and used measurements of the Bruce’s skull rediscovered at Dunfermline Abbey in 1818 to model his work on.

Alexander Nicolson: Skye Historian

Aside from writing a definitive history of his native Isle of Skye, Alexander Nicolson (1884–1966), was also a noted Gaelic scholar. An extract from an obituary notice from The Oban Times reads as follows:

The death took place at his Glasgow home on December 12 of Mr Alexander Nicolson, who was perhaps the greatest living authority on Scottish Gaelic and certainly the greatest authority on the island of Skye…

Nicolson was born in 1884 in Achnahanaid in the Braes of Trotternish, the eldest son of ‘Big Sorley’ Nicolson, styled Somhairle Mòr mac Iain ‘ic Shomhaire Phìobaire. His mother, Iseabail was the daughter of Donald Bàn MacLeod, styled Dòmhnall Bàn mac Alasdair ‘ic Iain ’ic Ailein Ruaidh. Life was hard in the congested township of Achnahanaid, as Alexander Nicolson suggests, his people having been evicted from their ancestral land in Holm to make room for sheep and cattle on the extended farm of Scorrybreck, and having to find a foothold in the Braes overcrowded with the jetsam of that and other clearances in Skye.

After his formative education at local schools, and through the encouragement of his mother, who recognised and nurtured his talents, Nicolson qualified for University entrance as a primary school teacher and later a pupil teacher. In 1906, Nicolson took the Glasgow University entrance examination and travelled to Glasgow to study for a Master of Arts. However his financial support appears to have run out before he could complete his studies. In the summer of 1907 he spent a month as a teacher in Lochmaddy, North Uist, and from 1909 onwards he taught full-time in primary schools in the Glasgow area to support himself, continuing his University studies on a part-time basis. He finally graduated in 1913.

University and the schools of Glasgow also brought him into contact with the world of radical politics. Among others, he got to know James Maxton, a teacher who had graduated from Glasgow University in 1909 and later became leader of the Independent Labour Party. According to his nephew Sorley MacLean: “The most intellectual of my relations was a sceptic and a Socialist (my uncle in Jordanhill, Alex Nicolson). Apart from his dangerous opinions he appeared a better man than all my religious acquaintance.” MacLean was particularly impressed by hints that his uncle had come into contact with the great Scottish revolutionary socialist, John MacLean. Such political involvement led Nicolson to become a conscientious objector in the First World War and from 1916 to 1919 he was imprisoned in ‘Princeton Work Centre’ (Dartmoor Prison). He later said that when locked in a narrow cell with a high small window he sometimes despaired but seeing the planet Venus through that small window kept him sane.

After the war was over, he returned to teaching in Glasgow, where he met his wife, Janet Davidson. In the years that followed, they raised a family and he continued his studies and writing. 

The obituary notice from The Oban Times continues:

At the university he gained medals and distinguished places in many of his classes, and he was a particularly able student in geology. After graduation, he was for many years a teacher in several Glasgow schools. He knew the island of Skye as no-one else did, having studied all there was to know of its geology and history and having been by foot to every village in the island. In 1930 he published a large history of Skye which he had been preparing for a second edition at the time of his death. For the past 40 years or so Mr Nicolson’s main work was on Scottish Gaelic in particular, and to a lesser extent on Irish.

In an obituary notice elsewhere from the pen of the Rev. Thomas M. Murchison, one time Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland:

Perhaps even more important that his History of Skye is Alexander Nicolson’s ‘Modern Gaelic: A Basic Grammar’, which appeared in 1936. There are many Gaelic grammars in existence, but Nicolson’s has a place and authority of its own. Certainly few people had a better right to add to the number of Gaelic grammars, for he had many years’ experience of teaching Gaelic, to young and old. Nicolson aimed in his Grammar at simplifying the somewhat complex intricacies of the declension of the Gaelic noun.

