Hardy Island Voters in 1835 Election

Written by The Balfour Blogger #3

Thomas Balfour was elected as Conservative MP for Orkney and Shetland in 1835, thanks to a hard-fought campaign paid for by his father, Captain William Balfour RN of Elwick.

Extract from D2/29/3/69

Most of the expense was the agents’ travel, canvassing around Orkney and Shetland, and the travel and lodging of the voters. Unfortunately, Parliament had been dissolved on 29 December 1834 and the voting, in Kirkwall and Stromness, was on 5 and 6 February so all the travel was in mid-winter. This may help to explain why only 198 of the 298 electors voted, though some were determined to have their say, as demonstrated by some of the entries in a list of expenses totalling £1412 0s 5½d  Ref D2/29/3/69

Extract from D2/29/3/69

Owner and Master & crew of the Catherine, for bringing in and putting back again the Westray voters in the worst weather (16 days) £19

Extract from D2/29/3/69

Owner and crew of the Despatch for bringing in and carrying out Stronsay voters in very bad weather £20

Extract from D2/29/3/69

George Harvey, Master of the Canning, for self & crew, out five days in a perfect storm & bringing in the Eday voters at the most desperate risk, only one hour before the final close of the poll. £8.7s

At least they had something to cheer them on their way-

Extract from D2/29/3/69

James Drever bill for wine and spirits provided to the vessels sent for the voters £11 19s

South Isles voters had a slightly easier time:

Extract from D2/29/3/69

Ferrymen at Holm for carrying on shore and putting off voters of South Ronaldsay and a cart bringing one old man to town 14s 6d

And Deerness seems to have made an occasion of it

Extract from D2/29/3/69

The Deerness men proposing to walk in procession, given them to purchase flags and to drink after their return home, they having consequently agreed among themselves to taste nothing in Kirkwall – to which they strictly adhered. £5

_______________________________________________________

Extracts from archive items in D2/29/3/69 from the Balfour of Balfour & Trenabie papers 

Orkney Pride

It's London Pride today and so we thought we'd see if we had any rainbow-themed archives to celebrate...

The obvious place to start was with John W. Scott's wonderful book of Orkney and Shetland weather words:


gaa: a fragment of rainbow... a small rainbow in the horizon... a spot or ray of a rainbow colour which appears near the sun, generally in dry windy weather, and which indicates some change in the weather


The word also appears in The Orkney Dictionary by Margaret Flaws and Gregor Lamb:


gaa n. sun-dog, bit of rainbow before or behind the sun.weather-gaa


'A gaa behind ye needno mind,
A gaa afore, lukk for a roar'


Ernest Walker Marwick's papers were the next port of call and they contain a paper written by George Marwick on the subjects of Rainbows, Aurora Borealis, Igasill The Tree of Life and a legendary Stronsay Wedding:

Rainbows foretold the birth of a baby boy. Orkney Archive Reference D31/4/1/2

Our last (tenuous) rainbow themed archive is an excerpt from a 1783 edition of The Morning Post, and Daily Advertiser which briefly reports the Orcadian exploits of a piratical smuggler aboard the Rainbow Cutter:

Orkney Archive reference D1/660/25 [H1]

Peace On Earth 1918 - An Archive Advert Calendar #22

Orkney Archive Reference D51/3/8 - Click to enlarge

One of the more visually satisfying archives is the collection of weather observation charts compiled between 1890 and 1938. Systematic weather observations were begun in Orkney in 1827, by Rev Charles Clouston, minister in Sandwick.


 Although reputedly the second oldest complete set of weather records in Scotland, the records held by the Archives begin in 1890. The first recorder of these was Magnus Spence F.E.I.S. in Stenness. When he moved to Deerness he continued the records there, and was succeeded about 1919 by William Delday. William J Moar took over about 1927.


The chart above shows the weather for December 1918. It tells us that one hundred years ago today it was 'cloudy, overcast & dull, with rain.' and on Christmas day 1918 it was misty and cloudy with rain, but warm.

Click to enlarge.

It's a bit blowy the day.

Autumn has definitely arrived in Orkney today with wild winds and not quite horizontal rain. From now on our weather will become more and more unpredictable as winter approaches.

