Showing posts with label Ian Hamilton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ian Hamilton. Show all posts

Tuesday, 25 October 2022

Scots hero Ian Hamilton

So sorry to hear of the death of Scots hero Ian Hamilton – who was an early fighter for Scotland’s freedom. On Christmas Eve he and other students took the Stone of Destiny from Westminster abbey, that was used for centuries for Scots kings, and was stolen by Edward I in 1296.  It’s an incredible story of bravery and fighting for our freedoms. 

 

He’s an inspiration. Worth watching the film “Stone of Destiny” and visiting Arbroath abbey, where Hamilton recites the Declaration of Arbroath, 

"  for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself."

 

Submitted in Latin, the Declaration was little known until the late 17th century, and is unmentioned by any of Scotland's major 16th-century historians. In the 1680s, the Latin text was printed for the first time and translated into English in the wake of the Glorious Revolution, after which time it was sometimes described as a declaration of independence

 



The Declaration of Arbroath 

is the name usually given to a letter, dated 6 April 1320 at Arbroath, written by Scottish barons and addressed to Pope John XXII

. It constituted King Robert I response to his excommunication for disobeying the pope's demand in 1317 for a truce in the First War of Scottish Independence. The letter asserted the antiquity of the independence of the Kingdom of Scotland. denouncing English attempts to subjugate it. 

Generally believed to have been written in Arbroath abbey by Bernard of Kilwinning (or of Linton), then chancellor of Scotland and Abbot and sealed by fifty-one magnates and nobles, the letter is the sole survivor of three created at the time. The others were a letter from the King of Scots, Robert I and a letter from four Scottish bishops which all made similar points. The Declaration was intended to assert Scotland's status as an Independent, sovereign state and defend Scotland’s right to use military action when unjustly attacked.

Submitted in Latin, the Declaration was little known until the late 17th century, and is unmentioned by any of Scotland's major 16th-century historians. In the 1680s, the Latin text was printed for the first time and translated into English in the wake of the Glorious Revolution after which time it was sometimes described as a declaration of independence, the Declaration was little known until the late 17th century, and is unmentioned by any of Scotland's major 16th-century historians. In the 1680s, the Latin text was printed for the first time and translated into English in the wake of the Glorious Revolution, after which time it was sometimes described as a Declaration of Independence. 

 

 

**Ian Hamilton KC  (1925 – 2022) was a Scottish lawyer and nationalist, best known for his part in the  return of the Stone fo Destiny from Westminster Abbey to Arbroath Abbey in 1950. Hamilton was born in Paisley Scotland, on 13 September 1925, the son of a tailor. He attended the John Neilson Institution in Paisley before going on to the University of Glasgow to study law, after having served in the British army. National activism It was at University where Hamilton became politically active. A participant in debates at the Glasgow university, he was a member of the Glasgow University Nationalist Association and Scottish Covenant Association. He was also the campaign manager for the successful bid to have John MacCormick elected rector fo the university. 

 

 

***Stone of Destiny[

On Christmas Eve 1950, Hamilton, along with three other student Scottish nationalists including Kay Matheson removed the Stone of Destiny from its place under the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey. London. Originally used for the coronation of Scottish monarchs, the Stone had been removed to England by Edward I in 1296 to bolster his claim to the throne of Scotland. After the Acts of Union 1707 between Scotland and England, it was used for the coronation of British monarchs. 

As such, Hamilton's action in returning the Stone to Scotland was applauded as a symbolic triumph for Scottish nationalism. The Stone was turned over to the Church of Scotland, which passed it to the authorities in April 1951. Hamilton and his accomplices were charged, but never prosecuted. The Stone was eventually returned 

 

Tuesday, 23 June 2015

**BOOKS worth reading on Scottish independence



Scotland Cultural Past; Our Independent Future by  Paul Henderson Scott. A former diplomat, Rector of Dundee university.   
https://www.waterstones.com/ebook/scotland/paul-henderson-scott/9781909912687
Follows the broad questions around Scottish Independence - with informed, easy to read articulate essays.

The English invented the legend of Brutus and made up false accounts of the Union. Most Scots were opposed to it- including Walter Scott.  Scott was no unionist, he argues contrary to what some writers put out and cites his essays Malachi and others which have been largely ignored. 
"The process continued with radical argument, political campaigning, the discovery of oil, nuclear subs on the Clyde, the Iraq War and above all by the example of the outstanding success of the other small European nations which have recovered Independence."

*Arguing for Independence; Evidence, Risk and the Wicked Issues by Stephen Maxwell.  Paul Henderson Scott states this book as the most comprehensive on Scottish Independence and that Maxwell writes of his life long work. He is a master of the issues -   the democratic, economic, social, international, cultural and environmental arguments.

Whaur Extremes Meet: Scotland's Twentieth Century by Catriona Macdonald

Unstated: Scottish Writers for Independence.

Arts of Independence by Alexander Moffat and Alan Riach. Explore cultural arguments for Scottish independence.  How the arts fire the imagination.

