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scotianostra · 2 years ago

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Scotianostra

On 9th April 1747 Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, the leading Scottish Jacobite rebel was beheaded on Tower Green, London.

Lovat has the unwanted notoriety of being the last man to be publicly beheaded in Britain. I was reading a wee bit about Lovatt a couple of weeks ago and thought it funny how his appearance was very different to the 20th century dashing 15th Lord Lovat who you might remember commanded piper Bill Millin at the D Gay landings, but I suppose the 11th Lord was around 80 years old at the time of his execution.

You have to admire their sense of adventure though, no doubt a family trait. The Lovat we are talking about here though was no gentleman by all accounts, He kidnapped, raped, and forcibly married a woman from a rival clan in order to gain claim on a contested succession (Lovat had to flee the country, a death sentence in absentia at his heels)

He expediently converted to Catholicism to get in with the exiled Stuarts and their continental allies and played both sides of the Hanover-Stuart intrigue, ingratiating himself with both Jacobites and London during the 1715 rising. He did this so adeptly that George I served as Lovat’s son’s godfather so please don’t think of him as a Jacobite hero.

They do say only the good die young. He was tried in March 1747 in Westminster for his part in the 45 uprising and sentenced to be Hung, drawn and quartered, the normal sentence for treason, remember that’s what they tried William Wallace for, even though Wallace was bot a subject of the English King.

Anyway his connections to the English Court meant he was shown mercy and his sentence was commuted to a simple beheading sparing him the torture aspects I suppose it was a bonus!

The execution was a massive event back then, think maybe a big sporting event, yes they even had to issue tickets and so many spectators arrive at Tower Hill, and an overcrowded timber stand collapsed, leaving 9 dead, to Lovat’s wry amusement.

It was the executioner who had the last laugh though!! Lovats last words said to be “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. ” (It is sweet and seemly to die for one’s country). He died, at least in his own eyes, as a Scottish patriot. Quite a number of pics here including the ticket for his execution,a picture of how Lovat looked at the time by the English Artist William Hogarth a sketch by Hogarth of the trial, Westminster Hall during the trial and finally the account of the execution from a Broadside of the time. I know I covered a fair bit here but there is an account of the trial and funeral in this link that is, to me at least, quite interesting.

There’s a much more descriptive account of the execution here http://www.britishexecutions.co.uk/execution-content.php?key=2040

Posted on April 9th, 2023 at 8:54AM

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Scottish Government

Kindness has never been more important.

Artist Emily Hogarth designed these postcards and asking Scots to help reach #OneMillionWordsofKindness this #StAndrewDay. Pick up yours at Lidl (Scotland) or send online: http://onescotland.org/st-andrews-day#WeAreScotland

Posted on November 30th, 2020 at 10:17PM

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#OneMillionWordsofKindness#scotland#kindness#wearescotland

On August 6th 1796 Scottish artist, David Allan, died.

David Allan was born in 1744 in Alloa and earned himself the nickname Hogarth of Scotland. His studies began at the Glasgow Academy, where he was taught by the printers Robert and Andrew Fonlis. At the age of twenty, he travelled south to Italy and continued his education at the Academy of St. Luc in Rome.

Having spent almost fourteen years in Italy, where he painted landscapes in the style of Poussin, he moved to London in 1777 and established himself in London as a portrait painter. In 1780 he moved permanently to Edinburgh, where he was made master of the Academy six years later.Many of his portraits can be found today in museums in London and Edinburgh and a self-portrait of Allen hangs in the Scottish National Gallery.“

Some of Allan’s best work is Scottish themed, like Highland Wedding, he also collaborated with Rabbie Burns, through his publisher George Thomson, his oval prints went down well with the poet who was to comment that he was: “highly delighted with Mr Allan’s etchings […] The expression of the figures conformable to the story in the ballad is absolutely faultless perfection.” Although the two never met correspondence between the three involved with the artwork tells of an admiration between the poet and the artist.

Burns died on 21st July, and was closely followed by Allan, on 6th August 1796. Allan is buried in the Old Calton Cemetery, Edinburgh, not far from the grave of David Hume.

