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Electric Scotland News
Beth is having problems doing the next issue of her Beth's Newfangled Family Tree but she has managed to print it out and she is posting it to me so I can scan it in and make it available to you. So hopefully you should have it in the next week.
Tom and Beth are having a tough time right now so please keep them in your prayers.
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Given all the press coverage about the SNP I think it's the Scottish media that are mostly to blame as they never held them to account. Now they are all over them.
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
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.
What will King Charles III bring to the role?
As Charles, Britain’s longest serving heir apparent, ascends the throne as King, those who know him well who have worked for and with him discuss what he achieved as the Prince of Wales and what he will bring to his new role of monarch.
Read more at:
https://www.bbcselect.com/watch/born-to-be-king/
World Men's Curling Championship: Scotland topple hosts Canada for gold medal
Fourteen years on from their last title, the Scots led from the second end and were in control en route to a 9-3 win at Ottowa's TD Place Arena.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/winter-sports/65203590
The iron age sites seeking world heritage status
Three iron age settlements in Shetland are in the running to win Unesco World Heritage status
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland...tland-65231943
King Charles III coronation: A look at the golden royal coaches
Two golden coaches will be used by the King and Queen Consort for King Charles III's coronation on 6 May.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-65231561
The Canada-India Connection
Many of the same British aristocrats wielded power in both India and Canada.
Read more at:
https://www.canadashistory.ca/explor...dia-connection
They only speak for themselves
Here I am in the SR Cafe sipping my latte and pouring over my copy of the Declaration of Arbroath before the exhibition opens in the National Museum of Scotland in June.
Read more at:
https://www.scottishreview.net//Cafe655B.html
Historian on how Scotland resisted Roman invaders across centuries
In short, author John H Reid says, the Romans were exploiting Scotland’s resources from the get-go, whether it was people or bears sent to the Colosseum to kill and probably die for the entertainment of Rome’s citizens.
Read more at:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/scotland-roman-invaders/
At home with the accidental castle owner and the ruins that inspired renovation, PhD and a book
Driving along the A75, a road Dr Janet Brennan-Inglis and her husband had travelled many times before, a newly erected sign came into view with three words that would change their lives: Castle for sale.
Read more at:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/its-a-...-castle-owner/
Joe Biden’s hostility to Britain only harms the United States
This week Joe Biden is swanning around Ireland in what must be, according to his Irish-American fantasies, the climax of his foreign policy agenda. As part of his trip he is due to spend only half a day in Belfast, before dedicating two and a half days to Ireland.
Read more at:
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/...-united-states
The mystery of the human genome's dark matter
Twenty years ago, an enormous scientific effort revealed that the human genome contains 20,000 protein-coding genes, but they account for just 2% of our DNA. The rest of was written off as junk but we are now realising it has a crucial role to play.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...es-dark-matter
SNP officials hid the truth from many of the party’s senior politicians
SNP OFFICIALS hid both the fact the party’s auditors resigned and why they resigned from many of its most senior politicians for six months. They concealed the information from their party’s National Executive Council (NEC), and senior SNP ministers including Humza Yousaf. He was only briefed himself after winning the party’s leadership election
Read more at:
https://thinkscotland.org/2023/04/sn...r-politicians/
Electric Canadian
Westminster
Added a coupler of videos about this area of Ontario.
You can watch these at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/his...estminster.htm
Life and Work of Donald Harvey MacVicar, D.D., LL.D.
By his son, John H. MacVicar, B.A., Melville Church, Fergus, Ontario (1904) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/mak...00macvuoft.pdf
A Summer on the Canadian Prairie
By Georgina Binnie-Clark (1910) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/pio...dianprarie.pdf
A Study of Pioneer Farming in the Fringe Areas of the Peace River, Alberta, 1942
By B. K. Acton and C. C Spence (1947) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/tra...erfa00acto.pdf
The Navy League in Canada
Shall Canada have a Navy of Her Own? by Mrs. W. Hewes Oliphant (Prize Essay) (1909) (pdf)
You can read this article at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/for...00olipuoft.pdf
Historical and Sporting Notes on Quebec
And its Environs by J. M. LeMoine (Fourth Edition) (1889) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/his...orti00lemo.pdf
Profitable Poultry Farming
New Edition, Bulletin No. 7, Published by direction of the Hon. Sydney A. Fisher, Minister of Agriculture, Ottawa, May 1905 (pdf)
You can read this bulletin at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/tra...tryfarming.pdf
Thoughts on a Sunday Morning - the 9th day of April 2023 - Easter
By the Rev. Nola Crewe
You can watch this at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...il-2023-easter
Almonte, Ontario
Videos and other information on the town which you can get to at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/his...io/almonte.htm
Electric Scotland
Prayers for Sailors and Fisher-Folk
Prepared and Published by instruction of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, 1901
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/bible/fisher-folk.htm
Fourfold State of Man
I was reading a book today which talked about the author of this publication and thought you might like to read about him and have also added a link to 12 volumes of his works on the Internet Archive.
You can get to this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...ton_thomas.htm
A Presentation by the Rt. Hon. The Lord Lyon, King of Arms
Added a video of an interesting talk from the Lord Lyon to our Heraldry page at:
https://electricscotland.com/heraldry/index.htm
Scottish Society of Louisville
Got in their April 2023 newsletter which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/familyt...ille/index.htm
The Stickit Minister and some Common Men
By S. R. Crockett (1894) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/lifesty...00crocuoft.pdf
Scottish Pottery
By J. Arnold Fleming, O.B.E. (1923) (pdf)
You can learn more at:
https://electricscotland.com/art/sco...tery00flem.pdf
Exhibition by The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture
Of Works of Deceased and Living Scottish Artists October 1863 (pdf)
Lots of wee biographies which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/art/scottishartists.pdf
Scotland’s Population 2021
The Registrar General’s Annual Review of Demographic Trends (pdf)
The most up to date report which you can study at:
https://electricscotland.com/lifesty...ation-2021.pdf
Biographical Memoir of the late Right Honourable Sir John Sinclair, Bart.
