From Thursday 7th to Sunday 10th September 2023, Innerpeffray Library hosted its third annual Festival of Reading, celebrating the theme of Wild Words. Authors, poets, storytellers, musicians, artists, and readers met in and around the historic location of Scotland’s first free lending library.
Singer: Naomi Harvey; Crieff Drama Group: Tom Inglis, Helen Day, Mike Owens, Ann MorrisonJohn Cummings Jane Drysdale
On Thursday evening, the Festival of Reading kicked off with a new production by the Crieff Drama Group, featuring traditional Scots and Gaelic songs performed by Innerpeffray’s very own Library Assistant Naomi Harvey. Hosted by Strathearn Arts in Crieff, Heroic Strife Famed Afar treated the audience to a new perspective on the 1745 Jacobite Uprising, the Battle of Culloden, and its aftermath. The performance included dramatic reading of archival material put together by the late Tony Murray of Dollerie House in a collection of his ancestor’s letters entitled, ‘A Young Man’s Path to Culloden’. The show was entertaining and illuminating, and Naomi’s singing was beautiful.
On Friday afternoon, library volunteer and expert craftsperson Gillean Ford hosted The Art of the Book: Printing from Nature, a hands-on workshop inspired by the natural world and the area surrounding Innerpeffray. Participants made beautiful prints using all sorts of local flora, including seed heads, leaves, firs, and moss.
The Art of the Book: Printing From Nature
A Festival of Reading favourite, Perthshire poet Jim C. Mackintosh hosted a sold-out spectacular on Friday evening. Joined by violinist Karys Watt, guitarist Dave Macfarlane, poet Julie McNeill and legendary writer and storyteller Dolina MacLennan, the library rang with music and laughter throughout the night. An absolute highlight was the unexpected audience participation, which had various sections of the audience loudly impersonating lambs and calves separated from their families – all in the name of attracting the attention of an invading mythical beast set on destroying the Scots Pines of Perthshire. Say it with me now: it had the head of a woman, the body of a whale, and the wings of an eagle!
Wild Words, Read Aloud: Jim C. Mackintosh, Karys Watt, Dave Macfarlane, Julie McNeill and Dolina MacLennan
Jim also treated audience members to a special gift: a handwritten piece of his poetry, with everyone getting a unique extract (some previously unpublished!). In addition to leaving the night with unforgettable stories and wild words, we also took home love, peace and poetry.
Love, Peace, Poetry booklet with extract from poem by Jim C. Mackintosh
Over the weekend, Innerpeffray was visited by four acclaimed writers based in Scotland. Picture book author and illustrator Natalie Russell led a group of children in an arts and crafts workshop inspired by Hamish the Highland Cow, and journalist, author and poet Merryn Glover told us what Scotland means to her and discussed her latest book, The Hidden Fires: A Cairngorms Journey with Nan Shepherd.
Merryn Glover
Nature writer Keith Broomfield presented some amazing photos of the wildlife and locations that have inspired him to write books including A Scottish Wildlife Odyssey.
Keith Broomfield in conversation with Steph Haxton
Fiona Valpy took us on a journey throughout the inspired settings of her bestselling works of fiction, including her upcoming novel The Sky Beneath Us – the title of which was revealed as an Innerpeffray exclusive!
Fiona Valpy in conversation with Gillean Ford
On Sunday afternoon, the 2023 Festival of Reading came to a close with Pop-up Poetry by the River, hosted by local poet Jennie Turnbull in Innerpeffray’s stone storytelling circle. Listeners and readers came together in this very special location to hear poems on the theme of Wild Words. Thank you to Lesley Buchan Donald, Alastair Donald, Tom Langlands, Ian Ledward and Karen Macfarlane for reading their poems – it is a brave thing to stand up and read your own writing to a group of strangers and we really appreciate the poets sharing their words with us.
Poetry in the Innerpeffray Stone Circle
The 2023 Festival of Reading was filled with serendipity – a reminder of what a special place the Library of Innerpeffray is. Our poetry circle was almost put off by a lightning storm but instead, the first drops of rain fell just as we said our goodbyes; the threat of thunder in the air gave an appropriate atmosphere to the proceedings. On Saturday, we heard the story of how Gillean Ford picked up a novel by chance one day in the Innerpeffray second-hand book stall and decided to get in touch with the author to share how much she loved it – leading to Fiona Valpy coming to talk at the Festival.
Also during the week, two separate groups visited the library looking for names in our archive of historical visitors’ books. We were able to successfully find their own signatures or those of their families and Innerpeffray played host to an unexpected reunion between old neighbours who had not seen each other for twenty years. You would be surprised by how often this kind of spooky happenstance occurs in the library!
As Governor Steph Haxton reminded us on Friday evening, Innerpeffray is a place where words matter and magic is created. To all who read, sang, made art, and came along to listen and enjoy, thank you for being a part of the 2023 Festival of Reading.
Today’s blog on the use of nicknames in the Innerpeffray visitors’ books is inspired by a recent discovery of a 1965 visitor to Innerpeffray, who signed their entry ‘Littel Elf’!
Innerpeffray Library Visitors’ Book Volume 5, f.275v.
In the Innerpeffray visitors’ book of September 1965, there are a series of entries by the Hall family from Dundee. After Caroline and Rosalind (in what look like children’s handwriting), and before Daphne M., appears ‘Littel elf’. The question arose – who or what was this ‘Littel elf’? A small child would be my first guess, although it could also be an entry written on behalf of a family pet or child’s toy.
Alan McNee discusses some equally fantastical fictitious names in his 2020 article on visitors’ books, including the following two entries from the nineteenth-century Athole Arms Hotel visitors’ book in Blair Atholl: “Mr & Mrs Bogie Man & Woman & son” and “Podgy Wodgy, Ayry Fairy & Hoppety Poppety”.[i]Like McNee’s examples, the signature of ‘Littel Elf’ demonstrates the interesting relationship between visitors and visitors’ books. McNee goes on to write that the “visitors’ book was one of the very few places where an ordinary tourist, lacking the cultural capital to be published in print, could share her or his thoughts”.[ii]
Visitors’ books are not legal documents, where visitors are required by law to include their full and accurate details. By entering the name ‘Littel elf’ in the Innerpeffray visitors’ book, it has become part of a public record and part of our history. Whether a child’s toy or playful nickname, that moment of joy has been recorded in writing and will be remembered. It also got me thinking about other signatures in the visitors’ books which feature shortened or alternative names.