Posted on August 6th, 2022 at 5:27PM

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youtube

Happy 47th Birthday Scottish singersongwriter KT Tunstall

Kate “KT” Victoria Tunstall was born in Edinburgh, 1975, herbirth mother was a Hong Kong-born exotic dancer, who put her up for adoption her parents David and Rosemary Tunstall adopted her and raised her in St Andrews, she has always been aware that she was adopted.

Strangely enough for a musician of her magnitude, KT Tunstall did not grow up in a musical household. Her parents’ only tape was a Tom Lehrer album on tape, leading Tunstall to discover the world of music entirely on her own , but it didn’t hold her back, KT was musical from an early age, learning to play piano, flute and guitar as a teenager.

KT moved to the USA, hungry for experiences and independence, she gained a scholarship to Kent School in Connecticut, New England. Whilst out there KT spent time on a hippy commune and formed her first band, The Happy Campers, she also spent a lot of time on busking in Burlington, Vermont.

After her time in the U.S she enrolled in a music course at Royal Holloway College in London, before finally moving back to St Andrews, she joined a group of folk musicians from around the East Neuk called The Fence Collective, which included the very talented Kenny Anderson aka King Creosote, in time she decided folk music was not for her and went on her way.

She began writing projects with Swedish songwriter/producer Martin Terefe and London-based Orcadian Jimmy Hogarth and London’s Tommy D. She started work on her debut album with her new band and legendary U2/New Order/Happy Monday’s producer Steve Osborne at the helm. ‘Eye to the Telescope’ saw her whittle down a massive catalogue of over 100 songs to just 12.

Luck played a part in her big break when due to another artist pulling out she appeared on 'Later With Jools Holland’ performing ‘Black Horse and the Cherry Tree’ it went on to become one of the most played songs of the summer. Her double platinum selling debut album 'Eye to the Telescope’ was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize.

KT has now had 6 top 20 albums, the latest, Wax was in 2018, it reached number 6 in Scotland and 15 in the UK charts, her new album, Nut, is due out in September.

I remember her being interviewed on The Proclaimers, This is the Story documentary in 2017, where she chose their excellent song Scotland’s Story, commenting “Scotland’s Story just really struck me as quite a different song for them, that they were really saying something incredibly poignant and quite brave. It’s quite a critical song of the way that Scotland’s history is logged.

“Here we are in 2017 and it couldn’t be a more poignant, relevant song for what’s going on in the world and I just thought for right now, it’s an amazing song to sing.”

KT has suffered hearing problems since 20n July 2021, she announced that she was having to pull out of her summer tour dates and permanently avoid lengthy runs of closely consecutive performances, citing issues with her right ear which were "exactly how the breakdown of my left ear began" In July 2021, she announced that she was having to pull out of her summer tour dates and permanently avoid lengthy runs of closely consecutive performances, citing issues with her right ear which were "exactly how the breakdown of my left ear began" Hearing problems have always been a worry to her; her brother was profoundly deaf since birth.

Tunstall has recently joined a host of famous faces to create special limited-edition postcards for this summer’s music festivals on behalf of the charity WaterAid. The limited-edition postcards will be officially launched at Glastonbury festival, which kicks off tomorrow. Festival-goers can pick up an exclusive postcard and send one to Boris Johnson calling for the government to take urgent action to tackle the climate crisis.

KT, who featured water-themed lyrics on her postcard, said: “It’s unacceptable that one in ten people have no clean water, and that these are the same people who are living on the frontline of the climate crisis.

“Water is so key to life, a lot of lyrics in my songs centre around it. My postcard design in support of WaterAid’s climate campaign features every lyric I’ve been inspired to write about water. With clean water, communities can stay healthy now and in the future.”

It’s never easy choosing a song for my posts, especially with someone like KT, who has a great catalogue to choose from , but I’ve plumped for a cover of a Bruce Springsteen she performed at The Quay Sessions with another recent birthday girl, Julie Fowlis, it’s called State Trooper.

Posted on June 23rd, 2022 at 1:27PM

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On May 19th, 1815, Catherine Hogarth Dickens was born in Edinburgh.