His daughter Ishabel recalls that, “His Master of Arts degree was widely-based and hard-won. As medallist in geology he was offered a job in South Africa but the beginning of the First World War prevented that. His maths qualified him for his teaching career but his love of Gaelic and the history of his island prevailed.”

Moreover, Nicolson’s influence upon his nephew Calum cannot be underestimated for he encouraged him to take an interest in his native culture, particularly Gaelic oral traditions. Such an influence certainly bore fruit.

Among Nicolson’s other works, were books on Gaelic riddles (Gaelic Riddles and Enigmas, 1938), and children’s games and rhymes (Oideas na Cloinne, 1948). Nicolson also delivered scholarly lectures and contributed a number of articles to prestigious journals such as the Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Glasgow, one on Mary MacLeod, the poetess of Harris and Dunvegan in the seventeenth century, and the other on the MacBeths, hereditary physicians to the Gaelic nobility. He was for more than twenty years lecturer in the colleges of Jordanhill and Notre Dame, and during the war, in the absence of the late Professor Angus Matheson, he was lecturer in Celtic at Glasgow University.

Undoubtedly, Nicolson is best remembered as the author of History of Skye: A Record of the Families, the Social Conditions, and the Literature of the Island, first published in 1930, and subsequently reprinted and edited by Dr Alasdair Maclean. A third publication was edited by Cailean Maclean. Alexander Nicolson’s career and literary ambitions were clearly influential on his near relations and extended family, some of whom would go on to follow in his footsteps.

Reference:

Alexander Nicolson, History of Skye, ed. by Cailean Maclean (Kershader, Isle of Lewis: The Islands Books Trust, 2012)

[http://www.theislandsbooktrust.com/store/books/history-of-skye-large-book]

Image:

Alexander Nicolson, c. 1913, by courtesy of Cailean Maclean on behalf of the MacLean family

In Defence of an Irish Scholar

In 1946, the Irish scholar Myles Dillon was appointed to the Chair of Celtic at the University of Edinburgh. The appointment met with some controversy at the time as shown by the following report in The Oban Times:

EDINBURGH CELTIC CHAIR

Irish Professor Appointed

Dr Myles Dillon has been appointed by the University of Edinburgh, to the Chair of Celtic Literature, History, and Antiquities, rendered vacant by the death on active service of Professor J. C. Watson.

Dr Dillon, who is 46 years of age, is the third son of the late John Dillon, the noted Irish Home Ruler. Earlier in the present year he was appointed to the Chair of Celtic in the University of Celtic, after having been for nine years on the staff of the University of Wisconsin.

Surprise and Disappointment

The appointment of Dr Myles Dillon, an Irishman, to the Chair of Celtic (writes our Edinburgh correspondent) has been received among Highland circles in Edinburgh with a measure of surprise and disappointment. It looks like a reflection on Scottish Celtic scholarhship.

The Chair has been vacant since the death on Service in 1941, while serving with the Royal Navy, of Mr James Carmichael Watson, and the work of the Chair, necessarily restricted by the war, has been carried on by Mr. K. C. Craig. The Curators of Patronage, who make the appointment, consist of three representatives of the University Court, and four nominated by the Town Council, and the present members are Principal Sir John Fraser, Bart; Mr Alexander Myles, a retired Edinburgh surgeon; and Professor Alexander Gray, of the Chair of Economics; representing the University; and Lord Provost Sir John I. Falconer, Baillie Sir William McKechnie, a former Secretary of the Scottish Education Department; Councillor P. H. Allan, and Councillor John E. Hamilton, M.C., from the Town Council.

On the face of it, it looked just a little anomalous that to a Chair of Celtic in a Scottish University, endowed largely through the efforts of a perfervid Scot, Professor John Stuart Blackie, and held in turn since its foundation by three distinguished Scotsmen, should be given to an Irishman. There were, it was common knowledge, applications from one or two Scotsmen who would have maintained the high tradition of the Chair, and it was confidently expected that one of them, a West of Scotland man, would be the the new Professor.

