History of Everyday Life in Scotland 1600 to 1800

353 Pages·2011·2.7 MB·English

A History of EvErydAy LifE in scotLAnd EditEd by ELizAbEtH foystEr
sEriEs Editors: cHristopHEr A. wHAtLEy & ELizAbEtH foystEr & cHristopHEr A. wHAtLEy
This series demonstrates how everyday routines and behaviours can open a window
into the social, economic and cultural lives of ordinary Scots. Each volume examines
common topics such as landscape, homes, objects, rituals, beliefs, work and leisure
paterns, confict and communication. Across the series there are some striking A History
continuities and remarkable changes in aspects of Scottish everyday life, while the
everyday is shown to be shaped by national and regional surroundings, and varied
betwen urban and rural, highland and lowland setings. Based on the colective of EvErydAy
research of a large team of established and younger scholars, this series presents an
entirely new way of looking at Scotland’s past.
LifE in
A History of EvErydAy LifE in
SCoTland, 1600 To 1800
EditEd by EditEd by ELizAbEtH foystEr SCoTland,
& cHristopHEr A. wHAtLEy
This book explores the ordinary daily routines, behaviours, experiences and beliefs
of the Scottish people during a period of immense political, social and economic
change. It underlines the importance of the church in post-Reformation Scotish 1600 To 1800
society, but also highlights aspects of everyday life that remained the same, or
similar, notwithstanding the efforts of the kirk, employers and the state to alter
behaviours and attitudes.
Drawing upon and interrogating a range of primary sources, the authors create
a richly coloured, fnely-nuanced picture of the lives of ordinary Scots from birth
through marriage to death. Analytical in approach, the book’s coverage of topics is
wide, ranging from the ways people made a living, through their non-work activities
including reading, playing and relationships, to the ways they experienced illness and
approached death.
This volume:
• P rovides a rich social history of the period 1600–1800
• G ets behind the politics of Union and Jacobitism, and the experience of agricultural
and industrial ‘revolution’
• P resents the scholarly expertise of its contributing authors in a accessible way
• I ncludes a guide to further reading indicating sources for further study
Elizabeth Foyster is Senior College Lecturer and Fellow in History at Clare College, University
of Cambridge.
Christopher A. Whatley is Professor of Scottish History, Vice-Principal and Head of the
College of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Dundee.
ISBN 978 0 7486 1965 8
Cover image: Detail from ‘Snuff box - Scotch washing’ © Culture and Sport
Glasgow (Museums).
Cover design: www.richardbudddesign.co.uk
Edinburgh University Press
22 George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LF
www.euppublishing.com
EditEd by ELizAbEtH foystEr A History of EvErydAy LifE in
& cHristopHEr A. wHAtLEy Edinburgh
SCoTland, 1600 To 1800
A History of Everyday Life in
Scotland, 1600 to 1800
FOYSTER PAGINATION (M1994).indd i 29/1/10 11:13:41
A History of Everyday Life in Scotland
SERIES EDITORS: CHRISTOPHER A. WHATLEY AND ELIZABETH FOYSTER
Volume 1: A History of Everyday Life in Medieval Scotland
Edited by Edward A. Cowan and Lizanne Henderson
Volume 2: A History of Everyday Life in Scotland, 1600 to 1800
Edited by Elizabeth Foyster and Christopher A. Whatley
Volume 3: A History of Everyday Life in Scotland, 1800 to 1900
Edited by Trevor Griffi ths and Graeme Morton
Volume 4: A History of Everyday Life in Twentieth-Century Scotland
Edited by Lynn Abrams and Callum G. Brown
FOYSTER PAGINATION (M1994).indd ii 29/1/10 11:13:41
A History of Everyday Life
in Scotland, 1600 to 1800
Edited by Elizabeth Foyster and Christopher A. Whatley
Edinburgh University Press
FOYSTER PAGINATION (M1994).indd iii 29/1/10 11:13:41
© editorial matter and organisation Elizabeth Foyster and Christopher A. Whatley, 2010
© the chapters their several authors, 2010
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
22 George Square, Edinburgh
www.euppublishing.com
Typeset in 10/12pt Goudy Old Style by
Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire, and
printed and bound in Great Britain by
CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7486 1964 1 (hardback)
ISBN 978 0 7486 1965 8 (paperback)
The right of the contributors to be identifi ed as authors
of this work has been asserted in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
Published with the support of the Edinburgh University
Scholarly Publishing Initiatives Fund.
