Robert Burns and the Scots in Shanghai
Research StoryBurns anniversaries have been celebrated around the world for a long time, proliferating in the nineteenth century. In Shanghai, where China’s first Scottish association, the Shanghai St Andrew’s Society, was established in the mid-nineteenth century, however, the anniversary, as the North China Herald reported in 1902, ‘has gone without public celebration’. But it was all
A ‘keen and zealous’ officer
WW1John Llewellyn Saunders was born in Dunedin in New Zealand’s South Island on 12 January 1891. His mother, Jeanie Hutchison, had emigrated from Scotland, while John’s father William had Welsh roots. John was educated at Otago Boys’ High School, leaving it in 1907 to commence his studies at the University of Otago Dental School. He
Celebrating John A. Macdonald
Research StoryJohn Alexander Macdonald was born in Glasgow on this day, 11 January, 200 years ago. An opportune moment to celebrate his achievements and role in the making of the Canada we know today. John spent the first few years of his life in Scotland, but then emigrated to Kingston in what was then Upper Canada
The Glasgow Dumfriesshire Society
Research StoryMany Highland Scots, on moving to the urban centres of the Lowlands, established clubs and societies there. What is a little-known fact, however, is that Lowland Scots too utilised associationalism in this way, for instance when having moved from rural areas to cities. In Glasgow, for instance, the Dumfriesshire Society was very active. The Society
Celebrating St Andrew’s Day in the Far East
Research StorySt Andrew, Scotland’s patron saint, was celebrated by Scots around the world. In Asia, early references come from India where dinners were, by the 1850s, a common affair and widely reported in the press. They only achieved a more stable base, however, in the late-nineteenth century. As Stewart, in his exploration of the jute industry in
The Scots Society of Norwich
Research StoryIn Scotland’s near diaspora regional centres were especially important in the development of Scottish associational culture, including, for instance, Norwich. A Scots Society was established there in 1775, and eventually was given the name of the Society of Universal Good-Will, under which it began to operate from the early 1780s—though the Scots Society name was
Diaspora Aiding Home
Research StoryIn 1812 William Kinloch, a Calcutta-based Scottish merchant, died, leaving the residue of his estate to the Scottish Corporation (also referred to as Scottish Hospital) in London. As Kinloch had detailed in his will: The residue of my estate … I will and bequeath may be lodged in the British funds at interest, under the
Kinship Networks among the Scots in Asia
Research StoryOf great importance for the facilitation of trade and Scottish enterprise beyond the shores of the Indian subcontinent was the development of shipping interests. One name that stands out in this respect is that of Sir William Mackinnon. Born in Campbeltown, Argyll, in 1823, Mackinnon proceeded to work for a merchant in Glasgow who traded
The Forgotten Scot: William Farquhar
Research StoryWilliam Farquhar was born in 1774 at Newhall near Aberdeen. Like quite a few other young Scots, he looked abroad for opportunities, joining the military service of the British East India Company aged only 17. He thus made his way to Asia, first arriving in Madras in 1791. He was soon promoted to a low-rank
New Book: Clubbing Together
NewsI am delighted to announce that my new book, Clubbing Together: Ethnicity, Civility and Formal Sociability in the Scottish Diaspora to 1930, has been published by Liverpool University Press. I have accumulated a host of debts throughout the preparation and writing of this book, so I’d like to take the opportunity and thank a few people