Quick Scottish History - 13. 17 May - 23 May

1. Quick
Scottish
History
A weekly guide to
Scotland’s past with
@mrmarrhistory
To suggest topics get in touch via Twitter: @mrmarrhistory #quickscottishhistory
#quickscottishhistory Issue 13 17 May – 23 May
Aberdeen and the Atlantic
Slave Trade
The slave trade had a visible effect on life in
Aberdeen, some of which is still evident today.
Many people from the city owned slaves (even if
they had never been to the Caribbean). When
slavery was abolished, compensation was paid to
people in Aberdeen such as Alexander Glennie.
Other people from the city did
go to the Caribbean in order to
find work, including as plantation
workers or on slave ships.
Some of Aberdeen’s architecture
was affected by the trade. The
Powis gates were funded by a
slave plantation owner, Hugh
Fraser Leslie.
This week in
Scottish history
The life of…
Agnes Dollan
Agnes Dollan was a prominent Suffragette and
political campaigner.
Dollan was born in 1887 in Springburn, in the north
of Glasgow. She died in the same city in 1966.
She was involved in the Suffragette campaign to try
and get women the right to vote.
During World War One, Dollan
helped organise the Rent Strikes
against huge rent increases.
Dollan was also a wartime peace
campaigner.
In 1921 she became a Glasgow
City Councillor, representing the
Springburn ward.
Weekly quiz
What Scottish city is sometimes said to have been
the first in the world to have its own fire brigade?
Last week’s answer: Dwight Eisenhower once had
a holiday home in Culzean Castle in Ayrshire.
17 May 1532 – Court of Session (Scotland’s highest
civil court) established by King James V
18 May 1960 – Real Madrid won their 5th European
Cup, beating Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 at Hampden
19 May 1795 – death of James Boswell, who
completed a famous journey with Dr Samuel
Johnson describing life in Scotland
20 May 685 – the Picts win the Battle of Dunnichen,
stopping an Angle tribe moving further north
21 May 1916 – introduction of Daylight Savings Time
as clocks go forward an hour for the first time
22 May 1859 – birth in Edinburgh of Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle, author of Sherlock Holmes
23 May 1701 – death by hanging of the famous
Scottish pirate, Captain Kidd
Bullet point History:
Names for Scotland
• Scotland has been known as different names in
the time it has been inhabited
• The name ‘Scotland’ actually comes from an Irish
tribe called the ‘Scotti’.
• Alba is the Gaelic name for Scotland
• The Romans called the land found to the north of
the River Forth ‘Caledonia’
• Dalriada was kingdom on Scotland’s west coast