Famous Scots: M-P

John Maitland
(1616-82)

Royalist · Politician

John Maitland began his public career as a staunch supporter of the Solemn League and Covenant. He was one of the commissioners who signed the Covenant with the English Parliamentary faction in 1643. He ingratiated himself with Charles II and was captured at the disastrous battle of Worcester in 1650. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London under sentence of death until his fortunes changed with the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. He was granted the post of High Commissioner and Secretary of State for Scotland. In 1672 he was created Duke of Lauderdale, becoming the initial 'L' in what Charles Dickens called the 'CABAL' ministry of Charles II in his book, 'A Child's History of England'. Two years later he was made Earl of Guilford and appointed privy councillor.

Lauderdale has been the subject of harsh criticism for the way in which he governed Charles' troublesome northern kingdom. After a victory at Drumclog the unyielding Covenanters of southwest Scotland were defeated at Bothwell Brig. He used the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth to incarcerate a number of the prisoners and executed and deported others. His contemporary Lord Clarendon described him as 'insolent, imperious, flattering and dissembling, and having no impediment of honour to restrain him from doing anything that might satisfy any of his passions'.

In 1672 he married Elizabeth Murray, the beautiful and dangerous Countess of Dysart, referred to in the Scots Peerage as 'the evil genius of himself and his family'. Together they oversaw the embellishment of their home, Thirlestane Castle, and the even more spectacular Ham House in Surrey. The couple were painted by the celebrated portraitist Sir Peter Lely. Political intrigue and ill health led to Lauderdale's dramatic fall from power in 1680. He died two years later in Tunbridge Wells and is buried in the family crypt in St Mary's church in Haddington. On his death without male issue the Dukedom became extinct and the Earldom passed to his brother Charles.

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Princess Margaret Rose, Countess of Snowdon
(1930-2002)

Princess of the United Kingdom

Born at Glamis Castle, Margaret was the daughter of King George VI and his wife Queen Elizaneth, and younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II. Margaret spent much of her early life in the company of her elder sister and parents (below, left to right are Margaret, Elizabeth, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth).

Her life was to change dramatically when her Uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated the British throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. As her father became King, Margaret became second in line to the throne.

Remaining at Windsor Castle during World War Two, after the war Margaret fell in love with Group Captain Peter Townsend, her father's equerry. Around the same time her father died, and her sister Elizabeth became Queen. Because the Church of England refused to countenance Margaret marrying a divorcee, she abandoned her plans, instead accepting the proposal of phototgrapher Anthony Armstrong-Jones who became Earl of Snowdon.

After their 1978 divorce, Margaret became linked with several men. Unfortunately, her health gradually deteriorated. A lifetime of heavy smoking took its toll; she had a lung operation in 1985, pneumonia in 1993, and at least three strokes between 1998 and 2001. Margaret died at King Edward VII Hospital, London, a year later.

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Born Glamis Castle, 21 Aug 1930 (ref 289, 14)

Mary, Queen of Scots
1542-1567)

Queen of Scotland

Mary, Queen of Scots (born Mary Stewart and, in French, Marie Stuart) was Scottish Queen regnant from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567. In the lists of Scottish sovereigns she is recognized as Mary I.

The only surviving legitimate child of King James V, she was six days old when her father died and was crowned nine months later. In 1558 she married Francis, Dauphin of France, who ascended the French throne as Francis II in 1559. Mary was widowed the following year. After her husband's death, Mary returned to Scotland, marrying her first cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, in 1565.

Their union was unhappy and in February 1567 there was an explosion at their house and Darnley was found dead, apparently strangled, in the garden.

She soon married James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who was generally believed to be Darnley's murderer. Following an uprising against the couple, Mary was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle on 15 June and forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son, James VI.

After an unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne, Mary fled to England seeking protection from her first cousin once removed, Queen Elizabeth I, whose kingdom she hoped to inherit. Elizabeth ordered her arrest - Mary had previously claimed Elizabeth's throne as her own and was considered England's legitimate sovereign by many English Catholics. In custody for 19 years, she was eventuallty tried and executed for treason at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire.

