CEUM AIR CHEUM – June 1876

Latha math dhuibh, a chàrdan.

We are a little late with June’s blog due to issues with our website which are happily now resolved. It is with great pleasure then that we resume our look at the often intriguing, just as often mundane, existence of Dàibhidh MacLeòid as he nears completion of his first stint in Victorian Edinburgh. This month it is not just David who is on the hoof, but Edward Payson Weston, the great competitive pedestrian.

FULL TEXT WITH COMMENTARY (in brackets and italics)

JUNE

5^th

Had a letter from Mother. (Seónaid Shùlan 1831-1889)

4^th

Went up to Glen Street.  Sinclair was there so accompanied by Benjamin and Alex, we had a walk out towards Portobello.  Thereafter we went home. (The below image was featured in a Guardian article and shows the busy beach at Portobello as it was around 1880, shortly after David’s years in the capital)

5^th

Went to Batty’s Circus after shutting. (Willian Batty was an English equestrian performer and circus operator who passed away in 1868. It is clear that the circus was still touring and that his name had remained attached to it. In typical taciturn style, David says nothing about what he thought of the circus or what animals or other curiosities were on display!)

11^th

Had a walk with Graham and Dallas after breakfast.  Then went to meet Robertina MacDonald as agreed to by letter at her sister’s in Leith.  Had our tea there then went home with her to Argyle Place Meadows. (Interesting to consider the “Art of the Rendezvous” in these times. Nowadays people struggle to meet effectively with those who do not have mobile phones. The idea of arranging a get-together via letter, perhaps weeks or even months in advance now seems absurd, but even in the latter years of the 20th century, it was quite normal to ring someone at their home and arrange to meet at an appointed place the next day without the slightest anxiety about the fact that once the person had left their home base, they were thenceforth uncontactable.)

14^th

Had a letter from Catherine Sutherland.  Posted a letter to Benjamin Sutherland.  Benjamin and Alex came down with Dr Livingstone’s plate which Colin framed for me. (It is to be wondered whether this was some kind of commemorative plate on the occasion of Livingstone’s lionising as a national hero, his having passed away in 1873. My own thoughts on missionary activity are, I’m afraid, mostly negative, as I do not believe it anyone’s place to tell others what to believe, nevermind contributing to the marginalisation of indigenous belief systems as somehow primitive or backward. This process is really no different to the one that led to the Gaelic language itself being regarded in the same light. While it should not be claimed that Christian missionaries go out into the world with negative intent – most often quite the opposite is true – this activity can quite adequately be described as “spiritual colonialism”. Livingstone himself [pictured below] is said to be descended from Clann an Léigh, Lios Mór [Lismore], ÀM)

16^th

Had a letter from Robertina MacDonald inviting me to spend Sunday afternoon in Argyle Place.  Aunt Christina and Mrs Henderson called upon me today and said that Uncle John invited me over to Burntisland. (I cannot help but wonder about the language spoken in these encounters. Given that these relations are all older than David, we can only hope that he was deferring to their native tongue and speaking Gaelic, although the hope is perhaps faint. Despite being only too well aware of the prejudice David and other Gaels would have faced had they been overheard by the wrong people, I cannot help but harbour some irritation at David’s cowardice, his diaries never once mentioning his ethnic identity or any sense of pride in his Highland roots. It would be folly to suggest that I would have done anything any different should I have lived through those times when Britain’s world dominance must have seemed inexorable and Gaelic language an economic dead-end, but on the other hand I am quite convinced that David’s total capitulation and palpable desire to assimilate to British cultural norms are most certainly nothing to be admired, ÀM)

18^th

Called on A. Sutherland MacDonald and went with him to Fountainbridge.  Benjamin joined us and we had a ramble round the Calton Hill.  Thereafter we started for home and I went to Argyle Place.  Was there until 9pm. (The below image from the collections of the National Gallery shows Calton Hill around 1870)

22^nd

After shutting, went to Leith to say farewell to Robertina and her sister as they were going north for a short time.

23^rd

After we shut, went to see Weston in one of his walking feats. (Since the beginning of David’s diaries we have frequently been confronted with the now seemingly incredible distances that he liked to walk as a matter of course; for what appears to be the sake of simply passing time. Long “rambles” as David calls them were by all accounts a fashion of the time and as history records Edward Payson Weston’s feats of distance walking, it seems to have been something of a sport to boot [no pun intended]. Wikipedia notes the following section on EPW’s 1876 whereabouts: “Weston spent 8 years touring Europe, starting in 1876 in England, where he challenged England’s racewalking champion to a 24-hour, 115 mile ultramarathon. The Englishman quit 14 hours and 65.6 miles into the race, but Weston [pictured below] walked the full 24 hours and covered 109.5 miles.” David’s own feats now seem trifling in comparison and we are once again left wondering as to the colour of the occasion as our young Highlander notes absolutely nothing of the scene!)