John Cairnie of Curling Hall: Part 2

David B Smith continues the story of John Cairnie, the first President of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. Part 1 is here. The oil painting above, in the Royal Club's collection, shows curling at Curling Hall c1833. The artist's surname is McLennen, of whom nothing is known. Image from Bob Cowan's archive.

In an addendum to his Essay Cairnie had written with approval of a proposal by the anonymous writer of a book on curling that had appeared in Dumfries in 1830 that there should be a national curling club for Scotland. Five years after he wrote this, it came to pass.

Many people think that it was Cairnie who inserted the advertisements in the North British Advertiser in May 1838, which resulted in the meeting at the Waterloo Hotel, Edinburgh, on July 25 at which the momentous decision was taken to found just such a club, the Grand Caledonian Curling Club. There is no doubt he was there, and indeed he was elected to the chair of the meeting. No doubt he had a pile of his Essays under his good arm. But I am inclined to believe Cairnie himself when he wrote in a letter of July 1840 to the vice-president of the Kilmarnock Curling Club, "You are mistaken if you think I had any hand in the getting up of the Grand C. Club ~ it was from some anonymous notice that I attended in Edinburgh. I believe the author was a Kinross man, and I think the formation will look better yet ~ The rules etc. Require much improvement."

False modesty was not one of Cairnie’s virtues. He craved recognition for the invention of his artificial rinks. I personally think it most unlikely that if he had had a direct part in the founding of the Grand Club he could have refrained from boasting about it. Everyone present at the inaugural meeting must have realised that they were embarking upon a momentous new chapter in the history of their favourite, national sport, for in this regard curling, if not first in the field, was years ahead of other Scottish sports in creating a nation-wide organisation. I cannot see Cairnie denying himself the glory if the idea was his. The Edinburgh Evening Courant in reporting the success of the meeting said that Cairnie, "eulogized this ancient and national game as one which, independently of its own intrinsic merits as a noble and manly recreation, was well calculated to form a bond of kind and elevated feeling, identified as it is with much that is good in our national sympathies and habits."

The editor of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club Annual for 1843-4 - the new club was given royal patronage not long after Cairnie’s death - reminisced about Cairnie at the inaugural meeting, "None who were present on that occasion can ever forget his honest, blunt, kind, and off-hand manner, stranger although he was to us all - a manner which he did not assume for a purpose, but which belonged to his character, and was displayed equally at home and abroad - on and off the ice..."

This image of Cairnie hangs in Largs Museum.

Cairnie died on October 27, 1842, in his seventy fourth year. His obituarist wrote that "he was a man who has gone to his last account with the love and esteem of that sweet marine retreat, where, after a life of activity and usefulness, he had pitched his tent. By every Curler his memory will be held in veneration, for, full of manly enthusiasm himself, he did more to elevate and excite the popular feeling in favour of the 'roaring play' than any man of his times; and 'Cairnie’s rinks' are as familiar as household words to every knight of the broom and channel-stane..."

I have long been curious about the financial circumstances of John Cairnie. In 1998 I satisfied myself to some extent for I consulted in the Register House the inventory of his estate.

His testament was drawn in 1839. It appears that he was comfortably off. The sum total of his moveable estate, given up by his only executor and fellow curler, James Lang of Ferralside, and sworn before the JP and fellow curler, Robert Morris, amounted to £8,611.4.6.

He owned house property and feu duties in Glasgow, a few sums lent on heritable securities, and had shares in Glasgow Gas, and Paisley Gas Company, Paisley Water Company (on whose dams I am sure there was curling), Largs Harbour Company, and Millport Harbour, Paisley Commercial Banking Company, and Renfrew Railway Company. He also had an interest valued at £750 in the ship, Simiramis.

He made provision for his wife, who predeceased him, and for his nephew, Neil Cairnie, junior, (who was at the time of the making of the testament Commander of the barque Trinidad, of Greenock), "until the succession to my real Estate shall open to him and he be put in possession thereof under the joint settlement executed by me and my said spouse" on April 20, 1839.

As well as a specific bequest to Neil Cairnie of "my Gold watch chain and [silver] seals, my cats eye and starsaphyr brooches, my curling stones and bowls" there was a bequest of the residue of his moveable estate to him on his attaining the age of thirty, with a destination over to a list of people, whom all failing "to the Grand Caledonian Curling Club of which Club I am now the President."

