Curling at the 1924 Olympics: Part 3 - The Astley Myth

by Bob Cowan

This is the third part of the story of curling's debut as an Olympic sport in Chamonix 1924. Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here.

[Note: There's a more recent update on the Astley story here.]

My reason for setting out to research curling's Olympic story was in part to ensure that the GB team members, Willie Jackson, Robin Welsh, Tom Murray and Laurence Jackson, receive the credit they deserve. However, it has been one of the reserves, Major D G Astley, who has become the most well known name in the GB squad. In this post I will try to unravel the myth that GB's Major D G Astley played for Sweden and thus won both silver and gold medals at the same Olympic event.

I have already mentioned the part that Herald journalist Doug Gillon played in ensuring the validity of the 1924 medals won by the GB curlers. In his article he notes, almost as an aside, "The major (ie Major D G Astley) ended up playing for the Swedes who overcame France in a play-off, finishing runners-up. So the major collected a bona fide Olympic silver, and if the IOC are correct, a gold one as well." But Doug got this completely wrong, I'm afraid to say.

I am guilty of helping disseminate this misinformation. In my Scottish Curler article of February 2006 about Doug's findings, I reprinted his assertions about Major Astley, without checking the facts at source. It's almost ten years later, and I'm only now in the position to set things straight.

Let's examine these two sentences in Doug's story, which have in the intervening years been accepted as 'fact'! I believe that the GB 'reserves' did not receive medals, so Astley would not have been awarded a gold medal or a winners' diploma, although, as I've said, I will be pleased to be proved wrong. And I can find no evidence there was ever a 'play-off' game between Sweden and France, see below.

But my biggest discovery has been that Astley has been wrongly identified as the GB squad member who might have played for Sweden!

How did this suggestion arise? There is an exchange reported in the Annual for 1924-25 from the Royal Club AGM which reads as follows:

Mr Henderson - Tell us if any of the members of this Olympic Team were members of the Swedish Team as well.
The Chairman - There was one member that I know of - myself.
Mr Henderson - No others?
The Chairman - There was only one member to my recollection, gentlemen, and that was myself.

What had led William Henderson of Lawton, who was, as we have seen, a critic of the Royal Club's Olympic involvement, to even ask this question? Who was 'The Chairman'? Why did the Chairman appear to be uncertain in remembering if any of the others in the GB squad had been 'members of the Swedish team'? Why would he say, 'to my recollection'?

The whole thing is very peculiar. However, we now can say with certainty that the Chairman of the meeting was John McLeod, NOT Major Astley. It was McLeod, another of the GB 'reserves', who admitted in the exchange above to 'being a member of the Swedish team'. Astley should never have been named in this regard.

This is John McLeod, in a photo which was included in the Royal Club Annual of 1923-24, because he was Vice-president of the Royal Club in the 1923-24 season. Did he really play for Sweden?

McLeod certainly had links to Swedish curling. He had captained the Scottish team that visited that country in 1920. At the AGM of the Royal Club on July 25 in the North British Hotel in Edinburgh, it was McLeod who proposed the motion that the Swedish Curling Union send a team of six curlers to Scotland in the winter of 1923-24. He had been one of those at the railway station to meet the Swedish team when they arrived at Edinburgh in December, 1923. His obituary, in the 1937-38 Annual, notes that he was a member of the Bridge of Weir CC (he was President in the 1908-09 and 1909-10 seasons) as well as 'several clubs in Sweden'. This last phrase sent to trawling through old Royal Club Annuals but I cannot find his name as a member of any of the clubs belonging to the Swedish Curling Union in the ten years after 1924-25, when the Annuals began to list their membership. Perhaps he would not be considered as a 'regular member' of any of these Swedish Clubs, and so not recorded in the returns sent to the Royal Club. Or perhaps his memberships date from before 1924, before the time when the Swedish membership lists were included in the Annuals.

At Chamonix, could McLeod really have played in either of the medal games for Sweden? It is unthinkable that he would play for the Swedish side in their game against his own countrymen. Might he have played against France, the first match to be played in the competition on Monday, January 28? He's not in the photo of that team shown in Part 2. The only reason that I can think of that he might have taken to the ice would have been if there had been an injury to one of the Swedish side during the game, and none of the other Swedish players were available, to substitute. But this is very unlikely, and surely would have been reported at the time.

This photo can be found on the IOC website in the gallery of photos from Chamonix 1924, here. It is captioned thus, "Chamonix 1924 - During the events. The Swedish team and the team of Great Britain (GBR)'. This caption is obviously not correct! None of the GB gold medal winning foursome are in the photo. And who is the mystery woman fourth from the left? Who else can be identified in this photo? Colonel Robertson-Aikman is second from the right, next to him is the Swedish skip, Johan Petter Ahlen. The other three of Ahlen's team look to be the three curlers on the left of the photo, i.e. Kronlund, Wahlberg, and Pettersson. Is that William Brown on the right of the photo? John McLeod is in the centre, on the mystery woman's left. That would make four Swedish players, three GB reserves, and a woman. Major Astley is the other GB reserve, and does not appear in this photo.

But perhaps the existence of this photo gives a clue to the mystery of the Scot who played for Sweden. It has always struck me that as only three matches were played, and the competition was over with still some days in hand before the closing ceremonies, there would have been the opportunity to have additional games. The photo above could have been a 'friendly' game, or an 'unofficial international challenge', or something of the sort. Perhaps John McLeod got an opportunity to turn out for Sweden in one of these unofficial games, after the serious business of the medals had been decided? Could that be why he admitted to being 'a member of the Swedish team'.

I shall be happy to hear alternative suggestions. Or proof!

The World Wide Web a great thing, but the problem is that wrong information can be promulgated just as quickly and extensively as correct information. The Astley story has been disseminated widely, and has come to be accepted as fact even in print, for example in Curling, Etcetera: A Whole Bunch of Stuff about the Roaring Game by Bob Weeks, published in 2008. I struggle to see how such misinformation can be rectified. Yes, Major Astley's reputation can be restored, but the problem remains why John McLeod admitted to having been a member of the Swedish team as well as of the GB squad. Perhaps the answer may well lie in archive material in the hands of Svenska Curlingforbundet, the Swedish Curling Association. For the moment the explanation remains tantalisingly out of reach!

[Note: There's a more recent update on this story here.]

Thanks go to John Brown, Hakan Sundstrom and David Smith for help and encouragement, and I am grateful for assistance from Royal Club staff at Cairnie House and at the National Library of Scotland. If anyone can supply any information to make this article more complete, please comment or contact me. If I have made any errors, please point these out. Thanks. Bob.

The mystery of the Traquair painting

by Bob Cowan

You don't need an excuse to visit Traquair House, near Innerleithen, as 'Scotland's Oldest Inhabited House' is full of treasures, see here. There's also something at Traquair which is of fundamental interest and importance to the history of curling!

My puzzled expression is real, as I study a painting just inside the main door of the house. In fact I have returned to Traquair many times over some forty years, not just to look at this painting of course, but it has always been one reason to visit. You see, the painting shows the sport of curling, but the mystery is, who painted it, and when and where is the action taking place?

Back in 1981 David B Smith included a black and white image of the painting in his book Curling: an illustrated history. He described it as 'primitive, but accurately observed' and said, 'The landscape looks Scottish enough although the bridge does not.'

You now have the opportunity to form your own opinion of the painting. It has been put on the BBC's Your Paintings website, and is now available for everyone to look at and study. You will find it here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/curling-208735
Click on the image to bring it to full size on your screen.

The Your Paintings website simply calls it 'Curling', and attributes it to the Dutch School, painted around 1700. It is oil on panel and measures 55.7 x 97.9 cm.

The artist is not known, nor is it known when the painting came to Traquair. Perhaps one day the house archives might reveal this information.

