Great Scots of Note: Scotland on Britannia

Gateway to the British Isles since 1996

Scots Who Made A Difference

by Peter N. Williams, Ph.D.
© 2007 Britannia.com

G
GALLOWAY CATTLE
Along with its more famous cousin, the Aberdeen Angus, the Galloway breed has earned its own fine reputation in the development of quality beef cattle. The Galloway's native home is in southwest Scotland and it is distinguished by its coat of curly black hair. Extensive production of blue-grey crossbred cattle is obtained by breeding Galloway cows to white shorthorn bulls. The Galloway is reputed to be the oldest breed of cattle in the British Isles.

GALT, JOHN (1779-1839)
From Irvine, businessman, travel writer and biographer John Galt became one of Scotland's most prolific novelists, specializing in depictions of country life. During his years in Canada, he opened up a road between Lakes Huron and Erie and founded the city of Guelph in 1828, but failed in his business enterprises as an officer of the Canada Land Company. Returning to Scotland, Galt wrote his masterpieces of Scottish literature that foreshadowed the Kailyard (kitchen garden) school of fiction. Though Galt wrote of his experience in Canada in his Lawrie Todd, most of his novels show a truthful, humorous picture of rural life in Scotland and its colorful inhabitants.

Much of Galt's work consisted of biographies of those who substantially affected social and cultural history. They include The Life of Lord Byron (1830), a study of the "ambitious, resolute, ostentatious" [and Catholic] Wolsey in The Life and Administration of Cardinal Wolsey (1812) and The Life and Studies of Benjamin West (1816). He also wrote biographies of some of the leading Covenanters of Scotland's Reformation as well as historical novels and an immense output of short stories, including the comic masterpieces The Howdie (1833) and A Rich Man (1836).

GARDEN, MARY (1877-1967)
Only our second woman Scottish notable listed, Mary Garden left her native Aberdeen as a child to study voice in Chicago, later enjoying a highly successful career as a soprano and becoming an important figure in US Opera. Her reputation was established at her debut in Paris in 1900, when she appeared in Louise and in 1902 she was chosen by Debussy to create the part of Melisande in his Pelleas et Melisande, a role in which she became permanently identified. She also had the tenor role in Le Jongleur de Notre Dame rewritten for her by its composer Massanet.

Miss Garden debuted in New York in 1907 but for many years was associated with the music scene in Chicago. There she helped retain the city's passion for French opera and became director of the Chicago Opera Association in 1921-2. She retired from active roles and became famous for her vivid acting as well as her singing, in 1930. One of her most celebrated roles was that of Salome, in the opera of the same name, and her erotic "dance of the seven veils" caused something of a sensation in staid Chicago circles.

GEIKIE, SIR ARCHIBALD (1835-1924)
In the early part of this century, one of the most well known and respected geologists was Edinburgh-born Archibald Geikie, expert on the processes of erosion. In 1855, Geike was appointed to the Geological Survey of Great Britain under Murchison and ten years later was elected to the prestigious Royal Society, also becoming the first Director of the Scottish Geological Survey founded in 1867. Geikie's studies showed that rivers play a major role in soil erosion and established him as the foremost advocate of the fluvial theories of erosion. His best own works include: The Scenery of Scotland (1865), Life of Sir R. J. Murchison (1875, Test-Book of Geology (1882), The Founders of Geology (1897), The Ancient Volcanoes of Great Britain (1897) and Outlines of Field Geology (1876), most of which have remained in general use, having been reissued at various dates.

GIBBON, LEWIS GRASSIC (1901-35)
Neglected for many years, the works of short-lived, Kincardineshire-born Lewis Gibbon have received widespread attention since the 1970's becoming required reading in many Scottish schools and colleges. His chief work, in a style he evolved of literary Scots modelled on the speech of a Scot speaking English, is Sunset Song, a realistic picture of Scottish country life. Much better known, however, mainly because of its adaptation into a Hollywood movie, is Spartacus, his novel of the great slave revolt in ancient Rome. In addition, his series of semi-autobiographical sketches Quair-Sunset Song, Cloud Howe and Gray Granite have become popular through their serialization on British television.

GILL, SIR DAVID (1843-1914)
It is to the brilliant mind of Aberdeen-born David Gill that we owe the perfection of the use of the heliometer, a telescope that uses a split image to measure the angular separation of celestial bodies. Astronomer Gill measured the solar and stellar parallax that show the distances of the Sun and other stars from earth. He was also a pioneer in the use of photography in mapping the solar system. From his photos of the sky taken in South Africa 1879-1907, J.C. Kapteyn compiled a catalog of nearly 500,000 stars (Cape Photographic Durchmusterung).

