The Stone Collector

November 10, 2014, 1:16 am

≫ Next: Henrietta Gilmour: Pioneer Woman Curler

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by Bob Cowan

Most involved in Scottish curling will have come across the name of Andrew Henderson Bishop. The trophy he presented and which bears his name is played for as the premier ladies' event in Scotland each season, aside from the Scottish Championship. That's him above, the rather grainy photograph from the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual of 1911-12, at which time he was a Vice-president of the Royal Club.

Andrew Henderson Bishop was born on May 19, 1874, the son of Thomas George Bishop and Elizabeth Henderson. Young Andrew is described in the census return for 1890 as a 'science student'. He married Mary Gibb McAlpine, daughter of Sir Robert McAlpine, in 1897. In the Edinburgh Evening News of February 16, 1904, it is reported that his father, who had founded the successful grocery business, Cooper's, had purchased the estate of Thornton Hall, near Busby, and this was to become the home of Andrew and Mary.

At Thornton Hall, Andrew laid out gardens in which, according to this website, there was a floodlit curling rink. He extended the railway station platform and kept a private carriage which could be coupled to the Glasgow train. His involvement with the family business gained him considerable wealth, and allowed him the time to pursue an interest in archaeology. He collected extensively and amassed one of the largest prehistoric collections in Scotland. In 1951, Andrew Henderson Bishop gifted his collection of prehistoric artifacts to the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow, see here.

After his wife died in 1935, he moved to Switzerland and lived there until his own death in 1957.

The University of Glasgow has a painting of him from 1950 by Hermione Hammond, see here.

Andrew Henderson Bishop's curling career seems to have begun as an occasional member of Haremyres Curling Club in the 1905-06 season. Three years later he was a regular member and was on the Council of Management of that club. He was secretary of the Thornton Hall Curling Club when it was formed in 1907, and two years later, its president. He curled in Switzerland too, and in the 1910-11 season is listed as a Vice-president of the Villars Curling Club.

Off the ice, Andrew Henderson Bishop was an enthusiastic student of the history of curling, and amassed a large collection of artifacts. He was responsible for putting together the curling history display at the Scottish Exhibition of National History, Art and Industry, at Kelvingrove, Glasgow, in the summer of 1911, see here.

The Royal Club Annual for 1911-12 notes that "The Historical Exhibition in Glasgow has been very successful, and one of its most interesting features was the extensive collection of curling curios brought together by Mr Henderson-Bishop of Thornton Hall, who is known to the brotherhood as one of the keenest of keen curlers and is at present an active and useful Vice-President of the Royal Club."

The 'Sports and Pastimes' section of the catalogue of exhibits for this exhibition lists 146 items of curling interest, 65 of which are described as 'lent by A Henderson Bishop'.

Here is a photo of part of the South Gallery of the Palace of History at the 1911 Scottish Exhibition. You can see many curling stones lined up on the floor on the left of the picture.

This old postcard shows what the outside of the building looked like. It contained six separate galleries, the South Gallery also having space in a balcony area. Exactly where the Palace of History was constructed on the exhibition site can be seen in the plan here.

Back in the 1970s, David B Smith had wondered what had happened to the various items that had belonged to Henderson Bishop, that had been exhibited in 1911. Writing in 1989, David recalled, "In 1978 I was discussing with Stuart Maxwell, then assistant keeper of the National Museum of Antiquities, when he told me that he seemed to remember coming across a large number of curling stones in the basement of the Highland Folk Museum at Kingussie. A telephone call to Ross Noble, the very helpful curator of that museum, confirmed that the stones were still there, and that it was thought that they had come in some way from Henderson Bishop."

Shortly afterwards, I received a very excited call from David about this 'find', and before too long David, Willie Jamieson and I were heading north in my wee Datsun Cherry!

This was the sight that greeted us when we were shown into the cellar of a building at the Folk History Museum at Kingussie. There were old curling stones everywhere. Exciting? You bet! The Henderson Bishop collection had indeed been found!

David and Willie examine the stones. A few were selected to be brought up from the cellar.

Here David is cleaning up one of the stones at a sink in the museum's kitchen!

Washed and dried, six of the stones were laid out on the grass to be photographed.

In the years since 1978, the stones have been safely cared for by the museum at Kingussie, although most were stored out of public view.

The story of how the Highland Folk Museum came into being, and of its founder Dr Isobel Grant, is fascinating and can be read here. Additional space to allow the museum to expand was purchased and a large site at Newtonmore opened in 1995. Among the many memorable features of this open air museum is a curling pond and replica curling hut (see here) in which a small number of artifacts from the Henderson Bishop collection are displayed.

You can find out more about the Highland Folk Museum on its website here.

Some years ago when I was still editor of the Scottish Curler magazine I enquired of the museum the status of the rest of the Henderson Bishop collection, particularly the large number of stones that we had seen back in 1978. These, I was reassured, were still safely in store, and that the museum had plans for a new building on the Newtonmore site, which would give more space for the museum to store and preserve its considerable collections. In this past year, this vision became a reality.

This is Am Fasgadh, at Newtonmore, the Highland Folk Museum's wonderful new facility, with space to store and conserve the various items in the collections, as well as offices, study areas, a conservation laboratory, a library, and meeting spaces. It's quite separate from that part of the museum which is usually open to the public in the summer months, currently closed for the winter.

Am Fasgadh's primary function is to house the Highland Folk Museum's core collections - 10,000 objects ranging from teaspoons to tractors! The name 'Am Fasgadh' is Gaelic for 'the Shelter', and comes from the original name given to the Highland Folk Museum by its founder, Isabel Grant, and reflects her philosophy that the Museum was a safe haven for her collection.

Rachel Chisholm is the present Curator, and here she is with some of the Henderson Bishop stones in the background. We counted 122 on the new shelves, and there are others in the replica stone hut, as already mentioned.

This channel stane jumped out as an 'old friend'. You can see it in the photo above of the six stones taken in 1978. Who 'DW' was is not known. Indeed, the notes that Henderson Bishop must surely have made on the provenance of all the items in his curling collection have been lost. It is to be hoped that one day these records might be found.

However, some of the stones can be identified from their descriptions in the catalogue from the 1911 exhibition. These two are numbers 106 and 107 in the group of 'Curling stones more or less circular in shape, used from about 1750'. Their descriptions say, 'Hammer-dressed curling stone, initialled 'R C' and dated 1781, from Cumbernauld' and 'Stone initialled 'R C'. This stone was probably made to match No 106 when pairs of stones came into use about 1840, and the screwed tubes to receive the handles may have been inserted at the same time.' Both had been lent to the exhibition by Henderson Bishop himself.

No 121 in the 1911 exhibition catalogue is this 'circular, hammer-dressed stone, engraved 'THE PIRATE', JAs Orr, 1831. This stone, along with 118, 119 and 120, shows an endeavour to preserve the identity of the stone after they had lost the peculiarity of shape from which, in the days of the boulder stone, they often took their name'.

Interestingly, this stone had been 'lent by James Waldron'. Most of the items borrowed from various clubs and individuals would have been returned after the exhibition closed. We can assume that at some point after the 1911 exhibition 'the Pirate' became part of Henderson Bishop's own collection, in which it remains! We do not know exactly how and when the Henderson Bishop collection came into the possession of the Highland Folk Museum. Was it given to Dr Grant? Was it a bequest? The two must have known each other. More research to be done.

Not all of the collection was kept together. Some stones were presented by Henderson Bishop to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club in 1938, an example here.

There is so much more research to be done on this collection of stones, and the various other curling items in the museum's care. The 130 or so stones make up the most significant collection of seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth century curling stones in any museum collection anywhere in the world! I am extremely happy to have seen them at Am Fasgadh last week.

Thanks to Rachel Chisholm for allowing me to visit Am Fasgadh to view the Henderson Bishop collection. The Scottish Curler of October, 1989, published an article about the visit to Kingussie remembered above. The photos here are all by the author, or from his archive, except as indicated. The top pic is from the Royal Club Annual for 1911-12, and was by T and R Annan and Sons, Glasgow, and the photo of the inside of the South Gallery has been scanned from the Catalogue of Exhibits of the 1911 exhibition, which was published in two volumes by Dalross Ltd.

↧

Henrietta Gilmour: Pioneer Woman Curler

December 11, 2014, 2:00 am

≫ Next: The Gilmour Trophies

≪ Previous: The Stone Collector

by Bob Cowan

The photo above can be found in the magazine Hearth and Home of March 14, 1895. It depicts four women on the ice, and is probably the earliest published photograph of women curling in Scotland. The skip is Henrietta Gilmour - that's her, second from the right.

Note the long handled brooms the women are using, with their crook tops. It cannot have been easy to curl wearing the dress of the time! It would appear that fashionable headgear was de rigueur. What shoes were they wearing? The stones are just a little lighter than used by the men, at 31 to 34 lbs, according to the Hearth and Home article. Note the wooden tee-marker at the centre of the rings scratched on the ice.

Hearth and Home was a weekly broadsheet magazine, for women, published in London from 1891-1914. A short article in the March 14, 1895, issue, on a page entitled 'The World of Sportswomen', explains that during the 1894-95 season, the Gilmour team had played ten matches, and won seven. Just who these matches were against is not stated in the article, but, thanks to the British Newspaper Archive, it has been possible to find details of two of these. The Dundee Courier of February 16, 1895, reports that the Gilmour rink took on a team of ladies from the Hercules club in a friendly on Kilconquhar Loch, and won 23-7. The skip of the Hercules team was Mrs Scott Davidson. Another game against Hercules was played out on Montrave Pond and is reported in the Dundee Courier of February 21, 1895. The Hercules team was skipped on this occasion by Mrs Palm, with Mrs Scott Davidson at third, but were again defeated. The Gilmour team won 42-5.

Incidentally, the Hercules women were to form their own club later that season, see David B Smith's article here.

During the nineteenth century women of the middle and upper classes were expected to be content with a life lived mainly in the home. Not all of these women were happy to do so, and, by the end of the century, many defied convention and began to participate in sports such as climbing, cycling, and curling, not always with the approval of their male counterparts. Although there are accounts of women curling earlier in the nineteenth century (see for example here), and even in the eighteenth century (see here), these occurrences were not common. Henrietta Gilmour was a pioneer of curling in Scotland, at a time when the sport was just becoming accepted as an activity in which women could compete, and she deserves to be better known. Who was she?

She was Canadian, born in 1852 in Quebec City. She married her first cousin, John Gilmour, in September, 1873. John was son of Allan Gilmour, one of Scotland’s principal shipowners and involved in the Canadian timber trade. The family business (Allan Gilmour and Company) took John, a young man in his twenties, to Canada, where he was to meet his future wife, a daughter of David Gilmour, his father's younger brother who had died in 1857. The couple returned to Scotland and set up home in Montrave House, on an estate owned by John's father and which he duly inherited.

They had seven children. Allan was born in 1874, but died when just four years old. John (also called Jack) was born in 1876, and Harry in 1878. Maud, the first of two daughters, was born in 1882. Henrietta (Netta) was born in 1884. Ronald was born in 1888, but survived only for three weeks. Douglas, the youngest child, was born in 1889.

It is not thought that Henrietta had curled as a youngster in Canada. She was at home on ice though, and was an accomplished skater.

Her husband John was certainly a keen curler, as his father had been. John founded a curling club based in and around his Fife estate. At the Annual Meeting of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club held in the Bold Arms Hotel, Southport, England, on Friday, July 31, 1885, the Lundin and Montrave Curling Club applied for membership of the governing body, and, having been duly proposed and seconded, the club was admitted at that meeting. In the 1885-86 Annual, John Gilmour and 'Mrs Gilmour' are listed as patron and patroness. John Gilmour was also the club's president and was one of the sixteen regular members listed.

To have been admitted to the Royal Club, the Lundin and Montrave CC would have needed a sheet of ice on which to play. The curling pond, near to Montrave House, can be found easily on old maps, clearly marked on this 25 inch to the mile, from 1894.

The Hearth and Home photograph was taken on this pond.

Henrietta's curling career likely began in earnest after the birth of her son Douglas in 1889. In 1895, when the photo was taken, she would have been around 43 years old. Her team was Isabella Gentle of Kilwhiss, at third, and Mary Martin of Priestfield at lead. The second player was a 'Miss Fortune'. Both Martin and Gentle are listed in the membership roster of the Lundin and Montrave club. Miss Fortune is not, and unlike her teammates I can find no mention of her in reports of curling games in the years following that first successful season. She was perhaps Mary Fortune of Pilmuir Farm. Her younger brother was head of the family there, according to the 1891 census, and lived with his widowed mother, and his two sisters Mary (28) and Jessie (22). George was a member of the Lundin and Montrave club until the 1895-96 season, and that might have been the connection which brought his sister to the ice.

The Lundin and Montrave club flourished, as did the estate, and so did the Gilmour family. John seems not to have been much involved in the family business. He joined the Fife Light Horse in 1874 as Second Lieutenant. He gained promotion to Captain in 1881, and was Lieutenant-Colonel in 1895. He was active in politics, contesting the East Fife constituency on three occasions. In 1897, John Gilmour was created a Baronet, and the Glasgow Herald of June 28, 1897, records scenes of great excitement when Sir John and Lady Gilmour arrived back at Leven station from London. They were undoubtedly popular landowners and held in high esteem.

The Gilmours were a curling family. The parents seem to have encouraged their children to play. By 1897-98, John and Harry were both regular members of the Lundin and Montrave club, and sixteen year old Maud was an occasional member. Two years later she was a regular member. In the 1900-01 Annual, four children, John, Harry, Maud, and Netta, are all listed as regular members of the curling club. Netta indeed may well have been the youngest women to become a 'made' curler. The Dundee Courier of February 18, 1899, reports the annual dinner of the Lundin and Montrave Club. During the evening a curlers' court was formed and a number of curlers, including Miss Netta Gilmour, were 'duly initiated into the mysteries of the brotherhood of the broom'. She would have been fifteen years old!

Lady Henrietta Gilmour continued to compete. For example, on February 15, 1901, the Dundee Courier records that she skipped an all ladies' rink against one from the Balyarrow CC, skipped by Mrs Johnstone, on 'spendid ice' at Montrave, winning 21-14.

The Lundin and Montrave women also played alongside the men. The Dundee Courier reports on February 3, 1902, that a friendly match took place between the Cupar curling club and the Lundin and Montrave club, on the former's pond on Thomaston Farm, four rinks aside. The report highlights the fact that three ladies took part and 'despite the unfavourable conditions, played a sterling game'. Lady Gilmour played lead for her husband. Miss Gentle played second stones for James Balfour, and Miss Martin played lead for T E Mudie. The Cupar teams were the stronger on the day.

Sir John Gilmour became a Vice-president of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club in 1902, and in 1912 he became President. He and his wife left a curling legacy, donating trophies to promote women's curling, more about which in a future article.

But there are two additional important things to say about Henrietta Gilmour. She was one of only two women included in Charles Martin Hardie's famous painting of the Grand Match at Carsebreck, from 1898. The Royal Caledonian Curling Club owns the original of this which hangs in a room in Scone Palace. The National Galleries of Scotland have a smaller version, thought to be a preliminary 'sketch', and this can be seen online, here. Hardie included likenesses of many curlers of the time, and this is discussed by David B Smith in an article about the painting here.

But the discovery which excited me most in my research was that Henrietta Gilmour took up photography as an interest and hobby, probably after Douglas was born in 1889. She is important as the first identified woman photographer in Scotland! Much of her work has survived. Fifteen hundred of her negatives were deposited in St Andrews University Library by her grandson, Sir John Gilmour, 3rd Baronet of Lundin and Montrave, in 1978. These now comprise the Lady Henrietta Gilmour Photographic Collection, looked after and cared for by specialist staff at the University Library. Some of her photos have been exhibited in the past and more recently some of the collection has been digitised and can be seen online, here. A further six hundred negatives were given to the National Museums of Scotland, and these are in the Scottish Life Archive.

Many of Henrietta's photographs depict her husband, her children, and friends. Sir John leased sporting estates in the West of Scotland, and stalking, shooting, fishing, picnicking, bathing, and boating became subjects for Henrietta's camera. At home at Montrave Sir John bred prize livestock. His stud of Clydesdale horses gained national recognition, and horses, as well as prize-winning cattle and sheep, were the subjects of photographs by Lady Gilmour. There are many highland scenes, and photos of buildings. There are also a number of self portraits.

Rarely do we have the privilege of such an insight into what life was like for a landed family in the late Victorian era, Henrietta's photographs providing a fascinating record.

But, given her own interest in the sport, did she photograph curlers and curling? Indeed she did! I have discovered that several such photographs exist. There are two in the Lady Henrietta Gilmour Photographic Collection at St Andrews. And five are in the Scottish Life Archive at the National Museum of Scotland. Some of the latter are available to view as thumbnails on the SCRAN website, and at larger size if you have a subscription. One is (incorrectly) entitled 'Women curling on the Ladies' Curling Pond, Fife, 1896', see here. This is similar, but not identical, to one of those held at St Andrews. The photo is certainly of the Montrave pond, not a 'Ladies' Curling Pond'. The women in these photographs are not all the same as those in the photo that appeared in Hearth and Home, at the top of this article. These seem to be from a different season and are of a different team! But Henrietta Gilmour is herself in the photos. Presumably she had an assistant to operate the shutter of her camera, after setting up the composition of the photo herself.

