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For the latest news from Scotland see our ScotNews feed at:
https://electricscotland.com/scotnews.htm
Electric Scotland News
Each week we are profiling two short videos. One is from Beth Gay of Beth's Newfangled Family Tree where she is doing an 8-10 minute talk on Genealogy and Scots connections. Beth has been giving talks for many years at tons of Scottish games and other events all over America.
The other is from the Rev. Nola Crewe, a minister in Toronto, Canada, who does around a 10 minute talk on Thoughts for a Sunday Morning. Nola was the Grand Master of the Knights Templar of Canada.
Both are on YouTube. Beth's video is put up under my own account and I have links to them in her video archives section of Beth's Family Tree and Nola's talk can also be found in her forum on our Community site at ElectricScotland.org
--------
This week I did some research on African Americans and created a new section for them as I suspect more information will be discovered. There is of course a problem in doing research in this area as the word Negro is now a word that is not being used and indeed a page can be blocked if this word is discovered on it.
I've always been interested in finding connections with Scots in the slave trade but in particular how Scots treated their slaves. My reason for wanting to do research is due to the information I have gathered through various sources which actually suggest to me that the slaves were better homed and fed than many Scots were back in Scotland. I thus wondered if Scots treated their slaves any differently when they first emigrated to America.
You can see this new section at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...egro/index.htm
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page where we list news from the past 1-2 weeks. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland and world news stories that can affect Scotland and as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines it becomes a good resource. I might also add that in a number of newspapers you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish which I do myself from time to time.
Scots mums create amazing sofa range kids can pull apart to build forts and castles
Glasgow mums Rhona Madigan and Corrine Spencer were keen to find stimulating baby toys that would not overcrowd and clutter-up their homes, while also being sustainable.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/s...-sofa-24947131
Enough quick fixes
Politics is bedevilled by simplistic, short-term thinking. That's why a new bill to embed long-term thinking in legislation is so welcome. By committing ministers to think not just about their weekly poll ratings, but the prospects of future generations, it signals a profoundly different kind of policymaking.
Read more at:
https://capx.co/enough-quick-fixes-f...policy-making/
From council house to royal palace: My life as the Queen’s piper
Each morning at exactly nine o’clock, a little-known ritual takes place in grounds of where the Queen is in residence.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-scotland-58476253
Playing the bagpipes is the perfect way to honour the teachings of his Hindu guru
He leads the pipe band through the streets of North-West England to showcase this unusual blend of Scottish and Hindu culture.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-50100938
World's biggest whisky bottle filled with 311 litres of 32 year old Macallan breaks records
The 1.8m tall bottle took over an hour to fill, with the record-breaking event taking place at the headquarters of Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky in Huntly.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/scotla...illed-24948021
Two new ferries won’t be built in Scotland despite SNP Government owning shipyard
Labour described the announcement as a hammer-blow to Scotland's shipbuilders.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/p...built-24984468
There's no money left! Von der Leyen drops EU bombshell
The EU Commission had promised Germany aid after a devastating flood in July affected the region. However, according to a letter from the Commission President to the Green MEP Rasmus Andresen, it seems unlikely that the promised financial aid will be delivered.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world...funding-floods
How women coped better during the pandemic than men
It came as no surprise to Dr Kareena McAloney when her research found that women have proved to be far more resilient than men during the long months of lockdown.
Read more at:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/the-bi...n-coped-better
Good news from the newspaper industry, bizarre news from China, and more
By Hamish Mackay in the Scottish Review.
Read more at:
https://www.scottishreview.net/HamishMackay585a.html
Liz Truss made Foreign Secretary as Brexit wonder woman sells Global Britain on world stage
The MP was given the boost to one of the four great offices of state after impressing in her brief as International Trade Secretary. Responsible for signing post-Brexit free trade deals, she successfully brokered agreements with 96 countries around the world.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...shuffle-update
We need more electricity
When I woke up yesterday two thirds of the electrical power we needed was coming from fossil fuels.
