Elly
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June
Jun 10, 2005 15:31:25 GMT 10
Post by Elly on Jun 10, 2005 15:31:25 GMT 10
June 9
June 9, 597 The Feast Day of Saint Columba, sixth century Irish missionary traditionally associated with the conversion of Scotland to Christianity. Columba, also known as Colum or Columcille, was born 7 December about A.D. 521 to Fedhlimidh and Eithne of the Ui Neill clan in Gartanin, Tyrconnell, now County Donegal, Ireland. He studied under Saint Finnian at the monastery of Moville and was ordained a deacon. After studying with the bard Gemman, he was ordained a priest about 551 by Bishop Etchen of Clonard and went on to found the noted monasteries Daire Calgaich in Derry and Dairmagh in Durrow. Tradition states that about this time Columba copied Saint Finnian's psalter without permission, prompting the Saint to appeal to High King Dermott for judgement. The ruling was in Finnian’s favor but Columba refused to hand over the copy. Dermott forced the issue but was defeated by Columba's family and clan at the battle of Cooldrevny in 561. As penance, Saint Molasi ordered Columba to bring the same number of souls to Christ that he had caused to die. In 563, Columba and twelve followers arrived at the island of Iona in the Inner Hebrides where they built a church and a monastery as a first step in the conversion of pagan Scotland to Christianity. It would become a highly venerated site, serving as the mother house of the nascent Scottish Church with its abbots, including Columba, as ecclesiastical head. Columba gave formal benediction and inauguration to Aidan MacGabrain of Dunadd as King of the Scots of Dalriada. He accompanied Aidan to Ireland about 575 and was a leading player in the council that determined the position of the ruler of Dalriada in relation to the High King of Ireland. Columba's later life was spent mostly at Iona, where he died on 9 June 597. He and his successors are rightly regarded as religious pioneers in Britain. There are three surviving Latin hymns attributed to Columba.
June 9, 1573 On this day in 1573, William Maitland, Scottish statesman, died. Known as 'Secretary Maitland', he was Mary, Queen of Scots' Secretary of State, and one of the country's ablest administrators. He sought to bring about the union of England and Scotland through the recognition of Mary as Elizabeth I's heir.
June 9, 1942 First US troops (over 10,000 men) disembark from Queen Mary on the River Clyde.
June 9, 1982 The 20p coin came into circulation.
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Elly
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June
Jun 11, 2005 16:27:55 GMT 10
Post by Elly on Jun 11, 2005 16:27:55 GMT 10
June 10
June 10, 1688 On this day in 1688 James Edward Stuart, "the Old Pretender", Anglo-Scottish prince, was born. James was the son of King James VII, and father of Charles Edward Stuart, "the Young Pretender", popularly known as "Bonnie Prince Charlie". James made repeated attempts to regain the throne for the Stuarts, failing to land in 1708 and being forced to concede defeat after a few weeks in 1715. In 1745 the Jacobite uprising, led by his son, succeeded in getting as far south as Derby, but its eventual defeat at Culloden signalled the end of Jacobite ambitions.
June 10, 1719 June 10, 1719 saw the Battle of Glenshiel, the final act of a minor Jacobite rising. The Jacobite side, under the command of the 10th Earl Marischal, consisted of only 1,000 men. After some hours of engagement with a Hanovarian army under General Wightman, the Jacobite forces disbanded and the revolt was over.
June 10, 1768 Construction of the Forth and Clyde canal started. It was to take 22 years to complete.
June 10, 1858 On this day in 1858, Scottish botanist, Robert Brown, died. Brown had sailed on many early missions to Australia, and his work with the flora and fauna of the new continent had made him eminently respected in his field, becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Linnean Society. Brown is also famous for his death, as it led to a free date at the Linnean Society which was filled by Charles Darwin's lecture on the theory of evolution.
June, 10 1903 The floral clock in Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, began operation - driven by clockwork and with only an hour hand. But it was the first of its kind in the world.
June 10, 1939 Sir Jackie Stewart, three-times world motor racing champion, born in Dunbartonshire.
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Elly
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June
Jun 12, 2005 18:16:58 GMT 10
Post by Elly on Jun 12, 2005 18:16:58 GMT 10
June 11
June 11, 1488 On this day in 1488 the Battle of Sauchieburn took place, where King James III and the Royalist army fought against his son and a collection of disgruntled nobles. James was wounded falling from his horse after fleeing the battle and was subsequently killed by one of the rebels who was pretending to be a priest.
June 11, 1560 Mary of Guise, Regent of Scotland, died. Mary was the wife of King James V and the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary replaced Arran as regent during her daughter's infancy and arranged her betrothal to the French dauphin. Her main aim was the union of her native France and Scotland, under French leadership. This, coupled with her unswerving support for Cardinal Beaton's repressive policies toward Scottish Protestants, made her a hugely unpopular figure within the country.