Could it be that the Hearth and Home photo was also one of Henrietta's own photographs, and supplied to the magazine for its use? Could it be the first ever curling 'selfie'?

More to come about Sir John and Lady Gilmour in a future article.

My thanks go to the helpful staff at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, which holds a run of the Hearth and Home magazine. And to Rachel Nordstrom, Photographic Research and Preservation Officer, Special Collections Division, University of St Andrews, who went the extra mile to help me. The map clipping is from the 25inch to the mile, second edition OS map, from the NLS maps website here.

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The Gilmour Trophies

January 8, 2015, 2:22 am

≫ Next: The Royal Caledonian Curling Club's Railway Station

≪ Previous: Henrietta Gilmour: Pioneer Woman Curler

by Bob Cowan

In a previous post (here) I wrote about Lady Henrietta Gilmour, a pioneer of women's curling in Scotland at the end of the nineteenth century. In this article we move forward to the season of 1912-13. Her husband, Sir John Gilmour, above, has just completed his year as President of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. Although suffering from rheumatism, he still curled at Montrave whenever he could.

Sir John had wished to present a trophy to commemorate his year as Royal Club President. It was suggested that he might consider presenting a trophy for women's play. Hence at the Annual Meeting of the Representative Committee of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club on Thursday, July 24, 1913, in St Margaret's Lecture Hall, Dunfermline, the following was announced:

"Sir John Gilmour, as President, should present to the Royal Club a Trophy, value £25, open only to the Lady Members in Scotland and England. The Match to be played either in the open or in an Ice Rink. The Trophy if won three times by the same Club, not necessarily in succession, becomes the property of the Club. The further conditions of play are to be fixed by the Council of Management of the Royal Club."

In addition, "Lady Gilmour, wife of the present President, who is a Canadian lady and has always taken the greatest interest in the game of Curling, and especially in Canada, desires also to present a Trophy to the value of £25, to be played for by the Lady Members of the Royal Club in Canada. The terms to be the same as above. In presenting these Prizes both Sir John and Lady Gilmour have in view the hope that as a result, greater interest may be taken in the game by ladies."

Was £25 a large sum in 1913? Using the Bank of England's Historic Inflation Calculator, here, £25 back then would be the equivalent of approximately £2,500 today. Donating two such trophies was generous, certainly.

The first competition for the Sir John Gilmour Cup was played at the Haymarket Ice Rink in Edinburgh, January 21-23, 1914. Eight teams took part in a straight knockout format.

First round results:
Miss Baxter (Hercules Ladies) 15, Miss Jean Marshall (Balyarrow Ladies) 12
Miss Brander (Braid) 12, Miss Robertson (Scotscraig) 9
Miss Brodie (Balerno) 12, Miss Scott (Dundee West End) 10
Miss Ogilvy (Broughty Ferry) 21, Miss Curror (Raith and Abbotshall) 12

Provost Husband of Dunfermline presided at a luncheon for the competitors, recognising that it was the first time that a competition for the women had been played under the auspices of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.

In the semifinals, Braid beat Hercules 12-9. Balerno beat Broughty Ferry 16-11.

In the final, the Balerno team (skipped by Miss Brodie, with Mrs Menzies, 3rd, Mrs Sang, 2nd, and Miss Bruce, lead), beat Braid (skipped by Miss Brander, with Mrs Armour, Miss Macintosh and Miss Taylor) 16-11.

The Reverend John Kerr presented the trophy.

Here is a photo of the winning Balerno team: (L-R) Mrs A L Menzies, Miss N Bruce, Mrs J H Sang, Miss Brodie (skip).

All those involved in curling in January 1914 could not have imagined the horrors of war that were to unfold in the years ahead. It was not until 1925 that the competition for the Sir John Gilmour trophy was held again at Haymarket. Balerno won again, the team skipped by Miss Brodie with Mrs Menzies, 3rd, Mrs Sang, 2nd, and Mrs C M Cowan, lead. Only three clubs took part - Balerno, Edinburgh Ladies, and Hercules Ladies.

Miss Brodie and her Balerno team returned in 1926 to try to win the trophy outright. Four clubs - Balerno, Hercules Ladies, Edinburgh Ladies, and Breadalbane Tummel Bridge - took part. Edinburgh Ladies beat Balerno 17-9 in the final. Mrs Crabbie was skip of the winning team.

In 1927 the same four clubs competed for the trophy, and again an Edinburgh Ladies team, skipped by Mrs Crabbie, was successful, defeating Miss Baxter's Hercules Ladies team 18-10 in the final. In 1928, eight teams entered the competition, although Balerno scratched before the first round tie. The other clubs were Edinburgh Ladies, Breadalbane Tummel Bridge, Holyrood, Waverley, Hercules Ladies, Bearsden, and Abington. Mrs Crabbie again skipped the Edinburgh Ladies team, defeated Holyrood 28-5 in the semifinal, and Hercules Ladies 19-5 in the final. The games were of sixteen ends.

By the regulations, that third win allowed the Edinburgh Ladies club to keep the trophy.

The Royal Caledonian Curling Club had already considered what should be done if the Gilmour Trophy was won outright. At the Annual Meeting of the Club on Wednesday, August 3, 1927, in the Central Station Hotel, Glasgow, Andrew Henderson Bishop offered to present another trophy to encourage women's play. He carried through with this offer. The Ladies Challenge Trophy which he presented was first played for in 1929 (and won by Mrs Crabbie with her Edinburgh Ladies team) continues to be played for today as the premier ladies' event in Scotland, aside from the Scottish Championship.

What happened to the Sir John Gilmour trophy? In 1970, it was re-presented by the family of Mrs J E Crabbie to the Edinburgh Area of the Ladies Branch of the Royal Club for annual competition. It now goes, appropriately, to the winners of the Edinburgh area playdowns for the Henderson Bishop competition.

That's the trophy above. One side of the trophy has an image of Lundin Tower. The other says, "Presented by Sir John Gilmour Bart, President RCCC 1912-13. To be played for by all lady members of all local clubs connected to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club in Scotland and England and to become the property of any such club winning it three times (not necessarily in succession)."

This season it was won by Jenny Barr and her team. That's them above with the trophy, (L-R) Fran Stretton, Jenny Barr, Morna Aitken and Susan Kesley, on December 4 last year. They will now take part in the Henderson Bishop finals at Kelso in February.

But what happened to Lady Gilmour's trophy that went to encourage Canadian women's competition? It was played for in the 1913-14 season by eight clubs, with the Heather CC defeating Montreal in the final 18-11. The trophy is still played for ... but as a mixed competition, see here on the Quebec curling website. One has to assume that it was won outright at some point, and then re-presented. Its history remains to be unravelled. Can you help?

The top photo of Sir John Gilmour is from the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1912-13, by Lafayette, London. The photo of the first winners of the Sir John Gilmour trophy was by Balmain, Edinburgh. It was used on a greetings card published by the Edinburgh Curling Club on the occasion of the club's centenary in 2012 and entitled 'Early Haymarket Curling'. This image is what is reproduced here. The other photos are by the author. Thanks for help go to Robin Copland who first drew my attention to Balerno CC's success, see here. Also to Jenny Barr, Debbie Kerr and Iain Baxter at Murrayfield, and Barbara Watt.

Postscript. What happened to the Gilmour family? Sir John Gilmour died in 1920. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Lieutenant colonel John Gilmour DSO, who was MP for Pollok and became Secretary of State for Scotland in 1926. Lady Henrietta died on January 2, 1926, having outlived her son Harry only by some days. He had been wounded in the Boer War, and died on December 24, 1925. The Gilmour's youngest son, Douglas, was killed in WW1, at 26 years old, serving with the 7th Seaforth Highlanders. Netta Gilmour married Captain R W Purvis in 1904. Maud Gilmour married James Younger in February 1906.

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The Royal Caledonian Curling Club's Railway Station

February 12, 2015, 2:04 am

≫ Next: The WW1 internees who curled at Murren

≪ Previous: The Gilmour Trophies

by Bob Cowan

The possible advantages of railways in transporting curlers and their stones to compete in bonspiels had been recognised as early as 1846, as an article in the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1846-47 shows. Just a few years later, by 1853, the Club had constructed its own pond at Carsebreck, served by a halt on the Scottish Central Railway at what was grandly called the 'Royal Curling Club Station'. Later it would become just 'Carsebreck Halt', but at this station many thousands of curlers would disembark trains from all over the country to compete in twenty-five Grand Matches in the years from 1853 to 1935.

What do we know of the origins of the Royal Club's pond at Carsebreck?

The Annual Meeting of the Representative Committee of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club was held in Tait's New Royal Hotel, Edinburgh, on July 27, 1852. The previous year, Sir John Ogilvy had been appointed convener of a committee with the remit of obtaining a 'Grand Pond' for the Royal Club. At the 1852 Annual Meeting, Sir John reported the activities of that committee and indicated that they had found a possible site. The meeting was delighted with the progress. The committee was re-appointed with 'full powers to carry out and complete the proposed scheme of a Pond at Greenloaning, or in any other locality deemed most suitable and convenient by the Committee'. Sir John was to continue as Convener.

It was indicated that the cost and expenses of procuring the pond would be met by voluntary subscriptions from clubs and their members. At that time, the Royal Club listed more than 250 clubs in Scotland.

By the time the Annual for 1852-53 went to press a few months later, much had been achieved. The preface in the Annual says, "In the first place, then, it is with no ordinary pleasure that we direct the attention of the Members of the Royal Club to the statement of the proceedings of the Committee which was appointed to procure a Grand Curling Pond. From that statement it will be seen that the Committee have completed the duty assigned to them, and have realized the long-cherished wish of the Royal Club to have an arena for its hard contests, where the great Captain, 'John Frost', might summon his forces to combat on the shortest notice, and where they should have no dread of ambush in the depths below."

This last phrase shows that there was real concern about holding Grand Matches on natural bodies of water, with considerable depth below the ice. Prior to 1852 there had been three such bonspiels, at Penicuik in 1847, Linlithgow in 1848, and Lochwinnoch in 1850. A draw had been made for one to be held on Lindores Loch in 1851, but this did not go ahead.

The committee had investigated a number of possibilities for a location of the Royal Club's own pond. The site near Greenloaning, mentioned at the 1852 meeting, had looked promising and had been surveyed, but the 'claims of the tenants were so excessive as to prevent farther procedure upon their farms'. An area near Carstairs, served by the Caledonian Railway, was also looked at. That did not work out, and so another site not far from the rejected place at Greenloaning was investigated. The committee report tells the story, "A meeting was held at Carsebreck on 31st July, when the following Members attended, viz., the Convener, Lord Kinnaird, Major Henderson, Messrs Moubray, Smith, King, Stirling, Williamson, Sharp, C. E. Macritchie, Drummond, and the Secretary. Mr Drummond submitted a Plan of the grounds at Carsebreck, and the meeting having inspected the lands, they were of opinion that these were well adapted for a Pond, and that the proximity of the site to the Scottish Central Railway rendered it a most suitable and desirable place for the Pond. They then waited upon Mr Taylor, the tenant of the farm of Carsebreck, who agreed that they should have the site for the entire months of November, December, January, and February at a rental of £15 per annum."

Taylor was a tenant of Mrs Home Drummond Stirling Moray of Abercairny who gave her permission for the pond to be constructed.

The 'Mr Drummond' was Alexander Drummond, a land surveyor, who had his office at 7 Charlotte Street, Perth. He was instructed to complete his plan of the Pond, and to obtain estimates for the work. The Convener agreed 'to wait upon the Directors of the Scottish Central Railway, as to the fares to be paid by Curlers going to and returning from the Pond - and also as to the formation of a siding and ground for erecting a house for the use of the Royal Club'.

It was hoped that the pond would be ready for the coming winter, that of 1852-53. It was!

Estimates for carrying out the work were obtained. Above is the advert in the Perthshire Advertiser in August. The successful tender was made by 'Mr Falshaw, contractor, of Perth'. This is probably James Falshaw, Craigie Bank, who is listed in the Post Office Directory of 1852-53 as a 'contractor' and as a 'railway contractor' the following year. His company had done much of the work on the Stirling - Perth section of the Scottish Central Railway.

There was further negotiation with Robert Taylor of Carsebreck who had claimed for ground not included in the original negotiations, and this was solved by paying him £20. Agreements had to be made with another local farmer, Mr Ross of Westertoun, for the use of some of his ground, and to another, Mr Taylor of Netherton of Buttergask, for access to the pond. In terms of 'access' here, in the days before the invention of the motor car, or even of the bicycle, we are talking about travel on foot, or on horseback, or on a horsedrawn cart or coach. But it was access by the railway that was to ensure the success of the venture. The section of the Scottish Central Railway between Perth and Stirling had been formally opened on May 22, 1848.

The contractor experienced difficulty from 'the nature of the soil', but eventually the embankments and cuts were finished, and the pond was filled with water. The Committee met again at Carsebreck on November 24, 1852, and found the Pond covered with a splendid sheet of ice. The
Royal Club Secretary (Alex Cassels) was authorised to make an interim payment of £150 to Mr Falshaw. The 1853-54 Annual records a further payment of £200, and notes that the total cost of constructing the Grand Pond, with the surveys and rent, had amounted to just over £573 (equivalent to some £69,000 today). By a year after the pond was completed, donations from clubs and individuals amounted to £388, and the cost of the pond was well on the way to being covered.

The Ordnance Survey had not produced a map of the Carsebreck area by 1852. The area covered by the OS 6 inch to the mile and 25 inch to the mile maps was not surveyed until after that date, so we don't know exactly what things looked like prior to the pond's formation. Above is how it looked on the 25 inch map, surveyed in 1863 and published in 1866. And of course, there was no photography back then! How the area looks today can be seen here.

It does seem that the ground on which the pond was formed had been cut previously for peat for use as fuel, and the base of the pond was described as being of a retentive clay. The altitude of the pond was found to be 280 feet above sea level, and the site area was some sixty-one acres.

The depth of the pond when full varied from 6 inches to 5 feet 9 inches - the greatest depth being at the western corner, where the sluice was located. It was intended that the rinks for curling would be formed over the shallowest parts of the pond, it being noted that if the water level was reduced by one foot, none of the rinks need be upon water of more than three feet in depth.

The report in the 1852-53 Annual concludes, "It only remains to be observed that the Directors of the Scottish Central Railway have in the handsomest manner met all the desires of the Committee. Besides agreeing to reduce the fares to and from the Pond, they have constructed a siding and a station for the Pond, and they have allowed the Station to be called 'The Royal Curling Club Station'."

The first use of the station and the pond would come in February 1853. That will be the subject of another 'Carsebreck story'.

The map images are screenshots from the Ordnance Survey maps available on the National Library of Scotland maps website here. The image from the Perthshire Advertiser is © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, and reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive.

↧

The WW1 internees who curled at Murren

March 6, 2015, 6:58 am

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by Bob Cowan

In the early years of the twentieth century, mountain resorts in Switzerland became popular as winter holiday destinations. There was as yet no downhill skiing, but cross country, skating and curling were much practised. British visitors flocked to the resorts, many of which established curling clubs. St Moritz and Davos had led the way in the late nineteenth century, but other places soon became destinations where keen curlers could be sure of finding excellent ice in January and February each year.

In 1905 Sir Henry Lunn established the Public Schools Alpine Sports Club to popularize winter sports. Enthusiasts travelled with Lunn's company to such resorts as Adelboden, Montana, Villars, Wengen, Murren, and Engelberg.

By 1914, there were eighteen Swiss curling clubs listed in the Annual of the Royal Curling Club. The 1913-14 Annual contains reports of competitions held in Morgins, Grindelwald, Adelboden, Leukerbad, and Murren. The last mentioned features in the old postcard at the head of this article. The postcard is postally unused, and so is difficult to date, but is probably from the 1920s. There is a large sheet of ice in front of the Palace Hotel, part for skating and part for curling.

In the 1914-15 Annual lists the Murren CC with 46 regular and 13 occasional members. The office bearers are shown above.

When the war began, tourism to Switzerland, albeit a neutral country, was much affected. However, that country was to play an important role during the war years.

An agreement between the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Swiss government with the warring parties was signed in 1914. POWs who were too seriously wounded or sick to be able to continue in military service were to be repatriated through Switzerland, with the assistance of the Swiss Red Cross. By November 1916 some 8,700 French and 2,300 German soldiers had been returned home.

Further agreements were eventually signed concerning sick or badly wounded POWs who might still be capable of military work away from the front line if they were repatriated. If repatriation could not be countenanced, the agreements allowed for them to be interned in Switzerland, this aiding their recovery without furthering the enemy’s war effort. Groups of Swiss doctors visited POW camps to select potential internees. Once a POW had been selected, he would be brought before a board comprising two Swiss Army doctors, two doctors from the country holding him captive, and a representative of the prisoner’s own nation.

By the end of 1916, some 27,000 former POWs were interned in Switzerland, about half of whom were French, one third German and the remainder mostly British or Belgian. By the end of the war, nearly 68,000 men had been interned in Switzerland.