Read more at:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/0...re-electricity
UK to shift foreign policy focus following review
The UK is pledging to shift its focus towards countries such as India, Japan and Australia, after a year-long review of its foreign policy.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56410532
Electric Canadian
Thoughts on a Sunday morning - the 12th day of September 2021
By the Rev. Nola Crewe
You can watch this at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...september-2021
My First Cariboo Hunt (1884)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...riboohunt1.pdf
Overland to Cariboo
An eventful Journey of Canadian Pioneers to the Gold-Fields of British Columbia in 1862 by Margaret McNaughton, Wife of one of the Pioneers (1896) (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/pion...dtocariboo.pdf
A Cyclopedia of Canadian Biography
Being chiefly men of the time. A collection of persons distinguished in professional and political life; leaders in the commerce and industry of Canada, and successful pioneers, edited by Geo. Maclean Rose (1888) (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/make...-biography.pdf
Constitution and By-Laws of the York Pioneers' Association
With a list of members (1883) (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/pion...k-Pioneers.pdf
Electric Scotland
Beth's Video Talks
Beth has another video for you for September 15th 2021 - Gaelic with a Southern Accent
You can watch this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/bnft
Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
Hi, Everyone.
I surely hope you enjoy this edition of BNFT. Please forgive any goofs or strange things as this one was difficult for me to do. I kept crying on everything. You'll see why below. It has been a terrible time for us.
There are lots of interesting things and it is lovely to have the clans and clan news slowly coming back again to this publication.
There are also several events that have been canceled this year.
Please remember to send me your Flowers of the Forest and any genealogical queries for inclusion in this publication - FREE of course.
If your email changes or you have edits, please write bethscribble@aol.com let me know what alterations you have in your address.
Please remember Tom and me in your prayers. About 6 weeks ago, he was put to bed for 4 months because of a pressure ulcer. He was sent by the wound care doctor to the hospital for an X-ray to be sure there was no bone involved in the ulcer. He got the X-ray and also received Covid-19 - although he did not know it. About 2 weeks ago he got what we thought was a cold. A few days later, I also got a cold.
Last week, we both learned we had Covid-19.
The ER doctor told us that both of us would have been dead had we not had the vaccinations. I am doing ok, but Tom has Covid-19, a very bad pressure ulcer, and a small amount of pneumonia. He is currently in the hospital in Stephens County, Georgia. I cannot go see him.
Today, I was told by the nurse that his vital signs are good and he was sitting up having lunch by himself. Thank you, Lord.
For those of you who do not know, Tom has been a paraplegic since May of 1988.
Thank you to our wonderful friends who have been so kind to us.
Thank you very much for your kind thoughts and prayers.
Aye,
beth
You can read this issue (October 2021 section 2) at:
https://electricscotland.com/bnft/index.htm
Sermons on the occasion of the death of Norman Macleod, D.D.,
Minister of the Barony Parish, Glasgow; Dean of the Order of the Thistle; and one of her Majesty's Chaplains for Scotland, Preached on the 23rd June, 1872 in the Barony Parish Church and in Barony Chapel, Parliamentary Road.
I added a link to this book at the foot of his page at:
https://electricscotland.com/history/macleod/
A paper read by George Macdonald
Roman station on the line of the Vallum of Antonine at Bar Hill, near Croy.
You can learn what was found at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...es/reports.pdf
The Municipal Institutions of Scotland
An Historical Survey by James D. Marwick from the Scottish Historical Review of 1904.
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...stitutions.htm
The Races of Europe
By Carleton Stevens Coon, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University (1939) (pdf)
An interesting read which you can get to at:
https://electricscotland.com/history/racesofeurope.pdf
The Historical Society of Haddonifield
How memories of violence shaped colonial America's Scots-Irish and Irish, a presentation by Dr. Judith Ridner (2006) (pdf)
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...addonfield.pdf
A Literary Relic of Scottish Lollardy & the New Testament in Scots
By Thomas. M. Lindsay from his article in the Scottish Historical Review of April 1904 and have attached to this page The New Testament in Scots being Purvey's Revision of Wycliffe's Version turned into Scots by Murdoch Nisbet c. 1520. Edited from the unique MS. in the possession of Lord Amherst of Hackney (1901) by Thomas Graves Law, LL.D. in three volumes.
You can read all this at: https://electricscotland.com/bible/S...h_Lollardy.htm
Story
The Ancestry of Randall Thomas Davidnson, D.D. (Archbishop of Canterbury):
A Chapter in Scottish Biography. By the Rev. Adam Philip, M.A., Longforgan. Pp. viii, 39, with 12 Illustrations, 8vo. London: Elliot Stock, 1903. 3s. 6d.
I noted a comment on Oliver Brown's page, 4th comment down at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...n/religion.htm
"In Canterbury Cathedral I read a memorial tablet to Archbishop Davidson giving in great detail all his achievements of his career. The only thing lacking was the recognition of the fact that it was Scotland that produced him. Speak no evil of the dead!"