In 1834 she and her family moved to England where her father had taken a job as a music critic for the Morning Chronicle. Charles Dickens, young and unattached, was also employed by the Morning Chronicle. His first romantic relationship, with Maria Beadnell, had ended badly. However he was quite recovered and was quickly taken with Catherine.

They met in 1834, became engaged in 1835 and were married in April of 1836. In January of 1837 the first of their ten children was born.

The early years of their marriage were apparently quite happy. Dickens was in love with his young wife and she was very proud of her famous husband. In 1841 the couple travelled to Scotland. In 1842 they travelled to America together.

After the 1842 trip to America, Catherine’s sister Georgina came to live with the couple. Catherine was becoming overwhelmed with the duties of being the wife of a famous man and mother of ten children. Georgina stepped in to fill the gaps and eventually ran the Dickens household.

Dickens grew unhappy with Catherine and his marriage. He resented the fact that he had so many children to support. (Somehow he saw this as Catherine’s fault.) He did not approve of Catherine’s lack of energy. He began to indicate that she was not nor had ever been his intellectual equal.

In 1855 his discontent led him to accept an invitation to meet with his former girlfriend, Maria Beadnell. Maria had married and had become Mrs. Henry Winter. However Mrs. Henry Winter did not live up to Dickens’ romantic memories and nothing ever came of the reunion.

In 1857 Dickens met the woman who was to be his companion until his death, Ellen Ternan. Ellen, her mother and her sister were hired to act in a benefit presentation of The Frozen Deep. The event was sponsored by Dickens who also co-starred in the event.

Dickens’ life with Catherine seemed even more insufferable after meeting Ellen. Dickens wrote to his friend John Forster, “Poor Catherine and I are not made for each other, and there is no help for it. It is not only that she makes me uneasy and unhappy, but that I make her so too—and much more so.”

In 1857 Charles and Catherine took separate bedrooms.

In the spring of 1858 a bracelet that Dickens bought as a present for Ellen was accidentally delivered to the Dickens household. Catherine discovered the bracelet and accused Dickens of having an affair. Dickens denied the accusation and said it was his custom to give small gifts to people that acted in his plays. In June of 1858 Catherine and Charles were legally separated. Days later Dickens published a notice in the London Times and Household Words that tried to explain the separation to the public. In the notice he stated, “Some domestic trouble of mine, of long-standing, on which I will make no further remark than that it claims to be respected, as being of a sacredly private nature, has lately been brought to an arrangement, which involves no anger or ill-will of any kind, and the whole origin, progress, and surrounding circumstances of which have been, throughout, within the knowledge of my children. It is amicably composed, and its details have now to be forgotten by those concerned in it.”

While an announcement of this sort seems extreme Dickens was motivated to do so by some of the rumours circulating about the breakup. There was some gossip about an actress and some stories even suggested that Dickens was having an affair with his sister-in-law, Georgina. The second rumour was particularly upsetting because in those times such a relationship would have been viewed as incestuous.

Despite assurances that things were “amicably composed” Dickens and Catherine were never again on pleasant terms. Catherine was given a house. Their oldest son, Charley, moved in with her. Dickens retained custody of the rest of the children. While the children were not forbidden to visit their mother they were not encouraged to do so.

Catherine lived for another twenty years after the separation, passing away in November 1879. Deprived of both the role of wife and mother, she never seemed to recover from the breakup of her marriage.

Posted on May 19th, 2022 at 9:29AM

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On August 6th 1796 Scottish artist, David Allan, died.

David Allan was born in 1744 in Alloa, Scotland, and earned himself the nickname Hogarth of Scotland. His studies began at the Glasgow Academy, where he was taught by the printers Robert and Andrew Fonlis. At the age of twenty, he travelled south to Italy and continued his education at the Academy of St. Luc in Rome.

Having spent almost fourteen years in Italy, where he painted landscapes in the style of Poussin, he moved to London in 1777 and established himself in London as a portrait painter. In 1780 he moved permanently to Edinburgh, where he was made master of the Academy six years later. Many of his portraits can be found today in museums in London and Edinburgh and a self-portrait of Allen hangs in the Scottish National Gallery.“

“highly delighted with Mr Allan’s etchings […] The expression of the figures conformidable to the story in the ballad is absolutely faultless perfection.”