Innerpeffray Library Visitors’ Book Volume 4, f.15v
Turning to the twentieth century, an entry in the Innerpeffray visitors’ books from 30th September 1926 reads: ‘Bing Crosby – America’. While we have no further evidence to prove that Bing Crosby did indeed visit the library, there is also no reason to disbelieve this entry. In 1926, at the very start of his career, ‘Bing Crosby’ was not such a well-known name that there would have been any reason for someone to write a false entry. Harry Lillis “Bing” Crosby Jr. (1903-1977) was an American singer, actor, entertainer and businessman, perhaps most famous for his version of the song ‘White Christmas’ which appeared in the films Holiday Inn (1942) and White Christmas (1954).
White Christmas Vinyl (1982)
A keen golfer whose “passion for golf nearly equaled his love of performing”, it seems likely that Crosby was visiting and staying at the nearby Gleneagles Hotel, which had opened with much fanfare two years prior.[iii]
Reports vary on how Crosby received his iconic nickname – some say he received it as a joke from a teacher, others from his penchant for playing cops and robbers, and the most widely shared story is that it comes from a comic strip.
Newspaper Clipping from ‘The Binghamton Press’ (Binghamton, New York, 1 February 1932)
In 1932, the New York ‘Binghamton Press’ confirmed the latter, quoting Crosby’s mother, Mrs. E. L. Crosby: “When Harry was about seven years old, [a] neighbor boy started calling him ‘Bingville’ after the title of a newspaper comic. The name quickly was shortened to ‘Bingo,’ and finally ‘Bing.’”[iv] Published from c.1901 to 1934, Newton Newkirk’s column and comic ‘The Bingville Bugle’ detailed the hilarious exploits of the fictional town of Bingville.
‘The Bingville Bugle’, The Topeka State Journal (Topeka, Kansas, 6 March 1915), Home Edition, Image 10 in Library of Congress (ed). Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.
By the age of 23, when Crosby visited Innerpeffray Library, he was more ‘Bing’ than he ever had been ‘Harry’.
Another notable use of a nickname in the visitors’ books is that of Lady Isabel Galloway Emslie Hutton (1887-1960), who signed her name in 1907 as ‘Bell G. Emslie’.
Innerpeffray Library Visitors’ Book Volume 3, f.22r
One of the innovators featured in Innerpeffray’s 2022 exhibition, Emslie Hutton was a trailblazing doctor who worked with the Scottish Women’s Hospitals in France, Greece and Serbia during the First World War. In 1920, she worked with Lady Muriel Paget’s Child Welfare Scheme to house almost 140,000 Crimean refugees and orphaned children, and she is one of the only women (alongside Dr. Elsie Inglis) to have been awarded the Serbian Order of the White Eagle medal, the highest military honour bestowed by Serbia.
Visiting Innerpeffray at only 19 and before her illustrious career took off, Emslie Hutton signed her name in the visitors’ books as ‘Bell’ – perhaps using a family nickname since she was travelling with her parents. Funnily enough, in this instance, the use of a nickname almost prevented me from finding out more about her. What first brought her entry to my attention was her father’s signature, where James Emslie detailed that he was the Sub. Keeper of the Privy Seal in Scotland. Only after researching James Emslie did I find the link to his daughter.
The Innerpeffray visitors’ books record the names of thousands of visitors to the library from 1857. The first volume alone contains approximately 9,855 signatures – with a vast array of different naming practices. Whether nicknames, pet names or fond family jokes, the visitors’ books record them all.
Now, ‘Little Elf’ can join the ‘Innerpeffairies’ (inspired by a misspelling of ‘Innerpeffray’ in an 1868 visitors’ book entry) as an unofficial library mascot!
Innerpeffray Library Visitors’ Book Volume 1, f.168r. “Mrs Monteith Innerpeffairy”
‘Innerpeffairy’ badges, now available in the gift shop!
‘Galanthus Innerpeffairy’, created by Innerpeffray volunteer Gillean Ford
Isla Macfarlane, PhD Candidate
[i] Alan McNee, ‘‘Arry and “Arriet ‘out on a Spree’: Trippers, Tourists and Travellers Writing in Late-Victorian Visitors” Books’, Studies in Travel Writing, 24.2 (2020), 142–56 (p. 149) <https://doi.org/10.1080/13645145.2020.1847836>.
[iii] Richard West and Ted Thackrey Jr., ‘From the Archives: Bing Crosby Dies at 73 on Golf Course’, Los Angeles Times, 1977 <https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-bing-crosby-19771015-story.html>.
[iv] ‘Harry Crosby Got Nickname From Cartoon’, The Binghamton Press (Binghamton, New York, 1 February 1932), Monday Evening edition, p. 17.
Back in December 2022, I headed to Manchester for a whirlwind day tour of some of its prestigious libraries! On the day I was lucky enough to take part in a tour of Chetham’s Library and spend a little time researching at the Portico Library. Unfortunately I was in Manchester on a day when the John Rylands Library was closed, but I did pop in to Manchester’s Central Library to visit The Reading Girl statue by Giovanni Ciniselli (1832-1883):
“She was bought in Italy by Daniel Adamson, the first chairman of the Manchester Ship Canal Company, and given to the library by his family in 1938. There is a bit of a mystery about what she is reading – we know that it was originally a poem called The Angel’s Story which was printed on paper and pasted into her marble book but, by the time she came to the library, this had disappeared and we have never been able to trace the poem since.”[1]
Chetham’s Library, founded in 1653 by Humphrey Chetham (1580-1653), is the oldest public library in the English speaking world. With more than 100,000 printed books, over 1,000 manuscript volumes and thousands more archival documents housed in a series of stunning medieval buildings on the site of the original Manchester Castle, Chetham’s is well worth a visit.
Founded only 27 years later, in 1680, the Library of Innerpeffray shares many similarities with Chetham’s. While Chetham’s is the oldest surviving public library in England, Innerpeffray was the first free lending library in Scotland. Both libraries were founded, alongside associated schools, by noblemen who left money for the purpose in their wills. In Humphrey Chetham’s 1651 will, it states that the library should be open “for the use of schollars and others well affected”, with the Keeper told to “require nothing of any man that cometh into the library”.[2] In the 1680 will of Innerpeffray’s founder, David Drummond, third Lord Madderty, similar sentiments are shared, with the library established “for the benefit and encouragement of Young Students”.[3]
Some additional highlights of my tour included seeing the surviving chained parish libraries and medieval cat flaps!
The next library on my tour was The Portico Library, a beautiful independent nineteenth-century subscription library, founded in 1806. William Gaskell, minister and husband of author Elizabeth Gaskell, was Chair of the Portico between 1849 and 1884 and visited Innerpeffray Library with Beatrix Potter’s parents in 1869.[4]
William Gaskell’s signature in the 1837-1853 Strangers’ Book, introducing W. M. James Esquire from London to the Portico on 25th October 1849.