'Worthy Mrs. Goodal kept a shop in Leith.’ So begins the book of the Ancestry of Randall Thomas Davidson, but we are relieved in the next sentence or two, and learn that after all Mrs. Goodal had no part in the Archbishop’s pedigree, and next to none in his family history.
The first of his line who is mentioned by Mr. Philip is David Randall, a Scots merchant in, or connected with, Holland. He appears in Wodrow several times. His son Thomas Randall, who became an eminent minister of the Church of Scotland, was born in 1710, graduated at Edinburgh in 1730, and was presented successively to the parishes of Inchture and Stirling. The surname Randall, not wide spread in that form at least, was already common, says Mr. Philip, in the neighbourhood of Inchture. It occurs frequently in the Register of Cupar [-Angus] Abbey. Amongst the tenants in Carse Grange are Ranalds, Ranaldsons, Randalsons, and Randalls, or, as it is sometimes given, Randal, Randale, Randell, Rendal. There were others about Perth in the days of the Reformation.’ Mr. Philip does not push the matter further, but the catalogue suggests the enquiry if the surname is Celtic and only another form of Ranald, and if Thomas Randall’s presentation to Inchture suggests a relationship between him or his family with Randalls already there. To us, Thomas Randall is known through the Diary and Letters of Joseph of Kidderminster, the Life of Dr. Erskine, by Rev. Sir Henry Moncreiff Wellwood, his own pamphlets and such like, and his contributions to the Scottish Paraphrases. He was a man of genius and personal influence, of great piety and ‘a dash of excentricity,’ and was not invariably entirely obedient to the courts of the Church. His wife, Mary Davidson, widow of John Eliot of Chapelhill, and mother by that marriage of the Court Physician, Sir John Eliot, Baronet, was a daughter of the Rev. Thomas Davidson, one of the ministers of Dundee. She had a brother Hugh, rector of Kirby, Yorkshire, and—what is more relevant to the subject of the present narration—a brother William, merchant in Rotterdam, who acquired a fortune, and purchased the estate of Muirhouse, near Edinburgh. The eldest son of her second marriage, Thomas, his uncle William’s heir, afterwards the Rev. Dr. Thomas Randall Davidson, followed his father as minister of Inchture, was afterwards minister of the ‘Outer High’ Parish, Glasgow, and finally of the Tolbooth Parish, Edinburgh. He was a popular preacher, a paragon of punctuality, and a master of manners. He was known to have given one divinity student from the country lessons with practical demonstration on how to come into a room, and to another a banknote privately with the injunction to go for a term to the dancing school. And yet, withal, Dr. Davidson of the Tolbooth was remembered by the great Thomas Chalmers as ‘that venerable Christian patriarch... whose heavenward aspirations, whose very looks of love, and grace celestial apart from language, altogether bespoke the presence of a man who felt himself at the gates of his blissful and everlasting home.’ Dr. Davidson married twice, firstly Christian Rutherford, and after her death, Elizabeth, sister of Henry Cockburn, the well-known Judge, and daughter of Archibald Cockburn, one of the Barons of Exchequer.
He was succeeded by his eldest son by his first marriage, William, and he, by his son Thomas, an eminent palaeontologist. But Muirhouse eventually passed to Henry (not mentioned in Scots Fasti), Dr. Davidson’s fourth son, and third by his second marriage. Henry Davidson of Muirhouse married Henrietta, daughter of John Campbell Swinton of Kimmerghame, in Berwickshire, and their eldest son is the Primate whose ancestry Mr. Philip set out to prove.
It is an interesting and well informed monograph. So far as he has been able Mr. Philip has delineated the mothers as well as the fathers of the stock, and his little work, apart from the interest of the individual characters which in succession are portrayed in it, is a valuable contribution to the library of the student of heredity. Time and again a son of a Scottish minister has become an English Dean or Bishop. But what in the wide range of possibilities, good, bad, and indifferent, has some son or near descendant of the manse not become! Still the monograph before us appears at an interesting moment, when—not to go further—the one English Archbishop is the grandson of a Scots minister, and the other, a great-grandson. Dr. W. D. Maclagan, Archbishop of York, is great grandson and name-child of Dr. William Dalrymple, minister of Ayr.
J. H. Stevenson.
I couldn't find this book but I did discover a book about him "Archbishop Davidson and the English Church" By Sidney Dark (1929) which you can read at: https://electricscotland.com/bible/A...p-Davidson.pdf
END.
And that's it for this week and hope you all have a great weekend.
