Womens' History

[John Little]

Although not a member of this group I have been told that March is Womens' History month- which seemed to me to be a cue for what might be a good and informative thread. So please pardon my presuming to do this as a mere male, but I thought I would kick off.

I had always thought that when the leaders of the Suffragists and Suffragettes said that their movement extended from Lands End to John O Groats that they were exaggerating. It appears that they were not.

It seems that in 1913 a Mrs Begg of Brims was the Secretary of the National Union of Womens' Suffrage Societies branch at John O Groats

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Wo89DfZ-T6AC&pg=PA311&lpg=PA311&dq=suffragette+caithness&source=bl&ots=Dh9Ae8vVbl&sig=90o99GHFmwBx62Q9yUUokoP_ofw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=93pOT9yuJ4qw0QW_hsCeBQ&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=suffragette%20caithness&f=false

She must have been a lady of great determination and strength of character considering what the Suffragettes were getting up to at that time. Although she was a Suffragist, and therefore committed to peaceful protest, it would be interesting to know if the 'Wild Period' of militant activity actually reached Caithness.

Any local historians out there?

[John Little]

And what's the story here?

The Countess of Caithness wishes to remove her father's head?
I assume that it was not that she wished to cut it off...

http://www.electricscotland.com/history/ladies/Ladies01.pdf

A (http://www.electricscotland.com/history/ladies/Ladies01.pdf)h - now could she be the daughter of the Great Montrose? I recall that she begged for her father's head after it was severed so that she could sew it back onto the torso which relatives were allowed to keep. The limbs were chopped off for display in other towns.

His niece kept his heart in an oval shaped casket made from his sword.

[John Little]

Ah well - if a thread looks as if it's going to die the death then it's probably best to let it sink.

However I could not resist this because it's fascinating and there are some lascies in it too.

http://www.angusmacleodarchive.org.uk/view/index.php?path=%2F7.+Fishing%2F9.+The+Herring+Girl s.pdf

[John Little]

Well once you start digging- sorry cannot stop.

Scroll down to Agnes Mclaren. If she is organising Suffrage meetings in Thurso at that date then there are some very politically aware women there at this date - that's early for Suffragists!

http://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/PDFs/WS-Biog.aspx

I (http://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/PDFs/WS-Biog.aspx)t seems that a Thurso branch of the Edinburgh NUWSS was formed as a result of this meeting- the convenor was a man, Mr J Galloway. He was very enlightened for that day!

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eIzLissZmscC&pg=PA688&lpg=PA688&dq=suffragette+thurso&source=bl&ots=TLzgVqhYti&sig=Ee0kGmJGgyiqtdnXeuJimnRt3I8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=BJROT8LqC4e-0QXq-OyeBQ&ved=0CEAQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=suffragette thurso&f=false

But that puts Thurso way way ahead in thinking in front of most of the UK.

[gleeber]

There were lots of seeds germinating in those days but those ladies were pioneers. Although I realise womens rights were not deemed proper you have to consider some of the strong women of history who would heve needed to be cuter than most to survive. Cleopatra, Boadicea Elizibeth 1. Getting together as a fighting force was what won women the vote. I presume that was the real starting point of modern womens liberation?
Theyve done no bad since Eve showed her true colours. :lol:

[Torvaig]

Well done on your research John! I think you are more interested in our history than us natives!

To be honest, during suffragette times there were those who were more interested in all around them rather than anything happening many miles away. Those who did show an interest would have been passionate in their beliefs but, being so remote, they didn't have the where-with-all to follow them up.

Most women would be getting on with trying to feed their families and helping their men-folk with the work needed to hold body and soul together. Caithness was/is very much a rural area and mostly concerned with farming which took up most of everyones time.

In the towns there would be more opportunity to get together and discuss the concerns of the time and no doubt some of those women were interested in the suffragette movement and managed to join and take part in demonstrations and marches but whether locally or further south.....who knows?

After all, who would be interested in demonstrations up here? A temporary distraction at most and something for the men and kids to have a laugh at and other women to say "Have they nothing better to do. They should be at home making the tea!"

The only women from Caithness who could take part in demonstrations being held outwith the area would be those who had second homes elsewhere and could afford to travel and share their support with like-minded souls. But, after some research, I may be proved wrong!

You have probably given up on a reply now.

I've had to let the dog out twice (he is just being nosy after hearing sounds from neighbouring gardens) answer a couple of long phone-calls during which I had to take notes and now I am off to make a cup of coffee! I'll have a look back to see if you have roused any one else for information.

If you did, I hope they were more suffragette savvy than me!:lol:

[Torvaig]

There were lots of seeds germinating in those days but those ladies were pioneers. Although I realise womens rights were not deemed proper you have to consider some of the strong women of history who would heve needed to be cuter than most to survive. Cleopatra, Boadicea Elizibeth 1. Getting together as a fighting force was what won women the vote. I presume that was the real starting point of modern womens liberation?
Theyve done no bad since Eve showed her true colours. :lol:

Aha, glad you came on board Gleeber and I agree about the fighting force being the main strength of what they achieved. They showed they could help defend their country, man the munitions factories and look after the wounded and provide blackout curtains etc., etc.

[John Little]

No - I think you are right - many of the early vote campaigners were middle class women and precisely for the reasons you gave. But it was not the gettes but the gists who did more to get the vote than anyone else. The Suffragettes tend to get the credit but it was the Suffragists such as those who met in Thurso who really did the work.

As to women's history - well Gleeber is right of course - it's not just Caithness women but all Women's History Month. But I did dig up a couple of other items. This incredible lady was one of them, a real link with the Pentland Hotel;

http://www.strathspey-herald.co.uk/News/Straths-oldest-woman-dies-at-a-grand-old-106-168.htm

And this statistic;

http://www.historyofwomen.org/illegitimate.html

I know that two of the women in my family had children out of wedlock in the 1890s and were regarded as being very respectable, married local farmers etc but I had thought them an exception. Not so apparently - Caithness was ahead of its time here too!!

[golach]

Aha, glad you came on board Gleeber and I agree about the fighting force being the main strength of what they achieved. They showed they could help defend their country, man the munitions factories and look after the wounded and provide blackout curtains etc., etc.

Would not like to have met any of these three females, Lucrezia Borgia, Susan Newell or Ruth Ellis.

[Torvaig]

No - I think you are right - many of the early vote campaigners were middle class women and precisely for the reasons you gave. But it was not the gettes but the gists who did more to get the vote than anyone else. The Suffragettes tend to get the credit but it was the Suffragists such as those who met in Thurso who really did the work.

As to women's history - well Gleeber is right of course - it's not just Caithness women but all Women's History Month. But I did dig up a couple of other items. This incredible lady was one of them, a real link with the Pentland Hotel;

http://www.strathspey-herald.co.uk/News/Straths-oldest-woman-dies-at-a-grand-old-106-168.htm

And this statistic;

http://www.historyofwomen.org/illegitimate.html

I know that two of the women in my family had children out of wedlock in the 1890s and were regarded as being very respectable, married local farmers etc but I had thought them an exception. Not so apparently - Caithness was ahead of its time here too!!

Yes, when I was young and first heard of an unmarried woman having a child I couldn't fathom out how that was possible as we kids knew only married women had babies! It was always talked about in hushed tones and if we kids asked any questions we were put outside to play!

We were also puzzled by some of our cousins who had different surnames from their "fathers" and others who were called our grandmother "mum" and yet we knew they were our cousins so she should have been their grannie too!

Anyway, enough of the family's dark, distant past!

To get back to the subject, John, to save me looking it up, what was the difference betwixt the gist and the gettes? Thank you.....

[John Little]

Well it struck me too - in popular myth and memory and on the telly we always get the message that in Victorian times it was a disgrace to have a child out of wedlock. Yet in my family I know of two where it was not and it seems that it was not unusual - even normal. I wonder if this 'folk memory' is accurate, or just among certain classes?

The Suffragists were the original group. Women's suffrage societies existed for years but were united under an umbrella organisation in 1897 with their president Millicent Garrett Fawcett. They were committed to peaceful means and worked behind the scenes- especially for the Liberals, most of whom supported female suffrage for a long time before the leadership did. If you were a Liberal MP who supported votes for women then you had a legion of willing campaign volunteers to help you. They had branches all over the country, well over 100,000 card carrying members and a huge budget.

The Womens' Social and Political Union was set up in 1903 by Mrs Pankhurst who thought that the gists were not getting enough attention and that direct action was called for. The Daily Mail dubbed them 'Suffragettes'. The direct action served a purpose in putting women's issues into the public eye, but the gettes never had more than 5000 members and were mostly based in London with a small budget. Mrs Pankhust was also a bit of a snob and a queen bee and did not want working class women in her movement. She wanted the vote for owners of property - on the same basis as men, which is why she fell out with her daughter Sylvia who did want working class women to have the vote.

By 1912 the Suffragists had persuaded a majority of MPs in Parliament in their favour but the introduction of a bill to give women the vote was mishandled and the Suffragettes went nuts committing acts of terrorism which the government could not be seen to show weakness over. After 1912 the gettes probably held up women getting the vote - yet in popular imagination it's the gettes who get the credit. Yet on the whole it was more the quiet determination of Mrs Fawcett that did it and not the bombs of Mrs Pankhurst's lot.


You might like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMv85CHrDq0

B (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMv85CHrDq0)ombs are here;

http://www.historyhouse.co.uk/articles/suffragettes.html

There would have been a bomb in Edinburgh but the lady's friend lost her nerve.

They also used firebombs - Great Yarmouth Pier being the main casualty.

[John Little]

Correction; the suffragettes did bomb in Edinburgh.
http://www.pippagoldschmidt.co.uk/2011/05/the-elephant-in-the-observatory/
(http://www.pippagoldschmidt.co.uk/2011/05/the-elephant-in-the-observatory/)
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2249&dat=19130521&id=W7k-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=9lkMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4807,3939596

But the one I was thinking of was not used but thrown into a pond in one of Edinburgh's parks.

[Mosser]

Ensign Sept 23 1913
Votes for women meeting in the Zion Hall Wick with Mrs Frazer and Mrs Hunter of the national movement, during her speech Mrs Hunter stated that she had heard it said that politics were too dirty a trade for women to meddle with, if that were the case then it is time women were allowed into politics to give them a good wash up, women were never refused the right to have a good wash day.
Mosser

[Mosser]

John O Groat Journal June 5 1914
Scottish National Demonstration for Women’s Suffrage to be held in Glasgow on June 20th in response to Mr Asquith’s refusal to meet prominent members of the Society. An encouraging response from the Highland Societies, Shetland, Orcadian, John O Groats, Wick Brora, Golspie, Lairg, Rogart, Dornoch and Tain will all be represented with their banners.
By this time the Wick branch had acquired a Campaign HQ IN Bridge Street.

