Alloa Medals

David B Smith writes, " I have just had the rare pleasure of repatriating – through the good offices of eBay.com! – a priceless piece of curling heritage, a medal presented in 1860 to Alloa Prince of Wales Curling Club. How this ornate silver medal got to New Zealand is not known, but it is now back in the land of its birth.

As the illustrations show, the medal is of unusual design, for although oval medals are fairly common, they are usually taller than wide, whereas this oval is, as it were, lying on its side. That enabled the designer and silversmith to attach from the bottom rim a pair of crossed curling brooms which are balanced by two dangling miniature stones of granite with silver L-shaped handles. I know of no other medal with two dependent stones.

The suspension at the top is a casting of the Prince of Wales feathers, and the border is a richly worked casting of thistles.

I had often wondered why there were two clubs in the very small burgh of Alloa, the Alloa CC and the Alloa Prince of Wales, and why one of them was apparently named in honour of the Prince Consort. The donation inscription provides the answer. The donor was David Cousins 'OF THE PRINCE OF WALES HOTEL ALLOA': the club took its name not from royalty but from licensed premises!

The obverse bears the donation below a finely engraved version of Sir George Harvey’s very popular painting of The Curlers. On the reverse is a list of seven winners, of whom two won it twice, for this was a points medal, on dates from February 11, 1860, to February 7, 1873.

I find that if one addresses oneself to local librarians and archivists they are very ready to help; and so I sent an email about the medal to Clackmannan libraries, and asked if there had been any report in any of the contemporary newspapers of the presentation of this fine medal. Within hours I had scans of the three pieces in the Alloa Journal, which dealt with it.

The first reported thus:
“ALLOA PRINCE OF WALES CURLING CLUB. – Some kind friend of this club has commissioned one of the members to purchase another point medal. The name of the donor will be given when the medal is ready for presentation. Meantime the competition for its possession takes place to-day at two o’clock on Gartmorn Dam…”

It was next reported that “The Alloa Prince of Wales Club assembled on Gartmorn last Saturday, to compete for their newpoint medal. After a keen game, Mr Robertson of the Ferry Inn was declared the winner, having taken seven points…” Twenty one members competed and the scores ranged from zero to seven, although it must be remembered that under the scoring system current in 1860 the maximum score for a successfully played shot was one, and not two as at present, and there was no score for a partly successful shot.

The mystery surrounding the gift was dispelled shortly after the competition at a meeting of 'this flourishing club' held in the Prince of Wales hotel. “…After some routine business, the worthy host of the hotel stated to the president and the meeting, that he had much pleasure in presenting a medal to the club – that although the medal had been already played for, and honourably won by Mr Robertson, of the Ferry Inn, it had not as yet been announced , and he believed that it was, with the exception of two members and himself, a mystery regarding the name of the donor. He, however, had pleasure in stating that he was the donor. He had had in view for long the presentation of such , and especially now as he was advanced in years, and unable to take an active part in the roaring game; he therefore hoped that the club would accept of his heart-felt gift. The president, in name of the club, returned thanks to the donor, and thereupon put the ribbon, to which was attached the medal, round the neck of Mr Robertson, wishing him much enjoyment of it for the season. Mr Robertson made a suitable reply. The medal, we may mention, is most beautiful in design, and cannot fail to meet with the approbation of all who may have the opportunity of inspecting it. It can be seen at the hotel for a few days. The inscription on the medal is as follows:- ‘Presented to the Alloa Prince of Wales Curling Club, by David Cousins, of the Prince of Wales Hotel. Alloa, Feby. 1860. Gained by Wm Robertson, 11th Feby. 1860’”

One piece of mystery remained. Who was WJM’D whose mark showed that he had made the medal? My friend, George Dalgleish, Principal Curator, Scottish History, National Museums of Scotland, and a great expert on Scottish silver, told me there was a silversmith, William J Macdonald, sometime at 139 Princes Street, Edinburgh, who was probably our man. Using that information I looked in the Edinburgh Post Office Directory for 1859-60 and found him, described as 'working jeweller, 31 Castle Street', whose house was at number 12. That the National Library of Scotland has recently put all the extant Post Office Directories for the whole of Scotland online has made this sort of research very much easier.

The Prince of Wales curlers were not unique in possessing a beautiful and splendid medal. The older club, the Alloa CC, was also the owner of a marvellous specimen (above) given to them in 1844 by James Johnstone of Alva, a local laird. It is one of a very small group of very ornate medals which bear on the front surface miniature curling stones set among crossed brooms. In this case two stones are made of bloodstone and the other two of reddish hardstone.

