A R Edwards - Photographic Archive

A picture is worth a thousand words is an often used saying. There’s no doubting the attraction of pictures, particularly historical views of towns and landscapes for family history, so that we can see what our ancestors’ surroundings looked like in their own times.

We’ve received a book for review, the A R Edwards - Photographic Archive, published by Selkirk Regeneration Co.

Andrew Edwards was born on 30 December 1847 at Badminton, Gloucestershire, the son of Mathew Edwards and Agnes Campbell. He worked for Blackwoods, Edinburgh as a compositor before moving on to work as a photographer for the Wilson Photographic Co, Aberdeen. In 1879, he opened his own studio in Selkirk. He died in 1891. His son, Robert (1877-1965) eventually took over his father’s business.

The book is a collection of over 400, largely unpublished, mono landscape photographs of Selkirk, the Selkirk Common Ridings, the Ettrick and Yarrow valleys, the Haining, Bowhill, St Mary’s Loch, Philiphaugh, various towns and villages around the Borders and as far east as Berwick, Coldingham and Eyemouth, some famous Borderers and of the Edwards family.
There are short biographies of Andrew and Robert Edwards and colour photographs of some of the cameras used.
The front cover of this 252 page paperback shows photos of Andrew and Robert Edwards and 3 cameras.

This £10 book is a treasure for everyone in the Borders, especially so, for those living in Selkirk or with a Selkirk connection. Every bed and breakfast and hotel in and around the Scottish Borders and North Northumberland should get a copy for their guests, too.

You can buy it from our premises at 52 Overhaugh St, Galashiels, TD1 1DP, any Tuesday or Thursday or Friday from 10am to 4pm for the published price of £10, or order now by clicking the button below and selecting the appropriate delivery option:

Delivery Options

A R Edwards - Photographic Archive - UK - 2nd class £12.70 GBP A R Edwards - Photographic Archive - EU Airmail £19.55 GBP A R Edwards - Photographic Archive - World Zone 1 £26.00 GBP A R Edwards - Photographic Archive - World Zone 2 £30.10 GBP A R Edwards - Photographic Archive - Surface Mail £20.25 GBP A R Edwards - Photographic Archive - UK - 1st class £13.60 GBP A R Edwards - Photographic Archive - World Zone 3 £27.10 GBP

Free DNA Tests for Men Named Riddell

A lady in New Zealand named Gail Riddell and an apparently unrelated Jim Riddell in America are joint administrators for the Riddell/Riddle/Ridley/Ruddell DNA project with an American based firm called FamilyTree DNA. .

Gail's family were mostly from the Roxburghshire area but were also in Berwickshire and Lanarkshire (not to mention all through the Lothian area), depending on the lands they purchased/versus where their money was "made". Jim's forebears were from Lanarkshire in the late 16th Century and are thought to have left at the time of the Covenanters.

Gail wrote "I have many men from New Zealand, Australia, USA, one from South Africa and a few from UK who have been excited by what they have learned as a result of testing their Y-Chromosome.  They have worked hard in order to raise sufficient funds for me to be able to offer totally free, a number of  Y-37 tests for any man living in Northumberland, the Scottish Borders, Yorkshire or lowland Scotland who has this surname and who has a family tree of his paternal ancestry back to around 1800 or earlier.

The bottom line is to extend and "prove" our genealogy in a way that paper trails have been unable.  By that, I mean if we go back into history, especially the 1600s (as an example) and look at the deaths, followed by pestilence, followed by famines and we soon begin to realise that not everyone who bears a particular surname is actually of that stock.  I say this because many young women with wee ones to feed were made widows and frequently joined up with a "protector" who thus gave his name to those
wee ones.

For those who are anxious about DNA testing - the medical genes are not considered in the test that I am offering as a "freebie".  The test itself needs just two separate cheek swabs.  "

If you're a Riddle (whatever the spelling), and you've got a family tree on the paternal side back to 1800, and you would be willing to take the test, please contact Gail at the email address below.

If you would like to know more about DNA, see www.familytreedna.com. 

If you want help building your family tree come to our archive at 52 Overhaugh St, Galashiels, TD1 1DP. We're open every Monday from 6pm to 8pm, and every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10am to 4pm.

New Book: 'To Follow the Dogs and Carry the Stick', by Bob Jaffray

We've published a new book, 'To Follow the Dogs and Carry the Stick', written by one of our members, Bob Jaffray.