[Mosser]

Northern Ensign June 30 1914
Drawing Room Meeting for Women’s Suffrage
Miss Bury, organiser for the National Movement is presently in Wick and addressed a number of outdoor meetings on behalf of the case. Yesterday (Monday) Mrs Munro, North of Scotland and Town and County Bank house held an “at home” to meet Miss Bury, there were over 30 ladies present. She spoke on the recent discussion in the House of Lords on Lord Selbourne’s bill to extend the franchise to women. The division was 60 for and 104 against which Miss Bury declared to be a very promising result in that “Citadel of Privilege.”

[Mosser]

John 0 Groat Journal June 12 1914
A letter from Miss Bury in reply to a correspondent who claimed that “one and all are heartily sick of the Suffragettes, militant and non militant.” She replied thus, ”this is good reading for the Suffragettes (who are perhaps as heartily sick of asking for the restoration of the franchise to women)
It was when the Pharaoh was sick of the plagues of Egypt and when the Unjust Judge was sick of the importunate widow that they granted the long delayed act of justice, therefore it is good to know that our modern Pharaohs and unjust judges are suffering from mental nausea caused by the plagues of the militant and non militant suffragettes.

So Suffrage was alive and well in Wick

[Torvaig]

Mosser, you've been busy! Well done and thank you very much for the information.

I had never heard of the Suffragette movement before I went to High School but then I lived in the country where possibly the folks there didn't know much about what was going on in the towns.

“one and all are heartily sick of the Suffragettes" said with feeling and certainly no husband would encourage his wife to stand up and be counted and yes, even disgrace him!

Again, thank you Mosser.

[John Little]

Blimey!

It seems that Marie, Countess of Caithness, second wife of the 14th Earl was a bigwig in the psychic world, linked to famous psychics like Madam Blavatsky. She claimed that when she was staying in 'le chateau de Caithness' which I take to be Thurso Castle, she was visited by the spirit of Mary Stuart in a dream who took her to visit her castle at Holyrood. Lady Caithness decided that Mary Stuart was her spirit guide.

Spooky goings on in Victorian Thurso.

I cannot find this in English.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_de_Mariategui

T (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_de_Mariategui)here is a description of her in here and some surprising information about where the 14th Earl spent his money...

http://www.prestonherts.co.uk/page170.html

But she was a real somebody in the 'occult' world and very .... different..

[Torvaig]

Daughter of Don José de Mariategui, a noble Spanish and his English wife, a daughter of the Earl of Northampton, Maria de Mariategui was raised in the Catholic religion between Madrid and London where she was born. She first married the General Condé Medina - Pomar whom she had a son, named Emmanuel. The family lived between the Spain and Cuba where the General had plantations. Maria Medina - Pomar was then build a particular avenue Wagram hotel. She became a widow in 1868 and inherited a considerable fortune. She decided to settle in England so that his son could follow the course of the Jesuit College of Beaumont near Windsor. She married James Sinclair, the 14th Earl of Caithness on March 6, 1872. In 1879, Pope Leo XIII granted the title of Duchess of Pomar. She then shared between Nice, New York and especially Paris [1], [2], [3], [4].
Spiritualism [edit] if his first spiritualist experiences took place in Britain, where she attended the sessions of Florence Cook. But it was rather a follower and admirer of Allan Kardec and his spiritualist ideas. She was close to Christian spiritualism. His book Old Truths in a New Light from 1876, close to the thinking of Kardec, tries to reconcile Theosophy, Catholicism and Spiritism. It won him fierce criticism on the part of the Catholic clergy. She joined as early as 1876 the Theosophical Society founded by Madame Blavatsky and colonel Olcott in New York the previous year [1], [2], [3]. It was Lady Caithness pushed Anna Kingsford in the direction of the London Lodge of the Theosophical Society [5] in 1883. In 1884, during his stay in Paris, in Lady Caithness, Madam Blavatsky approved the creation of the "Theosophical Society of East and West", the French branch of the Theosophical Society. It was even a time regarded as the obvious successor of Madame Blavatsky as head of global Theosophy. But, on the death of the latter, this finally was Annie Besant who took the leadership of the Theosophical Society [2]. Like Anna Kingsford, Theosophy of Lady Caithness was also more footprint of esoteric Christianity influenced by Swedenborg and Jakob Boehme and away Eastern traditions in the Theosophical Society. However she rejected the concepts of original sin and divinity of Christ. It was a spiritual lounge in his Parisian hotel, every Wednesday from spring to autumn. She received Charles Richet, Camille Flammarion, Annie Besant, or Jules Doinel (the Apostolic founder of the Gnostic Church) [3].
In the early 1890s, Lady Caithness participated in the creation of the French branch of the Society for Psychical Research with Charles Richet [2].
It is regarded as specially attached to Mary Stuart. Parts of his particular avenue de Wagram hotel reception were organized such as the royal palace of Holyrood. A room was fully dedicated to the Queen: one where stood the "sessions". It stated that one night in the castle of Caithness in Scotland, she had received in a dream the visit of the Queen of Scotland he had directing to immediately go to the chapel of the royal palace of Holyrood, she had done immediately, accompanied by a single servant.

[gleeber]

Two of her books are in Thurso library reference section. One's a series of letters from friends and the other ones an attempt to reconcile the new found scientific discipline that was was beginning to put her mumbo jumbo beliefs in jeapordy, with religion. I cant remember the name. Some of its a good read and she was a smart cookie but she was born into it. Had poor Peggy Sue come from the same loins she too would have been smart.
Ive just noticed on Torvaigs post that the book credited to Allan Kardec, Old Truths in a New Light is the same one in the library and I was sure it was credited to the Countess.

[RecQuery]

I'm always reminded of what Morgan Freeman said regarding history months when I hear about stuff like this


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeixtYS-P3s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeixtYS-P3s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeixtYS-P3s)

[John Little]

It would be easier to find stuff on womens' history in Caithness if I lived in Caithness - but I don't.

Other stuff is best done by others - I am sure, for example, that there are people who could say something about the remarkable Mary Ann whose cottage I visited last year.

But it's womens' history month all over the world so I'll be easier to myself and just put a few candidates up for notice who may merit some attention.

Harriet Quimby is one such. She was an American lady who was the first woman to fly the English Channel back in 1912. This was seen as a remarkable challenge at the time, requiring great bravery; it had first been done by Louis Bleriot in 1910. Well Harriet did it, and unlike Bleriot, who crashed on landing, Harriet landed perfectly. Unfortunately her daring feat was completely overshadowed in the newspapers by the sinking of the Titanic which happened at the same time.

Harriet returned to the USA and was killed in an accident while flying later that year.


http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/Harriet_quimby.jpg

[John Little]

ReQuery- thankyou for that.

I think he's wrong.

As I just said to somebody else, I am teaching my step granddaughter at home.

I had to explain to her when I started teaching, that History was not 'His Story' because that is what she thought it was.

Most history books are about the doings of men. Women get written out.

Or what they do coincides with the sinking of large ocean liners.

And I have met too many girls in my career with self-esteem problems to think that anything that makes them think they are not stake-holders in this game of life is good.

So a month which aims at drawing special attention to the fact that the female side of the human race has actually played a significant part in the past is, for me at any rate, cool.

Mr Freeman has an opinion - and that is all.

[Gronnuck]

ReQuery- thankyou for that.

I think he's wrong.

As I just said to somebody else, I am teaching my step granddaughter at home.

I had to explain to her when I started teaching, that History was not 'His Story' because that is what she thought it was.

Most history books are about the doings of men. Women get written out.

Or what they do coincides with the sinking of large ocean liners.

And I have met too many girls in my career with self-esteem problems to think that anything that makes them think they are not stake-holders in this game of life is good.

So a month which aims at drawing special attention to the fact that the female side of the human race has actually played a significant part in the past is, for me at any rate, cool.

Mr Freeman has an opinion - and that is all.

History was written by men for men where they felt the need to record their great successes and achievements. Women and women's contributions were ignored. Women's history month is necessary to highlight the contributions made by women and to remind us that women had a place in history too. Morgan Freeman is wrong. Just as women were ignored, the Black community was ignored. There were viable civilisations in Africa before the Europeans arrived there. Black history month is necessary to remind us that the Black community had a history prior to their exploitation and slavery. Hopefully history books of the future will mention the activities of all contributors regardless of gender, colour etc.

[squidge]

When we talk about women in medieval times there is a grest contradiction between the way women were used often by their families as a pawn to make or reinforce alliances, and the role that women played in times of war. It is true to say that women were not in control of thei own destinies. Women had to do what their fathers wished and the choice of husband was often the choice of their families. However once women were married they often were able to assume the power of their position. During battles it was often the case that knights were captured rather than killed as a handsome ransom could be negotiated for the return of the knights. Many times it was the women left behind who negotiated payments and secured the release of their men. Women who were left behind as their husbands and most of the men left to fight, often ended up in beseiged castles, manning the ramparts and keeping those left behind as safe as
possible. There is a great story of Black Agnes.

Black Agnes was the daughter of Thomas randolph who was a
massively important person in the Scottish Wars of Independence. Her
husband away she found her castle, Dunbar i think, beseiged by the
english army under Edward Balliol. The army pounded the castle walls
and Agnes would appear with her ladies and dust the walls in mockery
of the english Army. She held the castle and the army eventually
withdrew.

Women often had to show great fortitude and inner strength
too. The trauma of having child after child only to see them die in
infancy, the terror that must have been childbirth and the threat of
childbirth killing you must have been exhausting.

Often taken prisoner and abused by enemies of their husbands or
fathers they may have had to endure great hardship. Robert the Bruces wife daughter and sister were captured by edward and displayed in cages fixed to the side of castle walls at roxburgh and berwick. They were there for about four years i think.

Women had to be resourceful and smart to survive and prosper. They were often responsible for feeding clothing and keeping a family. Imagine spinning and weaving cloth when spinning wheels hadnt been invented. As one who is trying to master the art of spinning with a dropspindle, it must have taken AGES. However by Elizabethan times women were running businesses making decorative braid and the best were very wealthy indeed.

[Torvaig]

I like what Morgan Freeman did in that clip. I think he sensed a notion that the interviewer was going to make a big thing about how good it was of the white population to have a month dedicated to black history, but that is only my opinion.

In our most recent history, we now have "Days" or "Weeks" or "Years" dedicated to various causes/people etc.

Sometimes I look on them as patronising in the supposed acknowledgement that sections of our society need to be treated differently from "ordinary" folk but I also laud the intention behind the idea and admit that these events do make us more aware of our shortcomings and I certainly admire the folks intent on improving other peoples lives.

For myself, those "Days" etc., do make me more aware but too often, after the "Day" is past it is forgotten about by many and again it is left up to those whose compassion and a desire to make a difference makes them carry on.

I admire people who can consign compartmentalisation to the past and get on with the necessary changes and understanding needed to sincerely respect those who, in the past, were "different" but surely we should be much nearer than we are to accepting that most of society is just that, society.

Schools, playgroups etc., have come a long way in doing their utmost to help parents bring up their children to be respected and acknowledged for who they are and help them to be what they want to be. There is not so much emphasis placed on academical achievements being the goal in every childs life but more of an attempt at giving them their place in society, able to integrate and be accepted in all that they can do.