Rupert Potter’s entry in the Innerpeffray Visitors’ Book, 13th August 1869, listing Reverend William Gaskell of Manchester in attendance. Visitors’ Book Volume 1, f.16v
The staff at the Portico very kindly let me have a look at a couple of their Strangers’ Books – books which recorded details of visitors and readers from outside Manchester who were introduced and vouched for by members.[5]
The instructions read: “Any stranger not residing within five miles from Manchester, and not having an establishment, either commercial or otherwise, in town, may be admitted into the rooms for one calendar month, on being recommended by two proprietors, in their own handwriting…”
“At times, the books resemble a list of characters from a Boy’s Own adventure story, with mountaineers, palaeontologists, Irish cavalry officers and Napoleonic War luminaries all passing through the old entrance on Mosley Street. There are records of visitors from around the globe, as far as Rio de Janeiro, Old Calabar (Akwa Akpa), Calcutta (Kolkata), Bombay (Mumbai) and Tasmania.”[6]
Although I wish I could have stayed for longer, I briefly looked at two volumes, covering the periods 1837-1855 and 1853-1873. Even with just a quick glance through the names listed in the volumes, there were multiple entries signed by visitors from Perthshire and other parts of Scotland. I’m sure a future comparison with the Innerpeffray visitors’ books would be very interesting! Hopefully I can plan out a full research trip to the Portico one day in the future (and finally get in to John Rylands!)
Today’s Visitor Vignette features one of my favourite signatures in the Innerpeffray Visitors’ Books, a young visitor to the library on 22nd August 1899.
Visitor Book Volume 2, f.58v.
Every time I come across this page, I am delighted all over again that Alice Mary Griffith allowed her son Rupert (aged 6) to sign his own entry. You can picture the interaction: Rupert watches other people signing the visitors’ book and wants to have a go. The adults around him make eye contact above his head, have that silent discussion about whether he’s too young, and eventually concede. Rupert takes up the pen, and in his very best handwriting, carefully forming each letter and making sure to dip the pen back in the ink on multiple occasions, inscribes his name. And the visitors’ books are forever blessed by this wonderful entry.
Although neither Rupert nor A. M. Griffith leave any indication as to their location or place of residence, the Bagshawe entries which bracket the Griffiths indicate that the party was staying presently in Crieff and visiting from Manchester and Cheltenham. And indeed, it was possible to track down records of Rupert and Alice Mary Griffith in and around Cheltenham.
Visitor Book Volume 2, ff.58v-59r.
Rupert Vardon de Burgh Griffith was born on the 25th December 1892 to Walter Hubert de Burgh Griffith and Alice Mary Griffith (née Gaitskell). He was baptised the following year, on 26th January 1893, in the same church where his parents had married in August 1891.
Certificate of Baptism for Rupert Vardon de Burgh Griffith, 26th January 1893
Certificate of Marriage between Walter Hubert de Burgh Griffith and Alice Mary Gaitskell, 11th August 1891
Rupert was educated in Cheltenham and by age 18 was studying at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, where the 1911 Census records “Rupert V de B Griffith” working as a “Gentleman Cadet.”
In the 1914 edition of Hart’s Annual Army Lists, digitised and available online through the NLS, Rupert is listed as a Second Lieutenant, having joined the Royal Fusiliers on the 13th March 1912, when he was 19. Almost exactly three years later, he was killed in action in St. Eloi, France, on the 12th March 1915, having been promoted to Lieutenant five months before. Rupert was buried in the Kemmel Chateau Military Cemetery in Belgium.
There is quite a lot of information already available about Rupert’s career in the Royal Fusiliers and his death during the First World War. His obituary includes his last words, “Cheer up, lads; time’s up in five minutes” and adds that he “was a good all-round athlete, his favourite sports being football, polo and rowing.” And now we can also add to his story that when he was 6 years old, he accompanied his Mum to the Library of Innerpeffray and convinced her to let him sign the visitors’ book himself.
While the vast majority of entries in the Innerpeffray visitors’ books are purely factual (with limited details such as the date, visitors’ names, their places of residence and occasionally their occupations), there are a few extended entries which provide additional information and so enable exact identification of their author. The portrait above shows naturalist Adam White, aged 42, likely taken as part of photography firm Maull and Polyblank’s ‘Literary and Scientific Portrait Club’ series, which was issued in forty monthly parts from 1856-1859.[i] Although the book title is too faint to decipher, I imagine that White is holding either one of his own publications or another influential zoological text.
Seven years after this portrait was taken, on Tuesday 26th September 1865, Adam White visited the Library of Innerpeffray and inscribed a rare extended entry in its visitors’ book. In addition to his name and the date of his visit, White includes his past occupation, current address, and details about his visit to the library, revealing that he “spent many hours” there.
Visitors’ Book Volume 1, f.10v
His entry, pictured above, reads: “Adam White, for 27 years an assistant in the Zoological Department, British Museum, spent many hours this day in the Library at Innerpeffray.” In the margin, underneath the date, he also adds, “& now resident 11. N. Melville Place, Edinburgh.” Had White only written a standard entry, with the date, his (fairly commonplace) name, and perhaps ‘Edinburgh’ as his location, it would likely have been much harder, if not impossible, to identify and discover more about him. But since we do have the extra information from his entry, we can actually find out quite a lot about Adam White – including details of a second visit to Innerpeffray within one of his written publications.
Although there is no trace of a second entry by him in the visitors’ book, we know that White visited the Library of Innerpeffray on at least two occasions. Published in the monthly periodical Good Words, White’s article on ‘Spiders’ reads:
“Come with me to that well-known point in Strathearn, called Whitehill, on an autumn morning. The sun is breaking through the mist, which conceals the lovely prospect all around. The view of the country, from the Ochils to the Grampians, from “fair” Perth to the woods of Strathallan and Drummond Castle, is spread out before you, but hidden. […] I was on my way to examine for a second time, the curious library of Lord Maderty at Innerpeffray, where are many books that belonged to the great Marquis of Montrose.”
Adam White, ‘Spiders’, Good Words, 7 (1866), 212-16 (p. 213).
Born in Edinburgh on 29th April 1817 to Mary Ann (née Gellatly) and Thomas White and educated at Edinburgh’s Royal High School, our young Zoologist started work at the British Museum in London in 1835, at the age of 18. Working alongside influential naturalists such as John George Children (1777-1852), John Edward Gray (1800-1875), and Edward Doubleday (1810-1849), White was mainly involved in identifying, naming and cataloguing arachnids, beetles, insects, and crustaceans. A prolific writer, White published a multitude of books and papers about his zoological findings, with biographer Ann Datta estimating that he produced “more than sixty scientific papers” in the twenty-eight years between 1839 and 1867.[ii] White also wrote on non-scientific matters, and between 1847 and 1851 he spearheaded the campaign for the creation of a National Museum of Scotland, penning many letters to politicians and members of the Edinburgh press.[iii]
Despite working in the Zoological Department for 27 years, White never rose above the position of Zoological Assistant – a snub which his biographers claim was “due to real or imagined difficulties with his superior,” John Edward Grey. Nevertheless, White had an excellent reputation as “an active and effective curator” and was a candidate for various professorial jobs in Edinburgh before and after he retired from the British Museum due to ill health in 1863. Indeed, two years after leaving the British Museum and in the same year as his first visit to Innerpeffray, he printed a pamphlet filled with testimonials for future employers. One of these letters of recommendation was written by no less than Charles Darwin, for whom White had catalogued some of the arachnids collected during his journey on the H.M.S. Beagle. Darwin’s letter, written at his home in Kent on the 26th December 1851, reads:
My Dear Sir,
I have much pleasure in expressing my high opinion of your Zoological attainments; and your great zeal for every branch of Natural History must strike all who are acquainted with you.