Founder and First President of the Board of Agriculture, &c. &c. &c., Compiled from a four part article in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. (pdf)
I also created links to some of the books he wrote and you can get to all this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...hnSinclair.pdf
Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan
In the years 1857, '58, '59, by Laurence Oliphant, Esq., Private Secretary to Lord Elgin, Author of the "Russian Shores of the Black Sea," etc. (1860) (pdf)
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...ns-Mission.pdf
The Royal Scottish Academy 1826-1916
A Complete List of the exhibited Works by Raeburn and by Academicians, Associates and Hon. Members, giving details of those Works in Public Galleries, compiled under the direction of Frank Rinder with the sanction of the President and Council, with a Historical Narrative of the Origin and Development of the Royal Scottish Academy by W. D. McKay, R.S.A., preceded by an Essay on Academies and Art by Frank Rinder (1917) (pdf)
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/art/roy...00royarich.pdf
Story
Some short biographies of the names of Cairncross, Cairnech and Cairns
CAIRNCROSS, ALEXANDER (d 1701), archbishop of Glasgow, was descended from the ancient family of Caimcross of Cowmull. For some time he followed the trade of a dyer in the Canongate of Edinburgh. Subsequently he became parson of Dumfries where he remained till 1684, when by the recommendation of the Duke of Queensberry he was promoted to the see of Brechin, from which he was in a few months promoted to that of Glasgow. Having incurred the displeasure of the lord chancellor, the Earl oi Perth, he was in January 1687 removed from the see, but after the revolution he obtained the notice of the new powers, and in 1693 was made bishop of Raphoe in Ireland, where he continued till his death in 1701. By his will he left 20l. to the poor of the parish of Raphoe, and the tenth part of his personal estate to the episcopal clergy of the kingdom of Scotland. He was buried in the cathedral of Raphoe.
CAIRNCROSS, ROBERT (d. 1544), abbot of Holyrood, afterwards bishop of Ross, was descended from the ancient family of Balmashannar, Forfarshire, which had been seated there as early as the time of Robert II. He was provost of the collegiate church of Corstorphine, and one of the king’s chaplains. On 5 Sept. 1528 he was nominated treasurer on the downfall of the Earl of Angus. Knowing that the abbot of Holyrood was on the point of death, he, according to Buchanan, wagered a large sum with James V that he would not present him to the first vacant benefice, when the king, quite well aware of what he referred to, accepted and won the wager. On suspicion of favouring the cause of the Douglases he lost the treasurership almost as soon as he obtained it, although he again held it from 1537 to 1539. On 23 June of the latter year he was admitted to the see of Ross, and shortly afterwards received in commendary at the abbacy of Fem, the dilapidated state of which his wealth was expected to repair. On the death of the king he was appointed one of the lords of the council to the governor, the Earl of Arran, when he joined in opposing the treaty of peace with England. He died in April 1544. He is the subject of two epigrams by George Buchanan.
CAIRNECH, Saint (d. 539?), whose name does not appear in the ‘Felire’ of Angus the Culdee, was, according to the account preserved in the book of Ballimote (compiled dr. 1390), the son of Sarran, so-called king of Britain, by Babona, daughter of Loarn, king of Alban. This Loam was the son of Ere, and one of the four leaders of the first Scots colony to Argyll (cir. 495) (Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 18). Babona’s sister Ere seems to have married Muredach, grandson of Neil ol the nine hostages (d. 405?), and so became the mother of the great Irish king, Mucer-tachMacErca (504-527), who was thus cousin to St. Caimech. This genealogyexactly corresponds with the other Irish traditions as to Mucertach’s ancestry( Annals of Four Masters, i. 175), and, if we accept it as genuine, it gives us the materials for fixing the era of St. Cair-nech, whom we may infer to have been a little younger than his cousin, who was certainly a grown man at the battle of Ocha (478 a.d.) Mucertach’s grandfather and great-uncle were both alive in 464, and we shall probably not be far wrong if we place the birth of this Irish king at somewhere about 455, and that of his cousin Caimech about 460. As, however, Loam seems to have reigned between 495 and 505, we must suppose that the book of Ballimote calls him king of Alban proleptically.
According to the legend alluded to above, Caimech was harassed in his monastery by his brother, King Luirig, who, however, is at last slain through the instrumentality of Mucertach. Cairnech then attends a great synod at Tours, where he is given the ‘chieftainship of the martyrs of the world.’ From Gaul Caimech passes over first to Cornwall and then to Ireland, to which country he goes to prepare the way for Mucertach. Here we read that he became first bishop of Tem-har (Tara) and the Clan O’Neil, his former designation having been ‘Bishop of Tours and Cornwall ’ (Britain-Comn). These events may have taken place about 504, when Mucertach MacErca became king of Ireland (Annals of Four Masters, i. 165, with which, however, cf. Tighernac, a.d. 509, and Ann. Ult. 512). Lastly we read that Cairnech became ‘ first monk of Erin and the first Brehon of the men of Erin also.’ Here, as in the former quotation, where St. Cairnech is styled bishop of Cornwall, it is impossible not at least to suspect a confusion with his namesake, the friend of St. Patrick. But, whether strictly historical or no, there can be little doubt that an extremely ancient tradition has coupled together the names Cairnech and Mucertach (see Reeves’s quotation from manuscript account of Mucertach’s death, Adamnan, xciv. &c.) Even so early as the eleventh century there was a set of Irish verses current purporting to contain Cairnech’s prophecy or narrative of his cousin’s fate (Tig-HERNAC, 133; Annals of Four Masters, i. 173). In an early Irish poem we have a somewhat detailed account of St. Cairnech’s friendship with his aunt Ere, who gave him Druim-Tighean (Drumleene, W. of Lough Foyle) in full possession. From this document Dr. Todd has attempted to fix the year of Cairnech’s death (539).