[John Little]

So would you be interested in Dr Agnes Coghill, born in Thurso, a woman doctor at a time when they were as rare as hen's teeth?

Photo as well - scroll down;

http://www.rcpe.ac.uk/journal/issue/journal_35_2/boyd_coghills.pdf

[Torvaig]

Thanks for that John; interesting. The Coghills certainly made their mark in medicine and that includes the ladies too.

[John Little]

And the Norse connection too....

Donada– (c980 – c1027)
Scottish princess and dynastic heiress
Donada was the daughter of King Kenneth II (971 – 995), and his queen, an unidentified princess of Leinster. She was married firstly to Finalay MacRory, earl (mormaer) of Moray, who died c1005, by whom she was mother to Macbeth, the future king of Scotland (1040 – 1057). Donada was married secondly (c1007) to to Sigurd Hlodverson, earl of Orkney (c965 – 1014), whom she survivied, and was the mother of Thorfinn, jarl of Orkney and Caithness (c1009 – c1059), whose widow, Ingeborge of Halland, remarried to become the first wife of King Malcom III Canmore(1058 – 1093).

http://www.abitofhistory.net/html/rhw/body_files/d_body.htm

[John Little]

And the redoubtable Princess Aud in the Icelandic sagas;


"Olaf, who was called Olaf the White, was styled a warrior king. He was the son of King Ingjald, the son of Helgi, the son of Olaf, the son of Gudred, the son of Halfdan Whiteleg, king of the Uplands (in Norway).He led a harrying expedition of sea-rovers into the west, and conquered Dublin, in Ireland, and Dublinshire, over which he made himself king. He married Aud the Deep-minded, daughter of Ketil Flatnose, son of Bjorn the Ungartered, a noble man from Norway. Their son was named Thorstein the Red.Olaf fell in battle in Ireland, and then Aud and Thorstein went into the Sudreyjar (the Hebrides). There Thorstein married Thorid, daughter of Eyvind the Easterling, sister of Helgi the Lean; and they had many children.Thorstein became a warrior king, and formed an alliance with Earl Sigurd the Great, son of Eystein the Rattler. They conquered Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, and Moray, and more than half Scotland. Over these Thorstein was king until the Scots plotted against him, and he fell there in battle.Aud was in Caithness when she heard of Thorstein's death. Then she caused a merchant-ship to be secretly built in the wood, and when she was ready, directed her course out into the Orkneys. There she gave in marriage Thorstein the Red's daughter, Gro, who became mother of Grelad, whom Earl Thorfinn, the Skullcleaver, married.Afterwards Aud set out to seek Iceland, having twenty free men in her ship. Aud came to Iceland, and passed the first winter in Bjarnarhofn (Bjornshaven) with her brother Bjorn. Afterwards she occupied all the Dale country between the Dogurdara (day-meal river) and the Skraumuhlaupsa (river of the giantess's leap), and dwelt at Hvamm. She had prayer meetings at Krossholar (Crosshills), where she caused crosses to be erected, for she was baptised and deeply devoted to the faith. There came with her to Iceland many men worthy of honour, who had been taken captive in sea-roving expeditions to the west, and who were called bondmen.One of these was named Vifil; he was a man of high family, and had been taken captive beyond the western main, and was also called a bondman before Aud set him free. And when Aud granted dwellings to her ship's company, Vifil asked why she gave no abode to him like unto the others. Aud replied, "That it was of no moment to him, for," she said, "he would be esteemed in whatever place he was, as one worthy of honour." She gave him Vifilsdalr (Vifilsdale), and he dwelt there and married. His sons were Thorbjorn and Thorgeir, promising men, and they grew up in their father's house"

http://sagadb.org/eiriks_saga_rauda.en

[Torvaig]

The following was posted some time ago; I'm sure Mosser has info on this lady and maybe has posted it before.....found by googling....must stop now, googling is tiring....:(



Hi Cousin, been searching for more info ,if my facts are right Lizzie McLeod as she was known too many people d.1965 in Wick aged 83 She is buried in Wick Old Cemetery with her husband Adam and infant children, She earned the name Labour Liz by helping people less fortunate than herself by her AKA name she was a staunch Labour party memberThere are many stories of her kindness to others in Wick,she had a large family and aslo worked as a herring gutter with the girls at Wick harbour during the season there are photo's of her and the girls in Book and on film The Silver Darlings, Also mentioned in Neil Gunn's book Over the Ord. I remember one particular story about a boy who ran barefoot in the streets of Wick, L/Liz went to the National Assistance as it was then and got the boy his first pair of " Tackeddy boots" that boy went on to become a County Councilor.She was a self taught woman, Married at 19 and lived in "The Chaple" with many other families at that time, the building was demolished and " Safeway's now stands on the site. The family was rehoused in Willowbank, where I myself grew up,I also lived with her for some time while my family was waiting to get rehoused, she has many decendants still living in Wick.

[John Little]

Rioting Highland women!

A sheriff's officer stripped of his clothes and sent packing!

Home Secretary calls them 'Viragos!'

Whatever next?

http://www.digitalhen.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-15077485

[Moira]

The following was posted some time ago; I'm sure Mosser has info on this lady and maybe has posted it before.....found by googling....must stop now, googling is tiring....:(

Hi Cousin, been searching for more info ,if my facts are right Lizzie McLeod as she was known too many people d.1965 in Wick aged 83 She is buried in Wick Old Cemetery with her husband Adam and infant children, She earned the name Labour Liz by helping people less fortunate than herself by her AKA name she was a staunch Labour party memberThere are many stories of her kindness to others in Wick,she had a large family and aslo worked as a herring gutter with the girls at Wick harbour during the season there are photo's of her and the girls in Book and on film The Silver Darlings,family was waiting to get rehoused, she has many decendants still living in Wick........ <snip> .

Oh my goodness, I have heard of Labour Liz even though she died when I was really young.

Really interesting thread. :)

[squidge]

The history of women in the 20th Century was also fascinating. The changes that my grandmother saw - born in 1901 and died in 1985 she saw massive changes. Its also interesting to see films and plays that deal with society at the time. Cathy come home, Look back in anger, A taste of honey all give an illuminating and illustrating view of society and a womens role at the time they were made. Drama which deals with women's rights - The recent film of the struggle for equal pay for the women at fords factory Made in dagenham - are useful for reminding us of the hard work many of us have had to do to be treated on an equal footing. Today many of the battles have been won, the vote, equal pay, equality of opportunity and status, the removal of the absolute need to be married to be seen as "respectable", the right to control fertility and the right to choose. Many hard fought battles and yet I wonder whether we who sit smugly benefitting from the hard slog of our mothers and grandmothers are failing our daughters by encouraging an obsession with celebrity and plastic surgery enhanced, airbrushed scantily clad role models turning them into almost a caracature of the male view of the "perfect girl". It seems that brains, social responsibility and the need for success in life have given way to the desire to be some vacuous sex symbol. Im not comfortable with that and I worry that having won so many rights we have become complacent and so are beginning to slide backwards.

I cant shake the feeling that we have taken our eye off the ball.

[John Little]

Well my gender really disqualifies me from comment but Mr Pennant, touring Scotland in the 18th century said this about the women of Caithness;

'The women also were formerly condemned to great drudgery, being obliged to carry dung to the field in baskets, but we hope this practice is now abolished or rather that is has been much mifrepresented. Caithness is people by a race of hardy inhabitants who are remarkably industrious..."

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jXRbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PT95&lpg=PT95&dq=caithness+pennant+women&source=bl&ots=JZjGW6eXWa&sig=g75fDYp_YC3e3HhDvyavSpPl9_4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ATtRT5zNJMPZ8gOZgvHwBQ&ved=0CEEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=caithness pennant women&f=false


Some things change - but not others it seems.

[John Little]

This, from the Gentleman's Magazine, attracted international attention...


"In a letter from Elizabeth Mackay, daughter of the Rev David Mackay, minister of Reay, dated Reay Manse, May 25 1809, to Mrs Innes Dowager of Sandside, it is stated that while walking with her cousin, Miss C Mackenzie on the 12th of January, about noon, the sea high, Miss Mackay saw a mermaid, the face of which seemed plump and round, the eyes and nose small, the former of a light grey colour, the mouth large and from the shape of the jaw-bone which seemed straight, the face looked short; the forehead, nose and chin were white, the whole side face of a bright pink colour, the head exceedingly round, the hair thick and long, of a green oily cast, and appeared troublesome to it; the waves generally threw it over the face and it seemed to feel the annoyance; and as the waves retreated it threw it back and rubbed its throat as to remove any soiling it might have received from it. The throat was slender, smooth, and white, the arms long and slender, as were the hands and fingers, the latter not webbed. One arm was frequently extended over its head as if to frighten a bird that hovered over it. It sometimes laid its right hand under its cheek, and in this position floated for some time. The sun was shining clearly at the time; it was distant a few yards only,- three other people were also present on the beach, - had frequently comnatted the assertion of Mermaids being seen on the beach…"

It goes on to say that Mr William Munro, schoolmaster of Thuros (sic) had also seen one...


http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=IAEVHuU8IxIC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=sandside+bay+mermaid+mackay&source=bl&ots=b5dyPA_25O&sig=8gsry-AMfV6YMvQs7blGUj_Xis0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LNNRT4WAEKnO0QXu1NH6Cw&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=sandside%20bay%20mermaid%20mackay&f=false

[oldmarine]

Interesting history on this thread. I enjoyed the read.

[John Little]

The Vikings appear to have had equality of the sexes in land ownership in Caithness as well. The Gunns claim their descent from this-

Gunni Andresarson  Name father of the Clan...1st Chief
See Page 27


The principal Gunn lands were acquired through his marriage to Ragnhild (widow of Lifolf “Baldpate”).
 Grandson of Sweyn.  1190..

.Ragnhild becomes chief of the Moddan Clan
& inherits estates in Caithness (“Katanes”) and Sunderland (“Sundrlund”) after the death in battle in 1190 of her brother Harald Ungi, Jarl in Orkney & Earl in Caithness.
 Gunni died 1226.

http://www.andrew-g.com/gunnsite/gunnbook_ver2/Gunn,Baikie%20&%20Geddes%20Historical%20and%20Ancestral%20sites%2 0in%20Caithness.pdf


So a woman could be a clan Chief then.

Did that last? And when until?

[golach]

So a woman could be a clan Chief then. Did that last? And when until?

And the point of this thread is? We all know the females of the species are the rulers, and that males are there to provide offspring, its the same in the World of animals.

[Torvaig]

Oh my goodness, I have heard of Labour Liz even though she died when I was really young.

Really interesting thread. :)


I think we need Mosser back again as I am sure he knew would have known Labour Liz.....

[John Little]

And the point of this thread is? We all know the females of the species are the rulers, and that males are there to provide offspring, its the same in the World of animals.

See post 23.