FOYSTER PAGINATION (M1994).indd iv 29/1/10 16:02:57
Contents
List of Tables vi
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgements ix
Series Editors’ Foreword xi
Christopher A. Whatley and Elizabeth Foyster
Introduction: Recovering the Everyday in Early Modern Scotland 1
Elizabeth Foyster and Christopher A. Whatley
1. E veryday Structures, Rhythms and Spaces of the Scottish
Countryside 27
Robert A. Dodgshon
2. I mprovement and Modernisation in Everyday Enlightenment
Scotland 51
Charles McKean
3. Death, Birth and Marriage in Early Modern Scotland 83
Deborah A. Symonds
4. Illness, Disease and Pain 108
Helen M. Dingwall
5. Necessities: Food and Clothing in the Long Eighteenth Century 137
Stana Nenadic
6. Communicating 164
Bob Harris
7. Order and Disorder 191
Christopher A. Whatley
8. Sensory Experiences: Smells, Sounds and Touch 217
Elizabeth Foyster
9. Beliefs, Religions, Fears and Neuroses 234
Joyce Miller
10. Movement, Transport and Travel 252
Alastair Durie
11. Work, Time and Pastimes 273
Christopher A. Whatley
Annotated Bibliography 304
Notes on the Contributors 316
Index 319
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Tables
1.1 Balance between single and multiple tenancies 30
1.2 Who lived in touns? 31
1.3 Calendar of work: Monymusk, 1749, and Marchmont, 1758–9 39
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Figures
1.1 The toun community 29
1.2 The landscape around Fordell Castle, Fife 29
2.1 V iew of Dunvegan, Skye from the east, drawn for
Captain Francis Grose’s Antiquities of Scotland, Vol. II
(London, 1797) 53
2.2 V ernacular houses near the shore at Lamlash Bay, Arran,
drawn by J.C. (London, 1791) 56
2.3 T he interior of a cottage on Islay, drawn in 1772, probably by
Moses Griffi ths 58
2.4 G oldieland Tower, Borders, drawn by T. Clennell in 1814 60
2.5 T he upper part of the Main Street, Whithorn 61
2.6 D unblane from the south, painted by Captain Francis Grose
in the 1780s 61
2.7 L iberton’s Wynd (now under George IV Bridge), Edinburgh,
drawn in 1821 by Walter Geikie 66
2.8 E dinburgh by John Elphinstone 67
2.9 G lassford Street, Glasgow, drawn by John Knox in 1828 68
2.10 Burgh of Barony, Dumfriesshire 69
2.11 O ld Fochabers (NAS RHP 2358) by Thomas Milne 73
2.12 H elmsdale, Sutherland 74
2.13 View of Inveraray in 1791, drawn by J.C. 75
2.14 I nveraray High Street 75
2.15 B on Accord Square, Aberdeen 76
2.16 Perth in the early nineteenth century 76
3.1 ‘ William Wilson’, taken from John Kay, A Series of Original
Portraits and Caricature Etchings (Edinburgh, 1837–8) 85
3.2 ‘ The Evening Walk’, taken from John Kay, A Series of Original
Portraits and Caricature Etchings (Edinburgh, 1837–8) 96
3.3 ‘ Sabbath School’, taken from John Kay, A Series of Original
Portraits and Caricature Etchings (Edinburgh, 1837–8) 97
3.4 ‘ Isobel Taylor’, taken from John Kay, A Series of Original
Portraits and Caricature Etchings (Edinburgh, 1837–8) 99
3.5 ‘ Saut Wife’, taken from John Kay, A Series of Original
Portraits and Caricature Etchings (Edinburgh, 1837–8) 102
4.1 S eventeenth-century recipe ‘to stopp purging in a woman
that lyin in’ 117
FOYSTER PAGINATION (M1994).indd vii 29/1/10 11:13:42
v iii List of Figures
4.2 E dinburgh Royal Infi rmary 119
4.3 A set of blood-letting knives used by Hugh McFarquhar 121
4.4 C harming and healing stones used in Scotland, from various
locations 129
4.5 T he Clouty Well, Munlochy, dedicated to St Boniface 130
5.1 J ohn MacLeod and his wife, 1811 141
5.2 Arisaid worn by a gentlewoman, early eighteenth century 143