June 11, 1930 Empress of Britain launched from Clydebank by the Prince of Wales.
June 11, 1975 First oil pumped ashore from Scottish oilfields in the North Sea.
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Elly
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June
Jun 14, 2005 2:30:34 GMT 10
Post by Elly on Jun 14, 2005 2:30:34 GMT 10
June 12
June 12, 1298 William Wallace routs English at the Battle of Black Earnside.
June 12, 1747 In the aftermath of the failed Jacobite Rebellion of 1745-1746, the British parliament revoked all heritable jurisdictions that clan chieftains as well as lowland barons, despite the 1707 Act of Union, had retained over their followers. This was a key element of the British government's actions to integrate Scotland, especially the Scottish Highlands, more fully into the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Although thousands of pounds were paid in compensation, this decisive blow to the Scottish ruling class, both highland clan chiefs and lowland barons, stripped them of most of their ancient rights to impose justice (pit and gallows) in their lands and to maintain private armies of clansmen and retainers. This further repression to the sense of Scottish nationhood resulted in much greater political stability and military security for the Hanoverian state.
June 12, 1843 Sir David Gill, Scottish astronomer, was born. Gill was noted for his measurements of solar and stellar parallaxes, which accurately revealed the distances of the Sun and other stars to Earth. He was also a pioneer in the use of photography to map the heavens.
June 12, 2001 Thomas Wilson, the Scottish composer, died. His works include the three-act opera, "Confessions of a Justified Sinner", which was commissioned by Scottish Opera. The libretto, by John Currie, is based upon James Hogg's 1825 novel of the same name.
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Elly
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June
Jun 14, 2005 20:20:09 GMT 10
Post by Elly on Jun 14, 2005 20:20:09 GMT 10
June 13
1679 A manifesto known as The Hamilton Declaration was issued by moderate Covenanters before the Battle of Bothwell Brig, demanding Presbyterian government and a free assembly and parliament but expressing loyalty to the King.
1799 Act was passed freeing colliers from servitude to coalmasters, the last vestige of serfdom in Scotland.
1819
The Strathnaver Clearances began on the Sutherland estates - families were given 30 minutes to remove their belongings before their cottages were set on fire.
1831 Birth of James Clerk Maxwell, first Professor of Experimental Physics at Cambridge University, he created electromagnetic theory of light.
1975 Rate of price inflation reached 25% in the UK.
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Elly
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June
Jun 15, 2005 20:50:52 GMT 10
Post by Elly on Jun 15, 2005 20:50:52 GMT 10
June 14
June 14, 1746 Colin MacLaurin, the Scottish mathematician, died. MacLaurin was a child prodigy who attained the position of professor of mathematics by the age of 19, and a close friend and associate of Isaac Newton. His masterwork is 'Organic Geometry, with the Description of the Universal Linear Curves'.
June 14, 1789 Whisky distilled from maize was first produced - by a clergyman, the Rev Elijah Craig. He called the new liquor "bourbon" because he lived in Bourbon County, Kentucky.
June 14, 1940 Queen Mary, Aquitania, Empress of Canada, and Empress of Britain arrive in the River Clyde with the first contingent of Australian and New Zealand troops.
June 14, 1946 Scottish inventor, John Logie Baird, died. Baird is remembered as the inventor of television. Born in Helensburgh, even as a child his talents were already apparent, creating a telephone exchange system, connecting his house with four neighbouring ones and, using a petrol generator in the garden, setting up a lighting system for the house - the first in Helensburgh to have electric light.
June 14, 1966 Walter McGowan wins World Fly-weight Championship.
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Elly
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June
Jun 17, 2005 0:35:51 GMT 10
Post by Elly on Jun 17, 2005 0:35:51 GMT 10
June 15
June 15, 1567 Mary Queen of Scots' last night in Edinburgh, at the house of Sir Simon Preston, the Lord Provost, on the Royal Mile, prior to her imprisonment at Loch Leven castle two days later.
June 15, 1844 Thomas Campbell, the Scottish poet, died. Author of 'The Pleasures of Hope', Campbell helped found the University of London for students who were excluded from Oxford and Cambridge for religious or financial reasons.
June 15, 1945 Queen Mary leaves Greenock, taking nearly 15,000 GIs home to US.
June 15, 1996 Sir Fitzroy MacLean, the Scottish soldier, diplomat, politician and author, died. Prior to the outbreak of war, MacLean served as a diplomat in Moscow, but it is his service during the war for which he is most noted. MacLean was a founder member of the SAS, serving in North Africa before being sent into occupied Yugoslavia as the British representative to the Communist partisans. After the war he served as an MP, achieving ministerial rank as Undersecretary for War in the mid-1950s.