Mary was buried at Peterborough Cathedral, Westminster Abbey.

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Second marriage (to Henry, Lord Darnley), Edinburgh, 29 July 1565 (ref 685,3)

James Clerk Maxwell
(1831-79)

Scientist · Physicist

Pne of Scotland's greatest scientists of the nineteenth century. His main discoveries were in electricity and magnetism; and the kinetic theory of gases. He published many works including 'Theory of heat' and 'Matter and motion' ; and held posts at Aberdeen University and King's College, London before becoming professor of experimental physics at Cambridge in 1871.

He was born on 13 June 1831 and registered as James Clerk Maxwell.

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Baptised Edinburgh, 29 Jul 1831 (ref 685.1/56, Fr 705)

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Married to Katherine Mary Dewar, Old Machar, 2 Jun 1858 (ref 168/2, 65)

Andrew Meikle
(1719-1811)

Inventor of agricultural machinery

Andrew Meikle was born at Houston Mill in East Lothian. His father was an inventor and agricultural improver responsible for an automated fanner for winnowing grain. Andrew followed in his father's footsteps developing the design of the windmill in 1750 and in 1768 patenting a machine for dressing grain. His most remarkable invention was a drum threshing machine that could be powered in a variety of ways. In 1788 he took out a patent and set up a factory. Unfortunately his inventions did not bring financial success. He was financially supported by friends in his old age. Preston Mill in East Lothian is one of the mills Andrew worked on and it is preserved in its original form by the National Trust for Scotland.

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John Middleton
(1619-74)

Royalist soldier

Middleton's family came from the lower ranks of Scottish society. In 1632 he enlisted as a pikeman in a regiment raised to fight in France. He returned to Scotland in 1639 in the midst of its own civil wars. Serving in the army of the Covenant he was rapidly promoted from the rank of colonel to lieutenant general. At the victory at Philiphaugh in 1645 he was second in command to David Leslie. When Charles I was executed, John was one of the many Scots who entered the 'Engagement' with Charles II and marched into England with the army in support of the new king. John commanded the cavalry at Preston, but the Scots were no match for Cromwell's New Model Army. At the disastrous defeat at Worcester in 1650 John was wounded and taken prisoner. He managed to break out of the Tower of London and flee to France. Returning to Scotland three years later he led a force in the abortive Glencairn rising and once again sought refuge on the continent. Whilst at the court of the exiled Charles II he was created Earl of Middleton in 1656, and at Charles' restoration in 1660 he was further rewarded with the post of Royal Commissioner to the Scottish Parliament.

John's lowly birth made him unpopular with much of the Scottish nobility. This antipathy was compounded by his insistence on reintroducing the Episcopalian hierarchy into the Church of Scotland. After falling foul of the Secretary of State, John Maitland, earl (later duke) of Lauderdale, he was accused of mismanagement and corruption and forced out of office in 1633. He managed to secure himself the post of Governor of Tangiers in North Africa and it was in these more temperate climes that he spent his last years.

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Hugh Miller
(1802-56)

Geologist · Writer

Hugh Miller, the respected geologist, author and Free Churchman, was born in Cromarty in 1802 and apprenticed as a stonemason - an occupation which stimulated his interest in geology. Later, Miller edited the evangelical newspaper The Witness and went on to produce many publications. These included Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland (1835), The Old Red Sandstone (1841) on fossils found in the Cromarty area and My Schools and Schoolmasters (1854), his autobiography. Miller's collection of over 6,500 fossils formed the basis of the Royal Scottish Museum''s national collection.

Although Hugh Miller died intestate (by his own hand) on 24th December 1856 at his house in Portobello, Edinburgh, there is an inventory of his estate in the records of Edinburgh Sheriff Court (National Archives of Scotland reference SC70/1/93). In addition to the valuation of the contents of his house (totalling 289 pounds 1 shilling), the copyright value of some of his publications is included, as is the contents of his 'geological museum'. For further details, follow the link to the images to see all 6 pages of the document.

