the gunn herald - Clan Gunn Society

THE GUNN HERALD
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CLAN GUNN SOCIETY
Published tri-annually in February, June and October
Volume 2, No.90: June 2013
ISSN 0953-7561
CONTENTS
Inside front cover
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 4
Page 5
Page 7
Page 8
Page 14
Page 17
Page 19
Page 20
Page 20
Inside back cover
Office Bearers
Contents
Editorial
President’s Message
Scots Heritage magazine
Ashbourne Reminder
St. Donan’s Day, 2013
Notes from the North
Ronald Campbell Gunn
Riots in Strath Kildonan
The Battles of Quebec
Golden Gunns
Membership Report
…and Finally (finally)
Council Officers
The Editor is pleased to receive articles, letters, pictures and other items for inclusion in the
Herald. The copy deadlines for the February, June and October issues are, respectively:
31 December, 30 April and 31 August.
If possible, please send items by e-mail to [email protected] With few exceptions,
text may be submitted in any common format; pictures should be in jpg format.
—1—
EDITORIAL
My annual visit to Edinburgh this year was
a bit longer than usual, so as to finish on the
high-note of the St Donan’s Day weekend. It’s
sad that the promised photies of, and newbie
reactions to that weekend didn’t materialise;
so readers will have to put up with another of
my efforts – with thanks to Dairmid for his
help in reconstructing the amusing and
informative preamble to his toast, to the Clan
Gunn and the Clan Gunn Society, at the
Edinburgh Castle dinner.
During my stay, I made a first visit to
Dalkeith Country Park, where I amazed the
gate staff by re-emerging five hours after
arrival: they couldn’t believe that there was so
much to enjoy! The Park is mostly wooded,
with a lot of easy tracks, and with the River
Esk being an attractive central feature, as it
rolls on its way down to Musselburgh. In
secluded spots, off the tracks, I found delights
such as a set of seven beehives (one of the little
fellows came and sunbathed on my camera
hand!); the occasional disappearing deer; and
pleasant, quiet solitude, despite the nearness
of civilisation, just over the wall.
My usual quiet stroll along the beach at
Seton Sands was a bit different this year.
There was a ferocious south-westerly blowing,
and the sand from the dunes was being driven
like snow. Such sandy conditions are not
recommended for kilt-wearers, as the crooks
of one’s knees get a good blasting; fine for
paint stripping, however. Sensibly, my way
back was along the shore road; but now into
the wind. It reminded me of that rugby
training exercise, where the victim has a rope
round his waist, with which to drag a tractor
tyre along the ground.
At the Portrait Gallery, there was a small
exhibition devoted to Scottish entertainers,
which included photos, paintings and videos.
Much attention was paid to a formal portrait,
in oils, of Rikki Fulton (of Scotch & Wry, and
the duo Francie & Josie). It has a black background. Rikki, in later life, is seated on the left
side of the painting; he’s wearing a suit; the
right-hand side of the painting is empty, save
for the black – very mysterious. I watched
people looking at it. Always, when they read
the lengthy description alongside, there were
smiles of recall, and even some quiet laughter.
I spent much time working at the National
Library. For some years, on and off, I’ve been
trying to track down documents (lists),
mentioned (according to his son-in-law and
biographer Lockhart), in a letter, written by
Walter Scott, and which he says he has “somewhere”. Despite the help of the resourceful
library staff, I have, so far, drawn a blank. This
year I was privileged to have delivered to the
library, several items from the Advocates’
Library, that its staff thought might help; but
sadly, to no avail.
So I then decided to see what the National
Library had, covering a new interest of mine
(see page 20). There was a lot; and some of the
books were so useful that I wanted them!
Unfortunately, I was immediately able to use
the library’s broadband system to order copies
from amazon or abebooks. Soon, thanks to an
unusually efficient period of postal activity,
the bedside tables in my hotel room became
laden with books; while, at home, my flatwatching neighbour was suffering a tsunami
of cardboard packages!
This will be my last Editorial. Although I
could have stayed on for another year, I found
that five years was about par for the course;
and stepping down will allow more time for
pursuing the abovementioned new interest.
My successor will be John Gunn’s daughter
Charlotte, who has just graduated in English,
at Exeter University. Very convenient, since on
one of my visits to Exeter (to see my dear old
Mum), Charlotte and I were able to meet, just
a day or so before she left for Edinburgh, to
discuss editing, writing, and the other (more
tiresome!) duties involved with the job. In a
way, Charlotte is following in the footsteps of
J K Rowling, who graduated in French at
Exeter Uni, and then went on to Edinburgh to
write! I wish her well; and, for a while, will do
what I can to help her get comfy in the Editor’s
chair. I hope that our readers will help
Charlotte too; and I thank those who have
been so kind and helpful to me.
dt
—2—
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
The start of the year here in Edinburgh,
much like the rest of the country, has been
unseasonably cold, and the daffodils have only
recently started to flower. However, this did
not deter a hearty group of clan members from
making the trek (mostly) north for the St
Donan’s Day dinner, which this year, was held
at the Castle Club in Edinburgh Castle. I was
delighted that so many members could make
it; and the dinner was a sell out.
Preparations are now in full swing for the
mini-gathering, which will be held from
19 – 21 July, based around the Ashbourne
Gathering in Derbyshire – details at pages 4-5
in this edition of the Herald, and at
www.clangunnsociety.org /events.html
following the links for “More Info” and “2013”.
I would also like to remind members that,
as part of the Kildonan Clearances bicentenary
celebrations, the clan will have a tent at the
Helmsdale Games on 17 August, and any
members visiting Caithness at that time would
be very welcome.
There are a few changes to the clan society
office bearers to report, as both Dave Taylor
(Editor of the Herald) and Fiona Gunn
(Membership Secretary) are stepping down
after long periods of service. Dave has been
Editor of the Herald for five years, and I would
like to thank him for the professionalism and
discipline he has brought to producing such a
high quality magazine, which I know is the
envy of many clans. I would also like to thank
Fiona for her service as membership secretary
and in particular, for her help in “cleaning up”
the membership database which is now in very
good order.
While we will be sorry to lose the services of
both Dave and Fiona, I am pleased to
announce that Charlotte Gunn (or Charli as
she prefers to be called), my eldest daughter,
has agreed to take over as Editor of the
Herald; and Helen Hill has agreed to become
membership secretary. Charli is due to
graduate from Exeter University this summer
with a BA in English so will be putting her
degree to use – probably a lot quicker than she
might have imagined.
Helen has been
membership secretary before, prior to her role
as the society’s last president, so the membership rôle will be in very capable hands.
Following the “cleaning up” exercise on our
membership database, I am pleased to report
that the clan society membership appears to
be in reasonably good health; but we are
always grateful for new additions, as our
members are literally the “life blood” of the
clan. In this respect, the website and Paypal
have been a revelation, both for attracting new
members and facilitating an easy way of
paying membership dues. However, the age
profile of our membership would certainly not
be described as youthful, and we are keen to
encourage as many new members as possible
(both older and younger) to join the society.
Therefore, if you know of anyone that might be
interested in joining the society – perhaps a
family member or someone that has attended
one of our events but has not yet taken the
plunge of joining the society – I should be
grateful if you would direct them towards the
membership page of the Clan Gunn Society
website:
www.clangunnsociety.org /membership.
html
Finally, let us hope that Mother Nature is a
little kinder than she was last year, and that we
do actually get a summer in 2013.
John Gunn
This year, the Ashbourne Highland
Gathering will include the Blackrock
racing llamas (left), and a brand new
piping contest – the McCallum Bagpipes All England Amateur Solo Piping
Championship.
