Kirkcudbright History Society’s season of lectures got off to a stirring start in October with a talk entitled ‘Simply Heraldry – Cheerfully Illustrated.’ As Gordon Casely from Aberdeen delivered his talk it became abundantly clear just how appropriate the title was. Using a colourful array of slides depicting coats of arms from all round Scotland and employing his pawky north-east humour, Gordon captivated the audience with an engrossing study of the many diverse aspects of heraldry. Although he briefly covered the history of heraldry, his focus was very much on 21st century heraldry and its important function in the cultural life of Scotland. In particular he stressed the egalitarian nature of heraldry in Scotland, unique in the world, where everyone from a ‘duke to a dustman’ could apply for a coat of arms.
As an ardent admirer of the Burgh of Kirkcudbright, Gordon concentrated the latter part of his talk on the heraldry of the Stewartry and gave several examples which caught the imagination of the audience. He encouraged the audience to give greater prominence to coats of arms in small communities as a means of building cohesion and stimulating community involvement in Scotland’s future. Judging by the comments of those attending they will certainly be more observant regarding the rich and abundant heraldry on everyday view in this area.
For the November lecture, the audience had the pleasure of hearing its own chairman, David Collin, deliver a fascinating talk tracing the South Sea escapades of the Kirkcudbright-built ship, the Prince of Denmark. Launched in 1789 it was the second oldest built in the town but, unlike other vessels from the shipyard at the Moat Brae, it was not named after a family member or local place name as was the normal practice. Instead, as revealed by David’s dogged research, she was registered as an ‘excise cutter’ and the name was in keeping with other craft in service on excise duties in the West of Scotland also named after princes and princesses.
David’s talk painted a highly colourful picture of the meanderings of the Prince of Denmark and highlighted some of the intriguing owners and captains associated with the ship; Whaling featured strongly in the Prince of Denmark story and she met her demise after 74 years sterling service when a sudden and violent squall caused the ship to disintegrate while anchored off a whaling station on the Chesterfield archipelago in the Coral Sea. Lucky to escape with their lives, the crew set about rebuilding a new ship, naming it with suitable irony, Hamlet’s Ghost, and set sail for Australia after just three months. This and many other humorous and gruesome tales followed and hardly surprisingly, David intends producing a book about this fascinating ship which had its birth on the Moat Brae in Kirkcudbright.
Neal Lawson’s talk on ‘Some Engineers of the South West’ provided a very fitting end to the 2008 season of the Kirkcudbright History Society. While acknowledging the importance of James Watt in the development of steam power, Neal’s main claim was that others who had played just as significant part had not received the recognition they were due. In particular, he stressed the vital importance of developments inspired by William Symington a mining engineer from Wanlockhead. It was his advanced designs for water pumping engines which inspired Robert Burns’ landlord, Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, to construct one of the world’s earliest steamboats which famously sailed across Dalswinton Loch in 1788. Miller’s design for the paddleboat was very complex but Neal had thoughtfully provided a scaled working model which clearly illustrated the principles involved and saved the audience much head-scratching. A lively question and answer session followed the talk and vividly demonstrated the continuing interest in the glory days of steam and all it meant to the industrial revolution and imperial expansion.
Appropriately for the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns the January lecture featured the national poet and in particular the time he spent in Dumfries and Galloway. Society committee member Mike Duguid started by giving a brief resume of Burn’s life from his early days in Ayrshire to arriving at Ellisland Farm and then his move to Dumfries to perform hid duties as an excise officer. Mike highlighted the two tours of the Stewartry which Burns made in 1793 and 1794 and explored the local links to various houses and people.
Maintaining the Homecoming theme, the February lecture was aptly entitled ‘Emigration from the Stewartry – There and Back.’ The curator of the Stewartry Museum, David Devereaux, enlightened the members of the Kirkcudbright History Society about the many locals who made their mark overseas and returned to benefit their home communities. In particular, he pointed out that many of these emigrants had been privileged with a sound education and were keen to repay the debt they felt they owed for that early grounding which helped them make their way in the world. Thus we see that many of the subscribers for the building of Kirkcudbright Academy in 1816 were based overseas. The school benefited again in 1931 with the opening of the Cochran Hall Gymnasium as a result of the funds provided by the prolific Cochran family of successful businessmen based in the emerging New York.
Chairman’s Report. 2009
Firstly, pleases accept my apologies for being unable to deliver this report in person. This is the first History Society meeting that I have ever missed, and as luck would have it, it’s one I was particularly looking forward to.
Our move to the Parish Church Hall, following your massive support for that choice of venue has I think been successful, and now that we are learning how to use the lighting system, has been largely trouble-free. The heating system has been improved, and we are also promised improvement in the amplification system in the near future.
Our members have remained loyal, and even on wet and cold evenings, we have had over 60 people attending.
The generally high quality of our speakers has meant that subjects which may not have excited every individual, have turned out to be much more interesting than expected, when delivered with both knowledge, passion and some wit. Your feedback was invaluable last year, so this year we will again be circulating a suggestions page for the future. Ideas are already beginning to form for next year, but there is still plenty of time for your comments to be considered. The committee remains strong and enthusiastic and the absence of several of us this evening is definitely not an effort to dodge the A.G.M.. I am grateful to all committee members for their help.
This year however, I also want to make special mention of the many dedicated society members who, though not on the committee, and not receiving any general recognition for what they do, arrive early and leave late every month, helping with chairs, teas, coffees and tidying up generally. They help too in other ways, such as Mr Carter’s suggestion to me that we could perhaps bring down the average age of our members and secure our future by encouraging Academy teachers and pupils to attend our meetings. I think I depressed him by reporting that all previous efforts in that direction had failed! If any of you have influence in that sphere please let the committee know, as the principle is sound if only the apathy barrier can be broken.
Our policy of supporting local publications continues, and we have reserved funds to assist member Ian Devlin in publishing a booklet he has written commemorating the life and work of local character John Budget.
Some of our members are still doing valuable work for the museum, in helping to transcribe Burgh Court records. If you are interested in helping with tasks of this nature, please contact David Devereux to find out other subjects on which the work of volunteers would be welcomed.
I thank you all for your encouragement and your enthusiasm about our meetings, and I hope that like me, you are already looking forward to next year’s programme. Thank you all for your enthusiasm and support.