Scottish History

On 10 March 560, St Kessog, the Irish missionary in the Lennox area and southern Perthshire, was killed.

Kessog was Scotland's patron saint before Andrew, and his name was used as a battle cry by the Scots. Son of the king of Cashel in Ireland, St Kessog is said to have worked miracles, even as a child. He left Ireland and became a missionary bishop in Scotland. Using Monks' Island in Loch Lomond as his headquarters, he evangelized the surrounding area until he was martyred, supposedly at Bandry, where a heap of stones was known as St Kessog's Cairn.

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On 9 March 1649, James Hamilton, the 1st duke of Hamilton and Scottish Royalist soldier, died.

His weak and vacillating leadership of the Royalist cause in Scotland did great damage to Charles I in his northern kingdom. Captured by Oliver Cromwell at the Battle of Preston in 1648, he was executed after trying to escape captivity.

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On this day in 1824, John Elder, the Scottish marine engineer and shipbuilder, was born.

Elder invented the marine compound steam engine which enabled ships to cut fuel consumption and made longer voyages possible without the need to refuel. Elder was also a noted philanthropist who cared deeply for his workforce, establishing and contributing to an accident fund at the shipyard. At his death, he was working on a scheme to found a school for his workers' children.

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• Wikipedia entry for 08 March (The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites)

On 7 March 1744, the world's first golf club was founded in Edinburgh.

The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers held their first meeting on Leith Links and petitioned the Edinburgh Council to provide a silver club for competition. John Rattray was the first winner. He joined the Jacobites after the Battle of Prestonpans and became Bonnie Prince Charlie's personal surgeon. He escaped beheading after the uprising thanks to the intercession of his golfing friend, Lord President Forbes.

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On 6 March 1923, Scotland's first radio broadcast took place.

The broadcast took place from Rex House, 202 Bath Street in Glasgow. The BBC's founder, Lord Reith of Stonehaven, opened the station. Orchestra, pipe band, choir, solo singers, actors and speech makers were all squeezed into a small attic for the first broadcast. By the summer of 1924, stations had opened in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, and, by the eve of the Second World War, over 90% of the Scottish population were served by BBC transmitters.

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On this day in 1790, Flora MacDonald, the Jacobite heroine, died.

Flora is famous for helping Bonnie Prince Charlie escape from Scotland after the defeat at the Battle of Culloden, disguising him as her maid, Betty Burke. She died in Kingsburgh, Skye, in the same bed in which Bonnie Prince Charlie had slept during his escape. Her funeral was said to have been attended by over three thousand mourners, and three hundred gallons of whisky were drunk at it.

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• Wikipedia entry for 05 March (The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites)

Today in 1756, the artist Sir Henry Raeburn was born in Edinburgh.

Raeburn painted many notables, including Sir Walter Scott and David Hume, but he is most well-known today for his portrait of The Reverend Robert Walker skating, painted in 1784, which hangs in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh.

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• Wikipedia entry for 04 March (The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites)

On 3 March 1792, Robert Adam, the Scottish architect, furniture and interior designer, died.

Born in Kirkcaldy, Adam is regarded as one of Europe's great architects. Inspired by the Roman ruins he had studied whilst on a tour of France and Italy, Adam became one of the leading lights of the neo-classical movement. One of his many masterworks is Culzean Castle in Ayrshire.

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On March 2 1316, Robert II, the first monarch of the House of Stewart, was born at Renfrew.

He was the son of Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert the Bruce, and Walter, High Steward of Scotland. Robert acted as regent three times during the reign of his uncle, David II, and acceded to the throne in 1371. He died in 1390 and was succeeded by his son Robert III.

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On March 1 1910, David Niven, the Scottish film actor and author, was born.

His films include A Matter of Life and Death, Around the World in 80 Days, The Guns of Navarone and The Pink Panther.

He is also well known as the author of the bestselling autobiography, The Moon's a Balloon.

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Today in 1638, the Second Covenant was signed in Greyfriars Churchyard.

The Covenant was signed and inaugurated by Scottish Protestant churchmen in Edinburgh. The document was a direct response to Charles I's attempts to introduce a Book of Common Prayer across the whole of Britain, as presbyterians were incensed that the General Assembly had not been consulted. Copies of the document were sent to churches around the country and soon over 300,000 Scots had signed the Covenant.

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• Wikipedia entry for 28 February (The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites)

On this day in 1735, John Arbuthnot, Scottish mathematician, physicist and author died.

He was a close friend of Johnathan Swift and Alexander Pope. His work, History of John Bull, popularised Bull as the proto-typical Englishman, although he probably did not invent the character. Arbuthnot was also co-founder, along with Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John Gay and Thomas Parnell, of the satirical Scriblerus Club, founded "to ridicule false learning and bad teaching".

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• Wikipedia entry for 27 February (The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites)

Today in 1935, Robert Watson-Watt demonstrated radar for the first time.

Watson-Watt was first approached by the Air Ministry regarding the possibility of building a "death ray". The chain of radar stations subsequently built along the coast of England, known as Chain Home, were to go on to play an important part in winning the Battle of Britain.

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• Wikipedia entry for 26 February (The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites)

On this date in 1888 a conference advocated the adoption of leaving certificates in Scottish schools.

The conference was held in Edinburgh and attended by officials of the Scottish Education Dept and Secondary School Rectors, although representatives of universities declined the invitation to attend. The first Leaving Certificate exam was sat by pupils on Monday 18 June 1888 and the certificate remained a fixture of Scottish education until 1962.

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• Wikipedia entry for 25 February (The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites)

On February 24 1923, the world famous steam train, the Flying Scotsman, went into service with LNER.

It was the first train to run non-stop between London and Edinburgh, and also the first steam train to reach the speed of 100mph.

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Today in 664 St Boisel, second prior of Melrose Abbey, died.

He followed St Aidan as prior and was succeeded by St Cuthbert. The modern village of St Boswells is named after him.

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Today in 1371, King David II died at Edinburgh Castle.

David was the son of Robert I, and succeeded as King of Scots in 1329. He was soon faced with problems from his southern neighbour's new king Edward III. He invaded England in 1346, but suffered a humiliating defeat at Neville's Cross and was held as a prisoner by the English for eleven years. His unhappy reign was further compounded by his dying childless.

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• Wikipedia entry for 22 February (The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites)

Today in 1842 the first intercity railway between Glasgow and Edinburgh was opened by Queen Victoria. The Scottish rail system was linked to the English network in 1848.

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• Wikipedia entry for 21 February (The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites)

King James I was murdered in Perth, by a group led by Sir Robert Graham, today in 1437.

Had it not been for his love of tennis James would have escaped his assassins. Fleeing his killers, he hid in the drain under his tennis court, however this offered no means of escape for the monarch, as he had only recently ordered it to be blocked after losing balls in it.

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• Wikipedia entry for 20 February (The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites)

19 February 1972 saw the death of John Grierson, the film director and producer.

He was a pioneer of documentary film making, and founder of the British documentary film movement. In 1926, he is credited with being the first person to use the word "documentary", in an article he wrote about Robert Flaherty's film, Moana, adapting it from the French word, "documentaire", which was used to describe travelogues.

In 1928, he founded the Empire Marketing Board, the first British film company devoted to documentaries. In 1933, he began working for the GPO's film unit, during which time he produced two of British cinema's most famous documentary films, Song of Ceylon and Night Mail.

In 1939, he left Britain for Canada, setting up the National Film Board of Canada. Grierson later produced the Oscar winning film Seawards the Great Ships.

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