—3—
SCOTS Heritage magazine
At the meeting of our Council in Edinburgh, the President announced that the
Clan has taken up an invitation, from SCOTS Heritage magazine, (“the
Journal of the Scots Heritage Society”), to be listed on their Clans and
Societies pages for a year. At scotsheritagemagazine.com/digital (no
“www”!), you will find a link to a sample of the magazine, from which you will
see that it is full of interesting, beautifully illustrated articles covering a wide
range of heritage subjects, and providing useful information on all things
Scottish. If you wish to take out a subscription, then please enter the promotional code shmsummer in the appropriate box, with your details, and obtain
a 50% discount on the normal price.
dt
FINAL REMINDER
Clan Gunn Society Mini-Gathering
Ashbourne Highland Gathering, July 19– 21, 2013
At this late stage, it might be difficult to find accommodation in Ashbourne itself, so be prepared
to look wider – perhaps even as far afield as Derby. Note that the dead-line for our block bookings
at the Hotel Miraj and Oldfield House was 30 April,; but it might be worth contacting those
hotels in case they have vacancies. If you will be attending, then please advise Gordon Nelson
urgently, by sending the details on the form at the foot of the website notice, or (probably better),
by telephone (07860 108248), or e-mail ([email protected]) ; but please do it
urgently. Thanks for your co-operation.
What follows below is as per the notice on the Clan Gunn website at:
http://www.clangunnsociety.org/pdfs/2013_mini_gathering.pdf
It was decided by the council that in an
attempt to make the Mini Gathering more
accessible to Clan members, it should be held
more centrally and as our Vice President,
Gordon Nelson has been involved with the
Ashbourne Gathering in Derbyshire for a
number of years, it seemed like the ideal
location.
Whilst based in the heart of England, don’t
be fooled: this is a full blown Scottish Gathering with pipe band competitions, heavyweight
competitions and plenty of tartan. A number
of Clan members have attended this event in
the past and have spoken very highly of it. The
weekend will begin with an informal dinner
on the Friday night at the Hotel Miraj.
The Council meeting and AGM will be held
on the Saturday morning at the hotel and
there will be a formal dinner on the Saturday
night again at the Hotel Miraj.
The cost of the formal dinner which will
include a champagne reception, wine with the
meal and a dram will be an additional £20 for
clan members staying at the hotel (and will be
added to their bills) and £40 for those mem-
bers staying elsewhere, which they will be
asked to settle with the hotel directly on the
night.
The Gathering is on the Sunday and we will
be sharing a tent with Clan McNaughton.
Admission to the Gathering is £8.50 for
Adults, £7.50 for Senior Citizens and is free
for children under 14. We have reserved some
rooms in the Hotel Miraj at a rate of
£80/person/night sharing a double room but
including dinner, bed and breakfast and a
couple of rooms at Oldfield House, a very
beautiful B&B (Wolsely Lodge). However, the
Ashbourne Games is a very popular event and
we have only been able to get the Hotel/B&B
to hold rooms until 30th April so clan
members need to book quickly to be sure of
securing a room. The contact details for both
establishments are as follows, and clan
members should book directly making sure to
mention Clan Gunn when booking:
· Hotel Miraj, Derby Road, Ashbourne,
Derbyshire, DE6 1XH
www.mirajhotelashbourne.co.uk
Tel: 01335 346666
>>
—4—
· Oldfield House, Snelston, Ashbourne,
Derbyshire DE6 2EP
www.oldfieldhouse.uk.com
Tel: 01335 324510
Please can you complete the form [on the
Clan Gunn website], tear off and return
directly to Gordon Nelson at: Blake House
Farm, Ashbourne, Derbyshire, DE6 1NA
St Donan’s Day
Edinburgh, 2013
The St Donan’s day weekend was the culmination of my annual trip to Edinburgh, after
two weeks which included a lot of research at
the National Library, some pleasant walks,
and the usual touristy things. The weather was
characterised by a fierce southwesterly wind,
which, at Seton Sands, picked up the dunes
and sand-blasted the crooks of my knees! Our
weekend began, in calmer climes, on Friday
evening when members met at the Edinburgh
Larder Bistro, on the corner of Alva Street and
Queensferry Street in Edinburgh’s West End.
Descending the steps to the basement level did
not seem very promising; but the restaurant
turned out to be one of those Tardis places
that are bigger inside than they look outside.
There was a series of walk-through rooms,
plus a small courtyard, and a very pleasant
atmosphere. We had two long tables in one of
those rooms.
The food and service were very good, and
we must have been having a good time at the
blether, because we were very noisy – the hallmark of a good Gunn get-together. Then we
dispersed in a string of taxis and by other
means: I had an easy walk up the Lothian
Road to my hotel at the Links – ten or fifteen
minutes at the most, and, while cool, it was a
pleasant night for the walk.
Saturday morning saw the Trustees and the
Council at their respective meetings, in the
splendid surroundings of Rathbones in St
Andrew Square, passing from the marble
magnificence of the entrance hall, up to the
high-tech offices. No doubt other members
had no problem finding interesting things to
do at that time – anyone who can’t easily find
such things in Edinburgh just isn’t trying!
When the taxi arrived at my hotel, and I
asked the driver to take me to the dinner at the
Castle, I said I wouldn’t mind if he could just
The New Barracks at Edinburgh Castle, where we
had our St. Donan’s dinner. Photo by Kim Traynor,
via Wikimedia Commons
drop me off as close as possible – because
Castle Hill was being re-cobbled, and was
closed to traffic. However, he (of course) knew
how to get around the problem, and we drove
straight across the Castle Esplanade (where
the annual Tattoo takes place) to the main
entrance. It was quite an experience, having
those huge wooden doors opened specially for
me – and others, who had already arrived, also
said they were thrilled by the experience.
Once all assembled at the Gate House, we
went up through the Lower Ward and the
Portcullis Gate, past the bottom of the Lang
Stairs (70 steps, at last count, I think), and
into the Middle Ward, with St Margaret’s
chapel and the mighty Mons Meg cannon
above us. Then at last, ahead of us, and behind
the Governor’s House, we had our first sight of
the New Barracks.
The barracks were built in1796-99, at the
time of the Napoleonic Wars, and could comfortably house the 600 men and officers of a
complete infantry battalion. Sir Walter Scott
was unimpressed, likening it to “a vulgar
cotton mill”! The building is of seven stories,
but only the top four are visible from the
Middle Ward. At the entrance, a wooden
Highlander stands by the door to welcome
visitors; but we were lucky enough to have a
more lively welcome, being “piped in” by a
lone piper.
From the entrance, visitors to the Castle
usually go upstairs to the museum of the Royal
Scots Dragoon Guards: our venue was the
Castle Club dining room, down in the basement. This part of the Castle is Army territory,
and the Castle Club is rarely available for
—5—
Being kept in the dark at Mary King’s Close.
Photo: Tim Fitzpatrick
non-military dining. However, Clan Gunn is
renowned for its networking… In the bar, we
sipped champagne, as we looked out at dusk
over the southwest corner of Edinburgh and
beyond.
The dinner was enjoyable. Although I
didn’t get my first choices for the alternative
first, main or dessert courses, those available
were all good, and the all-important dram (as
opposed to port) was forthcoming! The conversation was lively; and if anything, we were
even noisier than at the Larder Bistro – which
is good. Our guest speaker was Lt Cdr
Dairmid Gunn OBE. Dairmid’s connection
with the Castle goes back to the time of the
Cold War, when he volunteered to act there as
Naval Liaison Officer for Home Defence for
the Army.
Before proposing the toast to the Clan
Gunn and the Clan Gunn Society, Dairmid
gave a short talk on Edinburgh Castle in terms
of its dramatic location, turbulent history and
symbolic significance for Scotland. From the
Cromwellian period onwards the links between the Castle and the British Army (particularly the Scottish regiments) had been
strong, and the continuous presence of the Army at the Castle
had enlivened and enriched the
atmosphere within the walls.
The human element in the
Castle’s history had been
particularly enhanced by the
tastefully constructed Scottish
National War Memorial in honour of all the Scots who had
fallen in the two world wars and
subsequent conflicts.