Much information about the British who were interned in Switzerland can be found in a book The British Interned in Switzerland by Lieutenant-Colonel H P Picot, published by Edward Arnold, London, 1919. It is available to download or to read online, here.

This website about Switzerland and the First World War is an excellent read.

One of the main centres for interned British was at Châteux d’Oex. The first interned British ex-POWs to reach Switzerland, about 300 officers and other ranks, arrived there on May 31, 1916. Some 700 British internees were eventually held in the vicinity. Leysin was used for British tuberculosis sufferers.

Another camp for British internees was at Murren, which held 600 men and 30-40 officers. This village was high up in the mountains, and difficult to reach for much of each year. Although the situation was beautiful, many of the internees were so badly ill or wounded that they were confined indoors when it snowed.

I was curious to find if the curling facilities, so prominent before the war, were used by the internees.

A first hand account of life at Murren was made by John Harvey Douglas, in a book published in 1918, entitled Captured: Sixteen months as a prisoner of war. This was serialised by a number of North American newspapers. Douglas was a Canadian officer who was captured after being wounded in June, 1916, during the Battle of Mount Sorrel (see here). His account of his experiences on the front line and as a POW is extremely interesting. He arrived in Murren with a party of nine officers and two hundred men. Although he was only to be there for a short time he does describe how the officers were all billetted in the Palace Hotel and the rest of the men in seven other hotels. They were all treated as guests, their board being paid for by the British Government. Although this was a small amount, apparently the hotel keepers were grateful for the income and it allowed them to keep their establishments operational during the lean war years. Douglas mentions that several of the officers had family members permanently with them. All the internees continued to receive medical treatment. Those needing operations were transferred to hospitals in the major cities, the expenses again being paid for by the British Government.

At Murren, a school was established, and several workshops, and a print shop. There were classes in foreign languages, and there were dances and dance lessons. Sport too played a part in keeping internees active. Douglas says, "Everything possible was done to entertain the men and make their lot more pleasant." Football was popular in the summer. In the winter a hockey team was organised from the fifty or so Canadians, even though all who played were handicapped by injury in some way or other. The internees got the local bob run back in operation. And skiing was enjoyed by those who were able. Douglas bought himself skis, and his first efforts resulted in broken ribs!

Tantalisingly, curling is mentioned just the once, before Douglas left Murren to go to Lausanne for further treatment on his arm injury. He writes, "Things were very pleasant in Murren; the skiing and curling were good, and I would have gladly stayed on til the snow left, but my arm was giving me trouble ..."

Douglas was eventually repatriated and his story of his journey back to Montreal and his family is moving indeed.

Recently I came across this photograph which purports to show 'English officers curling on the Palace rink'. This originated appeared in a publication of the Kandahar Ski Club in 2007, written by Andrew Gunz, but I have no other details of its provenance, or indeed when exactly it was taken.

But the very existence of this photograph suggests that there may be more evidence of internees curling at Murren still to be found. Perhaps, reading this, you can help? I would be interested to learn if there are further sources which elaborate on the activities of the Murren internees in the final years of WW1. Given recent efforts to make curling accessible to all, it would be interesting to know how severely injured soldiers coped with the sport and indeed, if this recreation helped in their recovery.

After the war, Murren again became a popular winter holiday resort. See here to read about its role in the development of downhill skiiing. And curling is still a feature of the resort in winter, here.

There is a useful timeline of British visitors to Switzerland here.

Photos from the author's archive. Thanks to Erwin Sautter for the extract from the Kandahar Ski Club Review.

↧

The day the house got smaller

August 7, 2015, 2:10 am

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(or 'Sheet Seven at Crossmyloof')

by Bob Cowan

The World Curling Federation has clear instruction on the size of the house, the circles, on a sheet of curling ice. Of course, the colourful circles are not really necessary. What is relevant to the game is the edge of the outer circle, as this defines the 'counting area'. According to the WCF's 2014 rules booklet (which can be downloaded here), the outer edge of the outer circle must have a radius of 1.829 metres (6 feet). This wasn't always the case. The 'counting area' used to be much larger!

For some 80 years, from the middle of the nineteenth century, the rules of the game, as published by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, stipulated that stones should not count if they were clearly outside the seven-foot circle. The house had a diameter of fourteen feet.

The rules section of each Annual of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club contained a diagram to assist with the laying out of the curling rink. The legend noted, "Around each tee draw a circle having a radius of 7 feet. [Inner circles may also be drawn.]" And the accompanying rule was "A rink shall score one shot for every stone which is nearer the tee than any stone of the opposing rink. Every stone which is not clearly outside the seven-foot circle shall be eligible to count."

The above is taken from the 1937-38 Annual.

All was to change on July 27, 1938, when the representative members of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club gathered in the North British Station Hotel in Edinburgh for the Club's Annual Meeting. Thomas A Gentles, the Club's President, was Chairman, and had to apologise for the small size of the room, the meeting being so well attended. Probably most of the delegates would have been looking forward to the evening where they would attend a dinner to celebrate a significant milestone in the Club's history. The Royal Caledonian Curling Club was one hundred years old!

But first the business of the day had to be covered.

Towards the end of the meeting, William Henderson of Kinnochtry Lawton got up to propose a motion. He had recently returned from North America as Captain of the 1937-38 Tour. He said, "Mr. President, lady and brother curlers, as the result of our experience in Canada and the United States I have put down this motion, with the unanimous approval, I think, of the Council, and, I think, also of the team, but if any of them think otherwise they can say so. In all the rinks in Canada and in the United States the rings are twelve feet, and I think I am correct in saying that we had gone a considerable distance on our journey before some of us realised that we were playing to twelve feet instead of fourteen feet."

The motion which Henderson was now proposing was, "The Tees shall be 38 yards apart, and with the Tees as centres, circles having a radius of not less than six feet and not more than seven feet shall be drawn. Additional inner circles may also be drawn."

The motion was seconded by John Wanliss of the Cowden Club.

Henderson explained, "My main reason for putting forward the motion is that there is not a single rink in Canada that is larger than twelve feet. That is their only transgression of the Rules of the mother club, and I do feel, and our brother curlers there feel, that they would like to be put in order and that the rule might be as I have suggested, namely, that the ring may be not less than twelve feet and not more than fourteen, and anyone can choose as they like between these limits."

The Royal Club President spoke in favour of the motion, "I may say, gentlemen, that this proposal of Mr Henderson's was discussed in a full meeting of Council, and we took the view that while we do not desire to encourage the abolition of the seven-feet radius, or its restriction in anyway, we support Mr Henderson's proposal, with a desire that we should legalise what is the practice in Canada."

It is interesting, is it not, that what is implied here is that the North Americans were breaking the rules of the game by having twelve foot circles. The Royal Caledonian Curling Club in 1938 was the 'mother club' and still thought of itself as the world authority on the sport.

At the end of the day, the motion was passed, but not before there had been considerable discussion.

This was the diagram which appeared in the Annual following the 1938 meeting. The legend had the compromise statement, "Around each tee draw a circle having a radius of not less than 6 feet nor more than 7 feet. [Inner circles may also be drawn.]" The applicable rule was now, "A rink shall score one shot for every stone which is nearer the tee than any stone of the opposing rink. Every stone which is not clearly outside the outer circle shall be eligible to count."

Henderson had not based his arguments in favour of his motion simply on persuading the representative members that the Royal Club should fall into line with what was the norm on the other side of the Atlantic. By 1938 much curling in Scotland had moved indoors. The main arenas in which the sport was played in the 1937-38 season were the Edinburgh Ice Rink in Haymarket, the Central Scotland Ice Rink in Perth, and the Scottish Ice Rink at Crossmyloof, each of which offered six sheets of ice for curling. The Dundee, Kirkcaldy, and Falkirk rinks were to open in late 1938, and Ayr, Aberdeen and Dunfermline the following year. Although used for curling, it was the demand for watching ice hockey, as well as for skating, that was the stimulus for these arenas to be constructed.

Here is the advert that the Scottish Ice Rink Company ran in the Royal Club Annual for 1937-38. The Crossmyloof arena then had only one sheet of ice which could accommodate six sheets of ice (with 14 foot diameter houses), and which was also used for skating and ice hockey.

It should be pointed out that many different curling clubs rented ice at the facility at different times and on different days, as well as competing in the many open competitions advertised.

It was the demand for curling ice that prompted the Scottish Ice Rink to build a £20,000 extension, a separate single story rink adjacent to the main arena, and this was completed in 1938.

The opening of the annexe provided a further six rinks, in addition to the six that could be accommodated in the main arena. Note that, in the main rink, there was an 'end ice' area reserved for skating, even when curling was going on. This advert is from the 1938-39 Annual.

At the 1938 AGM, Henderson had argued, "One main reason for the lesser ring than the one we are accustomed to, the fourteen-feet ring, is the fact that you get more rinks in the building. In Canada and the States, as you know, all the curling takes place under a roof, and it is coming to be that way in Scotland too. One can see the number of rinks that are going up all over the country, and I think it would lead to cheaper games. I think instead of three shillings probably two shillings and sixpence will be the result; at least, I hope for that, although I get no guarantee. If you get seven rinks into very slightly more than is at present required for six rinks, it is obvious that there would be a very considerable increase in the earning capacity of the area. You then get in 56 curlers instead of 48; and you must not forget when curlers go to these rinks it generally is not what they pay for the rink but what they do for the general good of the house."

The thought that the cost of their sport might be reduced if ice rinks had more sheets available for them to play on may well have been persuasive for the representative members to vote in favour of the resolution! I am sure that the ice rink owners would have welcomed a change of rules that allowed more curlers to play on the same sheet of ice than before, although this did not happen immediately. A World War intervened.

It took a while after the war for curling demand to return to pre-war levels. However, by 1950, the Scottish Ice Rink could accommodate 14 rinks, seven in each of the main rink and the annexe, as seen in the advert above, from the 1950-51 Annual. This of course could only be accomplished with houses of twelve feet in diameter, rather than fourteen. This is how I remember Crossmyloof when I began my curling career in the early 1960s. On some evenings, seven sheets were in action in the main rink, and seven in the annexe, although the latter was called simply the 'curling rink', as a new four-sheet ice pad was soon to be constructed, which would be known as 'the annexe'. For more on Crossmyloof, see here.

My subconscious mind has always wondered why the curling rink I started to play on had seven lanes of ice. Why not six, or eight? Seven is a rather odd number, in more ways than one! But we know now that it was the change in the rules of the game in 1938 that allowed for more lanes to be included in the building which had once held just six!

Sheets six and seven on the curling rink at Crossmyloof are shown in this old photograph. The Carmunnock and Rutherglen CC is at play in the early 1970s. Nearest to the camera, on sheet 6, Norman Crosthwaite is delivering the stone with Russell Chambers ready to sweep. Behind, on sheet 7, a young Ken Horton is skipping against his brother David. Their father ('Mr Horton') watches behind the rink, alongside Johnny Hibberd.

Circles fourteen feet in diameter were still in use on outside ice into the 1960s. It was not until the Royal Club's Annual Meeting in the summer of 1963 that the rule was finally rationalised. Robin Welsh, the Club's Secretary, brought the matter to the attention of the meeting: "Rule 44: That this rule be altered to read as follows, 'The tees shall be 38 yards apart - and, with the tees as centres, circles having a radius of 6 feet shall be drawn'."

Willie Wilson (St Boswells) explained, "During the year the Competitions Committee, of which I am Convener, held a meeting and the chief purpose of that meeting was to discuss this rule which was brought up by the Swedish Curling Union and we decided this. It was approved by Council and it was sent to all the Overseas Associations and was approved by a large majority."

And curling circles have been 12 feet in diameter even since, indoors AND on outside ice!

The Crossmyloof photo is from the author's archive. The adverts are scanned from Royal Club Annuals in the author's library.

↧

Curling Minutes Online

October 12, 2015, 5:10 am

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Review by Bob Cowan

Ethnology is 'The study of the characteristics of different peoples and the differences and relationships between them'. A short video, here, from the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore explores 'What is European Ethnology?' The European Ethnological Research Centre, based at the University of Edinburgh, is engaged in a study of the ethnology of Dumfries and Galloway, the south west region of Scotland, see here. The Edinburgh group is transcribing diaries, memoirs, account books and journals for their research, as well as recording the spoken memories of people alive today.

The reason for this article is that the Centre has published online the full text of The Minute Book of Lochmaben Curling Society 1823-1863.

In times past, particularly in the late eighteenth and in the nineteenth centuries, the sport of curling was an important social activity during the winter months. Curling club minute books contain a fascinating record, not just of matches won and lost, but of interactions between members and the club's patrons, the difficulties of maintaining a place to play, the interactions with other clubs, and the costs involved in playing the sport. Curling club minute books can contain much information about everyday life.

But early minute books are not easy to access. Some, from clubs long defunct, have found their way into national and local archives. Others may still be in the hands of clubs that have survived and have long histories. Many others have just disappeared. Depending on the hand of the club secretary, they may not be easy to read. Some club historians have gathered material from old minute books to publish within club histories, usually to celebrate significant anniversaries. Cameron McKiddie's 'Celebrating Curling - The Roarin' Game', published to commemorate the bicentenary of Kirriemuir Curling Club, is a good example, see here.

But, until now, no complete curling club minute book has gone online, to become a readily accessible resource for researchers of the future. That it has happened is all due to the diligence and perseverance of Lynne Longmore.

Lynne had used club minute books when researching her MPhil in Decorative Art and Design History at the University of Glasgow. Her dissertation was on the subject of silver curling medals including those still held by the Lochmaben Castle Curling Club. At the time (2004) she realised just how significant were these minute books which provided first hand accounts of the historic Scottish sport. At a personal level it was all the more fascinating for Lynne as she had grown up in Lochmaben. After completing her masters degree, she made it her mission to transcribe the earliest minute book, covering the period from 1823 to 1863. This took four months over the winter of 2004-2005. Lynne says, "I worked away slowly deciphering the various styles of flourishing handwriting combined with the fading ink, unfamiliar old Scots terminology and often Latin phrase used, but enjoying every moment of it."

Having completed this task, Lynne presented the Lochmaben curlers with their own copy for any member to read, as a thank you for allowing access to the minute books.

Lynne then began to think that a summary of the more notable minutes would make easier reading. This led to the publication in 2012 of 'Minutes of Note', above, and reviewed in the Curling History blog here.

Alison Burgess, the Dumfries and Galloway Local Studies and Information Officer at the Ewart Library in Dumfries, suggested that Lynne contact Mark Mulhern of the European Ethnological Research Centre about the Sources of Local History project which was in its infancy. From that approach, Lynne was put in contact with Dr Kenneth Veitch. A meeting was arranged in Edinburgh, and the effort to put the Lochmaben minutes online was underway.

Lynne notes how important it was to obtain permission from the current Lochmaben Castle Curling Club committee and members, and the proposal was discussed at the club's AGM in 2013. Lynne says, "The club has been very supportive in all my work regarding the club’s history and this was no exception. They conveyed great pride at being the first to lead the way in the new online Local Studies Written Word series and full permission was granted."

Lynne and Kenneth worked through several drafts over a two year period, checking and rechecking details, and then they worked together on a Foreword and Editorial.

The Foreward shows what can be uncovered in the fully transcribed minutes: "The book will naturally be of interest to historians of curling. The carefully set out minutes and regulations in themselves show the extent to which societies organised and formalised the local game in the early nineteenth century, and so ensured not only its continuance, but also its development. Details, such as the decision of the Lochmaben curlers to incorporate their rules with those of the Duddingston Curling Society, highlight how societies also helped to create both an awareness among their members of curling as a national game, and the organisational framework for it. The move towards standard rules and equipment was also encouraged by their promotion of local and, in particular, inter-parish spiels (the latter aided by ever-improving transport and communications). The minutes are replete with records of such matches, including a proposed inter-province spiel between Dumfriesshire and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright."

and

"That the curlers of Lochmaben repeatedly voted against adopting the two stone rule is a reminder that the creation of a uniform, national game was nonetheless a gradual process, with regional variations persisting even after the founding of the Grand Caledonian Curling Club in 1838. Indeed, it is revealed here that at the beginning of the 1860s the rinks from the neighbouring parishes of Lochmaben and Dryfesdale were playing different forms of the game."

The full publication can be downloaded from this page.

The front cover for the online minute book was a collaboration between Lynne and designers at Edinburgh University!

Congratulations go to Lynne Longmore and Kenneth Veitch on all their efforts to date. And there's more to come. The European Ethnological Research Centre Written Word project is keen to continue with the transcript of the second Lochmaben minute book 1863 to 1891, so this may be the next to go online.

Lynne has also completed the full transcript of the other Lochmaben curling club, the Royal Bruce Curling Club. These minutes begin in 1831 and continue through to 1897.

The top photo of the original Lochmaben minute book is used courtesy of Lynne Longmore. The Lochmaben Castle CC has a Facebook page here.

Thanks to Lynne for her help with this article. Some of her MPhil dissertation research has been published: 'Curling Medals in Nineteenth Century Scotland: Their Historical, Social and Cultural Significance within Rural Parishes of Dumfries and Galloway' by Lynne J M Longmore, Review of Scottish Culture, Volume 26, 2014, pp87-108.