CAIRNS, HUGH McCALMONT, first EARL CAIRNS (1819-1885), belonged to a family of Cairns, of Scotch origin, which migrated from Kirkcudbright to the north of Ireland in the time of James I, and was there of some distinction. A baronetcy, which soon became extinct, was conferred upon an Alexander Cairns for service under Marlborough. Hugh Cairns was the second son of William Cairns of Cultra, county Down, formerly a captain in the 47th regiment of foot, by his wife Rose Anna, daughter of Hugh Johnson.He was born in December 1819, and was educated first at Belfast Academy and afterwards at Trinity College, Dublin. His father at this time designed him for holy orders, but the Rev. George Wheeler, afterwards rector of Ballysax, who was his tutor, strongly urged that Cairns should be bred to the law. Cairns’s own bent was decidedly in the same direction. He took a first class in classics and his B.A. degree in 1838, and then came to England to prepare for the bar. He was called to the bar by the benchers of the Middle Temple in January 1844, and shortly afterwards ‘migrated’ to Lincoln’s Inn. In chancery he read in the chambers of Mr. Richard Malins, afterwards vice-chancellor; and it was in those of Mr. Thomas Chitty, the well-known special pleader, of King’s Bench Walk, that he read at common law. His original intention had been to return to Ireland, but upon the advice of Mr. Malins he determined to remain in England. He came to London, without influence or connection, and yet his opportunities of success came early. His first brief was given him by Mr. Gregory of Bedford Row, who remained his firm client till he quitted the bar. His practice, once begun, grew rapidly. Yet constitutionally he was diffident and at first so nervous as a speaker that he thought himself unfit for anything but chamber practice and conveyancing. In July 1852 he entered parliament as member for Belfast, and continued to represent that town as long as he remained at the bar. In 1856 he was made a Q.C. and a bencher of Lincoln’s Inn, and elected to practise in Vice-chancellor Wood’s court. In February 1858, when Lord Derby took office, he was appointed solicitor-general and knighted, and from this time enjoyed an enormous practice. He was employed in many ecclesiastical cases, in which his opinions are still valued, and in Scotch and Irish appeals, and on various occasions, such as the Windham lunacy case and the case of the Alexandra, he made very successful appearances before juries at nisi prius. At this time his health, never very good, was tried to the utmost by his professional labours; it was his habit to refuse all briefs for Saturdays and to take that day as a holiday, often in the hunting-field, while in his long vacations he annually recruited his vigour on the Scotch moors. But from 1858 he became a conspicuous figure in public life. His first great success was on 14 May 1858, in the debate upon Mr. Cardwell’s motion to censure the conduct of Lord Ellenborough in India. Of this Mr. Disraeli, in his official letter of the day to the queen, says: ‘Two of the greatest speeches ever delivered in parliament, by Sir Edward Lytton and the solicitor-general, Sir Hugh Cairns. Cairns devoted an hour to a reply to Lord John’s resolution and to a vindication of the government bill, which charmed every one by its lucidity and controlled every one by its logic’ (Martin, Life of the Prince Consort, iv. 411). This speech was subsequently published. In the following session he introduced two bills, one to simplify titles to real estate and another to establish a land registry, and his speeches in bringing them in produced a very favourable impression upon the house. He also spoke with good effect, persuasively and pointedly, in the ‘Cagliari’ debate. In 1860, upon the motion for an address to the crown upon the French commercial treaty, Cairns accepted it, with criticisms, on behalf of his party; and in 1865, on Mr. Monsell’s Roman Catholic Oaths Bill, he moved an amendment to secure protestant government and worship in the United Kingdom, which was supported by Mr. Disraeli and defeated by the government by a majority of only nineteen. He also spoke on 23 Feb. 1864 on the right of the government to detain ships, with reference to the confederate privateers, and this speech was subsequently published. When the conservatives returned to power in 1866 and Sir Fitzroy Kelly was no longer available as attorney-general, that office was, without question, conferred on Cairns, and at the same 1 time Lord Derby arranged with Lord Chelmsford that the lord-chancellorship was to be held by him only temporarily, and that he should in time make way for Cairns as his successor. Cairns’s health, however, failed him under the stress of double duties, and when in October a vacancy occurred in the court of chancery, for the first time during fourteen years, by the retirement of Sir J. Knight-Bruce, he became the colleague of Lord-justice Turner as a lord-justice of appeal. A peerage was at the same time offered him, his party being desirous of retaining his great parliamentary services, but it was refused on the ground of want of means to support a title. Indeed the loss of income which he suffered by this promotion was very great. A wealthy relative, however, came to his assistance, and when the government, standing in need of an accession of strength in the House of Lords, renewed the offer in February 1867, it was accepted, and Cairns was created a privy-councillor and Baron Cairns of Garmoyle, co. Antrim. He now took a very active part in the discussions upon the Reform Bill, and made no less than twenty-four speeches on it. His resistance on one occasion went the length even of opposing his own party, and on 29 July he carried by a large majority against Lord Malmesbury, who had the conduct of the bill in the lords during Lord Derby’s illness, an amendment to raise the lodger qualification from 10l. to 15l. The government accepted this, but afterwards, on Earl Russell’s motion, the 10Z. qualification was restored in committee and accepted by Lord Derby on 6 Aug. Cairns also carried, by 253 to 204, a motion in favour of the protection of minorities by means of the cumulative vote. In the same session he made an important speech, being always a champion of the protestant church in Ireland, against Earl Russell’s motion for an address for a royal commission on the revenues of the Irish church. In February 1868 Lord Derby resigned office through ill-health, and Mr. Disraeli became prime minister, and in forming his ministry summarily passed over Lord Chelmsford and appointed Cairns lord-chancellor. Although this was according at any rate to the spirit of Lord Derby’s agreement with him in 1866, Lord Chelmsford was exceedingly indignant, complained of being dismissed ‘with less courtesy than if he had been a butler,’ and appealed to Lord Derby, who, however, confirmed Mr. Disraeli’s view of the matter. Cairns to some extent appeased Lord Chelmsford by appointing his son, Sir Frederick Thesiger, to the bench. On the defeat of the conservatives at the general election, Cairns resigned with Mr. Disraeli, and after Lord Derby’s death (23 Oct. 1869) led the opposition in the House of Lords. His resistance to the disestablishment of the Irish church was vigorous and tenacious. His speech on Mr. Gladstone’s Suspensory Bill was printed and widely circulated, and in 1868 the bill, although carried by large majorities in the House of Commons, was thrown out by the lords by 192 to 97. On 21 July, when the bill was returned to the lords with the amendments of the commons to their