Dairmid saw a parallel
between the Castle and the
Gunns’ northern homeland. As a
striking geographical feature,
the Northlands could compare
favourably with the Castle. In
addition, the Gunns were blessed by the location, in Caithness
and Sutherland, of the Clan Museum and Kildonan Church, and
by the presence of the Commander and his charming lady
at Swiney House. These venues enabled
Gunns from all over the world to meet and
make or renew friendships and experience a
sense of community that was in keeping with
the aims of the Clan Gunn Society. During
these gatherings the Gunns became the lifeblood of Caithness and became as important
to the county as the Army was to the Castle.
After the dinner, we toiled back up the
stairs from the Castle Club to the Middle
Ward, but had an easy descent to the Gatehouse and across the Esplanade. I then used
my usual escape route: down the North Castle
Wynd, along Johnston Terrace, and down
Grannies Green Steps to Grassmarket (thus
avoiding most of the pubs), thence to Toll
Cross and up to the Links.
On Sunday morning, we assembled for a
tour of Mary King’s Close, just off High Street
in the Royal Mile. On the site are a set of
well-preserved buildings dating from the 17th
century. Some of the rooms have been set in
the styles appropriate to the 17th and 18th
centuries; others are spookily empty. One
room is full of dolls, left to placate a ghostly
child whose mother had died of the plague –
where Princes Street Gardens and Waverley
Station now stand, there was once the
—6—
stinking North Loch, which even the rats
avoided!
Our guide, dressed for the 17th century, and
armed with a powerful pinpoint LED torch,
was a good story teller – although some of the
stories were not of good times. The route followed by the tour went up and down stairs,
through rooms, along short streets, and we
became so disorientated that we were surprised when we found ourselves back in the
reception area. There, awaiting our
return
were photos of the group in a street, in almost
complete darkness. No unexpected guests
have appeared on my print, thank goodness.
There was a short break to have a look
around the nearby shops, until we got together
again for a good lunch at the “deli restaurant”
Porto & Fi on The Mound, conveniently
located next to a specialist whisky shop and
just down from Coda’s “Music on the Mound”
– my favourite Edinburgh CD shop, which
specialises in folky and crossover stuff (Capercaillie, Runrig, Shooglenifty, Peat Bog Faeries,
The Unusual Suspects…)
And so we dispersed, until we regroup at
the Mini-Gathering, centred on the
Ashbourne Highland Games in Derbyshire, in
July. Then we can carry on with the noisy
blether where we left off – the competing
international pipe bands will have no chance
against us!
dt
NOTES FROM THE NORTH
Bunty Gunn
I was just about to say that, on the
29th April, it is faintly possible that Spring
may be here, when a hail storm rattled the
windows, covering the ground with white
ice on a wind that has come directly from
Siberia. Or that’s what it feels like. I don’t
think anyone locally, among the older folk,
has experienced a winter like it. Hardly
any snow, but terrific storms Boats in the
harbour were flung onto the quay or lost in
the water in driving, bitter winds – the
kind that, if you open the car door carelessly, can fling it back at you and break
your leg. Up here in Caithness we lamb late
– in April – and the poor, shivering little
creatures can’t know what’s hit them. At
least we haven’t lost them in the drifts that
plagued the North of England and the
south coast. There’s no sign of grass growing , so the cattle are still inside being
expensively fed. Only the horses seem to
shrug off anything nature throws at them
in the way of weather. But most of them
are still wearing the New Zealand rugs
they are supplied with in deepest winter.
However, the snowdrops came and
went, cheering us up amongst all the grey
and white, and the daffodils are coming
out bravely. A couple of years ago I picked
a narcissus on our wedding anniversary in
June – and I think I’m going to be able to
do so again this year, so late are they in
blooming [“Golden daffodils” would be
more appropriate on this occasion. Ed. ]
People are still ski-ing in the Cairngorms
and birds are breaking the ice in the farther-flung lochans. And the fashion pages
of the papers are urging us to slip into
delicate little frocks and abandon our
woolly tights and leggings. Maybe we’ll
contemplate that in August. I have a friend
who claims that she has no summer
clothes, just layers that become slightly
fewer.
The never-ending source of heat from
the gas flare at the end of the garden continues, despite protests that it is (a.) dangerous and (b.) wasteful. No-one seems to
be in the least concerned that, in these
winds, the flame fragments dart about all
over the place. It only needs to hit a hay
bale once, and we’d have a blazing inferno
on our hands. We are told that Health and
Safety are now involved. It seems to me
that for their health and safety they are
staying well away, since nothing has altered.
Good fellowship and good friends keep
us all going while we wait for Summer. The
sun, when it shines, is hot and wonderful,
but shows up every blemish in the house
and really forces one to do a bit of Spring
cleaning. It shocks me to find how much
rubbish we have accumulated over the
years as I turn out cupboards and re-define
the bookcases. Several visits to the Munic-
—7—
ipal dump are in view. This is an extremely
well organised place with containers for
everything you could imagine – even rubble from buildings. Kind men in fierce
outerwear and heavy gloves help to distribute the offerings we bring. All of human
life is there, I tell you.
Meanwhile birthdays come and go and I
would like to tell you about a recent one in
the village. A well-known and well-loved
lady reached her sixtieth year, and a surprise party was planned for her. She was
taken out to dinner at a local restaurant,
and instead of the two people she expected,
there were about twenty. The party ended
in one of the hotels – a rather rough-and-
ready place – into which numbers of the
party had never been. There was a cheerful
atmosphere and libations liberally poured
when, to add to the jollity, the stripper
arrived, in the form of a policeman. Nobody seemed to know about this addition
to the fun, but one of the party went up to
him and took hold of his lapel, opened his
jacket and invited him to get started. There
was a slightly prolonged pause, and the
policeman revealed that he was not a
stripper but a real policeman, who had
come to check the pub’s licence. Much
amusement ensued, not all of it shared by
the policeman. But that’s Caithness for you.
The Contribution of Ronald Campbell Gunn
to our Knowledge of the Flora and Fauna of Tasmania
Lynn Blackwood
Lynn Douglas Blackwood (1933–2012) was born at Wynyard, Northwest Tasmania. After
attending an eight pupil country primary school she completed her education at Collegiate
School in Hobart. Interested in the diversity of plants, she developed a ¾ acre garden after her
marriage to David Blackwood. While studying for a Certificate of Horticulture she discovered
that the legendary but almost forgotten Tasmanian plant hunter Ronald Campbell Gunn was
her great-great grandfather. She then spent the next 25 years collecting information on him
from institutions in Australia and Europe, as well as from private and family sources and
hoped to write a book on him. In 2008, she was the convener and driving force of the committee
which raised over $70,000 to erect a statue of Gunn in City Park Launceston. She died in
February 2012 after a long period suffering from motor neuron disease. This paper has been
produced with the kind assistance of David Blackwood who also contributed some notes specific
to La Trobe and the Port Phillip District/Victoria. [Those notes will be replaced, in a future
issue of the Herald, by some details, by David Blackwood, on the family history]
before coming to Van Diemen’s Land in 1830
“Ronald Campbell Gunn (1808-1881) was
at the age of 21 years.
an important naturalist in Tasmania He is
Initially, he held positions associated with
generally known as a botanist but he accomthe supervision of convicts in Hobart and
plished a lot in various other fields of Natural
Launceston and was Police Magistrate there
History, as well as in exploration For some
before being transferred to Circular Head in
twenty five years 1 have been collecting mate1835 in that position. The death of his first
rial relevant to my great-great-grandfather.
wife left him with a young family and he later
Perhaps before writing of what became his
remarried. I have been asked so many times
life's passion I will give a brief outline of his
if we are related to the Gunns of timber mill
private and family life.
fame. The answer is ‘No!’. From each of his
Ronald Campbell Gunn was born at Cape
families (six in each) only one daughter proTown in 1808 while his father was with a
duced offspring and so there are none who
Highland regiment stationed there. The famhave his surname. Several rural families in
ily came from the northern part of Scotland,
southern Tasmania are descended, howevbut his childhood years were largely spent on
er, from his brother William.
