Grand Matches

This year’s unaccustomedly early onset of really cold weather and the chaotic traffic conditions thereby brought about caused me to think about the dates on which Grand Matches have been held.

We must remember that in the whole history of the Royal Club - a period of 172 years, of which the 163 since Penicuik in 1847 have been potential years for Grand Matches - only thirty-three examples of the whole Scots nation at play have actually taken place; and that in a long period when namby-pambyism and 'health and safety concerns' had not yet taken hold.

After the trial run at Penicuik in 1847 the first real Grand Match was, of course, played on Linlithgow Loch in 1848. Was there some serendipity involved in holding it on Robert Burns’s birthday, the 25th of January? Since then January has proved to be the most popular month for the event, sixteen Matches in total having been played in that month.

It is not surprising to find that December has been the next favourite month, with nine. February has had seven and only one has ever taken place in November. That was the Match on Carsebreck on November 24th. The latest date for event has been 15 February.

In one calendar year, 1896, but in two different winters, two matches were played – on 12th January and 21st December - both on Carsebreck, and BOTH won by the same club, New Monkland, who were, incidentally the very first winners of the new Grand Match Trophy which is still the much-coveted prize.

David B Smith

The Grand Match on Linlithgow Loch, 1848, oil painting by Charles Lees.

Sir Mitchell Thomson, Lord Provost of Edinburgh and president of Craiglockhart Curling Club. Oil sketch by Charles Martin Hardie for his large oil painting of the Grand Match at Carsebreck, signed by initials and dated 10.2.99.

The Grand Match of 1929 in progress at Carsebreck.

1929, Carsebreck. The happy but droukit curlers make their way from the Royal Club Pond to the railway, which was just over the fence. The Royal Club Secretary’s office is the building on the left.

Your author, suitably attired in the rear of the photo, prepares for the start in 1979.

Top photo: Aerial view of the Lake of Menteith, February 6, 1979, with the last Grand Match in full swing.

Photos © David B Smith

Curling Lighters: Part 2

I recently wrote about the wonderful variety of table lighters which the game of curling had spawned, see here. This second piece on the topic concerns a newer and more conventional design, namely the miniature curling stone. In these the body of the stone is generally turned from real stone. In the top has been cut a circular hole into which is fitted the actual lighter. As one would expect the common types of curling stone metal are used but a large proportion of those which I have seen are made from rare and uncommon rocks, which are difficult to identify and name.

I will briefly describe the lighters in the illustration. These are described from left to right and from top to bottom. Clicking on the image will open it at a much larger size in a new window.

1. Blue hone Ailsa Craig stone, made by The Scottish Curling Stone Co., Ltd. In its original cardboard box of Red Robertson tartan, appropriately for the company was part of The Robertson Group of companies. Lighter: made by Rolstar, England.

2. Blue hone Ailsa Craig stone, made by The Scottish Curling Stone Co., Ltd. In its original cardboard box of Red Robertson Tartan. Lighter: no maker’s name.

3. Pottery with green glaze, no maker’s name or mark. I wonder if it is by Rainbow Pottery, Ingleside, Canada, a company which made, inter alia, pottery curling stones from ca. 1972 until 1990. Lighter: made by Ronson, Woodbridge, N.J., U.S.A.

4. Granite, perhaps from Aberdeenshire, no maker’s name or mark. Lighter: made by HB., West Germany.

5. Basalt (?), no maker’s name or mark. Lighter: made by HB., West Germany.

6. Trevor microgranite, North Wales, no maker’s name or mark. Lighter: made by Rolstar, England.

7. Unidentified stone, no maker’s mark or name. Lighter: Ronson, made in England.

8. Schist (?), no maker’s name or mark. Lighter: made by HB, West Germany.

Six of the stones have striking bands. Nos. 3 and 7 do not.

Since it is unlikely that table cigarette lighters in the form of a curling stone - or anything else - will ever be made again, it may be that this is an area for the curling collector who wishes to collect not just for the love of the game but for investment!

David B. Smith.

Curling Memorabilia on Flog It

BBC's Flog It programme broadcast a segment in 2005 with presenter Paul Martin being shown some of David B Smith's collection of curling memorabilia. Click here, or on the image above, to watch. The YouTube clip is around six minutes only.

The screenshot shows David explaining to Paul what a loofie is!

Curling Lighters: Part 1

The Table Lighter

In its heyday the custom of smoking was all-pervasive. For many a decade no film star could be photographed without a lit cigarette between first and second fingers.

The paraphernalia and accoutrements which served this habit were legion; and often they were decorated with emblems of the many sports and pastimes enjoyed by smokers.

Not least of these was the cigarette lighter. Even the comparatively humble pocket lighter was often embellished with the picture of a curler - to gladden the curler’s eye.

More impressive, however, was the table lighter, too large for the pocket, and designed to be handed, or slid, around the dining, or, perhaps, the club table.

The picture above displays five of these from my collection. (The punchbowl and the curling stone merely form an appropriate background.)