The taste for fine medals continued. I have in my collection- one of my earliest acquisitions - a silver medal given to Alloa CC in 1868. It is a more straightforward medal: a suspension of crossed brooms from which hung formerly a diminutive silver stone, and within a buckled belt, an engraved contemporary curling scene."

Illustrations from top:
• Alloa Prince of Wales Curling Club medal, obverse.
• Reverse.
• The 1844 medal.

• Alloa Curling Club, medal. This photograph shows the engraved scene on the obverse and the border, detached. In my collection.

• The reverse. The medal assembled.

Images are © David B Smith

Collecting RCCC Annuals

Since the foundation of the Grand Caledonian Curling Club in 1839 there has been published every year an Annual. Even during the years of war 1916 to 1919 and 1939 to 1946 the Annual tradition was so strong that a truncated form of annual was printed.

There have, therefore, been 172 issues. As might be expected the earliest annuals are small in size and in content. Not only that, only 300 of each of the first three were printed.

When the Grand Club grew into the Royal Club there were many more member clubs and the requirement upon member clubs to purchase numbers of annual according to the size of their membership meant that the editions were much larger.

The foregoing means that the earlier issues are much rarer than the later ones. Because clubs, like curlers, come and go, there are lots of partial runs of annuals. In fact, complete runs of all 172 issues are exceedingly rare. The Royal Club owns three. Two of these have always been in the office. The third was lent to me as an 'incomplete set' some years ago. I have managed to fill the gaps in this set so that it too is now complete.

Over many years I have tried – from nothing – to put together a complete set of my own. Recently I bought at auction one of these small runs that had belonged to a club, Sliosgarbh, that existed only from 1850 to 1865. Slios garbh is the Gaelic name for the 'rough' (garbh) south side of Loch Rannoch. The club was centred on the western end of the loch, the very location where our worthy RCCC President, Robbie Scott and his wife Kathleen, both Orcadians, first came across this weird Lowland pastime of curling.

The run extended from 1851 to 1875, and was not only quite a handsome group, bound in half calf with marbled boards, but it enabled me to fill all but three gaps in my collection. The President of the Royal Club and I indulged in a swap so that now only two years are lacking in my run. They are the years 1845-6 and 1846-7. I wonder if anyone reading this blog might have duplicates for one or other or both of these years.

The first Annual was a small pamphlet of only 48 pages. As the Club grew in numbers so did the size of the annual. By the Jubilee of the Royal Club in 1888, the Annual contained 426 pages. In the preface to this volume the editor remarks that since it had been decided to celebrate the jubilee with the publication of the club’s history in 'a special volume' (which turned out to be Kerr’s History of Curling, 1890) he would just restrict the opening remarks 'to the usual limits'. Nonetheless he managed to comment on the new rules for points, and the Jubilee Medal in bronze, which each club received, "to be preserved or played for as they may see fit."

One can but read with a wry smile that "the Committee also hope that the adoption of a proposal to form a collection of old stones, implements, etc., illustrating the history of the game, will lead to the formation of a small museum of antiquities, interesting to all Curlers…” We still await - 123 years later - the realisation of this dream.

The title page of vol. 1 was embellished by a design for a club button, for the adoption of which the “Committee were most desirous.”

The first appearance of Sir George Harvey’s famous painting as the decoration of the title page was in the Annual of the Grand Royal Caledonian Curling Club for 1843; and it has appeared every year since.

From 1888 the Annual blossomed. In 1900 photographs were incorporated into the text. In that year there were ccxii and 493 pages: a curler buying such a publication got a lot for his One Shilling (one twentieth of a pound).

A favourite feature of Annuals until 1939 was the poetry of curling. Most songs, or verses, appeared but once: others became favourites and were printed as often as three or four times over the years. The most popular song of all, if one judges by the number of appearances, is The Music of the Year is Hushed by the Rev. Henry Duncan of Ruthwell. This song, to the air Killiecrankie, first appeared in Memorabilia Curliana Mabenensia in 1830, was printed in the Annual for 1842, and reprinted other four times, making its swansong in 1939.

Here it is:

The music of the year is hushed
In bonny glen and shaw, man,
An’ winter spreads, o’er nature dead,
A winding-sheet o’ snaw, man;
O’er burn and loch the warlock, frost,
A crystal brig has laid, man;
The wild geese, screaming wi’ surprise,
The ice-bound wave hae fled, man.