It has been said that Professor Dillon, however much he may know about ancient Irish Gaelic, he may know very little about modern Scotch Gaelic.

On hearing of Dillon’s appointment, Maclean wrote the following in his diary:

Dia Luain, 16 Meadhon Fomhghair 1946 [NFC 1111, 88]

Chaitheas an mhaidin a’ sgríobhadh amach an adhbhair a bhí ar na fiteáin, na sgéalta a d’ innis Séamas Iain Ghunnairigh. Bhí Angus McIntosh a’ cur an-t-suim ins an obair. Leanas do’n sgríbhneóireacht an lá ar fad go dtí am tae tuairim a sé a’ chlog. Bhíos a’ sgríobhadh roinnt tar éis tae chomh maith. Annsin, thosaigheamar ag imirt chártaí an nós céadna a bhíomar roimhe sin. Tá Angus le n-imtheacht amáireach agus tá cuire agam-sa a dhul isteach chuig Bàgh a’ Chaisteil i n-éinfeacht leis, agus an oidhche a chaitheamh i dtigh Annag NicIain. Bhí rudaí an-ghránna ins a’ bpáipear faoi Myles Dillon, a fuair anpost i nDùn-Éideann.

Monday, 16 September 1946 [NFC 1111, 88]

I spent the morning transcribing the material recorded on the wax cylinders, the stories told by James MacKinnon. Angus McIntosh took an interest in this type of work. The transcribing continued all day until tea-time around six o’clock. I transcribed a while after tea-time as well. Then we started playing cards in the same fashion as we had done previously. Angus is going away tomorrow and I’ve been invited to go to Castlebay along with him and to spend the night in Annie Johnston’s house. There were terrible things said in the paper about Myles Dillon who had taken the chair of Celtic at Edinburgh.

Those ‘terrible things’ as made clear in the above article provoked a joint response from Angus McIntosh (1914–2005) and Calum I. Maclean. Their sympathies were firmly on the side of their newly-appointed colleague Myles Dillon:

Northbay, Barra,

September 26, 1946.

Sir, ―We read your notice on September 14 of Professor Myles Dillon’s appointment to the Chair of Celtic in Edinburgh with very considerable regret. It seems a serious intrusion to make about seven eminent men to suggest that they have not appointed the most satisfactory candidate, and the spirit in which this insinuation was made hardly makes us feel proud of the way a section of the Gaeltachd (or pseudo-Gaeltachd?) extends salutation to a very distinguished and very charming Celtic scholar.

We wish to point out that the position to which he has been appointed is the Chair of Celtic Literature, History, and Antiquities, and not a Chair of Scottish Gaelic as “Highland circles in Edinburgh” seem to believe, and we doubt whether there is any man in Scotland as competent to fill it. Professor Dillon’s election may be a reflection on Celtic scholarship in Scotland, but at least it is an intelligent and enlightened move to improve that scholarship. We believe that the study and encouragement of such things is in a precarious position already without the introduction of unworthy and unjustified pusillanimity and ungraciousness.

There are many in Scotland who confidently expect as we do that Professor Dillon will give devoted and powerful aid not only in Celtic studies as a whole but to Scottish Gaelic in particular. It is on behalf of those people as well as ourselves that we request you to give publicity to this letter.

                        We are, etc.,

                        Angus McIntosh, M.A.

Lecturer in English Language and Literature, Christ Church, Oxford

                        Calum I. Maclean, M.A. (Edin.)

Folklore Commission, University College Dublin.

But such an opinion was by no means universal as shown by another correspondent, a certain John MacKinnon, who was less than pleased by the Irishman’s appointment:

Ardmore, Kingussie

Inverness-shire.

September 16, 1946.

Sir,―May I, through your columns, express my surprise at the appointment of an Irish scholar, Dr Dillon, to the Celtic Chair of Edinburgh University.

