Scottish Flotsam from the Hebrides

I imagine the first question anyone will ask is what is a column called "Scottish Flotsam". I guess we will have to begin with what is "flotsam". According to the among the definitions of the word are "things washed ashore" or "miscellaneous trifles". Well, we believe you can find some great treasure on the ocean shore. But -- you will never know what you will find or its value. So we decided that is what this column is - flotsam. We wanted a place to put things that didn't fit anywhere else and might be of interest. Each item could be a column itself and might be some day but for now it will be the flotsam which washes our way.

REQUIEM FOR SCOTLAND'S LOST LEGION The towering Cathedral of Durham is the glory of that northern city, yet it hides a dark secret beneath its soaring arches 1,600 Scots Prisoners, taken at the Battle of Dunbar, died while Cromwellian authorities decided what to do with them.
This little-known disaster, which cast a shadow over the autumn of 1650, transformed a place of worship into a hellish Prison camp; the event is not commemorated at Durham. As an official at the Cathedral told me, 'This is not a period of British history that people Particularly like to remember.'

The Battle of Dunbar (3 September), when the Covenanting army gave up the high ground and were routed by Cromwell's cavalry, was a catastrophe in which 3,900 Scots were killed. About 4,500 prisoners, destined for transportation, were marched south, but in a week-long nightmare trek 1,500 died, escaped or were killed. On 11 September, a remaining 3,000 were counted into the Cathedral.

Having fasted for eight days before the battle and then gorged themselves on raw cabbage, roots and plants at Morpeth, sickness was already widespread among the dispirited and filthy remnants of the Covenanting army. Around 30 prisoners per day died at the Cathedral, until the end of October, when the dysentery outbreak had run its course.

To be fair to Sir Arthur Haselrigge, who had overall charge of the prisoners, he did write to the Mayor of Durham asking that the men wanted for nothing 'fit for prisoners'. Despite the large number of deaths, Sir Arthur believed that 'never the like of care had been taken for any such number of prisoners in England'. To counteract the 'flux', milk was ordered from towns within a five-mile radius around Durham.

But with the cruel confinement and lack of any basic hygiene, disaster was inevitable. The wraith of dysentery stalked the transept and patrolled the aisles. In the cramped, fetid conditions prisoners jostled for a few square feet of floor on which to sleep. One by one the sick were removed to the nearby Bishop's Castle.

Bids were already being received from aristocratic entrepreneurs who wanted the prisoners for colonial or commercial projects, but Haselrigge was beginning to despair over the Scots: 'They are so unruly, sluttish and nasty that it is not to be believed; they act like beasts rather than men, killing each other for a half-decent shirt.' Hardly a surprise, bearing in mind their circumstances.

On 31 October Haselrigge had to tell the Council of War in London that he had only 600 healthy prisoners, '1,600 were dead and buried' from the Cathedral. The mass grave was discovered in 1946 when central-heating pipes were being put into the nearby music school.

A sad, broken group of men these Scots prisoners may have been, forgotten by their ain folk and an inconvenience to Cromwell's counsellors, but they surely deserve some sort of recognition, a simple memorial perhaps. Spectacular victories glorious defeats are easily recalled but war is a messy business with many uncomfortable loose ends. The lost legion of Durham are entitled to haunt the Scottish nation for our forgetfulness.

What are some of the events that have occurred on October 31st.

1579
Beggars, minstrels, fortune-tellers, vagrants, idle people and the 'vagabond scholars' of Aberdeen, Glasgow and St. Andrews were the target of legislation from the Scots Parliament.

1628
Janet Boyd, wife of a Dumbarton burgess, ordered to be tried for witchcraft having 'freely confessed' to making a pact with the Devil.

1882
Hallowe'en was celebrated at Balmoral in the traditional manner with a torchlight procession, bonfire and reels; the Queen was in attendance.

1914
London Scottish became the first Territorial Army regiment in full combat with 321 casualties in Flanders.

1952
English residents of Glasgow took over from the Irish as the single biggest 'foreign group' in the city; 37,032 of its residents had been born South of the Border.

Source - Scotching the Myths by Jim Hewiston can be found in the History Book Section of Scottish Radiance.

It is time to stop combing the library but we can not quit without some quotes from Quotable Scots another great History bookshelf resident. Lets see what quotes we can find!

Best -Laid Schemes

If the manager keeps saying, 'We'll win it, we'll win it, we'll win it', eventually they [the players] believe you.
Ally Macleod, Scotland manager, before the World Cup, 1978

History is too serious to be left to historians.
lain Macleod (1913 - 70), politician, Way of Life

I just try to drink five or six glasses of wine a day, which is twice the limit but, you know....
Rod Stewart, singer, Daily Mail, 1993

You can find more articles in the archive under Scottish Flotsam.

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