[John Little]

I think we need Mosser back again as I am sure he knew would have known Labour Liz.....

I agree - and Mosser is 'The Man' on local history.

[John Little]

There is a remarkably good site by Andrew Gunn on which he retells a story I have not heard before. It's a tragedy that would not look out of place in a Shakespeare play if some Northern Bard chose to do it. Thankyou for making this available Mr Gunn; it's a fine piece of research and the detail is wonderful.


"The Gunns & the Keiths were forever in conflict; complete lawlessness existed throughout Scotland.
 1415 (between 1400 & 1420) Helen Gunn of Braemore was abducted...which began the feud with the Keiths.
The Gunn's had been embroiled in combat and conflict primarily with the Keith's of Ackergill, newcomers to the area and who challenged the Gunn Chief's both for the political supremacy of the region and for the land itself...they obtained lands near and of the Gunn's by grants and inheritance through marriage.
 They also feuded with the MacKay's & Sutherlands, but it was the Keith's with which the Gunn's would have the bitterest of trou- bles.
 There were constant skirmishes and raids along the borders, especially in Strathnaver...Clan McKay. The conflict and tension that already existed between the Gunn's and the Keith's was about to escalate into a series of
protracted feuds and battles that would last for many generations to come.
Braemore was settled by the Gunns from a very early date, certainly before the Crowner, and was the seat of the Robson Gunns otherwise known as the Gunns of Braemore.
Lachlan Gunn of Braemore had an only daughter named Helen who was so striking a woman she was known as "the Beauty of Braemore".  Helen was soon to marry Alexander Gunn, her cousin (common in those days), whom she'd known since childhood.  The event was set, but fate intervened before the marriage could take place.
 Dugald Keith, factor of the district had other plans. Legend says he first glimpsed Helen one day when passing through Braemore and was immediately smitten by her
beauty and charm.  He'd made some advances to Helen, which she rejected.  Spurned and angered by her rejection he set his plan to kidnap Helen in motion.
On the night before the wedding of Alexander and Helen, the Gunn's were gathered in Braemore for a celebration and feast.
Dugald Keith and some of his men came riding in, taking everyone by surprise, and to the shock and dismay of the Gunn's he took Helen and slaughtered several Gunn's who tried to stop him...her lover, Alexander, was one of the people slain by the Keith's.
 Dugald Keith secluded Helen away in Ackergill Castle where she was a virtual prisoner. She was distraught at her capture and the death of her lover, Alexander, and did her best to deter the lustful advances
of Dugald Keith.  What actually happened to Helen during her imprisonment isn't really known, but the outcome is.
 Knowing there was no escape and determined not to give herself to Dugald, she devised a plan to get to the top of the castle tower.  One day she asked her keeper if he would allow her to go to the tower so she could look upon her 'new' land. The guard, charmed by her beauty, acquiesced thinking she could not escape...escape wasn't Helen's plan.
Rather than become the victim of the advances of Dugald Keith, Helen threw herself from the tower and plummeted to her death.
 The Braemore estate passed from Gunn ownership in 1793 when it was sold by George Gunn-Munro of Braemore.

http://www.andrew-g.com/gunnsite/gunnbook_ver2/Gunn,Baikie%20&%20Geddes%20Historical%20and%20Ancestral%20sites%2 0in%20Caithness.pdf

[gleeber]

She must have survived the fall because one of the original posters and chatters on the org was Helen of Braemore. She was based in california so must have done a runner.

[John Little]

The moral of this story may be never to mess wi a lascie fae Thrumster...:eek:



"Bobs" and his Caithness Honour Guard,1895

At the time of his visit to Ackergill Tower in 1895, Lord Roberts - "Bobs" as he was affectionately known - was unquestionably the most popular British soldier of his day, and the men chosen as his Honour Guard were indeed privileged to attend him. Lord Roberts is a subject in his own right and, except to relate that the great soldier was taught the art of riding a bicycle on the long avenue leading to Ackergill Tower, he can be safely consigned to the pages of the many Victorian military histories. The Field-Marshal's Honour Guard, however, contained a few figures whose history may not be without interest to readers.
The backbone of the Honour Guard consisted of Veterans of the old Highland regiments who fought in the Crimea and in India during the Mutiny, soldiers who stood in the "Thin Red Line" at Balaclava, defying the Russian cavalry, though greatly outnumbered, or fought and force-marched across baking-hot India in uniforms more suited to a Scottish autumn, to relieve the besieged garrison at Lucknow, where the Highlanders won six V.C.s in one morning before breakfast. Such a man was Sergeant Coull of Thrumster, whose wife Betty accompanied him to the Crimea with the 93rd Highlanders in 1854. Sergeant Coull had merely the shared glory of being in the ranks of the "Thin Red Line": to his wife belongs a much more singular honour.
In those days Field Hospitals were barbaric places. Battlefield surgery was still in its infancy, and operations required strong constitutions of both patients and surgeons. Anaesthetic seems only to have been administered in extreme cases, the best thing for the patient was probably to swoon unconcious through fear or loss of blood.
Betty Coull was, apparently, employed to administer anaesthetic. Her method was quite simple: a couple of musket balls in an old stocking, and a strong, swift right arm. On the very day the 'Thin Red Line' stood firm against the Russian cavalry, Britain's Turkish allies were in full flight, their defences having been overrun by the Russians. The Turks' line of flight took them into the vicinity of the camp of the 93rd. A contemporary historian describes what then happened: "There came out from the camp of the Highland regiment a stalwart and angry Scotch wife, with an uplifted stick in her hand . . . the blows of this Christian woman fell thick on the backs of the Faithful. She believed, it seems, that besides being guilty of running away, the Turks meant to pillage her camp, and the blows she delivered were not mere expressions of scorn, but actual and fierce punishment. In one instance she laid hold of a strong-looking burly Turk and held him fast until she had beaten him for some time, and seemingly with great fury. She also applied much invective. Notwithstanding graver claims upon their attention, the men of the 93rd were able to witness this incident. It mightily pleased and amused them. This angry Scotch wife was Betty Coull.


http://www.internet-promotions.co.uk/archives/caithness/bobs.htm

[John Little]

Before the Elementary Education Act of 1870 made it compulsory for boys and girls to go to school. education for people who could not afford school fees was very much a hit and miss affair. It depended on voluntary efforts; so it's nice to see this, from the mid 19th century showing that the ladies of Thurso considered education for girls to be important, at a time when many people still considered it a non-essential. Much to their honour indeed!


"Among the recent buildings is an academy, to be named the "Miller Institution," after its founder, Mr Alexander Miller, of Thurso, a benevolent gentleman who has been at the sole expense of the erection, and has set apart a fund, we believe, for the maintenance of the teachers. There is also a female school, in which young girls of the poorer class are taught gratis. This Institution, which has been productive of immense good, was, much to their honour, originally got up by the ladies of Thurso by means of voluntary contribution, and is chiefly, if not altogether, supported in this way."


http://www.electricscotland.com/history/caithness/chapter1.htm

[John Little]

"Ae toot an' ye're oot!"

I love that bit.

This account of an old style Caithness wedding I found fascinating and even riveting.

I doubt that Betsy wore the full meringue though for her big day...

http://sinclair.quarterman.org/sinclair/history/mod/caithwed.html

[John Little]

In which the remarriage of Mary, the widow of the 4th Earl of Caithness, caused a civil war in Caithness in 1676 at a time when all the nation was at peace. In no way do I wish to be associated with the remark on the nature of women. She does seem to have remarried rather quickly and the result was remarkable. Land is important though.

http://sinclair.quarterman.org/who/george6caithness.html

P (http://sinclair.quarterman.org/who/george6caithness.html)S - I've run out of Caithness stuff and will have to be content with more general history.

PPS Aha! I've found another for tomorrow about Latheron.

[John Little]

For sheer interest and because her name is not too widely known, and nothing at all to do with Caithness, I cannot resist throwing in the tale of Marthe Cnockeart. After she married Jock McKenna she's better known as Marthe McKenna.

Here is her entry on Wiki; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marthe_Cnockaert

She was extremely daring and very beautiful; so beautiful in fact that she was able to seduce a German Colonel up into a hotel bedroom and get from him the news that the Kaiser was coming to visit Brussels on a particular day- she intended to shoot the German Emperor.

She had no intention of sleeping with him or anything else to get this information; her intention was to knock him over the head with a large metal ewer from the wash stand. In the end however he made a lunge at her and she pushed him sideways so he hit his head on the brass knob of the bed and was knocked out.

The Kaiser cancelled his plans because 7 British bombers known as the Seven Sisters started a regular bombing run over Brussels so he chickened out.

Marthe was arrested, tried, found guilty - but they did not shoot her. The shooting of Edith Cavell in 1915 had gained them so much bad propaganda across the world that the Germans did not wish to repeat the mistake.

Some people think Jock wrote her stories after the war; but she appears to have been rather a daring woman.

[John Little]

This account of 'Second- sighted Sandy' finding a witch at Latheron is of some interest; click on the small image to read.

She burned it seems.

http://www.ambaile.org.uk/en/item/item_page.jsp?item_id=91751

[John Little]

And for special notice on International Womens' Day I nominate Millie Fawcett;


http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/Millicent_Fawcett.jpg

She's the lady who, in my opinion at any rate, did more than anybody else to get the vote and more equal rights for women. A Democrat, passionate for her cause, restrained, determined and completely persuasive she stands out like a lighthouse and appears to have been a very admirable person.


http://www.herstoria.com/discover/suffragists.html

[John Little]

For today's offering, the rather amazing Countess of Derby, who held off an army against and all it could do;


"One of the many small sieges of the Civil War (http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_ecw1.html). Latham House was one of the few Royalist strongholds in Lancaster in 1644, defended by the Countess of Derby while her husband was absent on the Isle of Man. The house was surrounded by a eight yard wide moat, backed by a strong palisade, behind which rose the house itself, giving the defenders a concentric defence. The countess had built up a garrison of 300, with experienced leaders and a good level of supplies before the siege began. Initially, the besieging forces were led by Sir Thomas Fairfax (http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_fairfax.html), who disliked the idea of attacking somewhere defended by a lady, and in a correspondence that began on 28 February even offered to allow her to move to another of her husband's houses nearby while the siege was carried out. However, the countess was determined to command the siege, and eventually it became clear that she was simply playing for time. At the start of March, Sir Thomas was ordered away to more important duties, leaving his cousin Sir William Fairfax to begin the bombardment on 12 March. He too was ordered away on 24 March, and the siege was then conducted by Colonel Rigby. However, the defences held, and by the end of May the siege was abandoned in the face of Prince Rupert (http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_prince_rupert.html), who was advancing through Lancashire. The house only surrendered on 6 December 1645, by which time the Royalist cause was in collapse. The aftermath of the siege reflects well on Fairfax. At the end of the war he was granted the Isle of Man, forfeited by Lord Derby, and in a gallant gesture, passed on the income he gained from the Island to the countess."

Fairfax was obviously impressed!