Since its institution, this largely to efforts of that eminent Scot and Celt, Professor J. S. Blackie, that Chair has been occupied by Scotsmen of distinguished scholarship and culture who, in “thought, word and deed” have immeasurably advanced and enhanced the study and appreciation of all things Celtic. Among the various talents of these men was the additional gift of having an unparalleled knowledge of Scottish Gaelic. This, to me, should be the sine quo non of any man elected to uphold the traditions of that high office in Scotland’s capital city.

The newly appointed Professor is, I am sure, a most excellent and capable man in all respects and one wishes him success in maintaining the high traditions of his new appointment.

But there in Scotland today not a few men singularly qualified to uphold the illustrious standards of that Chair; men who have done and are doing invaluable work for the Gaelic cause. Among them are some who themselves have studied under the guidance and inspiration of that Chair. Surely it would have been a glorious and apt tribute to a past holder of that Chair that his successor should be one of his former students? In addition it would be a great incentive to that successor to know that he was the man chosen to carry on the torch of his one-time master.

That such is not the case is, in my opinion, a slur on Celtic scholarship in Scotland and a retrograde step in the cause of Scottish Gaelic in general. It seems rather illogical that hose men whose lifework is dedicated to the Gaelic cause in Scotland should be thus superseded when one of the highest offices of that cause is open to them. It there in this fact any inspiration for the youth of Gaeldom and of Scotland to aim high. In the words of Macduff ‘Stands Scotland where she did?”―one wonders.

                                                I am, etc.,

                                                    John MacKinnon

Even though the appointment did not meet with universal approbation or agreement, Professor Myles Dillon (1900–1972) eventually took up the Chair in 1947 but would only remain in post for two years. In 1949, Dillon returned to his native Dublin in order to become T. F. O’ Rahilly’s successor at the Director of the School of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute of Advance Studies. Such an appointment was less likely to have been met with a controversial reaction than when he had been appointed to the Edinburgh Chair of Celtic.

References:

Anon., ‘Edinburgh Celtic Chair,’ The Oban Times, no. 4785 (14 Sep., 1946), p. 2

Angus McIntosh & Calum I. Maclean, ‘Celtic Professorship’, The Oban Times, no. 4788 (5 Oct., 1946), p. 5

John MacKinnon, ‘Celtic Professorship’, The Oban Times, no. 4788 (5 Oct., 1946), p. 5

NFC 1111 [Calum Maclean’s diaries from 1945 to 1948]

Image:

Myles Dillon

Scomo: George Scott-Moncrieff

In a surprisingly brief obituary notice given that George Scott-Moncrieff was a columnist for The Scotsman newspaper, the following details were printed a day after his passing:

Mr George Scott-Moncrieff, the Scottish author, playwright and poet has died at his home in Peeblesshire. He was 64. He was born in Edinburgh and educated at Edinburgh Academy and Aldenham School in England. He made extensive travels in America and Europe.
His books include "Scottish Islands" and "Lowlands of Scotland." He wrote the play "Fotheringhay," about the final years of Mary Queen of Scots and one of his works as a poet was the "Book of Uncommon Prayer." He also wrote on Scottish architecture.

He was married twice. His first wife died and he is survived by his second wife. There [are] seven children of the marriages.

Edinburgh-born George Scott-Moncrieff (1910–1974), nicknamed Scomo, was a journalist, playwright and novelist and the author of some well-known books on Scotland, such as The Stones of Scotland, and The Scottish Islands. Scott-Moncrieff moved to the Isle of Eigg from Edinburgh in 1945, after his wife had died at the young age of twenty-nine and settled in Cleadale. In order to deal with his grief, he wrote a novel Death's Bright Shadow (1948), a title which gives a hint of his deeply Christian optimism. He was a man of deep interior life. Scott-Moncrieff returned to stay in Edinburgh in 1951.

It is uncertain when Calum Maclean and George Scott-Moncrieff first became acquainted with one another but they may have met when Maclean was studying Celtic at the University of Edinburgh between 1935 and 1939; or, perhaps, they first met when Maclean returned to Scotland at the end of the Second World War after being an “exile” in Ireland since 1939. Either way, it is quite likely that a mutual interest in Scottish Nationalism, as well as Scottish culture in general, drew them together.

