Sir Alexander Grant, 1st Baronet
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Sir Alexander Grant, 1st Baronet
Sir Alexander Grant, 1st Baronet (1 October 1864 – 21 May 1937) was a Scottish businessman, biscuit manufacturer and philanthropist. He is best known for being managing director of McVitie's, developing the recipe of the McVitie's digestive biscuit, and for giving an endowment of £200,000 to help establish the National Library of Scotland. Early life Grant was born on 1 October 1864 in Forres, the eldest son of Elizabeth Grant (''née'' Norries) and Peter Grant (1838–1882), a guard with the Highland Railway service. He attended school at Forres Academy, and after his father's death he began training in a legal office, however unhappy in this work he changed profession and became an apprentice with a baker in Forres. Career at McVitie's On completing his apprenticeship in Forres, Grant moved to Edinburgh in 1888 taking employment as an assistant at Robert McVitie's underground bakery at 23 to 25 Queensferry Street. In 1892 Grant developed the original recipe for the famo ...
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Forres
Forres (; gd, Farrais) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several occasions. There are many geographical and historical attractions nearby such as the River Findhorn, and there are also classical, historical artifacts and monuments within the town itself, such as Forres Tolbooth and Nelson's Tower. Brodie Castle, the home of the Brodie Clan, lies to the west of the town, close to the A96. A list of suburbs in the town of Forres contains: Brodie, Dalvey, Mundole and Springdale. Pre-history and archaeology Between 2002 and 2013 some 70 hectares of land was investigated by archaeologists in advance of a proposed residential development on the southern fringes of the town. They found an extensive Iron Age settlement and evidence that people lived in the area from the Neolithic ( radiocarbon dates from the 4th to the mid ...
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Advocates Library
The Advocates Library, founded in 1682, is the law library of the Faculty of Advocates, in Edinburgh. It served as the national deposit library of Scotland until 1925, at which time through an Act of Parliament the National Library of Scotland was created. All the non-legal collections were transferred to the National Library. Today, it alone of the Scottish libraries still holds the privilege of receiving a copy of every law book entered at Stationers' Hall. The library forms part of the complex that includes Parliament House, located on the Royal Mile. History The Library was formally opened in 1689. It was an initiative of George Mackenzie. The present library building was designed by William Henry Playfair in 1830, and is a category A listed building. Librarian Samuel Halkett began an ambitious catalogue, based on the rules of John Winter Jones for the British Museum catalogue of 1839, but with extensive biographical information on authors. It was published in six volum ...
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World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighting occurring throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific, and parts of Asia. An estimated 9 million soldiers were killed in combat, plus another 23 million wounded, while 5 million civilians died as a result of military action, hunger, and disease. Millions more died in genocides within the Ottoman Empire and in the 1918 influenza pandemic, which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war. Prior to 1914, the European great powers were divided between the Triple Entente (comprising France, Russia, and Britain) and the Triple Alliance (containing Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy). Tensions in the Balkans came to a head on 28 June 1914, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdin ...
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Holyrood Palace
The Palace of Holyroodhouse ( or ), commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace or Holyroodhouse, is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle, Holyroodhouse has served as the principal royal residence in Scotland since the 16th century, and is a setting for state occasions and official entertaining. The late Queen Elizabeth II spent one week in residence at Holyroodhouse at the beginning of each summer, where she carried out a range of official engagements and ceremonies. The 16th-century historic apartments of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the State Apartments, used for official and state entertaining, are open to the public throughout the year, except when members of the royal family are in residence. The Queen's Gallery was built at the western entrance to the Palace of Holyroodhouse and opened in 2002 to exhibit works of art from the Royal Collection. The gardens of ...
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Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. There has been a royal castle on the rock since at least the reign of David I of Scotland, David I in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until 1633. From the 15th century, the castle's residential role declined, and by the 17th century it was principally used as military barracks with a large garrison. Its importance as a part of Scotland's national heritage was recognised increasingly from the early 19th century onwards, and various restoration programmes have been carried out over the past century and a half. As one of the most important strongholds in the Kingdom of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle was involved in many historical conflicts from the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century to the Jacobite ...
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Scottish National War Memorial
The Scottish National War Memorial is located in Edinburgh Castle and commemorates Scottish service personnel and civilians, and those serving with Scottish regiments, who died in the two world wars and subsequent conflicts. Its chief architect was Robert Lorimer, commissioned in 1919, and the monument was formally opened in 1927. It is housed in a redeveloped barrack block in Crown Square, at the heart of the castle, and incorporates numerous monuments. The Rolls of Honour kept in the memorial include the names of those Scots servicemen and women and Scots civilians that died in all wars after 1914. This includes all Scots who were killed as a result of enemy action or who died as a result of wounds, diseases, or injuries while serving in the British Armed Forces, the Merchant Navy, the armed forces of the Dominions, the women's services, and the nursing services, together with all members of Scottish regiments. The Rolls of Honour include those who died between 4 August 1914 ...