The National Library of Scotland holds the main body of original Miller manuscripts (some 13 bound volumes) on deposit from the National Trust for Scotland. To find out more about Hugh Miller, have a look at Discover Hugh Miller, an excellent site which contains a comprehensive bibliography.

Miller's fossil collection effectively founded what is today's national collection in the National Museums. Sir Archibald Geikie, head of the first HM Geological Survey of Scotland, was his protege. The father of American landscape conservation, John Muir, named a glacier for him in Alaska; some Devonian cliffs on the Restigouche River in Quebec bear his name, as does a fossil species in New York state. The Ardersier born naturalist Robert McKenzie Johnston of Tasmania was inspired by Miller. One of today's greatest Australian palaeontologists, Alex Ritchie, discoverer of the huge Canowindra Devonian fishbeds in New South Wales, carries a copy of The Old Red Sandstone round in his pocket. The Miller oil and gas field in the North Sea is still in production.

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Alexander Monro
(1697-1767)

Founder, Edinburgh Medical School

Alexander Monro was born in London. His father was an accomplished Edinburgh surgeon. Initially studying anatomy in London Alexander continued his studies at Paris and Leiden before returning to Edinburgh in 1719, where, in 1720, he was appointed Professor of Anatomy. His work The Anatomy of Human Bones (1726) became internationally renowned.

Alexander was convinced of the need to provide the city's poor with free medical treatment and thereby also create a medical school for the university. In 1729 small rented premises were used for this purpose, with Alexander providing surgical treatment at his own expense. These premises were the forerunner of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, which was finally established in 1736. Alexander's efforts had ensured Edinburgh a place as a centre of excellence for medical training. He continued to work for better medical treatment for all and published An Account of the Inoculation of Small Pox in Scotland in 1764.

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Tom Morris, junior
(1851-75)

Golfer

Tom Morris junior was a pioneer of professional golf and the first young prodigy in the sport's history. He was ranked the 14th best golfer of all-time in a 2009 survey in Golf Magazine.

Aptly born in 'the home of golf', St Andrews, Fife, Tom Morris (junior) he was the son of another Tom Morris, greenkeeper and professional of St Andrews Links. To avoid confusion, Tom junior became known as 'Young Tom', and his father 'Old Tom'.

After the Morris family moved to Prestwick, Ayrshire, Tom enrolled at the prestigious Ayr Academy. As his father taught him golf from a young age, Young Tom bypassed caddying and clubmaking and went straight into playing golf. He beat his father for the first time, aged 13, in a friendly at St Andrews (Old Tom was the reigning British champion at the time!)

Young Tom eventually won the British Open Championship in 1868, 1869, 1870 and 1872, the first triumph earning him a place in history as the youngest major champion (he was 17). This record still stand, as does the fact that no other player has won four straight championships. In 1869 he scored the first recorded hole-in-one, not only in the Open, but in any tournament, on the 8th at Prestwick. When he won the title this year, his father was runner-up - a unique family occurence on the championship circuit.

Tom went on to dazzle the growing number of spectators attracted to professional tournaments, featuring in exhibition matches with his father throughout Britain, but his career was cruelly cut short. During a team match in North Berwick in 1875, when the Morrises were facing brothers Willie and Mungo Park, Young Tom received a telegram requesting his immediate return home where his pregnant wife, Margaret, had gone into difficult labor. By the time Young Tom returned, his wife and newborn baby had died. Broken-hearted, he died a few months later, on Christmas Day, aged 24.

Tom Morris, junior, was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1975.

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Born St Andrews, 20 Apr 1851 (ref 453/00)

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Died St Andrews, 25 Dec 1875 (ref 453, 168)

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Margaret Died St Andrews, 11 Sep 1875 (ref 453, 124)

Tom Morris, snr
(1821-1939)

Golfer

Thomas Mitchell Morris, or 'Old Tom', was a pioneer of professional golf who went on to win the Open Championship four times.

A weaver's son, Tom began golf at a tender age, knocking wine bottle corks around St Andrews with a homemade club (a pastime known as 'sillybodkins'). Progressing to caddying, he went on to be hired as an apprentice, aged 14, to Allan Robertson - regarded as tbe world's first professional golfer. From the early 1940s Robertson often chose Morris as his partner in challenge matches - they became known as 'The Invincibles'.