The Traquair archives do reveal one eighteenth century reference to the sport. Mary Ravenscroft, the wife of Charles Stuart, 7th Earl of Traquair, has an entry in her diary, written around 1783. She says, "Lord Traquair about 12 o’clock went to the Curling at Grieston Loch came home about 4 o’clock." Grieston Tower is just to the north west of Traquair House, near Howford. Some ninety years later curling was still being played at Howford - Howford Pond is marked on the Historical Curling Places map, a match between Innerleithen and Traquair being reported in the Scotsman, on February 13, 1873.

But there is no suggestion that the painting is a representation of the game being played at Traquair, or nearby. It is not certain that the scene is really Scottish. You see, there has always been a bit of an argument whether the sport of curling actually originated in Scotland or in the Low Countries of Europe. No 'old curling stones' have been uncovered to my knowledge in the Low Countries, although there is certainly evidence that some form of target ice sport was played in what is now the Netherlands and Belgium.

Such evidence comes from four sixteenth century paintings and one engraving from the early seventeenth century which show a game being played on European ice. These are:

(1) 'Hunters in the snow' by Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, painted in 1565. The original can be seen at the Kunsthistorisches museum in Vienna, online here. But there are lot of images of this painting online, see here.

(2) 'A winter landscape with skaters and a bird trap' is also by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and also painted in 1565. An original is in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, see it online here. But a version of the painting can be seen in Scotland, at the National Trust of Scotland property, Hill of Tarvit.

(3) 'Winter' by Jacob Grimmer. There is what looks like a curling game in progress in the rear of this painting, see here. Some thirty years ago this painting was at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest - a colleague visited the museum and brought me back a poster print! Grimmer lived c1526–1590, and lived in Antwerp, which is thought to be the location shown in 'Winter'. W H Murray included this painting among the illustrations in his book, The Curling Companion, published in 1981.

(4) 'The Flight into Egypt' by Gillis Mostaert (the elder). Mostaert was a landscape painter, and a colleague of Jacob Grimmer. He lived c1534-1598 and, like Grimmer, also worked in Antwerp. This painting then also dates from the sixteenth century. It was exhibited for sale in a London gallery in 1972. It is not known if it was purchased then, and its location now is also not known. It is oil on canvas, and quite large (123 x 145 cm). I can find no image of this painting online. Note that there are other paintings with similar titles by the same artist, and by others, none of which show a 'curling' scene. But the painting exhibited for sale in 1972 showed six figures engaged in a game on a frozen canal where objects are being thrown over the ice. These objects are flat, with handles sticking almost straight up, the scene not unlike that in (2) above.

(5) David B Smith included a most revealing image in his book Curling: an illustrated history. He credits the discovery of this image to A M Meyerman, then the director of the Historisch Museum, Rotterdam. It is described as 'an engraving by C van Wieringen (1580-1635), called 'Hyems' (Winter) after a painting by C. van Baudous'. I looked in vain for any mention of this engraving online, or indeed for any mention of a van Baudous painting. I eventually concluded that the information in David's book is incorrect, and I suspect some mistranscription may have occurred between receiving the information from Rotterdam, and when it was finally included in the book.

I little bit of detective work has revealed the correct attribution for the engraving. The above detail is from an engraving by Robert Willemsz de Baudhous. There are many examples of his work in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, including 'Winter', from which the detail above is taken and which can be seen online here.

The British Museum also has a copy of the print, see here. Robert de Baudous is described on this website as a Dutch engraver and publisher who lived c1574 to 1659. In 1591 he was working in Amsterdam. 'Winter' is one of a series titled, 'The Four Seasons'.

The British Museum describes the print as, 'Riverscape with several figures ice-skating and playing curling on a frozen river at centre, two men carrying a sledge in lower right corner, city-walls beyond, three others trying to fetch a ball from a thawed section of the river in lower left corner, large icebound sailing vessels and other figures in background; after Cornelis Claesz van Wieringen. c.1613-1618.'

There may well be an original painting by Cornelis Claesz van Wieringen in a private collection somewhere, on which this engraving is based. Or the original painting may have been lost.

It is interesting that whoever wrote the description for the British Museum had no hesitation in calling the game being played on the ice as 'curling', even though it is most definitely not curling as we know it. The 'stones' are flat discs of wood with handles sticking straight up, not unlike the stocks used in ice stock sport or eisstockschiessen (sometimes called Bavarian curling) and still played today, see video here, or go to the website of the International Federation Icestocksport, here. I was interested to read the Wikipedia entry for ice stock sport (here) which says 'the first proof of ice stock sport being practised stems from a 16th-century painting by Dutch painter Pieter Breughel'!

Note that in the de Baudhous engraving (above) the player on the right is cleaning the bottom of his wooden disc with a broom.

Perhaps a student of sports history in the Netherlands may be able to suggest what this game was called in the early seventeenth century. One suggestion has been that it was called 'krulbollen'. This is a game still played today, see here, and, although it is fascinating to think what might be done with curling stones during the summer months, is not the sport depicted in the engraving!

The Traquair painting, which is probably a hundred years later in date than the de Baudhous engraving, represents the Scottish sport of curling as we might imagine it being played in the eighteenth century. One can say a fair bit about the 'stones' that are depicted, always remembering of course that paintings are not photographs!

I have taken the liberty of clipping and reproducing part of the Traquair painting that catches my attention. Look at the stones. They are NOT regular in size or shape. The one on the left is smaller than that behind it. And the one in the foreground is not even round! But these are certainly stones, not wooden discs. The stones in the painting are 'channel stanes', a step in the evolution of the modern stones which are used in the game today. 

This collection of channel stanes is to be found at Blair Castle in Perthshire. Some are round, others of irregular shape. Channel stanes, as the name suggests, were simply boulders of diverse size and shape found in burns and rivers to which a handle was attached. David Affleck has published an image of a channel stane from East Lothian here. They have been found all over Scotland.

These stones superseded 'loofies' which were the first curling stones, without handles, with just indentations made in the stone for fingers and thumb. 'Channel stanes' were in use in Scotland from, say c1600, up to the end of the eighteenth century at which time the mason began to turn his hand to producing circular stones. So, the stones in the painting would certainly be compatible with a date c1700.

I believe that much more might be learned about the Traquair painting were it to be examined by an art historian, an expert in the 'Dutch School'. Perhaps too an expert in eighteenth century fashion might be able to say something about the dress being worn by the game's participants. Is the dress Scottish, or not?

Is this painting the earliest representation of the sport of curling in Scotland? Currently, the earliest documented painting of a Scottish curling scene is 'Curlers at Canonmills Loch, Edinburgh' which was painted by David Allan. It was reproduced in David B Smith's book, Curling: an illustrated history. Allan lived from 1744 to 1796, and so this painting is from before this latter date. It is owned by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. It is currently stored in a climate controlled environment and is set to undergo some restoration.

Again, the Traquair painting is online here. If anyone can answer the questions I've posed, or add to the debate, please get in touch.

As I indicated at the top of this post, there are lots of reasons to visit Traquair House. But for those interested in the history of curling, a visit to study the Traquair painting in person will be even more rewarding that looking at the online image!

Images by Bob Cowan except as indicated.

'Crawfordjohns'

by Bob Cowan

These curling stones, which date from the late nineteenth century, are a pair of 'Crawfordjohns'. In an article for the Scottish Curler in March 2008 (modified for the Curling History Blog, and put online here), David Smith elaborated 'Some facts about old stones'. In the days before indoor rinks supplied matched stones, if you wanted to go curling, you had to own your own pair. In that article David listed the names of companies which manufactured curling stones, some retailers, and the variety of types of stone from which curling stones were made. Not all curling stones came from Ailsa Craig!