lordships’ amendments, Cairns moved and carried by a majority of seventy-eight that the lords do insist on their amendments to the preamble of the bill, to which the commons had disagreed. But the resulting constitutional strain was great, and when on the 22nd Cairns heard, within an hour of the debate, that the government was willing to offer then and there acceptable concessions, which must be taken or refused before the debate began and could not afterwards be renewed, he took upon himself the responsibility of ending the struggle between the houses, and agreed with Lord Granville to withdraw his opposition. This, however, had to be done without consulting his party, and they were much aggrieved at this apparent vacillation, until Cairns cleared the matter up by sending round to his followers a circular ou 24 July. Not long after this he resigned the leadership of the conservative party in the House of Lords, but he resumed it in 1870, Lord Salisbury being then too little in harmony with his party to lead it with success, and he energetically opposed the Irish Land Bill in that year. He was at this time acting also as a law lord on House of Lords’ appeals, although on resigning in December 1868 he had declined Lord Hatherley's invitation to him to resume his place as a lord-justice of appeal. He also acted as arbitrator, in conjunction with Lord Salisbury, under the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company’s Act, and also in another most intricate arbitration upon the affairs of the Albert Life Insurance Company in 1871. Consequently about this time he found his health considerably impaired, and was obliged to spend some time at Mentone, and. during his absence the leadership of the conservative peers was undertaken by the Duke of Richmond. He was in his place, however, to speak upon the triple treaty of England, France, and Prussia to secure the independence of Belgium (August 1870), and he also very energetically opposed the appointment of Sir Robert Collier to a seat on the judicial committee of the privy council as a colourable evasion of the law. Although he was in opposition when the Judicature Act was passed, he had been chairman of the committee on judicature reform, which reported in 1869, and was lord chancellor when the act came into operation, and had a large share in the passing of the act. It was on his initiative that Lord Selborne's bill of 1873, which had displaced the House of Lords as the ultimate court of appeal, was amended by allowing an appeal from the supreme court to the House of Lords. The name of the supreme court, however, remained unchanged, so that though in name supreme it is not so in fact. In this as in much other legislation Cairns and Lord Selborne, who had always been rivals in politics and at the bar, worked together with mutual trust and confidence. It was practically by their agreement that the Married Women’s Property Act of 1882 was passed; and with Lord Selborne's sanction Cairns brought to a successful issue the Conveyancing Acts..of 1881 and 1882 and the Settled Land Act of 1882. Though thus responsible for most important legal changes, the only act which bears Cairns’s name is one, now repealed, to enable the court of chancery to give damages in lieu of specific performance or an injunction.
When the conservatives took office after the general election of 1874, Cairns was lord chancellor in Mr. Disraeli’s government. In that year he introduced the Real Property (Vendors and Purchasers) Act as a pendant to the Real Property Limitation Act, and in 1879 the Irish University Bill, in substitution for that introduced by the O’Conor Don. He was created in September 1878 Viscount Garmoyle and Earl Cairns in the peerage of the United Kingdom; but after the conservative defeat and his resignation in 1880 he played a comparatively retired part in public life. He often, however, powerfully criticised the liberal government on various points of its policy, especially the Transvaal question, and his speech on this was published. On the death of the Earl of Beaconsfield there was a considerable desire on the part of a portion of the conservative party that Cairns and not Lord Salisbury should succeed to the leadership, but neither health nor years fitted Cairns for that task, and it was undertaken by Lord Salisbury. After this date he appeared but rarely in debate, and still more rarely to hear appeals. His health, never strong, had long been failing. At one time he was kept alive only by breathing special inhalations for asthmatic disorders; towards the end of his life an affection of the ear made him very deaf. He spent much time on the Riviera, and in 1873 built himself a house at Bournemouth, where he died 2 April 1885 of congestion of the lungs, and was buried 8 April. He was made LL.D, of Cambridge in 1862, D.C.L. of Oxford in 1863, and was also LL.D, of Dublin University and chancellor from 1867. He married, 9 May 1856, Mary Harriet, eldest daughter of John MacNeile of Parkmount, co. Antrim, by whom he had five sons and two daughters. The eldest son dying shortly after his birth, the second, Arthur William, succeeded to the peerage.
Cairns was confessedly the first lawyer of his time; his especial characteristic was lucidity. Without any great parade of case-law, he would exhaust the argument from principle and only in conclusion illustrate it by citing a few decisions. As a judge he did not explain the process by which his mind had been persuaded, but adhered to strict reasoning, his mind working like a logical machine. As a speaker he was very cold and unimpassioned, though in public addresses there were traces of repressed fire; but he invariably produced personally an impression of the dullest austerity. He was believed to have but one human weakness, namely, for immaculate bands and tie in court and for a flower in his coat at parties. His classical and literary attainments were great, but if he had any humour—Lord Coleridge in his obituary speech to the lords, 13 April 1885, pronounced it keen—it was assiduously concealed. He was an evangelical churchman of great piety. Like Lords Selborne and Hatherley he was a Sunday-school teacher almost all his life. He was a frequent chairman of meetings at Exeter Hall and of missionary meetings. Addresses of his on such occasions were published, one on the Irish church in 1864, another on the Young Men's Christian Association in 1881. He zealously supported Dr. Barnardo’s homes for boys and his conduct of them, and laid foundation stones for him at Ilford in Essex in 1875. He was also a supporter of the coffee-house movement and looked askance upon the stage. He was not popular. [Earl Russell's Recollections; Memoirs of Lord Malmesbury, ii. 373, 378, 409; Law Journal, 11 April 1885; Solicitors’ Journal and Law Times, 11 April 1885; Times, 3 April 1885.]
J. A. H.
CAIRNS, WILLIAM (d. 1848), philosophical writer, was a native of Glasgow. After completing his course at the university, he, in 1800, entered the Anti-burgher Secession Hall for the study of divinity. In March 1808 he was ordained minister of the secession church at Johnshaven, Kincardineshire. This position he resigned in October 1815 on being chosen professor of logic and belles-lettres by the directors of the Belfast Institution. He remained there till his death, 21 April 1848. He was the author of 'Outlines of Lectures on Logic and Belles-Lettres,' 1829, and 'Treatise on Moral Freedom,' 1844. He also edited, with a memoir, 'Lectures on Intellectual Philosophy,' by Dr. John Young, 1835.
END.
Weekend is almost here and hope it's a good one for you.
