My Own Scottish Family

01/04/2020

Another Scot to be proud of and so pertinent in these uncertain times...

He led the fight agains disease from three rooms in an Edinburgh flat - and brought hope to the world.

31/10/2019

21/12/2018

Not a time to own up to being a Ruthven. These were dark and violent times. Difficult to distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys here. Plus ca change......

It was a surname “extinguished and abolished forever” by the state after two brothers from a powerful Scots family were accused of trying to kill the King.

13/12/2018

Situated off the coast of East Lothinan, this island is now home to the world's largest colony of Northern gannets, which explains why it always looks white on top!

KNOWN as the ‘Scottish Alcatraz’, the Bass Rock has held royals, ministers and a few Jacobites for good measure. The near impenatrable rock made it the perfect place for a prison.

13/12/2018

More Polish nationals now live in Scotland than any other group from outside the UK and the two countries share a rich history.

16/11/2018

What itchy feet the Scots have......

IN 2009 then First Minister Alex Salmond invited “the 100 million-strong Scottish family” to return home for a year of cultural celebration.

19/09/2017

Could you be descended from royalty?

In the fourth part of his series on the origin of the Scots Alistair Moffat examines more than a hint of majesty in the nation.

15/09/2017

The other side of the coin.....

From the army general who ambushed his own men in a drunken haze to a serial poisoner and a mass murdering Mormon, the Scots who “stained” American history have been laid bare in a new book.

07/09/2017

Any of your ancestors figure in this apocalyptic true tale??

In extraordinary scenes, Mary Mackintosh was brought to the Grassmarket by her husband, Thomas M.Guisgan, who held her by a straw rope tied around her middle with the words “to be sold by public auction” pinned on her bosom.

16/08/2017

The old photograph is somewhat misleading as it is of inhabitants of St Kilda, a sparsely populated island whose few emigrants went to Australia rather then America in the mid 1800s. Still, it conjures up a sense of the kind of conditions many Scottish Highlanders had to endure.

08/04/2017

Some spectacle this.....

Such was the sensation created by the ex*****on of Lord Lovat, the chief of Clan Fraser, that nine people were killed when a stand of spectators collapsed due to overcrowding.

22/03/2017

Brutality on an unimaginable scale..

More than 50 human bones found in an island cave have been identified as belonging to the victims of one of Scotland’s worst clan atrocities.

21/02/2017

Grey Colin (Campbell)...Slippery John (Campbell) - two of the most violent clansmen of the day. Mind you, the MacGregors could equal them in duplicity and double crossing.

The violence meted out by Highland clans reached epic proportions as honour, power and territory were pursued and defended in equal, often barbaric, measure.

03/02/2017

Whoever knew about this disreputable bunch.....

The name of this “wicked and unhappy” clan was banned in the early 1600s after its members killed more than 140 rival clansmen at Glen Fruin near Loch Lomond.

17/01/2017