A lot is known about the quarrying operations on Ailsa Craig, whose stone is still used in the manufacture of stones by Kays of Scotland at their factory in Mauchline. Just recently more stone was harvested from the island, see here. Less is known about other sources of named stones back, say, in 1900 when curling stone manufacture was at its height with seven companies advertising their wares. I have always liked 'Crawfordjohns' - their distinctive black crystalline appearance making them easy to identify.

This is a closeup photograph of the surface of a polished 'Crawfordjohn' stone. The stone is distinctive, and really cannot be confused with any other curling stone types of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It comes from Craighead, in Crawfordjohn Parish. This distinctive stone is an Olivine Monzogabbro, commonly known as 'Essexite', the name coming from the location of a similar rock in Essex County, Massachusetts, USA. I have never studied geology, and this article from the Imperial College Rock Library took me to places I've not been before! However, the cross polarized image of the stone is beautiful to view, and I know now that there is a branch of science called 'petrogenesis', which deals with the origin of igneous rocks.

Craighead quarry is a very obvious scar on the north slope of Craighead Hill, on the small road that leads from the B7078 near Abington, signposted to Crawfordjohn village.

Recently I visited the Crawfordjohn Heritage Venture and I discovered that only a little was known about Craighead quarry and its association with curling stones. Where were the distinctive curling stones made, and by whom? This post attempts to answer these questions, and provides other information such as when such stones were first offered for sale, and how they performed in comparison to those obtained from Ailsa Craig.

The British Newspaper Archive is a wonderful research resource! Here are three advertisements which show 'Crawfordjohn' stones for sale over the years.

Advertisements of Crawfordjohn stones for sale begin to appear in the 1850s. Here is an ad from the Dundee, Perth, and Cupar Advertiser in 1858.

I am sure that most curlers who now curl in Scotland's capital city have no idea that Edinburgh once had a 'Curling Stone Depot'. This seems to have been a diversification venture by James Clark, Wine Merchant. Crawfordjohn stones are first to be listed in this advert above, from the Edinburgh Evening News in 1874.

In 1897, a monumental sculptor in Dundee was advertising 'Crawfordjohns' in the Evening Telegraph, 'Guaranteed Two Seasons'!

The main curling stone makers advertised in the Annual of the Royal Caledonian Club. Some of these adverts listed the various sources from which curling stones were obtained. Others did not. In the Annual for 1892-93, D R Gordon, Curling Stone Manufacturer, of Bathgate, advertised both 'Crawfordjohns' and Ailsa Craigs. In the same year, David Beveridge, Curling Stone Manufacturer, of Perth, advertised the sale of 'Crawfordjohn' stones alongside "Red Hone Ailsa, Common Ailsa, Burnock Water, Muthill, etc. etc." 'Crawfordjohns' were highlighted: 'A Special Lot', highly polished, and guaranteed for Two Seasons.'

Note that both Fairweather and Beveridge made mention of a two year guarantee for 'Crawfordjohns'. Did this imply that there was some doubt about the quality of the stone and that there was need of such a guarantee? Or that the stone was of such high quality that it could be guaranteed, whereas stones from other places could not be?  

As late as December 1912, George Stephen and Son of Dundee was advertising 'Crawfordjohn' stones for sale in the Dundee Courier.

Adverts by Thomas Thorburn of Beith describe the company as the 'Largest, Cheapest, and Best' manufacturer of stones. David B Smith, in his book, Curling: An Illustrated History says that Thorburn's factory in Ayrshire was within easy reach of all the favoured sources of the raw material, such as Ailsa Craig, Crawfordjohn and Burnock Water. Thorburn's adverts don't mention 'Crawfordjohns' specifically, but this is not to say that such stones were not made by that company.

The oldest (named) curling stone manufacturer is Andrew Cowan of Barbieston. Cowan's business book, which extends from 1865 to 1889, has survived, and although it notes the purchase of blocks of Ailsa Craig, Burnock Water and Carsphairn, there is no mention or 'Crawfordjohn' or Craighead.

The 'blocks' of stone referred to above represent the earliest stage in the manufacture of curling stones. These roughly hewn cylindrical blocks were shaped in the quarry and sent on to the curling stone manufacturer. There's a photo of this being carried out on Ailsa Craig here. These blocks are often referred to as 'cheeses'. The blocks are then shaped and polished.

I have not (yet) come across a Craighead 'cheese'. More research needs to be done to ascertain where the final stages in the manufacture of 'Crawfordjohn' stones was carried out.

'Crawfordjohn' curling stones are so-called because the stone was found at Craighead, which is in Crawfordjohn Parish. Stones were finished from Craighead blocks as far afield as Bathgate and Perth (as mentioned above), and perhaps at other places. There is no evidence that this process occurred near Craighead quarry itself, nor in Crawfordjohn village.

David Smith has in his collection this early, single-soled stone, which is clearly a 'Crawfordjohn' stone. It dates from the first half of the nineteenth century. This is not necessarily to say that this early stone was made from rock quarried at Craighead. It may have been made from a boulder found on the surface around Craighead, or even in the nearby Duneaton Water. Boulders, rather than quarried rock, made for the best curling stones, see below. In A History of the Old Parishes of the Upper Clyde, compiled by William A Fleming, the author suggests that Craighead is so named because of 'a remarkable craig or rock which overhung the Duneaton Water there but has now been undermined, quarried, or carried away.'

A few years ago, I climbed up Craighead Hill and took this photo of a vein of Essexite just appearing at the surface. I wondered then just who it was that first realised that the stone poking through the grass on the slopes of Craighead Hill would be worth quarrying for curling stones? Of course, if curling stones were already being made from boulders found locally, it is perhaps not surprising that someone might have been looking from where these boulders had come, and from where more such stone might be obtained by quarrying.

It is possible to put a name to that 'someone'! Census records in 1841 show that Thomas Milligan (35) with his wife Ann (35), son William (6) and twins Andrew and Robert (2) were living near Craighead. Thomas was an 'agricultural labourer'. Ten years later Thomas and his family, now including Elizabeth (9), Agnes (7) and Jessy (3) were living at Craighead Cottage. Thomas described himself as a 'stone quarrier', and William, now 16, was similarly identified. William died ten years later, just before the next census, aged just 26. In 1861, Thomas was a 'quarryman - stone'.

Craighead Cottage can be found on old OS 6 inch maps. The image above is a composite - the cottage and the main quarry are on different maps. These maps were surveyed in 1858 and 1859, and can be found online at the National Library of Scotland's maps website here. In the late 1850s the quarry on the hill (to the south east of the cottage, and shown in the photos above and below) was very small. In later maps, it can be seen clearly that this quarry has increased in size, and two other quarries on the hillside can now be identified. But what was taken from the quarry marked just north of the cottage on the map above is uncertain. Just a trace of that quarry can be seen on the ground today.

The trees on the right of this photo indicate where Craighead Cottage once stood. It seems to have been demolished in the 1960s.

Thomas Milligan died in 1862. His widow, Ann, remained at Craighead Cottage. The Dumfries and Galloway Standard of January 3, 1866, recorded the marriage of son Robert Milligan (curling-stone maker, Craighead) to Mary Shankie, at West Port, Lanark, on December 29, 1865, and the pair were living with Ann at Craighead in 1871.

Robert's brother Andrew also found a wife, Grace, from Tongue, in Sutherland. They were living in 1871 at Bridgend, just north of Craighead Cottage, on the main Carlisle to Glasgow road where it bridged the Duneaton Water. Andrew is described as a 'labourer'.

The Post Office Directory in 1878 has an entry for Andrew and Robert Milligan, curling stone manufacturers, Craighead Quarry, near Abington.

It would seem that sometime in the 1870s the two brothers and their families made a 'house swap'.