There are two codicils which only change his choice of executors, but one written in a train says, "Let not my unnatural brother attend my funeral - let my coffin be laid over that of my dearly departed”. The circumstances in which he came to write the codicil in a rail carriage are described in my article, John Cairnie and the Cowlairs Rail Crash, in the Scottish Curler of December 2005.

In summary, on the morning of July 5, 1842, Cairnie and three other passengers had been trapped in their carriage of the Glasgow-Edinburgh train, when it was hit by the 09.00 Edinburgh-Glasgow train at Cowlairs. Trapped in his carriage, Cainie had penned a codicil to his will.

One of the passengers, John McLeod, a Glasgow bookseller, was to die from his injuries. The pointsman on duty, James Cooper, pled guilty to negligently performing his duties, and was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment.

The mystery of an 'unnatural brother' remains unsolved.

There is nothing to suggest that the injuries sustained in the rail crash caused Cairnie's own death some months later on October 27, 1942.

The following lines appeared at his death.

Why droops the banner half-mast high,
And curlers heave the bitter sigh?
Why throughout Largs the tearful eye,
So blear’d and red?
Oh! Listen to the poor man’s cry!
John Cairnie’s dead!

While winter’s breath as waters freeze,
Lays waste the fields and bares the trees,
Or well-rigged yachts in joyous breeze
For prizes ply,
Cairnie, thy name by land or seas
Shall never die.

John Cairnie is buried in the old churchyard in the centre of Largs, the gravestone surrounded by an iron fence. The inscription on the gravestone is no longer easily read, but is recorded in the museum (which is run by the volunteers of the Largs Historical Society) as 'To the memory of John Cairnie Esquire of Curling Hall, surgeon HEIC service, who died the 27th October 1842 aged 73 years, and Agnes Galbraith his wife who died April 1842 aged 53 years." Photo by Bob Cowan.

American Curlers at Ayr Ice Rink in 1952

by Bob Cowan

On Friday, January 11, 1952, a Pan Am airliner called 'Flying Cloud' (* see below) landed at Prestwick airport with twenty-four members of the first team of US curlers to visit Scotland. They were met by Provost Milligan of Prestwick, Walter Bain (the Tour Convenor), John Watson (Ayr), John Allison (Ayr), Thomas Hobkirk (First English Province), and James Hamilton (Secretary of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club). The tourists travelled directly 'by special motor coach' to the Central Hotel, Glasgow, and that evening they were formally welcomed by the Royal Club President, David M Hutchison, and attended a dinner and reception at the City Chambers hosted by The Lord Provost of Glasgow, Sir Victor D Warren. This information comes from a report in the Annual of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club for 1952-53.

The American curlers played first at the Scottish Ice Rink, Crossmyloof, Glasgow, and in the weeks that followed visited the rinks at Ayr, Perth, Aberdeen, Dundee, Falkirk, Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline, before finishing up in Edinburgh for games on February 9. The final days of the tour and the closing celebrations were tempered by the death of King George VI on February 6, and the period of national mourning that followed.

A trophy had been donated for Scotland-USA competition by Commander Herries-Maxwell who was President of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club in 1950-51, see here. In 1952 Scotland emerged on top by 479 shots to 366. The Herries-Maxwell trophy is still played for. Indeed, earlier this year, the American team won it. See this post.

In David B Smith's archive is a reel of 16mm film, taken by local enthusiast David Stratton. The film contains a clip of the American curlers playing at the Ayr rink. David and I arranged for the film to be digitised, and the four minute clip can now be watched here, or just click on the image above. There's no sound.

The original Ayr Ice Rink at 21 Beresford Terrace was built in 1939 for skating, ice hockey and curling. It was demolished in 1972 to make way for a supermarket development. There's a photo of curling at the rink in the web page of the Ayr Figure Skating Club here.

I curled at Ayr a number of times in the 1960s, so seeing this footage brings back lots of memories. One thing I do remember about the timed curling sessions was that the bell would ring, and you would finish the end you were on, and then play one more. In my home rink at Crossmyloof, you just finished the end you were playing when the bell rung. Just how the Herries Maxwell games were played in 1952 is uncertain.

When watching the footage online, look out for the large stage at the end of the rink, the skaters using the end ice, and the wide straw brooms some of the Americans were using.