Your papers in the scientific journals show how successfully you have worked out original materials. I have often had occasion to visit the working department in the British Museum, and I have invariably found you, permit me to add, most zealous and obliging in your endeavours to aid me in every possible way, and in giving me all the information in your power.
You are at full liberty to show this letter to any one; and I beg to remain, my dear Sir,
Yours sincerely,
Charles Darwin, Esq.
Charles Darwin to Adam White, ‘Letter No. 1466’, 26 December 1851, Darwin Correspondence Project
White did not only correspond with Darwin, and the letter above is just one example of correspondence with notable nineteenth-century figures. In May 1907, O. J. Stevenson wrote an article for The Canadian Magazine, on ‘The Eccentricities of Genius,’ with extracts from a series of letters from White’s archive, then in the possession of a relative in Toronto.[iv] The article reveals that in 1847, White took it on himself to promote a proposed memorial of English poet William Cowper in Westminster Abbey by writing to individuals including Charles Dickens and William Wordsworth to ask for their support. (While Dickens refused “point blank to sympathise with [the] proposal”, Wordsworth was exceedingly supportive and “even offered to increase the amount of his contribution should it be found necessary.”)[v] Stevenson also includes a letter from Wordsworth to White in 1844, wherein Wordsworth agreed to be quoted in a future publication: “I should deem it an honour to have any extracts from my poems inserted in such a book, as I have no doubt yours will prove.”
Mr. AdamWhite, from an 1846 pencil sketch by Scottish artist Norman Macbeth, as featured in ‘The Canadian Magazine’, May 1907, p. 7.
In 1865-66, White wrote letters to both Alfred Tennyson and Coventry Patmore enquiring “as to their opinion of the value of natural history as a subject of the school course”. Patmore’s personal response infers that he had crossed paths with White while they both worked at the British Museum – White having retired a few years prior and Patmore a few weeks away from retiring from his Assistant Librarian position.
British Museum, Dec. 4, 1865.
My Dear White, —I and my children have been delighted with your lucubrations in natural history. I entirely think with you as to the utility of obtaining, if possible, a place for natural history in the ordinary educational course. It is a study of which even a smattering is an advantage. Almost everything one learns concerning our fellow creatures of the field and air increases our friendship for them and our pleasure in their society. Some day you must come and see my bird cage; it contains fifty-four little fellows from all parts of the world, living together on excellent terms.
Yours most truly,
Coventry Patmore.
As featured in O. J. Stevenson, ‘The Eccentricities of Genius’, The Canadian Magazine, May 1907, pp. 7-8.
When Adam White died in Glasgow on 30th December 1878, he was a highly regarded curator and writer with an admirable scientific reputation. He had authored a library’s worth of papers, articles, and books; enjoyed membership of exclusive groups such as the Linnean Society, the Entomological Society of London, and the Botanical Society of London; had corresponded with men such as Darwin, Dickens, Wordsworth, and Tennyson; and had personally furthered the scientific field of Natural History. Finally, in addition to himself naming numerous species of insects and arachnids, he was appropriately memorialised by John Obadiah Westwood, who named the ‘Taphroderes whitii’ in his honour:
I am indebted to A. White, Esq., the author of numerous valuable papers on Entomological subjects, for directing my attention to this very interesting insect in the Cabinet of the British Museum placed under his charge, and whose name I have much pleasure in associating with so curious a species.
J. O. Westwood, ‘The Cabinet of Oriental Entomology’, (London: William Smith, 1848), p. 32.
Taphroderes Whitii, as illustrated in J. O. Westwood, The Cabinet of Oriental Entomology (London: William Smith, 1848), p.32.
[i] ‘Maull’, The British Museum <https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG165838> [accessed 28 June 2022].
[ii] Ann Datta, ‘White, Adam (1817-1878), Naturalist’, in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and B. Harrison (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).
[iii] E. G. Hancock, ‘Adam White’, in The Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century British Scientists, ed. by Bernard Lightman (London: Bloomsbury, 2004), iv, 2147–48.
[iv] O. J. Stevenson, ‘The Eccentricities of Genius’, The Canadian Magazine, May 1907, pp. 1–9.
[v] It appears that White’s appeal was not successful as, although there is a stained glass window in Westminster Abbey commemorating William Cowper, it was “Given by George William Childs, American citizen, 1876” – thirty years after White’s correspondence with prospective sponsors. (‘William Cowper’, Westminster Abbey Commemorations).
Works Cited:
‘Adam White’, The British Museum <https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG162220> [accessed 29 June 2022]
Darwin, Charles. Letter to Adam White, ‘Letter No. 1466’, 26 December 1851, Darwin Correspondence Project <https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/DCP-LETT-1466.xml> [accessed 23 June 2022]
Datta, Ann, ‘White, Adam (1817-1878), Naturalist’, in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. by H. C. G. Matthew and B. Harrison (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010) <https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/29234> [accessed 22 June 2022]
Hancock, E. G., ‘Adam White’, in The Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century British Scientists, ed. by Bernard Lightman (London: Bloomsbury, 2004), iv, 2147–48
‘Innerpeffray Library Visitors’ Book Volume 1’ (Innerpeffray: Library of Innerpeffray, 1859-1897)
‘Literary and Scientific Portrait Club: Photographs by Maull & Polyblank, circa 1855’, National Portrait Gallery <https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/set/192/Literary+%26+scientific+club+by+Maull+%26+Polyblank> [accessed 29 June 2022]
‘Maull’, The British Museum <https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG165838> [accessed 28 June 2022]
Stevenson, O. J., ‘The Eccentricities of Genius’, The Canadian Magazine, May 1907, 1–9, Toronto Public Library <https://archive.org/details/canadianmagazine29torouoft/> [accessed 29 June 2022]
Westwood, J. O., The Cabinet of Oriental Entomology (London: William Smith, 1848), Biodiversity Heritage Library <https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/34273> [accessed 25 June 2022]
White, Adam, ‘Spiders’, Good Words, March 1866, 212–16, ProQuest British Periodicals <https://www.proquest.com/historical-periodicals/spiders/docview/3300769/se-2?accountid=14755> [accessed 01/02/2021]
‘William Cowper’, Westminster Abbey Commemorations <https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/william-cowper> [accessed 28 June 2022]
White, Adam, A Popular History of Birds, Comprising a Familiar Account of their Classification and Habits. (London: Lovell Reeve, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, 1855), Wellesley College Library <https://archive.org/details/popularhistoryof00whit_0/> [accessed 27 June 2022]
White, Adam, A Popular History of British Crustacea; Comprising a Familiar Account of Their Classification and Habits (London: Lovell Reeve, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden., 1857), Smithsonian Libraries <https://archive.org/details/popularhistory00whit> [accessed 30 June 2022]
White, Adam, Heads and Tales; or, Anecdotes and Stories of Quadrupeds and Other Beasts, Chiefly Connected with Incidents in the Histories of More or Less Distinguished Men, (London: James Nisbet & Co., 21 Berners Street., 1870), University of California Libraries <https://archive.org/details/headstalesoranec00whitiala> [accessed 30 June 2022]
Hello and welcome to the first blog post in a new series: Visitor Vignettes! These bite-sized blog posts will explore past visitors to Innerpeffray who were recorded in the library’s collection of visitors’ books.