Scott-Moncrieff first came to literary prominence with his debut novel Café Bar (1932), “a closely linked series of low-life vignettes of London.” Such literature was popular during the 1920s and 1930s; this novel was followed in 1933 by Tinker’s Wind. But as Morley Jamieson wrote in his memoire of him: “The exigencies of making a living by writing compelled George to find a métier which he could enjoy as well as exploit. Fortunately much of his motivation stemmed from a profound love of his native Scotland in all its aspects. In a year or two he became an acknowledged authority on Scottish topography and to a striking degree its architecture. Scottish Country (1935), Stones of Scotland (1935), Lowlands of Scotland (1938), Scottish Islands (1939) and Edinburgh (1946) are good examples of his style and achievement. His work in this period was always distinguished by humour, awareness and a certain wisdom and commonsense which is not itself necessarily dependent on profound scholastic learning.”

Scomo was a kenspeckled character amongst the Edinburgh literati, including such luminaries as Robert Garioch and Sydney Goodsir Smith to name but two. They used to come and visit Scott-Moncrieff at Temple, a few miles outside Edinburgh. They also happened to be nationalists in their political temperament.

Scott-Moncrieff married Ann in 1936 and through her influence converted to Roman Catholicism. He had previously been an Episcopalian. At the outbreak of war, they moved to Breakacky near Kingussie, to be nearer to George’s sister Dorothy and their husband Neil Usher. The young couple later moved to Dalwhinnie; but they eventually made their way back down to the confines of Edinburgh.

In the meantime, George assisted in the foundation of a new literary adventure when The New Alliance came into being. He is described as having “imposed on The New Alliance standards of literary excellence that were to characterize it throughout the war years and were later passed on to its successor The Scots Review.” Scott-Moncrieff, however, lost both his older brother, Colin, and his younger brother, Charles, during the war. Tragedy was to strike again when his wife Ann died at a young age. Such was the affect of these losses upon him that Scott-Moncrieff even contemplated joining the priesthood.

Around a year before Calum Maclean came back to Scotland from Ireland, Scomo moved to the Isle of Eigg in 1945. Indeed, his five years spent there “was too much of a hermit-like existence for an essentially gregarious man and it could not be sustained indefinitely.” He returned to stay in Edinburgh in 1951, the year in which Calum Maclean himself would take up residence in the Scottish capital on the foundation of the School of Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

During his five-year residence on Eigg, Maclean would periodical visit his friend in Cleadale. Scott-Moncrieff is mentioned now and again in Maclean’s diaries that he kept of his daily activities, a requirement of the work that fieldworkers had to keep for the Dublin-based Irish Folklore Commission. Apart from writing that Maclean had received a letter from Scott-Moncrieff shortly before, the following entry contains the first mention of him:

Dia Luain, 29 Iùl 1946 [NFC 1111, 37]

Thriallas indiu chuig Oileán Eige. Fuaireas an bád go dtí Malaig agus as a sin chuig an oileán. Bhí Aonghas MacMhathain, léightheóir Ceiltise i n-Oilsgoil Ghlaschu ag dul i n-éinfeacht liom. Bhí sé ag dul amach chuig Uibhist. Casadh mo chara, George Scott-Moncrieff liom i Malaig. Bhí sé i nGlaschu, i n-áit a raibh drama a sgríobh sé dé léiriú. Bhain muid Eige amach faoi cheithre a’ chlog tránóna. Casadh an sagart is an dochtúir orainn. Tugadh muid ar fad chuig tae i dteach an dochtúra. Shiúbhlamar treasna an oileáin annsin chuig Cliadal. Bhí sé deireannach nuair tháinig muid chuig tigh Scott-Moncrieff. Chuadhas a’ breathnú ar shean-fhear MacGuaire, an duine is aosda ar an oileán. Tá tuairim céad duine ar an oileán.