The Royal Club report does not list all twenty-four players, although some names are evident from the match results at the various rinks, which give skips' names. The USA side included FL van Epps, AB Backstrom, WJ Polski, EW Fiske, AJ Dalton, P Moreland, R Bennett, HW Kochs, C Sargent and EW Freytag. I am sure that this last is the same Elmer Freytag after whom the World Curling Freytag Award is named. Freytag was to become a key player of the US Curling Association which had yet to be formed, and he was one of the founding members of the International Curling Federation which is now the World Curling Federation. Perhaps someone can recognise him in the video.

There is another photo of the US curlers in this post.

*This is most likely to have been the Pan American World Airlines Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, N1028V, Clipper Flying Cloud, which entered service in 1949 and can be seen in this photo, and in the air here. (The earlier Boeing 307 Stratoliner which carried the same name is preserved in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, see here and here.)

ADDED LATER: David Garber has been in touch with the complete 25-strong US team roster, with name and curling club, by USCA state/region:

Grand National
E.W. Fiske, Jr., Ardsley
Albert Shaw, Jr., Ardsley
Mills Ten Eyck, Schenectady
John MacFarlane, Mahopee (Yonkers, NY)
W.R. Henderson, Utica
John P. Carr, Winchester (MA)
Howard Eteson, Winchester
Richard P. Hallowell, The Country Club (Brookline, MA)
Harold S. Cutler, TCC

Great Lakes
Dr. James Lammy, Detroit
John McKinlay, Detroit
A.J. Dalton, Detroit
Paul Moreland, Detroit

Illinois
Elmer Freytag, Chicago
Joseph Jardine, Chicago
Herbert Kochs, Chicago
Chester Sargent, Chicago

Minnesota
Walter Polski, Eveleth
A.G. Backstrom, St. Paul

Wisconsin
David Bogue, Portage
Ross Bennett, Portage
Frank Van Epps, Portage
A.L. Papenfuss, Wausau
Helmus Wells, Wauwatosa
Edward Fitzgerald, Milwaukee

The images are screenshots from the videoclip.

Revisiting the 1976 Uniroyal

by Bob Cowan

It is more than four years since David and I set up the Curling History Blog. One of the earliest posts, see here, was about the 1976 Uniroyal World Junior Men's Championship at Aviemore. The August 27, 2008, post had been stimulated by Bob Kelly lending me a VHS videotape that had been converted from the 16mm film which Uniroyal made for promotional purposes. I said at the time, "This thirty minute film record of the 1976 event is now on DVD. Perhaps one day (soon) it will be possible for all to see again on the web."

Well, as those who have followed this blog will know, I eventually learned how to post clips on YouTube, for example here is the link to clips of the 1962 Scotch Cup, and here is David Smith on Flog It in 2005.

Recently I was contacted by Viktoria Grahn, whose father Anders played in the Jan Ullsten team which was the runner-up to the Paul Gowsell Canadian rink in 1976. She was looking for a copy of the video for her dad! Viktoria's encouragement was what I needed to get the 1976 Uniroyal footage online. It's in two parts.

Part One is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oPazqhKcug

Part Two is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEO-Hu4jp-g

The quality is not as good as it might be, reflecting the fact that the clips were not digitised directly from the 16mm film, but via a VHS tape. Perhaps in the future it may be possible to make a better copy directly from the original. Uniroyal made a promotional film of the event every year. Copies of these films must surely exist, and it would be great if these records of the early days of the World Junior Championship could be made available. It was junior men only back then of course. It was not until 1983 that European junior women had an international competition to play in, and not until 1988 that the first World Junior Women's Championship was held.

I love Bob Picken's commentary. He was the voice of curling in the 70s and 80s. Great to see and hear teams using the corn brooms. Anders Grahn wields a Rink Rat synthetic broom.

Gowsell and his team of Neil Houston, Glen Jackson and Kelly Stearne were exciting to watch! And of course, the footage is a visual record of the Aviemore ice rink which no longer exists.

Fascinating to see the shots of the crowd and of friends I recognise, some, sadly, no longer with us. Sobering to recognise myself! Here I am standing with David Horton and his father (always 'Mr Horton') who did so much to much to encourage us young curlers back in the day). David's younger brother Ken was third on the Scottish team with Bob Kelly (skip), Willie Jamieson and Keith Douglas. All the records of the competition are in the World Curling Federation's historical database here.

 

That's me, complete with beard, on the right! Happy days.

The top photo is a screenshot of the victorious Canadians with the Uniroyal trophy.

