1 May 1707
The Act of Union between England and Scotland
went into effect and the Scottish Parliament was suspended until 1999.
There had been a union of the respective crowns since 1603 but plans for a
more formal legislative and political union had fallen into abeyance. The
later seventeenth century brought almost endless wars with France and this
made an Anglo-Scottish union both strategically and economically
desirable. England's appreciation of its strategic interests as well as
the nuisance value of the Scottish Parliament moved it to offer
concessions to Scotland and financial inducements (some say bribes) to
Scottish parliamentarians to accept a union. After several years of famine
as well as the financial debacle of the failed colonization scheme in
Darien (Panama), Scotland’s ability, if not will, to refuse such a union
waned. Henceforth, Scotland would send 45 members to the House of Commons
and 16 peers to the House of Lords in London. Scotland also received
equality of trade (in theory) with England, including vital access to the
markets of England's colonies, and a grant of a money ‘equivalent’ of the
share of England’s national debt that Scotland would assume. Scotland also
accepted the Hanoverian Succession, agreed to a common system of coinage,
but retained its own system of law and national church.
4 May 1800
The birth of John McLeod Campbell of Rowe,
philosopher and religious reformer, at Kilninver in Ayrshire. He studied
at Glasgow University before entering the Church of Scotland and was
appointed to the Rowe Parish near Helensburgh in 1825. He was troubled by
the lack of assurance among his flock because of the Calvinist doctrine of
Predestination that God loves only the elect. He believed that this was
unchristian and against what John Calvin had actually argued. Campbell
began to preach that salvation was guaranteed for all believers and this
resulted in his deposition by the General Assembly of the Scottish Church
in 1831. He declined to form his own sect and went out as an evangelist to
the Highlands for a few years before acquiring an independent congregation
in Glasgow. He endured there for nearly thirty years running an open
mission in the East End. His writings include Christ is the Bread of
Life (1851), Thoughts on Revelation (1862), On the Nature of
Atonement (1868) and Reminiscences and Reflections (1873). He
greatly influenced liberal thinkers throughout Britain and in 1868 was
awarded an honorary doctorate by his old university. He died 27 February
1876 at Rosneath and is commemorated by a window in Rosneath Church.
5 May 1646
The surrender of King Charles I, his Royalist
(Cavalier) armies defeated in the English Civil War, to a Scottish army,
largely composed of Covenanters, camped outside Newark and commanded by
Alexander Leslie, Earl of Leven. The Covenanters were those Scots who had
signed an historical document (covenant) in 1638 stating their opposition
to Rome, and Roman practices and rights as practiced by the Episcopal
Church, and affirming their support for the Protestant faith. By
surrendering to these men, Charles probably thought that they would be
more willing than the English to support his efforts to reverse the
military and political situation in England. He was sadly mistaken. When
he refused to sign the Covenant they handed him over to Parliament in
return for a partial payment of money owed them for their efforts on
behalf of Parliamentary party in the recent struggle and a promise that
Charles would not be harmed. This proved to be a bad bargain as the
remaining money was not paid, Charles was executed in 1649, and Scotland
thereafter defeated and occupied by English Parliamentary forces under
Cromwell.
9 May 1860
The birth of Sir James Matthew
Barrie, creator of Peter Pan, at Kirriemuir in Angus, a son of weaver
David Barrie and Margaret Ogilvy. Educated at Edinburgh University, he
worked as a journalist for a Nottingham newspaper before moving to
London in 1885. He became a prolific writer of articles, novels, and
plays. Works such as Auld Licht Idylls (1889)
and A Window in Thrums
(1889) are fictional sketches of Scottish life that helped establish him
as a founder of the sentimental 'kailyard' school, now out of favor. His
most famous effort, originally titled A Play, was inspired by time
spent with his neighbor’s sons and their friends, and performed as a
Christmas production in 1904 as Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Would Not
Grow Up. It was both a popular and critical success. He received many
honors in his lifetime. He was made a baronet in 1913 and was granted the
Order of Merit for his service during World War I. He served as Rector of
St. Andrews University from 1919 to 1922, Chancellor of Edinburgh
University from 1930 to 1937, and President of the Society of Authors from
1928 to 1937. He was married to actress Mary Ansell in 1894. They had no
children and were divorced in 1909. Barrie died on 19 June 1937 and was
buried next to his mother and brother David in Kirriemuir.