Visitors’ Books Volumes 1-12, covering 1859-1982
The visitors’ books contain signatures and details of visitors to the library from 1859 to the present day – with each modern visitor adding to the living archive. By digitising and investigating the information within the visitors’ books, it is possible to discover more about what kind of people were visiting the Library of Innerpeffray – and this is one of the research goals of my PhD.
Visitors’ Book Volume 2, f.10r
Today’s spotlighted visitor is Héloïse Russell-Fergusson (1896-1970), who visited the Library of Innerpeffray on Friday 30th July 1897. Born in Glasgow the previous year, it appears that Russell-Fergusson was brought to Innerpeffray as a babe in arms, accompanied by some of her mothers’ relatives, including Agnes and Jessie Russell, from Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, and William Russell, from Glasgow.[1]
Visitors’ Book Volume 2, f.10r
Although Héloïse’s mother, Hélène Russell-Fergusson (1873-1952) is not recorded as being present with her daughter on 30th July, her signature does appear in the Innerpeffray visitors’ books just over a week later, on Monday 9th August 1897, where she indicates that she lives in the Scotstounhill area of Glasgow. Perhaps Hélène was unable to join her family on 30th July and simply had to plan her own visit after they all came home singing the praises of the library!
Visitors’ Book Volume 2, f.11r
Héloïse Russell-Fergusson was an influential musician, teacher, and composer, who travelled the world playing the clarsach and piano. Growing up between Glasgow and Argyll, as a young adult she studied piano, song and harmony at the Royal Academy of Music in London and subsequently taught piano at an American girls’ school in Washington D.C. In fact, it was in America that Héloïse first discovered the clarsach, an instrument which shaped her future life and career.
September 1923 Outward Passenger List for the S.S. Paris, from Plymouth to New York
June 1926 Incoming Passenger List for the T.S.S. Caledonia, from New York to Glasgow
While the outward passenger list for her 1923 journey to New York lists her occupation as “Pianist”, and the incoming passenger list for her return to Glasgow in June 1926 lists her occupation as “Teacher” (as we know, she worked as a piano teacher during this time), the outward passenger list for a December 1935 trip to New Zealand lists her occupation as “Musician”. Héloïse continued to travel as a performing musician throughout the 1930s, giving recitals across the Americas, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
December 1935 Outward Passenger List for the R.M.S. Remuera, from London to New Zealand
Héloïse composed and published numerous pieces of music, most of which are part of a collection of almost 2000 items she donated to Glasgow’s Mitchell Library in the 1960s. She was also interested in ethnography, and her nineteen-volume collection of photographs and cuttings about harps and harp-like instruments, titled the Russell-Fergusson Collection of Harps, is also held at the Mitchell Library.
While researching Héloïse for this blog, I was delighted to find that some of her musical recordings are available to listen to online! The following song was recorded at the Kintore Rooms, 74 Queen Street, Edinburgh on Tuesday 26th September 1933.
Héloïse Russell-Fergusson, Scottish harpist and singer, 1933.
For more information about both Héloïse and her archive in the Mitchell Library, Hélène Witcher (Héloïse’s niece) has published a book about her aunt: Madame Scotia, Madam Scrap: The Story of HéloïseRussell-Fergusson, 1896-1970.
[1] The 1891 census shows two sisters, Agnes Russell (born around 1835) and Jessie Russell (born around 1833), living in Rothesay, who may be Héloïse’s Great-Aunts, but I have not been able to confirm this.
“In short, in regard to music, our great writers have been just like other people—some have been passionately fond of music, some have liked it in a mild kind of way, and some have been absolutely indifferent to it.”[1]
Portrait of the author J. Cuthbert Hadden in one of the last books he published before his death in May 1914.[2]
James Cuthbert Hadden (1859-1914) was a Scottish litterateur and “Master of the Song”[3] who balanced his twin loves of music and literature throughout his life, publishing a myriad of articles, biographies and books while working as an organist in Aberdeen, Crieff, and Edinburgh.[4] Hadden was born in Banchory-Ternan, near Aberdeen, on the 5th September 1859, and by the age of 14 was working with Aberdonian booksellers A. & R. Milne and singing in his local choir. In 1878, at the age of 18, Hadden moved to London to work at the Routledge publishing house, spending his workdays in the literary world and his evenings and weekends practising his skills with the piano and organ. Returning to Scotland due to illness after only three years in London, Hadden “thought no more of bookselling” and “determined to be a musician,” taking up work as an organist first in Aberdeen and then Crieff.[5] He stayed at Mannofield Parish Church for only a few months before moving south to work as organist and choirmaster under the Reverend Dr. Cunningham at St. Michael’s Parish Church, Crieff, where he remained for the next ten years.