Reunion Island, as well as the West Indies at
What made Gunn become such an ardent
Antigua and Barbados. He was educated and
naturalist? Certainly he was active at a time
worked for a while in Edinburgh. He married
in Barbados and returned to Scotland briefly
when many discoveries were occurring
—8—
worldwide, but I think it is of interest that
he arrived here as a young man aged 21
years, having; spent all but the first year of
his life on various islands, and was to spend
the rest of his life as a resident of this island,
and when he travelled it was to Flinders
Island, to the Port Phillip settlement and to
New Zealand.
The relevance of all these travels and
experiences is that he would have been influenced by the many geographical and climatic differences he observed, particularly
those affecting the flora and fauna of these
far-flung land masses. These observations,
together with his enquiring mind, must
have led him along the paths of discovery
which he then travelled. Ill the 1830s he had
noted the differences in several plant species present in both Port Phillip and Van
Diemen's Land. During the next 30 years or
more Gunn went on to collect thousands of
specimens of our native plants, which hie
described, prepared and dispatched to Sir
William Hooker and later Joseph Hooker,
successive directors of Kew Gardens London. These specimens are still available for
study today.
In 1840, Joseph Hooker was in Hobart
for several months during the visits of the
ships Erebus and Terror on the Antarctic
voyage of Captains Crozier and Ross and he
botanised with Gunn. Hooker used Gunn’s
work in the preparation of his book Flora
Tasmaniae, the first major publication solely devoted to the flora of this island, and in
the introduction he wrote most warmly of
Gunn:
There are few Tasmanian plants that Mr.
Gunn has not seen alive, noted their habits
in a living state, and collected large suites of
specimens with singular tact and judgement. These have all been transmitted to
England in perfect preservation, and are
accompanied with notes that display remarkable powers of observation, and a facility for seizing important characters in the
physiognomy of plants, such as few botanists possess.
It is noted that Charles Darwin used the
Flora Tasmaniae in his subsequent work on
the Origin of Species, which deals with the
differences of evolution on various islands.
Therefore, we can believe that Gunn had a
significant place in scientific circles in the
mid-1800s and, indeed, still has today. In
fact, it has been stated that he was Tasmania’s first resident scientist. Others, such as
those on French and British expeditions,
had only briefly touched on Tasmania’s
shorelines. As well as plants Gunn collected
specimens of birds (which were his second
main interest), animals, shells, seaweeds,
mosses and fungi. What is left? Yes, geological specimens were collected also, as were
fish. I will mention some of these later.
But what started Gunn on this journey of
discovery? As stated earlier, he had a most
enquiring mind (and deeply observant
eyes). Perhaps, this was the reason that as a
lad back in northern Scotland his brothers
insisted he was the one to climb down a cliff
to collect a bird’s nest. Gunn’s education
included several years spent in Scotland and
his letters tell us that at Barbados he spent
his spare time reading to improve his education.
Later in the colony lie was to amass a
huge library reputed to be the finest in the
land. After his death this library vas offered
to the Launceston City Council by his trustees for £300 but they declined to purchase
it. It included one and possibly two copies of
Gould’s Birds. Today, his King James Bible
is in the State Library of Victoria. His books
were disbursed [sic – dispersed?] between
1907 and 1924.
Ronald Gunn, however, was not trained
in the sciences which became his life interest. Whilst in Scotland, as a young man, he
spent some time assisting his brother who
edited a newspaper and he also had a position cataloguing the library of a large Scottish estate.
These experiences must have given rise
to his later concise and accurate writing
and descriptions of places, plants, animals
and birds, and also to his habit of recording lists of books he had acquired.
The first report we have of Gunn collecting, although it appeared years later,
seems to be accurate as to time and place.
This occurred before 1832 when from Capt.
Moriarty’s property Dunorlan (behind Deloraine) he made a 10-day trip to the Western Tiers, accompanied by a gardener from
the property. Accompanying him was Hen-
—9—
ry Douglas (who was also to become my
great, great grandfather—his son Henry
Douglas junior married Ronald’s daughter
Jane Franklin Gunn). On their return they
looked so disreputable that they were taken for bushrangers! Among his collected
plants, Gunn was proudly carrying a flower
of Teleopea truncata (waratah) and stated
he wished to assemble a Herbarium containing all Tasmanian plants. When he
then set off from Dunorlan to walk alone
across country back to Launceston, the
comment was reputed to have been made:
‘not to worry as Mr Gunn was already a
first class bushman’. He had been in the
colony less than two years!
The pattern of Gunn’s lifetime interest
had been set. He would walk or ride long
distances in his search for specimens. Once
he reportedly walked 28 miles in one day
collecting as he went. He was a tall man at
6 foot 3 inches (192 cm approx.) and obviously very fit. 1 think that his ‘walks’ could
often be classed as ‘bush bashing’ through
untracked country.
Of course, he had official positions for
many years, firstly for a few months as the
Superintendent of a convict barracks in
Hobart, then as Assistant Superintendent
of Convicts in Launceston, before being
appointed Superintendent of Convicts for
the Northern Division of Van Diemen’s
Land. In 1833, three years after his arrival,
he was also appointed Police Magistrate
and so at the age of 24 years was in charge
of all convicts in the north and in this
capacity he heard about 40 to 60 cases
weekly (mostly of a minor nature).
It was at this time that Gunn made the
acquaintance of Robert Lawrence of
Cressy, a young man with botanical interests who introduced Gunn by letter to Sir
William Hooker at Kew where Lawrence
was already sending specimens. Gunn and
Lawrence started botanising together but,
unfortunately, Lawrence’s untimely death
two years later brought an end to the
friendship, but it had given Gunn an added
impetus to continue his botanising interests. Gunn went on to make many forays in
the northern region covering the mountains surrounding Launceston, the northern Midlands and parts of the North East
and coastal area around George Town.
Many new types of specimens of plants
were collected, as well as an abundance of
others, including mosses and lichens.
A transfer to Circular Head where his
workload was less arduous gave Gunn far
more time for study of the natural sciences, as well as botanical collecting from
Woolnorth to the Emu and Leven Rivers.
He investigated the Middlesex plains towards Cradle Mountain. This was the
country held by the Van Diemen’s Land
Company.
Gunn became interested in studying
birds and at one stage requested that he
might have as assigned servant the next
‘bird stuffer‘ to arrive. Thus, James Lee
filled this position for some years. Lee was
able to prepare many of the bird specimens
sent to such places as the British Museum
of Natural History. Gunn sent 138 bird
specimens there in 1838 alone. These were
still recorded in 1906 although by then in
poor condition due to unsuitable display
techniques of the time. In 2007, when I
visited the Liverpool Museum in England, I
was thrilled to find many bird specimens
still in excellent condition.
He studied the Tasmania Emu and reported years later that he had seen a hen
with 11 chicks at Circular Head. In later life
at his home Newstead House he kept two
emus, but from mainland stock. He was
able to compare these and wrote of the differences with the Tasmanian sub-species,
now extinct.
At Circular Head, seaweeds were also
collected with the help of Charlotte Smith
the storekeeper’s wife who dried and arranged the specimens. Gunn began his own
publication The Circular Head Scientific
Journal. This was handwritten and continued for about two years. Most of the content
concerns meticulous descriptions of birds of
the area and this work is regarded as the
first attempt to classify Tasmanian birds.
Ted Davis an ornithologist from Boston
USA has transcribed these papers, identified and updated the information and published them in a 263 page book in 2009 and
titled: Early Tasmanian Ornithology the
correspondence of Ronald Campbell Gunn
and James Grant 1836-38.