After parting company with Robertson, Morris was hired by the Prestwick golf club. He designed, laid out and maintained the course, ran his own golf equipment business, instructed players, and ran events. He was influential in beginning the Open Championship in 1860 and struck that event's first shot.

Returning to St Andrews as a greenkeeper and professional in 1865, he received a salary of 50 pounds per year, generous for the times. He was sought by the Royal and Ancient club and rehired. He remained in post until 1903, a total of 38 years.

After being runner-up in the 1860 championship he won the following year, following up with victories in 1862, 1864 and 1867. He still holds the record for the oldest Open winner, at 46. Old Tom held the record for the largest victory margin in a major championship (13 strokes in the 1862 Open), until 2000, when Tiger Woods won the US Open by 15 strokes.

Morris was the father of modern greenkeeping. He introduced the concept of top-dressing greens with sand to assist turf growth. He also managed of bunkers and roughs, which had previously been left to their own devices (and were often truly hazardous!) The course being negotiated by today's professionals, with its widening fairways and cultivated greens, owes its design to Old Tom Morris.

Morris was working right up until his accidental death, aged 87, when he fell down a flight of stairs in the clubhouse of the New Club at St Andrews. He is buried in the grounds of St Andrews Cathedral, his grave attracting thousands of golfers who pay homage.

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Born St Andrews, 16 June 1821 (ref 453/00)

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Died St Andrews, 24 May 1908 (ref 453, 39)

Agnes Mowbray
(d. 1595)

Wife of Robert Crichton of Eliok, Lord Advocate

Agnes Mowbray was a member of the Mowbray family of Barnbougall, situated to the west of Edinburgh. The family was prominent in public life and well connected.

Her father, John, was the grandson of the 'Skipper of Leith' who was also a merchant and financier, one Robert Barton. Agnes was one of five children from John's first marriage; there were at least another five from his second marriage to Elizabeth Kirkcaldy, sister of Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange. The latter was involved in the murder of Cardinal Beaton, captured and sent to France, where he had a distinguished career as a soldier. He later returned to Scotland. He was hanged in 1573, having held Edinburgh Castle for Mary Queen of Scots from 1571.

Agnes' aunt, Elizabeth Mowbray, became the second wife of Sir Archibald Napier of Merchiston, and hence the stepmother of John Napier, the mathematician, who invented logarithms and the calculating device known as "Napier's Bones".

The Mowbray family had close associations with Mary Queen of Scots. John was in France with her in 1557. Agnes' elder brother, Robert, fought on the side of the Queens's Men in 1572, and two of her sisters, Barbara and Gelis, were the queen's ladies-in-waiting during her imprisonment and walked in her funeral procession in 1587.

Agnes became the second wife of Robert Crichton of Eliok, Lord Advocate, on 6 August 1572. In the three brief years of her marriage she was the stepmother of James Crichton, 'The Admirable Crichton'. James set out on his continental travels in about 1580 at the age of twenty, having already acquired mastery of a dozen languages and great proficiency in swordsmanship, horsemanship and music. For a time he was tutor to the son of the Duke of Mantua. He was killed in 1585, possibly in a duel.

The Mowbrays of Barnbougall, most of whom seem to have remained staunchly Roman Catholic after the Reformation, continued to be involved (sometimes controversially) in political events in Scotland until the end of the 16th century, after which time they and their lands more or less disappeared from the records.

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John Muir
(1838-1914)

Naturalist · Author

Born in Dunbar, East Lothian in 1838, Muir emigrated to the United States of America in 1849, with his parents Daniel Muir and Ann Gilrye.

Muir was an early advocate of the preservation of the American wilderness and became a leading conservationist. He petitioned US Congress for the National Park Bill (passed in 1899), establishing both Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.

His writing expressed both enthusiasm for nature and a spiritual quality, enabling him to inspire readers, including presidents and congressmen, to take action to help preserve large tracts of America's natural landscape.