Crieff Heritage Trail Plaque, St. Michael’s Parish Church, Crieff[6]
While in Crieff, Hadden met and married his future wife, Elizabeth Couper Gordon (1863-1929), and led a busy life both musical and literary. Particularly interesting given my research on the Innerpeffray visitors’ books, Hadden was very concerned about the musical reputation of Crieff to its summer visitors and tourists. In 1890, the last year he spent in Crieff before moving to Edinburgh, he praised the “vigorous and flourishing” Perthshire Choir Union, which had held its annual festival in St. Michael’s.[7] He also wrote a rebuttal to a gentleman who had visited Crieff during the summer and found its music scene wanting:
“Mr. J. Spencer Curwen has thrown a bomb-shell into the Scottish organists’ camp. […] I feel sore, because he has not come to judge our work at the right season. A summer visit creates a false impression, for our choirs are then deprived of many of their best singers, most of our organists have deputies on their stools, and there are of course no rehearsals for the preparation of the Sunday music. The winter is the time to find us at our best.”[8]
Somewhat opposing what he wrote in October 1890, Hadden’s 1910 biography in The Musical Journal suggests that, at least in St. Michael’s, Hadden kept his choir rehearsing throughout the entire year:
“There was an excellent musical service, for the best voices in the town were heard in that choir, and Mr. Hadden had a free hand under the broad-minded minister. Crieff being a resort for holiday makers, special attention was given to the music during the summer, so the weekly choir practice was kept going all the year round. Frequent organ recitals were given, and words of appreciation were often heard from the visitors.”[9]
It is true that the 1910 biography of Hadden is far from objective, written many years after Hadden worked in Crieff, with his full cooperation and by someone who “highly value[d] his friendship” and would not have wanted to risk insulting his subject.[10]Nevertheless, whether Hadden did or did not keep his choir rehearsing all year, it is certainly interesting to think about the musical experience that visitors to Innerpeffray may have had if they stayed in Crieff during their travels.
‘J. Cuthbert Hadden, organist Crieff’
Library of Innerpeffray Visitors’ Book Vol. 1, f.77r
Crucially, while living and working in Crieff between 1881 and 1891, Hadden visited the Library of Innerpeffray on five occasions! The first record of his signature in the Innerpeffray visitors’ book is from Saturday 24th September 1887, when he visited with his wife, ‘Mrs Hadden’. Two additional visitors are recorded as having been to Innerpeffray that day, ‘R. C. Kay’ and ‘Miss Black’, but due to the lack of information provided (no locations or occupations; only initials and/or title rather than full names) I have not been able to ascertain if they were all part of one visiting party or simply all visiting the library on a Saturday.
Library of Innerpeffray Visitors’ Book Vol. 1, f.75v
Hadden’s second visit to Innerpeffray, the following year, was as part of a larger group of visitors from Crieff, with two additional visitors normally resident in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire but perhaps staying in Crieff for a holiday. As opposed to the example above, it is evident that at least the first six named visitors were all travelling together – the first three names are clearly written in the same hand and the signatures of Annie and Mary McCormick are bracketed by those of Mrs. Hadden, above, and Mr. Hadden, below. What is less clear from this page is whether the two signatures following Hadden were part of the same travelling party. It appears as though the first seven entries on the page were all entered on Saturday 26th May, with the following signature, that of Albert Lister Peace – Glasgow, entered on Thursday 14th June.
Visitors to the Library of Innerpeffray, 26th May – 14th June 1888 Innerpeffray Visitors’ Book Vol. 1, f.77r
Were this any other signature, I would have accepted this as fact and continued on without making any comment. However, Dr. Albert Lister Peace (1844-1912) was also an organist – and quite a famous one! Peace reportedly started learning how to play the pianoforte at the age of six and only three years later, at nine years old, became the resident organist of his local church in Huddersfield. Between 1865 and 1897, he worked as the organist for the University of Glasgow, Glasgow Cathedral and St. Andrew’s Hall (now the Mitchell Library). Throughout his career, Peace performed at numerous renowned venues around the United Kingdom, including the Crystal Palace in London (1882), Canterbury Cathedral (1886), Liverpool World’s Fair (1886), and Westminster Abbey (1909).[11]
L: Albert Lister Peace; R: Pamphlet advertising events at St. Andrew’s Halls, Glasgow in 1907 [12]
Additionally, there is evidence to suggest that Hadden and Peace knew each other. In the September 1890 edition of his monthly column, ‘Music in the Scottish Churches’, Hadden indicated that he had learned the following news from Peace and that he had seen him perform more than once:
“A new organ, built by Forster & Andrews, to the specification of Dr. Peace, has been opened in Bothwell Parish Church, near Glasgow. Dr. Peace inaugurated the instrument, playing brilliantly as usual.”[13]
Indeed, I think it is fair to say that Hadden held great respect for both his fellow organist and their chosen instrument – in December 1897, he described another performance:
“I have heard Dr. Peace take the great D major fugue of Bach on a large organ with a full and quick-speaking pedal at what could only be called a terrific rate. The effect was positively electrifying.”[14]
With all of this in mind, it seems fairly unlikely, or at least curious, that Peace would have visited Innerpeffray separately from Hadden, and too big of a coincidence to have his signature two entries below Hadden’s, despite the date indicating that it is two weeks later. At the top of the page, it is clear that there had already been some confusion with the date, with ‘August’ crossed out and ‘May’ written above it. Perhaps there was indeed some misunderstanding with what the date was, and Peace did accompany the Haddens. Perhaps it was just happenstance and Peace visited Innerpeffray separately, only to realise that Hadden had visited two weeks ago. It may also be possible that Hadden visited with the initial travelling group on the 26th May, and when he returned to Innerpeffray with Peace two weeks later, on the 14th June, didn’t want to repeat his signature on the same page. There are countless situations which could have led to these entries in the visitors’ book – and I will probably never find out what actually happened. But the story doesn’t end there, because it happened again a month later!
Visitors to the Library of Innerpeffray, 11th-12th July 1888 Innerpeffray Visitors’ Book Vol. 1, f.77v
On Wednesday 11th July 1888, Hadden visited the Library of Innerpeffray for a third time, accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth, and his father, James Hadden (1838-1892).[15] And again, another organist signed their name in the visitors’ book – in this instance, apparently a day later. Though John William Davis Pillow (1851-1902), from Landport. Portsmouth, Hants, was not as famous or well-travelled as Albert Lister Peace, it is possible to discover that he was an English organist and conductor who worked primarily in and around the south coast of England. In his youth, Pillow sang in the choir at Chichester Cathedral, where he was taught by resident organist Edward H. Thorne before moving onto his own post at St. Pancras Church, Chichester. In 1889, he served as the director of the Portsmouth Musical Association and in October of that year, he inaugurated the new organ at St. Mary’s Church, Portsea, where he remained as resident organist until 1901.[16] As with the example above, there could be numerous reasons why J. W. D. Pillow visited the Library of Innerpeffray the day after the Hadden family, rather than with them. I could not find any documents suggesting that Pillow and Hadden necessarily knew each other, so perhaps it really is a coincidence. Maybe the ‘12’ next to Pillow’s name was incorrectly placed, meaning to refer to the entry below. In all probability, I will never know the answer – perhaps the contiguous visits were simply serendipitous. But it’s weird that it happened twice.
Library of Innerpeffray Visitors’ Book Vol. 1, f.78v
Later in the summer, on Saturday 4th August 1888, the Haddens again visited the Library of Innerpeffray and brought along additional visitors. Although thus far I have not been able to track down Miss H. N. Bell from Crieff or Mr and Mrs John Garrett from Hamilton, Canada, I cannot rule out the possibility that they, too, were organists!