In 1881, Andrew, aged 42, was now living at Craighead Cottage with Grace and their five children. The census records describe him as a 'curling stone maker'. His mother Ann (77) was also still living at Craighead and was described as a 'curling stone maker's widow'. Robert and Mary were now at Bridgend. Robert is a 'general labourer'.

Andrew and Robert Milligan carried on the quarrying of rock at Craighead to make curling stones for the next twenty years or so. Andrew is listed as a 'curling stone maker' at Craighead Cottage in the census records of 1891 and 1901. He died in 1902. Robert outlived his brother and is listed in the census records at Bridgend in 1901 and 1911 as a 'curling stone maker'. He died in 1918.

Thomas Milligan is buried in the graveyard of Crawfordjohn Parish Church, now the home to the Crawfordjohn Heritage Venture. The headstone says, "Erected in memory of Thomas Milligan, Craighead Cottage, who died 5th Feby, 1862, aged 53. Ann Campbell his wife who died 5th May 1887 aged 83 years. Elisabeth their daughter who died 10th August 1855 aged 14 years. William their son died 10th Decr 1860 aged 26 years. Barbara Marchbanks wife of William who died 20th Oct 1861 aged 24 years."

Andrew and Robert Milligan are buried nearby. Andrew's headstone says, "Erected by Andrew Milligan, Craighead Cottage, in memory of his daughter Elisabeth who died 11 Feb 1880 aged 8 yr, son Archibald Edward Robertson, died 16 Jan 1895 aged 21 yr, the above Andrew Milligan died 12 March 1902 aged 63. Also Grace Roberson his widow died at Netherlee, 25 Jan 1919, aged 74."

Robert's headstone is inscribed, "Erected by Robert Milligan in memory of Mary Shankley, his wife, who died at Duneaton Bridge, 1st May, 1913, aged 73 years. The above Robert Milligan, died 4th May, 1918, aged 78 years. Jane their daughter died at Innerleithen 27th Oct 1928 aged 59 years. Ann their daughter wife of John Davis died Sheffield 14th Aug 1934. Also Mary daughter of the above Robert and Mary Milligan died at Buxton 9th Aug 1964 aged 91 years interred Chinley Chapel, Derbyshire 12th August 1964."

The Milligan family then is synonymous with the quarrying of the stone from which so many 'Crawfordjohn' curling stones were made.

It should be emphasized that even though various members of the family were described as 'curling stone makers' this does not imply that they produced completed curling stones. It is more likely that they supplied just the crude blocks which were finished by others, elsewhere in the country.

There is one other name that is associated with the making of curling stones. John Stevenson is mentioned in the curling exhibit at the Crawfordjohn Heritage Venture. In the census records for 1891 John Stevenson is aged 26, and listed as 'stonebreaker '. In 1901, he is 35, unmarried, and is now working as a 'road metal contractor'. William Fleming, in his book about Crawfordjohn Parish (mentioned above), notes that John Stevenson worked the whinstone quarry at Crofthead producing whinstone chips for the road. Fleming writes, "He made fine curling stones using only a chisel and mallet, the finished product being highly polished." Crofthead is to the south west of Crawfordjohn village, and some distance from Craighead. Whether Stevenson made stones from Craighead rock, rather than the local whinstone, is not known.

So, how well did 'Crawfordjohn' stones perform on the ice?

James Taylor in Curling: An Ancient Scottish Game (2nd edition, 1887) quotes from James Brown's History of the Sanquar Curling Society which contains information on which curling stones had been used at different times by that club. This refers to the stones as 'Craigheads' from near the village of Crawfordjohn, rather than as 'Crawfordjohns' which was the name adopted later. "Craigheads are likewise good stones. Their peculiar excellence is the property they have of being very keen on soft ice and in water. A great drawback to their general adoption is their great brittleness. Some do stand well, and any curler is fortunate who has a pair of that sort; but as a rule they are easily broken."

The Reverend John Kerr includes a chapter on 'The science of curling' in his book, History of Curling; and fifty years of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, published in 1890. Examples of different types of stone were submitted to Professor Forster-Heddle, an eminent geologist, for his assessment of how good curling stones could be made from the material. In 'adjudicating relative total merits', Forster-Heddle rated the stone in this table:

It is interesting that the Forster-Heddle makes the point that curling stones made from boulders (rounded by ice, or weathered on the surface) are better than those made from quarried stone.

Kerr, incidentally, had earlier written about his own preference in curling stones in his chapter 'Curling' in The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes: Skating, Figure-skating, Curling etc, 1892. Kerr writes, "Personally, we prefer Burnock Water to any other, and accordingly have always played with that variety of stone. We have also the testimony of many brethren of the rink in its favour. A great many Scottish curlers, however, unhesitatingly give first place to the Crawfordjohn variety. As a true stone, it is certainly worthy of highest praise. If it can be secured as a boulder or kernel, and got into shape, it is perhaps of all stones the best, and its beauty is undeniable. But blocked in the quarry as it generally is, it is more liable to break than Burnock, and the stone-makers have so many 'failures' in grinding this particular kind of stone that it does not 'pay' them to work it."

Bertram Smith, in The 'Shilling' Curler published around 1912, describes the merits of various stone types. He says, "The Crawfordjohn. This stone is rapidly becoming scarce. It is like the Burnock Water, but of a mottled 'plum-pudding' appearance and not quite so heavy. It has been found, especially in severe frost, somewhat liable to crack. But it is nevertheless a beautiful and sympathetic stone."

There's further evidence that 'Crawfordjohns' ran well when conditions were poor. Even though new stones were no longer being made, 'Crawfordjohn' stones remained in use on outside ice through the twentieth century (and indeed still may be seen today when the opportunity to play on natural ice arises). The Grand Match in 1929 was played under difficult conditions. The ice was soft, sleet had fallen overnight, some rinks were inches deep in water, and others rinks had to be marked a second time towards the end of the game, so soft had the ice surface become! It was reported in the Dundee Courier of Wednesday, January 30, 1929, "During a pause in the game some old curlers discussed the relative merits of Crawfordjohns, Ailsa Craigs Red and Grey Hones, and other technical points, and some said that those using Crawfordjohns were having the best of the luck as these were best on dull ice. The Ailsa Craig, it appears, has few rivals on keen ice."

Others commented on the scarcity of the stone in the early years of the twentieth century. In the Pictorial Guide to Upper Clydesdale, published in 1907, George Haddow writes, "For several years these stones have not been much in evidence in the market. There has always been a steady demand for them but it is asserted that the manufacturers had difficulty in making them to sell at a remunerative price because of the large percentage of waste. It is quite admitted by competent judges that the real Craighead stone is not inferior to the popular Ailsa, and it is to be hoped that the new lessees of the quarry are doing all in their power to secure on a lasting basis the prestige of Crawfordjohns."

In 1910, Craighead quarry was let to Messrs Anderson and Sons for £13 per annum. There is no evidence to suggest that stone from the quarry was supplied to make curling stones beyond this time, although it was certainly used as road metal and even for house walls. Craighead ceased to be a working quarry sometime in the first quarter of the twentieth century, and has been abandoned for many years.

What remains to be seen today?

The main quarry is really much larger than it looks from the roadside. Such is the size of the 'hole', it is quite apparent that the rock removed from the quarry was used for purposes other than just for curling stones!

Here and there is still evidence of the 'Crawfordjohn' stone.

However, further up on the hillside is a smaller quarry with a large heap of spoil all with the classic appearance of the 'Crawfordjohn' curling stone. On seeing these small blocks I did wonder if they could be used to make 'wee curling stones' ie small curling stone replicas, as paperweights or trophies.