Monday, 29 July 1946 [NFC 1111, 37]

Today I travelled to the Isle of Eigg. I got the boat to Mallaig and then from there to the island. Angus Matheson, a reader in Celtic at the University of Glasgow, went along with me. He was going out to Uist. I met my friend, George Scott-Moncrieff, in Mallaig. He had been in Glasgow too see some plays and to review them. We reached Eigg at four o’clock in the afternoon. We met the priest and the doctor. We all went to the doctor’s house for tea. We travelled through the island to Cleadale. It was late when we reached Scott-Moncrieff’s house. We went to visit and old man, MacGuire, the oldest man on the island. There are around a hundred people on the island.

Another typical entry for this time may be given:

Dia Satharainn, 3 Lughnasa 1946 [NFC 1111, 42]

Chaitheas an mhaidin a’ sgríobhadh. Bhíos a’ sgríobhadh an lá ar fad go dtí a ceithre a’ chlog. Bhí an lá réasunta tirim. Bhuaileas isteach a’ breathnú ar shean Dòmhnall MacGuaire, ach a réir cosúlachta, ní robh duine ar bith istigh. Tar éis tae, chuadhas suas chuig teach Eòghain MhicFhionghuin. Bhí dream deasa istigh annsin. Bhí oidhche bhréagha againn le ceól is le amhráin. Rinneas cupla fiteán an oidhche seo. Bhí an sagart ann an t-Athair MacCeallaig agus bhí na píopaí céoil aige. Tha neart seanchais aig Eòghain MacFhionghuin atá le fagháil uaidh fós. Bhí sé deireannach go maith, nuair a tháinig mé abhaile. Bhí mé féin is Scott-Moncrieff tamall a’ cómhradh annsin.

Saturday 3 August 1946 [NFC 1111, 42]

Spent the morning transcribing. Transcribed all day long until four o’clock. Today was reasonably dry. I went to visit old Donald MacGuire but apparently no one was in. After tea, I went up to Hugh MacKinnon’s house. There was a nice crowd of folk present. We had a beautiful night of music and song. A couple of cylinders were recorded tonight. Fr MacKellaig played on the pipes. Hugh MacKinnon has a great deal of lore which has yet to be taken down. It was quite late by the time I got back home. Scott-Moncrieff and I chatted for a while then.

The following year Maclean writes the following in his diary:

Dia Domhnaigh, 30 Márta 1947 [NFC 1111, 293]

Bhíos deireannach ag éirigh indiu. Ní raibh aon Aifreann i n-Eige mar d’ imthigh an sagart indé. Chuadhamar ar cuairt chuig Eòghain MacFhionghain agus George Scott-Moncrieff. Shocruigheamar le George Scott-Moncrieff go dtóigfeadh sé peictiúirí de na sgéalaithe is na seanchaidhthe a casadh orainn i mBarraigh.

Sunday, 30 March 1947 [NFC 1111, 293]

I got up late today. There was no Mass to attend in Eigg as the priest left yesterday. I went to visit Hugh MacKinnon and Scott-Moncrieff. I arranged with George Scott-Moncrieff that he’d take photographs of the storytellers and tradition bearers we had met in Barra.

In May of that year, Maclean and Scott-Moncreiff sailed over to Barra for the express purpose of taking photographs of the various storytellers and songwriters from whom Maclean had recorded a lot of material over the past six or so months:

Diardaoin, 15 Bealtain 1947 [NFC 1111, 334]