Library of Innerpeffray Visitors’ Book Vol. 1, f.82r
Finally, on Saturday 20th April 1889, J. Cuthbert Hadden visited the Library of Innerpeffray for the last time, accompanied by two of his fellow gentlemen from Crieff (who do not appear to be organists). In the summer of 1889, the couple moved to 4 Argyle Park Terrace, Edinburgh, where Hadden took up post as organist at St. John’s Parish Church, staying there for twelve years before he is said to have “abandoned music in favour of literature”.[17] In fact, Hadden had been increasingly engaged in “pen work” since 1885, while still in Crieff – he regularly contributed to the Dictionary of National Biography (writing more than 120 entries); wrote a monthly column for The Musical Journal, edited the Scottish Musical Monthly for two years, and published seven books before the turn of the century.[18] By the time Hadden died on the 2nd May 1914, only 54 years old, he had written a further twenty books and was regularly struck by a “great hunger” to perform again.[19]
Although it is not possible for us to hear J. Cuthbert Hadden play the organ, we can read his writing – the Library of Innerpeffray holds a copy of one of Hadden’s books, Thomas Campbell, part of the Famous Scots series and dedicated to his wife.[20]
Title-page and dedication from Thomas Campbell by J. Cuthbert Hadden (1899)
And in closing, here are two of my favourite anecdotes from his monthly columns. A flying Bible and a sleeping chorister:
“In a Kirriemuir (Forfar) Church the other Sunday a woman is said to have hurled her Bible from the gallery where she was sitting at one of the male members of the choir who had fallen asleep!”[21]
And tales of shock and outrage in Crieff (more research required!):
“One clergyman at Crieff, as he ascended the pulpit-stairs, peremptorily ordered a lady sitting in the choir pew to leave the church. The lady left as requested, and a considerable number of the congregation with her; the precentor sent in his resignation; and now the minister has been sued for £50 damages and a public apology. I trust the law will give the lady both the money and the apology.”[22]
Isla Macfarlane, PhD Student
[1] J. Cuthbert Hadden, ‘R. L. S. and Music’, Glasgow Herald, 21 April 1900, p. 9.
[2] J. Cuthbert Hadden, Modern Musicians: A Book for Players, Singers and Listeners (Edinburgh: T. N. Foulis, 1914).
[3] J. Cuthbert Hadden, ‘Music in the Scottish Churches’, The Non-Conformist Musical Journal, 5.58 (1892), 151–52 (p. 151).
[4] Hadden’s date of birth is much contested and appears incorrectly in a variety of locations and formats, with some websites listing his year of birth as 1816 and (perhaps optimistically?) adding 43 years to his life. Based on his entry in the 1564-1950 Scottish Births and Baptisms register (accessed through Ancestry), James Cuthbert Hadden was born on 5th September 1859. This birthdate is backed up by census entries in the following years, where he was recorded as being one in the April 1861 census and eleven years old in the census of 1871. Additionally, a biography of Hadden which appeared in The Musical Journal in 1910 (plainly written up after an interview and with his full cooperation, given phrases such as “Mr. Hadden tells me” (p.227)) further confirms this birthdate, telling us that “[w]hen he went to London in 1878,” he was “a lad of 18”. Furthermore, several contemporary obituaries published after Hadden’s death in 1914 also note that he died “aged 54”, further confirming his year of birth as 1859.
[5] Broad Nib, ‘Mr. J. Cuthbert Hadden.’, The Musical Journal, 23.274 (1910), 225–27 (p. 226).
[6] Colin Mayall, ‘St Michael’s Church Yard 1972 Survey of Gravestones’, PerthshireCrieffStrathearn Local History, 2015 <https://perthshirecrieffstrathearnlocalhistor.blogspot.com/2015/03/st-michaels-church-yard-1972-survey-of.html> [accessed 15 February 2022].
[7] J. Cuthbert Hadden, ‘Music in the Scottish Churches’, The Non-Conformist Musical Journal, 3.32 (August 1890), 124–25 (p. 125).
[8] J. Cuthbert Hadden, ‘Music in the Scottish Churches’, The Non-Conformist Musical Journal,3.34 (October 1890), 156–57 (p. 156).
[11] ‘Peace, Albert Lister, (26 Jan. 1844–14 March 1912), MusDoc Oxon’, in Who’s Who & Who Was Who (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) <https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U189766> [accessed 7 December 2021].
[12]St. Andrew’s Halls (Glasgow: Wilson Advertising Company, 1907), Mitchell Library, Theatre Collection; Glasgow City Council.
[13] J. Cuthbert Hadden, ‘Music in the Scottish Churches’, The Non-Conformist Musical Journal, 3.33 (September 1890), 132–33 (p.133).
[14] J. Cuthbert Hadden, ‘Passing Notes’, The Nonconformist Musical Journal, 10.120 (December 1897), 184–85 (p. 185).
[15] On the 11th July 1888, James Hadden (senior) listed his place of residence as Aberdeen and was clearly in Crieff visiting his son and daughter-in-law, but just twenty days later, on the 31st July 1888, he was admitted to the Dundee Royal Asylum. Over the next four years he moved between the Old Machar Poorhouse and Aberdeen Royal Asylum, where he died of TB on 14th July 1892. ‘General Register of Lunatics in Asylums: Dundee Royal Asylum, Angus’, (Edinburgh: NRS Mental Health Records, 1888), p. 460 <https://www.scottishindexes.com/hentry.aspx?hid=646021> [accessed 16 February 2022]; NRS Reference MC7/6.
[16] W. B. Henshaw, ‘John William Davis Pillow’, Biographical Dictionary of the Organ; ‘History of the Organ’, The Organ Project.
[17] ‘Hadden, J. Cuthbert, Litterateur.’, in Who’s Who & Who Was Who (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
As it is the 155th anniversary of Beatrix Potter’s birth on the 28th July 2021, we are celebrating by exploring some of the links between Beatrix Potter and the Library of Innerpeffray.
Helen Beatrix Potter Heelis (1866-1943) is remembered today as a respected mycology expert, one of the most popular children’s authors of the Victorian period, and the creator of unforgettable fictional characters including Jemima Puddle-Duck, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, Squirrel Nutkin, and many more. Perhaps her most well-known book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, was first conceived of while Beatrix was staying near Dunkeld in 1893. Writing a letter to the son of one of her former governesses, she came up with a story about “four little rabbits whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter.” Little did she know then that Peter Rabbit would one day become a household name!