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Elly
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June
Jun 17, 2005 0:37:21 GMT 10
Post by Elly on Jun 17, 2005 0:37:21 GMT 10
June 16
16 June Every Year The Feast Day of Saint Margaret, wife of King Malcolm Canmore (1057-1193). Born in Hungary about 1046, she was the daughter of Edward the Exile of the line of Saxon kings forced to flee England after the Viking conquest in 1016. The family later returned but their claims to the kingship were rejected in 1066 as first Harold Godwinson and then William the Bastard (Conqueror) of Normandy seized the throne. Fleeing to Scotland, they found sanctuary and Margaret a husband. Through her great influence over Malcolm, she introduced the language and customs of the English court, which was continued by their sons who were kings of Scots afterwards: Edgar (1097-1107), Alexander I (1107-1124), and David I (1124-1153). Noted for her piety and charity, she promoted the diocesan organization of the Roman Church, including the territorial primacy of St. Andrew's, and continental monasticism, especially the Benedictine Order who founded the Abbey at Dunfermline where she is buried. She died in 1093, just four days after her husband and son, Edward, were killed by the English in Northumberland at the Battle of Alnwick. She is commemorated by St. Margaret=s Chapel in Edinburgh and South Queensferry on the Firth of Forth in West Lothian. She was canonized in 1250.
June 16, 1338 Siege of Dunbar Castle by the English was raised.
June 16 1586 Mary, Queen of Scots recognised Philip II of Spain as her heir.
June 16, 1807 The Rev. John Skinner, poet, theologion and Episcopalian minister of Longside in Buchan, died. His song, 'Tullochgorum', was complemented by Robert Burns in a letter sent to Skinner as "the best Scotch song ever Scotland saw".
June 16, 1948 Henry McLeish, Scottish Labour politician, was born. McLeish began his working life as a footballer for East Fife, but soon entered the political arena, serving from 1987 as MP for Central Fife. His career reached its zenith with his appointment as First Minister of the Scottish Executive, succeeding Donald Dewar. He was forced to resign, however, after a financial scandal at his constituency.
June 16, 1971 John, Lord Reith, the Scottish broadcasting executive, died. Reith is regarded as the founding father of public service broadcasting in Britain. He served as the first General Manager of the British Broadcasting Company between 1922-27, and as the first Director-General of the BBC from 1927-38. Reith was the inspiration behind using radio as an educational medium and as a tool for providing the nation, and world, with regular impartial news, "making the nation as one man," as he described it.
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Elly
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June
Jun 18, 2005 8:31:06 GMT 10
Post by Elly on Jun 18, 2005 8:31:06 GMT 10
June 17
1239 Scotland's greatest foe of the Middle Ages - Edward I, the 'Hammer of the Scots' - is born today in 1239. A powerful, intelligent and determined monarch, Edward's attempts to make Scotland bend to his will prove successful until Scottish patriots under the leadership of William Wallace spark off the Wars of Scottish Independence. Wallace is eventually captured and put to death, but Edward's life ends on July 7th 1307 and dreams of his dynasty ruling all Britain are finally destroyed when his son Edward II is defeated by Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn.
1390 Alexander Stewart (c1342-1406), Earl of Buchan and Ross, 'Wolf of Badenoch', fourth son of Robert II, burnt the rich and splendid Cathedral of Elgin after Bishop Bur of Moray refused to pay him 'protection money'.
1567 Mary, Queen of Scots, imprisoned in Lochleven castle by the Council of Scotland and compelled to abdicate in favour of her son (James VI).
1617 Articles of religion, introducing Anglican principles into Scottish worship, endorsed by Scottish parliament.
1823 Charles Macintosh, chemist, born in Glasgow in 1776, patented waterproof cloth.
1895 Birth of Very Rev Lord MacLeod of Fuinary, founder of the Iona Community.
1943 Annie S Swan, novelist, died.
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Elly
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June
Jun 19, 2005 5:24:46 GMT 10
Post by Elly on Jun 19, 2005 5:24:46 GMT 10
June 18
June 18, 1639 Pacification of Berwick, Charles I forced to withdraw from Scotland and recognize an independent Scottish Parliament.
June 18. 1746 Flora MacDonald met Prince Charles Edward Stuart and persuaded him to wear women's clothes as part of the escape plan from the Outer Hebrides to Skye.
June 18, 1815 On 18 June 1815 the Battle of Waterloo was fought in Belgium. Many Scottish regiments took part in the battle, which ended Napoleon's 'hundred days'. Perhaps the most prominent action involving the Scottish contingent was the combined charge of the Gordon Highlanders and the Scots Greys. A French column with over 4,000 men advanced on the Highlanders, while the Gordons, with only about 300 men, were under strict orders not to give way. As the situation reached its most critical moment, suddenly the Scots Greys appeared on the top of the hills. Both Gordons and Scots Greys in common charged the French column, shouting "Scotland Forever", with the Gordons hanging on to the stirrups of the cavalry horses.