The Stone of Destiny by Ian Hamilton - made into a film in 2008.
Hamilton writes, ' On the morning of 11 April 1951, I left Glasgow with Bill Craig. At Stirling Bridge we thumbed    a lift from a car driven by Councillor Gray, which contained the Stone of Destiny, now carefully repaired. at midday we carried it down the grass-floored nave of the abbey and left it at the high later. It was a crucifixion.
When we turned away and stood for a minute at the gate, and looked down the long nave flanked by the blood-red sandstone of the wall s to the alter where the Stone lay under the blue and white of a Satire. I heard the voice of Scotland speak as clearly as it spoke in 1320.


Sunday, 31 May 2015

Stone of Destiny and Arbroath


By pure chance on our drive up to visit our son in Dundee I picked up a small book on our Scottish hero William Wallace. I had been reading of Wallace in a Robert Burn's biography.  Burns was inspired by reading of Wallace and he wished to write a song for him - and so Burns wrote his now famous song 'Scots Wa Hae wi Wallace bled.'

It can be a strange thing how one journey steps us on to another. So there I was on the road to Arbroath abbey, which we found to be a large imposing red sandstone building steeped in Scottish history and built by William I of Scotland in 1178. Here men spoke of their cherished freedom back in 1320,  and here Glasgow students in 1950 returned the Stone of Destiny, on which Scottish kings had been crowned for 450 years at Scone Abbey near Perth. (they bravely stole the stone from Westmister Abbey at Christmas time!) .. This was the place that the Arbroath Declaration of Independence was signed by lords, commons and the clergy of Scotland in 1320.  In it they had affirmed our right to be free to live our own lives in our own way.  There is a clip of Ian Hamilton who led the students at the Arbroath visitors centre, speaking of his quest to awaken Scotland from its long slumber, his voice chokes as he speaks..

...for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.

So I bought Hamilton's book and enjoyed reading it. In it he writes, ' On the morning of 11 April 1951, I left Glasgow with Bill Craig. At Stirling Bridge we thumbed  a lift from a car driven by Councillor Gray, which contained the Stone of Destiny, now carefully repaired. At midday we carried it down the grass-floored nave of the abbey and left it at the high later. It was a crucifixion.
When we turned away and stood for a minute at the gate, and looked down the long nave flanked by the blood-red sandstone of the walls to the alter where the Stone lay under the blue and white of a Satire. I heard the voice of Scotland speak as clearly as it spoke in 1320. 


I continue on my journey learning Scots history and considering it is so interesting it is quite a shame that it practically died out in schools back after the war. Then we had to aspire to being second rate English here and learn English history - The Tudors, Wordsworth and Shakespeare etc. at school.
I was fortunate that I had a Mr MacDonald from the Hebrides who was a tall man who often wore a blue kilt, for my headmaster at primary school, and so we were lucky we learnt a Burns poem every year and sang Burns songs with our school choir. I have such fond and vivid memoirs of this.  It is wonderful to note that today things have changed and Scottish school children do now learn about their own country's past. 

A Short history. During Alexander II's reign things were stable in Scotland. He was married to the daughter of the English king and his daughter married the King of Norway
Sadly his two sons died and his daughter died giving birth to a daughter (who later died). Storm clouds were brewing and Alexander had no heir. Disaster was predicted and when he suddenly died  the Scottish Wars of Independence began.

When Edward Longshanks, the Hammer of the Scots, paraded north, he stole the Stone of Destiny from Perth and put it under a new Coronation throne in Westminster. Scottish kings had been crowned on the stone for 450 years. After Robert the Bruce and the Battle of Bannockburn, Edward II agreed to return the stone to Scotland in 1328. 



Hamilton writes - "The symbol of her liberty had come back to Scotland, and we felt that some sort of rude ceremony was needed to mark the return of the Lia Fail to the custody of its own people.
We stopped and drew the coat back and exposed the Stone to the air of Scotland for the first time in 600 years. from the provision basket we produced the gill of whisky, and poured a libation over the stone's roughness. thus, quietly, with little fuss, with no army, with no burning of houses or killing people, and for the expenditure of less than £1000, we brought Scotland back the Stone of Destiny."

The Stone was returned to Edinburgh 'on loan' oddly (?) in 1997 with the setting up of the Scottish Parliament.  Was this the real stone? Does it all matter?  Yes the stone is a symbol of Scotland's long and unique history and identity. 


A movie about Hamilton and The Stone of Destiny was released in 2008 with Charlie Cox playing Hamilton. 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stone-Destiny-Ian-R-Hamilton/
Ian Hamilton writes in his Stone of Destiny, ' History is on the side of the small nations. Look about you and you will see the truth.' 
 'When on 25 march 1707 James Ogilvie, Earl of Seafield, Chancellor of Scotland, signed the Act of Union, ending Scotland's ancient independence, and merging the two parliaments of Scotland and England into the United Kingdom Parliament, he threw down the quill with these words: 'Now there's the end of an auld sang.'  
It may be, it just may be, that on Christmas Day 1950 four young people wrote a new verse to that old song. Whatever we did, the song is still being sung.'