Pledge to launch clan gathering

As published by BBC News Monday, 22 October 2007
The "biggest" clan gathering for almost 200 years is to take place in Edinburgh after receiving £300,000 in funding.

The Gathering, which is expected to attract 8,000 clan members and 30,000 spectators, is being planned for Holyrood Park in 2009.

Edinburgh City Council, Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian, and EventScotland are helping to fund some of the £1.5m cost of the event.


The rest of the money will come from ticket sales and private enterprise.

As well as the traditional displays of piping, dancing, athletics and heavy events, the games will have a food and drink fair.

There will also be an exhibition allowing visitors to trace their ancestry, and a live music stage featuring leading contemporary and traditional bands.

The Gathering 2009 will focus the world's attention on Scotland's culture and as hosts we will be ready to make the most of this fantastic opportunity to promote Edinburgh
Steve Cardownie
Edinburgh City Council

The highlight of the clan programme will be a clan parade up the Royal Mile and historic pageant of the clans in the arena on the Castle Esplanade.

The organisers led by Lord Sempill, chief of the Name and Arms of Sempill and vice convenor of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, and Jenny Gilmour, expect to attract 30,000 local visitors to the event planned for 25 - 26 July 2009.

Already more than 60 clans have said they want to take part, including Clan Donald, the world's largest clan.

Many US-based clan organisations have already booked hotel rooms in Edinburgh, whilst VisitScotland and EventScotland have estimated that the overall economic impact of the event will be about £5m spread across Scotland.

Already over 60 clans have said they want to take part

Lord Sempill, said: "Not since Sir Walter Scott's Royal Pageant in 1822 have so many clans come together, so The Gathering 2009 will be a meaningful historic, as well as cultural, event.

"Our clan tradition and cultural identity are very closely linked and, at a time when Scots are coming to terms with their identity, The Gathering is a fantastic opportunity to reinforce a very important part of our heritage and to celebrate its existence."

EventScotland chief operating officer, Paul Bush, said: "As well as providing an enormous economic boost to Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland, The Gathering 2009 will create a fantastic spectacle along the Royal Mile and at Edinburgh Castle - images that will be conveyed to millions of people around the world."

Steve Cardownie, Edinburgh City Council festival and events leader, said: "The Gathering 2009 will focus the world?s attention on Scotland's culture and as hosts we will be ready to make the most of this fantastic opportunity to promote Edinburgh."

The Gathering 2009

On the 25th and 26th July 2009 Edinburgh will witness one of the largest clan gatherings in history.

Holyrood Park will host a magnificent Highland Games over the two days, then on the Saturday evening Clan members will parade up the historic Royal Mile and take their seats on the castle esplanade for a spectacular Clan Pageant .

For your chance to be part of history get hold of one of our Passports.

The Gathering 2009 is delighted to be one of the signature events of Homecoming Scotland. For further details on the full Homecoming Scotland program, available in late May, visit the Homecoming webpage.

Buccleuch Memorial to be Restored

as published by Edinburgh World Heritage

note - the Dukes of Buccleuch, serve as the Titular Chiefs of Clan Scott

Edinburgh World Heritage has announced that the memorial to the 5th Duke of Buccleuch in Parliament Square will be conserved, as part of the on-going programme of conservation of the city’s key statues and monuments.


The project will cost around £40,000, shared equally between Edinburgh World Heritage and the current Duke of Buccleuch. Works are expected to take around 4 weeks to complete, and will include treatments to the sandstone plinth and selective re-pointing in lime mortar, a light conservation cleaning of the bronze panels to reveal the original patina using a laser, and treatment of corrosion to arrest further deterioration.

The category A listed memorial commemorates the life of the distinguished politician Walter Francis Montague Douglas Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch and the 7th Duke of Queensbery (1806 - 1884), and was paid for entirely through public subscription. The statue of the Duke shows him in the robes of the Order of the Garter, while bronze panels depict incidents from the Buccleuch family history and scenes from the life of the 5th Duke himself.

The memorial is now regarded as hugely significant in art history terms because some of the most important names in Scottish sculpture and design worked on the statue and the bronze panels. Sir Joseph Boehm (who designed the head of Queen Victoria for coinage) was the sculptor for the statue, the plinth was designed by Sir Rowand Anderson (the architect for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery) and the bronze figures and panels were done by Clark Stanton, Birnie Rhind, Stuart Burnett and D.W. and W.G. Stevenson.


The Memorial was officially unveiled on the 7th February 1888, by the Earl of Stair. It had cost around £6,700 paid for through 1,200 public subscribers. It has been cared for by the City of Edinburgh Council ever since.