GOLF (15th Century)
There is much controversy over the country in which the game of golf first began its long history of fiendish and expensive torture, but there can be no doubt about its antiquity in Scotland. In 1457, the Parliament of King James II worried about their interference with the practice of archery, so necessary for defence of the realm ordered that "fute-ball and golf be utterly cryed downe." Other similar decrees included one by James IV, which referred to golf as an "unprofitable sport." It is therefore a bit ironic that James, the first golfer of whom there is historical record, included in his royal expense account certain sums of money for his "golf clubbis and ballis."

Mary, Queen of Scots was also reputed to be an avid golfer, being discovered swinging away blithely out on the links only a few days after the murder of her husband, Lord Darnley, presumably a non-golfer. When James VI of Scotland went to England to be crowned James l of that southern state, he took his golf clubs with him. One of his first royal appointments as joint king was that William Mayne be his royal golf club maker for life.

The oldest golf club with documentary proof of its existence is the Honourable Company of Edinburgh, originally known as The Company of Gentleman Golfers. It began with a tournament in 1744 on the Leith Links, with a silver cup awarded to the "Captain of Golf," surgeon John Rattrey one year later. The earliest known rules of golf are the 13 recorded in the minute book of the company under Rattray's captaincy. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club (formerly the Society of St. Andrew's) was formed in 1754 along with the Gentleman's Club. It was to play a major role in the development of the game in Scotland. The first US golf club was founded in 1786, at Charleston's Green, South Carolina by local clergyman Henry Purcell.

GOODSIR, JOHN (1814-67)
Described as "one of the earliest and most acute observers of cell life," by noted physiologist Rudolf Virchow and John Goodsir made valuable contributions to anatomy and cellular physiology and pathology. It was John Goodsir who accurately described the importance of the cell as the center of nutrition, seeing it as divided into a number of departments. In 1840, he was appointed conservator of the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, and in 1843 became the curator at that city's University.

GORDON, PATRICK (1635-99)
One of the earliest of the Scottish soldiers of fortune, famed throughout Europe, was Patrick Gordon, from a little town in Aberdeenshire that he made famous in his diary, Passages from the Diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries. In this, he described his life in the service of Peter l, the Great Tsar of Russia.

Patrick's exploits as a mercenary soldier in the Polish-Swedish War of 1635-60 earned him his reputation (at various times he fought for both sides) and he entered the Russian Army in 1661 as a major, suppressing the Moscow riots of 1663. He later defended Chigirin against the Turks and was sent to England on a diplomatic mission by the regent Sophia, whom he helped Peter overthrow in 1689 after a series of humiliating Russian defeats in the Crimea and subsequent political crises. He again helped the Tsar by crushing a rebellion by supporters of Sophia in 1698. The Tsar allowed Gordon to build a Catholic church in Moscow. His diary was published in 1859.

GOW, NEIL (1727-1807)
Neil Gow was certainly a Scot of note, for he was one of its most revered musicians, specializing in the fiddle and creating a tradition of Scottish fiddling that has survived through today. As fiddler to the Duke of Athol, Neil's skills in the strathspey were legendary. He also composed many well-known tunes. Neil's son Nathaniel is remembered as violinist, composer and publisher, bringing to the public many of his father's reels, strathspeys, jigs and hornpipes. Other sons, Andrew, William and John also played and composed.

GRAHAM, THOMAS (1805-69)
Glasgow native Thomas Graham is known as "the father of colloid chemistry." Employed as a teacher in Edinburgh, later a college lecturer in University College, London, he also served as master of the mint from 1855-69. It is as a chemist, however, that Graham deserves his place among the Scots who have made a difference. In 1829 his first important paper dealt with the diffusion of gases. His "Graham's Law" showed the rate of diffusion as well as the comparison of the effusion and diffusion of various gases.

Graham divided particles into two classes: crystalloids, such as common salt (which has a high diffusibility) and colloids, such as gum arabic (with low diffusibility). He also invented many of the terms used in colloid chemistry. Graham's study of the forms of phosphoric acid led to the development of the concept of polybasic acids. His other work included descriptions of the properties of the water of crystallization in hydrated salts and the obtaining of definite compounds of salts and alcohol. Graham's final paper described the first known instance of a solid compound formed from a metal and a gas: palladium hydride.

GRAHAME, KENNETH (1859-1932)
Kenneth Grahame gave the world one of its all-time favorite child's classics. Secretary of the Bank of England in London from 1898 to 1907, Edinburgh-born Grahame wrote The Wind in the Willows for his son Alistair. It was first published in 1908 and has continued in great demand ever since. I the 1990's is as popular as ever, following its dramatization by A.A. Milne (of Winnie the Pooh fame) and its making into a Hollywood movie.

