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Old-Lore Miscellany

Page 7

OBITUARY

        The Right Reverand John Dowden, D.D., LL. D., Bishop of Edinburgh.----In our last four numbers we have referred to the learned researches, "on the appointment of Bishops in Scotland during the mediæval period," of the late Bishop Dowden. His decease on January 30^th, 1910, removes from Scotland---especially from Edinburgh---a very notable personage, who during a laborious life-time did much to elucidate Scottish History and Scottish Ecclesiastical Usages. John Dowden was born in Cork, 29^th June, 1840, was educated at Queen's College, and in 1858 went to Trinity College, Dublin, where he took a distinguished place, and graduated in 1861. He was ordained in 1864 by the Bishop of Kilmore, and after holding several important charges, was in 1874 appointed Pantonian Professor of Theology and Bell Lecturer in the Scottish Epis. Theological College, then situated at Glenalmond, but afterwards transferred to Edinburgh; and later he became its Principal. On the death of Bishop Suther, in 1883, he was brought forward as a candidate for the Bishopric of Aberdeen and Orkney, but was unsuccessful. We who intimately knew him felt how much this united diocese lost. The chequered history of each would have kindled his romantic enthusiasm. He was intimately acquainted with the history of Aberdeen, and it was a gratification to him to visit Orkney in 1902, when he administered the rite of Confirmation to several candidates in St. Olaf's Church, Kirkwall. In 1886 he was consecrated Bishop of Edinburgh, since when the Church has made rapid progress. Bishop Dowden had a fascinating personality, was a profound scholar, a keen theologian and logician, an able administrator, and a thorough but kindly teacher. He is the elder brother of Dr. Edward Dowden, Professor of English Literature in Dublin University since 1867---the well-known authority on Shakespeare, Shelley, and Wordsworth. The Bishop is survived by Mrs. Dowden, two sons, and four daughters, with whom much sympathy is felt.
        Besides numerous articles in magazines, the following are some of the works published by the late Bishop:---"The Saints in the Calendar" (Dublin), 1873; "The Knowledge of God is a Spiritual Knowledge" (Dublin), 1876; "Reasons for Gratitude and Incentive to Duty in the Episcopal Church of Scotland" (Edinburgh), 1879; "The Beauty of Nature a Revelation of God," 1884; "The Annotated Scottish Communion Office," 1884: "The Celtic Church in Scotland," 1894; "Some Notes on Systematising Christian Knowledge"; "Theological Literature of the Church of England"; "The Early Christian Epigraphs at Kirkmadrine," 1898; "The Workmanship of the Prayer-Book," 1899; "Further Studies in the Prayer-Book," 1907. Since the Bishop's death "The Church Year and Calendar" (Cambridge), 1910, and "The Mediæval Church in Scotland" (Maclehose), 1910, have appeared, and there still remains to be issued his "Scottish Bishops in Mediæval Times," which is a complementary work to "The Mediæval Church in Scotland." Bishop Dowden was the first to suggest the formation of the Scottish History Society, and was present at the first meeting, which took place in the Theological College in Rosebery Crescent. He edited the Correspondence of the Lauderdale family of Lindores; and the Charters of Inchaffray Abbey. The work which the late Bishop considered he would be most worthily remembered by was the compilation of the dates of Scottish Bishops through all history, and said that if he was remembered in future generations by the five and twenty persons who would be competent to judge the value of this work, he should have a sufficient memorial.
        It is proposed as his memorial to raise a sum of £2,500 wherewith to purchase his valuable library---especially the four collections on Historical, Liturgical, Antiquarian and Theological subjects, and to add them to the library of St. Mary's Cathedral. It is to be hoped that the Executors will complete and publish the catalogue on which the Bishop had been engaged, as friends and admirers of Bishop Dowden, as well as clergymen trained by him, would love to possess such a memento of so distinguished an Ecclesiastic.----T.M.
SIR ARCHIBALD HAMILTON DUNBAR, BART., of Northfield.----Died at his residence, Duffus House, Elginshire, on June 6^th, 1910, aged 82 years. The deceased, who succeeded his father, Sir Archibald Dunbar, was the seventh baronet. He was a Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for the Country of Elgin, and for a considerable number of years served in the Army. His chief interest, however, was in historical and antiquarian subjects, and in 1899 he published a Chronology of Scottish Kings, which was dedicated by special permission to Queen Victoria. The second edition was reviewed in Old-Lore Miscellany for July, 1907. It is an indispensable book of reference to all interested in history, whether Scottish or Norse.