—10—
Hooker senior became quite a
mentor – he was responsible for
sending parcels of the books necessary to Gunn in identifying
plants and to establish plant families in his attempts to classify his
discoveries.
William Hooker was also frequently asked to send paper (blotting paper) for pressing the plants
as this was not readily available in
the colony. He managed to carry
paper to arrange his finds (later he
had one of the ‘new’ American
plant presses). He was often out in
the bush for days and up to three
weeks at a time.
Initially over fifty plants carried
the species name gunnii (these
usually given by Hooker or other
European botanists). Today, the
number is forty two, due to changes in modern nomenclature. Genus names are fewer and there are
just two, these include the tiny
groundcover Gunnera cordifolia,
not to be confused with the giant
gunnera sometimes cultivated in
gardens.
Following his stint on the
North West coast, Gunn returned
The statue of Ronald Campbell Gunn was unveiled at City Park in briefly to Launceston and here in
Launceston, Tasmania, in 2008. The children are Ross and Isobel 1838 was responsible together
Blackwood, the grand-children of David and Lynn.
with William Henty in forming the
Lynn organised the funding for the statue.
Launceston Horticultural Society
with the aim of improving cultivated plantings generally but with the emIn 1836, Gunn made his first trip to Port
phasis on food production. He was
Phillip and travelled as far as Port Fairy. He
President and Henty was Secretary. The
considered taking up land and becoming a
Society is proud of its long unbroken history
squatter. On this as well as on all trips he
since that time.
made written comments on the type of
Soon after the arrival of Sir John and
country and suitability for agriculture. I am
Lady Franklin in January 1837, Gunn was in
sure his decision to remain in Van Diemen’s
Hobart and became Sir John’s private secreLand has left our state a great deal richer.
tary for two years. The Franklins were alSeveral later trips were made to Melbourne
ready aware of Gunn’s botanical work from
and environs and he had some correspontheir acquaintance with William Hooker.
dence with Ferdinand Mueller the Victorian
Ronald Gunn became their friend and freState Botanist. Charles La Trobe told him
quent guest. He accompanied them on sevabout Mueller on his arrival.
eral journeys including to Flinders Island in
Gunn was a prolific letter writer. The
January 1838 and to the Huon River but
main surviving letters number in the hunwas unable to travel with them to Macquardreds at Kew Botanic Gardens, both to Sir
ie Harbour in 1842 owing to a broken leg.
William Hooker and to Joseph his son.
—11—
He was to retrace most of their route later
and collected alpine species at Mt. Olympus
and Lake St. Clair on his way to the Franklin
River. Sir John and Lady Franklin are well
known for being the first people in authority
with an interest in the Arts and Sciences and in
education generally, and so Gunn at last felt he
had patrons and allies for his many activities.
In December 1838, Gunn was with Lady
Franklin. John Gould (of bird fame) and others
on a trip destined for Port Davey; however, they
were caught by bad weather and did not proceed beyond Recherche Bay. Undaunted, Lady
Franklin made trips ashore and Gunn and
Gould both collected avidly. They sought to locate the site of' the ‘French Garden’ planted 45
years earlier. Despite having maps and details
of the locality no trace of the garden was found,
although two metal plaques still attached to
fallen trees were sighted. I am somewhat sceptical of recent reports of findings when no trace
was found 160 years ago.
During the Franklins’ time the Tasmanian
Society was formed to promote scientific enquiry and Gunn became Secretary. He also held
that position in the Hobart Horticultural Society which had newly been created.
As mentioned earlier Joseph Hooker visited
Hobart in 1840 and the two young men spent
time botanising together and long discussions
were held in Gunn’s study. This was one of the
first times that Gunn had enjoyed the company
of a professional botanist. Joseph was in fact
trained in medicine as were most botanists of
the time this being necessary since most medicines were of plant origin. Specific training in
the various sciences as we expect today did not
often exist.
Later still in 1855, another professional man
with similar interests was here and met Gunn.
The noted Irish phycologist, William Harvey,
collected seaweeds and subsequently, in appreciation of assistance with some specimens, dedicated a volume of his Phycolgie Australiae to
Gunn. I have seen some of these specimens
which are at Trinity College, Dublin and they
appear as if they could have been dried last
week!
Gunn’s own writings deserve a mention. It
would be impossible to give a full list. In addition to his innumerable letters, his writing was
mainly in the form of articles to the local scientific papers of the day. These included the Cir-
cular Head Journal already mentioned. He
was keen on the improvement of vegetable production and wrote on this subject, as he did on
the encroachment of the sea along the north
coast of Tasmania (1855). He rather pre-empts
today’s theories of rising sea levels! The
Tasmanian Journal of Natural Sciences,
begun in 1842 under the auspices of the
Franklins had articles by Gunn in almost every
publication, as did the Papers and Proceedings
of the Royal Society of V-D.L. later. For John
West’s
History of Tasmania (1855) Gunn
wrote the section on the animals and birds of
the island.
l should here mention that Gunn was back in
Launceston from 1843 when he gave up
Government appointments and became the
manager of the many Lawrence estates in the
north. He was also appointed to manage Lady
Jane’s properties on the Franklins’ return to
England. This gave him more freedom to
botanise and continue his interests as he moved
around these scattered properties.
One later trip he made on a Government
contract was with Surveyor Peter Lette to the
North West beyond the Mersey to ascertain if
reports of gold discoveries were viable. The
rumours proved unreliable. He made several
trips to the North East, the first preceding
Scott’s (by a different route) and, indeed, accompanied Scott on his well-documented trip
of exploration.
Gunn, who had grown over 1000 plants in
readiness to commence a Botanical Garden at
Glen Dhu, was thwarted when in the 1830s
Governor Arthur was not able to grant the two
assigned servants Gunn asked for to assist him
– Arthur replied that having a Botanical Garden at Hobart was sufficient. We can conjecture that some of these plants survived to be
planted in City Park (thre Horticultural Society Gardens from 1840 till 1863). The massive
Copper Beech and the two Cork oaks are of
interest there as is tile huge wisteria.
Before concluding, some mention of specific collections should be made. Gunn adopted
his own distinctive style of label and numbering system used when boxes of specimens were
dispatched. The collecting date is given, as is
the dispatch date, a number refers to the
actual specimen and is also used to identify
that specimen in his accompanying notes on
the locality and habitat where the find was
—12—
made. The same number was used for all duplicate specimens. The prepared specimens
were carefully packed in sealed boxes and often placed in the care of ships’ captains. Some
live plants were sent in Wardian cases (from,
1840) and garden plants returned in these.
Among the best known of ‘Gunn’
plants are:
• Nothofagus gunnii the deciduous Tasmanian beech
• Eucalyptus gunnii (Type) • Epacris
franklinii (Type) • Boronia citroidora
• Helichrysum selaginoides (Type) • Blandfordia punicea
• Epacris gunnii (See picture below)
(This is only a minute list of all the plants
sent.)
Being a ‘Type’ specimen refers to those
which were first discovered, described
classified and named. These become the one
always referred back to for comparison with
other similar finds.
Epacris gunnii is a shrub that is widely found
in Australia. First described (formally) by
Gunn’s friend Hooker in 1847. Photo from
Greg Jordan, University of Tasmania:
reproduced by kind permission.
Joseph Hooker’s botanising with Gunn resulted in several shared discoveries including
Eucalyptus risdonii. Other collectors who forwarded specimens to Gunn to send on to
Hooker were Dr Joseph Milligan who was at
Circular Head; James Backhouse, James tee
the ‘bird stuffer’ mentioned earlier (two plants
recorded) and Mary Ballantyne from New
Norfolk. Rev. John Lillie was another who
collected with Gunn.
A pair of stuffed Tasmanian Emus were
sent to the British Museum as well as many
other bird specimens (for which we must
thank James Lee). The Emus and several eggs
still exist there. And a live Thylacine! This may
have been the one recorded there (in stuffed
form) up until the Second World War. The
Eastern Barred Bandicoot, Parameles gunnii
is widely distributed in Tasmania. Four seashells include Gunn’s screwshell (I don’t have
the Latinised name). Eighteen algal species
collected by Gunn are on a list at the Sydney
Herbarium.