Alastair
https://electricscotland.com/scotnews.htm
Electric Scotland News
Each week we are profiling two short videos. One is from Beth Gay of Beth's Newfangled Family Tree where she is doing an 8-10 minute talk on Genealogy and Scots connections. Beth has been giving talks for many years at tons of Scottish games and other events all over America.
The other is from the Rev. Nola Crewe, a minister in Toronto, Canada, who does around a 10 minute talk on Thoughts for a Sunday Morning. Nola was the Grand Master of the Knights Templar of Canada.
Both are on YouTube. Beth's video is put up under my own account and I have links to them in her video archives section of Beth's Family Tree and Nola's talk can also be found in her forum on our Community site at ElectricScotland.org
--------
This week I did some research on African Americans and created a new section for them as I suspect more information will be discovered. There is of course a problem in doing research in this area as the word Negro is now a word that is not being used and indeed a page can be blocked if this word is discovered on it.
I've always been interested in finding connections with Scots in the slave trade but in particular how Scots treated their slaves. My reason for wanting to do research is due to the information I have gathered through various sources which actually suggest to me that the slaves were better homed and fed than many Scots were back in Scotland. I thus wondered if Scots treated their slaves any differently when they first emigrated to America.
You can see this new section at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...egro/index.htm
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page where we list news from the past 1-2 weeks. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland and world news stories that can affect Scotland and as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines it becomes a good resource. I might also add that in a number of newspapers you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish which I do myself from time to time.
Scots mums create amazing sofa range kids can pull apart to build forts and castles
Glasgow mums Rhona Madigan and Corrine Spencer were keen to find stimulating baby toys that would not overcrowd and clutter-up their homes, while also being sustainable.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/s...-sofa-24947131
Enough quick fixes
Politics is bedevilled by simplistic, short-term thinking. That's why a new bill to embed long-term thinking in legislation is so welcome. By committing ministers to think not just about their weekly poll ratings, but the prospects of future generations, it signals a profoundly different kind of policymaking.
Read more at:
https://capx.co/enough-quick-fixes-f...policy-making/
From council house to royal palace: My life as the Queen’s piper
Each morning at exactly nine o’clock, a little-known ritual takes place in grounds of where the Queen is in residence.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-scotland-58476253
Playing the bagpipes is the perfect way to honour the teachings of his Hindu guru
He leads the pipe band through the streets of North-West England to showcase this unusual blend of Scottish and Hindu culture.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-50100938
World's biggest whisky bottle filled with 311 litres of 32 year old Macallan breaks records
The 1.8m tall bottle took over an hour to fill, with the record-breaking event taking place at the headquarters of Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky in Huntly.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/scotla...illed-24948021
Two new ferries won’t be built in Scotland despite SNP Government owning shipyard
Labour described the announcement as a hammer-blow to Scotland's shipbuilders.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/p...built-24984468
There's no money left! Von der Leyen drops EU bombshell
The EU Commission had promised Germany aid after a devastating flood in July affected the region. However, according to a letter from the Commission President to the Green MEP Rasmus Andresen, it seems unlikely that the promised financial aid will be delivered.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world...funding-floods
How women coped better during the pandemic than men
It came as no surprise to Dr Kareena McAloney when her research found that women have proved to be far more resilient than men during the long months of lockdown.
Read more at:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/the-bi...n-coped-better
Good news from the newspaper industry, bizarre news from China, and more
By Hamish Mackay in the Scottish Review.
Read more at:
https://www.scottishreview.net/HamishMackay585a.html
Liz Truss made Foreign Secretary as Brexit wonder woman sells Global Britain on world stage
The MP was given the boost to one of the four great offices of state after impressing in her brief as International Trade Secretary. Responsible for signing post-Brexit free trade deals, she successfully brokered agreements with 96 countries around the world.
Read more at:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...shuffle-update
We need more electricity
When I woke up yesterday two thirds of the electrical power we needed was coming from fossil fuels.