Thanks again to Bob Kelly for supplying the original VHS tape.

Swedish Curling 'Medals'

David B Smith writes:

From at least the beginning of the nineteenth century the medal has been used in Scotland both as a trophy to be won at the curling and as a prize of victory.

When one hears the word 'medal' one instinctively thinks of something like the basic definition of the word to be found in the Oxford English Dictionary, 'a coin-shaped metal object, made especially for commemorative purposes. In these senses, the device may have an attached loop or hole for suspension'. And, indeed, most Scottish curling medals conform with this definition.

I was quite surprised, therefore, when I discovered a different tradition in Sweden.

Although the game was first played in Sweden in 1847 it was not until 1916 that a national association, the Swedish Curling Association (Svenska Curling Forbundet) was founded. In 1917 it began a national championship, and from then it produced plaques, or plaquettes, to serve the same purpose as the medal in Scotland.

These plaquettes are basically rectangular in design although there are some slight divergences from rectangularity in some cases.

The first plaquette which I came across bears the oldest date. It is a silver-gilt rectangle, bearing on its obverse a most remarkable design, a depiction of a naked, bearded curler delivering a curling stone (above). His modesty is preserved by a bearskin casually thrown over him. The letters SCF show that this was an official production of the Association. There is, moreover, the signature of the Swedish sculptor who designed the piece, Carl Vilhelm Fagerberg.

Engraved on the obverse are: “A.H.HAMILTON, S.S.C.” and on the reverse “FROM SWEDISH CURLING TEAM DEC., 1923”. This was obviously a gift from the Swedish curlers who toured Scotland for the first time in 1923 to the Secretary of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.

I have another example of this form of the plaquette, this time a prize. It is engraved: 'ST MORITZ CUP/ 1934 1PRIS'. I have seen silver examples and the latest addition to my collection is one in bronze which reads: 'HOTEL ANGLAIS' HEDERSPRIS 1932 3. PRIS'. A 'hederspris' was a presentation prize.

Fagerberg, 1878-1848, was a well-known sculptor many of whose larger works are to be found in Swedish cities.

The next design I came upon again involved both the SCA and nakedness, this time in the form of a diaphanously clad female figure with bare feet, standing on the ice with a curling stone in front of her, below a conifer branch. That she has a shield bearing the emblem of Sweden, the three crowns, shows that this was Mother Svea, or Mother Sweden. The legend 'Svenska Curling Forbundet' is part of the struck design. My attempt to find the name of the artist who designed this was unsuccessful, but Lars Lagerqvist of the Myntkabinettet (The Swedish Coin and Medal Cabinet) informed me that this was the first design to be adopted by the SCF in 1917, just the year after its foundation.

(The dates of the three examples I possess are 1944, 1945 and 1962. It is not clear to me whether these were won in national or club competitions for no club name is engraved. Perhaps a Swedish reader might help in this matter.)

There is another plaquette issued by the SCA and bearing a figure of a plus-foured curler just after he has released his stone. Both of the examples in my collection appear to have been used by clubs. The older example is engraved 'Forsta Curlingmatchen Amals CK Karlstads CK', and it obviously records the first encounter between the named clubs; the second is dated 1969.

The remaining designs are all club plaquettes. One in silver, dated 1938, was the second prize in the club championship of Norrkopings Curling Klubb.

A second played the same role in the club championship of Linkopings Curlingklubb in 1952.

Two are of the same design and were produced in bronze, with the club insignia in black and white enamel, for the Kronprinsens Curlingklubb (The Crown Prince's Curling Club). Of these, one was a presentation to J. Eric Cowper, a Manchester Caledonian curler who was part of an RCCC team which toured Sweden in 1932; the other was a 3rd prize for a competition played in 1948.

The last plaquette is the largest and is bronze but surrounded in mystery. It has no date, but the legend struck as part of the design, 'GLASGOW POKALEN' (The Glasgow Cup), indicates that it has some Scottish connection. In the design a large cup – presumably THE Glasgow Cup - predominates over a curler throwing a stone and a standing sweeper. My internet searches have failed to find a reference to Glasgow Pokalen.