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University Of Edinburgh School Of GeoSciences
The University of Edinburgh School of GeoSciences, is a school within the College of Science and Engineering, which was formed in 2002 by the merger of four departments.The school was formed by the merger of the Institute of Ecology and Resource Management, Department of Geography, Department of Geology and Geophysics, and Institute for Meteorology. It is split between the King's Buildings and the Central Area of the university. The institutes of Ecological Sciences and Earth Science are located at the King's Buildings, whilst the Institute of Geography is located on Drummond Street in the Central Area. In 2013 the department was ranked 8th best place to study geography in the country by ''The Guardian'' University Rankings, down from 2nd in 2006. The school is ranked as one of the best in the UK for Earth Sciences. A 2008 Research Assessment Exercise assessment ranked the "Earth Systems and Environmental Science" department as the best in the UK by number of world leading resear ...
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University Of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 and officially opened in 1583, it is one of Scotland's four ancient universities and the sixth-oldest university in continuous operation in the English-speaking world. The university played an important role in Edinburgh becoming a chief intellectual centre during the Scottish Enlightenment and contributed to the city being nicknamed the " Athens of the North." Edinburgh is ranked among the top universities in the United Kingdom and the world. Edinburgh is a member of several associations of research-intensive universities, including the Coimbra Group, League of European Research Universities, Russell Group, Una Europa, and Universitas 21. In the fiscal year ending 31 July 2021, it had a total income of £1.176 billion, of ...
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Lossiemouth
Lossiemouth ( gd, Inbhir Losaidh) is a town in Moray, Scotland. Originally the port belonging to Elgin, it became an important fishing town. Although there has been over 1,000 years of settlement in the area, the present day town was formed over the past 250 years and consists of four separate communities that eventually merged into one. From 1890 to 1975, it was a police burgh as Lossiemouth and Branderburgh. Stotfield, the first significant settlement (discounting Kinneddar which has now disappeared), lies to the north west of the town. Next was the Seatown – a small area between the river and the canal inholding of 52 houses, 51 of which are the historic fisher cottages. When the new harbour was built on the River Lossie, the 18th-century planned town of Lossiemouth, built on a grid system, was established on the low ground below the Coulard Hill. Branderburgh formed the final development during the 19th century. This part of the town developed entirely as a result of th ...
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Douglas Strachan
Douglas Strachan (26 May 1875, Aberdeen, Scotland – 20 November 1950) is considered the most significant Scottish designer of stained glass windows in the 20th century. He is best known for his windows at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, at Edinburgh's Scottish National War Memorial and in cathedrals and churches throughout the United Kingdom. He is also known for his paintings, murals, and illustrations. Early life and education Strachan was born in Aberdeen in 1875. He studied art at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen from 1893—1894 while he worked as an apprentice to the ''Aberdeen Free Press'' as a lithographer. He later studied art at the Life School of the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh from 1894—1895. Career From 1895 to 1897, Strachan worked in Manchester as a black and white artist on several newspapers, and as a political cartoonist for the ''Manchester Evening Chronicle''. Strachan learned to work in stained glass in 1898—1899, while in Manch ...
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Edinburgh Central (Scottish Parliament Constituency)
Edinburgh Central is a burgh constituency of the Scottish Parliament ( Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Edinburgh. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. It is also one of nine constituencies in the Lothian electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole. The constituency was created with the name and boundaries of a constituency of the '' Edinburgh Central'' UK Parliament constituency. Since 1999, the constituency MSP has been an ex officio member of the board of trustees of the National Library of Scotland. From 1925 until 1999, that role had been taken by the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Westminster constituency. The constituency was one of the few areas to vote "Yes" in the 2011 UK Alternative Vote referendum held on the same day as the 2011 Scott ...
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William Graham (Edinburgh MP)
William Graham PC (29 July 1887 – 8 January 1932) was a Scottish Labour politician. Born in Peebles, he was educated at Peebles Public School and George Heriot's School, Edinburgh. After a time as a junior clerk in the War Office, he became a journalist. He joined the Independent Labour Party in 1906, and was elected to Edinburgh Town Council in 1913. He gained an MA from University of Edinburgh in 1915, and was later awarded an honorary LLD by the university in 1927. He served as Labour MP for Edinburgh Central from 1918 until 1931. Early in his parliamentary career he found himself at odds with many Labour MPs and contemplated joining the Liberals. He held office as Financial Secretary to the Treasury in 1924 (when he was sworn as a Privy Councillor) and as President of the Board of Trade from 1929 to 1931. He was responsible for the Coal-Mines Bill, several overseas missions, and industrial inquiries. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1924. He also served on the Roy ...
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