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Post by LLady on Dec 8, 2005 20:28:24 GMT 10
December 1
On this day in 1787, the first modern lighthouse in Scotland was lit at Fraserburgh. Built by Thomas Smith and Robert Stevenson at Kinnaird Head, the lighthouse was built on top of a 16th-century castle, and is now Scotland's Lighthouse Museum.
December 1 1768 The first volume of Encyclopedia Britannica was published in Edinburgh, edited by William Smellie.
December 1 1787 First lighthouse in Scotland opened (at Kinnaird Head, Fraserburgh). It was built by Thomas Smith and Robert Stevenson.
December 1 1966 Hurricane-force winds caused widespread damage.
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Post by LLady on Dec 8, 2005 20:29:50 GMT 10
December 2
Mary Slessor, the Scottish missionary, was born on this day in 1848 in Aberdeen. The family moved to Dundee where Mary, the daughter of a shoemaker, found work in the jute mills at the age of 11. Having brought up her siblings following her father's premature death, Slessor applied to the Foreign Mission Board of the United Presbyterian Church for a posting to West Africa. Slessor's work as a missionary in Nigeria took her remote regions unvisited by white men. Horrified at the ritual slaughter of babies by the indigenous people, Slessor adopted many children. She herself was eventually adopted by the local tribe, who called her "ma", and protected her from the pitfalls of jungle life.
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Post by LLady on Dec 8, 2005 20:31:27 GMT 10
December 3
Robert Louis Stevenson died in Samoa on this day in 1894. The Scottish novelist, poet and traveller Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was born in Edinburgh in 1850. After considering professions in law and engineering, he pursued his interest in writing. A prolific literary career ensued, which included 'Treasure Island' (1883), 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' (1886) and 'Kidnapped' (1886). Stevenson travelled extensively to America and the South Seas, settling in Samoa in 1890, and getting involved in life and politics there. In the tropical climate, his imagination turned to Edinburgh, and he wrote 'Catriona'(1893), a sequel to 'Kidnapped'. At his death he left an unfinished masterpiece 'Weir of Hermiston', set in 19th-century Edinburgh and the Lammermuirs.
December 3 1965 The Beatles launched their last concert tour of Britain in Glasgow.
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Post by LLady on Dec 8, 2005 20:33:24 GMT 10
December 4
Today in 1795 saw the birth of Thomas Carlyle, the leading Victorian intellectual, in Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire. Educated at Edinburgh University, Carlyle hoped to enter the ministry, but lost faith in the foundations of Christianity and trained as a mathematics teacher instead. His love of German literature led to his translations of Goethe, Hoffmann, and Tieck, which are now regarded as masterpieces. Carlyle's work is difficult to categorise; he was neither a philosopher, poet nor novelist, and more than a critic. His work 'The French Revolution' presents historical facts, but also sets out to question the nature of the facts historians deal with. Carlyle was influential in the establishment of the National Portrait Gallery in London in 1856, and he died just too early to witness the inauguration of the similar institution, a Scottish National Portrait Gallery, which he had firmly advocated. This day in 1649 witnessed the death of the Scottish poet, William Drummond. Born in Hawthornden, Midlothian, the son of a courtier to James VI of Scotland, the Edinburgh-educated Drummond was one of the first notable Scots poets to write exclusively in English. His works include the elegy, 'Tears on the Death of Meliades', and the poem, 'Forth Feasting' (1617). In addition to his poetry, he wrote the posthumously published 'History of Scotland 1423 - 1524' (1655). The major Scottish poet of the later Renaissance, critics are divided on the extent to which he can be viewed as a "Scottish" writer, as his works belongs to the English tradition of Spenser and Drayton in their use of sonnets and madrigals. On this day in 1423, the Treaty of London provided for the release of James I from English captivity. The terms agreed in London for the release of James I from his 18-year captivity in England included a ransom of £40,000 paid in six annual instalments, the provision of 21 hostages as security and an undertaking that the Scots would give no further assistance to the French army until James's obligation were met in full. December 4 1937 Cartoon character Desperate Dan first appeared in the "Dandy" comic.
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Post by LLady on Dec 8, 2005 20:36:08 GMT 10
December 5
On this day in 1560 King Francis II of France, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots, died. Francis was the Dauphin of France - the eldest son of the king and heir to the throne. He married Mary, Queen of Scots in 1558 when she was 14. She secretly agreed that should she die without any heirs, Scotland would fall to the French Crown. The Scots were worried that the Catholic Francis might eventually become King of Scotland. Francis succeeded to the French throne in July 1559 but died of an ear infection on 6 December 1560, the monarchy falling to his mother Catherine de Medici.