↧

The Sheriff

December 5, 2015, 2:54 am

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David B Smith, my friend and mentor, died on November 30, 2015, at a nursing home in Ayr. He had many interests in life, but I got to know him because of curling. That was in the 1970s, and we were taking part in the 'Under-35s' at the Haymarket rink in Edinburgh. In the years that followed, his interest in the sport's history became one that I shared. He taught me, and he encouraged me. We shared adventures together, one of which is described in this post.

David wrote extensively about the history of curling, and about collecting curling memorabilia. In the seven years I edited the Scottish Curler magazine, he was the most reliable contributor, ensuring that each issue contained a suitable article. When he faced a hospital admission, and was unsure how quickly he would recover from his operation, he even made sure I had an extra article in hand!

His book, Curling: an illustrated history, published in 1981, remains the best source for information on the sport's early history, even now.

He wrote several 'academic' articles, for example this one in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, the premier journal covering all aspects of Scotland’s archaeology and history.

Together we set up this blog as an outlet for his writings about curling. Recently he didn't feel able to write much, but has encouraged me to write articles for the blog myself. Here are some photos of David taken over the years for you to remember him by. His funeral is on Friday, December 11, 2pm, at Masonhill Crematorium, Ayr.

There cannot be many photos of David without his beard! He's on the left of the group above, when he organised an experiment in 1968 to see how old stones would perform on the ice of the Haymarket rink in Edinburgh. There's a story about a similar experiment here.

I am not sure when this photo was taken, but I'm sure David is doing what he most enjoyed - talking about curling, with several old stones as his 'props'.

David's home rink was Ayr. He was a great supporter of the Eglinton Jug competition. The trophy, which David is presenting here, is the most prestigious trophy contended for by Ayrshire curlers.

David wrote regularly for the Scottish Curler magazine for more than thirty years. Robin Crearie, when he was the magazine's editor, used this photo of David on the cover of the magazine.

David often helped out by umpiring... in his own inimitable style, as can be seen in this photo taken at the Greenacres rink!

David organised many exhibitions celebrating curling's history. Most recently, in 2012, he put on a display of artifacts from his own collection on the occasion of the World Curling Federation's inaugural annual congress at Turnberry.

David had a passion for curling outdoors. He infected others with his enthusiasm. Here he is demonstrating a classic crampit delivery at Coodham in 2010, which was, I suspect, the last time he played outside. Story and more pix here.

David was always willing to talk!

Playing for Scotland: The Making of Modern Sport is an ongoing exhibition in the National Portrait Gallery in Queen Street, Edinburgh. You can still listen to David on the video Scotland: A Sporting History accompanying the exhibition. Watch that online here. (The curling content starts at just over five minutes in, after a chapter on golf.)

A favourite photo, this one, taken at the Lagoon Centre, Paisley, when David was there as a fan at the World Women's Championship in 2005.

My life is richer for having known 'The Sheriff'.

Bob Cowan

Photos are from my archives. Apologies if photographer credits are not included.

↧

David Chalmers: The Curling Butler at Fingask

December 22, 2015, 6:49 am

≫ Next: Curling at Hogmanay

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by Bob Cowan

In the centre of the photo above is Fingask Castle, near Rait in Perthshire. The castle dates from 1594. It remains a family home and is a romantic venue these days for weddings, see here. You can read about the castle's history here and here.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, Fingask was home to Sir Patrick Murray Threipland, the fifth baronet. Sir Peter, as he was called, was head of the household with three older sisters, Jessie, Eliza and Catherine, all unmarried, and their mother, Lady Murray Threipland.

The census in March 1851 shows that the Threipland family had a staff of seven: a housekeeper (Jean Oswald); a ladies maid (Mary Gray); a cook (Margaret Stewart); Sir Peter's own housemaid (Mary McLagan); a butler (David Chalmers); a footman (John Bertram); and a coachman (Andrew David).

The Fingask Curling Club was founded in 1843 and admitted to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club the same year. Sir Peter was the driving force. The club's membership, as at November 1, 1849, is recorded in the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1849-50. Sir Peter was the President, and his mother, Lady Murray Threipland, was the 'Patroness'. David Chalmers, a regular member since 1844, was also on the club's management committee. There were nineteen regular members, and six occasional members. The club even had an 'Extraordinary Member', James Young, 'Civil Engineer to the Club'.

David Chalmers was Sir Peter's butler. In 1851 Sir Peter was fifty years old, and David thirty years of age. David kept a record of his activities at the castle and this has survived. A booklet, The Butler's Day Book 1849 - 1855, is the source of the information here. It's subtitled 'Everyday Life in a Scottish Castle'. It is a collection of short diary entries and was privately published by Andrew Threipland in 1999.

This my own copy of The Butler's Day Book, with its image of Fingask Castle on the somewhat faded front cover.

Curling gets many mentions and the entries clearly show that the sport played a significant role in everyday life at Fingask in the winter months. Over five winters from 1849 to 1855, David records playing on the Fingask pond(s) on over one hundred occasions. The winter of 1850-51 was poor, with only six days play that he mentions. But in the other years, it seems that ice could be found regularly from December through February, and occasionally in November and March.

Typical entries are that of December 24, 1849, "Sir P. and I curling all day," or January 5, 1850, "Sir P. and I went to the curling and had a fine game." Two days later there was, "A fine turn out of curlers and fine ice."

The pond was inspected often in the hope that play would be possible, for example, on December 4, 1852, "Sir P., Robertson and I went to the pond but the ice would not do." So David went shooting pigeons that day. Four days later, "I and Charlie went up to the curling pond and had a fine game."

January 19, 1853, "Sir P., Robertson and I curling. Ice very watery today." The following day, "Ice all gone."

March 10, 1855. "Began curling this morning at 6 o'clock and gave it up at 10 o'clock. Came on a heavy fall of snow."

Curling went on even if conditions were not perfect. January 21, 1854, "Sir P. and I curling. Came on rain. Sir P. left us and went home for the wet. I stopped and had a fine game."

It was not uncommon to play all day. But perhaps March 4, 1852, was exceptional, "Sir P. went to the curling after breakfast, the rest of us started early in the morning. Fine ice till 10 o'clock pm."

Where were these games taking place?

At the time that David was recording his curling exploits, the Fingask curlers had two ponds, both to the north west of Fingask Castle itself. These are clearly marked on the Ordnance Survey map published in 1867, although surveyed several years earlier. Play on the 'upper pond' is recorded occasionally in The Butler's Day Book. But mostly play was on the 'lower pond', that shown in the bottom of the image above, nearer the castle than the other.

The Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1853-54 records the following in an article about artificial ponds. "The Fingask Pond, which was made by that distinguished landlord and keen Curler, Sir P. M. Threipland, is in many respects similar, with this advantage, however, that it is 6 or 700 feet above the level of the sea, which will insure ice at an earlier and much later season of the year than in any other Curling Pond in the kingdom."

This refers to the 'lower pond'. We know from The Butler's Day Book that there was a curling house beside the pond, for example, January 1, 1854, "The curling lodge broke into last night and some Aqua taken out of it." Evidently, it was used for post-game refreshments! It was also big enough to host meetings of the club, for example, August 28, 1855, "Sir P. at a meeting at the curling bothy of the curlers. A good turn out."

Indeed, a building is evident on the old maps. The curling house (or lodge, or bothy) is the pink square on the north side of the pond in this clipping from the OS 25 inch map of 1867.

The pond had to be maintained. On August 30, 1852, David records, "Thomas Mitchell repairing it." On December 7, 1853, "A new rope put on the flag staff at the curling pond."

February 17, 1853, was a special day on the Fingask pond. "Sir P. curling. Lady Threipland's medal played for today. Gained by the secretary Mr. Morrison, took it at 7 points. The Miss Threiplands all up and a fine turn out of ladies. Had a splendid luncheon sent up to the pond from the castle. Everyone very happy and all had a fine dancing on the green after luncheon in which the ladies and onlookers took great delight in. But the curlers set to work again to play for other two prizes and very sorry they were that Mr. John Frost would not allow them to get their feet shaken. The Misses Threipland gave a very handsome curling vest to be played for. It was all wrought over with curling stones and besoms all though it. Everyone eager to get it and especially the bachelors. And Sir P. gave a pair of curling stones to be played for at the same time and after the points was all played and the books added up Mr. Sprunt counted 7 points, and Mr. Scott 6 points, the two highest. Mr. Sprunt got the vest and Mr. Scott the stones, both married men. Bachelors far back."

Lady Treipland's medal was the Fingask Club's premier competition for singles play 'at points'.

That day in February 1853 was the subject of an article about curling which appeared in the Illustrated London News on January 7, 1854. This was accompanied by an engraving of the scene - it would be fifty years before photographs of curling appeared in newspapers. The image shows the curling house, with smoke coming from the chimney, and the hills behind. There are people dancing outside. A coach is drawn up at the door. A group of three ladies is seen standing on the ice. The play looks odd - but the artist is trying to show that it is not team vs team curling that is going on, but points play. The odd looking handles on the stones perhaps suggest that the engraver, in copying an artist's sketch, had not himself ever seen an actual curling stone!

Whatever the flaws, the newspaper image conveys the excitement of the occasion and brings the day to life. One can only imagine though just what the prize 'curling vest' was like.

The Fingask Club competed against neighbouring clubs, sometimes on their own pond, and sometimes elsewhere. The Fingask pond was used as a neutral venue when neighbouring clubs competed for a Royal Club District Medal. And Fingask Curling Club was represented by three rinks at the 1853 Grand Match, the first to be held at the Royal Club's new pond at Carsebreck. All these events were recorded by David Chalmers in The Butler's Day Book.

On December 31, 1852, he records the purchase of baskets for his curling stones. "Paid 8/6d for them." (That would be around £40 today.)

There are many entries that leave the reader wanting more information! On March 10, 1849, David writes "Me and Willie went up to the curling pond about 2 o'clock but got no curling. Mr Souter and two or three more there drinking toddy. Mr Souter and some of the rest fell out and had a regular sprawl. I kept free of them."

One has to wonder what the stramash was about. The 'Mr Souter' is undoubtedly Andrew Souter, who had been a regular member since the Fingask club was formed. Indeed, he had even been on the management committee in 1846. For whatever reason, Souter is not listed as a member of the club after 1849, nor is he mentioned again by David Chalmers in The Butler's Day Book.

On August 1849, David records, "Sir P and I went up to the curling pond and brought down our curling stones to get polished. Willie went into Perth to the Court about a ferret and gained the day." What was the story about the ferret, I wonder?

The last mention of curling in The Butler's Day Book is dated December 31, 1855. This says, "A very dull day and very fresh. There has been a great deal of curling this year but the Fingask Club, I am sorry to say, has been very unlucky in all their matches, always beat, very bad."

Sir Peter died in 1882 aged 81, but not before he had constructed an artificial pond within the castle's grounds. The ponds on the hill fell into disuse. David Chalmers remained as Sir Peter's butler. He was sixty years old at the 1881 census, and presumably was at Sir Peter's side when he died. He continued to be a member of the Fingask CC long after the records in The Butler's Day Book finished. He even won Lady Murray Streipland's medal in 1867, as recorded in the Dundee Courier on February 1 that year. His name is listed on the Fingask club's roster of members as at October 1891, although just as an 'occasional member'. In fact, he died in November of that year, aged 70.

The Fingask Curling Club is still in existence today.

There is one last curling connection which can be made from entries in The Butler's Day Book. On August 14, 1850, David records, "Mr Rees, portrait painter, arrived here to take Sir Peter's likeness for a painting he is painting of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club." The 'Mr Rees' was in fact Charles Lees, well known for his painting of 'The Golfers' (see here) from 1847. Lees was now working on a painting to commemorate the Grand Match at Linlithgow Loch. He stayed at Fingask until August 16.

The Linlithgow Grand Match had taken place on January 25, 1848. Thirty-five northern rinks played an equal number of southern rinks, with a further hundred southern rinks playing matches amongst themselves. Charles Lees's large painting includes images of various notable curling personalities of the time, even those who were not present at the Grand Match. It is believed that Lees travelled to the homes of curlers to sketch those to be included. The Butler's Day Book contains the evidence that he did.

After years in private hands, the painting was bought by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club in 1898 and has belonged to the curlers of Scotland since then. It's a long story but, happy to say, the painting has recently been restored and is now on loan to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and is on display in Edinburgh, see here. Sir Peter is highlighted in the detail from the painting above.

Lastly, it should be said that The Butler's Day Book contains much of interest other than curling! There are copies in the National Library of Scotland if you want to read it for yourself.

Top photo: Fingask Castle from the air, taken from a hot air balloon just east of Rait. The image is © Mike Pennington and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. It is from the Geograph website here.

The map images are courtesy of the National Library of Scotland, and are screenshots from maps on the library's maps website here. If you want to find out more about historical curling places, go here.

The image from the Illustrated London News has been widely reproduced and can be easily found on the Web.

The detail from Grand Match at Linlithgow is from an old reproduction of the painting in my collection of memorabilia. As noted above the original is owned by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club and is currently on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Queen Street, Edinburgh.

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Curling at Hogmanay

December 31, 2015, 1:56 am

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≪ Previous: David Chalmers: The Curling Butler at Fingask

The British Newspaper Archive is the project to digitise some 40 million pages from the British Library's large collection of newspapers. It launched in November 2011 with 4 million pages, and four years later over 12 million pages from over 540 individual titles are now online.

The BNA is a wonderful resource for those interested in social history. It is proving invaluable to the curling historian too. News clippings with evidence for those places where outside curling was played in years past now grace the subsidiary pages of many of the entries in the Historical Curling Places website.

Aside from using the BNA specifically for 'pond hunting', there are many, many entries therein which give a glimpse of what it was like to have been a member of a curling club in Victorian times.

This being Hogmanay, 2015, with no sign of sufficiently cold weather here in Scotland, all one can do is dream of curling outside. So perhaps an article from the Dundee Courier of January 8, 1869, will serve as a prompt!

Curling by moonlight at Braemar! How wonderful. With candles burning at the end of each rink.

The story continues:

Note that play carried on until 01.30, but with a break at midnight to celebrate the incoming year, with suitable refreshment!

A Happy New Year to all curlers everywhere.

Bob Cowan

The images are screenshots from the online paper and are reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive. The images are © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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The Largest Fragment

January 4, 2016, 1:58 am

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by Bob Cowan

I have this little book in my curling library. 'Robbie of the Kirkhaven Team' was written by Florence Wightman Rowland, and illustrated by Brian David. It was published in 1973 by Ginn and Company and is a primary school book - Magic Circle Books Reading 360 series, Level 9, Unit 2 - written in a way to appeal to, say, an eight year old.

It looks as if my copy originated from the O'Hara Catholic School in Eugene Oregon, and came to Scotland by way of a bookshop in Reno, Nevada.

"Snow had fallen in the Scottish Highlands during the night. As soon as he awoke, Robbie jumped out of bed and ran to the window to look out. The moors and hills in the distance were white with snow. Above them, the sky was the color of a bluebell - not a cloud in sight. Robbie grinned. What a perfect day for a curling game!"

So reads the first paragraph. Did I say it was a fictional story?

Nine year old Robbie tells his Canadian cousin Katy, 7, all about curling, and he goes off to compete in a match on outside ice against a team from 'Glencove'.

The story has a happy ending!

Spoiler Alert! An important twist in the story involves the breakage of a curling stone, as pictured above by Brian David, whose illustrations make this little book such a treasure.

That got me thinking. How old is the rule which governs a stone breaking during play?

The above is from 'An Account of the Game of Curling', published in 1811. This book contains the first printed reference to curling's rules, as practised at the time by the Duddingston Curling Society of Edinburgh. There are only twelve rules written down, and these had 'received the approbation and sanction' of the club at a meeting on January 6, 1804. The second sentence of Rule 5 illustrates what should be done if a stone broke. If, after breakage, parts of the stone were still 'in play', then the 'largest fragment' should count when it came to assessing the score at the end of the end. And another stone could be used thereafter.

The inclusion of the rule, in the earliest printed set of rules, does suggest that breakage was not uncommon. How often did the rule have to be invoked, I wonder?

Of course, the stones being played with at the beginning of the nineteenth century, were not of Ailsa or Trefor granite, but were mostly of whinstone, that term used to describe any hard dark-coloured rock commonly found in many places in Scotland.

When the Grand Caledonian Curling Club was formed in 1838, it adopted the Duddingston rules. The first Annual for 1838-39 has this as Rule 9, "All Curling Stones shall be of a circular shape. No stone must be changed throughout the game, unless it happen to be broken, and then the largest fragment to count, without any necessity of playing with it more. If a stone rolls and stops upon its side or top, it shall not be counted, but put off the ice. Should the handle quit the stone in the delivery, the player must keep hold of it, otherwise he will not be entitled to replay the shot."

Although the wording is just a little different, the sense is the same.

There was a minor change from 1854, "No stone, or side of a stone, shall be changed after a game has been begun, nor during its continuance, unless it happen to be broken, and then the largest fragment to count, without any necessity for playing with it more."

Twenty years later, in 1874, the Constitution of the Royal Club and the Rules of Play underwent a considerable revision. The occurrence of a stone breaking now had its own separate entry in the Rules, "Should a Stone happen to be broken, the largest fragment shall be considered in the Game for that end — the player being entitled to use another Stone, or another pair, during the remainder of the Game."

