December 24 – Christmastide to January 5th the day before Epiphany.

1165 Malcolm the Maiden , Malcolm IV, King of Scots, was succeeded by his brother WILLIAM [crowned 24th December, 1165], William the Lion, King of Scots, a son of Prince Henry, Henry of Scotland, Earl of Northumbria, and grandson of the good (Tg4-52 Sir W Scott’s history) King David. David I, In his time, warriors and men of consequence began to assume what are called armorial bearings, which ye may still see cut upon seals, engraved on silver plate, and painted upon gentlemen’s carriages. Warriors went into battle clad in complete armour, which covered them from top to toe. On their head they wore iron caps, called helmets, with visors, which came down and protected the face, so that nothing could be seen of the countenance except the eyes. But as it was necessary that a king, lord, or knight, should be known to his followers in battle, they adopted two ways of distinguishing themselves. [TG4-53] The one was by a crest, which they wore on the top of the helmet, and figures painted on shields.

David I (left) with the young Malcolm IV (right) Malcolm IV, Malcolum Deo Rectore Rex Scottorum

Malcolm, by God’s Rule King of the Scots

Mael Coluim Cennmor, mac Eanric, ardri Alban

Malcolm the Great Chief, son of Henry, High-King of Scotland

Dublin Armorial of Scottish Nobility

Dunvegan Armorial (Earl of Crawford)

1307 Battle of Inverurie in which Robert the Bruce defeated the troops of John Comyn. Clan Sempill supported King Robert the Bruce. Robert de Semple’s two sons were rewarded by the King for their services. The elder son, Robert, received all of the lands around Largs in Ayrshire which had been confiscated from the Clan Balliol. The younger son, Thomas, received a grant of half the lands of Longniddry.

  • Brus or Bruce 1050 2Stewart2Kennedy 2Montgomery2Blair 2Cochrane2Miller 2Simmons2Choate zoe ToaG

1584 sometime in, chief William Cochrane, along with several others was charged with being involved in the murder of Patrick Maxwell but Cochrane was never brought to trial.

1660 Mary Henrietta Stuart, English Princess Royal died of smallpox on 24 December 1660, at Whitehall Palace, London and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Born 4 November 1631. Daughter of Charles 1st.

Mary Stuart, Princess Royal, and husband William II, Prince of Orange. They were parents of King William 3rd of England and 2nd of Scotland. Mary was the first daughter of a British sovereign to hold the title Princess Royal.

1698 William Warburton (died 7 June 1779) born at Newark, where his father, who belonged to an old Cheshire family, was town clerk. William was educated at Oakham and Newark grammar schools, and in 1714 he was articled to Mr Kirke, an attorney, at East Markham, in Nottinghamshire. 1759 to 1779 served as Bishop of Gloucester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester in the Province of Canterbury. Printer Andrew Millar VI (clan Stewart, Lockhart, Hunter).

The Doctrine of Grace or the Office and Operations of the Holy Spirit Vidicated from the Insults of Infidelity and The Abuses of Fanaticism some Thoughts (humbly offered to the consideration of the established clergy) regarding the right method of defending Religion against the attacks of either Party etc. London Printed for A. Millar, and J. and R. Towson in the Strand. MDCCLXIII

1797 Sir Walter Scott married Charlotte Genevieve Charpentier. In an innovative and astute action, Scott wrote and published his first novel, Waverley, under the guise of anonymity.

1816 Sir Walter Scott stayed in the Waverley Hotel in Auchmithie and described Auchmithie in his novel The Antiquary (1816), under the name ‘Musslecrag’. Auchmithie is a former fishing village in Angus, [Forfarshire] Scotland, three and a half miles north east of the town of Arbroath. It sits atop a cliff of red sandstone conglomerate. 1799 map Aberbrothick, Light House, Frith of Tay, Lunan Bay, Red Head, Montrose.

1900 map, same cut as for 1799. Arbroath, Monikie, Carnoustie, Buddon Ness, Lunan, Guthrie.