Alastair
Beth is having problems doing the next issue of her Beth's Newfangled Family Tree but she has managed to print it out and she is posting it to me so I can scan it in and make it available to you. So hopefully you should have it in the next week.
Tom and Beth are having a tough time right now so please keep them in your prayers.
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Given all the press coverage about the SNP I think it's the Scottish media that are mostly to blame as they never held them to account. Now they are all over them.
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
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.
What will King Charles III bring to the role?
As Charles, Britain’s longest serving heir apparent, ascends the throne as King, those who know him well who have worked for and with him discuss what he achieved as the Prince of Wales and what he will bring to his new role of monarch.
Read more at:
https://www.bbcselect.com/watch/born-to-be-king/
World Men's Curling Championship: Scotland topple hosts Canada for gold medal
Fourteen years on from their last title, the Scots led from the second end and were in control en route to a 9-3 win at Ottowa's TD Place Arena.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/winter-sports/65203590
The iron age sites seeking world heritage status
Three iron age settlements in Shetland are in the running to win Unesco World Heritage status
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland...tland-65231943
King Charles III coronation: A look at the golden royal coaches
Two golden coaches will be used by the King and Queen Consort for King Charles III's coronation on 6 May.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-65231561
The Canada-India Connection
Many of the same British aristocrats wielded power in both India and Canada.
Read more at:
https://www.canadashistory.ca/explor...dia-connection
They only speak for themselves
Here I am in the SR Cafe sipping my latte and pouring over my copy of the Declaration of Arbroath before the exhibition opens in the National Museum of Scotland in June.
Read more at:
https://www.scottishreview.net//Cafe655B.html
Historian on how Scotland resisted Roman invaders across centuries
In short, author John H Reid says, the Romans were exploiting Scotland’s resources from the get-go, whether it was people or bears sent to the Colosseum to kill and probably die for the entertainment of Rome’s citizens.
Read more at:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/scotland-roman-invaders/
At home with the accidental castle owner and the ruins that inspired renovation, PhD and a book
Driving along the A75, a road Dr Janet Brennan-Inglis and her husband had travelled many times before, a newly erected sign came into view with three words that would change their lives: Castle for sale.
Read more at:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/its-a-...-castle-owner/
Joe Biden’s hostility to Britain only harms the United States
This week Joe Biden is swanning around Ireland in what must be, according to his Irish-American fantasies, the climax of his foreign policy agenda. As part of his trip he is due to spend only half a day in Belfast, before dedicating two and a half days to Ireland.
Read more at:
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/...-united-states
The mystery of the human genome's dark matter
Twenty years ago, an enormous scientific effort revealed that the human genome contains 20,000 protein-coding genes, but they account for just 2% of our DNA. The rest of was written off as junk but we are now realising it has a crucial role to play.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...es-dark-matter
SNP officials hid the truth from many of the party’s senior politicians
SNP OFFICIALS hid both the fact the party’s auditors resigned and why they resigned from many of its most senior politicians for six months. They concealed the information from their party’s National Executive Council (NEC), and senior SNP ministers including Humza Yousaf. He was only briefed himself after winning the party’s leadership election
Read more at:
https://thinkscotland.org/2023/04/sn...r-politicians/
Electric Canadian
Westminster
Added a coupler of videos about this area of Ontario.
You can watch these at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/his...estminster.htm
Life and Work of Donald Harvey MacVicar, D.D., LL.D.
By his son, John H. MacVicar, B.A., Melville Church, Fergus, Ontario (1904) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/mak...00macvuoft.pdf
A Summer on the Canadian Prairie
By Georgina Binnie-Clark (1910) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/pio...dianprarie.pdf
A Study of Pioneer Farming in the Fringe Areas of the Peace River, Alberta, 1942
By B. K. Acton and C. C Spence (1947) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/tra...erfa00acto.pdf
The Navy League in Canada
Shall Canada have a Navy of Her Own? by Mrs. W. Hewes Oliphant (Prize Essay) (1909) (pdf)
You can read this article at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/for...00olipuoft.pdf
Historical and Sporting Notes on Quebec
And its Environs by J. M. LeMoine (Fourth Edition) (1889) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/his...orti00lemo.pdf
Profitable Poultry Farming
New Edition, Bulletin No. 7, Published by direction of the Hon. Sydney A. Fisher, Minister of Agriculture, Ottawa, May 1905 (pdf)
You can read this bulletin at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/tra...tryfarming.pdf
Thoughts on a Sunday Morning - the 9th day of April 2023 - Easter
By the Rev. Nola Crewe
You can watch this at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...il-2023-easter
Almonte, Ontario
Videos and other information on the town which you can get to at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/his...io/almonte.htm
Electric Scotland
Prayers for Sailors and Fisher-Folk
Prepared and Published by instruction of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, 1901
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/bible/fisher-folk.htm
Fourfold State of Man
I was reading a book today which talked about the author of this publication and thought you might like to read about him and have also added a link to 12 volumes of his works on the Internet Archive.
You can get to this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...ton_thomas.htm
A Presentation by the Rt. Hon. The Lord Lyon, King of Arms
Added a video of an interesting talk from the Lord Lyon to our Heraldry page at:
https://electricscotland.com/heraldry/index.htm
Scottish Society of Louisville
Got in their April 2023 newsletter which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/familyt...ille/index.htm
The Stickit Minister and some Common Men
By S. R. Crockett (1894) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/lifesty...00crocuoft.pdf
Scottish Pottery
By J. Arnold Fleming, O.B.E. (1923) (pdf)
You can learn more at:
https://electricscotland.com/art/sco...tery00flem.pdf
Exhibition by The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture
Of Works of Deceased and Living Scottish Artists October 1863 (pdf)
Lots of wee biographies which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/art/scottishartists.pdf
Scotland’s Population 2021
The Registrar General’s Annual Review of Demographic Trends (pdf)
The most up to date report which you can study at:
https://electricscotland.com/lifesty...ation-2021.pdf
Biographical Memoir of the late Right Honourable Sir John Sinclair, Bart.
Founder and First President of the Board of Agriculture, &c. &c. &c., Compiled from a four part article in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. (pdf)
I also created links to some of the books he wrote and you can get to all this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...hnSinclair.pdf
Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan
In the years 1857, '58, '59, by Laurence Oliphant, Esq., Private Secretary to Lord Elgin, Author of the "Russian Shores of the Black Sea," etc. (1860) (pdf)
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...ns-Mission.pdf
The Royal Scottish Academy 1826-1916
A Complete List of the exhibited Works by Raeburn and by Academicians, Associates and Hon. Members, giving details of those Works in Public Galleries, compiled under the direction of Frank Rinder with the sanction of the President and Council, with a Historical Narrative of the Origin and Development of the Royal Scottish Academy by W. D. McKay, R.S.A., preceded by an Essay on Academies and Art by Frank Rinder (1917) (pdf)
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/art/roy...00royarich.pdf
Story
Some short biographies of the names of Cairncross, Cairnech and Cairns
CAIRNCROSS, ALEXANDER (d 1701), archbishop of Glasgow, was descended from the ancient family of Caimcross of Cowmull. For some time he followed the trade of a dyer in the Canongate of Edinburgh. Subsequently he became parson of Dumfries where he remained till 1684, when by the recommendation of the Duke of Queensberry he was promoted to the see of Brechin, from which he was in a few months promoted to that of Glasgow. Having incurred the displeasure of the lord chancellor, the Earl oi Perth, he was in January 1687 removed from the see, but after the revolution he obtained the notice of the new powers, and in 1693 was made bishop of Raphoe in Ireland, where he continued till his death in 1701. By his will he left 20l. to the poor of the parish of Raphoe, and the tenth part of his personal estate to the episcopal clergy of the kingdom of Scotland. He was buried in the cathedral of Raphoe.
CAIRNCROSS, ROBERT (d. 1544), abbot of Holyrood, afterwards bishop of Ross, was descended from the ancient family of Balmashannar, Forfarshire, which had been seated there as early as the time of Robert II. He was provost of the collegiate church of Corstorphine, and one of the king’s chaplains. On 5 Sept. 1528 he was nominated treasurer on the downfall of the Earl of Angus. Knowing that the abbot of Holyrood was on the point of death, he, according to Buchanan, wagered a large sum with James V that he would not present him to the first vacant benefice, when the king, quite well aware of what he referred to, accepted and won the wager. On suspicion of favouring the cause of the Douglases he lost the treasurership almost as soon as he obtained it, although he again held it from 1537 to 1539. On 23 June of the latter year he was admitted to the see of Ross, and shortly afterwards received in commendary at the abbacy of Fem, the dilapidated state of which his wealth was expected to repair. On the death of the king he was appointed one of the lords of the council to the governor, the Earl of Arran, when he joined in opposing the treaty of peace with England. He died in April 1544. He is the subject of two epigrams by George Buchanan.
CAIRNECH, Saint (d. 539?), whose name does not appear in the ‘Felire’ of Angus the Culdee, was, according to the account preserved in the book of Ballimote (compiled dr. 1390), the son of Sarran, so-called king of Britain, by Babona, daughter of Loarn, king of Alban. This Loam was the son of Ere, and one of the four leaders of the first Scots colony to Argyll (cir. 495) (Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 18). Babona’s sister Ere seems to have married Muredach, grandson of Neil ol the nine hostages (d. 405?), and so became the mother of the great Irish king, Mucer-tachMacErca (504-527), who was thus cousin to St. Caimech. This genealogyexactly corresponds with the other Irish traditions as to Mucertach’s ancestry( Annals of Four Masters, i. 175), and, if we accept it as genuine, it gives us the materials for fixing the era of St. Cair-nech, whom we may infer to have been a little younger than his cousin, who was certainly a grown man at the battle of Ocha (478 a.d.) Mucertach’s grandfather and great-uncle were both alive in 464, and we shall probably not be far wrong if we place the birth of this Irish king at somewhere about 455, and that of his cousin Caimech about 460. As, however, Loam seems to have reigned between 495 and 505, we must suppose that the book of Ballimote calls him king of Alban proleptically.
According to the legend alluded to above, Caimech was harassed in his monastery by his brother, King Luirig, who, however, is at last slain through the instrumentality of Mucertach. Cairnech then attends a great synod at Tours, where he is given the ‘chieftainship of the martyrs of the world.’ From Gaul Caimech passes over first to Cornwall and then to Ireland, to which country he goes to prepare the way for Mucertach. Here we read that he became first bishop of Tem-har (Tara) and the Clan O’Neil, his former designation having been ‘Bishop of Tours and Cornwall ’ (Britain-Comn). These events may have taken place about 504, when Mucertach MacErca became king of Ireland (Annals of Four Masters, i. 165, with which, however, cf. Tighernac, a.d. 509, and Ann. Ult. 512). Lastly we read that Cairnech became ‘ first monk of Erin and the first Brehon of the men of Erin also.’ Here, as in the former quotation, where St. Cairnech is styled bishop of Cornwall, it is impossible not at least to suspect a confusion with his namesake, the friend of St. Patrick. But, whether strictly historical or no, there can be little doubt that an extremely ancient tradition has coupled together the names Cairnech and Mucertach (see Reeves’s quotation from manuscript account of Mucertach’s death, Adamnan, xciv. &c.) Even so early as the eleventh century there was a set of Irish verses current purporting to contain Cairnech’s prophecy or narrative of his cousin’s fate (Tig-HERNAC, 133; Annals of Four Masters, i. 173). In an early Irish poem we have a somewhat detailed account of St. Cairnech’s friendship with his aunt Ere, who gave him Druim-Tighean (Drumleene, W. of Lough Foyle) in full possession. From this document Dr. Todd has attempted to fix the year of Cairnech’s death (539).