Images © David B Smith

An 1871 Curling Essay: The Ravenscraig Curling Pond

What a pleasure it is to read in a newspaper of a by-gone age a piece which was intended to be read as literature. The following essay appeared in The Glasgow Herald of Tuesday, January 17, 1871. There is still a railway station near Ravenscraig above Gourock (at Branchton) but the suburbs of Greenock have crept up the hill, and it is no longer a solitary place. The inspiring view across the Firth of Clyde is still there, however, and one can see the Holy Loch and Glen Lean and Glen Massan and the Kilmun Hills. The article is called 'The Ravenscraig Curling Pond' although this is not accurate, and the pond appears to be the rectangular curling pond shown in the Ordnance Survey maps of the area, and to be No. 2320 in the Historical Curling Places list, see here. I am grateful to Bob Cowan for help in identifying the pond. The Gourock Curling Club's website indicates that this pond was opened in January 1867.

The author of the article is not named, other than as a 'Correspondent on the Ice'.

“The Ravenscraig Station, upon the Wemyss Bay Railway, is a solitary place. It lies among heathery wastes, where the whaup finds a refuge. Not a long way from the station the Ravenscraig Curling Pond is sheltered among leafless trees, and screened from the snowdrift that comes over the braes. The pond is a pleasant place in the summer time; the brood of the wild duck find shelter about it. In the winter time the curler knows it is the earliest frozen pond on the sea coast. The naked larch and the black fir form its background; while a brick cottage, lit in the low sunshine, casts rainbow shadows into the ice. In the mist of the winter day the mist the crisp snow has made the whole land beautiful. The brown uplands beyond the Copper Mines are flaked with snow that tempers their blackness. Beyond the heights of Gourock stretch the Argyllshire ranges – the flanks of Glen Lean and Glen Massan, dusky mountains across which the snow has been driving. Against the clear sky the snow shows but faintly – it magnifies by its delicate devices the Kilmun hills. The ravines of Ardentinny Glen melt in a wilderness of snowdrift, across which the sun scatters a tender light. The mouth of the Holy Loch reflects the cloudless sky. It is hardly possible to witness a brighter landscape than this glimpse, with its broken foreground, that light from the placid sea, and that shadowy mountain-land. Ravenscraig Curling Pond is environed by wintry aspects the artist prefers to the hues of the summer. The frosts of the past days had pardoned the ice; the entrance fee of a sovereign had given me a claim to the pond. The pond was the gift of the Lord of the Manor, and so far has been completed. A screen of laurel would add to its look. The club is famous for good players and for the victories they have won. When I reached the pond these had all gone to a great “bonspiel” somewhere. Those left behind were doubtful. The snow had covered the ice; with a snow-rake a rink was cleared, but constant sweeping did not keep the ice bright from the fall. The air was wonderfully silent – the snow folded out the bleakness of the fields.

Curling stones were brought from the club house, skips were chosen, and sides were picked. The skips knew the game: they stood beside the tee, swept away the snow, and gave the green hands very sage advices. One skip or captain of the rink was a very stout man, who used few words, and was evidently accustomed to being obeyed; the other skip was more voluble and eager in his way. The advices referred to “guards”, “hoggers”, “wicks”, and other terms incomprehensible to those who had never thrown a stone before. I was hopeless of knowing what was to be done. A dictionary would have given little insight. The play commenced. When my turn came the skip on my rink shouted in a voice of thunder, “Send it up all your might”. I lifted the curling-stone to a level with my haunch, threw it forward with all the force I could spare, and struck the ice that left a star more brilliant than the Star of India. The curling-stone went whirling along the ice, drove every one out of its way, crossed the opposite tee full speed, and shot up the snow-covered bank. A shout of dismay followed my shot. I had nearly broken the ice. Another such shot and I would ruin the rink. The skip came over to me with a face full of concern. If I had attempted a burglary he could not have looked more severe. “Never lift your stone more than six inches above the ice,” he said, “and push it rather than throw it.” I discovered that the advice contained one secret of curling. My next caution was a mysterious hint not to send my stone “through the house”. The club house stood opposite the end of the rink, and I believed the suggestion was a joke about driving my stone through it. I smiled at the jest, and hurled up the second stone swifter than the first. It swept across the tee, and up the bank like the ricochet of a cannon shot. The skip sprang out of its way and asked what I had for breakfast. I frankly explained, and discovered he was jesting at the strength I wasted. My turn came again. I had not gained much knowledge by listening to the jargon. Our burly skip cried, “A guard! A guard! We have four stones in the house”, and indicated with his broom that I should play gently towards it. I threw the stone with less vigour. A stout burgh commissioner, the skip, an excited Irishman, and three or four besides, frantically jumped in front of the stone, swept the snow away, and shouted, “Sweep him, sweep him, sweep him up, he’s a bonny, bonny guard.” Suddenly the other side cried “A hogger! A hogger!” and the stone was ignominiously pushed aside.