10 May 1941
In one of the most bizarre episodes in the
history of the Second World War, Nazi German Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess
flew a special long range aircraft from Augsburg to Scotland and
parachuted out, landing south of Glasgow. He informed his surprised
British captors that he was an emissary of Adolf Hitler with peace
proposals demanding a free hand for Germany in Europe and return of
Germany’s former colonies in return for Germany's promise to respect the
integrity of the British Empire. There is some indication that Hess hoped
to restore his sagging influence with a spectacular coup in ending war
between Britain and Germany. However, the British were not interested and
Hitler apparently had not approved nor was even aware of "this escapade,"
as Winston Churchill termed it. Hitler subsequently passed a death
sentence on Hess but made no effort to enforce it and even referred to
Hess as a loyal but misguided old comrade. Hess was comfortably imprisoned
for the duration of the war and was among those Nazi leaders sentenced for
crimes against humanity at Nuremberg in 1946. He spent the rest of his
life at Spandau Prison in Berlin, until his death on 17 August 1987. Many
still question what actually occurred on Hess' journey and conspiracy
theories abound.
13 May 1568
The Battle of Langside occurred and Mary’s
final bid to regain the Scots throne was defeated. Forced to abdicate in
favor of her infant son, Mary, the former Queen of Scots, was imprisoned
in Lochleven Castle by her half-brother James Stewart, the Earl of Moray
and Regent for the young king. James was a leader of the Protestant 'Lords
of the Congregation' who promoted the Reformation in Scotland. Mary,
however, escaped from confinement with the help of young William Douglas,
and mustered about 6,000 Royalist supporters near Glasgow. Opposing this
force where some 3,000 to 4,000 men loyal to James and led by Kirkaldy of
Grange. Mary's followers consisted largely of Hamiltons and Campbells of
Argyle and when the order was given to charge the former did so but the
latter held back. At this crucial moment, Kirkaldy's pikemen routed the
Hamiltons while the Campbells fled back to the Highlands. Mary
unsuccessfully attempted to rally her troops from horseback but was forced
to flee south, to England, captivity, and eventual execution. James' army
suffered few casualties while the Hamiltons lost about 100 killed and 300
taken prisoner. Since the Campbell Chief was a brother in law to James,
the suspicion was that his failure to attack was merely another example of
the treachery of the Scottish nobility.
14 May 1688
King James VII and II ordered his Declaration
of Indulgence, first promulgated the year before, to be read aloud in the
churches. This declaration ostensibly granted toleration to both Roman
Catholics and Presbyterians, permitting people of both faiths to serve God
in their own ways so long as they did not promote disloyalty. Many
suspected the actual intention was to promote the growth of Catholicism
until the right time came to reverse the Indulgence and then eliminate
both the Presbyterians and Episcopalians. Seven bishops refused to read
the declaration and were charged with seditious libel, imprisoned, and
tried. The Indulgence did not extend to the more extreme Protestants and
the last of their ministers, James Renwick, was captured and executed in
1688. The Indulgence, however, produced results that James did not
foresee. He overlooked the vehement reaction of Protestant opposition to
any toleration of Catholics, thereby heightening the motivation of his
enemies to move against him. The declaration also enabled many
Presbyterian ministers to return to their parishes where their influence
was to play a major role in the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688 that drove
out James and Roman Catholicism in both Scotland and England and replaced
them with his Protestant son in law and daughter, William and Mary.
15 May 1567
The Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, married her
third husband, the Protestant James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, Lord
Shetland (through his Sinclair mother), Admiral of Scotland. Though she
gave birth in June 1566 to a son, the later James VI of Scotland and James
I of England, she was increasingly disaffected from her second husband,
Darnley. Masking her true feelings, she made an outward show of
reconciliation with Darnley while growing closer to Bothwell. In February
1567, Darnley was bizarrely murdered when the house he was living in, Kirk
O'Field, was blown up and his body was found on the grounds. Evidence,
including the controversial Casket Letters, pointed to both Mary and
Bothwell. Suspicions grew as Mary did little to investigate the murder,
allowed herself to be abducted by Bothwell, and then married him. The
marriage was widely condemned and opposition to Bothwell became a rallying
point of Mary’s foes. There was a total collapse of public support and
civil war ensued. Mary was captured and forced to abdicate in favor of her
son a few months later. After being imprisoned for several months, she
escaped and raised an army that was crushed at the Battle of Langside on
13 May 1568. Both Mary and Bothwell were forced to flee the country and
suffer imprisonment and eventual death, she in England in 1587 and he in
Norway in 1578.
18 May 1843
The "Great Disruption" split the
Presbyterian Kirk (Church) of Scotland as over 450 ministers, about a
third of the number, signed the Act of Separation and Deed of Dermission
and formed the Free Church of Scotland. Their leader was Thomas Chalmers,
Professor of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh and champion of the
Evangelical Party in the Church of Scotland. This group was focused on the
issue of lay patronage as to whether ministers would be selected by the
congregation or the patrons, usually landed gentry, supported by the civil
authorities. This factional dispute resulted in the Disruption of 1843
when the dissenting ministers walked out of the General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland in protest against the government's refusal to grant
spiritual independence to the Church. The Free Church of Scotland was
quickly able to gain enough support to organize its own churches, schools,
and missions. Chalmers became Moderator of the new Church and was
subsequently Principal of their New College for training in the ministry.