CAIRNS, HUGH McCALMONT, first EARL CAIRNS (1819-1885), belonged to a family of Cairns, of Scotch origin, which migrated from Kirkcudbright to the north of Ireland in the time of James I, and was there of some distinction. A baronetcy, which soon became extinct, was conferred upon an Alexander Cairns for service under Marlborough. Hugh Cairns was the second son of William Cairns of Cultra, county Down, formerly a captain in the 47th regiment of foot, by his wife Rose Anna, daughter of Hugh Johnson.He was born in December 1819, and was educated first at Belfast Academy and afterwards at Trinity College, Dublin. His father at this time designed him for holy orders, but the Rev. George Wheeler, afterwards rector of Ballysax, who was his tutor, strongly urged that Cairns should be bred to the law. Cairns’s own bent was decidedly in the same direction. He took a first class in classics and his B.A. degree in 1838, and then came to England to prepare for the bar. He was called to the bar by the benchers of the Middle Temple in January 1844, and shortly afterwards ‘migrated’ to Lincoln’s Inn. In chancery he read in the chambers of Mr. Richard Malins, afterwards vice-chancellor; and it was in those of Mr. Thomas Chitty, the well-known special pleader, of King’s Bench Walk, that he read at common law. His original intention had been to return to Ireland, but upon the advice of Mr. Malins he determined to remain in England. He came to London, without influence or connection, and yet his opportunities of success came early. His first brief was given him by Mr. Gregory of Bedford Row, who remained his firm client till he quitted the bar. His practice, once begun, grew rapidly. Yet constitutionally he was diffident and at first so nervous as a speaker that he thought himself unfit for anything but chamber practice and conveyancing. In July 1852 he entered parliament as member for Belfast, and continued to represent that town as long as he remained at the bar. In 1856 he was made a Q.C. and a bencher of Lincoln’s Inn, and elected to practise in Vice-chancellor Wood’s court. In February 1858, when Lord Derby took office, he was appointed solicitor-general and knighted, and from this time enjoyed an enormous practice. He was employed in many ecclesiastical cases, in which his opinions are still valued, and in Scotch and Irish appeals, and on various occasions, such as the Windham lunacy case and the case of the Alexandra, he made very successful appearances before juries at nisi prius. At this time his health, never very good, was tried to the utmost by his professional labours; it was his habit to refuse all briefs for Saturdays and to take that day as a holiday, often in the hunting-field, while in his long vacations he annually recruited his vigour on the Scotch moors. But from 1858 he became a conspicuous figure in public life. His first great success was on 14 May 1858, in the debate upon Mr. Cardwell’s motion to censure the conduct of Lord Ellenborough in India. Of this Mr. Disraeli, in his official letter of the day to the queen, says: ‘Two of the greatest speeches ever delivered in parliament, by Sir Edward Lytton and the solicitor-general, Sir Hugh Cairns. Cairns devoted an hour to a reply to Lord John’s resolution and to a vindication of the government bill, which charmed every one by its lucidity and controlled every one by its logic’ (Martin, Life of the Prince Consort, iv. 411). This speech was subsequently published. In the following session he introduced two bills, one to simplify titles to real estate and another to establish a land registry, and his speeches in bringing them in produced a very favourable impression upon the house. He also spoke with good effect, persuasively and pointedly, in the ‘Cagliari’ debate. In 1860, upon the motion for an address to the crown upon the French commercial treaty, Cairns accepted it, with criticisms, on behalf of his party; and in 1865, on Mr. Monsell’s Roman Catholic Oaths Bill, he moved an amendment to secure protestant government and worship in the United Kingdom, which was supported by Mr. Disraeli and defeated by the government by a majority of only nineteen. He also spoke on 23 Feb. 1864 on the right of the government to detain ships, with reference to the confederate privateers, and this speech was subsequently published. When the conservatives returned to power in 1866 and Sir Fitzroy Kelly was no longer available as attorney-general, that office was, without question, conferred on Cairns, and at the same 1 time Lord Derby arranged with Lord Chelmsford that the lord-chancellorship was to be held by him only temporarily, and that he should in time make way for Cairns as his successor. Cairns’s health, however, failed him under the stress of double duties, and when in October a vacancy occurred in the court of chancery, for the first time during fourteen years, by the retirement of Sir J. Knight-Bruce, he became the colleague of Lord-justice Turner as a lord-justice of appeal. A peerage was at the same time offered him, his party being desirous of retaining his great parliamentary services, but it was refused on the ground of want of means to support a title. Indeed the loss of income which he suffered by this promotion was very great. A wealthy relative, however, came to his assistance, and when the government, standing in need of an accession of strength in the House of Lords, renewed the offer in February 1867, it was accepted, and Cairns was created a privy-councillor and Baron Cairns of Garmoyle, co. Antrim. He now took a very active part in the discussions upon the Reform Bill, and made no less than twenty-four speeches on it. His resistance on one occasion went the length even of opposing his own party, and on 29 July he carried by a large majority against Lord Malmesbury, who had the conduct of the bill in the lords during Lord Derby’s illness, an amendment to raise the lodger qualification from 10l. to 15l. The government accepted this, but afterwards, on Earl Russell’s motion, the 10Z. qualification was restored in committee and accepted by Lord Derby on 6 Aug. Cairns also carried, by 253 to 204, a motion in favour of the protection of minorities by means of the cumulative vote. In the same session he made an important speech, being always a champion of the protestant church in Ireland, against Earl Russell’s motion for an address for a royal commission on the revenues of the Irish church. In February 1868 Lord Derby resigned office through ill-health, and Mr. Disraeli became prime minister, and in forming his ministry summarily passed over Lord Chelmsford and appointed Cairns lord-chancellor. Although this was according at any rate to the spirit of Lord Derby’s agreement with him in 1866, Lord Chelmsford was exceedingly indignant, complained of being dismissed ‘with less courtesy than if he had been a butler,’ and appealed to Lord Derby, who, however, confirmed Mr. Disraeli’s view of the matter. Cairns to some extent appeased Lord Chelmsford by appointing his son, Sir Frederick Thesiger, to the bench. On the defeat of the conservatives at the general election, Cairns resigned with Mr. Disraeli, and after Lord Derby’s death (23 Oct. 1869) led the opposition in the House of Lords. His resistance to the disestablishment of the Irish church was vigorous and tenacious. His speech on Mr. Gladstone’s Suspensory Bill was printed and widely circulated, and in 1868 the bill, although carried by large majorities in the House of Commons, was thrown out by the lords by 192 to 97. On 21 July, when the bill was returned to the lords with the amendments of the commons to their