Mariners-L Archives

Archiver > Mariners > 2003-06 > 1054500092


From: Paul Benyon <>
Subject: Re: [Mar] Scottish sailors in Bristol
Date: Sun, 01 Jun 2003 21:45:41 +0100
References: <000001c32868$936622c0$3ec65651@main> <011101c32873$be7e3c80$02000003@irismarie>
In-Reply-To: <011101c32873$be7e3c80$02000003@irismarie>


Hi Iris

I know this is John's area of expertise, but ....... Following on from
1745 and all that, the English were determined to amalgamate Scotland
into England during the later part of the 18th and much of the 19th
century ie even the Navy List for 1890, refers to Scotland as North
Britain - the economy of Scotland, apart perhaps from the Lowland towns
was therefore in severe decline, with a view to populating the Highland
areas with sheep, deer and grouse rather than people. As a result there
was a major exodus from these areas for a century and a half, not only
by emigration abroad, but also south of the Border.

I should perhaps add that as Scotland probably had, and John would argue
still has, one of the best education systems in the world, we South of
the Border were more than fortunate to be able to take advantage of
these skills. And it is no accident that Scottie in Star Trek was from
Scotland - for many years I would guess that as a percentage of
population there were more Scottish engineers serving in the fleets of
the world than any other nation ?

It has also struck me when browsing early 19th century Navy Lists that a
large proportion of Masters in the RN came from Scotland, if only from
the names ie men who although perhaps not high up on the social scale,
most certainly had as good an education as was available to the upper
classes south of the border, which would have been very necessary for
this post - navigation being what it was in those days, and more often
than not the point on which most RN Midshipmen and Mates failed when
taking their exams for Lieutenant.

Regards

Paul

On Sun, 1 Jun 2003 21:26:00 +0200, "Iris Green" <>
wrote:

>I have just come across the THIRD - unconnected - sailor to have married
>into my Bristol family/ In fact these are the ONLY marriages I have found
>around 1900 so it seems quite odd. Obviously Bristol is a port so sailors
>would be around but was there any particular reason why Scottish sailors
>should be in abundance, please?
>Iris

50.33.50N 02.26.70W
http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Naval.html

This thread: