Old Photographs Charles Macintosh Inver Perthshire Scotland

Old photograph of Charles Macintosh in Inver by Birnam, Perthshire, Scotland. Charles Macintosh, one of the third generation of the Macintoshes in Inver, will be best remembered as The Perthshire Naturalist. He was born in a small cottage not far from the one which long sheltered Niel Gow, and a neat tablet on the gable end records that " Charles Macintosh, the Perthshire Naturalist, was born here, 1839, and died 1922. All his days were spent in that small cottage until a few months before his death, when he was removed to his brother’s house in Dunkeld. In early life Charles Macintosh was a sawmiller, but an accident to his hand incapacitating him for his work, he became a post runner. The many long miles he traversed on foot while delivering letters were ever full of interest and fascination to this lover of Nature. In addition to his hereditary penchant for music, he had a taste for botany, geology, astronomy and ornithology, studying them to such purpose that he came to be regarded as an authority by those competent to judge. He wrote numerous papers for the Transactions and Proceedings of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science. One was on a new species of Fungus found at Inver, Cucurbitaria pithyophila, and he is credited with the discovery of a number of new fungi. Relics of the past strongly attracted him, and he himself found several stone axes, cists and evidences of the Stone Age. He was elected in 1873 an Associate of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science. To this Society he contributed papers and acted as guide when the summer excursions were in his neighbourhood, besides collecting and mounting specimens for the Perth Museum. His services were freely offered to various schools, and the rambles of the young folks were packed with interest when Charles Macintosh pointed out botanical rarities or called a halt to listen to the bird calls. Leader and conductor of the choir in Little Dunkeld Church and Superintendent of its Sunday School, he was altogether a many sided man, and in addition he generally filled the place of cellist in the string band long conducted by his brother, Mr. James Macintosh. After his death, a handsome sum was subscribed and devoted to three purposes, a memorial stone in Little Dunkeld Churchyard, where he is buried; a tablet on his cottage home; and a fund to provide Nature Knowledge prizes in Perthshire schools. The memorial stone. bearing a suitable inscription, was designed by Mr Thomas MacLaren, Burgh Surveyor, Perth, and forms a striking object. The granite is rugged, and on the rough surface stands out a Cross, modelled on the earliest type of Christian sculptured stones found in the county.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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