You may wonder what happened to Gunn’s
own Herbarium of duplicate specimens? Not
long before his death in 1881 he presented this
valuable collection to the Royal Society of
Tasmania. It remained uncurated for many
years and about 1904 was moved to the National Herbarium in Sydney. At a later date
duplicate material was returned to Hobart
and is at tile Tasmanian Herbarium.
Gunn was giver) prestigious honours in
recognition of his work in natural history. He
was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of
London in 1854 (the first Tasmanian to be so
honoured) and in 1850 had been elected a
Fellow of the Linnean Society. The list of those
who supported his nomination reads like a
Who’s Who of well-known naturalists of the
day. Gunn, who had arrived in the Colony
with very little, gradually prospered and
owned property including the Newstead
estate. Here he built his home in 1856 and the
land which was gradually subdivided up until
the late 1930s is now the suburb of Newstead.
Gunn died there in 1881,
Without elaborating on his many official
and voluntary duties as well as his enormous
contribution to natural science in Tasmania it
can he said that Ronald Campbell Gunn
remains one of our great pioneers. His work
—13—
should be and, I hope, will become more
widely known in his adopted state.
The author wishes to acknowledge assistance
and material she received from Alex Buchanan
at the Tasmanian Herbarium. Notes from
Van Diemen’s Correspondents 1827-1849—
Burns and Skemp, have also been used.
Documents and information have been obtained from the various Museums mentioned in the text, a s w e l l as privately
held papers.
Lynn Blackwood June 2008”
RIOTS IN THE VALLEY OF THE GUNNS
Louise B. Gunn
The end of the 18th Century was plagued
by monstrous events. The eruptions of Mount
Laki in Iceland that lasted from June 1783 to
February 1784 darkened the skies over all of
Europe and thousands of people died from the
poisonous gazes. These eruptions also caused
the usually fertile lands as far away as India to
be covered with ashes resulting in crop failures
that lasted several years. In North America,
the winter of 1784 was the longest and one of
the coldest on record. These events killed an
estimated six million people around the world
and probably contributed to the French
Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars that
followed.
Many Scots were coerced to enlist into
regiments that fought in the numerous 18th
Century and Napoleonic wars, and they
suffered heavy casualties. These wars were
financially very costly and caused commercial
activities to decline sharply. The greedy landlords who were always looking for ways to
improve their income soon figured out that
sheep would pay better than men and they
decided to clear the tenants off their lands
to replace them by sheep. They called it
‘improvement’.
It started in England around 1785 and
reached Ross-shire in the Highlands of
Scotland in the 1790s. At that time, the
Sutherland estate was managed from London
by the Countess of Sutherland and her
husband, George Leveson-Gower, Marquess
of Stafford. Since they rarely went to their
castle at Dunrobin, they employed agents to
look after their estate. These agents were not
from the area and were prejudiced against the
Highlanders. Upon their advice, Lord and
Lady Stafford decided to ‘improve’ their estate
and gradually cleared tenants off their land: in
Strath-halladale in 1807 and at Farr, Lairg and
Dornoch in 1809. Soon after, the Kildonan
Valley, also known as the Valley of the Gunns,
became the focus of their agent, Patrick Sellar.
In December 1812, plans to remove 60
families from the valley were announced and
the land was marked out for new sheep farms;
these families were to be resettled along the
coast. When the news reached the people of
Kildonan, a meeting was called to discuss the
situation. They found this attack totally
unjustified especially that they had provided
men for the 93rd Regiment and, because of
this, they had been assured that they could
remain on the land of their ancestors. So,
when the Sutherland estate representatives
arrived in the morning of January 6th, 1813,
they hoped that this was just a mistake.
However, after Patrick Sellar told them that
their land confirmation had expired in 1808
and that they could no longer remain on it,
they started rebelling. They first ran off a Mr.
Reid, the agent for the incoming sheepfarmers who was visiting the area asking
questions. Later, Reid said that he had been
attacked by a mob and was happy to have
escaped alive. At about the same time, two
new sheep farmers, along with their
shepherds, were also chased off the land.
Among the principal troublemakers were
Robert, Alexander and Donald Gunn.
The Kildonans were united in their
demands and, the following week, they signed
a petition asking Lord Stafford to cancel the
eviction saying that they would not leave their
valley at least until their men returned home
from the war, but their request fell on deaf
ears. Therefore, tensions kept mounting and
threats of violence were even mentioned. So,
towards the end of January, Robert MacKid,
the Sheriff substitute, granted warrants for
some of them to appear before a judge.
On the 2nd of February, representatives of
the Sutherland estate including Patrick Sellar
showed up in Kildonan. They tried to
—14—
Jacquie Aitken, Project manager for the Timespan Museum, standing on the walls of a
typical house called a longhouse with central
hearth and low thatched roof. Photo: Louise
Gunn
persuade the tenants to sign a bond of peace,
but only a few complied. Sellar was back again
on the 10th and this time he confronted 150
men armed with staves and clubs, determined
to stand as one in defence of their property.
Sellar of course told them how foolish they
were, ‘fighting against the Laws and strength
of the British Constitution and against
common sense’. He believed that they were
refusing their own improvement but they did
not see it this way and they refused to let sheep
take over their land. Sellar then decided to
summon the main troublemakers to meet at
the Golspie Inn and to appear before Hugh
Leslie, Procurator fiscal, Robert MacKid,
Sheriff substitute, and William Taylor, Sheriff
Clerk.
These incidents were attracting public
attention. People from all over Scotland and
further south discovered that the population
of the Strath of Kildonan did not approve of
the upcoming agricultural changes and
refused to leave their land. The Gunns were
not the first ones to be affected by clearances
but their resistance is the first recorded
dissent against the evictions in the Highlands.
The London newspapers, especially The Star,
reported that the north of Scotland was rebelling against these ‘improvements’. The
Military Register blamed the authorities for
their lack of consideration saying that the
Highlanders were loyal men, highly respected,
“one of the choices arms of our military force”.
The Highlander of Sutherland was suggesting
that parliamentary intervention be considered.
However, in spite of all the bad publicity,
this gave Lord Stafford’s factors an excuse to
move in. They chose men among their staff to
be sworn in as special constables and they sent
for a detachment of infantry from Fort George
to be on standby in case of trouble. In an effort
to appear sympathetic to the Kildonans, the
commissioner for the Sutherland Estate,
William Young, met the ringleaders of the
resistance and convinced them to sign a
petition to Lord and Lady Stafford begging
forgiveness. Most of them signed the petition
but the disturbances somehow continued. At a
particularly rowdy demonstration in March, a
military detachment was called in to restore
peace. This was a frightening moment and the
majority of the people soon stopped rioting
and returned to their dwellings – the ringleaders were arrested.
Then, much to Patrick Sellar’s disapproval,
William Young and Lord Gower, son of Lord
Stafford, met representatives of the Kildonan
people. They attempted to dispel their fears
and to reassure them by explaining the resettlement programme. According to Sellar who
feared for his own life, they (Young and
Gower) showed great weakness in front of
such an unruly crowd; he said that it would
only encourage other groups to behave in a
similar manner.
In spite of the threats supposedly made by
the Kildonans, no proof could be made of any
single act of violence and they were cleared of
all accusations. This was certainly a relief but,
by that time, they were so discouraged that
—15—
they could not fight any more and they
resigned themselves to leave the valley. This
took place in June 1813 when several families
moved to small lots of poor land on cliff tops
especially to the one at Badbea. Others
accepted an offer from Lord Selkirk who, upon
realizing the fate of the Kildonan tenants, travelled north to meet with them and offered to
take them to the new Red River settlement in
Canada. He was present at Stromness when
they boarded the Prince of Wales on June 28th.