The sense of this rule, and the reference to the 'largest fragment', has continued right up to the present day. For the 2015-16 season, the rules can be found on the Royal Club website here, and you can read at R2 (c), "If a stone is broken in play a replacement stone shall be placed where the largest fragment came to rest. The end in play, and the game, shall be completed using the replacement stone."

Curling Canada's Rules of Curling for General Play 2014-18 (see here) contain, "4. (4) If a stone is broken in play, a replacement stone shall be placed where the largest fragment comes to rest. The inside edge of the replacement stone shall be placed in the same position as the inside edge of the largest fragment with the assistance of a measuring stick."

For many years, the World Curling Federation had a similarly worded rule in place should a stone break during an international event.

But fragments are no more! The World Federation now eschews any mention of 'fragments'! The most recent WCF Rules of Curling can be found here. WCF rule R2 (c) reads, "If a stone is broken in play, the teams use the 'Spirit of Curling' to decide where the stone(s) should be placed. If agreement cannot be reached, the end will be replayed." This wording can also be found in the Rules of Curling: Club and Bonspiel Use, from the USA Curling website here.

This double soled stone will be at least 100 years old, and remarkably still has the remains of a handle. Broken stones like this may find a use as garden 'ornaments', as above.

No-one likes to see modern curling stones in pieces, least of all the manufacturer. But breakages do occasionally happen. Norway's Torger Nergard with a big and a small 'fragment'!

But the biggest danger to curling stones is heat! The Fife Herald in 1856 ran a story about an expensive lesson learned by Selkirk CC members back in 1856. Don't put your stones on the fire.

Sadly, vandalism has been the ruin of many stones. I know of two examples where a club's curling hut has been set ablaze, with the stones (and other contents) destroyed as a consequence. The photo above is the aftermath of vandalism at the Vale of Alford CC's curling house last year. It really is sad to see. The good news is that there is every hope that the house will be rebuilt, see here.

No discussion of breaking stones would be complete without mention of this advert for the Benson and Hedges Championship at Aberdeen in 1985. 'Exploding rocks' was certainly a novel idea for a promotional image. Back in 1985, pre-Photoshop, it would not have been easy to create such an image. I wonder how it was done.

Happy New Year, and may all your stones remain intact!

Robbie and the Kirkhaven Team photos are scans from the original book. The Duddingston rule is a scan from an original copy of 'An Account of the Game of Curling'.

The Fife Herald clipping is reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive. The image is © The British Library Board. All Rights Reserved.

Thomas Nergard's photo was found here.

The Vale of Alford's photo is from the club's Facebook page here. The Benson and Hedges advert is from the author's archive. Other photos are © the author.

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The Escape Curling Cup

January 10, 2016, 1:55 am

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≪ Previous: The Largest Fragment

Over the years David Smith wrote many articles about curling history. Many of these appeared in printed publications, predating the Web. It is my intention to resurrect some of them for the Curling History Blog, as they deserve a wider readership, and hopefully through publication online, new information might be unearthed.

This article was first published in the January 1996 issue of the Scottish Curler magazine, entitled 'Wartime Curling for the Colditz Cup'. Its author: Sheriff David Smith.

"On 30th November 1993, the Imperial War Museum in London received a most unusual donation, a curling trophy in the form of a cup. The donor was Mrs Jane Reid, widow of the soldier who, inter alia, wrote The Colditz Story, the saga of escapes from that supposedly escape-proof German fortress.

Correspondence with the Museum produced a photocopy of the cup's discovery from a Swiss newspaper, Anseiger von Saanen. According to the newspaper, the cup had been knocked up in four hours by two articifers from the Royal Navy, Tubby Lister and Wally Hammond, as a trophy for play between some local Swiss curlers from Saanenmoser and some Colditz escapers who had reached Switzerland on their way home to 'Blighty'.

The report continued, 'After the war the cup remained, along with other trophies, in a showcase in one of the village's hotels, but it was lost sight of when the hotel was demolished and rebuilt in 1984.'

The mother of the present owner of the hotel found it in a barn, and, putting two and two together, got in touch with Mrs Reid, who now lives in Zurich.

Through the good offices of the Imperial War Museum, I eventually got in touch with Lt. Commander Billie Stephens, one of the curling-escapers. This is what he wrote. 'I am sorry not to have replied more quickly to your letter re the curling cup made for the competition in February '43 between Saanenmoser team and the 'ex-Colditz lub'. Tubby and Wally were (although not officers) in Colditz for a short time and when the Germans found out their mistake they were returned to their Stalag Camp - from which - armed with all the sophisticated escape 'know-how' learnt in Colditz - they arrived in Switzerland without much trouble, and were waiting with my three companions and myself who had been lucky enough to get out of Colditz on 14/10/42, for a suitable French Resistance group to help us through France and across the frontier into Spain.'

Tubby and Wally volunteered to make a suitable cup out of old tin cans thus proving the skills they had learned in prison - which also I may add included lock-picking! The Saanen people were too good for us but as far as I can remember a very good time was had by all. Alas, I am now the only one of our party still alive."

The above was what David wrote in the 1996 Scottish Curler article. Some new information can now be added. The trophy described in the article above remains in the care of the Imperial War Museum, see here.

It has been re-photographed well.

But the surprising find is that it was actually called 'The Escape Curling Cup'. The notes accompanying the photos in the Imperial War Museum's online collection simply say that it was 'Made by escaped POWs while awaiting repatriation'.

It is described, 'Handmade trophy cup inscribed THE ESCAPE CURLING CUP. Red, white and blue ribbons are tied to each handle and there is a gold-coloured cutout of a figure curling on the reverse. Appears to be made from food tins.'

Billie Stephens died in 1997, aged 86. His obituary is online here. Some of his wartime memorabilia was sold at auction in 2012, and there are a number of articles online about the sale, see here, and here. I was excited to find that a photo of the 'Colditz Team' on the ice in Switzerland has survived and has been used in these articles!

L-R: Lieutenant-Commander 'Billie' Stephens, Captain Pat Reid, Flight Lieutenant 'Hank' Wardle, and Lietenant-Colonel 'Ronnie' Littledale.

What a remarkable photograph!

Pat Reid, who appears in the photo above and whose wife donated the Colditz Cup to the Imperial War Museum, wrote The Colditz Story in 1952, and The Latter Days in 1953. A third book, Colditz: The Full Story, was published in 1984, is still in print, above, and also available in digital form as an ebook. It can be purchased here. More about Pat Reid's life can be found here.

Hank Wardle was a Canadian pilot in the Royal Air Force. Read about him here.

Ronnie Littledale is described here, After his escape, he returned to the front line but was killed in action in France on September 1, 1944, whilst in command of the 2nd Battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, see here.

Who were Tubby Lister and Wally Hammond who made the Escape Curling Cup, and what happened to them? They had both been submariners and were taken prisoner in 1940. Part of their story can be found in this newsletter here, and there's more here.

For another WW2 curling story, see here.

The photo of the Colditz Cup graced the cover of the Scottish Curler in January 1996. The photographer or source is not stated in the magazine. I assume that the original of the photo of the Colditz Team on the ice in Switzerland was among the documents sold at auction in 2012. I found it here. The original photographer and source is not stated.

The photos of the trophy from the Imperial War Museum are shared under the terms of the IWM Non Commercial Licence.

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Robert Burns and Curling

January 25, 2016, 1:10 am

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Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759. This may have been his curling stone ... but probably not. It certainly dates from the eighteenth century, but the date carved into the stone does not make much sense. Burns died in 1796. However, the Bard would have played with a stone like this one, single-soled, roughly shaped, with an iron handle. The stone in the photograph remains something of an enigma.

Yes, Burns WAS a curler, despite what it might say in older books, and some respected websites that have not been updated.

It had long been suspected that Burns played the game. His works include two mentions. Firstly, the opening lines of The Vision read:

The sun had clos’d the winter day,
The Curlers quat their roaring play…

Then, in Tam Samson’s Elegy, the poet shows that he knew the game well, when he writes:

When Winter muffles up his cloak,
And binds the mire like a rock;
When to the loughs the curlers flock,
Wi' gleesome speed,
Whawill they station at the cock?
Tam Samson's dead!

He was the king o' a' the core,
To guard, or draw, or wick a bore,
Or up the rink like Jehu roar,
In time o' need;
But now he lags on Death's hog-score,
Tam Samson's dead!

The evidence that Burns had played curling was brought to the public's attention in April 2006, when David Smith wrote an article for the Scottish Curler magazine entitled, 'The Evidence that the Bard was a Curler'. Later that year the story was retold in the Burns Chronicle of Autumn 2006 (a publication of the Robert Burns World Federation, see here). And we put the information online in July 2008, here, one of the early stories in that first year of the Curling History Blog.

The evidence that Burns curled comes from the Burns Chronicle of 1934 which included letters between two friends of Burns, John Syme and Alexander Cunningham. In a letter dated from Barcailzie, Kirkcudbrightshire, dated January 5, 1789, Syme writes, "I have been once or twice in company with Burns, and admire him much… I missed a meeting with him last Friday at Dumfries, where he played a Bonespeel with the Curlers there, and enlivened their Beef and Kail and Tody till the small hours of Saturday morning. I was engaged in that Bonespeel, but an unlooked for occurrence called me out of Town, to my great mortification…"

So, Robbie Burns had played in a curling bonespeel (bonspiel) early in the year 1789.

January 5, 1789, was a Monday, so if Syme's reference to 'last Friday' refers to that day in the previous week, the bonspiel in Dumfries must have been held on January 2, 1789. At that time Burns was living at Ellisland Farm, some six miles to the north west of Dumfries (see here). But I wonder where the bonspiel took place?

The Vision was completed in 1785, and Tam Samson's Elegy in 1786. Both these poems then were written before Burns had been seen curling. It is not too big an assumption that he had been a curler long before 1789.

Read more about Tam Samson's Elegyhere, and listen to it being read by Eileen McCallum. There's more about The Visionhere.

Several aspiring curling 'poets' have parodied Robbie Burns works. This is from the Douglas CC website here:

Ours is a game for Duke or Lord
Lairds, tenants, kinds and a’ that
Oor Pastors too, wha’ preach the word
Whiles ply the broom for a’ that.

The village of Beith in Ayrshire had three curling clubs in the middle of the nineteenth century. One of these was the 'Beith Robert Burns Curling Club', formed in 1855 and admitted to the Royal Club the following year. It would be interesting to know why this group of curlers chose to name their club after the Bard. By 1866 they had a patron, John Fullarton Patrick of Grangehill, and played on a pond on his estate. A list of the club's members appears in each Annual until that of 1884-85, when it seems the club folded. I wonder why. However, in 1890, a new club called the 'Beith Rabbie Burns Curling Club' was established, with some of the same members. At this time Beith had four curling clubs! The Rabbie Burns club continued to be listed in the Annuals up to 1913, although the name reverted back to the 'Beith Robert Burns Curling Club' in 1901. Like many of Scotland's curling clubs it did not survive the Great War.

Today many groups of curlers throughout the world celebrate Burns' birthday. The Ayr Curling Club, which acts as an umbrella club for the more than 50 clubs which use the Ayr rink in Scotland, traditionally holds a Burns Supper. Go here to see photos of the 2014 event at which David Smith addressed the haggis.

From Ayr, Scotland, to Ayr, Ontario, Canada. The latter club, here, held a 'Robbie Burns Senior Men's Bonspiel' last Thursday. This was advertised as 'Two 8-end games, with the traditional Scottish trimmings'!

This was the sign-up sheet! I trust that the event went off successfully and that all involved had a great time.

Above: The publishers of the Burns Chronicle commissioned from Colin Hunter McQueen, a cover illustration celebrating the sport, for the Autumn 2006 issue.

Top image is of a stone in the David B Smith collection, now in the care of the Scottish Curling Trust.

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Pondhunting 'Cairnie ponds' and 'Sprinkle rinks'

February 7, 2016, 11:31 pm

≫ Next: The first curling songs

≪ Previous: Robert Burns and Curling

It's been a while since I wrote about the project to map the 'Historical Curling Places'. See that post here. The project continues to thrive, and I enjoy the small part I play in it. Although begun by David Smith, nowadays Lindsay Scotland and Harold Forrester take the lead, and contributions from others are always welcome. Perhaps there is an old curling pond near where you live. You could become a 'pondhunter'! What does 'your' pond look like today?

It is exciting that the project has no finite 'end'. Yes, perhaps one day all the places where curling has taken place will be mapped. But for each place, other questions arise. Who played there? What significant games were played there? If the place was a curling pond, was it constructed by a local club? If so, when? How long did it last? What costs were involved in its construction and maintenance? When and why did it fall into disuse? Are there newspaper reports of play there? Are there photographs of the venue in use?

In trying to answer even some of these questions, we stray away from just a mapping exercise, and enter the realms of social history, and a way of life long past.

There's one question that I've not posed above, that is, what type of curling place does each entry in the database, or dot on the map, represent? It is apparent when studying the maps, see here, that there is great variety in the places that curlers in the past found to pursue their sport.

It is possible to classify these places into a number of different categories. In past times curlers found themselves on ice of the following types: natural water, managed water, maintained curling club ponds, Cairnie-style shallow ponds, and tarmac rinks.

I've set out my attempt at a classification below. I've tried not to use the term 'artificial'. That's because it is just too general and 'artificial' can apply to a deep water pond with sluices to regulate the water depth, to a Cairnie-style shallow pond, or to a tarmac rink.

Let's expand on these a bit further.

Curling will have begun on ice that formed over 'natural water'. Everyone is familiar with the outdoor 'Grand Match', the last of which was held in 1979 on the Lake of Menteith. But there are many references to venues that are somewhat smaller, or even to frozen rivers. Probably a safer option was the frozen surface of a flooded field, and my first outdoor experience was on such a venue near Gateside, Beith. I remember it well.

1. Natural Water
1a. Loch or lake
1b. Lochan or tarn
1c. River
1d. Flooded field

2. Managed Water
2a. Canal
2b. Mill pond
2c. Fish pond
2d. Reservoir
2e. Ornamental pond in estate grounds
2f. Ornamental pond in public park

3. Maintained curling club ponds
3a. Natural shape club curling pond, with managed water intake and sluice or drain
3b. Regular shape constructed club curling pond, with water intake and sluice, perhaps with an embankment or dam

4. Cairnie-style shallow ponds
4a. Clay floor
4b. Concrete/cement floor
4c. Wood floor
4d. Bitumen/asphalt/tarmacadam floor
4e. Metal floor

5. Tarmac rinks
These are also known as 'sprinkle rinks', and were constructed in the early twentieth century. More on these below.

Aside from these five categories, there are also 'packed snow' rinks. These were (and are still) found in Switzerland and New Zealand, but rarely, if ever, in Scotland. There are instances where tennis courts and bowling greens have been flooded in winter time. And of course there have been outdoor rinks with artificial refrigeration, usually of a temporary nature around Christmas time, for skating and curling.

In the classification scheme above, the difference between categories 4 and 5 can cause confusion.

Cairnie-style ponds are shallow ponds with a small border to retain water to a depth of a few centimetres. They are named after John Cairnie of Largs. In 1833 he published a book, Essay on Curling and Artificial Pond Making, in which he describes fully his efforts to provide an ice surface which would allow him to curl when natural lochs or deep water ponds were not bearing. Some pages of his book, facsimile copies of which are readily available, refute claims by the Reverend John Somerville of Currie who sought credit for the invention. I resist the temptation to lay out the arguments here! However, Cairnie made his pond work, and there are many reports of play on it, for example:

This clipping from the Edinburgh Evening Courant of January 17, 1829, predates by some four years the publication of Cairnie's book, and shows that the importance of his invention was being recognised even then.

You can see what Cairnie's pond in Largs looked like, in a painting which belongs to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, here. John Cairnie of course became the Club's first president on its formation in 1838.

The bottom of Cairnie-style ponds had to be be of a material which would retain water. Cairnie himself experimented with a number of materials, but over the years others successfully constructed ponds with floors of clay, cement, concrete, tarry materials, wood, or even iron plates. The water depth of a Cairnie-style pond is usually only 3-4 cm. The floor does not need to be perfectly flat as the water finds its own level. Given a sharp frost, the water freezes completely, providing complete safety, compared with the dangers of curling on insufficiently strong ice floating above several feet of water. However, Cairnie-style ponds did not give the characteristic sound of the stones travelling across ice on 'deep water' places, which gives rise to curling being referred to as the 'Roaring Game'.

This is a photo taken recently of a Cairnie-style pond at Tarfside, in Glen Esk, Angus. Although dating from the end of the nineteenth century, it was renovated a few years ago. See play on the pond here and here.

Nowadays it is a wooden edge that keeps the water in place, and the pond appears to have a concrete base. Sadly, there has been no play on the Tarfside pond so far this winter.

But another Cairnie-style pond has seen considerable activity. The Highland Curling Club's pond at Kingsmills, Inverness, has four sheets, with a clay base. See photos on the club's Facebook pages here.

Now to category 5. 'Tarmac', short for tarmacadam, is mentioned frequently in reports of curling in the early twentieth century. What is tarmac, exactly? Defining the word's meaning is not so simple, see here.