June 18, 1815 The final battle of the Napoleonic Wars is fought today near the Belgian village of Waterloo in 1815. One of the greatest heroes of the battle was cavalry sergeant Charles Ewart of the Royal Scots Greys, who single-handedly captured a French regimental eagle standard. Buried in Manchester in 1846, Ewart's remains were later reinterred at the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle.
June 18, 1970 The Scottish National Party celebrated their first General Election success, with Donald Stewart winning the Western Isles constituency from Labour. He was to hold on to the seat until his retiral in 1987.
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Elly
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June
Jun 20, 2005 7:48:53 GMT 10
Post by Elly on Jun 20, 2005 7:48:53 GMT 10
June 19
June 19, 1306 The Battle of Methven, near Perth, fought between Scottish royal forces under King Robert the Bruce and the English commanded by Aymer de Valence. Scotland's second interregnum, 1296-1306, which had been imposed by the brutal conquest of King Edward I of England (also known as 'Longshanks' because of his great height and 'Hammer of the Scots' for obvious reasons), came to a sudden end when Robert the Bruce had himself crowned King of Scots at Scone on 25 March 1306. This followed Bruce' murder of chief rival, John Comyn at Greyfriars Abbey, and the seizure of several castles in the southwest from the English. Unfortunately, though Edward was ailing, he dispatched one of his best generals, Aymer de Valence, to destroy Bruce. He was instructed to show no mercy and 'burn and slay and raise dragon.' The pro-Bruce Scottish Bishops, Lamberton and Wishart, were quickly seized and Bruce's army was surprised and routed. Bruce barely escaped with his life and fled with a few followers to the Scottish Highlands.
June 19, 1566 King James VI was born. The only son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Lord Darnley, James acceded to the throne at the age of one, after his mother was forced to abdicate. He was tutored by George Buchanan, a firm Protestant and one of the sharpest minds in Scotland. James was a master diplomat and courted favour in England until he emerged as the main challenger to inherit the English crown on Elizabeth's death. After gaining the English kingdom, James left Edinburgh and only returned once to Scotland. James was an intelligent and capable man but for various reasons was not a popular monarch in England. His son, Charles proved even less popular and became the catalyst of the disastrous Civil War that (temporarily) ended royal rule in Britain.
June 19, 1633 Coronation of King Charles I at Holyrood.
June 19, 1660 "Day of Public Thanksgiving" on Restoration of Charles II as king.
June 19, 1861 Earl Haig was born in Edinburgh. Haig spent a distinguished career in the military, rising through the ranks of the 7th Hussars until eventually becoming C-in-C of British forces in 1915. Haig's tactics during the First World War have been called into question as being unimaginative and wasteful of soldiers' lives, and Haig himself cited his own despair at the casualties lost as the main reason for his work in founding the British Legion and instituting the Poppy Day appeal.
June 19, 1917 Parliament voted by a majority of 330 to give votes to women over 30 for the first time.
June 19, 1937 JM Barrie, the Scottish playwright and novelist, died. Although a prolific writer, Barrie is principally remembered today for his classic children's story, 'Peter Pan'. Other notable Barrie works include the prose work 'A Window in Thrums' and the play 'The Admirable`.
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Elly
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June
Jun 21, 2005 7:50:35 GMT 10
Post by Elly on Jun 21, 2005 7:50:35 GMT 10
June 20
June 20, 1723 The birth of historian and philosopher Adam Ferguson at Logierait, Perthshire. Educated at the University of St. Andrews, he was a Gaelic speaker who was ordained in 1745 as Deputy Chaplain to the soon to be famous Black Watch Regiment. Later that year, at the Battle of Fontenoy, he lead an attack with broadsword in hand. In 1754, he left the army and gave up the clerical profession in 1757 to succeed his friend David Hume as Keeper of the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh. He became Professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh in 1759 and Professor of mental and moral philosophy there in 1764. His major written works include The Morality of Stage Plays Seriously Considered (1757), Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767), Institutes of Moral Philosophy (1769), The History of the Progress and Termination of the Roman Republic (1783), Principles of Moral and Political Science (1792), and the article on history for the second edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica (1780). Of special note was his Remarks (1776), which proposed peace terms for Americans fighting in the American Revolution. In 1778, he traveled to Philadelphia with a British commission sent to negotiate with American leaders. Prematurely aged by a stroke in 1780, he retired from teaching in 1785, and traveled Europe before spending his later years in retirement at St. Andrews. He died there on 22 February 1816 and Sir Walter Scott wrote his epitaph. He is remembered as a father of modern Sociology for his emphasis on social interactions.
June 20, 1887 New Tay rail bridge opened, the longest in Britain.
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