Among the people who accepted Lord
Selkirk’s offer were:
l Alexander Gunn (50) from Kildonan, his
wife Christian (50) and their son William (18).
Christian died on Sept. 20th at Churchill,
Manitoba.
l Donald Gunn (65) from Borobal, his wife
Jannet (50), their son George (16) and their
daughters Esther (24), Christian (10, and
Katherine (20). Katherine died August 29th
upon her arrival at Churchill.
l Angus Gunn (21) and his wife Jannet.
l Alexander Gunn (58) from Ascaig, Kildonan, with his nieces Elizabeth and Betsy
McKay.
l Robert Gunn, piper from Kildonan, with
his sister Mary.
There were more evictions in 1815 when
700 Kildonans left for the Canadian settlements along the Red River in Manitoba and
for the Glengarry County in Eastern Ontario,
Canada. The final exodus of the Strath of
Kildonan was in 1819 when many of them
made arrangements to go to various locations
in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
This was one of the saddest episodes in the
history of the Gunns. Because of this, the
theme of the 2012 Clan Gunn Gathering in
Scotland was the Clearances. Clan members
had a chance to visit the Kildonan Valley with
Jacquie Aitken, Project Manager at the Timespan Museum and Arts Centre in Helmsdale,
Sutherland. She took them to sites that had
been the target of these clearances like the one
in the Chorick Township where she showed
them the ruins of a corn-drying kiln and
explained that it was used to dry grain for use
in cooking and probably in the production of
illicit whisky. There were also the ruins of a
longhouse; it is possible that, in 1691, this lot
was inhabited by McRob and McAlister,
therefore Gunn related.
The following Sunday, July 29th, there was
a special service in the Kildonan Kirk. It was a
memorable occasion for Marie Gunn from
New Zealand when she read from the
Scriptures; her late husband Murray’s
ancestors had worshipped there 200 years
ago. Ted Gunn, the Canadian representative at
that gathering, was also asked to do a reading.
It should be mentioned that voracious midges
– known as ‘no-see-ums’ in North America –
had invaded the Kirk and the insect repellent
that was offered upon entering the building
had little effect on Ted’s exposed knees.
2013 marks the 200th anniversary of the
Clearances and, throughout the year, there
will be special events in Kildonan where the
Timespan Museum and Arts Centre has organized a festive program for all tastes. It
started in January with the re-enactment of
the Kildonan riots and it is presently offering
conferences and visits to several locations associated with the clearances. The excavation of
a longhouse at Caen Township in Kildonan in
June is an exciting opportunity to learn more
about its inhabitants before they were
abruptly evicted. From August 2nd to the 18th,
Timespan will hold special commemorative
events: on the 11th, a service at the Kildonan
Church and on the 12th, an official ceremony
to commemorate the landing of the Kildonan
Selkirk settlers at Churchill, Manitoba. For
more information, go to:
http://www.timespan.org.uk/
?s=bicentenary
References:
Public Archives of Canada
National Library of Scotland
Timespan Museum and Arts Centre
Stromness: Point of departure for the Prince
of Wales, in 1813.
—16—
The Battles of Quebec –1759 and 1760
Louise Gunn writes: Ted’s ancestor, Captain Alexander Fraser of Culduthel, was at the 1759
Battle of Quebec. He was a direct ancestor of grandma Gunn, née Millicent Fraser. Alexander lead
the Grenadiers at the 1760 Battle of Ste-Foy, near Quebec, that the French won. There he was
severely injured in the head and probably left for dead on the battlefield. However, he recovered
from his wounds and returned to Inverness in the fall of 1761. At least three of his descendants
emigrated to Canada: first, two of grandma Gunn’s cousins in the 1840s; and then Ted’s father in
1912.
The photo shows of April 28th 2010, shows Ted with André Juneau, former president of the
National Battlefields Commission of Canada at the unveiling of the busts of the two leaders at the
Battle of Ste-Foy: James Murray and General de Lévis. Ted and André share a common event:
André has an ancestor who died the day after the 1760 Battle of Ste-Foy at the General Hospital
while Ted’s ancestor, who was severely injured, may have been rescued by the French who gathered
the injured after the battle, paying special attention to the officers. So Alex might have been treated
for his injuries at the same hospital, but, as mentioned above, he survived.
What follows are some brief (but hopefully not inaccurate!) background notes about the two
Battles of Quebec. (dt)
In July 1757, Brigadier-General James
Wolfe, having taken Louisbourg in NE Nova
Scotia from the French, was eager to sail up
the St. Lawrence and attack Quebec. After a
brief (and unauthorised) return to England,
he received the orders he wanted, from Prime
Minister William Pitt, and arrived back at
Halifax, Nova Scotia at the end of April, 1759.
At Quebec, Wolfe had fewer troops than
Montcalm, but the British men were better
trained. Wolfe tried to coax Montcalm out of
Quebec by ferocious shelling of the city, and by
burning farms and other buildings in the
surrounding country. But Montcalm stayed
put.
British troops were on board ships,
anchored off Cape Rouge, south and up river
of Quebec. To the surprise of all, early in the
morning of 13 September, when the tide was
right, and the moon was low and in its last
quarter, Wolfe gave the order to take boats
down river to L’Anse au Foulon, where there
was a large shingle beach, below cliffs leading
up to the Plains of Abraham. The small guard
on the cliff top was easily overcome, but one
escaped and ran to warn the Quebec defenders.
—17—
At first, Montcalm believed that the landing
was a mere diversionary tactic, so he was
surprised when he saw six battalions of British
redcoats – including Fraser’s Highlanders of
the “78th Foot” (see photo below) – with more
arriving behind them. Wolfe ordered his men
to lie down. Montcalm had about the same
number of men as the British, but knew that
re-enforcements could not reach him for at
least three hours. So finally, he decided to
come out from Quebec and fight.
The French drew up their lines and
advanced. The British troops stood up, and
waited for the order to fire. The French
panicked, their lines becoming disordered;
and their militia fought using tactics more
suited to their usual woodland battlegrounds.
The British stood their ground, and then
charged the French as they tried to retreat to
the city. Wolfe bled to death from wounds in
his chest and wrist; Montcalm, from grapeshot
in his leg and stomach. Attempts were made to
re-assemble the French refugees, to return to
Quebec and fend off the British, but by then
the city had surrendered and most of its inhabitants had fled to Montréal.
Now under Brigadier James Murray, the
British settled in, to garrison the Quebec for
the winter. The weather was severe, and it was
difficult to survive in the ruins of the city,
which were a result of Wolfe’s 68-day bombardment. Only a small amount of salted food
had been left by the fleet, which had to set sail
back to Britain before the St. Lawrence froze
over. The weather conditions made it difficult
for the troops to forage for food and firewood
outside the walls, and many fell victim to
French, rearguard snipers in the woods. By the
spring, Murray counted about 1000 of his men
dead from disease or lack of food, and 2000
unfit for duty.
Before the St. Lawrence had frozen over,
French ships had sailed from their refuge, up
river from Quebec, back to France, with requests from commander de Lévis and Govenor
Vaudreuil for supplies and re-enforcements.
Without waiting for the response, and when
the river was clear of ice at the end of April,
de Lévis sent ships from Montréal towards
Quebec, with almost 7000 troops, which
included 3000 militiamen and 400 Indians.
They landed where Wolfe had waited the
previous year – at Pointe aux Trembles – and
were joined by another thousand militiamen.
Although Murray had expected a French
attack, the number forced his outposts,
including that at Sainte-Foy, to make a
judicious withdrawal. Not having learned
from Montcalm’s mistake, Murray decided to
go out and confront the French, sending men
and artillery to form a line of defence.