Bhí sé ’na lá saoire indiu agus chuadhamar ar Aifreann í seipéal Èirisgeidh. Tá seipéal gleóite acsa annseo. Ar an dó a’ chlog d’ imthigh Scott-Moncrieff agus mé féin go Barraigh. Chuir Niall Mòr Caimbéal as an Lùdaig treasna muid. Bhí an lá go h-áluinn. Bhí an camera ag Scott-Moncrieff. Agus bhiomar réidh le peictiúirí a thóigeál. Chuadhamar i dtír ar chéibh Eòiligearraidh i n-aice le teach Cheit Ruairidh Iain Bhàin. Bhuaileas isteach a’ breathnú ar Mhórag NicGill’Eathain. D’ éirigh linn peictiúirí a thóigeál de Niall Aonghas MacDhòmhnaill, de’n gCoddaí, de Cheit Ruairidh Iain Bhàin agus de Shéamas Iain Ghunnairigh. Níl Séamas Iain Ghunnairigh a’ breathnú chomh maith agus a bhí sé chor ar bith. Bhí inghean leis tinn le tamall anuas ach tá sí níos fearr anois. Bhí sé naoi a’ chlog nuair a bhaineas Bàgh a’ Chaisteil amach.

Thursday, 15 May 1947 [NFC 1111, 334]

It was a Holiday of Obligation and we went to Mass in the Eriskay chapel. They’ve a very nice chapel here. At two o’clock Scott-Moncrieff and I went over to Barra. Big Neil Campbell took us over from Ludag. It was a beautiful day. We landed at Eoligarry pier near to Katie Buchanan’s house. We visited Morag MacLean. We took pictures of Neil Angus MacDonald, the Coddie, Katie Buchanan and James MacKinnon. James MacKinnon isn’t looking well at all. His daughter had been unwell for a while but she’s better now. It was nine o’clock when we reached Castlebay.

Dia h-Aoine, 16 Bealtain 1947 [NFC 1111, 335]

Bhí an lá indiu go h-áluinn ar fad. Chuadhas síos go dtí an Bàgh a Tuath ar maidin agus tháinig mé ar ais le Scott-Moncrieff go Bréibhig. Thóigeamar peictiúirí de thighthe ceann-tuighe ar an mbealach. Chuadhamar annsin chuig Dòmhnall Bàn Eileanach agus thóigeamar peictiúirí de. Chuadhamar annsin go Bàgh a’ Chaisteil agus thóigeamar peictiúirí de Fhlòraidh NicNèill, de Niall MacGilleÌosa, de Anna NicIain, agus de Dhòmhnall MacDhòmhnaill, Èirisgeidh. Bhuaileamar isteach a’ breathnú ar an Ath. Iain MacGilleMhaoil. Chuadhamar annsin go teach na sgoile i n-Eòiligearraidh agus thóigeamar peictiúirí eile de Niall Aonghas MacDhòmhnaill agus e gléasta le feile beag.

Bhí an lá go h-áluinn ar fad indiu. Bhí tamall cainnte agam le Dòmhnall MacDhòmhnaill as Èirisgeidh tránóna. Dubhairt sé go ngabhadh sé a’ bailiú dhúinn ’sa samhradh.

Friday, 16 May 1947 [NFC 1111, 335]

Today it was an altogether beautiful day. Went down to Northbay in the morning and I came back with Scott-Moncrieff to Brevig. We took photographs of a thatched house on the way. We then went to visit Donald MacPhee and took a photographs of him. We then went to Castlebay and took photographs of Flora MacNeill, Neil Gillies, Annie Johnston and Donald MacDonald from Eriskay. We visited Fr John MacMillan. We then went to the schoolhouse in Eoligarry and took more photographs of Neil Angus MacDonald who was wearing a kilt.

Today it was an altogether beautiful day. I spoke for a while with Donald MacDonald from Eriskay in the afternoon. He said that he’d collect for us in the summer.

Three days later, Maclean, Scott-Moncrieff in the company of Professor James Hamilton Delargy, who was then visiting the island, travelled to Edinburgh. It was perhaps in Edinburgh that Scott-Moncrieff got the forty or so photographs developed that he had taken on Barra, copies of which made their way back to the Irish Folklore Commission in Dublin.