lordships’ amendments, Cairns moved and carried by a majority of seventy-eight that the lords do insist on their amendments to the preamble of the bill, to which the commons had disagreed. But the resulting constitutional strain was great, and when on the 22nd Cairns heard, within an hour of the debate, that the government was willing to offer then and there acceptable concessions, which must be taken or refused before the debate began and could not afterwards be renewed, he took upon himself the responsibility of ending the struggle between the houses, and agreed with Lord Granville to withdraw his opposition. This, however, had to be done without consulting his party, and they were much aggrieved at this apparent vacillation, until Cairns cleared the matter up by sending round to his followers a circular ou 24 July. Not long after this he resigned the leadership of the conservative party in the House of Lords, but he resumed it in 1870, Lord Salisbury being then too little in harmony with his party to lead it with success, and he energetically opposed the Irish Land Bill in that year. He was at this time acting also as a law lord on House of Lords’ appeals, although on resigning in December 1868 he had declined Lord Hatherley's invitation to him to resume his place as a lord-justice of appeal. He also acted as arbitrator, in conjunction with Lord Salisbury, under the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company’s Act, and also in another most intricate arbitration upon the affairs of the Albert Life Insurance Company in 1871. Consequently about this time he found his health considerably impaired, and was obliged to spend some time at Mentone, and. during his absence the leadership of the conservative peers was undertaken by the Duke of Richmond. He was in his place, however, to speak upon the triple treaty of England, France, and Prussia to secure the independence of Belgium (August 1870), and he also very energetically opposed the appointment of Sir Robert Collier to a seat on the judicial committee of the privy council as a colourable evasion of the law. Although he was in opposition when the Judicature Act was passed, he had been chairman of the committee on judicature reform, which reported in 1869, and was lord chancellor when the act came into operation, and had a large share in the passing of the act. It was on his initiative that Lord Selborne's bill of 1873, which had displaced the House of Lords as the ultimate court of appeal, was amended by allowing an appeal from the supreme court to the House of Lords. The name of the supreme court, however, remained unchanged, so that though in name supreme it is not so in fact. In this as in much other legislation Cairns and Lord Selborne, who had always been rivals in politics and at the bar, worked together with mutual trust and confidence. It was practically by their agreement that the Married Women’s Property Act of 1882 was passed; and with Lord Selborne's sanction Cairns brought to a successful issue the Conveyancing Acts..of 1881 and 1882 and the Settled Land Act of 1882. Though thus responsible for most important legal changes, the only act which bears Cairns’s name is one, now repealed, to enable the court of chancery to give damages in lieu of specific performance or an injunction.
When the conservatives took office after the general election of 1874, Cairns was lord chancellor in Mr. Disraeli’s government. In that year he introduced the Real Property (Vendors and Purchasers) Act as a pendant to the Real Property Limitation Act, and in 1879 the Irish University Bill, in substitution for that introduced by the O’Conor Don. He was created in September 1878 Viscount Garmoyle and Earl Cairns in the peerage of the United Kingdom; but after the conservative defeat and his resignation in 1880 he played a comparatively retired part in public life. He often, however, powerfully criticised the liberal government on various points of its policy, especially the Transvaal question, and his speech on this was published. On the death of the Earl of Beaconsfield there was a considerable desire on the part of a portion of the conservative party that Cairns and not Lord Salisbury should succeed to the leadership, but neither health nor years fitted Cairns for that task, and it was undertaken by Lord Salisbury. After this date he appeared but rarely in debate, and still more rarely to hear appeals. His health, never strong, had long been failing. At one time he was kept alive only by breathing special inhalations for asthmatic disorders; towards the end of his life an affection of the ear made him very deaf. He spent much time on the Riviera, and in 1873 built himself a house at Bournemouth, where he died 2 April 1885 of congestion of the lungs, and was buried 8 April. He was made LL.D, of Cambridge in 1862, D.C.L. of Oxford in 1863, and was also LL.D, of Dublin University and chancellor from 1867. He married, 9 May 1856, Mary Harriet, eldest daughter of John MacNeile of Parkmount, co. Antrim, by whom he had five sons and two daughters. The eldest son dying shortly after his birth, the second, Arthur William, succeeded to the peerage.
Cairns was confessedly the first lawyer of his time; his especial characteristic was lucidity. Without any great parade of case-law, he would exhaust the argument from principle and only in conclusion illustrate it by citing a few decisions. As a judge he did not explain the process by which his mind had been persuaded, but adhered to strict reasoning, his mind working like a logical machine. As a speaker he was very cold and unimpassioned, though in public addresses there were traces of repressed fire; but he invariably produced personally an impression of the dullest austerity. He was believed to have but one human weakness, namely, for immaculate bands and tie in court and for a flower in his coat at parties. His classical and literary attainments were great, but if he had any humour—Lord Coleridge in his obituary speech to the lords, 13 April 1885, pronounced it keen—it was assiduously concealed. He was an evangelical churchman of great piety. Like Lords Selborne and Hatherley he was a Sunday-school teacher almost all his life. He was a frequent chairman of meetings at Exeter Hall and of missionary meetings. Addresses of his on such occasions were published, one on the Irish church in 1864, another on the Young Men's Christian Association in 1881. He zealously supported Dr. Barnardo’s homes for boys and his conduct of them, and laid foundation stones for him at Ilford in Essex in 1875. He was also a supporter of the coffee-house movement and looked askance upon the stage. He was not popular. [Earl Russell's Recollections; Memoirs of Lord Malmesbury, ii. 373, 378, 409; Law Journal, 11 April 1885; Solicitors’ Journal and Law Times, 11 April 1885; Times, 3 April 1885.]
J. A. H.
CAIRNS, WILLIAM (d. 1848), philosophical writer, was a native of Glasgow. After completing his course at the university, he, in 1800, entered the Anti-burgher Secession Hall for the study of divinity. In March 1808 he was ordained minister of the secession church at Johnshaven, Kincardineshire. This position he resigned in October 1815 on being chosen professor of logic and belles-lettres by the directors of the Belfast Institution. He remained there till his death, 21 April 1848. He was the author of 'Outlines of Lectures on Logic and Belles-Lettres,' 1829, and 'Treatise on Moral Freedom,' 1844. He also edited, with a memoir, 'Lectures on Intellectual Philosophy,' by Dr. John Young, 1835.
END.
Weekend is almost here and hope it's a good one for you.
Alastair