Quick Scottish History - 15. 31 May - 6 June

1. Quick
Scottish
History
A weekly guide to
Scotland’s past with
@mrmarrhistory
#quickscottishhistory Issue 15 31 May – 6 June
To suggest topics get in touch via Twitter: @mrmarrhistory
Where in Scotland can you fly on the world’s shortest scheduled flight?
Last week’s answer: The oldest castle on mainland Scotland is Castle Sween in Argyll.
Weekly
quiz
Bullet point history
Edinburgh’s early history
• Humans are said to have lived in the Edinburgh area for c.11,000 years
• A notable hill fort in the area became the centre of human activity
(probably on Arthur’s Seat or Castle Rock)
• As late as 900 AD, Edinburgh was part of the Kingdom of Northumbria
• In 973 AD, control of Edinburgh was given to Scotland’s king, Kenneth II
• Edinburgh Castle was home to kings and queens for centuries
• The chapel in Edinburgh Castle is the oldest building in Edinburgh
This week in Scottish history…
31 May 1727 – the Royal Bank of Scotland was officially founded. It opened in Edinburgh.
1 June 1878 – First passenger journey on the Tay Rail Bridge. It had collapsed within one year.
2 June 1941 – Clothes rationing was introduced in Scotland during the Second World War
3 June 1774 – Birth of Scottish poet, Robert Tannahill, author of poems such as ‘The flower of Dunblane’
4 June 1977 – Scotland famously beat England at football at Wembley. Scottish fans invade the pitch.
5 June 1868 – Birth in Edinburgh of James Connolly, who was shot after leading a 1916 rebellion in Ireland
6 June 1891 – Death of Scottish-born John A MacDonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister
The Reformation
The Reformation turned Scotland from being a Catholic
country into one with its own Church (mainly Presbyterian).
Until the early-1500s, Scotland was a strongly Catholic country,
but some people were starting to criticise this.. Most famously
this included John Knox.
Various other people were inspired by Marth Luther – a
German who opposed many of the Catholic Church’s actions –
and began to argue for change in Scotland.
Politics was part of this. Many fights took place over Scotland’s
monarch and whether they should be Catholic or Protestant.
By the 1600s, Protestantism was now dominant in Scotland.
The life of …
Katharine Stewart-Murray
Katharine Stewart-Murray (1874-1960)
was Scotland’s first female MP.
Stewart-Murray had actually been
involved in the anti-suffrage campaign to
stop women getting the right to vote.]
However in 1923 she was elected to the
West Perthshire seat as a Unionist.
Stewart-Murray was known for opposition
to Nazi Germany and the USSR.