A gradual process of return to the Church of Scotland began after the
Patronage Act was repealed in 1874 though a small sect remained which
became known as the "Wee Frees."
19 May 1795
The death of author and biographer
James Boswell in London. The eldest son of Alexander Boswell, Lord of
Auchinleck, and Euphemia Erskine, he was born 29 October 1740 in Edinburgh
and attended the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, graduating from
the latter in 1759. The following year, he ran away to London but his
father soon fetched him home where he studied law. In 1762, he convinced
his father to support him while he returned to London. He began a journal
in which he wrote everything down, especially memorable conversations. He
met both Oliver Goldsmith and Samuel Johnson, becoming friends with the
latter. Boswell then went to study law in Holland and toured Switzerland,
Italy, and Corsica. Returning to Edinburgh, he practiced law from 1766
though he made several more trips to London. In 1768, he published the
first of the works based on his journal, An Account of Corsica, the
Journal of a Tour to That Island, and Memoirs of Pascal Paoli. The
following year, he married Margaret Montgomery. In 1773, he toured the
Hebrides with Dr. Johnson. After his father’s death in 1782, he succeeded
to Auchinleck and unsuccessfully pursued a political career. Following
Johnson’s death in 1784, he decided to write a biography and publish his
journal of their Hebridean tour. His Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides,
published in 1785, was a great success but also provoked charges of
personal fatuity as critics since then have been unable to understand how
he could chronicle his own weaknesses with an historian’s objectivity.
Moving to London in 1788, his wife's death on 4 June 1789 was a severe
loss and his precarious finances, requiring the support and education of
their five children, clouded to his efforts to complete the biography.
Nevertheless, The Life of Samuel Johnson was published in two
volumes on 16 May 1791 to immediate critical success and is still
considered a biographical masterpiece of the English language. Boswell saw
the second edition of the Life published in July 1793 and was overseeing
the third when his sudden death occurred.
21 May 1650
The execution of James Graham, Marquis of
Montrose, at Edinburgh. One of the great military leaders in Scottish
history, he arrived in Scotland without an army as the Lieutenant-General
of King Charles I. He was, however, able to enlist many Highlanders, who
were opposed to the Campbells rather than with the Presbyterian
Covenanters, and about 1,000 Roman Catholic Irish led by Alasdair
MacDonald. With this small army, he combined discipline and guerrilla
tactics to win a series of amazing victories. At Tippermuir, on 1
September 1644, he defeated about 7,000 Covenanters and captured the city
of Perth and, twelve days later, sacked Aberdeen. Unlike his opponents,
Montrose did not go into winter quarters and raided the Campbell lands and
then defeated the pursuing Campbells at the Battle of Inverlochy in
February 1645. Later that year, he captured the city of Dundee, won a
victory at Auldearn, and defeated William Baillie, hero of Marston Moor,
first at Alford and again at Kilsyth. Unfortunately, Montrose's successes
could not save the King. On 14 June 1645, at the Battle of Naseby in
England, Charles' army was defeated by Cromwell in the first great victory
of the New Model Army. Montrose lost his grip on Scotland as his army had
never been large and the Highlanders began to go home while the Irish
appeared to be more concerned with plunder than with the king's cause.
Unable to raise a new army in the Scottish Lowlands, Montrose’s small
force of about 600 men was destroyed at Philliphaugh, near Selkirk, on 13
September 1645, by the calvary of David Leslie. Montrose's supporters led
him from the field while both his army and their camp followers were
finished off by the Covenanters. Montrose escaped to the continent but
returned after the execution of Charles I to support the young Charles II
in 1650. He was betrayed by MacLeod of Assynt for 25,000 pounds, captured
at Carbisdale on 27 April 1650, and executed shortly thereafter. He faced
death with dignity and impressed those who had come to jeer him.
23 May 1718
The birth of obstetrician and educator William
Hunter at Long Calderwood, East Kilbride, Lanarkshire. He studied for the
Church at Glasgow University for five years before changing in 1737 to
study medicine in Edinburgh under William Cullen. He moved to London in
1741 to continue training, first with James Douglas who encouraged him in
anatomy and then with William Smellie who focused on obstetrics. In 1746,
Hunter began teaching on topics such as surgery or anatomy and engaged in
obstetrical practice. While in France in the 1740s, he noticed that
medical students were provided with cadavers for dissection so he
subsequently introduced this practice to Britain. His high standards of
teaching and medical practice did much to remove obstetrics from the hands
of midwives and establish it as a medical discipline. In recognition of
his achievements he was awarded a medical degree by the University of
Glasgow in 1750. He was appointed Physician Extraordinary to Queen
Charlotte in 1764 and Professor of Anatomy at the new Royal Academy in
1768. Also in 1768, he opened a museum to improve teaching of medicine,
surgery, and anatomy through illustration. It contained both natural
history and medical specimens as well as a library of rare books. He
founded a School of Anatomy in 1771 and died 30 March 1783, leaving his
school to nephew Matthew Baillie and his museum to Glasgow University. He
wrote three books, the most important being his 1774 The Anatomy of the
Human Gravid Uterus, Exhibited in Figures. William’s brother John
Hunter (1728-1793) was also a renowned surgeon and is considered the
founder of pathological anatomy.