The book's subtitle is 'Glimpses of the Herding Life over Thirty Years in Lammermuir 1935-1965', and as a retired shepherd with a family connection to herding in the Lammermuirs going back to shortly after World War I, Bob recalls his memories of living in remote cottages high up in the hills and his subsequent life as a shepherd.

As he writes, ‘by the 1980s, a new mode of herding came into being with economic considerations dictating much larger farms and higher flock numbers ....’. Thus a whole way of life changed and herding techniques and skills which had evolved over hundreds of years are in danger of being forgotten. Bob's aim in the book is to preserve them for posterity.

Times were certainly difficult by today’s standards, all provisions and essentials being left at a neighbouring farm as the track to the cottage was effectively impassable, certainly in the wet. Remote as it was not though forgotten by the church, it being written into the minister's’ contract that he should hold an open air sermon on the top of an adjoining hill; Windy Law ‘to bring the gospel to the heathens of Rawburn’.

Bob recalls his life at Longformacus Village School with memories of fellow pupils and teachers. Most interestingly, he has included a full list of all who attended the school between the years 1937 and 1945. The figures themselves reflect the period, the number of new admissions (normally 6 or 7 per year), triplicating in the years 1939 and 1940 because of evacuees from the cities.

There are recollections of the effects of World War II on such a rural community and how the effect of rationing was not as severe as elsewhere. In 1943, Polish troops were billeted at Longformacus House and the youngsters of the day seem to have mingled freely with the troops, been given access to the vehicles and shown their weapons.

After the War, working as shepherd with particular recollections of the harsh winter and the hardships caused. There is a detail of day to day life with all sorts of anecdotes and personal recollections thrown in as well as recalling the practices and methods employed in shepherding, now mostly overtaken.

Also included are Jaffray and Welsh (the author’s mother’s name) family trees and well as different maps of the Lammermuirs with copies of charts produced by the Blackface Sheep Breeders Association containing the names of different farms and occupiers, a glossary and more than 40 photographs.

 An enthralling read, even for people like me, whose knowledge of sheep is barely more than the taste on my dinner plate - certainly a must for anyone connected with farming, shepherding or the Scottish Borders.

The book is 94 pages long on heavy paper within card covers and costs £7.50 plus postage. It can be bought at our premises in Galashiels or by choosing the appropriate delivery option and pressing the button below.
Please note: World Zone 2 includes Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Oceania.
Europe includes Eire and Russia.
World Zone 1 comprises all other countries.

Delivery Options

Follow the Dogs - UK- 2nd class £9.50 GBP Follow the Dogs - EU Airmail £13.30 GBP Follow the Dogs - World Zone 1 £15.20 GBP Follow the Dogs - World Zone 2 £16.50 GBP Follow the Dogs - Surface Mail £14.80 GBP Follow the Dogs - UK- 1st class £11.10 GBP Follow the Dogs - World Zone 3 £15.50 GBP

Berwick Journal and General Advertiser on British Newspaper Archive

The British Newspaper Archive has just announced a new newspaper in their archive.

It's the Illustrated Berwick Journal also known as the Berwick Journal and General Advertiser.

The first issue was published in 1855. The archive's first issue seems to be Saturday 16 June 1855 and their most recent, Friday 29 December 1871.

There are plenty of stories about the Scottish Borders in the Berwick Journal, even though Berwick is in England.

There's also a special offer:
"For a great Christmas gift idea, we're still offering 20% off our 12 month gift subscription. Just click and use the code VIXEN. Make sure the "It's a gift" box is ticked. Hurry - offer expires on 24th December.", however the newspaper's also available on FindMyPast.

Have you a Wicked Criminal in Your Family ?

Our next talk is on Sunday, 26th April when Margaret Fox will talk about "Crimes of an Heinous Nature - Looking at some High Court Trials" and it's being held at the Corn Exchange & Ormiston Institute in Market Square, Melrose. Map.

Margaret will be looking into the darker side of life across the Scottish Borders during the 18th and 19th centuries, examining not only crimes which have long passed into oblivion but also those which are still making the headlines today. Drawing on her extensive research in the High Court of Justiciary case papers in the National Records of Scotland, her talk will range from the political to the domestic, and from the violent to the less so, showing how these records serve to illustrate changes in society and illuminate the past in a unique way.
She will also dip into Lord Cockburn’s ‘Circuit Journeys’ which gives a truly fascinating insight into 19th century crime and criminals from the perspective of a judge who was not afraid to speak his mind !