The oldest is the second from the left. It is of a fairly common design in silver plate, THE emblem of the game, the stone, held aloft on a trio of brooms and crampets. What is unusual about this design is the three little knobs which protrude from the top of the stone. One of them is different from the others in that it appears to have a sort of wick just emerging from a hole at its top. All three can be removed from the top of the stone. When the top of the stone itself is removed all is clear. The body of the stone is a receptacle for oil of some sort, the wick dangles into the oil; it can be lit when the stone is closed and left burning 'on the peep'; the other two contain at their inner ends enough fibrous material to hold some of the oil; when removed from the top of stone and applied to the burning wick they ignite and can be used to convey fire to the smoker’s cigarette or cigar. This is the only example of this type of light that I have ever seen.

The most recent is the rectangular dark blue plastic model with elegant depiction of house, broom and stone. It is a Ronson SociaLite, made in Canada.





Second from the right is a fairly sturdy model about which little needs to said except that they appear to be offered for sale on the internet quite commonly.





The remaining two are variants of the same design. The metal castings of the curler in the act of delivering his stone are very similar but in one he is enclosed in a hollow tube of transparent plastic and in the other he is engulfed in a solid lump of it. These two, which were made in Japan, still have attached to them the small label which no doubt enabled the traveller to do his best sales pitch to his tobacconist customers.

David D Smith.

Played in Glasgow

The Curling History Blog's guru, and my good friend, David Smith, has been ill for some months. I welcome his return to health with this contribution, the first in a while, in the form of a book review.

Played in Glasgow, Charting the heritage of a city at play, by Ged O’Brien, pp. 228, Malavan Media, £14.99.

This is the tenth and latest in a series of books designed to celebrate the sporting heritage of our country. The importance of the series is vouched by the sponsorship of the series by Historic Scotland for this volume and English Heritage for the previous volumes which all dealt with aspects of English sporting history.

The coverage is encyclopaedic, both in terms of time and variety of sports. A feature of the series is the richness of the pictorial material.

The blurb includes this; “…until now there has been little work on the architectural heritage of British sport and recreation; on the pavilions and clubhouses, the greens, the grounds and the grandstands, the parks, pools, and lidos that form such an integral part of our urban landscape and, whether we play or not, watch or not, our cultural identity too.”

The first seven chapters deal with the history of sport generally in the city of Glasgow and thereafter more particularly in relation to distinct portions of the city, like the East End, Glasgow Green, Queen’s Park, Jordanhill and Anniesland. In each of these chapters there are successions of pictures showing the evolution of stadiums, such as Celtic Park, and of bowling greens and clubhouses.

Chapters 8 to 15 cover specific sports, such as golf, bowls, ice sports, cricket, football, greyhounds and speedway, swimming, and doocots. In relation to each sport there is a profusion of pictures, old and modern. The book is a veritable treasure house of sporting material.

The curler, of course, will look to see how his favourite game is handled. The chapter on Ice Sports contains fourteen pages, largely devoted to curling. A very evocative portion of the text and pictures tells the story of Partick Curling Club, and illustrates this with modern pictures of the club’s curling house and tarmac rink in Victoria Park, Glasgow, which were in use in January this year. No doubt it is preferable to be able to plan and execute a whole season’s curling in an indoor ice rink than to be dependent on the fickleness of John Frost, but these pictures will help to show that we have lost something.

The first building in which curling in Scotland was played indoors on machine-made ice was the spectacular circular, domed, Glasgow Real Ice Skating Palace, situated in Sauchiehall Street directly below the present School of Art. In 1896 a few games were played on the small, circular ice pad. This precursor of modern curling is illustrated by a fine engraving and an architect’s plan.

This is a marvellous book. What a pity that for whatever reason the publishers have chosen to send it forth without an index.

David B Smith.

Previous blog posts here and here are relevant.

Archibald, Earl of Eglinton

When Archibald, 13th Earl of Eglinton, died in 1861 at the early age of forty nine he was, according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 'the most popular nobleman in Scotland', while Disraeli described him as 'the most honest man, and the most straightforward, I ever dealt with'.

He had been active in politics and on the turf. Today he is probably best remembered for his extravagant medieval tournament in 1839, but his legacy to the sport of his native land is more significant.

As a founder of Prestwick Golf Club and its first captain in 1851 he was one of those instrumental in causing the famous golfer Tom Morris to move to the west from St Andrews as golf professional, and later in establishing The Open Championship.

Curlers remember him as an enthusiastic supporter and player of the game. When the Grand Caledonian Curling Club met in Kilmarnock in October 1841 the youthful earl thus addressed the meeting: "…there can be no doubt that there is no curler present who has sent his stone gliding through a port, which, at the distance of the rink, seemed almost impassable - or who has delicately cracked an egg on a stone… - or who has, perhaps, performed a glorious in-wick… - or who has planted his stone on the tee, the all-important stone upon which the success of his party depended - and who has enjoyed the rapturous applause with which such feats have been greeted by his fellow-players, there is not a person present I dare say, who has done and seen all this , who will not engage in the game with pleasure… Who that has passed the day at that game , or enjoyed the glories of in-wicking and out-wicking that does not rejoice that he was born a Scotsman; and glad to think that he is not like the poor shivering wretches of other countries, who know not how to pass the frosty season of the year, and the tedious hours of winter!"