The next player’s stone landed in some dangerous spot, and I was asked “to lift it firm”. I hurled the curling-stone swiftly, struck some other stone, rebounded from several stones, and knocked all our own winners out of the ring. “You’ve cleared out the premises,” the skip cried; “I couldn’t have done it quicker myself.” This mischief seemed worse than going through the house, but I patiently waited for light and encouragement. Once more the skip cried, “A canny, canny draw on here,” holding his broom in front of the stones.I looked at the brush and then at the stone, and threw it. “Bonny laid”, someone cried as the stone glided along, struck a stone wide of the mark, drove two of the opposite stones away from the mark, and landed on the centre of the tee. “A pot-lidder !” “A pot-lidder !” cried several voices; and the skip added, “Wha said you wasna a curler?” I could not see what had happened, and believed I had created new devastation. I crossed the tee, and was pleased to find my curling-stone on the central mark. “A guard! A guard!” cried many. A curling-stone came sweeping along, struck another stone, rebounded against my stone, and sent my “pot-lidder” right up against the bank. My sudden confidence again disappeared.

My turn came round but slowly. “Another pot-lidder”, cried the skip, and this time my stone went out by “the back door”. The second stone I held more cautiously. “A wick off here, and ye’ll touch here, and ye’ll seek him out”, cried the skip. If he had given his commands in Greek or Gaelic they would have been equally intelligible. I sent the stone forward, and was relieved to hear that “I had found him out”, in a wholly unexpected way. The “unknown tongues” were being interpreted when a new trouble appeared. From Gourock several yachtsmen came, and added their “lingo” to the curling tongue. One curly-headed man told me “to take the Commodore upon his lee quarter."

Where the Commodore’s lee quarter lay I could not see. I threw and missed it, but got what a skipper called “a wipe up in the wind”, took a “two sticker” right in the broadside, and carried her “to leeward of the buoy”. I was in despair at following the naval instructions given. I was asked to take “a wick off Paul’s stern, and I would break as many eggs as our steward would want for that day.” “If I only cleared the port my shifting ballast would take me through the schooner’s lee.” I was “to headreach somebody by half a length.” Finally I was told that “if I took the Captain heavy on the starboard side he would never reach the only port open.” The Captain took it easy, and looked on while my own stone went through the port and “lifted” our own “pot-lidder” half way up the bank. I felt satisfied it would take no ordinary patience to pick up curling under such difficulties, and would recommend tyroes, whatever may be the inducements held out, to keep clear of Ravenscraig Pond, unless they have had a preliminary course of naval instruction. While the play was still warm, the sailors found “the dog watch” had come round, and we left as the sunset was fading into purple and the zenith deepened to the night. The crescent of the moon struck a shaft of silver into the burnished ice. The hush of the hills was falling about us as we trudged down the Larkfield Road towards Gourock.”

Sadly, my researches have failed to uncover any picture of curling of this period in this area. However, this lively woodcut of the game in full swing in the Queen's Park in Edinburgh gives some idea of the sort of scene the anonymous “correspondent on the Ice” had before his eyes. It first appeared in The Graphic, of December 25, 1869.

David B Smith

A curling-related dime novel from 1906

by Bob Cowan

The mid 1800s to the early twentieth century was the era of the 'dime novel' in the USA. These were printed on cheap paper, and usually had colour cover illustrations. They targeted a young, working class readership, with Wild West adventures, detective stories and historical romances. In Britain the name given to these ephemeral publications was 'penny dreadfuls' (see here). They were the precursors of comic books and the mass market paperbacks of today.

Dime novels illustrate the reading tastes of an increasingly literate audience, and now provide a resource for researchers of popular history and culture. They also show how twentienth century printing techniques were developing.

One source says of dime novels, "Once the bane of the middle-class, these little books were considered the corrupters of youth and stepping-stones on the path to perdition."

Recently I was excited to come across a dime novel featuring curling!