GRANT, DUNCAN (1885-1978)
In 1975 a one-man show of the works of post-impressionist Duncan Grant was shown in New York City. Thus, interest in this most innovative painter and designer was revived. Born in Invernesshire, Grant spent many years as a youth in India, later travelling extensively in Italy and France before joining the influential British group of artists known as the Bloomsbury Group in the early part of the century. Turning from abstract painting to careful studies of nature, he also joined Vanessa Bell in a career as interior designer, representing Britain on three separate occasions at the Venice Biennale.

GRANT, JAMES AUGUSTUS (1827-92)
From Nairn, in the county of the same name, James Grant, soldier and explorer, accompanied John Hanning Speke on his search for the source of the Nile in the frenzy to discover Africa in mid-century. Grant had served with distinction with the British Army during the Indian Mutiny and the Sikh Wars. He played an important role in Speke's expedition, which found the outlet they sought in Lake Victoria in July 1862. Honored by the Royal Society, Grant published his journal in 1864 as A Walk Across Africa.

GREGORY, JAMES (1638-75)
From the village of Drumoak, in Aberdeenshire, mathematician and astronomer James Gregory published the first proof of the fundamental theorem of calculus, thus not only endearing him be grudgingly to countless generations of advanced schoolchildren all over the world, but also making higher mathematics possible. In his work of 1667 The True Squaring of the Circle and of the Hyperbola, Gregory was one of the first to draw a distinction between a convergent and a divergent series. He next gave a series of rules for finding the areas of curves and the volumes of their solids of revolution.

Professor of mathematics, first at St. Andrews, then at Edinburgh, Gregory described the first practical reflecting telescope, the Gregory telescope. He also introduced the photometric method of estimating stellar distances. Gregory's brilliant mind anticipated several important mathematical discoveries in number theory and differential calculus.

GRIERSON, JOHN (1898-1972)
One of the first to see the potential of motion pictures to shape attitudes toward life and the use of film in education, Kilmarnock-born John Grierson was the founder of the British documentary film movement, which he led for almost 40 years. He made his reputation with his first and only personally directed film, Drifters in 1929, a study of the lives of the North Sea herring fishermen. His other documentaries, Night Mail and Coal Face also set a high standard of educational films.

During World War II, Grierson, who had initiated the documentary film industry in Britain, lived in Canada, where he helped form the National Film Board and supervised information films for the Canadian government. After the war, Grierson directed mass communications for UNESCO and served as controller of Britain's Central Office of Information. His later career saw him as executive producer for British television and motion pictures as well as advisor to makers of informational films.

GRIMMOND, JOSEPH (1913-93)
Though born at St. Andrews, "Joe" Grimmond was educated at Eton and Oxford, where he studied law. After serving in the Army during the long war years and after (1939-47), Grimmond took his seat as a Liberal Member of Parliament in 1950. Six years later he was elected as leader of the parliamentary Liberal Party, which he set out to revitalize. He was particularly active in favoring British entry into the European Economic Community in 1955, doing much to increase the prestige of his party and its influence in parliament.

Joe's writings include The Liberal Future (1959), The Common Welfare (1978) and Memoirs (1979). Much of Grimmond's philosophy and many of his innovative ideas were adopted by the Social Democratic Party founded in 1981 that allied with the Liberals to ensure a future for both in British politics.

GROUSE
What would the economy of the Highlands be without the grouse? Called by its other name, capercaillie, the black grouse is Europe's favorite game bird; it thrives on Scotland's huge private estates where the hunting season is eagerly awaited each year and which plays an important part in the rituals of the social season. Golf and grouse are indissolubly connected with Scotland though not necessarily with each other.

GUNN, NEIL MILLER (1891-1974)
The most important novelist to come out of northern Scotland, Niel Gunn wrote of the Highland character and of the interweavings of Highland history. The son of a fishing boat captain in Caithness, Gunn came back to the Highlands after many years as a civil servant first in London, then at Inverness. His reputation was established with Morning Tide (1931), dealing with the social disintegration of the Highlands due to its economic deprivations that caused many of its inhabitants, including the young protagonist, to emigrate.

Gunn's epic story of the results of the Clearances and the forced migration of peoples away from their ancestral lands, is The Silver Darlings (1941). Other Gunn novels deal with the loss of spiritual values in the movement from the land to the city and the regaining of true wisdom upon returning home.

London Hotels at Discount | Home & Garden | Knownworld Travel