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Born Dunbar, 6 May 1838 (ref 706/7, Fr 523)

Thomas Muir
(1765-98)

Advocate · Radical reformer · Adventurer

Thomas "Citizen" Muir was the son of a wealthy trader, a great Scottish Radical who advocated universal suffrage and corresponded with French revolutionaries.

Viewed as a traitor by his contemporaries, when war broke out with France in 1793 Muir was tried for exciting disloyalty and sentenced to 14 years' transportation to Australia.

George Washington, first President of the United States, dispatched the USS Otter to rescue Muir from Botany Bay and bring him back to America. Muir survived that vessel's shipwreck, arrest by the Spanish in Panama and the loss of an eye before making his way to France where he was made a Citizen of the Republic. He lived at a chateau in Chantilly and died in exile aged 33.

Born 24 Aug 1765

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Baptised Glasgow, 29 Aug 1765 (ref 644.1/14, Fr 617)

Lady Caroline Nairne
(1766-1825)

Songwriter

Caroline Oliphant was born in Gask in Perthshire. She became Lady Nairne when her husband, Major William Nairne, was raised to the peerage in 1824. After his death she began her travels on the continent. Her father was a Jacobite and many of the songs she wrote to the traditional tunes she collected reflect her sympathies.

Will ye no' come back again? was written for the exiled Prince Charles Edward Stuart. Other works include The Auld Hoose and The Rowan Tree. Because songwriting was not considered a suitable occupation for a person of her social standing she adopted the pseudonym Mrs Bogan of Bogan, and much of her work was published in The Scottish Minstrel (1821-24). Her later travels in Europe were for the benefit of her sick son, who died in 1837. After her own death much of Caroline's verse was published by her sister in Lays of Strathearn.

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Further reading:
Songs by Lady Nairne (1766-1845), (Kirkcaldy, 1996)

Alexander Nasmyth
(1758-1840)

Artist

He is known as the father of Scottish landscape painting but one of his best known pieces is a portrait of his friend, Robert Burns. Having studied under Allan Ramsay in London and in Italy, he set himself up as a portrait painter in Edinburgh.
After getting into conflict with his patrons he turned to landscape art at which he was very successful. He was also an inventor and landscape gardener. Several of his children were talented artists.

Registered as Allexander Nasmith

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Baptised Edinburgh, 7 Sep 1758 (ref 685.1/29, Fr 7995)

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Married (to Barbara Foulis or Foules) Colinton or Hailes, 31 Dec 1785 (ref 677/3, Fr 735)

 

The painting is Nasmyth's Edinburgh Castle and Nor Loch, circa 1780

Robert Owen
(1771-1858)

Cotton-manufacturer · Philanthropist · Social reformer

Following his apprenticeship in the cotton trade, he worked in Manchester before taking over over the mills established by David Dale at New Lanark on the Clyde.

He introduced a pioneering approach to factory management by providing a good working environment, medical care and education for the workforce and their families. This together with the 'Institution for the formation of character' which he established in 1816 brought him to international attention, although his attempts to set up similar schemes in the United States and elsewhere failed.

The village of New Lanark is now a working museum and has been designated a World Heritage site.

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Marriage to Ann Carolina (daughter of David Dale), Glasgow, 30 Sep 1799 (ref 644.1/27, Fr 3027)

Mungo Park
(1771-1806)

Explorer

Park was born on a Selkirkshire tenant farm in 1771. Aged 14 he began working life as a surgeon's apprentice.

In 1788 he enrolled at the University of Edinburgh, studying medicine and botany. Six years later he offered his services to the African Association.

Amongst his journeys of exploration, he set out to find the sources of the River Niger. But he was captured by a Moorish chief and kept prisoner for six months until he managed to escape. He later returned to Africa to head an expedition which was to ascertain if the rivers Congo and Niger were one stream.

He never returned from this trip and is believed to have drowned in the Niger after the boat he was travelling in came under attack from hostile natives.