It was a tale of the Jacobite rising of 1745 in the Kingdom of Great Britain. Its English protagonist was Edward Waverley, by his Tory upbringing sympathetic to the Jacobite cause. Becoming enmeshed in events, however, he eventually chooses Hanoverian respectability. There followed a succession of novels over the next five years, each with a Scottish historical setting. Mindful of his reputation as a poet, Scott maintained the anonymity he had begun with Waverley, always publishing the novels under the name Author of Waverley or attributed as “Tales of…” with no author. Even when it was clear that there would be no harm in coming out into the open, he maintained the façade, apparently out of a sense of fun. During this time the nickname The Wizard of the North was popularly applied to the mysterious best-selling writer. In 1819 Ivanhoe, a historical romance set in 12th-century England, marked a move away from a focus on the history and society of Scotland. Ivanhoe features a sympathetic Jewish character named Rebecca, considered by many critics to be the book’s real heroine. This was remarkable at a time when the struggle for the Emancipation of the Jews in England was gathering momentum,

       The Bride of Lammermoor based on a true story of two lovers, in the setting of the Lammermuir Hills. In the novel, Lucie Ashton and Edgar Ravenswood exchange vows, but Lucie’s mother discovers that Edgar is an enemy of their family. She intervenes and forces her daughter to marry Sir Arthur Bucklaw, who has just inherited a large sum of money on the death of his aunt. On their wedding night, Lucie stabs the bridegroom, succumbs to insanity, and dies. Donizetti’s opera Lucia di Lammermoor was based on Scott’s novel.  Rediscovering the ‘lost’ Honours of Scotland in 1818.

“I was also present [August 22, 23, 1877] in the St. George Temple and witnessed the appearance of the Spirits *** And also others [Sir Walter Scott]*** Who came to Wilford Woodruff and demanded that their baptism and endowments be done. Wilford Woodruff was baptized for all of them. *** They also prepared the peoples hearts so they would be ready to receive the restored gospel when the Lord sent it again to men on the earth.” (Personal journal of James Godson Bleak-Chief Recorder of the St. George Temple, Clerk to Brigham Young.)

A Legend of Montrose illustration. From 1872 edition

1809 Christopher Houston “Kit” Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman and Indian fighter. (clan Houston) 

1814 Ghent. Peace between Britain and America. Territorial boundaries were left to commissioners. Word of the Peace had not arrived in New Orleans, when attacked in January 1215. Tytler’s Britannica 274.

1829 Scots Roman Type, prepared in Glasgow Scotland, and shipped to a foundry in Albany New York, then delivered to the E. B. Grandin Printing company in Palmyra New York, according to the Crandall Gutenberg Printing Museum in Provo Utah. The Scots Roman type is the font used to print the first edition of the Book of Mormon. The contract with E. B. Grandin’s print shop to print the book was signed on Tuesday 25 Aug 1829, and the completed book was on sale by Friday 26 March 1830. Typesetter John H. Gilbert selects type and inserts commas, periods, and other punctuation as Gilbert reads Oliver Cowdery’s hand written copy. One form signarture of 16 pages, in quantities of 5,000 copies will be printed, 37 signatures per 6 day, 11 hour per day week. Meridian Magazine (14 Apr 2005). http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/2005/printing.html 17th   form of 16 pages printed. Somewhere in Alma.

’Pageant.

1839 Kirkcaldy and Marnock and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Samuel Mulliner (b. 1809), and Alexander Wright (b. 1804), Scots, arrive as missionaries. [Ensign Feb. 1987] Alexander was determined to take the gospel to his own family as soon as possible, so the two ailing elders “took the partin han[d]” and Alexander crossed the Firth of Forth to Kirkcaldy by ferryboat. While Samuel stayed behind to teach his family, Alexander walked across Scotland to his hometown, the little village of Marnock in Banffshire.It rained very hard Christmas Eve as he made twenty-two miles on foot to Aberdeen.

Kirkcaldy Crest: A man’s head with the face looking up wards Proper Motto: FORTISSIMA VERITAS
[“Truth is the strongest”] Seat: Kirkcaldy, Fife

1841 Ebenezer Scrooge is the principal character in Charles Dickens’s 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol. In his diaries, Dickens states that Scrooge stems from a grave marker which he saw in 1841, while taking an evening walk in the Canongate Kirkyard in Edinburgh. The headstone was for the vintner Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie, a relative of Adam Smith, who had won the catering contract for the visit of George IV to Edinburgh and the first contract to supply whisky to the Royal Navy. The marker identified Scroggie as a “meal man” (corn merchant), but Dickens misread this as “mean man”, due to the fading light and his mild dyslexia. Dickens wrote that it must have “shrivelled” Scroggie’s soul to carry “such a terrible thing to eternity”. The grave marker was lost during construction work at part of the kirkyard in 1932.

Ebenezer Scrooge encounters “Jacob Marley’s ghost” in Dickens’s novel, A Christmas Carol.