Walter Francis Montagu Douglas Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch was born 25th November 1806 and died 16th April 1884. Inheriting the Dukedom as a minor, one of his guardians was Sir Walter Scott who organised the visit of King George IV to Edinburgh in 1822, when the King stayed at the family’s Dalkeith House just outside the city. Buccleuch was a leading Tory, and served as Lord Privy Seal and Lord President in Sir Robert Peel’s government in the 1840’s. A great Scottish magnate, he took a progressive approach to the management of his estate businesses, most notably in the development of the harbour at Granton.

Sir Walter Scott wrote on 25 August 1826 that he "has grown up into a graceful and apparently strong young man... I think he will be well qualified to sustain his difficult and important task. The heart is excellent, so are the talents... With perfect good nature, he has a natural sense of his own situation, which will keep him from associating with unworthy companions."

Notes from the Life of an Ordinary Mortal records that "his great position and vast estates made him something of a grand seigneur, though his habits were simple, and his appearance rather that of an Elder of the Kirk. He always wore a dark grey cutaway coat, shepherd's plaid trousers, and a cap with a large peak, and out of doors carried a plaid over his shoulder. His manner was brusque, and he was fond of a rough sort of chaff, but no one had a kinder heart."

Princess Elizabeth portrait found in Duke of Buccleuch (Chief of Clan Scott) Collection

A rare portrait of Queen Elizabeth I as a young princess has been discovered in a private collection at a stately home in Northamptonshire. The portrait, dating from 1650 to 1680, was found in the Duke of Buccleuch’s collection at Boughton House.
It shows Elizabeth with siblings [later to be] Edward VI and Mary I, father Henry VIII and his jester, Will Somers.

Full story

Writer's portrait fetches £9,600

As published by BBC News Wednesday, 21 November 2007
A previously unrecorded portrait of Sir Walter Scott has been sold by auctioneers Bonhams for £9,600.

The work by Richard Collins is believed to be the earliest known painting of the author and poet and captures him at the age of just four.

The portrait came to light at a valuation day held by the company in the Austrian capital Vienna.

The buyer's name has not been disclosed but auctioneers said they were pleased with the "absolutely terrific price".

"We are really delighted here at Bonhams that the first ever known picture of Sir Walter Scott has gone for so much," said a spokesperson.

"It just shows how much Scott still means to people today."

Famous works

The miniature can be dated to 1775, when Scott visited the artist in London.

He was en route to the spa town of Bath in the hope of curing his lame right leg - the result of contracting polio, aged just two.

Scott was born in Edinburgh in 1771 but spent much of his life in the Scottish Borders where his historic home, Abbotsford House, is to be found.

He was the author of numerous famous works including Waverley, Rob Roy and Ivanhoe.

Early portrait of Sir Walter Scott unearthed

The portrait depicts Scott as a four-year-old boy

From BBC News Wednesday, 24 October 2007,


A previously unrecorded portrait of Sir Walter Scott has been unearthed in Austria by auctioneers Bonhams.

The work by Richard Collins is believed to be the earliest known painting of the author and poet and captures him at the age of just four.

The portrait came to light at a recent valuation day held by the company in the Austrian capital Vienna.

It is now to go up for auction next month when it is expected to fetch between £3,000 and £5,000.

The portrait shows Scott as a child wearing a pale green coat, double-breasted white waistcoat over a frilled chemise and a black hat decorated with a ribbon bow.

Measuring less than two inches high, the painting is signed with the initials RC, dated 1775 and set in a rectangular leather travelling case in the form of a book.

"The portrait has emerged from the shadows of a private collection in Austria." explained Bonhams' head of portrait miniatures, Camilla Seymour.

"It came to light on a recent valuation day in Vienna."

Polio treatment

The portrait's case carries a label attributing the work to Richard Cosway but it was in fact painted by his contemporary Richard Collins.

The miniature can be dated to 1775, when Scott visited Collins in London.

He was en route to the spa town of Bath in the hope of curing his lame right leg - the result of contracting polio, aged just two.

Scott was born in Edinburgh in 1771 but spent much of his life in the Scottish Borders where his historic home, Abbotsford House, is to be found.

He was the author of numerous famous works including Waverley, Rob Roy and Ivanhoe.

Clan Scott Australasia Inc.

Although I haven't been able to locate an email address or website thought this information may be of value to those searching for a contact address in making connections, so am posting it here.

Also links to three of their newsletters from the 2000-2001 period

September 2000 Issue
December 2000 Issue
January 2001 Issue

Clan Scott Australasia

Member Society Name:	Clan Scott Australasia Inc.
President	Jim Scott 14 Toorak Avenue Baxter, Australia, 3911 Tel: 03 5971 1145
Secretary	Jean Scott-Deaner
Contact Details P.O.Box: Suburb: State: Country: Postcode	320 MacLean New South Wales Australia 2463 Tel: 02 6645 3486