I was not the first to think of this idea! Here is a 'wee stone' from the David B Smith collection, made from Craighead rock. (That's a £2 coin to give size.) The handle is engraved:

"Mrs A C Young's Prize

Murren

2nd Feb 1912

Won by

A B Hepburn"

My thanks go to the volunteers at the Crawfordjohn Heritage Centre for much help in my research for this post, and to my co-blogger David Smith for his encouragement and for allowing me to photograph items from his collection. The photographs of Craighead Quarry are my own. Please contact me if you have any further information on the topic.

Original version of this post was updated on September 30, 2013.

The Prisoners of War who curled in Oflag IX A/H

by Bob Cowan

Many years ago, when I first heard the story that WW2 prisoners of war had been sent curling stones so that they could play during their captivity, I was somewhat skeptical. But in 2007 I decided to follow it up, and contacted the National Ex-Prisoner of War Association, who distributed my query for more information. A couple of years later a response was posted in the 'guest book' from family of Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel) R K Montgomery to say he remembered that some POWs in Oflag IX A/H in 1943 and 1944 'flooded the dry moat and then it froze so that they could go curling on the moat. It was a popular pastime'.

The story stayed in the back of my mind until recently when Ian Seath brought to my attention the above photo, captioned 'Curling Match at Oflag IX A/H'! The photo had been used as part of an AV display in the historical curling exhibition in Thomson's Tower at Duddingston, see here. I also found that a book containing information about Oflag IX A/H had been published in 2012, written by Peter Green, who had also made available online the names of some of the POWs who had been in the camp towards the end of the war. I decided to piece together all that I could find about the curling and the curlers in this German POW camp for a post on the Curling History blog. (There's more about the photograph and the book below.) 

The story should probably begin with the history of the 51st Highland Division. After serving with distinction in the first World War, the Division was mobilised again in 1939 for deployment to France in January 1940 as part of the British Expeditionary Force. After the initial operations, as the BEF retired on Dunkirk, the Division formed a defensive perimeter around Saint-Valery-en-Caux. In what is described as 'its darkest chapter', the Division was isolated, hoping to be embarked by sea as at Dunkirk. But this was not to happen, the Division was eventually forced to surrender on June 12, 1940, and some 10,000 officers and men became POWs for the duration of the war. The division commander was Major General Victor Fortune. There is a photograph of him beside Erwin Rommel on this page of the official website of the 51st Division describing the events leading up to the surrender at Saint-Valery. General Fortune was one of the most senior British officers taken prisoner in World War II.

There's still lots of controversy about what happened at Saint-Valery, for example see here and here.

General Fortune, with some of the other Scottish officers, eventually found themselves in Oflag IX A/H in Germany. Oflag was an abbreviation for ‘Offizierslager’. This was a camp just for officers. The camp was in ‘Wehrkreis IX’ (military district 9), which explains the number. Oflag IX A/H was the senior camp at Spangenberg; the ‘H’ being an abbreviation for 'Hauptlager' or main camp. To complicate matters a little, there was an 'upper camp' in Schloss Spangenberg, a thirteenth century castle overlooking the town, and a 'lower camp' in a converted farm in the village of Elbersdorf, close to Spangenberg. A few miles further south at Rotenburg an der Fulda, was Oflag IX A/Z. The ‘Z’ is an abbreviation for 'Zweiglager' or sub camp. Kassel in Hesse is the closest main centre to the camps.

It would have been some time in 1942 or early in 1943 when the Royal Caledonian Curling Club received a request from General Fortune for curling stones to be sent to the camp in Schloss Spangenberg. It is a little unclear just how his request for stones reached long-serving Royal Club Secretary Andrew Hamilton in Edinburgh. It would seem to have originated from Eleanor Fortune (who by this time was able to communicate with her husband in Oflag IX A/H) via Sir Colin MacRae of Feoilinn, who had been the Royal Club's President in 1935-36. He had service links with the 51st Highland Division in his past military career, and probably knew General Fortune well.

It should be said at this point that the officer prisoners of war were not required to work. It might seem that this would have made for an easy life, but boredom was a big problem they faced. That General Fortune was behind the request for curling stones to be sent to the camp as a way of relieving such boredom is certainly in line with what is known of the man, according to his daughter-in-law Susan Fortune who, in reminiscences recorded in 2001 (see here) said “He did a tremendous amount for the prisoners of war, writing and making sure they had everything they should have, and so on. He was knighted because of his work for them. The prisoners had all sorts of activities and sports. They had their own paper.”

Andrew Hamilton planned to procure eight pairs of stones and handles in Switzerland, and somehow get them to General Fortune in Germany. This was all organised with the help of Major K M Beaumont of London, a member of the St Moritz Curling Club (and author of Some Finer Points of Swiss Curling, published in 1935). Others involved were Maurice Graham CBE (also a member of the St Moritz Club), and Anton Badrutt of the Kulm Hotel, St Moritz, where curling in Switzerland had begun in 1880 and whose rinks had been home to the St Moritz CC ever since. It was Badrutt who arranged for the despatch of the stones by the International Red Cross Committee, with the involvement of a Mr Vidler, formerly assistant manager of the winter sports department of Thomas Cook and Son Ltd, who in 1942 was with of the Prisoners of War Department of the British Red Cross Society.

Between the wars there were many Swiss resorts which offered the opportunity to curl during the winter months. The Annual of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club for 1937-38 lists thirty-nine affiliated curling clubs, many of whose members were British who could afford a winter trip to curl and take part in competitions. Six of these clubs were in St Moritz where at least three hotels maintained their own outside curling rinks. This activity, at least that which involved visitors, ceased during the war years of course, and one assumes that there were a fair number of curling stones 'in store' during that time. Whether the stones obtained at St Moritz had to be purchased, or were a gift, is not known.

It seems to me quite remarkable that Andrew Hamilton's plan succeeded! At the Annual General meeting of the Royal Club held in the North British Station Hotel, Edinburgh, on Wednesday, July 28, 1943, it was noted that these stones 'had arrived'.

The following year, on May 5, 1944, The Times published a letter from General Fortune's wife, Eleanor:

"CURLING IN A PRISON CAMP
To the Editor of The Times
Sir, - May I through your columns express on behalf of the prisoners of war in Oflag IX A/H their very real gratitude to all those who so kindly sent curling stones. My husband tells me that the officers were able to enjoy during the winter some excellent curling and that some keen competitions were played.
Yours truly
Eleanor Fortune
Aberdalgie House, Perth"

When the war was over, the Annual General Meeting of the Royal Club was again held in the North British Station Hotel in Edinburgh, on July 25, 1945. A letter was read out from General Fortune: 

"Dalswinton, Dumfries
July 2, 1945
Dear Mr Hamilton
I have recently come out of hospital in the south and come north to Scotland. My wife tells me that the Caledonian Curling Club was largely responsible for the curling stones which were sent to Oflag IX A/H two years ago. We actually got them through the British Consul in Geneva and I never knew until I got home actually where they came from, although I realised that they were in response to an appeal made by my wife. Actually sixteen arrived, first four, and a little later another twelve. During the winter of '43-44, we had about 26 days' curling; during the winter of '44-45 we had about 30 days' curling. I can assure you that the curling made all the difference to our life in the camp, and we must have taught over 100 Englishmen to curl."

The General goes on to explain that the stones were all packed up in preparation for liberation, but would likely have been destroyed when the Schloss was bombed.

Lieutenant Colonel Ian Barclay of the Seaforth Highlanders actually attended the RCCC AGM in Edinburgh in 1945 and spoke on behalf of General Fortune and the officers of Oflag IX A/H. Barclay had served in the 51st Division and had been captured at Saint-Valery. (His name is mentioned in passing in the detailed report of Captain DB Laing's escape to Syria after his capture in France which has been printed in this forum thread.) Lieutenant Colonel Barclay provides a detailed account of the curling at Spangenberg. He tells about being able to obtain in the winter of 1942-43 'some rather queer kind of stones, made of wood' that the Bavarians used for a game like curling. These were probably the 'stocks' used in the sport of eisstockschiessen, or 'Bavarian curling', which is still played today, see here and here.