5.3 S hetland fi shermen in traditional clothing 145
5.4 G ravestone of John Milne, master baker, and his fi ve children,
Arbroath churchyard, 1778 149
6.1 S elf-portrait of artist and his mother and sister by
Alexander Carse 169
6.2 B allad and Penny History Stall, by Walter Geikie 174
7.1 T he Mauchline Holy Fair, by Alexander Carse 196
7.2 T he Village Ba’ Game, by Alexander Carse 209
8.1 D etail of the tomb of William Baxter, Old Parish Church,
Duffus, Moray, 1762 219
8.2 T obacco box engraved with symbols of the malt-making trade,
c. 1737 225
9.1 I mage of the Devil, 1591 237
10.1 Leckie Bridge, 1673 258
11.1 T own piper and drummer, Haddington, late eighteenth
century 28
11.2 Weaver’s headstone, Kilspindie Parish Church graveyard,
Perthshire 295
FOYSTER PAGINATION (M1994).indd viii 29/1/10 11:13:42
Acknowledgements
Preparing a book like this depends on the contributions of many people.
The book, like the series of which it is part, has been a long time in gesta-
tion. It began with a tentative enquiry from John Davey, then of Edinburgh
University Press, as to whether we would be interested in developing a
series of books on everyday life in Scotland. Our response was positive,
and we then entered into a dialogue with John and his advisers at Edinburgh
University Press about content, themes and the time-frames to be covered
by each of the four books in the series. The next step was to identify editors
for each of the four volumes, who were not only experts in the social history
of the periods identifi ed, but who also had experience of, and some enthusi-
asm for, collaborative academic ventures. Happily, we were able to recruit:
Professor Ted Cowan and Dr Lizanne Henderson (both University of
Glasgow), Professor Graeme Morton (University of Guelph) and Dr Trevor
Griffi ths (University of Edinburgh) and Professor Lynn Abrams (University
of Glasgow) and Professor Callum Brown (University of Dundee). In their
turn, the editors have recruited teams of contributors – the authors of the
individual chapters.
In order to get the project moving, we held a one-day conference in
Dundee in 2004, at which methodological and other challenges surrounding
the history of everyday life were discussed. For their invaluable contribu-
tions on this occasion we wish to thank Professor Anthony Cohen (Queen
Margaret University) and Dr Stephen Wilson (University of East Anglia).
For organising the conference, thanks are due to Sara Reid, formerly of the
Department of History, University of Dundee. To provide an opportunity
for the volume editors and their contributors to present their initial research
fi ndings to a critical but receptive audience, a two-day, multi-paper meeting
was held in Dundee in September 2006. This was generously supported by
the British Academy which awarded us with a Conference Grant to cover the
costs of the event. Lynsey McIrvine, of the University of Dundee, made the
necessary arrangements in her customary, highly effi cient fashion. Lynne
Elder, in the University of Dundee’s College of Arts and Social Sciences
offi ce, assisted the editors by receiving, tidying up and storing the chapter
fi les from the contributors as they arrived. The fi nal version of the manu-
script was prepared, for handover to the publishers, by Aileen Ross. To all
these individuals and to everyone else who has played any part in the prepa-
ration of the series, we extend our sincere thanks.
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