The word is associated with John McAdam, who was born in Ayr in 1756 and died in Moffat in 1836. He is credited with inventing the 'macadam' road surface, namely that roads should be higher than their surroundings to achieve drainage and constructed with a base of large rocks, then with smaller stones, the layers tied together with fine gravel. You can read McAdam's 1819 paper Practical Essay on the Scientific Repair and Preservation of Roads online here.

It was in 1901 that Edgar Purnell Hooley patented a method for mixing tar and aggregate to go on top of a macadamised surface, compacting the lot with a roller. The various recipes for 'tarmac' date from this time.

The material was certainly used as a base for Cairnie-style ponds, but gave its name to a new type of curling place - the 'tarmac' or 'sprinkle' rink.

The Complete Curler by J Gordon Grant, published in 1914, suggests that the first tarmac curling rink was made in 1903, and between then until the book was written 'hundreds of tarmac rinks have been constructed throughout Scotland and the northern half of England'. He describes the depth of the ice on a tarmac rink, as 'only the mere skin of about the thickness of a sixpence, and this is obtained by spraying water lightly over the rink, which instantly freezes'.

So a Cairnie-style pond has a few centimetres of ice, whereas the thickness of ice on a tarmac rink is only one to two millimetres.

As there is no depth of water on a tarmac rink to allow it to find its own level, it follows that the stretch of tarmac on the base of a tarmac rink had to be perfectly flat.

An early reference to 'tar macadam' in the construction of a curling rink can be found in the Scotsman of November 22, 1904. This says, "The first game of the season, and the first game on Mr Stoddart's new private artificial pond at Howden, was played yesterday forenoon between rinks skipped by Mr James Wyllie, New Calder, and Mr Robert Maconachie, Mooralmond. After a keenly contested game which lasted two and a half hours, the score stood fifteen each when, on account of the fall of snow, the order to cease play was given. The ice was in splendid condition, and the new pond in every respect gave evidence that the tar macadam system of artificial curling ponds is a success."

James Edward Stoddart was in his early fifties, the head of the household at Howden, and living there with his wife Agnes, his daughter, Agnes Young, and three servants. He had been President of the Mid-Calder curling club since 1896. His wife was a 'Patroness' of the club. James Stoddart must have been a really keen curler to have gone to the trouble and expense of constructing a tarmac rink on his property, one of the first to do so. He deserves to be remembered as a curling 'pioneer'!

On November 28, 1904, the Scotsman reported, "Mid-Calder. Members of this club had splendid play every day last week on Mr Stoddart's private artificial pond at Howden. This pond has proved in every way the advantages of the tar macadam system of artificial curling ponds. On Tuesday, after two and a half hours play in the forenoon, the ice became somewhat 'bauch' and after lunch the curlers engaged in a game of bowls on one part of the pond while the other part, which had been sprayed, gained time to freeze. Curling was then resumed the same afternoon."

The reference to playing bowls on the same surface as the curling rink is interesting. A tarmac surface that could have a use for other sports in the summer months would have been a sound investment.

The Ordnance Survey 6 inch to the mile map published in 1908 shows the house, and a feature, highlighted, which is likely to be the tarmac curling rink. Howden House still exists, see here, and is surrounded now by Livingston new town.

As luck would have it, we may even know who constructed the rink at Howden. Andrew Scott, whose letterhead is above, was based at Watson's College Pavilion, Myreside, Edinburgh. He wrote in November 1905 to a prospective client, although it is not clear who this client was. Scott's letter says, "Your committee has visited the pond at Mid Calder belonging to Mr Stoddart. If the directors were satisfied it was suitable for those games (curling and bowls), I willingly guarantee you a pond even better than that."

This could mean that he had constructed the rink at Howden himself, or it could mean that he knew all about that rink but thought he could do an even better job in constructing a similar one.

Scott's business seems to have flourished. The Arbroath Herald and Advertiser for the Montrose Burghs on November 19, 1909, describes how the Arbroath curling club's Cairnie-style pond had deteriorated and been converted to a tarmac rink, the work carried out to everyone's satisfaction by Andrew Scott.

The Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1908-09 reprinted a letter, previously published in the Scotsman, written by John Anderson of Hillside, Moffat. Anderson had documented the occasions on which curling on the 'tarmac' had been possible over the winters of 1906-07 and 1907-08, and had compared the frequency of play with that possible on deep water ponds. He concluded that tarmac rinks had been a great success, offering three to five times the opportunity to play each winter than on deep water ponds. He also discussed the costs involved in constructing a tarmac rink.

The construction and costs of a tarmac rink were also detailed in the Royal Club Annual for 1909-10, in a letter to the Secretary containing the specification and cost of the three-sheet tarmac rink which had been laid down at Dyce, Aberdeen, in the summer of 1907. By the end of the first decade of the twentieth century then, all of Scotland's curlers knew about tarmac rinks, and many more such sprinkle rinks were to be constructed, perhaps in consequence of the publication of information in the Royal Club Annuals.

Gordon Grant, in the Complete Curler, describes one way of constructing a tarmac rink. "The levelled space for the rink is first covered with a thick layer (about nine inches) of broken stones or brick, on top of which is spread a layer of ashes. This is levelled and consolidated by rolling. Another layer of rough ashes is spread over this, and it is again rolled level. An inch of sand is then placed on the top of this, and again it is rolled; then an inch of fine ashes, and more rolling. Lastly tar is run on evenly, sprinkled with fine sand, and rolled once more. The tar sinks into the ashes, and binds the mass together, thus providing the surface for spraying."

There was one disadvantage to such rinks - the sun! The ice on top of the tarmac was only a few mm thick, at most. So tarmac rinks were often constructed with artificial lighting, and games played at night!

And there was another more serious problem. As anyone who drives around Scotland knows well, even modern road surfaces have a habit of breaking up with constant wear, and the effect of winter weather! James Smith, the keenest of curlers, already had a natural loch and a Cairnie-style rink at Craigielands, near Moffat. To maximise his opportunities for play, he constructed a tarmac rink so he would be able to play after even a light frost. Denis Forman, in his own autobiography Son of Adam, recalls curling on the Craigielands tarmac. "When frost was forecast two gardeners would water the tarmac at nightfall and return to do the same at dawn. The sprinkling of water froze immediately even in a mild frost, and James Smith would not be slow to summon eight players to join him for a game. These would be 'friendlies' between members of the family and estate workers. Lunch was taken (a 'piece' and Camp coffee) at the little pavilion James had built by the rinkside to hold the stones for the tarmac game. As the day warmed up bits of tarmac stuck through the film of ice and scratched the stones' underside, so James provided at his own expense sixteen stones of various weights and with varying degrees of keenness to meet the taste of each player."

So, there was a possibility of damaging your stones if you played on the tarmac!

Keeping the tarmac surface level, and in good condition, from one season to the next would have been difficult. Yes, the top surface could be repaired, or completely relaid. If things got too bad there was an obvious solution. By building a small retaining 'wall' around a tarmac rink, it could readily be turned into a Cairnie-style pond, and I believe that is what happened with many.

J Gordon Grant, writing in 1914, refers to the introduction of the tarmac rinks as signifying 'a new era for the sport'. Of course two things intervened to change that prediction. One was the opening of Crossmyloof and then Haymarket to provide indoor curling on artificially frozen ice, and the other of course was the Great War.

Where were Scotland's sprinkle tarmac rinks? Good question. They don't often show up named as such on old maps. After all, would a surveyor immediately recognise a strip of tarmac, with no water in evidence, as a curling place? Sometimes, when a tarmac rink was constructed alongside an existing deep water, or Cairnie-style, pond, the outline of the tarmac can be seen on a twentieth century map. Lindsay Scotland has found several news reports from the Scotsman which describe the opening of new tarmac ponds, but often the location is vague. I know of two. There was one in Lochmaben, beside the Kirk Loch, known as the 'Coronation Rinks'. This dates from 1911, although the original surface has been replaced and the area is now a car and caravan park. The photo above shows what remains of the tarmac rink at Wanlockhead which was opened in 1923. If you know of other examples, please let Lindsay Scotland know. Become a 'pondhunter'! Lindsay's contact details are here.

But beware. Not all curling places that are described as 'tarmac rinks' are Category 5 sprinkle rinks. The Partick curling club pond, see here and here, may originally have been constructed as a Cairnie-style pond, and refloored at some point with tarmac.

Bob Cowan

Thanks to Lindsay Scotland and Harold Forrester for help and encouragement with this article. Photos of the Tarfside pond and the Wanlockhead tarmac are by the author, as is the scan of Andrew Scott's letterhead. Scott's letters are in the author's collection of curling memorabilia. The news clipping image is © The British Library Board and reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive. The map clipping is a screenshot from an online map at the National Library of Scotland's maps website here. The top image is a screenshot from the Historical Curling Places website.

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The first curling songs

February 21, 2016, 3:56 pm

≫ Next: When World Junior Curling Came to Glasgow in 1991

≪ Previous: Pondhunting 'Cairnie ponds' and 'Sprinkle rinks'

The earliest printed booklet specifically about curling is from the eighteenth century. It is a collection of songs.

Songs for the Curling Club, held at Canon-Mills, was published in Edinburgh in 1792. The author, or compiler of the songs, is not known. Edinburgh was home to the Canonmills curling club. The location of Canonmills Loch, where the club played, is described here. It was drained in the middle of the nineteenth century.

The original publication is extremely rare. I've cheated a little. The above frontispiece is not from an original 1792 book, but is from a reprint, this one:

This I am very happy to have in my curling 'library'. It is one of only 250 copies printed in 1882 and, as well as Songs for the Curling Club, contains another rare curling work, An Account of the Game of Curling, dating from 1811.

The preface to this reprint of the two earlier books states, "As works relating to Curling or any way connected to it are scarce, and not readily procurable, two of the scarcest of their kind have been selected for re-publication with the view of bringing them within reach of the numerous admirers of this agreeable and exhilarating pastime." J M, Edinburgh, February, 1882. 'J M' was Captain John Macnair, who, in the following years, put together the four volumes of The Channel-Stane or Sweepings frae the Rinks.

In 2016 the content of the volumes is readily available to everyone, as facsimiles can be purchased online from a number of different sites.

There are six songs in Songs for the Curling Club: The Curlers March; The Blast; The Origin of Edinburgh Castle; The Three Open Winters; The Welcome Hame; and The Choise. I recently asked myself the question, "What, if anything, do these songs tell us about the sport in the eighteenth century?" Here are a few thoughts.

The first printed song is 'The Curlers March' and begins ...

Tho' Sol now looks shyly, and Flora is gone
To Mother Root's lodgings, of turf, mud, and stone,
When they two together,
Throughout the hard weather,
Unsocial as Vestals, keep house quite unknown.
Unlike are the Curlers, now more social grown,
Unlike to recluses who winter alone,
With mutual friendship glowing, to action prone,
Forth come they
Brisk and gay
All in flocks like sons of the spray,
Inspired by the sound of the curling stone!

There are four more verses, in a similar vein, the last referring to post-game traditions of having a meal for 'beef and greens', and drink - a toast 'To all Curlers keen'.

Perhaps someone reading this can help with what is puzzling me about this song. It is apparently to be sung to the tune 'Princess Royal'. This is a popular piece, which you can find online here, here, and in lots of other places on a variety of instruments. But I cannot fit the words to this tune. Can you? Is there other music called 'Princess Royal', or has it just been wrongly ascribed? And if so, what tune might 'The Curlers March' have been sung to?

The tune 'Princess Royal' can also be danced to, as seen here. This may be the first ever connection, however tenuous, between curling and morris dancing!

This page suggests that 'The Curlers March' was played (and sung, perhaps) during the ceremonial procession of Edinburgh magistrates and councillors on the way to Canonmills Loch.

Returning to Songs for the Curling Club ...

In 'The Blast', the second song in the book, we find the lines

As we mark our gog,
And measure off our hog ...

'Gog' is another word for the tee, and the 'hog' of course is the hogline, both key in setting out ice for a game of curling in the days long before circles were inscribed on the surface. This poem has the line, seen in context above ...

With our nimble brooms ...

which shows that sweeping was a part of the game in the eighteenth century.

Besoms (brooms) are also mentioned is 'The Origin of Edinburgh Castle', which alludes to the games evolution and equipment improving. Three verses end as follows ...

When curling was in infancy
An' stones war no fine.

When curling was in infancy
An' handles no fine.

When curling was in infancy,
And besoms no fine.

In 'The Three Open Winters' the author bemoans the mild conditions that prevented curling from taking place. The chorus reads ...

Alake my walie curling-stanes
Ha'e no been budg'd thir winters three,
'Tween the rains plish plash an' a fireside's fash,
They have dreary winters been to me.

('Walie', or 'wallie', in Scots, is used here, I believe, to mean 'fine' or 'excellent'. I rather like the concept of 'wallie curling stones', not to be confused with 'wallie dugs'.)

In 'The Choise', part of the last verse reads ...

But Curlers chase upon the rink,
An learn dead stanes wi' art to jink,
When tir'd wi' that gae in an' drink,
An' please them wi' the skinking o't.

To 'skink' is to pour drinks. I think this shows that some things haven't changed in the traditions of curling since 1792!

Singing may not be such an important aspect of curling these days as it once was, although I trust that at the Henderson Bishop dinner next week at Lockerbie, the ladies will, as usual, be in fine voice.

Bob Cowan

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When World Junior Curling Came to Glasgow in 1991

March 8, 2016, 12:29 am

≫ Next: The Curlers at Rawyards

≪ Previous: The first curling songs

by Bob Cowan

In 1991 these eight young curlers had just won the Scottish Junior Curling Championships and were getting ready to represent their country at the Worlds. They were (back, left-right) James Dryburgh, Fraser MacGregor, Alan MacDougall (skip), Colin Beckett, and (front) Anne Laird, Gillian Barr (skip), Claire Milne and Janice Watt.

I found myself thinking of them on Sunday as the World Curling Federation's VoIP Defender World Junior Curling Championships 2016 got underway at the Taarnby Curling Club in Denmark. Back in 1991, our Scottish representatives didn't have too far to travel. The event was held in Glasgow. It took place March 9-17, 1991, at the Summit Centre. Twenty-five years ago - how time flies! Sadly the Summit Centre is no more. The rink had a short life, opening in 1986 and closing in 1998.

You can find all the statistics from the 1991 World Juniors on the World Curling Federation's Historical Results pages, here. I wonder why the sponsor, the Royal Bank of Scotland, doesn't get a mention thereon?

Rather than talk just about the event, I want to say a bit about the programme, above. As most collectors of international curling programmes know well, they often contain little more than the draw, the team names, and a number of 'welcome messages'. The 1991 programme contained much more than that. It included magazine-style articles, and hopefully was considered to be value for its £2 cover price. The forty pages plus covers were printed by Brown, Son and Ferguson Ltd.

The Executive Editor was Christine Stewart. She recruited me to help put the programme together. This was my first foray as the 'editor' of anything. I had no inclination back then that ten years later I would become the Editor of the Scottish Curler magazine.

Christine also involved Rod McLeod to design the programme, and he did a wonderful job. For me it was a great privilege to work with such a talented, fun and enthusiastic person. Rod McLeod was one of Scotland's foremost cartoonists, producing daily his 'take' on whatever was happening in the sporting world. This was football mostly, but he could also draw perceptive cartoons on the important news stories of the day. His cartoons, simply signed Rod, had a big following. He was a curler too, a member of the Nondes club. Rod died in 2004 and is still greatly missed.

Rod drew this cartoon to illustrate page 5 of the programme, which had a 'who's who' of the local host committee. Leslie Ingram-Brown was the chairman, and his team included Ian Addison, Michelle Cunningham, Graham Davidson, George Gibb, Bruce Lindsay, Robin Shand, Bob Smith and Christine Stewart.

The event programme included six welcome messages. These were from George Younger, Chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland, the main sponsor; Councillor David M Sanderson JP, Convenor of Strathclyde Region; Susan Baird OStJ JP, The Rt Hon The Lord Provost of Glasgow; RC Miquel CBE, Chairman of the Scottish Sports Council; Gunther Hummelt, the President of the International Curling Federation; and from Leslie Ingram-Brown, Chairman of the Host Committee.

The programme included four pages on the history of the Uniroyal and Goodrich-sponsored championships. The year 1991 marked the end of that sponsorship. The first Uniroyal World Junior Mens Championship had been held in 1975, although the origins of the event went back much further, see here. The first official Goodrich World Junior Women's Championship had been held in 1988, growing from a European Junior Championship that dated from 1983. That 1988 competition in Chamonix was the only time that the junior women's event was staged separately. Both men's and women's events had been staged together since 1989 in Markham, and still are together today. Of course, no history of the Uniroyal would be complete without considerable mention of a certain Paul Gowsell, and his photo spanned pages 6 and 7 of the programme.

Elizabeth Paterson-Brown wrote about the International Curling Federation (as the WCF was called then) and junior curling, in an article titled 'The Way Forward'. Jane Sanderson wrote about 'Little Rockers and Mini-swingers'.

Doug Gillon penned three pages 'I Was There' recounting highlights of curling history. I wrote about 'Collecting'. Robin Welsh wrote about 'The Murray Trophy', the trophy still awarded to the winners of the Scottish Junior Men's Championship.