Then he goes on:
"Two years ago we were able to make a start with the curling stones. Our curling, of course, was carried out in a very restricted area in the moat of this old castle in which we lived. You will wonder how we managed that. There was no water in the moat and we had to beat down the snow to make a surface and water it every day and every evening until finally we got a skin of ice on it, and that was where we curled. Unfortunately, one end of the rink was about 2 feet lower than the other end, so you had to keep your hand in when curling down the hill. However, that worked quite well and we had some very good sport indeed. We used to be curling from half-past eight in the morning – that was when we were allowed out of our rooms – and it just went on all day, with a few battles with the people who wanted to skate, until nightfall."

The camp contained officers from many countries, not just from Scotland. No official records seem to have survived, but it is likely that the upper camp in the Schloss held more than 200 prisoners. That other POWs had been grateful for the curling stones is backed up by a letter sent in 1946 to RCCC Secretary Andrew Hamilton from the Secretary of the Canadian Branch of the Royal Club thanking those individuals who had sent the stones which had been used by 'some of the men from Canada who had been prisoners of war'.

Some years later, the Scottish Curler of December 1954 ran an article about Lieutenant Colonel T Harris Hunter telling the POWs' story at a dinner of the Kilgraston and Moncrieffe Curling Club. (Harris Hunter, a former chairman of the Perth branch of the Scottish Country Dance Society, is one of those credited with devising the 'Reel of the 51st Division' with Jimmy Atkinson when they were in Oflag VII B in 1941, see here, and watch a recreation of this dance performed by soldiers here.)  At some point he too was imprisoned in Oflag IX A/H, and in the magazine article is quoted as saying, "Scots of the 51st Highland Division found themselves resigned to a somewhat prolonged continental holiday as the reluctant guests of Adolf Hitler." He confirmed that the prisoners had initially played with what he called 'skittles with a broad base covered in tin which the Germans apparently used for some kind of game on snow'. Undoubtedly these were the 'stocks' of eissstockchiessen. This was before the Royal Club arranged for sixteen real curling stones to be delivered to the camp. An important extract from this 1954 article is that Harris Hunter said, "It provided an outlet for the boredom which is the worst feature in the life of the 'Kreigie'." (Kriegies were what the POWs called themselves. It is short for 'Kriegsgefangenen', the German word for prisoner of war.)

The article concluded, "This is a story which is not just as well known as it ought to be. It is a fine example of the interest taken by the RCCC in the ordinary curler and the trouble that the Royal Club will take to assist curlers, wherever they may be, to enjoy their traditional game. Today, there are enthusiasts south of the border who will look back to their first game behind the barbed wire in a foreign land."

So what about the photograph which heads this article? Below the main caption, (already noted which reads 'Curling Match at Oflag IX A/H') is the following information: 'Officers in a German prison camp played a curling match, Britain v The Dominions, won by the Dominions with last stone. Players seen in this picture are: Major Painchaud (Canada), Captain James (Wales), Major Merton (England), Major Rattray (New Zealand), Lieutenant the Hon J Macdonnell (Ireland), Brigadier Haytor (South Africa), General Fortune (Scotland), Brigadier Cooper (South Africa), Padre Forrest (Australia), Lieutenant Acton (England). The spot where the players are standing serves as a cricket pitch during the summer.'

There are ten persons pictured. General Fortune is easily identified as the tallest of the group, fourth from the right. Perhaps General Fortune and Brigadier Cooper were the two non-playing captains of the two teams? Close examination of the photo shows that rudimentary brooms had been obtained or perhaps made. One wonders whether they played off hacks or crampits. 

The picture had been found loose in a minute book of the Duddingston Curling Club. Ian Seath suggests a reason for this. Andrew Hamilton, the Royal Club Secretary, who had been instrumental in arranging for the stones to be obtained and sent from Switzerland to Germany, had previously been secretary of the Duddingston Club for eleven years. It can be assumed that he would have been interested in any report of the curling at Spangenberg.

But who had taken the photo, and when and where had it been published? Peter Green provides the best answers. He suggests that the most probable source is The Prisoner of War magazine (see an example here). This was published and distributed by the International Red Cross, issued monthly and sent to prisoners’ families. It has been criticised because the Red Cross portrayed a false impression of conditions at the camps and tended not to mention the hardship faced by the prisoners. An 'international curling match' would have been ideal 'feel good' subject matter for the magazine. I have been unable to find if a complete archive of these magazines has been preserved anywhere, so that the inclusion of the curling photo in this publication can be confirmed.

Peter also informs me that General Fortune and Brigadier Cooper were transferred away from the Spangenberg camp, with other senior officers, in 1944. This means that the photo was taken sometime during the first winter that the stones were available for play, the winter of 1943-44, presumably by a Red Cross photographer during an inspection visit to the camp.

General Fortune suffered a stroke sometime in late 1944 (whilst playing badminton it seems) but refused to be repatriated, preferring to remain a prisoner alongside those he had commanded, see here. He was liberated in 1945 from a hospital in Limburg by a US First Army tank column, that story being told by war correspondent James McDowall in the Aberdeen Journal, Wednesday, March 28, 1945. McDowall writes, "When the Americans entered it (the hospital) he was walking about with the aid of a cane, dressed in battledress, and already in command of the establishment." His batman, Private McAllister, who had served with him for ten years, was still at his side.

General Fortune received a knighthood in 1945 particularly because of his efforts on behalf of fellow prisoners during his captivity.

Major General Sir Victor Morven Fortune KBE, CB, DSO died on January 2, 1949, aged 65, at his home in Dalswinton, near Dumfries. He is buried in Auchencairn Cemetery (on the Solway Coast between Dalbeattie and Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway), alongside his wife Eleanor (see here).

The fate of the prisoners in Oflag IX A/H and A/Z is told in Peter Green's book, The March East 1945: The Final Days of Oflag IX A/H and A/Z, published by Spellmount in 2012. Peter's father had been imprisoned in the latter camp. The evacuation of the camps as the American army approached and the subsequent marches is told in detail and makes fascinating reading. Buy it here.

Peter has produced a partial list of those who were in Oflag IX A/H when Schloss Spangenberg was abandoned in 1945 and the POWs marched out, see here. Three of those mentioned in the story above, Lieutenant Colonel Ian Barclay, Captain Montgomery and Lieutenant Colonel Harris Hunter are all on this list.

Peter also supplies this further eye witness statement about the curling from his files. It is from Lieutenant Ron Johnson, Glider Pilot Regiment, Spangenberg Upper Camp, "Tried ice–skating and curling. I found curling better, because my skates fell off." This was during the winter of 1944-45.

Schloss Spangenberg was bombed by the USAAF and remained a burned out shell until rebuilt in the late 1950s to become a hotel. The photo above, taken in 2010 by Ingmar Runge, shows the view from the Melsunger Strasse in Spangenberg, looking towards Schloss Spangenberg on the hill. The original image is here.  Many other images of the renovated building can be found online, see here.

But I was excited to find this one, taken by Dave Black in 2005, which shows the moat, and could indeed be the area in which the POWs are standing in the photo of the curling above. Compare it for yourself!

My thanks go to Ian Seath for bringing the Oflag IX A/H curling photo to my attention, and for his encouragement in helping me to unravel this story, and to Peter Green for much help and advice. If anyone reading this can add any further information, please get in touch.

However trivial an article about POWs curling might seem to some, it is not my intention to detract from the hardships that so many suffered in POW camps during WW2. "Lest we forget."