The French were still forming up, and
Murray decided not to wait for them, but to
advance towards them. In doing so, he was not
prepared for the French coming form an
unexpected direction. The ground conditions
– snow, slush and mud –made it impossible to
move the artillery. So Murray retreated back to
the city, to the delight of the French, who now
had the abandoned guns. But the British had
had just enough time to spike the guns,
making them useless.
There were losses on both sides, but the
British had lost twice as many, in proportion,
as the French. The city was once again under
siege, as de Lévis’s troops dug in, outside the
walls. But Sainte-Foy was to be the last French
victory, in the North American theatre of the
Seven Years War.
dt
In June this year, at Montréal, the 78th
Fraser Highlanders historical regiments, from
various Canadian garrisons, celebrated the
1763 Traité de Paris ending the Seven Years’
War (known as “King George’s War” in
France, and the “French and Indian War” in
the US). The photo (right) shows Ted and
Louise Gunn with astronaut Steve MacLean,
(“Scot of the Year”), who was inducted as a
Captain of the 78th’s Fort St Helen’s garrison.
—18—
GOLDEN GUNN CELEBRATIONS
IAIN & BUNTY
Triple congratulations are due to our
Commander and his lovely wife. Iain and
Bunty Gunn were married, fifty years ago, on
Saturday, 8 June 1963, at St. John the Baptist,
the parish church of Egglescliffe, in County
Durham. Over the weekend of 24-26 May,
2013, twenty-five family members descended
on the Athol Palace hotel in Pitlochry,
Perthshire, for an early Golden Wedding
celebration, culminating in a formal dinner on
the Saturday. Two further parties were
planned during the following two weeks, at
Swiney House. We dare to mention that Iain
reached his 80th birthday on 25 March, and
(even more daringly!), that Bunty will match
him on 9 October.
CHARLES & ANNE
Charles Gunn kindly sent in a photograph of
his “clan”, taken in June 2012, at Ardtalla, on
the of the Munro-Ferguson Novar estate,
Evanton, near Dingwall. Charles writes:
“My wife, Anne, and I decided two years
previously, during a prior visit, to lease this
property to celebrate our 50th (which was
actually later, on October 8), and arrange for
our four children, their spouses and children
to spend a week together. It was a marvellous
experience for all.
I’m embarrassed to say that previously,
only one of our children had spent time in
Scotland. Cameron, on the left of the photo,
holding his daughter Gwendolyn, attended the
University of Glasgow for his education degree
and was able to explore many parts of the
country. He and his two brothers, Andrew (in
the black shirt next to my wife Anne), and
Graeme (on the right holding his daughter,
Stirling) are Life Members of the Society, as
am I.
Others in the photo, from the left are:
Gillian, Cameron’s wife – and she is holding
Ruby (then about 4 months); and then
Duncan their 6 year old son; Pearce (16) and
Phoebe (14) Knight, their father Adam and
our daughter Hilary; the old man, me, called
“Sir” by the grandchildren, and Anne“Nana”;,
Andrew, his wife Julia, their son Connor (10)
and daughter, Isabelle (13); Catherine, wife of
Graeme, with son, Ewan (5) and then Graeme
and Stirling (3).
We have been blessed with a wonderful
family and grandchildren, and this was the
first chance for all to get together in about
eight years.
I am from Toronto; but I finished my
career, in the financial services industry, in
Bermuda. Anne and I had no strong desire to
return to Toronto, so we opted for Nova
Scotia. When we made that decision, our four
children were living in four different
countries. Originally we lived in Halifax, but
ten years ago we built a home beside a lake in
Lunenburg County. Graeme lives in Halifax,
and both he and Catherine are employed at
Dalhousie University. Andrew lives in Los
Angeles and has been there for 22 years.
Cameron and Hilary both live in Toronto,
close to each other in Beach.
Anne and I are making our “annual” visit to
Scotland in May [2013], following a Baltic
cruise, and are counting down the days.”
—19—
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY’S REPORT
New Members
l Ms Charlotte Berge Wilson, Engebratemeien 9, 3470 Slemmestad, Norway
l Mr Gerry Gunn, 11 Atkinson Place, St
Albert, Alberta, T8N 5P2, Canada
l Mr Duncan Wilson, 7 Kingsmead Hall,
Woodland Drive, Colchester, Essex CO3 9FE
l Ms Marguerite Pearson, 2100 Reecer
Creek Road, Ellensburg, WA98926, USA
l Miss Suzanne S Gibson, 15/5 Roseburn
Maltings, Edinburgh, EH12 5LJ
l Mr Malcolm Gunn, 131 Brackenbeds
Close, Pelton, Chester-le-Stree, Durham DH2
1XL
l Mr Jason Eckert, 6960 Meadow Circle,
Centreville, MN 55038, USA
l Mr Gerry Allison, 215 E Rolling Hills,
Pueblo West, CO 81007, USA
l Ms Kathryn Hoag, 622 Taylor Place, Arroyo Grande, CA 93420, USA
l Ms Melissa Gentry, 210 Quail Run Circle,
Fountain Inn, SC 29644, USA
l Mr J Ronald Bogart, PO Box 6222,
Bloomington, IL 61702-6222, USA
l Mr Alexander Wilson, 7A Fiona Place,
Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia
Change of Address
l Revd. Matthew Dowsey, from Flemington, Australia to All Saints Anglican Church,
PO Box 53, Ascot Vale, Victoria 3032, Australia
l Mrs Ann Paul, from Holburn Village, Berwick upon Tweed, to 57 Alessio Lane, RD5,
Rangiora 7475, New Zealand
l Mr P T Jamieson, from Bernadas, France to
La Machette, 32500 Lamothe Goas, France
l Mr R A Manson, from 41 Willcox Drive,
Melton Mowbray to Le Presbytere, Montée du
Chateny, La Roque sur Ceze, 30200 France
l Lisa Marie Robson from 42 Ambrose St,
Carey Bay, NSW to 25 Carlisle Row, Fishing
Point, NSW 2283, Australia.
Deceased
l Mrs M Gunn, Heatherdale, 6 Queen’s
Crescent, Falkirk, FK1 5JL
l Mr I Gunn, 11 Glencairn Crescent, Leven,
KY8 5NF
This is Fiona Gunn’s last report as Membership Secretary. From the July 2013 AGM, the
post will be filled by Honorary Vice-President
Helen Hill.
…and Finally (finally)
Although it’s out of character for me,
I’m quite enjoying winding people up about
my new interest! Somehow word got around
that “Dave was up to something,” and it was
suggested that I might be getting married.
Then, when I got home from Edinburgh, I
received an e-mail from Bunty, saying: “You
should … know that book is being made about
what the ‘interesting thing’ is that you are
going to be doing. First is that you are going
to lash yourself to a mast and sail round the
world. Secondly – Taxidermy – being very
time consuming and something one can do
from home!” I assured her that there would be
no hitching, lashing or stuffing. I also had to
assure my cousin Muriel, in Canada that it was
not illegal, occult or lascivious. It all started
when I was eight years old, and was given an
annual-style book with lots of great stories,
fact and fiction, bits of lore and the sort of
thing that most normal boys liked. One item
really grabbed me, and it stayed in the back of
my mind thereafter. Over the years, if I saw a
book on the topic, and I had the cash, I would
buy it. Over sixty years later there were about
50 such books on the shelf, including a replacement for the original annual, which my
mother had given away. Suddenly, about the
end of February, or the beginning of March
this year, I realised that I’d never put the topic
through Google. I was amazed to find that a lot
of people shared my interest, both in North
America and the UK; and was delighted to
find a group here that had a section specialising in my topic. I’m now a member, and am
deeply immersed in book research (I now have
over 90 relevant books!), and in learning new
skills. There are about 60 members, and they
are all very friendly, welcoming, helpful and
encouraging – just like another well-loved
organisation that you and I know. Like the
winding up, it is completely out of character
for me; but “going with the flow” is exciting
and interesting. I promise to reveal the shocking secret later on, although one or two CGS
members already seem to have an inkling…
—20—