Up, Curler! Leave your bed sae warm,
And leave your coaxing wife, man,
Gae, get your besoms, trickers, stanes,
And join the friendly strife, man.
For on the water’s face are met’
Wi’ mony a merry joke, man,
The tenant and his jolly laird,
The pastor and his flock, man.

The rink is swept, the tees are marked,
The bonspiel is begun, man;
The ice is true, the stanes are keen;
Huzza! for glorious fun, man.
The skips are standing on the tee
To guide the eager game, man;
Hush! No a word – but mark the broom,
And take a steady aim, man.

Here draw a shot – there lay a guard,
And here beside him lie, man,
Now let him feel a gamester’s hand,
Now in his bosom lie, man.
There fill the port, and block the ice,
We sit upon the tee, man;
Now tak’ this inring sharp and neat,
And mak’ the winner flee, man.

How stands the game? It’s eight and eight:
Now for the winning shot, man;
Draw slow and sure, the ice is keen,
I’ll sweep you to the spot, man.
The stane is thrown, it glides alang,
The besoms ply it in, man,
Wi’ twisting back the players stand,
And eager, breathless grin, man.

A moment’s silence, still as death,
Pervades the anxious thrang, man,
Then sudden bursts the victor’s shout,
Wi’ hollas, loud and lang, man;
Triumphant besoms wave in air,
And friendly banters fly, man,
Whilst, cauld and hungry, to the inn,
Wi’ eager steps, they hie, man.

Now fill ae bumper – fill but ane,
And drink wi’ social glee, man;
May Curlers on life’s slippery rink
Frae cruel rubs be free, man;
Or should a treacherous bias lead
Their erring steps a-jee, man,
Some friendly inring may they meet
To guide them to the tee, man.

The few statistics which I have mentioned are clear indications of the importance given to the Annual over the years. The Royal Club has already taken one large step towards its abolition in the decision that it should no longer be necessary for clubs to take some copies compulsorily. That must have seriously upset its financial viability. Let us hope that that unfortunate resolution does not lead to the decision to abolish the Annual in print form.

Glossary.
Trickers: crampets, worn on the foot.
Inring: inwick.
A-jee: astray.

David B Smith.

Ladies Do Not Curl

“Ladies do not curl – on the ice. The Rational Dress Association has not yet secured for them the freedom that is necessary to fling the channel-stane, and like Her Majesty at Scone, the majority find the curling-stones too heavy for their delicate arms…”

Although acknowledging that to this sweeping generalisation there were exceptions which he went on to detail in a long footnote the Rev. John Kerr was, I suppose, merely reiterating the view of middle-class society towards the end of the nineteenth century that ladies were not designed for sport.

His reference to 'Her Majesty' was to that demonstration of the game in Scone Palace well recorded in the Annual for 1843; “Her Majesty inquired particularly respecting the game of curling, and with a view to illustrate the explanations that were given to Her Majesty by Lord Mansfield, [the owner of the Palace and president of the Grand Caledonian Curling Club], the polished oaken floor of the room was summarily converted into a 'rink', and the stones were sent 'roaring' along its smooth and even surface. And we have reason to know that Her Majesty herself 'tried her hand' at throwing the stones, although they proved to be too heavy for her delicate arm…”

Nonetheless a pair of splendid Ailsa Craig stones with appropriately inscribed solid silver handles was presented to Prince Albert, who readily agreed to become the club’s royal patron, leading to the inconvenient name of the Royal Grand Caledonian Curling Club.

I had until recently thought that when John Kerr referred to the Rational Dress Association he was inventing a title for a non-existent movement. However, the wonders of the internet soon showed that I was wrong. There was a Rational Dress Association which published a catalogue in 1883. The three sketches below show ideas of how ladies might dress for different sport. Sadly the catalogue had no proposals for curling.

The sketch of the Countess of Eglinton and her ladies at play (above) on one of the several curling ponds at Eglinton in Ayrshire in 1860 not only adds yet another exception to the rule but shows how inappropriate was the dress in which the fair sex took to the ice.

David B Smith.

Captions: Top - Countess of Eglinton and her ladies, 1860. Middle - Prince Albert’s stones, 1842. Below - Alpine climbing costume. Skating dress. Ladies’ cricketing dress. (All from this web page)

The Bell Quaich

Faed Sproat was a weel kent farmer and curler from the Stewartry of Kirkcubrightshire from the early 1930s onwards. His mother club was Anwoth. I was fortunate recently to be given by his daughter some curling items from his estate. Among these was a small silver medal.