Postscript: In 1945 and 1946 no fewer than 130 pairs of curling stones were sent out to Germany for use by troops stationed there after the war. But that's another story!

A Pouch for Your Handles

David B Smith writes:

When the handle came to be a necessary part of the curling stone it was at first permanently fixed to the top surface of the stone. This meant that only one sole of the stone could be run on, hence the name 'single-soled' stone. If the ice conditions meant that this stone did not run too well, another stone had to be used in its place and for the whole of the game. The handle was generally permanently fixed by lead or plaster into an eccentrically placed hole chiselled into the top of the stone.

This expedient did not, however, prevent the use of the stone by a non-owner if the owner was absent. The solution to that problem, if it was a problem, was solved by permanently fixing a metal post or peg into the top of stone, and attaching the handle to that. Such posts were generally triangular or square in cross section. When the proud curler left his beautiful stones in the curling house he could remove the handles, place them in his pocket, and be safe from fear that they might be misused in his absence.

These handles, because they were usually attached to the post by screws of a wide variety of design, have attracted the name of 'front screw handles'.

Examples of this kind of handle occur in brass with wooden grips, in a mixture of brass and iron with wooden grips, in iron with wooden grips and brass trimmings, in solid iron, and, very occasionally, in pure brass.

By the middle of the nineteenth century the 'double-soled' stone was becoming universal. The handle was attached by being screwed onto a bolt which passed right through the centre of the stone.

By enabling the use of both soles it was possible to configure each sole differently. The most notable difference, which can be easily seen on most surviving outdoor stones, is that one sole was more highly polished than the other, hence the common way of referring to them as 'the keen side' and 'the dull side'. But the manufacturer could also create different widths of running surface, deeper cups, and, in fact, any particular difference which the owner desired.

Since the bolt could vary in diameter, and since the thread on it could also vary, it was important to keep handle and bolt together. The handle plus the bolt made an uncomfortable load for a pocket. The solution to this problem was the creation of the curling stone handle pouch.

My researches have thrown up so far only two references to such devices. Both are from The Scotsman newspaper.

The Scotsman, Jan 8, 1864.
“This Club played for their club medal yesterday, and a handsome curling-stone handle pouch, presented by Mr Davidson as a second prize.”

The Scotsman, December 31, 1871.
“The Holyrood curlers competed on Dunsappie yesterday for two prizes presented by the president, Mr Thomas Anderson; a silver medal, the property of the club; and a curling stone handle pouch, presented by Mr Thomas M. Berry, saddler, Leith...”

(Dunsappie is, of course, Dunsappie Loch, the highest of the three in the Queen's Park, an artificial reservoir made when the road through the Park was first constructed.)

It was only in the month of July 2013 that I first saw two such pouches. The were brought to me by the widow of the grandson of Ebenezer Dawson of Dalkeith CC along with some old-fashioned handles. Suffice it to say that one pouch and the handles are now in my collection awaiting the establishment of a permanent museum of curling, and I am extremely grateful to the donor.

The pouch, which was made of fine leather, cleaned up nicely, as can be seen in the photographs. The largest part was a container for a pair of conventional handles, in my case a fine brass pair inscribed: EBEN DAWSON DALKEITH. On each side is a vertical space for holding one bolt. At the back is a pocket for holding the leather washers which secure the handle.

The interior of the pouch bears the maker's stamp: BERRY SADDLER LEITH. The Edinburgh Post Office Directory shows that Thomas M Berry had business premises in Constitution Street, Leith.

Two of the washers have the stamp: J. VANCE EDINBURGH. John Vance, Brassfounder and Curling Stone Handle Maker, 79 Grassmarket, Edinburgh, had an advert in the Annual for 1888-9: for 'Curling Stone Handles in Brass, Gun Metal'. Although the washers bore Vance's stamp, there is no maker's mark on Eben Dawson's handles.

It remains to tell a little about the owner of the handles and presumably the pouch. He was a native of Dalkeith, who lived in Glenesk, Eskbank, and carried on business as a currier and tanner, supplying leather to bootmakers, saddlers and the leather trade generally. He followed his father, the first secretary of Dalkeith Curling Club, into the club and was a highly enthusiatic member for over sixty-two years.

Nationally, he became a Council member of the RCCC in 1906. He had two years of office as Vice-President of the Royal Club - in 1886-7 and 1910-11; and he followed Sir James Gibson Craig in 1911 as President of the Midlothian Province, an office he held for ten years. In 1909 he was selected to skip a Midlothian rink in a test match against one of the first Canadian touring rinks to visit Scotland, and was one of the very few Scots rinks to win.

Top: The pouch beside a stone of common Ailsa on a rug of Ancient Buchanan tartan. Above: The pouch and its contents. The images are © the author.

More Uniroyal: Megeve, 1981

Following the success of the Andrew McQuistin team at the 1980 Uniroyal World Junior Curling Championship, see here, Scotland's representatives at the 1981 competition in Megeve, France, came again from Stranraer. Wilson's team had beaten the McQuistin side to get to the Scottish Junior Championship finals. And in Megeve, Scotland came out on top of the world, for the second year in a row. That's the winners on the podium: (L-R) John Parker (lead), Roger McIntyre (2nd), Jim Cannon (3rd) and Peter Wilson (skip).

Thanks to Norman Brown who preserved a VHS tape of a BBC Television broadcast of the official Uniroyal promotional film, we have a visual record of the event. The first part of the film was a summary of the first six years of the World Junior Championship, which has already been mentioned on the Curling History blog. That link is here.

In the semifinals, Scotland beat the USA, skipped by Ted Purvis, but most of the film is about the matchup between Canada (Denis Marchand, skip) and Sweden (Thomas Norgren, skip). Watch this here.

Part 3 is the Scotland v Canada final. To watch a thirteen minute summary, go here.

Bob Picken narrates in each clip.

All the details about the competition, including the names of the competitors and the results, can be found in the World Curling Federation's Historical Results site, here.

The result was well received back in Scotland, coming as it did on the back of the 1980 success. There was even an open topped bus for the team at the airport!

The Scottish Curler magazine in September 1981 featured the team on the cover, Marlene Dawson making a special presentation to the four Stranraer curlers at the Annual Meeting of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.

The top photo is from the April 1981 Scottish Curler. The photographer is not named.

The Origins of World Junior Curling

Anyone interested in researching the origins of the World Junior Curling Championships will easily find the records which say that the first event, for junior men, was held in Toronto's East York Curling Club in 1975. The World Curling Federation's 'historical results' pages give the names of the nine competing teams, and the results of all the games, see here.

But a competition like a world junior championship does not 'just happen'. That first event went ahead as a consequence of a number of significant things that took place in the preceding years. I can find nothing online which describes these events, so this post is an attempt to provide some of the information, and expand a little on this summary: "A bonspiel for young curlers at the East York Curling Club was inaugurated in 1968 'to provide curlers under 21 years of age with a highly competitive competition of meaningful stature'. It grew thereafter, as the organisers sought to improve the event each year until it evolved into the Uniroyal World Junior Men's Curling Championship in 1975."

The above is a simple and politically correct statement. Yet it hides a stormy adolescence!

Canadian Bob Picken tells some of the story in chapter 33 of Doug Maxwell's book 'Tales of a Curling Hack', 2006, Whitecap Books, North Vancouver. Bob describes how he was asked by the East York organisers to see if he could get teams from abroad to take part in the competition which had already been running as a local bonspiel for a few years. He was initially 'politely rebuffed' by Robin Welsh, the secretary of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. He went then to Chuck Hay, who got in touch with Norman Smith, the chairman of Glasgow Young Curlers Club. Through Chuck's and Norman's efforts a Scottish team travelled to Canada to compete in 1971. At East York, the team was looked after by the organising committee. The Canadian bonspiel now had the wished for international component!