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_latham.html

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/220px-Charlotte_Countess_derby.jpg (http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_latham.html)

[Moira]

I'm enjoying this thread.

Not had enough time to thoroughly appreciate it....... yet..... but I will. :)

[John Little]

The Empress Maud, or Mathilde was the first woman to rule England, but unfortunately for her she lived in Norman times which were rather more patriarchal than she would have needed to stay in charge. She was quite a woman, prepared to fight for what was hers but ultimately she did not manage to stay long on the throne, was not crowned, and is not even listed among the Kings and Queens of England.

But her career was chequered and spanned Europe. At a time when equality between the sexes would have caused disbelief and uproarious laughter among the feuding warrior kings and barons of Europe, Maud stands out as a woman who had a great deal of skill in manipulating circumstance and fortune to her benefit.

I like the bit where she disguises herself as a corpse and escapes by being carried out for burial. I've seen it in films but here is someone who did it in real life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Matilda

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/220px-Empress_Mathilda.png

[John Little]

It appears that I can no longer edit the post about Marthe McKenna, so since I have found a picture of her, I put it here; see post 49 for her story. I think that's the Legion d'honneur round her neck.

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/93_me.jpg

[John Little]

Mairi Chisholm from Nairn;


http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/220px-Knocker_iwn.jpg

and Elizabeth Shapter, better known as Elsie Knocker or Baroness T' Serclaes;

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/220px-Chisholm_iwn.jpg

are better known as the Ladies of Pervyse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mairi_Chisholm#Early_life

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Knocker#Second_marriage_and_more_honors

They have a good claim to be the first battlefield nurses, and it was quite a decision they took. In the First World War, wounded were transported, at first, from the firing areas to the rear where, safely out of range of the enemy were the dressing stations. These two women, nurses in such a place, came to the conclusion that more lives could be saved by actually being in the battle area and giving more immediate assistance.

So they set up their own station at Pervyse, near Ypres after raising their own funds and securing promises of more for bandages etc.

They wore battledress and operated under heavy shellfire sometimes, at a time when the idea of women in the battle line was unthinkable. We are not speaking just of bandaging people in a bunker - they often went into No-mans land to rescue wounded, carrying them on their own backs.

Cool, calculated courage.

[John Little]

At the moment there is a woman on the back of the English £5 note; this is Elizabeth Fry, a Quaker lady of grit and determination. At a time when the UK justice system was ruled by the strictest legal penalties in Europe- "The Bloody Code" she took a stand against it. In particular this well brought up, genteel and just nice lady went into some of the worst prisons on the land to see how they were- and the conditions were beyond bad. The shock of what she saw gave her a life's mission

She spent a lifetime campaigning to improve the justice system and changed the entire concept of what its purpose is. She met Queen Victoria several times who considered her ' a most superior person' and gave her money to help her work.

She is known as 'the Angel of the prisons', a title richly deserved, and was the inspiration for Florence Nightingale.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REfry.htm

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/220px-Elizabeth_Fry_by_Charles_Robert_Leslie.jpg

[squidge]

I did a project on Elizabeth Fry when I was at primary School. She was certainly a remarkable woman

[trinkie]

Thank you for this wonderful Thread .
I loved Mairi and Elsie , great book, I was so moved.

There's another great nurse - We 've all heard of Florence Nightingale and what a remarkable woman she was.
However another woman who went out to Nurse with her was Betsy Cadwalader from
Wales.
Betsy helped and indeed improved a lot on the nursing side suggesting patients
would recover better if allowed to rest for some time after the battlefield and before any operations which might be needed. She was proved to be right.
Betsy also provided handkerchiefs for the men reducing the risk of infection.




See - Betsi_cadwalader_and_florence

Trinkie

[Aaldtimer]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-17304237 Bonny fechter!

[Torvaig]

Darling was born in 1815 at Bamburgh (http://forum.caithness.org/wiki/Bamburgh) in Northumberland (http://forum.caithness.org/wiki/Northumberland) and spent her youth in two lighthouses (http://forum.caithness.org/wiki/Lighthouse) (Brownsman (http://forum.caithness.org/w/index.php?title=Brownsman&action=edit&redlink=1) and Longstone (http://forum.caithness.org/wiki/Longstone_Lighthouse)) of which her father, William, was the keeper.
In the early hours of 7 September 1838, Grace, looking from an upstairs window of the Longstone Lighthouse (http://forum.caithness.org/wiki/Longstone_Lighthouse) on the Farne Islands (http://forum.caithness.org/wiki/Farne_Islands), spotted the wreck and survivors of the Forfarshire on Big Harcar (http://forum.caithness.org/w/index.php?title=Big_Harcar&action=edit&redlink=1), a nearby low rocky island. The Forfarshire had foundered on the rocks and broken in half: one of the halves had sunk during the night.
She and her father determined that the weather was too rough for the lifeboat (http://forum.caithness.org/wiki/Lifeboat_(rescue)) to put out from Seahouses (http://forum.caithness.org/wiki/Seahouses) (then North Sunderland (http://forum.caithness.org/wiki/North_Sunderland)), so they took a rowing boat (http://forum.caithness.org/wiki/Rowing_boat) (a 21 ft, 4-man Northumberland coble (http://forum.caithness.org/wiki/Coble)) across to the survivors, taking a long route that kept to the lee side of the islands, a distance of nearly a mile. Grace kept the coble steady in the water while her father helped four men and the lone surviving woman, Mrs. Dawson, into the boat. Although she survived the sinking, Mrs Dawson had lost her two young children during the night. William and three of the rescued men then rowed the boat back to the lighthouse. Grace then remained at the lighthouse while William and three of the rescued crew members rowed back and recovered the remaining survivors.
Meanwhile the lifeboat had set out from Seahouses but arrived at Big Harcar rock after Grace and her father had completed the rescue: all they found were the dead bodies of Mrs Dawson's children and of a vicar (http://forum.caithness.org/wiki/Vicar). It was too dangerous to return to North Sunderland so they rowed to the lighthouse to take shelter. Grace's brother, William Brooks Darling, was one of the seven fishermen in the lifeboat. The weather deteriorated to the extent that everyone was obliged to remain at the lighthouse for three days before returning to shore.
The Forfarshire had been carrying 63 people. The vessel broke in two almost immediately upon hitting the rocks. Those rescued by Grace and her father were from the bow section of the vessel which had been held by the rocks for some time before sinking. All that remained at daybreak was the portside paddlebox casing. Nine other passengers and crew had managed to float off a lifeboat from the stern section before it too sank, and were picked up in the night by a passing Montrose (http://forum.caithness.org/wiki/Montrose,_Angus) sloop (http://forum.caithness.org/wiki/Sloop) and brought into South Shields (http://forum.caithness.org/wiki/South_Shields) that same night.[1] (http://forum.caithness.org/#cite_note-The_Junior_Classics-0)
Grace Darling died of tuberculosis (http://forum.caithness.org/wiki/Tuberculosis) in 1842, aged 26.


I remember being told of Grace Darling at primary school and there was a picture of Grace and her father battling through enormous waves with the lighthouse in the background and the ship foundered on the rocks. It was a terrifying picture and I can see it still.

What a brave young lady......

[squidge]

They did Grace Darling on Blue Peter when i was a kid. I still remember it. Its a fabulous story of bravery and commitment.

[trinkie]

Helen Keller was another remarkable woman.

http://www.afb.org/section.aspx?SectionID=1&TopicID=129

[golach]

Mary Slessor also.

http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/bioslessor2.html

[Torvaig]

Taken from Wiki - Mary Anne Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880) better known by her pen name George Eliot was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She is the author of seven novels, most of them set in provincial England and well known for their realism and psychological insight.

She used a male pen name, she said, to ensure her works would be taken seriously. Female authors were published under their own names during Eliot's life, but she wanted to escape the stereotype of women only writing lighthearted romances. An additional factor in her use of a pen name may have been a desire to shield her private life from public scrutiny and to prevent scandals attending her relationship with the married George Henry Lewes with whom she lived for over 20 years.

Adam Bede, 1859
The Mill on the Floss, 1860
Silas Marner, 1861
Romola, 1863
Felix Holt, the Radical, 1866
Middlemarch, 1871–72
Daniel Deronda, 1876

I must admit that at an early age when I first heard of George Eliot and learning that "he" was a woman, I couldn't quite grasp why should any woman want to call herself by a man's name. I was not into gender politics at that tender age and the lengths some ladies had to go to be taken seriously as an equal being and to get away from the "little lady" syndrome.

Luckily we have come a long way since then.... we are even allowed to drive, become pilots, engineers, mechanics etc., and authors of course. We have even lost much of the suffix of "ess" being added to each trade description to warn the unsuspecting public that they are at the mercy of a female!

[John Little]

To most gardeners the name Gertrude Jekyll signifies something really rather special. In the world of garden design and plantsmanship, a visit to a Jekyll garden is ne ultra plus - a bit of a knee trembler. It is not so much that she was a great gardener, as in the layout and the manner in which she did her planting, that she is regarded with the same fervour as a prophet of gardening by afficionados. She designed over 400 gardens, most of which survive, and many of which have been restored. One such I had the pleasure of visiting only last week at Hestercombe near Taunton, carried there by my wife who is a bit of a trekkie when it comes to Jekyll designs. There may be many examples of male gardeners who can match her stature, but there is no doubt that this lady stands as a Titan in the world of Gardening.

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/gert2.jpg

http://website.lineone.net/~uptongrey.garden/jekylldesign.htm

[trinkie]

I was just going to suggest Gertrude Jekyll !


I recommend Down to Earth Women by Dawn MacLeod to find out more.
There have been so many great women gardeners , but whilst on that subject
I must name Margaret Fountain the lady who collected Butterflies. What a character she was !

[John Little]

I had never heard of Mary Slessor. Truly remarkable and increases my understanding of why Christianity is so strong in Africa.
Thank you Golach.

[John Little]

Dr Elsie Inglis is an inspiration, a beacon and a lighthouse in History and if anyone needs reminding that gender has nothing to do with being an extraordinary human being, then this is the model of such.

She was one of the first women doctors anyway and achieved considerable things even before the First World War. Notably she was very active amongst Scottish suffragettes. When the war started this consultant and experienced GP went to the recruiting office to offer her services and the medico there patted her on the head and said 'There there dear - awa home wi ye and mak yer man his tea'

That did not stop her for she organised a committee to send Scottish nurses abroad to the battle fronts where they could do most good, especially in the combatting of disease which in previous wars often killed more troops than did the enemy. She herself did foreign service but was forced home when she was diagnosed with cancer. She died in 1917.