        Sir Archibald was a kindly and genial gentleman, interested in the welfare of his tenants, with whom he was popular. He was married to Isabel, eldest daughter of Mr. C. Eyre, of Welford Park, Berks, by whom he is survived. As there is no issue of the marriage, the baronetcy passes to his half-brother, the Venerable Archdeacon Charles Gordon Cunning Dunbar.---T.M.
        GEORGE CLUNIES ROSS, OF THE COCOA-KEELING ISLANDS.---Died at Ventnor, Isle of Wight, on July 7^th, 1910, aged 68 years. He had been unwell, and came to this country in May for a change. He was Chief and Proprietor of the Cocoa-Keeling Islands, which group was discovered in 1609 by Captian William Keeling, after whom they were named. They were taken possession of in 1825 by John Clunies Ross, who was succeeded by his son, John George Clunies Ross, at whose death in 1871 the late George Clunies Ross became possessor. About twenty years ago Christmas Island was added, at which time Mr. Clunies Ross paid a visit to Shetland, in which he and the other members of his family, in which he and the other members of his family, who have been in Shetland, took much interest, it being the old home of their immediate ancestors. Mr. Clunies Ross was a man of great ability and energy, who had been over much of the world, and read widely, and was familiar with most subjects. He is succeeded by his eldest son, Mr. John Sydney Clunies Ross, who has been to Shetland several times.
        Mr. Clunies Ross was descended from two old families----Cluness belonging to Cromarty, and Ross to Ross-shire. According to the Notes given me by an intelligent member of the Cluness family, who died in 1886, the first of the Clunesses, who came from Cromarty to Shetland, were three brothers, one of whom settled in Northmavine, without issue; another settled in Unst, leaving descendants, and the eldest, John, settled at Gudon, East Yell. He was the father of Adam, who was the father of John, who had at least three children: [1] Adam Cluness, b. 1768, drowned in 1832, m. Elizabeth Schollay, b. 1774; [2] Christina, m. Robert Johnson; [3] George Cluness, Teacher, Weisdale, m. Elizabeth, daughter, of John Ross, of Lund, whose son, John Clunies Ross, was the first King of the Cocoas.
        The Ross family goes considerably farther back; the first we have being Malcolm, Earl of Ross, the father of [2] Ferquhard, father of [3] William, father of [4] William, father of [5] Hugh, father of [6] William, brother of [7] John, brother of [8] Hugh of Rarichies, first of Balnagown, father of [9] William, father of [10] Walter, father of [11] Hugh, father of [12] John, father of [13] Alexander, father of [14] Sir David, father of [15] Walter, eighth of Balnagown, who married Marion, daughter of Sir John James Grant, of Grant. He was slain at Tain, 12^th May, 1528. he was the father of Alexander, first of Little Tarrell, father of [2] Alexander, brother of [3] John, father of [4] Hugh, father of [5] John who married Janet, daughter of Colonel John Munro of Opisdale (whose eldest son was Alexander, sixth of Little Tarrell, and) whose second son was John Ross first of Lund who married [1] and [2] Dorothea, daughter of William Bruce. He was the father of John Ross, of Lund, m. Margaret Scott, the father of John Ross of Lund, m. Janet Scott, and of Anne who m. William Ferguson, of Thurso, whose daughter Margaret m. Walter Grey, of Cliff, whose daughters [1] Catherine and [2] Margaret were the mothers of the late Arthur Laurenson and Laurence James Nicolson. John Ross, of Lund, and Janet Scott of Scarpoe, m. Annie Gauden [5] James of Quarff, whose daughter Jane m. Basil Robertson, of Gossaburgh, whose daughter Mrs. Henderson Robertson was the mother of Mrs. Hastie the mother of C.H. Hastie-Robertson, of, Gossaburgh, [6] Henry m. Janet, daughter of Sheriff James Malcolmson, whose daughter Barbara m. George Henderson, of Petister, father of the late William Henderson, Brough, Burravoe, [9] Robert, Merchant Sound, Weisdale m. Eliza Jane, daughter of Rev. William Mitchell, of Tingwall, whose son had a son Francis George [9] Elizabeth m. George Cluness, Teacher, Weisdale, whose son John George Clunies Ross m. Sophie Deponge, whose son was the late George Clunies Ross, the father of the present King, John Sydney Clunies Ross.----T.M.
        HON. MRS. PELHAM SINCLAIR of Murkle and Stevenson.---Died at St. Laurence, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, November, 1910, in her 94^th year. Second daughter of Sir John Gordon Sinclair, Bt., and Anne daughter of Admiral the Hon. Michael de Courcy, married October 15^th, 1839, Hon. Dudley Pelham, who died April 13^th, 1851, and is survived by a daughter, Edith Charlotte, married August 10^th, 1875, Captian Gilbert Spencer Smith (who is well known in the Reay Country) with issue. She succeeded her brother, Sir Robert Sinclair, in 1899, and in the terms of the entail the estates go to the deceased's sister, Lady Lennox.

