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Alexander Riddoch
Alexander Riddoch DL (1745–1822) was a Scottish merchant who served eight non-consecutive terms as Provost of Dundee. His nicknames included the "Old Hawk". "The Gudeman of Blacklunans" and "Archdeacon of the Self-Elected". In his role in Dundee he failed in his hope to create a neo-classical town in the manner of Edinburgh but nevertheless did much to change its cityscape and history. Life He was born at Cultybraggan Farm just south of Comrie and west of Crieff in Perthshire on 1 September 1745, the son of John Riddoch and his wife Isobel Dow. From 1776 he was a merchant in Dundee trading in linen, spirits and oatmeal, and also expensive imported goods such as tea and tobacco. Wealthy, he loaned the town council £300 in 1778 (this was normal in those days). He was a popular and intelligent man not only joined the Town Council in September 1776 but was also asked to immediately serve as Treasurer. Projects were sometimes personally funded by the Treasurer at this tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Kay (writer)
Billy Kay (born 1951) is a Scottish writer, broadcaster and language activist. He developed an early interest in language, studying English, French, German and Russian at Kilmarnock Academy and English literature at the University of Edinburgh.Smith, Graham R., "Billy Kay", in Parker, Geoff (ed.), ''Cencrastus'' No. 20, Spring 1985, pp. 2 - 7, His study of the history and status of the Scots language, ''Scots: The Mither Tongue'', his most notable work, was later adapted for a television series, and an audiobook, recorded after setting up a home studio during the COVID-19 lockdown. Kay thought that many people would not have heard 'how the language sounds' in major Scots literature such as Barbour's ''Brus,'' R.L. Stevenson's ''Thrawn Janet'', works by MacDiarmid and Burns or the Border Ballads covered in his book: a sound version, he said, would 'fill a big gap' in people's 'knowledge and appreciation of a great tradition'. ''Odyssey'' Kay's popular radio series, ''Odyssey'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perth, Scotland
Perth (Scottish English, locally: ; gd, Peairt ) is a city in central Scotland, on the banks of the River Tay. It is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire. It had a population of about 47,430 in 2018. There has been a settlement at Perth since prehistory, prehistoric times. It is a natural mound raised slightly above the flood plain of the Tay, at a place where the river could be crossed on foot at low tide. The area surrounding the modern city is known to have been occupied ever since Mesolithic hunter-gatherers arrived there more than 8,000 years ago. Nearby Neolithic standing stones and circles date from about 4,000 BC, a period that followed the introduction of farming into the area. Close to Perth is Scone Abbey, which formerly housed the Stone of Scone (also known as the Stone of Destiny), on which the King of Scots were traditionally crowned. This enhanced the early importance of the city, and Perth becam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nethergate House, Dundee
''Nethergate'' is a computer-based historical fantasy role-playing game published by Spiderweb Software for the Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms. The game was released in 1998 by Jeff Vogel, and was Spiderweb Software's first game to feature a 45° isometric viewing angle. ''Nethergate'' offers players the choice to play on either side of the story, as Celts or Romans. The game's plot allows for several endings and many side quests, which accompany the main story. Spiderweb Software released a remake called ''Nethergate Resurrection'' in May 2007. Plot The player begins with a party of four characters, who are either "A small band of Roman Soldiers sent to the Shadowvale to complete a mysterious mission", or a "Band of Celtic warriors told by your chief to go to the village of Nethergate for mysterious reasons". Shadowvale is an isolated valley controlled by the Brigantes, and the game's events take place during the time of Boudica's rebellion in AD 60/61. The linear m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Leslie (engineer)
James Leslie FRSE (25 September 1801–29 December 1889) was a Scottish civil engineer specialising in docks, harbours bridges and reservoirs, largely on the east coast of Scotland. He was also an amateur meteorologist. Life He was born in Largo, Fife on 25 September 1801 the son of Archibald Leslie, an architect-builder, and attended school both in Largo and nearby in Newburn. He was then sent to Benjamin Mackay’s Latin Academy in Edinburgh and from there to the University of Edinburgh to study maths and physics under his uncle, Professor John Leslie. In 1818 he was articled to William Henry Playfair as an architect, but in 1824 he left this position to pursue engineering. He obtained a place with James Rennie working in the London Docks and on the London Bridge project. In 1828 he returned to Edinburgh to take a job as Resident Engineer in Leith Docks. In 1830 he lived at 19 Constitution Street in Leith, located close to the main east entrance to the docks (fragments o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Find A Grave
Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present final disposition information as a virtual cemetery experience." Volunteers can create memorials, upload photos of grave markers or deceased persons, transcribe photos of headstones, and more. , the site claimed more than 210 million memorials. History The site was created in 1995 by Salt Lake City resident Jim Tipton (born in Alma, Michigan) to support his hobby of visiting the burial sites of celebrities. He later added an online forum. Find a Grave was launched as a commercial entity in 1998, first as a trade name and then incorporated in 2000. The site later expanded to include graves of non-celebrities, in order to allow online visitors to pay respect to their deceased relatives or friends. In 2013, Tipton sold Find a Grave to Ancestry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Howff
The Howff is a burial ground in the city of Dundee, Scotland. Established in 1564, it has one of the most important collections of tombstones in Scotland, and is protected as a category A listed building. The majority of graves face exactly due east. History The land of the burial ground was part of the Franciscan (Greyfriars) Monastery until the Scottish Reformation. In 1564 Mary, Queen of Scots granted the land to the burgh of Dundee, for use as a burial ground. It was used for meetings by the Dundee Incorporated Trades, and subsequently became known as The Howff, from the Scots word '' howff'' 'an enclosed open space, yard, area (as a timber yard)', likely related to German or Dutch ''hof'' 'enclosed space, courtyard'. Old parish records for burials within The Howff begin in the late 18th century. Prior to this records of mortcloth hire, a cloth rented out by the Guildry and Trades to cover bodies or coffins before burial, provide evidence of burials dating back to 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as '' Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority.The Greater London Authority consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The London Mayor is distinguished fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotland, as well as harbours and tunnels. Such was his reputation as a prolific designer of highways and related bridges, he was dubbed ''The Colossus of Roads'' (a pun on the Colossus of Rhodes), and, reflecting his command of all types of civil engineering in the early 19th century, he was elected as the first President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a post he held for 14 years until his death. The town of Telford in Shropshire was named after him. Early career Telford was born on 9 August 1757, at Glendinning, a hill farm east of Eskdalemuir Kirk, in the rural parish of Westerkirk, in Eskdale, Dumfriesshire. His father John Telford, a shepherd, died soon after Thomas was born. Thomas was raised in poverty by his mother Janet Jac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Stevenson (civil Engineer)
Robert Stevenson, FRSE, FGS, FRAS, FSA Scot, MWS (8 June 1772 – 12 July 1850) was a Scottish civil engineer, and designer and builder of lighthouses. His works include the Bell Rock Lighthouse. Early life Robert Stevenson was born in Glasgow. His father was Alan Stevenson, a partner in a West Indies sugar trading house in the city. Alan died of an epidemic fever on the island of St. Christopher in the West Indies on 26 May 1774, a few days before Robert's second birthday. Robert's uncle died of the same disease around the same time. Since this left Alan's widow, Jean Lillie Stevenson, in much-reduced financial circumstances, Robert was educated, as a young child, at a charity school. Robert's mother intended him to join the ministry, so when he was a bit older she enrolled him in the school of a locally famous Glasgow linguist, a Mr Macintyre. But when Robert was 15, she remarried and the family moved to 1 Blair Street, off the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. Robert's new stepfath ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Rintoul
Robert Stephen Rintoul (12 January 1787 – 22 April 1858) was a Scottish journalist and campaigner for political reform. Life He was born at Tibbermore, Perthshire, Scotland in 1787, and educated at the Aberdalgie parish school. After serving his apprenticeship to the printing trade he became the printer and subsequently the editor of the '' Dundee Advertiser''. In 1808, in his first year in Dundee, he came into conflict with the Provost of Dundee, Alexander Riddoch, and together with George Kinloch began a local radical movement. In 1819 he was invited to London with Riddoch as part of a parliamentary debate on the Burgh Reform Act. In 1811 he was promoted from printer to printer and editor of The Advertiser. He stepped down from these roles in February 1825. In 1826 he went to London where he was editor of ''The Atlas'' before, in July 1828 with the assistance of friends, founding ''The Spectator''. In this publication Rintoul strongly supported the Reform Bill In the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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