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Baptised Selkirk, 19 Sep 1771 (ref 778/3, Fr 713)

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Marriage to Alison Anderson, Selkirk, 2 Aug 1799 (ref 778/4, Fr 1069)

Willie Park, jnr
(1864-1925)

Golfer

Like his renowned golfing father, Willie junior was born in Musselburgh. He became one of the leading professional golfers of his era.

His home town's Royal Musselburgh Golf Club course was one of the main centres of golf at the time, and Park was on the rota for The Open Championship for much of his early life. He won the event in 1887 and 1889.

At the turn of the 19th century it was almost impossible to make a living from prize money alone, so Park often played challenge matches. He also took over the family ball and club making business, establishing an export business just when golf was beginning to spread internationally. He patented several golf club designs.

He wrote The Game of Golf (1896), the first book about the subject written by a professional. Park was also a golf course designer, with 170 designs to his credit in the British Isles, Europe, the USA and Canada. Among the best-known are the Sunningdale Golf Club near London and the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club in Ottawa, Ontario. Overwork on his design business led to a decline in health and his eventual death in 1925. His daughter Dorothy was runner-up in the 1937 British Ladies Amateur Championship.

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Born Musselburgh, 4 Feb 1864 (ref 690/00, 51)

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Died Edinburgh, 22 May 1925 (ref 685/7, 460)

Willie Park, senior
(1833-1903)

Golfer

Born in Musselburgh, Park was one of the pioneers of professional golf. Starting out as a cabbie, he later ran a golf equipment manufacturing business.

Park was a tall, strong man, capable of very long hits but also an excellent putter. Known as an aggressive player, he also promoted his talents vigorously, issuing challenges to top players.

Park is best known as the winner of four Open Championships, including the first ever event in 1860. He remained co-holder of the record for most wins in the tournament until James Braid's 1910 triumph.

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Died Musselburgh, 25 Jul 1903 (ref 689, 146)

Archibald Pitcairne
(1652-1713)

Physician · Bibliophile

Doctor Archibald Pitcairne was born in Edinburgh on Christmas Day 1652. He is perhaps best known as an eminent physician, whose reputation did much to enhance that of Edinburgh as a centre of excellence in medicine in the early years of the 18th century. But he had many other talents. He was a man of great intellect and was in turn mathematician, poet, dramatist, bibliophile and latinist as well as doctor. He amassed an extensive library, numbering some one thousand five hundred books, and this collection survives intact today in St Petersburg.

You will see that this is the principal item in the inventory of the doctor's 'guids and gear' listed towards the end of his testament. Unfortunately, there is no catalogue of the collection.

The inventory goes on to itemise his other possessions and also states that much of the furniture in his house did not actually belong to him. It was in fact owned by his wife, Elizabeth Stevenson, who had inherited it from her late father, Sir Archibald Stevenson.

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John Playfair
(1748-1819)

Mathematician · Geologist

John Playfair was born at Benvie, near Dundee and educated at St Andrews University. He served as Minister of Liff and Benvie from 1773 to 1783. Two years later he was appointed Professor of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh. It was here that he befriended the geologist, James Hutton. Hutton's revolutionary geological theory had a great impact on John who published Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory (1802) and, in 1805, exchanged his Professorship of Mathematics for that of Natural Philosophy. He also undertook much foreign travel in order to examine more geological features to strengthen his arguments.

In his will John leaves 100 pounds sterling to his nephew William, who later became a celebrated architect.

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William Henry Playfair
(1759-1857)

Architect

William Henry Playfair was the son of James Playfair, architect. He was born in London, but after the death of his father in 1794 William was sent to live in Edinburgh with his uncle, Professor John Playfair. He trained as an architect, working in London and visiting France. He finally set up in Edinburgh and achieved fame after winning the competition to complete the quadrangle of Edinburgh University's Old College in 1815.

He went on to design many notable buildings in Edinburgh in the classical style. His works include part of the New Town, the National Gallery, the Royal Scottish Academy, the National Monument and the Observatory on Calton Hill. These buildings earned Edinburgh the title of 'Athens of the North'.

William was buried in the Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh with a monument he designed himself.

 

The photograph is of William Henry Playfair's National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
(built 1859)

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