'Frank Manley's Sweeping Score: A Wonderful Day at Curling' was No 20, January 19, 1906, of Frank Manley's Weekly, a thirty-two page magazine for boys which featured the adventures of Frank Manley, a young athlete who seems to excel in every sport he undertakes. The description on the magazine says, 'Each number contains a story of manly sports, replete with lively incidents, dramatic situations, and a sparkle of humor'. There were letters to the editor in the back of each issue.

It was one of a number of titles published by Frank Tousey, 24 Union Square, New York. Frank Manley's Weekly was first published in 1905, and ran for at least twenty-one issues.

This is a scan of the first inside page of the magazine, and you can see from the colour how much the cheap paper has deteriorated. It is of course 106 years old.

The story itself is wonderful, involving as it does ice yachting, as well as curling! Frank Manley and his friends in the Woodstock Junior Athletic Club successfully help a Russian, Count Sassaneff, retain possession of valuable diamonds as he is hunted by a group of villains (the Nihilists). At one point in the story, the diamonds are hidden in a rubber ball which ends up under the ice during a game of curling when the umpire (a middle aged Scotsman called Tam Samson, would you believe) falls through in his excitement! Needless to say there is a happy ending.

For the curling historian, there is much of interest. The sport is described as being played on outside natural ice, using the crampit for delivery. Individuals play a points competition, before the inter-club match. In that game the hero attempts a double raise with last stone of the last end, the opposition lying six!

"But to Manley there came sudden hope.
He saw a shot that was possible - barely possible.
It called for the most brilliant kind of a shot, however.
A careful posing, then a quick decisive delivery, and Manley's heart was very nearly in his mouth.
Up went the the stone in grand style and with crushing force.
It struck the stone at the hog-score - struck it dead - and this, in turn, struck dead Manley's own middle stone.
Now, in turn, Manley's own middle stone struck the winner of (sic) the tee and lay there.
'Match to Bradford'!"

The author of the story writes under the pseudonym 'Physical Director'.

The same person writes about curling in a 'Practical Talk on Training No 52' which is included in the magazine:

"Curling is a sport that deserves to be highly popular in these United States. I wish all of my young readers could go in for it during the winter months.
In the first place, it is a game that must be played out of doors, in the keen, bracing, frosty air of the ice season.
It is a game that is played with stones that range in weight from thirty-two and forty-two pounds.
It follows, as a matter of course, therefore, that here is plenty of good, solid, muscular work.
These stones have to be slid over the ice, the usual length of the rink being forty-two yards.
Not only is considerable muscular work demanded, but there must be the greatest accuracy.
Taken all around, for strong muscular work, for training of the eye, and for teaching coolness and judgment, curling is about as grand a sport as can be found for the winter.
Then, again, curling calls for the exercise of good nature. The cross, snappy curler is soon driven from the game.
The sport makes for good-fellowship, and will do more than any other winter sport to foster good feeling in an athletic club."

What follows are ideas on how to raise funds to support athletic clubs for young people, and the statement, "Clean outdoor sport is the best possible kind of training for a boy."

Frank Manley's Weekly was the successor to Young Athlete's Weekly, which also had an issue featuring curling. This has survived too and is in the collections of Bowling Green State University, Ohio, see here. That story is entitled 'Frank Manley's Knack at Curling: The Greatest Ice Game on Record'. I wonder what young Manley got up to in that issue?

As well as Bowling Green State University, Stanford University and the University of South Florida have extensive collections of dime novels and the like.

ADDED LATER:

Georges Dodds has sent the following: "you state 'Frank Manley's Weekly was first published in 1905, and ran for at least twenty-one issues.' – there were 32 issues [no.1 (1905:Sept.8)-no.32 (1906:Apr.13)] – the entire run is held by the TC Andersen Library Children’s Lit (Hess Collection) at the University of Minnesota.

You correctly mention Bowling Green State University, Stanford University and the University of South Florida as having large dime novel collections, but the largest and most complete such collection in the US, is at the University of Minnesota (http://special.lib.umn.edu/clrc/hess/hess_dimenovels_pdf.php)

Charles Aird's Jubilee

David B Smith writes:

The Kilmarnock Standard of April 23, 1892, printed a long account of a dinner held in the town to celebrate the Jubilee of one of the town’s notable curlers, Charles Aird of the Kilmarnock Townend Club.

After the presentation to him of a valuable timepiece and to his daughter-in-law of a gold brooch, accompanied by appropriate speeches, the curler himself “gave an outline of his career as a curler which we think it best to print in the homely, colloquial style in which it was spoken.”