In this digital age, we can always check our smart phones for the next day's forecast. But if by some random chance your mobile has been snatched from your hands by a mini vortex and carried through the air to the nearest roof, here are a few old sayings collected by Ernest Marwick to keep you going:


"Clear Autumn, windy weather; warm autumn, long winter; wet autumn, cold and early winter."

"November 11th -
St Martin's Day, St Martin's Day
Gif ye be mild, for months 'twill stay
St Martin's Day, St Martin's Day
The cauld shall freeze us all ere Yule."


                                 "If sounds come clear across the plain
                                  You may be sure there cometh rain"


                                                                                 "Mackerel sky, mackerel sky
                                                                                   Not long wet, not long dry"


"If the stars start dancing, the winds come prancing"


                                           "When the swans go to the sea
                                             You can haul your boats to the lee;
                                             When the swans go to the hill,
                                             You can tak oot your ploos and till"


Archive reference: D31/7/2/6 - Orkney Weather Portents. Collected by Ernest Marwick

Aboot the shore hintin' flooers

 We have a new display up in the Foyer, Searchroom and the Orkney Room to coincide with the Orkney Nature Festival 11th-19th May 2013. http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/ORKNEYNATUREFESTIVAL/

FOYER

We love coincidences in the Orkney Archive and the first one today is a beauty. In our new display we have a few pages from Gunner Astles Diary (Archive Reference: D1/237) showing what the weather was like in May 1918. Gunner Astle, originally from Great Budworth, Northwich, was stationed at Hoxa Battery on South Ronaldsay from 1917-1918 and wrote more about the weather and wildlife of the island than the progress of the war. Here is the entry for Thursday 9th May 1918:

It seems that he had just recovered from the flu or something like it and had been confined to his hammock, so he was not delighted by everyone saying "Many Happy Returns", as he did not want to return to his hammock.

ARCHIVE SEARCHROOM

We are also delighted to be able to use a selection of photos from the newly acquired Gunnie Moberg Archive. Our second coincidence of the day, was that the only photos catalogued so far  - are nature ones!

 ORKNEY ROOM

In the Orkney Room we have a selection of books about Nature in Orkney written by Orcadians and visitors and travellers to Orkney, including A Countrywoman's Diary by Bessie Skea, Orkney Shore by Robert Rendall, The First Wash of Spring by George Mackay Brown and Orcadian Papers of the Orkney Natural History Society 1887-1904.

Oh, what a night

Things got a bit breezy on Thursday night, and not just for us in Orkney but, it seems, for most of the country. You'll be happy to know, reader, that your favourite archive has not suffered any damage and that our water sooking up pillows did not have to be deployed.

We're used to a bit of wind in Orkney (yes, I know there's a joke there but I'm going to ignore it on the grounds of good taste) but sometimes, even here, we're not quite prepared for its severity.

Here's a photograph of Whitehall village on the island of Stronsay during a combination of high tide and gales. I'm not sure about the date but it looks fairly recent.

The worst weather, or at least the weather with the worst consequences, was encountered in 1952 and 1953 and is still spoken about today, and made headlines around the world. On both occasions hurricane force winds battered the islands and caused untold damage. In the storm of 1952 over 1000 domestic and 2000 agricultural buildings were wrecked or severely damaged. And then almost exactly a year later it all happened again!

This photograph shows some of the damage caused to Shore Street in Kirkwall. Hundreds of metres of the road along the front were washed away by the force of the waves.

All we need is snow now and I can tell you all about the blizzards of 1955 when people in the West Mainland had to have supplies delivered by lifeboat!

Here comes the rain again

D51/3/7: Weather chart for October 1917

It's another day of cloud, rain and wind in Orkney today. So to cheer everyone up I thought I'd look back at the weather of the past when summers were long and skies were always blue. The chart above records the weather for October 1917 so that we can compare.

Systematic weather observations were begun in Orkney in 1827, by Rev Charles Clouston, minister in Sandwick. Although reputedly the second oldest complete set of weather records in Scotland, the records held by the Archives begin in 1890. The first recorder of these was Magnus Spence F.E.I.S. in Stenness who carried on until 1919.

So let's take a look...

This part of the chart gives a brief description of the weather on each day. Day 1 is overcast and foggy, day 2 is overcast and cloudy, day 3 is overcast and cloudy, day 4 is overcast and cloudy. I think we can detect a pattern here!

So there it is readers, the startling news that the weather was just as rubbish 94 years ago as it is today. Oh well, time to unpack the long johns.