SCOTTS IN SHETLAND
...... and the Watson connection
My father and his cousin Alan Watson (a surgeon from Leamington Spa) found references to family links in Shetland. One story was that of a laird of Foula, a small island to the west of the Shetland archipelago. Another is of Melby house at Sandness on the main island. Both of these are Scotts.
You can find more on the family aspect under SCOTT, ROBERT THOMAS CHARLES.
The Scotts of Melby
I have photographs of the house at Melby near Sandness on Shetland; both an exterior and an interior view. These were somehow sourced through Alan Watson. The house still stands.
The captions on these photos read Melby Shetland and Rooms - Melby House - Shetland. It is presumed that the two internal views are of the same room. I wonder who the portraits are of.
SCOTT OF MELBY in the Parishes of Walls and Sandness
The Red Book of Scotland has early records : http://redbookofscotland.co.uk/scott-of-melby-revised-descent
The following link is to a professional geneologist, Fiona Sinclair. http://fionamsinclair.co.uk/genealogy/Grantsfamilies/Melby.htm
It shows a rich tapestry of family linked to Melby, but goes much further than that.
SIR JOHN SCOTT of Scotstarvet, was one of the most eminent men of his time. He had a seat in the Privy Council in 1617, when he was knighted, was Director of Chancery, an Extraordinary Lord of Session 14th January 1629, and an Ordinary Lord 28th July 1632 to 1649. As an author he is well-known by his work “The Staggering State of Scots Statesman”
Melby is mentioned when "JOHN SCOTT of Melby, had a disposition as second lawful son of the deceased John Scott of Gibleston, procreat betweixt him and Grizel Mitchell, eldest lawful daughter of James Mitchell of Girlesta, from the said James Mitchell on 14th January 1736, of the Islands of Foula and Vaila, and the lands of Melby, Norbie, Footabrough, and others, extending to 465 merks in the parish of Walls and Sandness, and the 8 merks land of Garderhouse in Aithsting. "
As you read further you will note that "of Melby" is used as an epithet for those not necessarily living there, but who retain links to it.
Further on we find :
JOHN SCOTT, of Melby, born at London, 6th April 1804, died 29th December 1850, married (contract dated 19th May 1835), Elizabeth Jane, daughter of Lieut. Colonel William Walker, Royal Marines, but had no issue.
ROBERT THOMAS CHARLES SCOTT of Melby, born 1st January 1812, Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals and Fleets, Deputy Lieutenant of Orkney and Zetland, died 6th January 1875, having married 11th October 1839, Agnes Catherine, daughter of Alexander Scott Watson, C.E. and had issue:
- Robert Thomas Charles Scott
- Agnes Mary Catherine Scott, born 9th July 1860, married 6th June 1882, Rev. John Fowlie
- Florence Sobieski Stewart Scott, born 9th January and died 17th February 1862
Elizabeth, daughter of John Scott of Gibleston;18thC : "married Robert Ash, a skipper. By Francis Mitchell, son of Westshore, she had a natural son Francis. She was afterwards strangled as a witch in Norway". Did she divorce or estrange Robert Ash? Or was she simply a very bad girl. Did this raise suspicions of other kinds in this superstitious and conservatiive community? Why was she in Norway? Shetland has historically been closely associated with Norway.
I have the following picture as an etching in what appears to have been intended as a post card, but was more probably printed and sold as a sourvenir for use in a scrapbook (as was popular at the time). There seems to be a certain condescending interest in the common man. The picture is labelled : "INTERIOR OF A FOULA COTTAGE From the original Water Colour in the posession of R. T. C. Scott, Esq of Melby". Note the fire in the middle of the room, a chain and hook over the fire, the dog, the women spinning and preparing vegetables, the man smoking and awaiting his meal, fish drying from the ceiling. We can also see a single fisherman's boot, a wooden pail, a wardrobe with a metal cooking pot with legs hooked onto its handle, a bed perhaps built in, what appears to be wet clothes on pegs on the right side wall, a hat and a jug.
In an article in The Herald of 5th September 1998 we find this story drawn from Hamish Haswell-Smith's book, The Scottish Islands. Strange how our ancestors pop up. For a moment we are proud to find them as lairds – and then find this and become embarrassed.