NOTES ON BOOKS.

        Annals of the Reigns of Malcolm and William, Kings of Scotland, A.D. 1153-1214. Collected, with notes and an index, by Sir Archibald Campbell Lawrie, LL. D., author of "Early Scottish Charters prior to A.D. 1153." 9 x 5½. pp. xxxvi. + 458. Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, 1910, 10s. net. This volume is a scholarly continuation of the author's previous work, and the two together form a Diplomatarium Scoticum, A.D. 565-1214. Many documents, a large number compared with the size of the Kingdom, were handed over to John Balliol by order of King Edward I., all of which have perished except a meagre inventory. Nothing written in Scotland before 1286 therefore remains except the Chronicle of Melrose and a Chronicle ascribed to Holyrood. We have therefore to rely on contemporary English Chronicles for the history of Scotland during these two centuries---John of Hexham, Reginald of Durham, William of Newburgh, Robert de Torigneio, Jordan Fantosme, Roger de Hoveden, and Benedictus Abbas. Extracts are given without translations. During Malcolm's minority it is surmised that Andrew Bishop of Caithness was one of the important personages. Sumerled established himself in the Western Islands, and was at war with Malcolm until defeated in 1164. William surrendered the independence of Scotland to England. He had trouble in Caithness, where Earl Harald asserted independence, and was with difficulty brought to terms. In 1155 Pope Adrian IV. placed Caithness and other Scottish bishops under the metropolitan see of York. In 1156 a naval engagement took place between Godred and Sumerled, when the Kingdom of the Isles was divided. In 1175, Laurence, Abbot of Orkney, was elected Abbot of Melrose, and died in 1178. The monastery in Orkney is now believed to have been in Eynhallow, where extensive monastic ruins still remain. Andrew, Bishop of Caithness, died in 1185 in Dunfermline. In 1196 a battle took place between the King's forces and Roderic and Thorphin, son of Earl Harald, after which there was an expedition against Earl Harald, and another in 1201-2. The death of Earl Harald took place in 1206. Adam, Abbot of Melrose, was elected Bishop of Caithness in 1212, consecrated in 1214, in which latter year he dedicated the church of Hawick, and was murdered in 1222. At p. 389 the date of Adam's election is 1212, whereas at p. 341 it is given as 1213. In the Index, the references to Earl Harald are divided, s.v., "Harald" and "Caithness, Earl Harold," in which it is stated that he returned from Orkney to meet King William, bringing his two sons with him, p. 308, which is an error for grandsons, and the p. should be 304. In p. 309 Henry should be read Harald. The Orkneyinga Saga has not been made use of for references to events in Scotland, although it is more reliable than Roger of Hoveden, whose statement that Thorfin was Earl Harald's only heir is absurd, when he also states that he had two grandsons, and we know that he had also two sons, John and David, who were afterwards Earls.
        Sir Archibald Lawrie has laid all students under a debt of gratitude for having brought together the few annals which survive of this period.
        The London Inverness-shire Association, Twenty-eighth Annual Report. London, Dec., 1909. Hon. Sec., Mr. Stewart Bogle, A.C.A., 3, Great St. Helen's, E.C. The objects of this Association are to encourage education in the country, literary, charitable and social. Annual subscription, 5s.
        The Antiquary, August--December, 1910. London, Elliot Stock, 6d. each. Annual subscription 6s. These numbers contain the usual articles of general antiquarian interest. There is a note of Mr. David MacRitchie's lecture on "Cyclopean Strutures in Scotland," in which he deals with brochs or doons which approximate closely to the talayots of the Balearic Isles and the nurags of Sardinia. He deprecated their being termed pre-historic. Dr. Joseph Anderson's estimate that they were probably built between 5^th and 9^th centuries of our era accorded well with the Norse chronicles, which ascribed such buildings to the Picts at the time of the Norse colonisation of Orkney in the ninth century.
        Association of Professional Fire Brigade Officers. Proceedings of 8^th Annual Meeting, London, 1910. Among the members present was our subscriber, Firemaster W. Inkster, of Aberdeen, who made many valuable contributions to the discussions, and by whom a paper was read on "Reciprocating verses Turbine Pumps." The President, Lieut.-Col. C. J. Fox, being in the chair.

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