Family and local history

Although Scotland is a small nation, it has produced a significantly high number of inventors throughout the centuries. Some of these inventors are world-renowned but others are shrouded in obscurity. The library has numerous books in its collections that tell the stories of these inventors. A selection of recent titles include ‘Scottish Firsts: a celebration of innovation and achievement’ by Elspeth Wills, Edinburgh, 2002, ‘Invented in Scotland: Scottish ingenuity and invention through the ages’ by Allan Burnett, Edinburgh, 2010 and ‘Caledonia Dreaming: 100 Scots who changed the world not always for the better!’ by John K V Eunson, London, 2010.

Some of the best known scientific inventors in Scotland have also been celebrated in the library’s online Scottish Science Hall of Fame.

There are two new additions to our Digital Gallery, both of which are free to use. The first is the ‘Biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen’, published in three volumes in 1875. The books contain biographies and engraved portraits of Scots men (and some women) mainly during the 16th to 19th centuries. The biographies discuss individuals who were prominent in the fields of medicine, religion, art and literature, politics, philosophy and the natural sciences.

The second is a collection of 20 volumes of  ‘Gazetteers of Scotland, 1803-1901′. These provide a comprehensive geographical encyclopedia of Scotland during in the 19th century. They include information on parishes, towns and counties in Scotland, as well as historical and geographical details on each location.

 Ahoy me hearties! Are you interested in the history of Scottish pirates? The library has a number of books in our collections that can provide more information on the subject. These include Eric J Graham’s ‘Seawolves: Pirates & the Scots’, Edinburgh, 2005 and ‘Skull & Saltire: Stories of Scottish Piracy – Ancient & Modern’ by Jim Hewitson, Edinburgh, 2005.

David Ditchburn has contributed an article on ‘Piracy and War at Sea in Late Medieval Scotland’ to T.C. Smout’s ‘Scotland and the Sea’, Edinburgh, 1992, pages 35-58.

John Gow was one of Scotland’s most famous pirates and Stromness Museum in Orkney has produced a facsimile edition of ‘An Account of the Conduct and Proceedings of the Late John Gow’ as ‘The Pirate Gow by Daniel Defoe, 1725′. This tells the tale of an Orkney lad who ran away to sea, came home the master of a ship, romanced a local girl and when his piratical past was revealed, he went raiding in Orkney. After being run aground he was captured and sent to London in chains, where he was executed ten months later.

The library’s Word on the Street collection of online broadsides contains news reports on the activities of pirates as well as descriptions of the executions of those convicted of piracy.

1638 National Covenant

During the seventeenth century, the Scottish Covenanters were fighting for their religious freedoms against the King in London. Many were martyred for their cause and monuments to those who died can be found in many areas of Scotland. There are a number of recent books in the library which provide more information on the subject. These include Ronald Ireland’s ‘The Bloody Covenant: Crown and Kirk in Conflict’ (2010), ‘The Covenanters’ by Claire Watts (2011) and the incredibly detailed ‘Covenanter Encyclopaedia’ by Dane Love (2009).

For those looking for specific Covenanting ancestors, the ‘Scottish Covenanter Genealogical Index’ by Isabelle McCall MacLean (2007) may be of interest. There is also the ‘Register of the Rev. John MacMillan: Being a Record of Marriages and Baptisms Solemnised by him among the Cameronian Societies’, edited by Rev. Henry Paton (1908). This latter title is a record of the marriages and baptisms of Covenanters during the period 1706-1751.