Her previous talks about the Kirk and its records, and about Traquair House were well attended so come early to get a decent seat.

I warmly invite you to attend the talk whether you are a member or not. Doors open at 2pm; the talk begins at 2.30pm.
We'll have a range of family history publications available to buy, and there’ll be light refreshments (donation expected) available after the talk.
If you have a problem with your family history, please discuss it with one of our volunteers.

Beggars, Thieves and Whores - Talk on Sunday 22 February at Melrose

She has told us about witches and the Black Death in the Borders. 

Now she’s talking about beggars, thieves and whores. 

Mary Craig’s style is very lively and entertaining and Mary is going to talk about the lives and deaths of these, the ultimate medieval outsiders in the rural Scottish Borders of the 13th and 14th century. 

How did they survive in a highly class-structured and religious society ? 

What happened to them when living conditions worsened ? 

That talk is this Sunday, 22 February at the Corn Exchange and Ormiston Institute, Market Square, Melrose, TD6 9PN. Map.

I’m expecting this to be a very interesting talk and very popular; so come early to get a good seat. I warmly invite you to attend the talk whether you are a member or not. 

Doors open at 2pm; the talk begins at 2.30pm. 

We'll have a range of family history publications available to buy, and there’ll be light refreshments (donation expected) available after the talk. 

If you have a problem with your family history, please discuss it with one of our volunteers.

Speakers at meetings occasionally need to be changed at the last minute, due to circumstances beyond our control.

A Quite Remarkable Man - the Life of Patrick Brydone and His Family (1736-1818)

This is a review of A Quite Remarkable Man - the Life of Patrick Brydone and His Family (1736-1818)’ by John Evans. Hardback. 384 pp. Published by Amberley Publishing, Gloucestershire, England at £20 (now £18). ISBN 978 1 4456 3890 4.

Patrick Brydone was born at Coldingham on 5 January 1736 to Rev Robert Brydone and Elizabeth Dysart, married Mary Robertson on 4 April 1785 and died 19 June 1818. 

Sir Walter Scott described him as our pilgrim and as "My venerable friend". 

He experimented with electric shock therapy on willing patients; as an army officer, he saw action in France, Portugal and Spain during the Seven Years' War; a tutor in Europe to William Beckford, owner of a large Jamaican sugar estate; author of A Tour through Sicily and Malta - 6,750 copies sold in under 4 years; visited France, Switzerland, Bavaria, Prussia and several other German territories, Austria, Italy, Malta, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Russia and became comptroller-general of the London Stamp Office. 

He was obviously a scientist, explorer and a diplomat, so he clearly was a remarkable man. 

There's lots of interesting detail about Italy and Russia but rather less about other countries. Everywhere he seems to have met important people, however there are also anecdotes about peasants and more mundane events. I was interested to learn that miners at a copper and silver mine in Spania Dolina (now in Slovakia) in April 1776 received 12 kreuzers  (about 2½p) for an 8 hour day.

His daughter, Mary, married the Hon. Gilbert Elliot, eldest son of the first Baron Minto, the other 2 daughters married an admiral and a minister. There's some bits about life in the Scottish Borders and other parts of Scotland.  The notes to the book have more detail, there's a bibliography, and an index, mainly of people.

It took me a long time to read this book because, at 384 pages, it is a very long book and rather an academic book. Unlike most academic tomes, it is thoroughly interesting, lots of anecdotes about the celebrities of the day, pastiches about life in all the countries he visited, and helped me to understand events in Britain and Europe during the 17th century. There are lots of illustrations, too.

Today, we're quite used to people going off on holiday all over the world but that wasn't common except for the wealthy in the 18th century. Patrick Brydone not only visited more than 15 countries by travelling thousands of miles in horse-drawn carriages but found time to shape government policy and write about some of his travels.

As I hope the above shows, this book is well worth reading and if I had to find a criticism, it is that I would have liked a sort of "dramatis personae" so that I be reminded at a glance who somebody was when I encountered the name later on in the book. Not only was this book very interesting but it's inspired me to read Brydone's book 'A Tour through Sicily and Malta' which I've discovered is free on the web.