The photo above shows the Scottish team that took part in the 1971 International Junior Masters: (L-R) David Kelly, Jim Stirling, David Manson and Alfie Cron. They were all members of Glasgow Young Curlers Club and competed under the title of 'University of Glasgow Champions'. Norman Smith accompanied the team.

The programme for the event was a simple folded sheet of A4 paper. The competition took place April 9-11, 1971, and was sponsored by Thorn Press.

The programme comes from David Kelly's own collection of memorabilia, and I am grateful to him for sharing this, and for lending the photos of the team to be included here. (Alfie Cron, one of the great characters of the sport sadly left us far too early. David and Jim are still competing in the senior ranks. If anyone has an update on David Manson please let me know.)

Who were the other competitors? The rear page of the programme (above) shows that the event had a team from West Germany and two from the USA amongst the ten taking part. Where are all these competitors today? And who won this 1971 competition?

The members of the organising committee are also listed.

Here is the Scottish team in action at East York in 1971. Manson is in the head and Kelly and Stirling are the sweepers. It is noted on the back of this photo that it was from the first game the Scots played against the local East York team. The skip and third of that team are listed as Barry Mitchell and Steve Wroblewski, and that could be them watching behind.

The following year there was a playoff at Crossmyloof to see who would go from Scotland. Alfie Cron, Dave Manson, Philip Moore and David Kelly beat Jim Stirling, Ronnie Peat, Kerr Graham and John Halley in a best of three series. Sweden also sent a team that year.

In 1973 Alfie Cron again skipped a Scottish team with Colin Baxter, David Halkerston and David Kelly. Norway and Switzerland became involved.

By 1974 the competition was recognised in the Scottish Curler magazine, which records that the Royal Club was taking an interest in the event. The February 1974 issue had this to say:

"The Royal Club staged a Scottish playdown for the Uniroyal Junior International Championship - in the East York Curling Club, Toronto, from 12th to 14th April. Norman Smith, member of the Royal Club's Scottish Young Curlers Committee, supervised the two-day event in the Scottish Ice Rink, Glasgow, this month. The winners of the five-rink round-robin were Colin Baxter (skip), Robert Kelly, David Halkerston and Gordon Muirhead. They finished ahead of rinks from Edinburgh, Aviemore-Inverness, Falkirk and Stranraer."

In the summer of 1973, Bob Picken recalls how he was approached by David Prentice, who had been chair of the organising committee in 1971 as that year's programme shows, to see if he could help persuade the International Curling Federation to endorse the competition as a world junior championship. The competition had already attracted Uniroyal as a sponsor. Bob's description of the the international curling politics of the time makes interesting reading. After much lobbying in 'back rooms', the proposal came in front of the ICF assembly in Bern, Switzerland, in April 1974. The proposal was favourably received by all but the Royal Club representatives. Their view at the time is stated in the Annual of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club for 1974-75 in the record of the AGM in July, 1974. The President, Adam Cockburn, was in the Chair, and he reported on the activities of the International Curling Federation, as he was one of the reps.

"A proposal to stage a Junior World Championship sponsored by Uniroyal was sanctioned. The Royal Club made representations against the title on the following grounds: (1) that the title 'World' should be limited to the existing World Championships for the Air Canada Silver Broom, and, possibly, to a World Championship for the Ladies, which, I believe, may take place some time in the near future. (2) That the approval of the World Junior title would open the way to future applications for a variety of world titles. We could have under 40's, schoolboys, over 60's and so on, which would tend, we think, to demean the World title itself. We voted against the new title but were outvoted on this occasion and accepted the democratic vote."

There was the matter of participants' age to be decided. This is noted in a further section of Adam Cockburn's report which continues, "After the new title was granted, the Federation's Advisory Committee, on which I myself was represented with Robin Welsh, had a long meeting with Uniroyal representatives and the difficulties of meeting an agreement on age qualifications became apparent."

One can only speculate on what these 'difficulties' were. Of course, the Royal Club's main junior competition was for the TB Murray Trophy which had run from 1959 for young curlers 25 years and under. It began to be called officially the 'Scottish Junior Championship' in the 1970-71 season.
However, the International Curling Federation in 1971 sought views on what the age limits for international junior play should be, and the Royal Club's Scottish Young Curlers' Committee was consulted. In 1972, at the ICF meeting in Garmisch, it was agreed that the standard rule for international junior play should be less than 21 years at July 1, prior to the season in which the competition would be played. This fitted in with the entry requirements for the East York competitions already in force.

Why there should still have been difficulties in 1974 in discussions with the sponsors remains to be explained. Did Uniroyal want an age cutoff different from 21 years? Surely not.

In any case, at the AGM on July 1974, the RCCC Competitions' Committee announced that the Scottish Junior Championship age regulations would be changed 'to conform with the international standard of 21 years for international tournaments to which the winners of our Championship, we hope, will go forward in future years'. The competition for the Murray Trophy was held earlier in the 1974-75 season than it had been in previous years, in December. The first Bank of Scotland Scottish Junior Championship was won by Peter Wilson (skip), Andrew McQuistin (3rd), Neale McQuistin (2nd) and John Sharp (lead). The rink's average age was just 16.

The Wilson team did indeed participate in the first official World Junior Championship in 1975 held at East York. Dave Prentice, mentioned above, headed up the organisation. The history page of the East York club's website (here) records his influence, "A significant highlight of the Club occurred in 1974. Under the direction of Dave Prentice, the East York Curling Club hosted the first Junior World Championships, sponsored by Uniroyal. We are proud to be known as the birthplace of the Junior World Championships. Even today, our most valuable Club member is awarded the Dave Prentice Award; in recognition of the tremendous efforts that Dave took to bring the Juniors to East York."

Note that the impression given here is that the first 'official' World Juniors was held in 1974. This may just be a typo, although Uniroyal did certainly sponsor the Junior Masters in 1973 and 1974, the competition becoming the Uniroyal International Junior Championship.

As already noted, nine countries participated in the first Uniroyal World Junior Curling Championship 1975: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and USA. The trophy was won by Sweden.

Winnipeg's Bob Picken was the distinctive voice of the Uniroyal promotional films of the world junior championships over the years. This was appropriate as he had been made 'honorary chair' of the International Masters in 1972 in recognition of his support for the event. According to this reference, Picken provided radio commentary on thirty-two men's and sixteen women's world curling championships, fifteen world junior championships, thirty-one Canadian men's and twelve Canadian women's championships. He served as the first media relations officer for the World Curling Federation from 1992-94. I first met him when I was a rookie reporter at the Royal Bank Ladies World Championship in Perth in 1980, and I had the privilege to work for him at the World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1994.

Bob Picken won the World Curling Freytag Award in 1987.

You can listen to Bob Picken's narration on this video covering the history of the first six years, 1975-1980, of the Uniroyal World Junior Championship. Click on the image above, or go to the link here. The recording is originally from the 1981 promotional film, which was then broadcast by BBC Television. It has been rescued from a VHS tape of that broadcast, now in the possession of Norman Brown. The quality is not the best, but it does give a flavour of what international junior curling was all about in its earliest years. I particularly like the trousers worn by the Robb King team in 1975, the brooms - both corn and synthetic, the Paul Gowsell sequences, and of course seeing Norman Brown's triple takeout in 1980, in colour this time!

This post has been all about the junior men. What about the girls? Their first official world junior championship did not take place until 1988 in Chamonix, France. The origins of that competition remain to be discussed another time.

Bob Cowan

Thanks to all who have helped me research this article. Please contact me, or comment below, if you can add more detail to the early history of world junior curling, or if you find any errors. The images from the 1971 International Junior Masters are from David Kelly's archive, and are stamped 'Tosh. Dennis Hall Associates Ltd, 233 Richmond St. W. Toronto 2.'