And then the company elected him President for the ensuing year.

This speech is eloquent testimony to the earl’s love of the game and of his warm patriotism.

Two paintings by the famous painter, Charles Lees, R.S.A., celebrate these two games which were such significant parts of his life. In each the earl is shown as a keen votary of the game.

The earlier is the famous The Golfers A Grand Match Played on St Andrews Links 1841, which now belongs to the nation, having been bought by the National Galleries of Scotland in 2002.

The second is the slightly later Grand Match, North versus South, of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, at Linlithgow. This painting, of course, belongs to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.

In each of the pictures the earl appears - taking a keen interest in the proceedings - though in neither is he in an ostentatious position.

Last week Bonhams, the famous auctioneers, at a sale of Sporting Memorabilia in Chester, sold a preliminary sketch of our earl in oils on paper done for the golf picture. Such is the fame of the artist and the subject that the price achieved, including buyer’s premium, was £10,920.

The sketch is reproduced by kind permission of Bonhams 1793 Ltd.

David B Smith.

The Diamond Jubilee Painting

As the Royal Caledonian Curling Club’s diamond jubilee approached in 1898 much thought was given as to how to celebrate the important event.

The main idea for the jubilee had been a brief history of the club. In the hands of the indefatigable chaplain, the Rev. John Kerr, this project blossomed; and instead of a brief sketch there appeared in 1890 the most comprehensive account of the history of, and enthusiastic celebration of every aspect of 'Scotland’s Ain Game' – a work that has never been surpassed.

The idea that bore fruit in 1898 was a companion painting to Charles Lees’s most loved picture, The Grand Match of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club at Linlithgow, which had been created fifty years before. The plan was not to represent an actual Grand Match but to portray the general scene at the Royal Club’s own pond at Carsebreck and to include a comprehensive selection of the curling notables of the day.

The painter, Charles Martin Hardie, RSA, (1858-1916), himself a curler, was selected for the task, but when the true magnitude of the expense involved became clear, and it appeared that the Royal Club’s resources could not meet it, it was the Club’s worthy former president, Sir James Gibson-Craig, convener of the 'selection committee', who commissioned the picture and became its first owner.

(You can see a representation of the painting online here.)

Since the idea was that the picture was to be representative and not personal the decision as to who should be included was the subject of much consultation.

The Annual for 1899-90 contains a long and detailed account of the process by which particular curlers appeared in the finished work.

“From the foregoing summary [the editor writes] it will be seen that, with a very few exceptions where special circumstances have to be considered, to gain a place in the picture a curler had either to have held the highest honour the RCCC can confer, the presidency, or to be the selected represen­tative of his district, or of some club which has gained special honour in the curling world during the last few years. But though the selection has been made from a purely curling point of view, there is no game which can boast of such a list of men among its active votaries who have distinguished themselves in other paths of life as is to be found in this short leet of curlers.

The present government is strongly represented by the First Lord of the Treasury, the Secretary for Scotland, the Lord Chamberlain, and a Lord-in-Waiting, the last one by the Lord High Treasurer and First Com­missioner of Works. Colonial Government is represented by a Viceroy of India and Governors of Victoria and South Australia. Municipal government by the Lord Provost of Edinburgh and the Provost of Selkirk, County government by the Lord-Lieutenant of Dumfriesshire and the Conveners of Midlothian, Perthshire, and Fife. The Church by three out of the four Lord High Commissioners since 1868, by the chaplain and by the minister of Mouswald. The Press by a proprietor of the leading newspaper in Scotland. Agriculture by two presidents, nine vice-presidents, the treasurer and several directors of the Highland and Agricultural Society. As representatives of other sports we have the Master of the Renfrewshire Hounds and Captains of the Royal and Ancient and Prestwick Golf Clubs, while Sir Waldie Griffith and Mr. I'Anson represent the Turf. Those who have held or still hold commissions in the Army, Militia, or Volunteers, and members of County Council; Parish Councils, School Boards, etc., are too numerous to men­tion. The Committee consider they may he congratulated on the success of the selection, and anticipate that the picture and its engravings will be of interest not merely to curlers, but to all Scotsmen.”

The artistic work involved in the capturing of over sixty likenesses was immense. We are fortunate that some of Hardie’s preliminary work survives.

I have recently been fortunate enough to acquire his oil sketch (above) for Sir Mitchell Thomson, Lord Provost of Edinburgh and president of Craiglockhart Curling Club. It is intialled – in pencil on the canvas – and dated 10.2.99. It consists of a right-facing head and shoulders in just the attitude in which he appears in the painting. When he was painted he was in his fifty third year. He was Lord Provost from November 1897 until 1900 and at the conclusion of his term of office he was created a baronet. At the time of his death in 1918 his residence was No. 6 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, now known as Bute House, and the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland.

David B Smith.