I agree; so here goes:

“My first start at the curling was on the Townhead Dam the year the Caledonia Club was formed, and also on other dams round about, sometimes at the 'Farrel o’ Bread' or 'Bessie’s Bog' – in fact, any place we could get ice. In the year '38 we had thirteen weeks' frost at one time. The Boyd Street folk and the Dean Street folk played a game, two rinks a side – on Bonnyton Loch; then we all met at nicht and had a chappin’ or twa o’ yill. I mind o’ Sawney Boyd, the shaemaker, sitting doon on the flaer singing something aboot “Dae ye no see the shaemaker’s son rinning awa' for a bawbee's worth o' roset.” (Laughter) The winners challenged the losers to play them the following Saturday, not expecting the frost to continue. However, it did so. We went on this way till we had played for seven Saturdays all running.

After Bonnyton Loch was closed I sometimes played on the Bonnyton clay-holes, and I have had a game too on Hillhead bog. Wherever we went I had aye my stanes to carry back and forrit myself, so that was surely what you would ca' a guid apprenticeship. (Laughter)

I joined the Townend Club in the year '42, that being the year the New Farm Loch was opened. My first start after becoming a member was at Lochwinnoch to play the Johnstone curlers for the district medal. I played for several years on that loch, also at Barr meadow. I played in the national game and for the big jug presented by the late Lord Eglinton, which I have no doubt cost hundreds of pounds. Then I played in a match between Lanarkshire and Ayrshire. I next played at Loch Broom, in a match between Mauchline and our own club. I have also played in a game on Cunninghamhead Pond for the district medal – Dalry against Townend. I played on Craufurdland Loch for the district medal; then later on for the big jug, and as you all know, for the gold curling stone, presented by the late Lady Craufurd of Craufurdland, times without number. I have played several games at Eglinton flushes, made by the late Lord Eglinton purposely for the big jug games.

I mind one time playing in a private game, one rink, for a load of meal for the poor. The game was between Eglinton and J. O. Fairlie. Then I played in a game at Coodham for the district medal – Townend against Tarbolton. I have also played a game on the late D.C. Gairdner's artificial pond at Coodham in J.O. Fairlie's time, and likewise on the late A. Finnie's artificial pond. I remember, too, having a game at Ashgrove, one rink, against Saltcoats and Ardrossan for dinner and drink. We met once on Dundonald Loch to play the Irvine curlers for the district medal, but they never put in an appearance. However, we managed to finish it up ourselves in Dundonald.

I once played in a game at Auchans Loch for the big jug, and I have also played more than once for the big jug on Merkland Loch, and also at the same place for Mr D.C.Gairdner's silver curling stone, which our rink won, and I took it home with me. Then I played a game at Newfield Loch for the silver kettle presented by Mrs Finnie, which our rink won, and which I took home with me. So you see I had both the silver curling stone and the silver kettle in the house at the same time. I filled the kettle up to the brim, which took about six bottles o' the real Campbeltown out of auld James Ramsay's shop in Boyd Street. (Laughter.) I handed it round freely to ane and a' to drink the health of a' keen curlers, and if there had been a hole in the curling stane I would have filled it tae with the same stuff. (Laughter.) So you see, although I have now reached my jubilee in the roaring game, I don't mean to give it up, but will throw a stone as long as I am able. I have now been a skip in the Townend Club for 46 years. (Applause.)”

Top photo: Charles Aird, a tailor who lived in High Street, Kilmarnock, from a carte de visite given to David by his grandson in 1977.

Charles Aird's stones are in the Dick Institute. Kilmarnock. The handles are fashioned from a single piece of wood and are inserted into a circular hole in the top of the stone, and were kept in place by wet cloth wrapped round the dowel. Height 6.5 in., circumference 29 in., sole 7 in., weight 42 lbs.

On the top of the stone are painted the owner's name and Townend Club in gold. Such high stones were popular in Kilmarnock until the end of the nineteenth century.

The 'big jug' as Charles Aird calls it in his speech, or 'The Jug' as it is generally referred to at the present day. It is still the most prestigious trophy contended for by Ayrshire curlers. This photograph shows a Kilmarnock Townend rink who won it in 1948-9. L-R: J. Lambie, skip, J. Gibson, Jr., L.B. Richmond, and R. Wylie.

The illustrations are from David's archive.