"Elsie received a state funeral in Edinburgh, her body lies in Dean Cemetery and she has a fine memorial in St. Giles Cathedral. In Scotland and in Serbia she is still well-renowned, but alas all-but forgotten otherwise, and although she has had several biographers she has earned no place in any official history of the War."

http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/wfa/htmlpages/misc/elsie_inglis.html

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/180px-Elsie_Inglis_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_14676.jpg

[golach]

I and my wifes experience of the Elsie Inglis Maternity Hospital in Edinburgh in 1963 was not good, the staff were all female.
My wife became ill with what was later discovered to be Bell's Palsy, I brought this to the attention of the Ward sister, who informed me, this was a maternity facility, where they looked after the babies first. When I decided to sign out my wife and son from the hospital, I got dogs abuse, firstly from the Sister, then the Matron, and finally the head Doctor.
I went ahead and removed my wife and they still had not informed me what was wrong with her face. On contacting our GP, he diagnosed my wife's condition immediately, sic one side of her face the muscles had dropped and froze, she was like this for six months, and eventually recovered, our GP wrote a nasty letter to "Elsies" as it was known in Leith, our second son was not born there, and everything went well. So much for the caring female institute that Elsie Inglis envisaged.
Latest info on the former Elsie Inglis Maternity hospital, Elsie Inglis must be turning in her grave.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-13573081

[John Little]

Clarice Cliff was one of the most renowned and influential ceramics artists of the 20th Century. She was born on January 20th 1899, in Tunstall, Staffordshire. Cliff became involved in pottery while studying at the Burslem School of Art in the evenings. In the early days of working, she took wage reductions to start working at the bottom of the hierarchy to acquire new skills. This helped her to gain expertise on the craft of pottery like outlining, tube lining, enamelling, banding and modelling. In 1927, impressed by her skills, her employer sent her to the Royal School of Art in London to further polish her skills. Subsequently, the company provided a separate studio for her to experiment with her new designs. By 1928, Clarice started creating "BIZARRE WARE", a popular line of pottery that was produced until around 1937. Her art wares were popular for their bold, bright hand-painted and striking shapes that became the hallmarks of Clarice Cliff's ceramics. One of her most famed designs was the Crocus, which remained in production for more than 30 years. Today, the Clarice Cliff designs, Clarice Cliff art and Clarice Cliff pottery are sold at premium prices. The Clarice Cliff line of ceramics has now gained a cult status and are one of the much sought-after collectable
items.

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/Sepia-photo-WEB.jpg

http://www.claricecliff.com/about/clarice/index.shtml

[secrets in symmetry]

I and my wifes experience of the Elsie Inglis Maternity Hospital in Edinburgh in 1963 was not good, the staff were all female.
My wife became ill with what was later discovered to be Bell's Palsy, I brought this to the attention of the Ward sister, who informed me, this was a maternity facility, where they looked after the babies first. When I decided to sign out my wife and son from the hospital, I got dogs abuse, firstly from the Sister, then the Matron, and finally the head Doctor.
I went ahead and removed my wife and they still had not informed me what was wrong with her face. On contacting our GP, he diagnosed my wife's condition immediately, sic one side of her face the muscles had dropped and froze, she was like this for six months, and eventually recovered, our GP wrote a nasty letter to "Elsies" as it was known in Leith, our second son was not born there, and everything went well. So much for the caring female institute that Elsie Inglis envisaged.
Latest info on the former Elsie Inglis Maternity hospital, Elsie Inglis must be turning in her grave.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-13573081Although I don't have any first hand experience of Elsie Inglis Maternity Hospital (for obvious reasons lol), I do recall some of my Edinburgh friends making similar comments about the staff at the place.

Did they charge for parking? :cool:

[John Little]

Flora Thompson wrote Lark Rise to Candleford, in which she tells the story of her early life as a girl in a small village in Oxfordshire in the late Victorian period. Renaming herself Laura, her accounts of her daily life in her parents' home, her work in the local Post Office and her lyrical descriptions of what went on around her present us with a slow cooked and methodical description of a world now long gone.

I am not speaking of that costume drama thing on Sunday evenings where sickly goody-goody Saint Dorcas Lane dispenses 21st century sentimental syrup to locals who are her perfect equal in education and status- but of a real place. The past is a foreign land - they did things differently there. Flora's world is sometimes gritty, sometimes tragic, often amusing and her gift for writing a considerable one; her talent for pictures in words was well above the average.

Try this for example from another book of hers 'Still glides the stream';

"...the mother of the child had a favourite fellow servant named Veness after who she wished to name her new baby, but this was pronounced at the font 'Venus', and the clergyman, after shaking his head and whispering 'No! No!', declared loudly 'Mary- I baptise thee....'
He told the mother afterwards that the name she had chosen was unsuitable for a Christian child. 'Perhaps you do not know that Venus was a heathen goddess?' 'Oh no sir she wasn't' the mother said tartly. 'She was the cook at Finchingfield House, for I knowed her.'

Her books cannot, as I have found, be scan read, but must be done proper fashion, and if done so then the taste of good prose lingers long in your mouth.

http://www.johnowensmith.co.uk/flora/

Flora is top left; with impressive teeth.

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/Group.jpg

[John Little]

I have sometimes wondered why Gertrude Bell is not more famous. Men who shape nations get feature films made about them - and she was friends with Lawrence of Arabia, yet never appears in the film! A celebrated Arabist who travelled widely in the Middle East before the First World War, she was the only woman to be made a political officer representing British interests in the area.

As the war ended and the Turkish Empire collapsed, Bell was in a unique position because of her connections and friendships with the rulers of the Arab tribes. She was literally able to draw lines in the sand and create nations - which she did. Iraq and Jordan are her work; she chose and installed the royal dynasties of those countries and had the nickname 'Queen of Iraq' though that was merely stating that she was the power behind the throne.

She was a most extraordinary woman and an extraordinary contradiction. Before the war she had been anti suffragette but for the reason that most women were unprepared to decide how their nation should be run. Yet she did not only decide how two countries should be run= she created them and set up some of their major institutions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Bell


http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/gertrudebell1390.jpg

[Torvaig]

Continuing on the theme of female artists and being interested in the varied methods and themes of innovative ceramicists and their styles.....thanks to Wiki again.....


Charlotte Rhead was a well-known tube-lining artist. In the tube-lining technique, one uses a rubber bag attached to a fine glass nozzle, which is applied by squeezing the bag to the ware.

Charlotte Rhead was born in 1885 in an artistic family. Charlotte’s father, Frederick Rhead was a designer. She learned the craft of tube-lining at T & R Boote, a tile making company where she was employed as a designer. Her stints at different companies included Wood & Sons where she stayed until 1913. In 1926, she joined Burgess and Leigh.

In 1931, she joined A.G. Richardson where she worked for the Crown Ducal brand. Her designs for Crown Ducal were said to be inspired by Art-Deco designs. Some of her famous designs include Florentine, Byzantine, Foxglove and Wisteria. Her designs also had an international appeal.

Her works included children’s ware, tableware as well as some of the fine tube-lined items. One of her notable innovations to ceramics was a glazing form known as 'snow glaze'. Her distinct artwork won her several followers during her lifetime and continues to bowl over art collectors till date. The contemporaries of Charlotte Rhead include Clarice Cliff and Susie Cooper. Some of her artwork includes Charlotte Rhead Art Deco Jug, tube-lined in the orange, brown and green shades, Crown Ducal Pottery Charlotte Rhead Rare Turin featuring beautiful lotus leaves and many more.


Having become fond of the styles of several art nouveau/deco artists such as Susie Cooper, Clarice Cliff etc., I used to keep an eye out for any pieces becoming available at auctions in Caithness. A few years ago I was delighted to read that there was to be some Charlotte Rhead pottery (Crown Ducal) in the auction at Quoybrae.

I rushed there just as her pieces came up and happily bid away until I got them. I was a bit surprised to see a fellow "junk" lover ignoring the Rhead jugs but I was delighted with my purchases.

He later came to talk to me and told me they were copies (I didn't even have time to look at them) thus solving the question of his ignoring them! I wasn't too bothered as I am not an aficionado on ceramics but like I do like "bonnie choogies"! :lol:

[John Little]

Fascinating thank you Torvaig.

I looked for a photo of Charlotte, but in vain. But then I found a pottery sculpture of her by another potter - Kevin Francis.

So here she is in 1927...

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/180620101563.jpg

[Torvaig]

Thanks for that John; very sweet!

Oops, I meant the figurine is very sweet - just in case you thought I meant you! ;)

[John Little]

I have eaten Etheldreda Baxter's recipes many times and have done since I was a kid. Baxter's Scotch Broth,and Cockaleekie with a hunk of bread and butter were staple lunches of my childhood. Her products appear on shelves all over the country and indeed all over the world and she co-founded a business that is the essence of Scottish enterprise, providing jobs, over generations, for thousands of people.

"William Baxter and Ethel Adam were married in 1914 as the nation went to war. It was Ethel who persuaded her new groom to leave the family grocer's business in Spey Street, Fochabers, to set up a small factory across the River Spey. Ethel, a woman of foresight, energy and practicality, as well as enormous determination, ran the small jam making factory while her husband went out to seek orders for their products. William would send his orders by train each night on his travels and Ethel would ensure that each order was personally dealt with, experimenting with new technology to best advantage. Their emphasis on quality founded the reputation the company continues to earn both at home and in many overseas markets."

http://www.fochaberians.com/wbaxter.html

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/webaxter.jpg

[John Little]

Thanks for that John; very sweet!

Oops, I meant the figurine is very sweet - just in case you thought I meant you! ;)

Oh I'm quite sweet anyway- but from what I can see, her legs were way better than mine are...

[John Little]

Sometimes you come across someone in History whose sheer unblinking bravery makes you stand in disbelief. One such is Jane Haining.

She was the matron of a Jewish mission school in Hungary at the outbreak of World War Two. Seeing what was to come, all Scottish missionaries were advised to return home. Jane did not; Jane declined.

"There were 315 pupils including 48 boarders and Jane was determined to remain to look after them.
She wrote "If these children need me in days of sunshine, how much more do they need me in days of darkness?"

Hungary was on the German side so Jews, although persecuted, were not cleared out en masse by German occupation. However in 1944 the pro-Nazi government was deposed and the Germans invaded. Thousands of Jews were rounded up; Jane was arrested and sent to Auschwitz.

It's thought that ten Scots died of various causes in the death camps, but Jane Haining seems to have been the only one who went to the gas chambers.

To Jews, she is one of the Righteous among the Gentiles.

http://www.dunscore.org.uk/jane-haining.html


http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/_45332499_haining-1.jpg

[John Little]

In 1930 Amy Johnson became world famous when she became the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia. From then on she engaged in a series of what were then dare-devil flights, flying aircraft over places and to places where there were few or no facilities for aircraft if they got into trouble. Happily she was also the first woman to qualify with a ground engineer's certificate so could get herself out of trouble in forced landings.

With a male co-pilot she flew the first plane to fly from London to Moscow in a day, and then flew on to Tokyo across Siberia and Mongolia and China - which was an incredible feat over territory with few airstrips.

She set a solo record from Britain to Capetown; she crossed the Atlantic and was the recipient of a ticker tape parade in New York.

