July 31st Scots Book of Days

July 31 1243 sometime in July Robert de Brus 6 ^th Lord of Annandale born 31 July and married 1271 to Marjorie,Countess of Carrick. Robert was also Lord of Hartness, Writtle and Hatfield Broad Oak (Wretele et Hatfeud Regis), was a cross-border lord, participant of the Second Barons’ War, Welsh Wars, and First War of Scottish Independence.

1328 Thomas de Rokeby collects reward of Edward 2^nd (King of Inglish) as to where the Scots enemy is hiding. The Scots had Thomas, and sent him to get the English King. The Scots were in an impregnable position on a hill over the river Wear. The armies faced each other for four days.

1394 – James I Stewart born Dunfermiline Palace. Fife. Dunfermline Fife, Scotland.

1423 Battle of Cravant John Stewart, 2^nd Earl of Buchan [of Darnley] commander of Scots forces captured. When the French ranks began to withdraw, the Scots refused to flee and were cut down by the hundreds. Over 3,000 of them fell at the bridgehead or along the riverbanks, and over 2,000 prisoners were taken, including the Earl of Buchan and the commander of the Dauphin’s forces, the Comte de Vendôme. King Henry V of England had re-asserted the English claim of suzerainty over Scotland, and therefore executed Scots prisoners of war on the grounds that they were traitors, fighting against their own King. After the battle Buchan was exchanged, and after his release in 1424 he was appointed Constable of France making him the effective Commander-in-Chief of the French army. To recover from the losses sustained at Cravant, fresh troops under the Earl of Douglas were dispatched from Scotland to France. John later died at Orleans.

Douglas 1036 2Stewart 2Ruthven 2Kinchin 2Jared 2Simmons 2Choate – Douglas 2Montgomberie 2Blair 2Cochrane 2Miller 2Simmons 2Choate – Douglas 2Hamilton 2Stewart 2Miller 2Simmons 2Choate – Douglas 2Carlyle 2Semple 2Montgomery 2Cochrane 2Miller 2Simmons 2Choate

Battle of Cravant, the Hundred Years’ War. The next few years also saw the formation of the Garde écossaise, a small Scottish force which acted as a bodyguard for the kings of France, and survived until the revolution.

1547 21 French galleys approached St Andrews under the command of Leone Strozzi, prior of Capua. The French besieged the castle and forced the surrender of the garrison on 31 July. The Protestant nobles and others, including Knox, were taken prisoner and forced to row in the French galleys for years. . ‘Big mistake. Big.’ [Quote from Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, circa 1995.] St. Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland

1641 July, the Long Parliament passes “An Act for the Regulating the Privie Councell and for taking away the Court commonly called the Star Chamber”.

1642 Parliament appoints the Committee of Safety, A century and a quarter later, 1774, patriots in the British north American Colony of Massachusetts organize Committees of Safety, with John Hancock as chairman. Others were organized in New York and North Carolina, becoming the grass roots for independence.

1705 – Leith (TG 68-63) trial for piracy of the Rising Sun. The Amsterdam-built Rising Sun mounted 60 guns but was capable of bearing an even heavier armament. Although initially envisaged as privateers, it eventually sailed in peacetime, and was commissioned as Royal Scots Navy ships. These ships were used to support the Darien Scheme (1698-1701) a colonial project to establish a Scottish economic and military presence in the Americas, in the Isthmus between North and South America. Yellow fever doomed the attempt.

1760 Battle of Warburg , Germany. Seven Years War. British Regiments 3^rd Dragoon Guards, later the 3^rd Carabineers and now the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.* 6^th Dragoon Guards, later the 3^rd Carabineers and now the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.* 2^nd Royal North British Dragoons, the Scots Greys and now the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. 87^th Highlanders, Keith’s: disbanded in 1765. 88^th Highlanders, Campbell’s disbanded in 1765.

Campbell Earl of Argyll 1010 2Montgomery2Blair 2Cochrane2Miller 2Simmons2Choate to zoe TOAG

25^th Foot: now the King’s Own Scottish Borderers.

British Cavalry

1854 Sam Wilson died. The American icon Uncle Sam who embodies the American spirit more than any other figure was in fact based on a real man. A businessman from Troy, New York, Samuel Wilson whose parents sailed to America from Greenock, Scotland, has been officially recognized as the original Uncle Sam.

