Old Travel Blog Photograph Boys Brigade Parade Dudhope Castle Dundee Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of a Boys Brigade Parade on the grounds of Dudhope Castle, Dundee, Scotland. The Boys' Brigade was founded in Glasgow on 4th October 1883 by Sir William Alexander Smith. Dudhope castle was originally built in the late 13th century by the Scrymageour family, with the original castle being a smaller tower house. This was replaced around 1460, and then further extended in 1580 to its current L-plan structure with additional circular towers, although these were demolished in the 18th century. On the death in 1668 of John Scrimgeour, first Earl of Dundee, King Charles II ignored the existence of the rightful heir, John Scrimgeour of Kirkton, and made a grant of Dudhope Castle and the office of Constable to Charles Maitland, a younger brother of the Earl of Lauderdale. Later, when in financial difficulty, Maitland sold Dudhope Castle in 1684 to John Graham of Claverhouse, better known to most as Bonnie Dundee. It was from Dudhope Castle that he departed for Killiecrankie in 1689; the victory which resulted in his death. In 1694, the King therefore made a grant of Dudhope Castle to Archibald Douglas. The Douglas family were thus the last family of occupants of the castle as this continued until about 1790. The history of Dudhope and the Constables are therefore inextricably interwoven with the history of Dundee. In fact, the two are inseparable. The office of Constable and occupancy of Dudhope Castle was held by four different families, as above, of which the Scrymgeours held the post for some 370 years. The Douglas family occupied Dudhope Castle from 1694 until circa 1790.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Number 6 Tram Kirkcaldy Fife Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the Number 6 Tram in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. Kirkcaldy Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Kirkcaldy between 1903 and 1931. The Tramway had two main routes, a lower one extending into Dysart, and the upper one connecting with the Wemyss and District Tramways Company line. Both routes were linked by connections on Whytescauseway and St Clair Street. Services were closed on 15 May 1931. Some of the tramcars remained in service with the Wemyss and District Tramways Company until this closed in 1932.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph St Ronans Bowling Club Innerleithen Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of St Ronans Bowling Club in Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. Innerleithen is a civil parish and a small town in Tweeddale in the historic county of Peeblesshire. The town is said to have been founded by an itinerant pilgrim monk called St. Ronan in A.D.737, who came to Innerleithen via the River Tweed in a coracle. The industries which have supplanted the traditional wool industry and allowed the town keep growing have been primarily tourism and nearby Traquair House. The area is famous for fly fishing, both trout and salmon. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Walking Path River Spey Grantown On Spey Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of a walking path by the River Spey near Grantown-on-Spey, Scotland. The River Spey is 107 miles long. It rises at over 1,000 feet at Loch Spey in Corrieyairack Forest in the Scottish Highlands, 10 miles South of Fort Augustus. The river descends through Newtonmore and Kingussie, crossing Loch Insh before reaching Aviemore, giving its name to Strathspey. From there it flows the remaining 60 miles North East to the Moray Firth, reaching the sea 5 miles West of Buckie. Speyside distilleries produce more whisky than any other region. The Speyside Way, a long distance footpath, follows the river through some of Moray's most beautiful scenery.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Thomas Corbett In Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of Thomas Corbett, 2nd Baron Rowallan, in Scotland. The first son of Archibald Corbett, the liberal politician and property developer and Alice Mary, the daughter of John Polson, a corn merchant, Thomas Corbett was born in Chelsea, London, England, on 19 December 1895 and was brought up in London and on the family’s Scottish estates. Known as " Billy " to the family, he was educated at Gibbs School in Sloane Street, London, Wellington House Preparatory School in Westgate-on-Sea and Eton College. He was 18 when the First World War broke out; he secured a Commission in the Ayrshire Yeomanry and went with them to Gallipoli in October 1915. The Ayrshires were amongst the last troops to be evacuated and went from there to Egypt, forming part of the cavalry reserve in the Second Battle of Gaza. He then transferred to the Grenadier Guards; after re-training he was sent to the Western Front in March 1918, joining the 1st Battalion at Mercatel as a Lieutenant. This coincided with the German Spring Offensive, Operation Michael, and the battalion was soon in action. At Boyelles on 30 March 1918, Corbett attempted to dig out some wounded soldiers who had been buried by artillery, while " under heavy fire and in full view of the enemy " and was awarded the Military Cross but received a leg wound which left him with a permanent disability. He married Gwyn Mervyn Grimond on 14 August 1918. She was the sister of Jo Grimond, Baron Grimond, the leader of the Liberal Party 1956 to 1967 and daughter of Joseph Bowman Grimond of St Andrews, Fife. He had met her while on leave; they had five sons, one of whom was killed in action in 1944, and a daughter. On leaving the army he became a successful breeder of pedigree dairy cattle on the family estate in Ayrshire and campaigned for the eradication of bovine tuberculosis. He succeeded as the 2nd Baron Rowallan on 19 March 1933. Rowallan became district commissioner for north-west Ayrshire Scouts in 1922 and also served as Adjutant of the Ayrshire Yeomanry. In 1939, he raised a new Territorial Army battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers whom he accompanied to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force in 1939. Evacuated from Cherbourg during Operation Ariel, he was then given command of a Young Soldiers’ Battalion in the Scottish Highlands; the adventurous training he initiated was based in part on his long association with the Scout Movement. Rowallan served on the World Scout Committee of the World Organization of the Scout Movement from 1947 until 1953. During this time, he was also a governor of the National Bank of Scotland. Rowallan was awarded the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest award of the Boy Scouts of America in 1948. He received the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh in March 1957 and was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Thistle in March of that year. He died at Rowallan Castle near Kilmarnock on 30 November 1977. He was survived by his daughter and four of his five sons.



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