During the Second world war Amy died whilst flying a plane of Air Transport Command over the Thames Estuary, possibly shot down by her own side. The circumstances of her death are still a secret.


http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/images-5.jpg

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/onlinestuff/stories/amy_johnson.aspx



This gives a sense of the scale of her celebrity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZRg6bPJ8jE


(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZRg6bPJ8jEAnyone)Anyone for a dance?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dsiZgRKh2k

[John Little]

Now here's a lady we could do with right now in Parliament!

Fiery, told it how it was, and not afraid of the big beasts on the Government benches.

Jennie Lee was born Janet Lee, daughter of a coal-miner from Fife.

A friend of Bob Smillie, the formidable leader of the Scottish Mineworkers' Union, she was elected to Parliament in a by election in 1929 and almost her first action was to tear into Winston Churchill's budget proposals, he being Chancellor at the time. He was so impressed that he actually congratulated Jennie on the way she desiccated him.

Very Socialist, very left wing, she was appalled at What Ramsay MacDonald did in forming the 1931 coalition, lost her seat in the 1931 election after the Labour Party walk-out of the Cabinet and spent much of her time campaigning for radical causes during the 1930s, notably raising support against Franco in the Spanish Civil War. She also married Nye Bevan, another committed Left-winger.

Re-elected to Parliament in 1945 she did not hold ministerial office until Harold Wilson became Prime Minister in 1964 when she became Minister for the Arts. And so, any and all Open University graduates and students out there will know that your degree units and credits began with this lady who brought the OU into being during her time in office.

Setting up a university is not bad for a wee Scots lass who had to get a grant from a charity so she could afford to go to Edinburgh Uni!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennie_Lee,_Baroness_Lee_of_Asheridge

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/janet-jennie-lee-standard.jpg


Here she is, describing how she took on the OU job;

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/education/educational-technology-and-practice/educational-technology/1967-jennie-lee-appointed

[John Little]

Mary Somerville was born, a daughter of the manse, in Jedburgh and became one of life’s rarities – a polymath- one of those people who are expert in many disciplines- almost as if they have two brains instead of ordinary mortals’ one.

Which is why her nickname in History is ‘The Queen of Science”.

In Mary’s case it may have been more brain than even the average genius, for she combined what she did with raising a large family, being wife, mother and gobsmacking genius in her spare time.

She followed her own interests and wrote widely on Science generally, Mathematics and Astronomy. She published authoritative books and in 1836 she became one of the first women members of the Royal Astronomical Society.

"Sir David Brewster, inventor of the kaleidoscope, wrote in 1829 (nine years before becoming Principal of the University of St Andrews) that Mary Somerville was:-
... certainly the most extraordinary woman in Europe - a mathematician of the very first rank with all the gentleness of a woman ... She is also a great natural philosopher and mineralogist. "

http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Somerville.html


Famous in her own lifetime, and honoured for her genius as well as a crisp clear style of writing, there’s lots of things named after her, including an island, Somerville College Oxford, and a crater on the moon.

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/mary_somerville.jpg

[John Little]

Mary Seacole was the first black woman to really make an impact in British History. Half Jamaican and half Scots, she overcame prejudice as to her sex and her race to become a person as well regarded and admired in her lifetime, as Florence Nightingale. Following on from her mother, she was a practitioner with herbs and traditional healing techniques which viewed with a modern eye look more like good nursing. Cleanliness, good food and care were the hallmarks of what she did, so, not surprisingly, in an age of primitive hygiene her patient recovery rate was good. Perhaps because of her father, she made a specialism of treating sick soldiers and, unsurprisingly the authorities in the West Indies asked her to train other nurses to combat cholera and yellow fever.

When the Crimean War broke out she was distressed when she heard of the bad standard of care being given to sick men fighting the Russians, so travelled to London to offer her services. She was shocked at being turned down at every corner, including by the rather prissy Florence Nightingale, and asked herself if American prejudices against colour had taken root in Britain.

She found a different route; she went to the Crimea and opened a shop to sell things to the troops - for which she got official approval; but she took her medicines with her. There were sick and wounded by the thousand to take care of and she soon opened her 'British Hotel' in Balaklava which was really her hospital. It was soon renamed by the troops as 'Mother Seacole's' and she was adored by them.

She worked all the hours God sends. often tired, cold, exhausted and often on the battlefield, and one day she was seen at work by Willy Russell, War Correspondent of The Times. Overnight she was famous and a sensation.

Left bankrupt by huge amounts of unsold goods at the war's end, she returned to London penniless. Two of the Crimean commanders organised a festival for her benefit with over 1000 performers where the audience cheered her name.
Awarded a medal for her achievements, sculpted by a nephew of Queen Victoria, who also admired her, she eventually slipped out of the public eye - but no longer bankrupt.

She also wrote a book about her experiences;In her autobiography The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole; she records her bloodline as "I am a Creol, and have good Scots blood coursing through my veins. My father was a soldier of an old Scottish family."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Seacole

What an amazing woman!


http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/images-6.jpg

[Torvaig]

An amazing woman indeed! So sad that some people judged her by her colour when she had so much to offer.....

[John Little]

It was given to Jenny Geddes to start a war- something that is not given to everyone!

Scotland, in 1637 was a place that took its religion strong and mature - its own 16th century Ayatollah, John Knox, burning with passion inspired by John Calvin, had made it a very Protestant place indeed. Scotland's kirks were plain and unadorned; its ministers wore plain clothes and neckbands and preached a close following of the word of the bible in daily life. In Scottish churches were no golden candlesticks, priestly robes, brass crosses, purple altar cloths or holy pictures as one found in England.

Such things were regarded as signs of Popish idolatry and Scots generally regarded their freedom to worship God in their own way as a thing beyond price.

King Charles l, a Scotsman himself, should have understood this, but felt that as head of the Anglican church, he wished his northern Kingdom to conform to practices in his southern realm. So in 1637 he arranged to have a new Scottish Prayer book brought into use and instructed church leaders in Scotland to read from it on Sunday July 23.

As James Hannay, Dean of Edinburgh, began to read the Prayer Book in St Giles, he knew that there was great opposition among his congregation, yet was determined to carry out his instructions. He did not get very far.

In the church that morning was Jenny Geddes, a market trader, scandalised at this Popish innovation. Popular tradition says that she shouted out;

"De'il gie you colic, the wame o’ ye, fause thief; daur ye say Mass in my lug?".

Then she threw the folding stool she had been sitting on straight at Dean Hannay- followed by a torrent of other missiles from the rest of the congregation. Jenny also thumped a man with a bible who uttered a response to the Dean.

Widespread trouble turned to rioting and attacks on churches, to the signing of the National Covenant in 1638 and to Civil War.

Jenny Geddes turned a page of History very decisively on 23 July when she went to church.

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/jenny_1.jpg

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/350px-Riot_against_Anglican_prayer_book_1637.jpg

[John Little]

Dr Marie Stopes, pioneer in Sexual Health, was born in Edinburgh in 1880. Her education and her career were more centred round Palaeontology, Botany and Geology than what she became famous for later. Her life changed on a visit to the United States where she met Reginald Gates, and they married in May 1911.

Although she was becoming a widely recognised and applauded author on such things as the Carboniferous Period and the existence of Gondwanaland, Marie's marriage was not what she expected. By 1913 the marriage was still unconsummated and the couple spent much of their time squabbling. Her husband was also disturbed by her suffragette activities which he saw as undermining his role as head of the household. He does not seem to have been a very strong character, quite unsuited for marriage to such a woman. She had also kept her own name as a point of principle and he could not hack it.


She filed for divorce in 1913 and Gates did not contest it.

At a meeting of the Fabian Society Stopes heard a talk on birth control and decided to write a book about marriage and how it should work. "Married Love" was published in 1918 and was a huge success, selling by the thousand. Clearly what she had written filled a need.

As a Fabian she was convinced that a lot of poverty came from working class families being un-necessarily large because birth control was seen as taboo and a social stigma and condemned in all religions. As an attack on this attitude she wrote 'Wise Parenthood- a book for married people" which was also published in 1918.

It also sold by the hundreds of thousands and she was flooded with letters from unhappy people seeking her advice - which she tried her best to give.

She had views on birthing too and wished to give birth in a kneeling position, which the doctors refused to allow. She was furious when her first child (second marriage) was stillborn and considered that they had murdered it.
A condensed form of her book called 'A letter to working mothers', she caused to be distributed free in some areas.

In 1921 she opened the first Marie Stopes clinic in London to promote birth control amongst working mothers and to overcome prejudice against it. It grew into a national network and to an International one. She did great work in breaking down sexual taboos, bringing a more equal view of what marriage is about, promoting sexual health, and abolishing a great deal of poverty.

Like all people, she was a creature of her time; she also dabbled with ideas about pedigree humans, Eugenics, racial strength and, at first, admired some of the Nazis ideas. That is her downside.

However, it is the impulse to do good in her that has affected our attitudes and practices today.

We owe her a lot.


http://www.mariestopes.org.uk/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/stopes_marie_carmichael.shtml

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/images-7.jpg

[Torvaig]

Marie Stopes was a lady who enhanced the lives of women and men by undertaking to approach a subject that needed so much changing; of attitudes mostly.

I was surprised to read of her attitude to eugenics, yet maybe I should not have been....

[John Little]

Yes - as I said, she was a creature of her time.

She sent a volume of her love poems to Hitler. She also stopped speaking to her son because he married a girl with glasses whom she considered was not fit to breed.

How do we measure people?

The evil that men do is buried with their bones - the good lives after them...?

[John Little]

An extra one today because I have come across a photograph that totally gobsmacked me.

I thought it might be of interest- for obvious reasons.

Quite astonishing.

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/v0_master.jpg

http://www.scotsman.com/news/show-of-strength-1-854870

[John Little]

I could hardly miss Black Agnes out now could I?

"Of Scotland's King I haud my house, I pay him meat and fee, And I will keep my gude auld house, while my house will keep me."

So said Agnes, Countess of Dunbar and heroine of the Scottish wars of Independence, according to legend, in January 1338 when her husband was away from home, and she left in their castle of Dunbar. An English force came and besieged it for 6 months.

She's known as 'Black Agnes' for the same reason as the Black Douglas in that her hair was black and her complexion sallow.

She did not have many troops under her command - merely a small group, but when the English threw stones at the walls she had her maids put on their best frocks and go out and dust the battlements. There's quite a few stories about this indomitable lady that may be found here;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Randolph

A Ballad about her puts these words in the mouth of the frustrated English commander, Montague, as he retreated after 6 months of fruitless attempts to get into the castle;

She kept a stir in tower and trench,
That brawling, boisterous Scottish wench,
Came I early, came I late,
I found Agnes at the gate.

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/200px-Black_Agnes_from_a_childrens_history_book.jpg


I've just remembered that Squidge did Black Agnes in post 25! I shall find another.

[John Little]

Marie Curie was a physicist researching the atom back in the 1890s. In a breakthrough moment in Science she discovered whilst studying Uranium, that radiation is not the result of interaction between molecules as many had thought, but came from the atom itself.