As the pictures of it show, it was won by a rink competing in the Bell Quaich competition in 1939, the year of the trophy’s donation and of the opening of the original (The Aul’) Ice Rink in Ayr.

The medal was intriguing from a number of viewpoints. It was one of the very earliest prizes from Ayr Ice Rink; and the obverse was of a design with which I was familiar. A bit of research showed that it had been won by a rink of which Faed Sproat was a member.

The Quaich was presented by E A Bell, the first secretary of the ice rink curling club, for inter-district competition. The first winners were The Stewartry, and the small medal was obviously the prize which was given to each member of the winning rink.

As will appear from the illustrations there are other examples of this design. The first I acquired are thin, uniface, gilded strikings with no clue as to when or where or why they were made. The same comments go for the second example I got, except for the fact that it is bronze and ungilded. The third is thicker, has a rim and is in the form of a blank medal for engraving and presentation. Sadly, it too gives no clue as to why, where, or when. The small medal is 'signed'. That is, it bears the maker’s name, John Pinches, who was a well-known London medallist.

The Bell Quaich still exists; it is still played for at Ayr but no longer for inter-district competition. In fact, the original plinth which boldly proclaimed its inter-district nature has been pensioned off.

The photograph shows that the plinth is made of ebonised wood and of heptagonal cross-section. On each of the seven faces is a silver plaque bearing the appropriate heraldry for each of the original districts, the team of each of which had to consist of three rinks. They are:

Kyle,
Carrick,
Cunningham,
Machars,
Rhins,
Stewartry,
Dumfriesshire.

That for the Stewartry includes as the first winners’ inscription in 1939 'JF Sproat'.

This is a photograph of the first winning rink and the Quaich in 1939. Faed is wearing the plus fours, front left.

Faed Sproat is second from the right in the front row. The picture is of Stewartry curlers and Americans on tour to Scotland in 1952.

David B Smith.

The First International Match: England v Scotland

It should perhaps be remembered, at a time like the present, when the English organisers of the Four Nations Match have been crying out for a few Scots to represent the most important nation in the contest, that it was the English who started the whole affair. In 1893 there were about fifty clubs in England associated with the Royal Club. It was William I’Anson of the Malton Club in Yorkshire, and some of his friends, who suggested to the Royal Club that there should be an Anglo-Scottish challenge match.

The idea was discussed at an AGM of the Royal Club, and approved, and a committee established to develop the idea. They came up with the location of Talkin Tarn, a lake of about 100 acres, beside Brampton, a small town in the vicinity of Carlisle. No doubt the idea was to select a spot near the Border within reasonable reach of all participants.

Many more Scots clubs indicated a wish to enter than their English counterparts and the final draw resulted in 69 rinks a side. Invitations had been sent out to member clubs on both sides of the Border, and a draw was made. Like so many other largish bonspiels it did not prove an easy matter to pick a date on which natural frost would provide ice of the requisite thickness – even though the organisers were happy with a thickness at least a couple of inches less than 'the curling authorities' of the present day deem necessary.

This was not the first time that such an international had been thought of. For example, the Caledonian Mercury of 15 January 1849 tells us that, “The preliminaries of a match have been settled betwixt the Newcastle Curling Club and Haddington Club. We understand that the event will come off at Berwick and will take place at an early date, as soon as the frost has sufficiently set in to secure permanent and good ice.”

Rev. John Kerr in his review of the curling winter of 1894-5, A Grand Curling Year, published in the Glasgow Herald on 4 January 1896, wrote thus of the first International Match. A very similar piece from the Stirling Journal of 8 February 1895 was printed in the Annual for 1895-6.

“On the 29th January there came off the long-talked-of International match, England v. Scotland – an event which in itself made the season memorable. The venue was the deep and picturesque 70 acre lake named Talkin Tarn, where the Brampton folks in summer enjoy rowing and sculling. The preparation for the match roused much interest among the natives, who had never seen the 'roaring game'. “I knows all about this curlin’”, one was heard saying to a neighbour the night before the match, “every man plays with a large stone weighin’ a hundredweight and a half, and the one that got his stone farthest away wins the game.”

“Nay, friend, that’s not it at all”, said another. “I’ve heard o’ curlin’ fifty times from them that does it, an’ they all play on skates, don’t ye know, just like they do at hockey; that’s curlin’.” Not the least interesting part of the play was to watch the countenances of those knowing ones and the thousands of others who came from Carlisle, Brampton, and elsewhere to see the fight.