Far out in the North Atlantic, almost as near to the Faroe Islands as to Cape Wrath, a small community thrives on the island of Foula - Scotland's most isolated inhabited outpost. Like Hirta in the St Kilda group, Foula has towering precipices, an inadequate harbour, its own breed of sheep, and thousands upon thousands of sea-birds - which is why the Norsemen named it the ''island of fowls''. Unlike Hirta, its islanders are still there, doggedly determined to overcome the difficulties of living in their wild and beautiful home.
When the last ''Queen of Foula'', Katherine Asmunder, died in the late seventeenth century, the islanders were still unaware of the introduction of Scots law to Shetland. It was about this time that a ship's surgeon named Scott is said to have visited Foula and persuaded the islanders to hand over their Norse title-deeds on the pretext that he would have them registered in Edinburgh. He had them registered - but in his name - and the Scotts of Melby thus became the legal owners of the island. Similar thefts of land by ''carpetbaggers'' from the south were widespread throughout the Northern Isles at that time. Under the Norse feudal system crofters were freemen land-owners, while under Scots feudal law they became tenants and virtual bondsmen subject to the whims of their landlords.
It was not until 1882 that they gained some protection under the Crofting Acts. The one saving grace in Foula's case was that as the islanders were excellent fishermen, and could pay a good rent, they were not ''cleared'' for sheep farming.
Foula's islanders - there are about 40 of them today, although a century ago the population numbered nearly 300 – are an independent lot, with their own distinctive traditions. For instance, they still use the Julian calendar which the rest of Britain discarded in 1753, and celebrate Christmas on the sixth and New Year on the thirteenth of January. Until 1800 they spoke Nom, a form of the Norse language, although it was no longer to be heard anywhere else in Britain and even in 1894 a Faroese linguist was surprised at the close similarity of the island's speech to Faroese.
Foula's ''hardback'' sheep, which were possibly introduced by the Vikings have, in common with all primitive sheep, exceptionally hairy fleeces. The island has another point of distinction, its own sub-species of field mouse, a charming little creature with big feet. The land rises from east to west, with a low, broken coastline in the east and precipitous sandstone cliffs rising to a height of 365 metres in the west. These cliffs are unequalled throughout the British Isles in their sheer dramatic
impact, even if they just fail (by two metres) to match the height of the awesome St Kildan cliffs: but with five distinct peaks, many rock stacks and vertiginous cliffs, Foula can provide a wealth of excitement for mountaineers.
At one time the menfolk of Foula were almost entirely engaged in fishing, but nowadays crofting has had to take precedence. All the crofts are on the east side which has some of the best arable land in Shetland. About half the population live at Ham near Ham Voe, ''harbour inlet'' in old Norse, where there is a post office, a school (rebuilt at considerable expense), a church and a ''smiddy'' selling local crafts.
In easterlies, great waves come crashing into Ham Voe so the fishing boats have to be beached high above sea-level at the head of the narrow little voe. A monthly mailboat service began in 1879 after the local minister had written to Queen Victoria and received a reply from Disraeli, but ''monthly'' was an optimistic term, as passengers and goods had to be landed on the rocks. It was not until 1914 that a tiny concrete pier was built which included a step for a wartime gun emplacement. Many years later a power-driven crane and winch were added to allow the mail boat to be lifted out instead of being manhandled onto the pier. The present service from Walls on mainland Shetland is still entirely dependent on the weather and there have been many problems in recent years because officials purchased a new ferry which was not designed to cope with the severe conditions. Even today there are occasions when bad weather can cut off island access for up to six weeks at a time.
While comparing details on MyHeritage I came across reference to "Agnesville". That, as well as The Crook and Blackhouse Knowe appear to be properties belonging to "Master Scott of Melby". You can find more about them on this ScotlandsPlaces website : https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/digital-volumes/ordnance-survey-name-books/shetland-os-name-books-1877-1878/shetland-volume-21/67 I presume that Agnesville was named after Agnes Scott.
OS Maps: 1:50000 Sheet 4 1:25000 Sheet 18. Admiralty Charts: 1:75000 No. 3283 1:75000 No. 3281 NE part only.
l Hamish Haswell-Smith's book, The Scottish Islands (ISBN 0 86241 579 9), is published by Canongate at #25.
2017821 foula (From HeraldScotland) http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12340604.foula/ 2/4
This interesting article by a Paul Sibbald on PressReader raises some interest possibilities
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/who-do-you-think-you-are-magazine/20150512/283296046602561 and this is available here too as an audio recording.
The article includes this photograph of the Scotts in 1910.