One of the last mentions of Scott-Moncrieff in Maclean’s diaries (which by this time was kept in Scottish Gaelic rather than Irish) concerns a visit to South Uist in May 1950:

Disathairne, 27 An Cèitean 1950 [NFC 1301, 447]

An-diugh sa mhadainn bha na leòis a bh’ air mo chasan cho dona agus gur h-ann air èiginn a b’ urrainn domh coiseachd. Dh’fhalbh Séamus Ó Duilearga a dh’ iasgach an-diugh agus thill mise air ais dachaigh agus thòisich mi air sgrìobhadh. Bha mi a’ sgrìobhadh gus an robh e mu cheithir uairean feasgar. An uair sin chaidh mi sìos an coinneamh George Scott-Moncrieff. Thill sinn air ais dhachaigh nuair a choinnich sinn aig Creag Ghoiridh agus thug sinn an còrr den oidhche a’ còmhradh. Tha George Scott-Moncrieff a’ sgrìobhadh leabhar mu Eileannan na h-Albann.

Saturday, 27 May 1950 [NFC 1301, 447]

This morning the blisters on my feet were so bad that I could barely walk. James Hamilton Delargy left to go fishing today and I returned home and began transcribing. I transcribed until around four o’clock in the afternoon. Then I went down to meet George Scott-Moncrieff. We returned home when we met at Creagorry and we spent the rest of the night talking. George Scott-Moncrieff is writing a book about the Scottish Islands.

The book on which Scott-Moncrieff was then working on duly appeared as Scottish Islands two years afterwards. Although Scott-Moncrieff did not perhaps loom large in Maclean’s life, they were on friendly terms and would have visited one another in Edinburgh. The photographs taken by Scott-Moncrieff are significant for they not only capture a disappearing way of life but also they provide some wonderful portraits of those “ordinary” folk from whom Maclean had collected. These photograph paint a picture that no words could match and Maclean must be given credit for the foresight that he had of having their photographs taken at the time and for his friend for being so willing to assist him.

Perhaps the following valedictory address made by his great friend, Fr John Dalrymple, in Innerleithen on this day of his funeral, best sums up the character of the man: “…among other things his great love for his country and his devotion to the Faith. These dominated his life which was shaped around them and we remember him for his constancy and loyalty and his capacity of inspire those virtues in others. Bullies and portentious events did not intimidate him and when he triumphed it was in a modest key. He had a rare sensibility and used language in which the words remained fresh. Style in writing is an elusive quality and his humour and light touch could not conceal the underlying seriousness which enabled him to see clearly not only his own predicament but that of others.”

Earlier in his address, Dalrymple paints an overview of the man that he had known for many years, giving something of his essence and why he had such a large number of friends and acquaintances:

All his life he was mixed up in the politics, art, literature and religion of Scotland, and in all those areas he was a knowledgeable and respected figure. Someone early in his life dubbed him “Scomo” after the initial syllables of his surname and it was as Scomo that he was widely known and loved in his native land: a disheveled, untidy, windblown figure with a cleft palate and a hair lip, rapid speech, a tumble of ideas, immense warmth and charm, marvelous hospitality. George loved Scotland. He had a feel for his land and for the buildings which Scotsmen had erected upon it. He knew it astonishingly well. Wherever you proposed to go, he was sure to know all about the countryside and tell you what to see. Some of his best writing was done in this field, his book on Edinburgh being the best known. As a young man George played a vital part in the Scottish renaissance, part political, part literary, of the thirties and forties…

References:

Anon., 'Mr. George Scott-Moncrieff', The Scotsman, no. 40491 (20 Aug., 1974), p. 8

Rev. Jock Dalrymple, ‘Obituary: George Scott-Moncrieff’, The Tablet (7 Sep., 1974), p. 22

Morley Jamieson, George Scott Moncrieff and a Few Friends: A Brief Memoir (Edinburgh: privately published, 1987)

NFC 1111; 1301 [Calum Maclean’s diaries from 1945 to 1948 and from 1949 to 1950]

Image:

George Scott-Moncrieff photographed in 1958