Scots’ Actors portraying Ebenezer Scrooge

Marc McDermott in 1910

Basil Rathbone in 1956 and 1958

George C. Scott in 1984

Bill Murray as Frank Cross in Scrooged, 1988

Patrick Stewart in 1999

Helen Fraser as Sylvia Hollamby in Bad Girls 2006 Christmas Special

1850 “Highland Destitution”. Dundee Advertiser.Scotland’s Potato Famine. the Central Board became concerned that long-term recipients of the rations would become “pauperised”. Eleemosynary aid… would be a curse instead of a benefit; and hence it was absolutely necessary to teach the people of the Highlands that they must depend on their resources for the future. To accomplish this object it would be requisite to instruct them in croft husbandry, in developing the treasures of the deep, and in prosecuting the manufacture of kelp.

1921 Salt Lake City. David O. McKay, 9th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. McKay’s father, also David McKay, was from Thurso, Scotland, who joined the church in 1850. Apostle McKay returned from a 60,000 mile trip, touring all missions and schools. President Heber J. Grant said “I rejoice in the fact that Brother McKay is with us today. Brother McKay has circled the globe since he was last at a conference—has visited our missions in nearly every part of the world, and has returned, as every missionary does return who goes out to proclaim this gospel and comes in contact with the people of the world and with all the varieties of faiths of the world, with increased light, knowledge and testimony regarding the divinity of the work in which we are engaged.” Elder McKay summarized his travels with a strong testimony: “When we left home, … we looked forward with no little misgiving and anxiety to the trip ahead of us. … The keen sense of our responsibility, adequately to fulfil the desires of President Grant and his counselors and the Twelve, who had honored us with that call, made us seek the Lord as I had never sought him before in my life, and I wish to say this afternoon that the promise made by Moses to the children of Israel just before they crossed the Jordan River into the Promised land, has been fulfilled in our experiences. As we sought the Lord with all our souls He came to our guidance and assistance.”

1939 The Light that Failed motion picture released in New York, from Rudyard Kipling’s novel. The plotbegins in 1865 with a youthful ‘Dick Holder’ doing pistol target practice somewhere on the British sea coast. Fast forward a few decades and he is a war correspondence in Sudan during the Mahdi wars. Holder becomes a painter, and portraits the British soldiers in their kilts, full battle complement. Tragedy lies ahead.

Ronald Colman Rudyard Kipliing’s The Light That Failed, Walter Husto Ida Lupino, Muriel Angelius, Dudley Digges.

  • The Scots connection are the kilts of the soldiers, uniforms of various Scots regiments serving In nthe Sudan. Nearly a century and a half later, in 2016, Lieutenant colonel Mark Choate is the military Attache for the United States to the Sudan, to evaluate Sudan as friend or foe. Colonel Choat’s report results in Sudan being removed from the terrorist state designation. Colonel Choate’s ancestors include Cochrane, Campbell, Stewart, Montgomery, MacPherson, and seven dozen more.

Rudyard Kipling was Lord Rector of St Andrews University in Scotland, beginning 1922.

1948 Tea for Two Hundred is an American film Part of the Donald Duck film series, produced in Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions and released to theaters by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon stars a picnicing Donald Duck who faces an army of ants trying to steal his food.

(clan McDuck)

1984 Peter Lawford died. Peter Sydney Ernest Lawford 7 September 1923 – 24 December 1984) (Sommerville clan). the only child of Lieutenant General Sir Sydney Turing Barlow Lawford, KBE (1865-1953) and May Sommerville Bunny (1883-1972). KBE is The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is the “order of chivalry of British constitutional monarchy” order of knighthood. Peter’s paternal aunt great uncle in law was the 14th Earl of Eglinton in the Peerage of Scotland. Sub titles held by the Earl of Eglinton are Lord Montgomerie (created 1449), Baron Ardrossan (1806) and Baron Seton and Tranent (1859), Clan Chief of Clan Montgomery.

Coat of Arms Earl of Eglinto and Winton. Wikipedia.

Lawford made his television debut in 1953 in a guest starring role on Ronald Reagan’s General Electric Theater.

1997 The Winter Guest filmed in Scotland and set on one wintry day.

 

1999 The Big Tease Filmed in Scotland.

Ferguson plays Crawford Mackenzie, a Scottish hairdresser who, while being filmed as part of a fly-on-the-wall documentary, is invited to the World Hairdresser International Federation annual contest.

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2003 Ethan Thomas Choate born. (clans Erskine, Fraser, Giffard, Gordon, Graham, Hamilton, Hay, Keith, Kennedy, Kirkpatrick)

 

2013 Humor. Two Scottish boys put their shoes out Christmas eve. The next morning one boy had a watch in his shoe, the other boy had a wad of horse poop. The boy with the watch complained it was not a Rolex or it wouldn’t work perfectly, the brother with the poop was excited. When asked, the brother, ‘What did ye get for Christmas?’ His answered ‘A pony! but he got away. ‘ Be optimistic, smile, cheerful.

 

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