He provided the army with beef and pork in barrels during the War of 1812. The barrels were prominently labeled “U.S.” for the United States, but it was jokingly said that the letters stood for “Uncle Sam.” Soon, Uncle Sam was used as shorthand for the federal government.

Uncle Sam was based on Samuel Wilson (clan Wilson). notable Scottish Americans,

1875 Andrew Johnson (Scots) (December 29, 1808 – July 31, 1875)

17^th President, 1865-69: His grandfather left Mounthill, near Larne in County Antrim around 1750 and settled in North Carolina. Andrew worked there as a tailor and ran a successful business in Greeneville, Tennessee, before being elected Vice-President. He became President following Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Wikipedia.

National Union Party presidential ticket, 1864. Currier and Ives

On the same day [August 22, 23, 1877] these ordinances were performed, President Woodruff records in his journal that he baptized brother McAllister for Gen Washington & his forefathers and all the Presidents of the United States that were on my list.There were Baptized in all to day 682” (Woodruff, Journal 7:367-69)–Arnold K. Garr, Epilogue, Christopher Columbus, p. 71-73.

1880 July 31 Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers founded. Society elects William Hole 1885. In 1889 William Hole paints frieze of Heroes of Scottish National Portrait Gallery Edinburgh. Mungo Park, explorer; Sir Ralph Abercromby, Lieutenant-General; Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch, Lieutenant-General; Sir John Moore, Lieutenant-General; Sir Henry Raeburn Portrait painter; Lord Francis Jeffrey, judge and literary critic; Sir Walter Scott, novelist and poet; John Hunter, surgeon and anatomist; Robert Burns, poet; James Hutton, geologist; Thomas Telford, civil engineer, James Watt, inventor of steam engine; Robert Adam, architect; James Bruce,

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

explorer and travel writer; James Boswell, biographer of Samuel Johnson;

Boswell of Auchinleck Ayr 13c 2Arnot2Colville 2Semple 2Montgomerie2Cochrane 2Miller2Simmons 2Choate zoe ToaG

Adam Duncan, 1^st Viscount Duncan of Camperdown, Admiral; Duncan Crest: On waves of the sea Argent a lymphad proper under sail Or flagged Gules the sail charged with a clarion Gules. Motto: SAVOUR THE MOMENT, The head of The Territorial House of Duncan of Sketraw

1936 Hollywood. Darryl Zanuck plans Wee Willie Winkie, the Rudyard Kipling short story from Miller’s nursery rhyme. Features the 195^th regiment of the Black Watch, kilts, balmoral bonnets. Shirley Temple is nicknamed ‘Wee Willie Winkie’.

Black Watch Rifle Company E drills. Temple aims her rifle from knee. Wee Willie Winkie. 1937.

1937 Bulldog Drummond at Bay. Released.

1943 Invasion of Sicily. Monthly Loss Summary Until November 1943 only two small ships were lost in UK waters. www.naval-history.net

1971 Apollo 15 on the moon. Scott and Irwin (both scots descent).

Irwin with the rover on the lunar surface. Scott became the seventh person to walk on the Moon.

1998 The Governess (movie) filmed on location at Brodick Castle, Isle of Arran, in North Ayrshire, for an 1830s Scottish family living on the Isle of Skye in the Hebrides.

Amelia Fiona J. Driver, ‘Minnie’ has Scottish ancestry.

Brodick Castle. Isle of Arran off the western coast of Scotland, Brodick Castle itself dates from the 13^th century, but like other Scottish castles, it was badly damaged in wars against the English (in 1455 and 1544) and rebuilt. For many years, Brodick Castle Scotland was home to the dukes of Hamilton. The castle was occupied by Oliver Cromwell’s Roundhead troops during the English Civil War in the mid 17^th century. Since then, Brodick Castle in Scotland has had a more peaceful existence. For much of the 18^th and 19^th centuries it was used mainly as a hunting retreat for the Hamiltons. The castle passed out of the hands of the dukes of Hamilton when the 12^th duke died without a male heir and his lands passed to his daughter, the duchess of Montrose. Brodick Castle was claimed by the state in 1957 in lieu of death taxes; like many Scottish castles, it is now owned and operated by the National Trust of Scotland.