When Leith at last obtained its own Town Council the right of electing the Councillors lay with such of the citizens of leith as were qualified to vote for a member of Parliament, the town being divided into Wards for the purpose of the election. (more…)
Archive for May, 2004
How Leith was Governed 1833-1920
Monday, May 17th, 2004Death on the Shore-The Story of a Mutiny
Saturday, May 15th, 2004In 1779 Seventy Highlanders of the 42nd and 71st (the known as the Master of Lovat’s Regiment) when marched down to Leith refused to embark as a rumour had been spread that they were to be drafted into a Lowland Corps and they wouldn’t be able to wear the Kilt and they deeply resented this.. They decided to resist this to the death and mutinied. (more…)
Leith and the “50,000 Cannibals”!
Saturday, May 15th, 2004During the 1715 Jacobite uprising all the ports in the South of Scotland had been blockaded by the Royal Navy and so to circumvent this the Earl of Mar sent a detachment of Highlanders south to link up with a General Forster in the Lothians. The detachment was under the command of Brigadier Macintosh of Borlum who was a brave soldier in his time but he was getting on a bit. (more…)
Blood and Golf
Friday, May 14th, 2004On the 23rd of December 1729 The Hon. Alexander Elphinstone who was leading a life of idleness and pleasure in Leith while his brother was in exile met a lieutenant Swift of Lord Cadogan’s regiment (which later became the Kings own) at the house of a Mr Watson in Leith. (more…)
Bothwell Brig, Leith, and Sacrifice
Thursday, May 13th, 2004On the 22nd June 1679 the covenanters were defeated by the Duke of Monmouth at the Battle of Bothwell Brig and the survivors where held in the Inner Greyfriar Yard which was an extension of the famous Churchyard of Greyfriars in Edinburgh. This part of the Churchyard was later to be called the Covenanters Prison. (more…)
The Story of Meeting House Green Close
Wednesday, May 12th, 2004As the name suggests this Close wasn’t originally a Close but an open piece of ground at one time. The name comes about due to a meeting House being erected on this spot in 1688. It was here that the Presbyterian Congregation of South Leith met while the Church at South Leith was Episcopal. Strangely enough the meeting house got the name “John Knox’s Church”. (more…)
Some Historic buildings of Old Leith
Wednesday, May 12th, 2004The recovery of the town from the effects of years of invasion and destruction as these of Hertford would have been long delayed if it wasn’t for the Reformation and the peaceful reign reign of James VI. A period of comparative prosperity began and many new buildings were erected. (more…)
A Man of Contradictions
Tuesday, May 11th, 2004John White (1867-1951) stands out amomg Scottish Churchmen of the 20th century as a man of contradictions. It is either of a man who got out of touch with the Church he served or a man whose Church abandoned the values he stood for. (more…)
From the Annals of North Leith
Monday, May 10th, 2004As in the case of David Lindsay of South Leith Church George Wishart of North Leith Church was a staunch Royalist in the year 1638. (more…)
The Legend of Shelly Coat
Monday, May 10th, 2004Before ignorance and bigotry were banished by education and the advancement of science. Leith possessed its full share of superstition in common with the rest of the country. Amongst the most imaginary and remarkable with whom the good folk of Leith had to deal was Shelly Coat. A spirit of the waters and so named from his outward covering or coat being formed by seashells. (more…)