Read more at:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/0...re-electricity
UK to shift foreign policy focus following review
The UK is pledging to shift its focus towards countries such as India, Japan and Australia, after a year-long review of its foreign policy.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56410532
Electric Canadian
Thoughts on a Sunday morning - the 12th day of September 2021
By the Rev. Nola Crewe
You can watch this at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...september-2021
My First Cariboo Hunt (1884)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...riboohunt1.pdf
Overland to Cariboo
An eventful Journey of Canadian Pioneers to the Gold-Fields of British Columbia in 1862 by Margaret McNaughton, Wife of one of the Pioneers (1896) (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/pion...dtocariboo.pdf
A Cyclopedia of Canadian Biography
Being chiefly men of the time. A collection of persons distinguished in professional and political life; leaders in the commerce and industry of Canada, and successful pioneers, edited by Geo. Maclean Rose (1888) (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/make...-biography.pdf
Constitution and By-Laws of the York Pioneers' Association
With a list of members (1883) (pdf)
You can read this at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/pion...k-Pioneers.pdf
Electric Scotland
Beth's Video Talks
Beth has another video for you for September 15th 2021 - Gaelic with a Southern Accent
You can watch this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/bnft
Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
Hi, Everyone.
I surely hope you enjoy this edition of BNFT. Please forgive any goofs or strange things as this one was difficult for me to do. I kept crying on everything. You'll see why below. It has been a terrible time for us.
There are lots of interesting things and it is lovely to have the clans and clan news slowly coming back again to this publication.
There are also several events that have been canceled this year.
Please remember to send me your Flowers of the Forest and any genealogical queries for inclusion in this publication - FREE of course.
If your email changes or you have edits, please write bethscribble@aol.com let me know what alterations you have in your address.
Please remember Tom and me in your prayers. About 6 weeks ago, he was put to bed for 4 months because of a pressure ulcer. He was sent by the wound care doctor to the hospital for an X-ray to be sure there was no bone involved in the ulcer. He got the X-ray and also received Covid-19 - although he did not know it. About 2 weeks ago he got what we thought was a cold. A few days later, I also got a cold.
Last week, we both learned we had Covid-19.
The ER doctor told us that both of us would have been dead had we not had the vaccinations. I am doing ok, but Tom has Covid-19, a very bad pressure ulcer, and a small amount of pneumonia. He is currently in the hospital in Stephens County, Georgia. I cannot go see him.
Today, I was told by the nurse that his vital signs are good and he was sitting up having lunch by himself. Thank you, Lord.
For those of you who do not know, Tom has been a paraplegic since May of 1988.
Thank you to our wonderful friends who have been so kind to us.
Thank you very much for your kind thoughts and prayers.
Aye,
beth
You can read this issue (October 2021 section 2) at:
https://electricscotland.com/bnft/index.htm
Sermons on the occasion of the death of Norman Macleod, D.D.,
Minister of the Barony Parish, Glasgow; Dean of the Order of the Thistle; and one of her Majesty's Chaplains for Scotland, Preached on the 23rd June, 1872 in the Barony Parish Church and in Barony Chapel, Parliamentary Road.
I added a link to this book at the foot of his page at:
https://electricscotland.com/history/macleod/
A paper read by George Macdonald
Roman station on the line of the Vallum of Antonine at Bar Hill, near Croy.
You can learn what was found at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...es/reports.pdf
The Municipal Institutions of Scotland
An Historical Survey by James D. Marwick from the Scottish Historical Review of 1904.
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...stitutions.htm
The Races of Europe
By Carleton Stevens Coon, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University (1939) (pdf)
An interesting read which you can get to at:
https://electricscotland.com/history/racesofeurope.pdf
The Historical Society of Haddonifield
How memories of violence shaped colonial America's Scots-Irish and Irish, a presentation by Dr. Judith Ridner (2006) (pdf)
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...addonfield.pdf
A Literary Relic of Scottish Lollardy & the New Testament in Scots
By Thomas. M. Lindsay from his article in the Scottish Historical Review of April 1904 and have attached to this page The New Testament in Scots being Purvey's Revision of Wycliffe's Version turned into Scots by Murdoch Nisbet c. 1520. Edited from the unique MS. in the possession of Lord Amherst of Hackney (1901) by Thomas Graves Law, LL.D. in three volumes.
You can read all this at: https://electricscotland.com/bible/S...h_Lollardy.htm
Story
The Ancestry of Randall Thomas Davidnson, D.D. (Archbishop of Canterbury):
A Chapter in Scottish Biography. By the Rev. Adam Philip, M.A., Longforgan. Pp. viii, 39, with 12 Illustrations, 8vo. London: Elliot Stock, 1903. 3s. 6d.
I noted a comment on Oliver Brown's page, 4th comment down at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...n/religion.htm
"In Canterbury Cathedral I read a memorial tablet to Archbishop Davidson giving in great detail all his achievements of his career. The only thing lacking was the recognition of the fact that it was Scotland that produced him. Speak no evil of the dead!"