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Post by LLady on Dec 8, 2005 20:38:02 GMT 10
December 6
Today in 1745 Prince Charles Edward Stewart and the Jacobite Army began their retreat from Derby. After a decisive victory in the '45 campaign at the Battle of Prestonpans, 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' reached Derby on the 4th December. With the Jacobites' arrival only 150 miles north of London, there was widespread panic. However, with the promised French and Spanish invasion of England conspicously absent and with limited support from the English Jacobites, a reluctant Charles was forced to heed his advisers and withdraw from Derby only two days later.
December 6 1214
King Alexander II crowned at Scone.
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Post by LLady on Dec 8, 2005 20:39:45 GMT 10
December 7
St. Columba was born in Donegal, Ireland on this day in 521AD. Also known as Colum-Cille, an aristocratically-born Columba was banished to Scotland, following battles over monastic possessions. In 563, with 12 companions, he established a monastery on Iona, possibly on the site of an existing church. Columba is credited with converting King Bridei , the leader of the Picts in Scotland, to Christianity. Columba died on Iona in 597 A.D, and his biography by Ad**nan is a main source of information for the period and in describing the Christianisation of northern Scotland. Today in 1545 saw the birth of Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, the Anglo-Scottish aristocrat and second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary marrried Henry, her first cousin, on the 29 July 1565, to be the uncrowned 'King Henry'. The marriage ceremony was a Roman Catholic one, although Darnley professed to be Protestant. After the ceremony, Darnley managed to alienate and antagonise the Scottish nobility, become estranged from his wife, and meet a violent death. Darnley was the second husband of Mary and father of King James VI of Scotland and James I of England. He was assassinated in February 1567 by person unknown, although Mary's third husband James, Lord Bothwell, was seriously implicated in the murder.
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Post by LLady on Dec 8, 2005 20:42:56 GMT 10
December 8
On this day Mary, Queen of Scots, was born at Linlithgow Palace, West Lothian in 1542. The only surviving child of James V and Mary of Guise, Mary ascended to the Scottish throne following her father's death when she was only six days old. Mary was next in line to the English throne, following Henry VIII's children, as the great-granddaughter of Henry VII of England. The infant Mary was betrothed to the six-year-old Edward in 1543, but within a year, the vacillating Scots parliament had reneged on the agreement and taken the young Mary to Stirling Castle. The Scots wanted to return to the traditional alliance with France. Hence began the series of savage attacks on Scotland known as 'The Rough Wooing', which saw the Borders being ravaged and the Abbey of Holyroodhouse being set fire to.The Scots whisked Mary off to France in 1548, after arranging her betrothal to the French Dauphin. On this day in 1174, William I 'the Lion' was released under the terms of the Treaty of Falaise, following a five-month imprisonment after invading Northumberland. William was forced to surrender Stirling and Edinburgh Castles to Henry II, whom he agreed to accept as his feudal overlord as part of the treaty's terms. William is credited with adopting the Lion Rampant as the Royal Emblem of Scotland, hence his nickname.
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Post by LLady on Dec 8, 2005 20:44:43 GMT 10
December 9
This day in 1165 saw the death of Malcolm IV, King of Scotland. The eldest son of David I, Malcolm had been King since 1153, when he succeeded his grandfather at the age of 12. The accession of a boy king led to upheavals in the kingdom, and the resurfacing of old enmities; from rebellions in Moray and Galloway, to Henry II of England deciding to reclaim the English counties of Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmoreland. Nicknamed ‘the Maiden’ because of his youth and unmarried status, Malcolm died at Jedburgh, aged 23, and was succeeded by his younger brother William I, 'the Lion'.
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Post by LLady on Dec 9, 2005 4:16:37 GMT 10
December 10
10 December 1747 saw the death of Duncan Forbes of Culloden, the Lord President of the Court of Session. As a prominent Whig, like many Scots Forbes supported the Hanoverian cause and used his influence to dissuade a number of clans from joining the Jacobites. In this sense he was at least partly responsible for the failure of the Jacobite Rising. However Forbes was a fair-minded man who tried his best to mitigate the terrible reprisals following the Battle of Culloden.
December 10 1868 Artist, architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh born.
December 10 1824 Novelist and poet George MacDonald, born.
December 10 1936 King Edward VIII abdicated and King George VI acceded to the throne
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Elly
Administrator
Posts: 29,887
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Post by Elly on Dec 9, 2005 7:13:43 GMT 10
Thanks Llady
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Post by LLady on Dec 9, 2005 7:18:17 GMT 10
Hi elly! #wave#
It not as organized as yours are but I thought that I would give it a try. Thanks!
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