Beatrix Potter Letter to Noel Moore 1893 c. National Trust
It is a well-known fact that Beatrix Potter and her family spent many summer holidays in Perthshire, with her father, Rupert Potter, renting Dalguise House near Dunkeld every summer between 1871 and 1881.[1] Interested in the sport and freedom of Scotland, with its plentiful shooting, fishing and beautiful opportunities for walking and photography, the extended Potter family often travelled away from London between May and October.[2] Before becoming regular guests at Dalguise, we know that the Potters stayed with Edmund Potter near Alness in Easter Ross, and in Tulliemet House in 1870.[3] Excitingly, we now have evidence from the Innerpeffray Library visitors’ books that the Potters also stayed in Scotland in 1868 and 1869.
On the 26th August 1868, a month after Beatrix’s second birthday, the following signatures were entered into the visitors’ book:
Innerpeffray Visitor Books Vol 1, f15r
Rupert Potter and Mrs. R Potter, Kippen, and Mrs. Leech and daughter, London.
Rupert Potter (1832-1914), Beatrix’s father, was a barrister and successful amateur photographer who married Beatrix’s mother, Helen Leech (1839-1932) on the 8th August 1863. The Potters were visiting with Helen’s mother, Beatrix’s maternal grandmother, Jane Ashton (1806-1884) and one of her daughters, Beatrix’s aunt – most likely the eldest daughter of Mrs Leech, Jane (1833-1876), who never married and remained close to home. Although Mrs Leech and her daughter write their location as London, Rupert and Helen write that they were staying at Kippen Estate while visiting Scotland, rather than their usual London address. Although there is a village called Kippen in Stirlingshire, as below where the Potters wrote ‘Garvock’ to refer to Garvock House in Dunning, it seems more likely that they were referring to Kippen House, also in Dunning, which was built in the 1840s.
Postcard showing Kippen House, Dunning
The following year, on the 13th August 1869, we find the Potters returning to Innerpeffray for a second time, this time accompanied by Reverend William Gaskell as well as Mrs and Miss Leech:
Innerpeffray Visitors’ Books Vol 1, f.16v
Mrs and Miss Leech, London; Revd. W. Gaskell, Manchester; and Mr and Mrs Rupert Potter, Garvock and London.
In the summer of 1869, the Potter family was again holidaying with Beatrix’s maternal grandmother and aunt, as well as Unitarian minister and close friend of the family William Gaskell (1805-1884). It was common for the Victorian middle classes to “invite friends to join them on holiday,” and the Potters frequently invited friends and family to join them in Scotland – “especially those who liked to fish and who would endure Rupert’s endless photography sessions.”[4] Gaskell was a close friend and teacher of Rupert Potter’s, having known Rupert’s father Edmund since his university days. Indeed, Jenny Uglow, biographer of William’s wife Elizabeth, states that William often joined the Potters on their annual summer holidays but never invited his wife to accompany him – she emphasizes that he “needed escape, less, one sometimes feels, from the city than from his growing family.”[5] It appears that he preferred spending his leisure time with the Potters rather than his own family.
Photograph of Reverend William Gaskell and Beatrix Potter, taken during one of “Rupert’s endless photography sessions” in the grounds of Dalguise House
On this visit to Innerpeffray, the Potters recorded their location as both Garvock and London, indicating that their long-term residence was in London but at the present time they were staying in Garvock House while in Scotland.
Postcard showing Garvock House Dunning
The following month, the Potters visit Innerpeffray Library for the third time on the 6th September 1869. Their entries in the visitors’ book reveal that although the Leeches were not present, the Potters were joined by Beatrix’s paternal grandfather, Edmund Potter (1802-1883), who writes his place of residence as his Hertfordshire home, Camfield Place:
Innerpeffray Visitor Book Vol 1, f17r
Mr Edmund Potter M.P., Camfield, Hatfield, Herts; Mr. and Miss Potter, also from Camfield; and Mr and Mrs R Potter, Garvock.
It is clear from their three separate visits that Rupert and Helen Potter enjoyed their trips to Innerpeffray – dedicating time from two summer holidays to visit and on each occasion bringing a different visitor to see the library. Innerpeffray was an accessible tourist destination from both Garvock and Kippen by carriage, train or even bicycle – it would take around three hours to walk or one hour to cycle to the library from either location on modern roads. Although Innerpeffray was still easily accessible by train from Dalguise House, they must have considered it too long a journey, as the Potters do not appear again in the visitors’ books.
Map showing the locations of the Potters’ Scottish holiday residences in relation to Innerpeffray Library: Garvock, Kippen, and Dalguise House
Noticeably absent from all of these visitors’ book entries is Beatrix Potter herself! Aged two and three years old at the time of the respective visits, Beatrix may have been left at home with her nurse rather than joining her parents and grandparents at Innerpeffray Library. It is true that Beatrix often spoke of her lonely childhood, where she spent little time with her parents while in London, cared for instead by her nurses and governesses. However, Beatrix also wrote that her “happiest moments” were those spent in Scotland, where “she got extra attention from her father.”[6] Perhaps, away from the stricter rules of London society, “where every activity was carefully regimented and supervised,” the Potters brought their daughter with them while touring Scotland.[7]
Bookplate of Edmund Potter, Camfield Place.
From an early age, Beatrix was an intelligent young girl who was encouraged by friends and family to love stories and books. Reverend William Gaskell, who was a regular holiday companion and visited Innerpeffray with the Potters in August 1869, was chairman of the Portico Library in Manchester from 1849 to 1884 and was recorded as having borrowed more than 700 books between 1850 and 1859.[8] Her grandfather Edmund Potter, who accompanied the Potters to Innerpeffray in September of that same year, had “built a reading room and library which was kept well stocked with books and newspapers.”[9] Although her paternal grandmother, Jessy Crompton Potter, did not accompany her husband Edmund on his trip to Innerpeffray, Beatrix often wrote that she remembered “the stories told by her adoring grandmother” in the library of Camfield Place.[10]With these bibliophile friends and relatives knowing the importance of books on young, impressionable minds, perhaps Beatrix was indeed brought to see the Library of Innerpeffray. Without her name written in the visitors’ books, we can only guess – but I for one would like to think so.
Isla Macfarlane, PhD Student
[1] Lynne McGeachie, Beatrix Potter’s Scotland: Her Perthshire Inspiration (Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2010), p. 29.
[2] ‘Beatrix Potter Exhibition Garden’, Birnam Arts Visitor Attractions <https://www.birnamarts.com/visitor-tourist-attractions/beatrix-potter-exhibition-garden/>.
[3] Linda Lear, Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature (New York: St Martin’s Press, 2007), p. 27.
[8] Barbara Brill and Alan Shelston, ‘Manchester: “A Behindhand Place for Books”: The Gaskells and the Portico Library’, The Gaskell Society Journal, 5 (1991), 27–36 (pp. 27–28) <https://www.jstor.org/stable/45185290>.