Gordon Fenton recounted the Royal Bank of Scotland's involvement with the sponsorship of curling. Back in 1991, the banks were much respected organisations, and the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Bank of Scotland, and the Clydesdale Bank, had all sponsored major curling competitions.

Then there was a 'Spotlight on the Umpires'. Roy Sinclair was chief umpire and his team included Alex Torrance, Isobel Torrance and Marjorie Kidd.

David B Smith's article on decorated curling stones had the title 'Flower Power'!

John Brown submitted some 28 quiz questions about the World Junior Championships and curling history in general. In the days before Google these were not easy. But John did provide the answers!

Page 40 of the programme had 'Acknowledgements and Thanks' and a space for autographs. I wonder if anyone collected the autographs of all the players?

Here are the first group of the junior men's teams.

Ten countries competed in 1991.

This page illustrates one of the problems facing the host committee back then. In the days before the internet and email, and before digital cameras, it was not easy for national organisations to transmit team photographs in time to be included in the programme. The space was there for the Italian women's team details, but the programme had to go to print before these were received. Fortunately, the WCF Historical Results database has this information, see below.

The draw occupied the centre double page spread. You can find the results of every junior men's game here, and the junior women's results here.

As far as I am aware there is no video footage or film of the event, but I would be pleased to be proved wrong! (Added later: Apparently video DOES exist. BBC television covered the finals. Perhaps I can post clips of this in a future article. Watch this space!)

I have kept the various reports of the event which appeared in the local newspapers, and these make interesting reading. I had forgotten that the teams were accommodated in the homes of local volunteers. Visiting fans complained about the over-use of air horns by the home supporters, some of whom were banned from beating drums as the chielf umpire was unable to hear his hogline umpires' calls on his walkie-talkie radio. And it is recorded that the Scottish Sports Council's anti-doping team were on hand for the first time at an international curling event.

Who won? Eva Eriksson's Swedish team defeated Nicole Strausak's Swiss side 5-4 in the women's final. Gillian Barr's team had lost to Strausak in the semifinal. On the men's side MacDougall's Scotland beat Noel Herron's Canadians 6-4 in the title match.

If anyone has photos of the winning teams with the trophies, I would be pleased to include these here.

Off the ice, pin collectors had two event pins to add to their collection. This was the 'official' pin, an early example of a plastic coated badge which has disoloured somewhat with age.

And we liked this one!

So, why don't I wrap up this nostalgic look back at the young curlers who competed in 1991 with a John Brown style quiz. Have a look at the list of competitors in 1991, below, taken from the WCF records, as well as the programme. Who went on to further international success in the years that followed? Can you spot the future World and Olympic Champions on the list? How many are still competing at top level?

Scotland's fifth player Graham McIntyre played in the last round robin game but does not appear in the records. So, are other names missing? Any other mistakes?

JUNIOR MEN
Scotland: Alan MacDougall, James Dryburgh, Fraser MacGregor, Colin Beckett
Canada: Noel Herron, Rob Brewer, Steve Small, Richard Polk, Peter Henderson
Switzerland: Dominic Andres, Michael Schupbach, Marc Steiner, Mathias Hugh, Stefan Heilman
USA: Eric Fenson, Shawn Rojeski, Kevin Bergstrom, Ted McCann, Mike Peplinski
Denmark: Torkil Svensgaard, Ulrik Damm, Kenny Tordrup, Lasse Damm, Peter Bull
Germany: Markus Herberg, Marcus Räderer, Felix Ogger, Martin Beiser, Markus Messenzehl

Sweden: Tomas Nordin, Örjan Jonsson, Stefan Timan, Jan Wallin, Peter Lindholm

Norway: Thomas Due, Torger Nergård, Mads Rygg, Johan Høstmælingen, Krister Aanesen

France: Jan Henri Ducroz, Spencer Mugnier (skip), Sylvain Ducroz, Thomas Dufour, Philippe Caux

Italy: Marco Alberti, Alessandro Lettieri, Rolando Cavallo, Gianni Nardon, Stefano Gottardi

JUNIOR WOMEN
Sweden: Eva Eriksson, Maria Söderkvist, Åsa Eriksson, Elisabeth de Brito, Cathrine Norberg
Switzerland: Nicole Strausak, Ursula Ziegler, Katja Matties, Claudia Affolter, Helga Oswald

Canada: Atina Ford, Darlene Kidd, Lesley Beck, Cindy Ford, Danita Michalski
Scotland: Gillian Barr, Claire Milne, Janice Watt, Anne Laird
USA: Erika Brown, Jill Jones, Shellie Holerud, Debbie Henry, Heather Baumgardt
Denmark: Dorthe Holm, June Simonsen, Margit Pörtner, Helene Jensen, Angelina Jensen
France: Karine Caux, Christel Fournier, Géraldine Girod, Tania Ducroz, Helene Ducroz
Norway: Cecilie Torhaug, Darcie Skjerpen, Anna Moe, Marianne Vestnes, Gøril Bye
Italy: Daniela Zandegiacomo, Carla Zandegiacomo, Giulia Lacedelli, Violetta Caldart
Germany: Katrin Mayer, Julia Eckert, Steffi Gabler, Anja Messenzehl, Monica Imminger

In the women's event I've listed the players' names as they were in 1991, and of course some have changed in the intervening years. The WCF database lists the players with their married names. Personally, I think that is wrong. In the records of an event, the players should be identified by their names at the time.

The top photo is from the front cover of the February 1991 Scottish Curler. Other images are from the programme.

↧

The Curlers at Rawyards

June 20, 2016, 11:41 pm

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'The Curlers at Rawyards' is a nineteenth century painting that shows the sport of curling. It was painted by John Levack in 1857 and deserves to be better known than it is at present. It is a large oil on canvas, in the care of North Lanarkshire Council and CultureNL, and is currently on display at the Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life in Coatbridge, Scotland. It can be found online here where a larger image can be studied in more detail than the small one above.

I knew of the painting but, until recently, I had not realised just how big it is. It is one thing to see the image on screen, or in a book, but it is quite another to see it 'in the flesh'! It is around twelve feet by six feet, with the frame. It's huge. At Summerlee, it is is contained in a large glass case. Here I am standing beside it. The idea was to give the scale, but because the painting is about a foot back from the protective front glass, it still appears smaller than it really is!

In the years before photography, paintings can tell us something about how the sport was played. If we assume that the artist painted exactly what he saw in the winter of 1855-56 (when it is thought the match depicted was being played), we can learn something about the sport at that time.

Importantly, the stones in use have goose-necked handles, centred on the stones which presumably are double-sided, made to be reversible. These stones are quite different from single-soled stones, such as those seen in 'The Grand Match at Linlithgow' which was painted just ten years earlier by Charles Lees, see here. I always have in my mind that the middle of the nineteenth century was when double soled stones with goose-necked handles began to replace single-soled stones.

John Levack has depicted the stones at Rawyards in different colours, and we know that in the nineteenth century, different types of rock were used for making curling stones, see here.

There are two games taking place, one in the foreground, and the other on a sheet set at an angle to the first. There is no doubt that play is four-aside. By 1857 most curling clubs were playing matches with four players on each side, playing two stones each, as recommended by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. Some clubs were still adhering to eight-aside play, but not that illustrated here.

The curlers are all depicted with broom cowes, rather than hair brushes. Even some of those just watching the play are carrying brooms.

It has been said that the painting shows curling in an industrial landscape, but this is hardly the case. In the background, there is a chimney stack and winding gear of a local colliery, of which there were many in New Monkland.

The variety of bottles and the baskets on display indicate that the 'inner man' was being looked after!

When I first looked at the painting online I wondered who the various personalities in the painting were, and why the artist had included them in his composition. When I saw the painting on display I was excited to see that the most prominent figures are all named in little plaques attached to the frame.

I have copied these out, as best I could sitting on the museum floor, with my nose pressed up against the glass case! Those named are:

Thomas Chapman of Commonhead
Claude Storrie (Airdrie)
John Fram (Airdrie)
Robert Mitchell (Airdrie)
James Arthur (portioner, Airdrie)
James Waddell of Whinhall
Baillie Longmuir (Airdrie)
Peter Thomson (baker, Airdrie)
Henry Walker (coalmaster, Airdrie)
James Taylor (baker, Airdrie)
Provost JT Rankin of Auchengray
David Mitchell (banker, Airdrie)
John Davidson of Broomfield
James Thomson (architect, Airdrie)
James Boston (flesher, Airdrie)
Robert Graham (farmer, Rawyards)
John Dalziel (banker, Airdrie)
Patrick Rankin (junior) of Auchengray
Patrick Rankin of Auchengray
John Russell of Eastfield
John Aiton (town clerk, Airdrie)
Gavin Black of Rawyards
James Mochrie (Airdrie)
James Forbes (Royal Hotel, Airdrie)
John Russell (merchant, Airdrie)
William Whyte (writer and registrar, Airdrie)

In all, twenty-six figures are identified in the painting, including an architect, a baker, a banker, a farmer, a hotelier, and the town clerk! James Arthur was a 'portioner', the owner of land, previously divided amongst co-heirs. John Fram should probably be John Frame. Note that there are two John Russells on the list.

It is possible too, to identify the team members 'in action' in the scene. Thomas Chapman has delivered his stone. Gavin Black is directing the play. Claude Storrie and James Waddell are the sweepers.

That's Gavin Black of Rawyards in the prime position in the painting. The pond, on his land, was home to the New Monkland Curling Club. Black was among the keenest members of the club.

Evidence for this can be found in the Glasgow Herald of March 10, 1854, which records a club dinner in Forbes's Hotel in Airdrie. James Thomson Rankin was in the chair. That's the Provost JT Rankin in the 1957 painting, the striking figure in the kilt! The dinner was in honour of Gavin Black of Rawyards, and he was duly presented with 'a massive silver claret jug'. This had the inscription, "Presented by the members of the New Monkland Curling Club, to Gavin Black, Esq, of Rawyards, as a token of their esteem and respect for him as the leading curler in the club, and as a grateful acknowledgement for the facilities which he affords them in curling - Airdrie, 3d March, 1854."

The newpaper reported that, "Mr Black replied in a speech full of manly feeling and kindly sentiment, assuring his brethren of the New Monkland Club that it afforded him much pleasure to give them the use of his loch at Rawyards."

The New Monkland Curling Club was formed in 1842 and admitted to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club in 1849. It likely took its name from New Monkland parish.

In the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1856-57, the Patron was James T Rankin, and the President was Gavin Black. The secretary was James Thomson. He is featured in Levack's painting, and his plaque records that he was an architect. Of the twenty-six named persons in the painting, twenty-one can be found among the regular members of the club listed in the 1856-57 Annual.

In the years after the painting was completed, the club must have encountered problems of some sort. Its list of members appears in the Annual for 1861-62, with John Dalziel now the President, but there's no list of members the following year. Whatever the reason, the New Monkland club did not reappear in the Royal Club's listings again until the Annual for 1877-78, when it is recorded that it had been admitted to the Royal Club in 1877. The regulations of the Royal Club at that time stated, "If any Club shall fall three years in arrear of its annual fees, it shall be struck off the lists of the Royal Club, and not reponed except as a new Club."

But from the names of the forty-nine regular members in 1877, it was most definitely the same club, and must have had a continued existence, albeit not as a member of the Royal Club. Indeed, one can find in the Glasgow Herald of January 31, 1871, the record of a match between the New Monkland and Slamannan clubs at Rawyards, six rinks aside, on January 28.

In the absence of the old minute books it is not possible to say why the New Monkland club had not continued to be a member of curling's governing body. But when back in the Royal Club family, the New Monkland Curling Club teams went on to win the Grand Match Trophy on consecutive occasions in 1886 when the Grand Match was held twice, in January and then in December that year, at Carsebreck.

Where was Rawyards? The Ordnance Survey map, surveyed just a couple of years after the painting was completed, shows the curling pond clearly. The area is to the east of Airdrie. Rawyards was the name of the main house, and there was also a Rawyards Farm.

There is an indication of a small building on the western side of the pond.

And in the painting, there is also a building, and this is surely the club's curling hut where stones and other curling paraphernalia could be stored.

A later map from 1899 shows that the pond may have been modified somewhat, but the curling hut (highlighted in blue) stands out at the end of a track leading from the boundary road.

If you visit the area today, you can find the foundations of a small building, above, where the map predicts it should be. This may have been a later building than that in existence in 1857, but built in the same place. With this evidence and study of the local topography today, it is clear that the artist has taken his point of reference from somewhere on the north side of the pond, and is facing south. The red X on the map above roughly marks the spot!

There's no open water nowadays at Rawyards, but where the curling took place is still a marshy area within a newly established community woodland. It's a peaceful place to visit, although, as seen in this photo, it is overlooked by electricity pylons. This view is roughly in the direction that the artist was facing.

I do not know when curling was last played on the Rawyards pond, but the above report from the Kirkintilloch Herald shows that it was in use in the severe winter of 1895, the New Monkland club hosting visitors from Kirkintilloch.

The history of the painting 'The Curlers at Rawyards' raises some interesting questions. As mentioned above, it now belongs to North Lanarkshire Council following the 1996 local authority reorganisation. Monklands District Council, which held the collection from the original Airdrie Museum collection, was incorporated into NLC Museums and Heritage service, along with Motherwell and Cumbernauld and Kilsyth District Councils. Jenny Noble, who is the Social History Curator with CultureNL, suggests that the Rawyards painting, and others by John Levack, were donated to Airdrie Museum in the post-war period, possibly as late as the 1970s, as they weren’t mentioned in a 1936 list of paintings, nor the museum’s 1940 wartime precautions. Jenny says, "Unfortunately we have not as yet been able to locate any acquisition details."

The 'Curlers at Rawyards' was conserved in 1995 and has been on display at Summerlee since the exhibition hall refurbishment was completed in October 2008.

Who commissioned the work, back in the 1850s? One possibility is Patrick Rankin of Auchengray. Three generations of the Rankin family are depicted in the curling painting, and John Levack had previously painted a group portrait of that family, see below.

Jenny Noble provides the following information. "The Rankin family were prominent in Airdrie life from the later 18th century and through most of the 19th century. Patrick Rankin (1790 - late 1860s was initially of Mavisbank; later Auchengray near Caldercruix. He was a leading land and property owner in Airdrie and surrounding district. He was also a partner in Langloan Ironworks. His son, James Thomson Rankin (1819 - 1861), was a very progressive Provost of Airdrie from 1848 to 1856. He also founded the solicitors' firm Rankin and Motherwell. The Rankin family were related through marriage to many of the leading families in New Monkland.”

It is also possible that the painting might have been commissioned by Gavin Black of Rawyards, see above, the President of the New Monkland CC on whose land the pond was.

John Levack is known as an accomplished portrait painter, although he has not left a large body of work. 'The Curlers at Rawyards' is probably his best known painting, together with that of 'The Rankin Family' (see here) which is also on display at Summerlee. Some of his other work can be found online here, here, and here.

John Levack seems to have been born in Wick. His details on the Art UK website, here, says he was born in 1823, but I think this is incorrect. The biography of the artist held at Summerlee sugests that he was born in 1828, and that date is the more likely, given the ages stated in other records of his life. This being the case, he would have been in his late 20s when he painted 'The Curlers at Rawyards'.

According to this page, Levack became a mason when in he came to Airdrie in the 1850s. He joined the New Monkland Montrose Lodge 88 in 1860 and was a regular attendee in the early 1860s. He was appointed governor of the New Monkland poorhouse in 1864.

On November 24, 1867, he married Agnes Laughlan, a 26 year old seamstress from Airdrie, whose father, James, by then deceased, had been a lawyer. Levack's age in the marriage record is given as 40 which fits with him being born in 1828, rather than 1823.

Unfortunately, the couple did not 'live happily ever after'.

The above does not make for pleasant reading. As a result of this attack on his wife on August 27, 1873, Levack appeared at the Sheriff Court in Airdrie on October 7. He pled guilty and was sentenced to three month's imprisonment with hard labour. The Sheriff considered 'extenuating circmstances' before deciding on the sentence, according to the report in the Glasgow Herald on October 8. What were these 'extenuating circumstances' I wonder?

On his release from prison, Levack seems to have moved away from Airdrie, to the Kinning Park area of Glasgow. On Monday, October 5, 1874, the Edinburgh Evening News reported, "An artist named John Levack, who had been in a desponding state of mind for some time, was found at his home in Henderson Street, Glasgow, on Saturday. Three phials which had contained laudanum were found by his bedside, and it appears that death had resulted from an overdose of laudanum. He must have been dead about eight days."

Henderson Street in Kinning Park is now Howwood Street.

These days the adjective 'desponding' is not in common use, having been replaced by 'despondent'. It would seem that Levack had suffered from depression. Laudanum, a tincture of opium, was in common use in Victorian times. Read the history of its use here. As Levack's body lay undiscovered for many days, it can be assumed he was living alone. It was a sad end for someone who had been so talented, and popular, earlier in his life.

The newspaper report of Levack's assault on his wife had said 'It is doubtful if Mrs Levack will recover'. Evidence that Agnes did survive is that her signature appears on her husband's death certificate, and on that of her mother who died in 1879.