In the course of her research she postulated the idea of radioactive elements being present in pitchblende and 'discovered' Thorium, but was beaten to publication by a German, Gerhard Schmidt, who had been doing his own research.

Undeterred, she continued her research, helped by her husband, but she was undoubtedly the lead researcher in this partnership. The discovery of Polonium and Radium soon followed.

Although she was the first to isolate radium she refused to patent her discovery so that the scientific world could go on doing research unhindered.

Her work brought her two Nobel Prizes.

It also saved lives because she put her research to practical purpose, providing mobile x-ray machines to help battlefield treatment of wounded soldiers.

A Scientist of the top rank, in the end it was her work that killed her; the bad effects of working with radioactive materials were not known to her and she had walked round with test tubes of radioactive material in her pockets. Even today her papers from the 1890s are kept in lead boxes and only studied using protective clothing; and her cookery book is radioactive too.

Maybe they should get DSRL to have a look at it...

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/images-8.jpg

http://curie.fr/en/research-0042

[Torvaig]

Flora MacDonald - a brief history

Highland Heroine Flora MacDonald famously helped "Bonnie" Prince Charlie (Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender) escape from the Isle of Uist to Skye. The prince had fled following defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

Charles had been on the run for two months before he met Flora. Both her fiance Allan MacDonald and her foster-father, Captain Hugh MacDonald of Sleat, were 'Red-Coats' (members of King George's forces) and apparently Flora was unwilling to help until she was told the escape plan had actually been made by her step father and agreed to help.

The Prince was disguised as Flora's 'Irish Maid' - 'Betty Burke' and they made the famous journey by rowing boat to Skye evading capture on the way and eventually landing between Uig and Mogstad in Kilmuir, at what is now called Rudha Phrionnsa (Prince's Point). Flora then aided the Prince in his escape to Portree where they parted company never to meet again. From here on Stuart was able to obtain passage to France and successfully escaped.

Flora was arrested for her part in the escape, and imprisoned at Dunstaffnage Castle, Oban and briefly in the tower of London, she was released in 1747.

In 1750 Flora and her fiance Allan MacDonald of Kingsburgh were married and lived in Flodigarry. Moving to Kingsburgh some time later after the death of her husbands father, the family then emigrated to North Carolina.

In 1774 Allan MacDonald and his sons fought for the British in the American war of Independence and he was captured. Flora was persuaded to return back to Scotland with her daughter, her husband followed her on his release in 1783 and they lived together on Uist and Skye.

Flora MacDonald died on 4th March 1790, her death was deeply mourned by the people of Skye and following a large funeral she was buried at Kilmuir in a sheet in which Bonnie Prince Charlie had slept as her shroud.

Flora's cottage in the grounds of Flodigarry Hotel on Skye is very well preserved and still in use today. It is a beautiful cottage with lovely gardens and when I go over in a few weeks time I will take another look at it. It is in a secluded spot; a peaceful setting.

[Torvaig]

She was born in Scotland on 8 December 1542 and became Queen only six days later when her father James died. Her coronation was nearly a year later. It was planned that she should marry a French prince, Francis, when she grew up and she was sent to live in France with her mother's family when she was five years old.

Mary married Francis in 1558 but his health was bad and he died soon after, so she moved back to live in Scotland.

In 1565 Mary married a man called Henry Darnley, but things didn't work out and he started behaving quite badly to her. This didn't stop them having a baby together, and in 1566 their son James was born. Darnley was behaving so badly that he was suspected of helping to murder Mary's friend Riccio.

Darnley died that year in a huge explosion, which Mary's next husband Lord Bothwell might have been involved in. She married Bothwell in 1567 although lots of people thought this was wrong.

Later that year, Mary was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle by Scots people who didn't want a Catholic queen. She managed a dramatic escape the next year, and decided to go to England to look for help from her cousin Queen Elizabeth.

Elizabeth wouldn't help her, however, and instead kept Mary locked up as a prisoner. This was because many people in England felt that Mary had a better claim to the English throne than Elizabeth did. Several years later (in 1586) Elizabeth had Mary sentenced to death for treason (trying to overthrow the King or Queen). Mary was executed by beheading a year later; she was only in her mid forties....

[John Little]

Winifred Maxwell, Countess of Nithsdale, loved her husband so much that she achieved something entirely remarkable.

The Earl of Nithsdale was one of those Scots nobles who adhered to the old faith and did not recognise the House of Hanover's right to the British throne. He therefore joined the Old Pretender in France and took part in the 1715 Jacobite uprising. He was captured at the battle of Preston and put on trial for treason in a court much biased against him. Hardly surprisingly, he was sentenced to death - and I believe, though I may be wrong, that at that date, death for treason still meant hanging, drawing and quartering.

Winifred had asked King George 1, a notable savage, for mercy for her husband. He refused, and in great anger too.

On the eve of the date set for the execution, the Countess secured the help of her maid and two other women in a plan of escape which she had been preparing for over several days. She had left powder, rouge and an artificial head-dress in her husband's cell; had endeared herself to the guards by giving them money and drink, and further allayed their suspicions by pretending that a pardon and release were certain. On 22 February, with the help of her friends, a riding hood and cloak were smuggled into the tower and the Countess then walked out with her husband disguised as one of the women. Once outside the Tower they met the Countess's maid who took her husband to a safe house. The Countess then returned to her husband's cell and feigned both sides of a conversation with him, before taking her leave, shutting the door so it could only be opened on the inside.

After a few days in hiding in London, the Earl of Nithsdale was able to leave for Calais, disguised as a liveried servant of the Venetian Ambassador.Once the news of the escape spread, the Countess was suspected of involvement. She had also greatly angered the King by her petition and "given him more trouble and anxiety than any woman in Europe". Despite the danger she had now to secure family papers in Scotland and arrange for the care of the property. "As I had once exposed my life for the safety of the father, I could not do less than hazard it once more for the fortune of the son". She rode in secret to Traquair, secured the papers and returned to London.

Once the search for her had ceased, she was able to leave for the continent and joined her husband in exile in Rome, where she died in 1749.Lady Nithsdale became a popular heroine in early Jacobite writing. Her story formed the basis of several popular historical accounts, plays (such as Clifford Bax's The Immortal Lady, 1931), and a historical novel, Winifred, Countess of Nithsdale: a Tale of the Jacobite Wars (1869), by Barbarina Olga Brand, Lady Dacre. Lady Nithsdale was also included in several books of distinguished women, praised for her intrepid actions and devotion to her husband.

http://www2.hull.ac.uk/discover/womenofconviction/women_of_conviction/countess_of_nithsdale.aspx


http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/woc_c-of-n-portrait.jpg

To extract a prisoner from the Tower of London was quite a feat, let alone the other things she did!

As a grace note I add that she and her husband spent the rest of their days in Rome, in poverty, but in complete happiness.

[John Little]

My wife insists that I throw in this piece by Mendelsohn.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-gNkOljfbk&feature=related

Fanny Mendelsohn that is.

Felix's sister. She appears to have been just as good...

I stick this one in for myself... Clara was good too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U_DKLL96l4&feature=related

[Torvaig]

My wife insists that I throw in this piece by Mendelsohn.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-gNkOljfbk&feature=related

Fanny Mendelsohn that is.

Felix's sister. She appears to have been just as good...

I stick this one in for myself... Clara was good too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U_DKLL96l4&feature=related

Enjoyed that, thank you to your lady....

[John Little]

Chrystal Macmillan was the first female Science graduate ever from Edinburgh University and also their first female honours graduate in Maths. She was also a barrister, a feminist and a Pacifist – and all round good egg.

She was a very active Suffragist, the very first woman ever to plead a case before the House of Lords and one of the founders of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. During the First world war she attended an International Congress of women at the Hague where they tried to broker a peace. Some of the points raised here she discussed with President Wilson of the United States who pinched some of the ideas to put into his 14 Points for a lasting peace.

At the end of the war Macmillan attended the Paris Peace Conference at Versailles and helped to set up the League of Nations. Her attempt to have the League establish that women could have separate nationality to their husbands did not succeed in her lifetime, but has since been adopted by the UN.

During the inter-war years, until her death she worked tirelessly for women’s rights and qualified as a non-practicing barrister to aid that work.

Let us be quite clear; this woman was a somebody, a mover and a shaker of great achievement. No wonder Edinburgh uni has a building named after her.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrystal_Macmillan


http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/MacMillan_Chrystal.jpg

One more day to go.

[John Little]

Dame Ethel Smyth was a composer of note, and also a suffragette. While studying music she met some pretty big guns in the music world like Dvorak, Greig and Tchaikovsky and her own style, powerful and sweeping, was much influenced by such. She also met Clara Schumann, and Brahms. Like Brahms she was an atheist, but like him she composed a religious work - a mass which is very much in the style of Brahm's German Requiem.

She developed a style of her own which she used to great effect, composing symphonies, operas, and choral pieces. This overture demonstrates the power of her writing and her utter proficiency in use of an orchestra;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maozbZsiK0c

As a suffragette Ethel Smyth was very militant and was arrested for her activities, being put into Holloway Prison along with hundreds of others; it is at this time she wrote the suffragette marching song, a version of which is underneath. Funnily enough, also on Youtube is a version by some Dutch women which is meant to be jokey, but somehow catches a rawness and power to the song which is not in the version I post; I chose this one because it has the words.

Because of this I saved her for the last day of International Women's History Month.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jsmythe.htm

I leave you with what Sir Thomas Beecham saw when he visited Ethel Smyth in prison; a large group of suffragettes marching round and round the quadrangle singing this song while Ethel leaned out of a window smiling broadly and conducting them with a toothbrush.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCtGkCg7trY

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad118/johnlittle21/images-9.jpg

[trinkie]

DEATH OF A CRIMEAN NURSE. The death is announced of Mrs. Mackay, of Golspie, who was one of the first nurses enlisted by Miss Florence Nightingale for service in the Crimea. Mrs. Mackay was a native of Strathy, in the north of Sutherlandshire, and on the outbreak of the Crimean War accompanied her husband, Sergeant Mackay, of the 42nd Highlanders, to the East. She remained in the Crimea during the whole of the war, and served under Miss Nightingale with great skill and unremitting tenderness.

Just found the above in an old newspaper.. Mrs MacKay most certainly deserves a place on this Thread !

[Torvaig]

An amazing story; accompanying her husband to war; a brave lady indeed!

Thanks for that Trinkie and yes, she certainly deserves a place on this thread.

[trinkie]

FROM LAND'S END TO JOHN O' GROATS. Lady's Record Run. Miss Murison, an Irish lady, under 20 years of age, has established a record by being the first of her sex to drive a motor car from Lands End to John o' Groats. The run commenced on Tuesday evening last week, and John o'Groats was reached yesterday (Monday). The running averaged 180 miles per day, and the longest drive in one day 213 miles

taken from Evening Standard 1903

Three Cheers for young Miss Murison.... what a drive in those days !! Trinkie