Although the two never met correspondence between the three involved with the artwork tells of an admiration between the poet and the artist.

Burns died on 21st July, and was closely followed by Allan, on 6th August 1796.

Allan is buried in the Old Calton Cemetery, Edinburgh, not far from the grave of David Hume

Posted on August 6th, 2021 at 9:11AM

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Old Calton Burial Ground.

Another from last weeks wander, known as the Scot’s Hogarth, David Allan was an Alloa man who trained to be an artist at the Foulis Academy in Glasgow for seven years. In 1767 he moved to Rome, where he lived for ten years, some of his classical work from that period are very good, but the patriot in me means I think his best work is of Scottish themes like The Highland Wedding, and portraits of leading figures of the time like the fiddler Niel Gow and architect James Craig, remembered for his role in laying out Edinburgh’s New Town.

Although he lived in the same era as poet Rabbie Burns the two never met, however Allan illustrated our bards’ work, the two were admirers of each other but they did correspond between each other. Burns said of the artist (he was the) “ only genuine and real Painter of Scottish Costume in the world.’

Allan also did illustrations for Edinburgh Poet and impresario, Allan Ramsay ‘s The Good Shepherd. A statue of Ramsay stands on Princes Street above the Floral Clock in West Princes Street Gardens.

Posted on July 4th, 2021 at 11:18AM

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On May 19th, 1815, Catherine Hogarth Dickens was born in Edinburgh.

Mrs Charles Dickens – wife of Britain’s most famous 19th-century author and social commentator – was born Miss Catherine Hogarth at 8 Hart Street in Broughton, Edinburgh.

Catherine was the eldest child of George Hogarth a lawyer whose clients included Sir Walter Scott. The family, which eventually comprised 10 children, moved to larger accommodation at 2 Nelson Street (a double-upper) in 1820. They moved again in 1828 to 19 Albany Street which was their last Edinburgh address before they progressed to the ‘big smoke’ of London in 1831, although another source says 1834.

They were a comfortable, cultured family. Catherine and her sisters were educated at home by their parents and received a grounding in the 3Rs, geography and music, as well as the strictures of a French dancing master.

In London, Catherine’s father soon established himself as a newspaper editor, as well as a musicologist and subsequent author of books on opera and Victorian musical life. As editor of the Evening Chronicle (for which Dickens was a journalist), he effectively became Dickens’s employer, by dint of which Catherine came to Charles’s warm attention. They were married in 1836 (the year Dickens’s first novel, The Pickwick Papers, was serialised), and would have 10 children in their Bloomsbury home. Catherine’s sisters Mary and Georgina were highly significant members of the Dickens ménage, and the latter remained in the household as housekeeper, adviser and friend from 1842 until Dickens’s death in 1870. Mary, who died prematurely, was immortalised as Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop.

Despite constant pregnancies, the early years of Catherine’s marriage appear to have been happy enough. She accompanied Dickens on his celebrated trip to America in 1842, and had a minor acting role in the author’s theatrical Every Man in his Humour for Leigh Hunt in 1845. Eventually, Dickens grew disenchanted with his marriage, finding Catherine ‘an incompetent mother’, and he cruelly blamed her for the birth of 10 children which caused financial worries. Dickens was himself hardly blameless. In 1857, he had a liaison with an actress, Ellen Ternan, who appeared in his play The Frozen Deep. In 1858, Catherine intercepted the gift of a bracelet intended for Ellen which had been accidentally delivered to the Dickens household.

In June 1858, Catherine and Charles formally separated. Catherine was given a house and her eldest son Charles moved in with her, but access to her other children was restricted. Ellen Ternan remained Dickens’s companion until his death. Catherine never fully recovered from the break-up of her marriage. Poignantly, on her deathbed in 1879 (she died of cancer), she gave her collection of letters to daughter Kate, instructing her to ‘… give these to the British Museum, that the world may know he loved me once’. She is interred in Highgate Cemetery with her infant daughter Dora who had died in 1851 aged nearly 8 months.

#scotland #scottish #authors wife #charles dickens #history #Edinburgh #Youtube

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