'Worthy Mrs. Goodal kept a shop in Leith.’ So begins the book of the Ancestry of Randall Thomas Davidson, but we are relieved in the next sentence or two, and learn that after all Mrs. Goodal had no part in the Archbishop’s pedigree, and next to none in his family history.
The first of his line who is mentioned by Mr. Philip is David Randall, a Scots merchant in, or connected with, Holland. He appears in Wodrow several times. His son Thomas Randall, who became an eminent minister of the Church of Scotland, was born in 1710, graduated at Edinburgh in 1730, and was presented successively to the parishes of Inchture and Stirling. The surname Randall, not wide spread in that form at least, was already common, says Mr. Philip, in the neighbourhood of Inchture. It occurs frequently in the Register of Cupar [-Angus] Abbey. Amongst the tenants in Carse Grange are Ranalds, Ranaldsons, Randalsons, and Randalls, or, as it is sometimes given, Randal, Randale, Randell, Rendal. There were others about Perth in the days of the Reformation.’ Mr. Philip does not push the matter further, but the catalogue suggests the enquiry if the surname is Celtic and only another form of Ranald, and if Thomas Randall’s presentation to Inchture suggests a relationship between him or his family with Randalls already there. To us, Thomas Randall is known through the Diary and Letters of Joseph of Kidderminster, the Life of Dr. Erskine, by Rev. Sir Henry Moncreiff Wellwood, his own pamphlets and such like, and his contributions to the Scottish Paraphrases. He was a man of genius and personal influence, of great piety and ‘a dash of excentricity,’ and was not invariably entirely obedient to the courts of the Church. His wife, Mary Davidson, widow of John Eliot of Chapelhill, and mother by that marriage of the Court Physician, Sir John Eliot, Baronet, was a daughter of the Rev. Thomas Davidson, one of the ministers of Dundee. She had a brother Hugh, rector of Kirby, Yorkshire, and—what is more relevant to the subject of the present narration—a brother William, merchant in Rotterdam, who acquired a fortune, and purchased the estate of Muirhouse, near Edinburgh. The eldest son of her second marriage, Thomas, his uncle William’s heir, afterwards the Rev. Dr. Thomas Randall Davidson, followed his father as minister of Inchture, was afterwards minister of the ‘Outer High’ Parish, Glasgow, and finally of the Tolbooth Parish, Edinburgh. He was a popular preacher, a paragon of punctuality, and a master of manners. He was known to have given one divinity student from the country lessons with practical demonstration on how to come into a room, and to another a banknote privately with the injunction to go for a term to the dancing school. And yet, withal, Dr. Davidson of the Tolbooth was remembered by the great Thomas Chalmers as ‘that venerable Christian patriarch... whose heavenward aspirations, whose very looks of love, and grace celestial apart from language, altogether bespoke the presence of a man who felt himself at the gates of his blissful and everlasting home.’ Dr. Davidson married twice, firstly Christian Rutherford, and after her death, Elizabeth, sister of Henry Cockburn, the well-known Judge, and daughter of Archibald Cockburn, one of the Barons of Exchequer.
He was succeeded by his eldest son by his first marriage, William, and he, by his son Thomas, an eminent palaeontologist. But Muirhouse eventually passed to Henry (not mentioned in Scots Fasti), Dr. Davidson’s fourth son, and third by his second marriage. Henry Davidson of Muirhouse married Henrietta, daughter of John Campbell Swinton of Kimmerghame, in Berwickshire, and their eldest son is the Primate whose ancestry Mr. Philip set out to prove.
It is an interesting and well informed monograph. So far as he has been able Mr. Philip has delineated the mothers as well as the fathers of the stock, and his little work, apart from the interest of the individual characters which in succession are portrayed in it, is a valuable contribution to the library of the student of heredity. Time and again a son of a Scottish minister has become an English Dean or Bishop. But what in the wide range of possibilities, good, bad, and indifferent, has some son or near descendant of the manse not become! Still the monograph before us appears at an interesting moment, when—not to go further—the one English Archbishop is the grandson of a Scots minister, and the other, a great-grandson. Dr. W. D. Maclagan, Archbishop of York, is great grandson and name-child of Dr. William Dalrymple, minister of Ayr.
J. H. Stevenson.
I couldn't find this book but I did discover a book about him "Archbishop Davidson and the English Church" By Sidney Dark (1929) which you can read at: https://electricscotland.com/bible/A...p-Davidson.pdf
END.
And that's it for this week and hope you all have a great weekend.
Alastair