Was Israel created in Edinburgh……by candlelight? As today is the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Balfour Declaration or Balfour Letter written by the then Conservative Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, it seems appropriate that we take a look at the background to his Magnum opus. But first a look at…
I confess that for some time I had a soft-spot for the lassie from East Lothian. I have long had a certain amount of sympathy for Mary Nisbet (18 April 1778 – 9 July 1855), unlike my feelings for her husband, father and friend Philip Hunt. Mary married an impoverished land-owning aristocrat on the opposite,…
William, George, Billy & Scotch Myths re the Cullen Report on Dunblane This blog deals mainly with my concerns about the treatment of “Billy” (William Burns) by “William”, the then law lord William Douglas Cullen. But first some clarification regarding Baron George Robertson of Port Ellen & Baron Cullen of Whitekirk in connection with the…
This NOTE is pinned inside a Camphorwood Chest at my home in Dunfermline. For some years now I had been meaning to write a note about the purchase of this camphorwood linen chest and pin it inside, but it was only when Russell Darnley, an Australian author, sent me an audio book of his…
Published on: Jul 17, 2021 In the previous blog I summarised my experiences of freemasonry during my working life ‘on the tools’, as being less than positive. But they didn’t dominate my thinking, as there were more good guys (Masons included) than there were bad/opportunistic Masons, and largely it seemed the good guys were non-Masons,…
Verdict on the Mob and the Magistrates RACE & RELIGION? In looking for reasons why so many leaders of the Dunfermline community had sympathy with the prisoner Alexander Black it is worth noting something the Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Hope, identified. He stated: “That the Magistrates & others may have a strong feeling agt…
Things weren’t quite like the papers said. From an interest in Andrew Carnegie I knew of the Meal Riots of the late 18th century. Knew a little of the aims of the Chartists, which Carnegie’s father and other radical relatives, uncles, Tom Morrison and George Lauder supported. But I knew little about the Dunfermline riots…
1850 Riot Reflections based on my experiences. This post looks at the common perception of Dunfermline and also my view of it based on my life experiences, as enlightened by my research into the 1850 riot, and seeking to draw lessons from both. ANDREW CARNEGIE’S DUNFERMLINE 1835-1848 The general perception of Dunfermline as a town…
Reading the Dunfermline Press of Thursday April 9 2025 I was struck by an article about a former Fife Council official, 70 year old James Beveridge, of Kelty, who had posed as a good Samaritan to gain access to the home of an 80 year old lady with dementia only to sexually abuse her there.…
“The Spec” Harmless oddball students or sinister, quasi-masonic networkers? Oddball students?: Is the case made by several members who have stuck their heads above the parapet, but is perhaps most eloquently put by extraordinary member Humphrey Errington, producer of Lanark Blue Cheese, who laughed off the claims of an old boy network, Errington said it…
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