I thank Jenny Noble, Social History Curator with CultureNL, for information about the painting, the artist and the Rankin family. The staff at the Summerlee museum could not have been more helpful. Do visit! Thanks go to Lindsay Scotland for taking the photo of me beside the painting, and for helping to decipher the little plaques on the frame. The other photos of the painting, and of Rawyards today, are mine. Apologies for the various reflections from the glass of the case in which the painting is housed. The British Newspaper Archive again proved invaluable in researching information about the artist, and the National Library maps website continues to be a wonderful resource for locating old curling ponds.

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David's Wall

August 29, 2016, 2:44 am

≫ Next: The Women in the Painting: Scottish Curling Pioneers

≪ Previous: The Curlers at Rawyards

When the new season begins at Ayr Ice Rink in a couple of weeks, curlers arriving to play will be met by this new construction on Limekiln Road, at the car park entrance. It is a wall of curling stones, and a small cairn of stones, in memory of 'The Sheriff', David B Smith!

Some 100 stones were found in the garden of David and Hazel's home in Troon when the task of relocating David's bequest of his curling memorabilia to the Scottish Curling Trust was undertaken on his death last year. These were in addition to the 300 or so stones that were inside the house, which are now safely in store at Stirling.

Andrew Kerr, a Director of Ayrshire Curlers Ltd and David's friend, was one of those who helped in moving the collection to Stirling, a mammoth task. Andrew, and fellow Director, Gemmill Jack, are those who came up with the idea for the wall at David's home curling rink at Ayr, using the stones from the garden.

David's knowledge of curling's history was unmatched. I miss him very much. Hardly a day goes by when I come up with a question to which David would immediately have had the answer. Andrew says, "I too miss David. Many is the night I would bring him home and have a dram together talking about curling matters."

Whereas rare and important curling stones found a place inside their house in Troon, David and Hazel's garden was a 'sanctuary' for old curling stones. No matter how unloved in their previous existence, they found a home at Troon, and, on a sunny day outside, they were a worthy topic of conversation.

And they can continue to be discussed over! Forget for the moment that these stones have no handles, they all have stories to tell. One can ask two questions right off: how old are they, and what type of stone are they made from?

Take, as an example, the three stones on the top tier of the wall in the photo above. All are single-soled stones, and that dates them from before the middle of the nineteenth century. (I use a date of 1850 as roughly when reversible double soled stones were first manufactured.) The stone on the left is the earliest example - the hole in which the handle was seated is off to the side, the handle itself being L-shaped. The earliest of this type of stone would have had an iron handle, as on the stone that adorns the little pyramid of stones accompanying the wall, see above, permanently fixed in place. It may even have been made in the eighteenth century.

The other two are later. The one on the right (of Common Ailsa) and that in the middle (Carsphairn?) are single soled stones, but with the attachment for the handle in the centre of the stone. This was a small threaded iron bolt, the remains still in place in these two examples, onto which the handle would have been screwed. These handles were the earliest with a 'goose-neck' shape, and were removable.

We can date curling stones by reference to the great curling paintings of the nineteenth century. If you haven't already done so, take a trip to the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh where the beautifully restored painting of the Grand Match at Linlithgow by Charles Lees now hangs, see here.

The painting depicts the 1848 Grand Match. We can safely assume that the artist painted what he saw. In the detail above, most of the stones are single-soled, with offset handles. But one stands out as different, as I've highlighted. This is a single-soled stone with a centred handle. Such stones may be considered as a fairly short lived phase in curling stone evolution!

If you study closely the earlier famous painting of The Curlers by George Harvey, from 1835, see here, you will also see one odd stone which looks to be of this type.

Here's another from the wall. What stories could it tell of matches played many years ago? Where, I wonder? And who was AW, its proud owner who saw that his initials were inscribed onto it?

David's Wall is a wonderful reminder of a great man. I am sure he would appreciate it if you consider it as more than a wall of 'old stones', but as a reminder of games played, and enjoyed, on outside ice many years ago.

A vote of thanks must go to Andrew Kerr, Billy Howat, Gemmill Jack, Jim Miller, Gavin Morton and Jamie Mason who made it happen. Although Gemmill built the wall, a considerable amount of time and effort was put in by everyone, particularly in moving all the stones!

Photos © Skip Cottage, and my own thanks to Kirsty Letton.

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The Women in the Painting: Scottish Curling Pioneers

September 5, 2016, 12:19 am

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≪ Previous: David's Wall

Charles Martin Hardie's painting, 'Curling at Carsebreck', dates from 1898. The image above is just part of the full painting which hangs in a room at Scone Palace, Perthshire. It belongs to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. The National Galleries of Scotland have a smaller version, thought to be a preliminary sketch, and this can be seen online, here.

Hardie included likenesses of many curlers of the time, and this was discussed by David B Smith in an article about the painting here. I wondered just what contributions the two women in the painting had made to the sport, that they had been selected to be included in it. I have written already about one of the two women in the painting, Henrietta Gilmour, see here. Research on the other, Mrs Maxwell Durham, has led me to realise the uphill battle that the early pioneers of women's curling in Scotland had in becoming accepted within the male dominated curling fraternity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

This detail is from the engraving of the painting published by Doig, Wilson and Wheatley, 90 George Street, Edinburgh, in 1900. The photogravure process had been carried out by the Groupil company in Paris.

Mrs Maxwell Durham is the woman on the left. As Janetta Sprot Stewart McCulloch of Barholm, Kirkcudbrightshire, she had married Thomas Maxwell Durham in Biarritz, France, in 1880. The couple's home was Boghead, near Bathgate. Thomas was a keen curler, a member of the Bathgate Curling Club, and was President of the club when it joined the Royal Club in 1880 (and indeed remained as its President until his death in 1899). Mrs Maxwell Durham became the club's patroness in 1882. She does not appear at first as a member of the Bathgate CC, but it is reasonable to presume she did learn to play on the Bathgate pond.

Then, in the Annual of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club for 1896-97, Mrs Maxwell Durham is listed as an occasional member of the Bathgate club alongside twelve other ladies. These were: Miss Allan, Miss Gordon, Miss M Allan, Mrs Gentleman, Mrs Macnab, Mrs Halliday, Miss Meldrum, Mrs Sloan, Mrs Austin, Mrs Graham, Mrs Cameron and Mrs Kirk.

But by the following year, most of these these ladies, with some others, had formed their own club, the Boghead Ladies Curling Club, which became affiliated to the Royal Club at the AGM on July 8, 1897, election to club membership being 'unanimous'.

As you can see from the club's entry in the 1897-98 Annual, Mrs Maxwell Durham was its President. That Annual also suggests that the club had actually been first constituted in 1895. Janetta Maxwell Durham headed up the Boghead Ladies as its President for five years. Thomas Maxwell Durham died on September 19, 1899, and his obituary is in the Annual for 1899-1900. Janetta did not long survive her husband and died in Bath, England, on January 8, 1902, aged 66. However, the club continued to prosper. Mrs Robert Kirk took over as President in 1902, when it had eleven regular and five occasional members.

The sixteen strong Boghead Ladies Curling Club was the second women's club to join the Royal Club, Hercules Ladies having become affiliated in 1895. David Smith wrote about the Hercules Ladies here. That article has a photograph of eighteen members in front of their new clubhouse in 1899.

Balyarrow Ladies CC became affiliated to the Royal Club in 1898 with eleven regular members, and Cambo Ladies the following year, with fourteen members.

So, by the close of the nineteenth century, Scotland had four women's curling clubs. The inclusion of Mrs Maxwell Durham in the Charles Martin Hardie painting was, I believe, an acknowledgement of the establishment of these clubs.

It is interesting to speculate on the reasons for the formation of these women's clubs. It can be argued that the men did not want to share their activity with the women. Equality on the ice was still a long way off. Even though the four women's clubs were accepted into the roster of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, they did not, at first, compete against the men's clubs. District Medals were awarded, but these only matched up one women's club against another. One reason for that may have been the fact that the women played with different stones than did the men.

Writing in the 1898-99 Annual, an anonymous author notes, "... there is no doubt the national game has recently made great strides in popularity. The ladies have taken it up, and there are now several ladies' clubs, while a good many clubs admit ladies to membership. The weight of the curling stones for ladies' clubs varies from 25 to 33 lbs."

The author says 'a good many clubs admit ladies to membership', but is that enthusiasm backed up by hard facts? If you take the time to go through the list of clubs and members in a Royal Club Annual of the time, you can indeed find other women who were club members.

One of these clubs was Lundin and Montrave CC, and the reason that women came to prominence there, as we have seen (here), was thanks to Henrietta Gilmour, the other woman in the painting. But what other curling clubs had women members?

In the Royal Club Annual for 1900-1901, the membership of 539 Scottish clubs is recorded, as at September 15, 1900. As noted above, there were four women-only clubs: Hercules Ladies, Boghead Ladies, Balyarrow Ladies and Cambo Ladies. In addition, the Broughty Ferry CC had what appears to be a 'ladies section'. Indeed, the Dundee Evening Telegraph of December 9, 1897, records a meeting of that club where the proposal to admit lady members to the club was considered. After discussion, it was unanimously agreed that they should be admitted and eight ladies were placed on the roll of members. By 1900, this number had increased to 20.

The Balerno CC listed three 'Lady Members' as a category separate from 'Regular' and 'Occasional', as did the Raith and Abbotshall CC with thirteen.

Other clubs listed women as 'Extraordinary Members'. Callendar CC had two such, Couper-Angus and Kettins CC had three, as did Snaigow CC, and Edinchip CC had four.

The Affleck CC (whose secretary lived in Monikie, near Dundee) lists Jessie Walker, Julie D Taylor, Annie M Boase, L Margaret Cox, Jenny I Fraser, Nellie McIntyre and Jane Walker among its occasional members. The Pitlessie CC has Ruth de Pree, Althea Haig, Annie Gilroy, Jane Gilroy, Annie Macdonald and Meg Macdonald as occasional members too.

Family connections were perhaps the reason some women took to the ice. Dunnikier CC listed a Miss Oswald, a Miss Mary Oswald and a Miss Lena Oswald as occasional members. John Oswald, who was likely their father, was the club's President.

Women's names appear very occasionally amongst a club's regular members. The Bowden CC has a Mrs Maxwell Tress listed thus. Her husband was the club's Vice-president. Incidentally, she was also one of the club's Patronesses. The other was a Mrs Laidlaw, who also took part in games as an occasional member of the club. These names are rare examples of Patronesses who were actually curlers themselves.

Patroness of the Penninghame CC was Mrs Lloyd Anstruther who was also a regular member of the club. Another women in that club's roster of more than 80 men was a Miss Williams. There's a story to be uncovered here, I suspect!

The above list is not intended to be exhaustive, but does illustrate that by 1900 women were on the ice in their own clubs, in their own teams, and also playing with the men, although not in large numbers.

Club membership returns in old Annuals do not tell the whole story. The report, above, from the Dundee Courier of February 13, 1897, records in detail a match between two teams of women from Lindertis and Glamis. These women's names do not appear in the Annual returns of these two clubs in 1897, although the surnames do appear, most likely fathers or husbands.

Women's participation as full members of the sport's governing body faced one more hurdle. At the AGM of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club on Wednesday, July 24, 1901, in the Windsor Hotel, Glasgow, John Jackson, the President of the Glasgow Lilybank CC, proposed the following motion, "That ladies be not eligible to compete in any matches held under the auspices of the Royal Club, unless by arrangement, and against rinks composed entirely of their own sex." The motion was seconded by John Kinloch of Kilmacolm. The success of this motion would have restricted women to only playing against other women's teams in curling's great bonspiels such as the Grand Match, the International Match, and in Province Matches.

It is to the credit of James Gardner (Bathgate CC), the Rev R Menzies Fergusson (the Secretary of Airthey Castle CC), R Scott (Vice-president of Bonhill CC) and Captain R McKill (Blackburn, West Lothian, CC) who all spoke against the motion, that it was not carried. The way then was clear for women to take to the ice alongside the men, and against them, on equal terms, with the full backing of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. That this did happen as the twentieth century progressed, in Scotland and elsewhere, we shall see in future posts.

We know very little about these women curlers whose names appear in Royal Club Annuals and newspaper reports from more than a hundred years ago. They were curling pioneers, in the male dominated society of the time. I'm wondering if any of their descendents are aware of their curling ancestors, and can provide further information?

The detail from 'Curling at Carsebreck' is from a photograph of the painting in the author's archive, and the detail from the engraving was found online here. The Boghead Ladies membership is from a Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual, and the newspaper clipping is from the British Newspaper Archive.

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The Abdie Curling House

September 7, 2016, 3:50 am

≫ Next: The Bonspiel at Lochwinnoch: Fact or Fiction?

≪ Previous: The Women in the Painting: Scottish Curling Pioneers

One of the opportunities at the recent Fife 'Doors Open Days' was the chance to visit the Abdie Curling Club's house, beside Lindores Loch.

Now somewhat obscured by trees, it is a 'hidden gem'. Since 2014, it has been 'B listed' by Historic Environment Scotland and is well described on this web page.

Abdie CC's house is one of the few remaining curling club buildings. It was included in the recently published 'Scotland's Sporting Buildings', that book being reviewed by David Smith, here.

The house was constructed in the mid-1860s, on the site of a older structure. Originally it may have had a thatched roof, before that was replaced by corrugated iron.

Abdie Curling Club has a long history. It was founded in 1831, although curling was played in Abdie Parish long before that date.

The first President of the Abdie Club was Admiral Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland of Lindores. I was fascinated to learn that whilst in command of HMS Bellerophon, Captain Maitland received the surrender of Napoleon in June 1815 after Waterloo, and transported him to England. That story can be found here.

The Abdie CC was one of the original clubs listed in the first Annual of the Grand Caledonian Curling Club (as it was called then) in 1838.

This is a list of Abdie's members in 1838. One of them, James Ogilvy Dalgleish, was elected as one of two Vice-presidents of the Grand Caledonian Club.

The Rev John Kerr in 'The History of Curling, and Fifty Years of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club', records James Ogilvy Dalgleish's contributions. He says, "It was, however, to James Ogilvy Dalgleish, above all others, that the Grand Club was indebted for the framework of its first constitution." That's his image above from Kerr's book.

The Abdie club plays regularly these days at the Dewar's Centre in Perth. Many of its members were on duty at their old house for the Open Day. I was warmly welcomed by the current President, Alistair Robinson, above, in his club fleece. I enjoyed a welcome cup of coffee, and admired the various trophies on display.

The inside of the hut has many original features. The walls are lined with open shelves for storing pairs of curling stones. It was interesting to look at these and to try to identify where they were from - mostly Ailsa Blue Hone, and Common (Green) Ailsa, but some Crawfordjohns. Some years ago the hut was broken into, and the original brass handles stolen. These were replaced with more modern chrome/plastic handles as can be seen in the photo.

Other paraphernalia associated with the sport was all there. Here old crampits sit in a pile on a top shelf.

And here were four wooden tee markers, or 'dollies' (see here), wonderful, rare reminders of play on outside ice.

Club historian Gerry Watson had brought along the original minute books of the club, dating back to 1831. It was exciting to be able to look at these in such surroundings!

The earliest minute book contains this sketch, presented to the club by Lady Maitland, which shows curlers on Lindores Loch in front of Lindores House. What a wonderful image!

It was not uncommon for curling clubs to move from pond to pond over their years in existence. Abdie is a rare example of a club which has always had the same home ice - Lindores Loch.

The curling house, circled in red, sits at the base of a little promontory at the west end of the loch, called 'Lecturer's Inch'.

From the markings on this 1895 map, this end of the big loch was shallow. The oldest members of the club recall curling on the area marked by the 'X'.

This area is now very overgrown.

A report in the Dundee Courier on December 24, 1896, noted that "Lindores Loch is now entirely covered over with ice, the frost of Tuesday having registered 12 degrees. The Abdie curling club played another friendly game yesterday in the vicinity of the Curling house. The ice was strong, but rough."

'Pond hunters' will be asking the question whether the Abdie club manipulated the area to create a natural water pond. Indeed, the Historic Environment Scotland description says, "A man-made curling pond area to the north east of the pavilion is currently overgrown with loch-side vegetation." This is in a different area to that remembered as being curled on recently. More research and survey of the site, and study of the minute books, will be necessary to resolve exactly where the members played over a hundred year period.

The wider expanse of Lindores Loch has often been used for major bonspiels.

This photo is of a match between Cupar and District Province and East of Fife Province. The newspaper clipping in the Abdie club's collection of memorabilia is undated, but I have been able to find that it is from the Dundee Courier of February 4, 1952.

The Abdie Curling Club celebrated its 150 year anniversary by publishing a booklet in 1981, Fair and Keen: A Brief History of Abdie Curling Club. That's a great read.

Thanks to Gerry Watson and Alistair Robinson, and other club members, for their warm welcome and stories about the Abdie CC. Original photos are © Bob Cowan. Lady Maitland's sketch is from the Abdie CC's minute book, and reproduced here with permission. The image of Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland was found here. It is from an engraving by Henry Mayer after Samuel Woodforde, and was the frontispiece of the 1904 edition of Frederick Lewis Maitland's 1826 book, The Surrender of Napoleon. The image of Captain James Ogilvy Dalgleish is from The History of Curling, and Fifty Years of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, by John Kerr, David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1890. The map image is from the National Library of Scotland maps site, here.

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