24 May 1153
The death of David I, one of the more able
Scottish kings. He was succeeded by his grandson, Malcolm IV, a boy of
eleven, and known to history as 'The Maiden' because as he retained his
childish looks into adulthood. His reign was plagued with strife and chaos
as he was beset by numerous enemies. The King of Norway sacked Aberdeen,
rebellions broke out in Moray and Galloway, and Somerled, Lord of the
Isles and self styled "King of Argyll," sailed up the Clyde and burned
Glasgow. The greatest enemy though was King Henry II of England. David I
had seized and ruled the three northern English counties of
Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmorland. This occupation was a
constant grievance to the English so Henry II threatened war with Malcolm,
and given his other pressing difficulties, he mildly gave his acquiescence
to the return of these provinces to the English. This seminal event in
Malcolm's reign, not to mention Scottish history, has often prompted
speculation as to how different the subsequent development of Scotland and
England might have been had the counties remained a permanent accession to
the former to the detriment of the growth and expansion of the latter.
25 May 1713
The birth of John Stuart, Third
Earl of Bute, British Prime Minister and mentor to the young King George
III, in Edinburgh. Though better educated than most English aristocrats,
he was worse off financially as his Scottish estates were poor. His
marriage in 1736 to a daughter of Edward Worley Montagu did not enrich his
pocketbook. A Scottish peer from 1738, he arrived in London in 1745 and,
despite his poverty, soon became friends with Frederick, Prince of Wales,
and his wife, Princess Augusta. After the accession of Frederick's son
George III in 1760, Bute was appointed in short succession as Privy
Councillor, Secretary of State, and, in effect, Prime Minister as First
Lord of the Treasury. He held this last position for only one year,
1762-1763, but negotiated the Treaty of Paris which ended the Seven Years
War, known in America as the French and Indian War. As a Scot and a royal
favorite, he was very unpopular. This was not helped by the imposition of
a hated cider tax and the controversial elevation of Henry Fox to the
peerage. The strain of office was too great for him and he resigned in
April 1763 though he remained influential with the King for many years and
was a patron of Dr. Samuel Johnson. He retired in 1780 from Parliament and
spent his last years studying literature and science. He died on 10 March
10 1792 and was buried on the island of Bute.
29 May 1546
The murder of Cardinal David Beaton,
Chancellor for the young Mary, Queen of Scots, at St. Andrews Castle. He
was thrown from a window as revenge by supporters of popular reformer,
George Wishart, who Beaton had ordered burned at the stake on 1 March
1546. The only Cardinal in Scottish history, he became Archbishop of St.
Andrews in 1539 and Papal Legate in Scotland in 1544. A trusted advisor to
King James V (reigned 1513-1542), he promoted the French alliance and
helped arrange the king’s successive marriages to French noblewomen. After
James's death, he was briefly imprisoned by the pro-English party though
he emerged in 1543 as virtual ruler of Scotland and began persecuting
Protestants. A controversial figure to this day, some consider him a
Scottish patriot for stopping a proposed marriage of Queen Mary to the
future King Edward VI of England. This frustrated the plans of King Henry
VIII and resulted in yet another Anglo-Scottish war, this one with the
quaint name of ‘The Rough Wooing.’ A devout Roman Catholic who ordered the
execution of several Protestants, including Wishart, he lived openly with
his common law wife and children.
By William John Shepherd
Note on Sources: Several of the
dates are based upon concise chronologies published by Ronald McDonald
Douglas in his Scottish Lore and Folklore (1982) and John Wilson
McCoy in the pages of The Highlander magazine in 1997. Additional
dates and information are from my varied readings in Scottish history.
These sources include but are not limited to the following: Brown, P.
Hume. A Short History Of Scotland (1908, 1961); Fisher Andrew. A
Traveller’s History of Scotland (1990); Keay, John and Julia (Eds.)
Collins Encyclopedia of Scotland (1994); Mackie, J.D. A History of
Scotland (1964, 1991); MacLean, Sir Fitzroy. A Concise History of
Scotland (1970, 1988); Prebble, John. The Lion in the North
(1971, 1973); and Smout, T.C. A History of the Scottish People,
1560-1830 (1969, 1998). |