“Down the rinks the stones are roaring,
Ringing through the frosty air,
Skips frae a’ the airts are pouring
Booming orders everywhere.
Surging sounds of mimic battle,
Flash of fastly fitting kowes,
Clang and clatter, rush and rattle,
Pealing far o’er heichs and howes.”

William I’Anson, of Malton, and Sir James Gibson-Craig, of Riccarton, did well in bringing about that gathering, and the Royal Club will do well to have it annually when frost permits. It will not likely come off again on the Tarn , for only curlers could have surmounted the difficulties that barred the way thither, and borne with good humour the inconveniences of going to and returning from such a place. From window to window of each train curlers’ chaff flew backwards and forwards. “At one station,” says a Stirling player, “we stopped rather longer than there was any occasion for a very red-faced ‘party’ with a countenance which negatived his chances of his being a local optionist, put his head out of the window to ascertain the cause of the stoppage. ‘Pit in yer heid, man’ said a brither in a neighbouring compartment; ‘the gaird thinks that face o’ yours is a danger-signal, and ‘ill no start the train as lang as it’s oot.’”

In that style every hitch made the company happier, and the failures in the arrangements were made to contribute to the success of the bonspiel. There were 68 rinks or 272 players on each side, and Scotland won by 275 shots. It was not another Bannockburn, for the large majority of players on the English side were Scotchmen; but many of these had not for years been north, and such a reunion with their countrymen over Scotland’s ain game was delightful. For England, which has adopted our golf and made her sons champion players of that game, the gathering was an unmistakable proof that Scotland has another sport which excites even more enthusiasm among its votaries, and is quite as healthy and invigorating. We are not surprised to hear, as the result of the international match, that 1895 has been a year of great progress for curling south of the Tweed, that several new clubs have been formed, and that an association of provinces has been constituted to make arrangements for the great annual bonspiel with Scotland and foster and strengthen the game in the south. Lochmaben, which is to be scene of next meeting, has the honour of having added a word to the curler’s vocabulary. Her shoemakers used never to let their opponents get a single shot. This was called soutering. At the international match it was “Up wi’ the Souters o’ Selkirk”, the gold badges to the rink with the biggest majority being won by the Selkirk team, whose opponents scored only two shots by mistake at the first 'head' of the game…”

The result of all the games which made up the match are taken from the Leeds Mercury of 30 January 1895, and are printed so that the curious can see from where all the rinks, English and Scottish, had come from. The gaps in the numbering are obviously caused by some rinks’ failure to appear. By my calculations based on this report there were 69 rinks, and the Scots beat the English by 281. As far as I can judge the furthest travelled Scot was the Rev. C. Halliday of Scotscaig in the East Neuk of Fife. What a pity to travel so far and lose to the 'Auld Enemy' in the form of John Smith, with his rink of Blackburn Rose and Thistle curlers, by 13 shots to 9.

More of the other open air International Matches later.

David B Smith

A bird’s eye view of Talkin Tarn today. (Photo from the Visit Cumbria website)

The busy scene at tarn level. (From the author's collection)

Some rinks at play in the match. (From the author's collection)

The results of the matches were:

Scotland - England

4. John Martin, Corstorphine, 20 - T Darling, Berwick-on-Tweed, 14
5. W Strang, Haremyres, 27 - Rev RC Inglis, 11
6. Lord Balfour of Burleigh, Clackmannan & Kennet, 19 - Jas Blacklock, Harrington, 11
8. W Crawford, Duns, 16 - J McGregor, Durham, 10
9. W Gibson, King Robert Bruce, 29 - J Carrick, Durham, 6
10. Peter Taylor, Airdrie, 14 - J Gray, Preston, 8
11. P Rankin, Cambusnethan, 17 - E Wilson, Preston, 12
12. DP Laird, Merchiston, 17 - M Macartney, Preston, 13
13. Sir R Waldie Griffith, Kelso, 23 - Rev S McNaughton, Preston, 6
14. W Henderson, Kinnochtry, 11 - Wm McNab, Bolton, 8
15. R Cross, Rutherglen, 6 - B Rannam, Bolton, 21
17. S Brown, Tynron, 8 - Dr Irving, Huddersfield, 18
19. W Hislop, Eskdale, 17 - J Brown, Birmingham Caledn., 12
20. R Riddell, Galshiels, 33 - R Kerr, Birmingham Caledn., 9
21. J Fleming, Liddesdale, 18 - Wm Stuart, Belle Vue, 12
22. Archd. Marshall, Kelvindock, 5 - J Meggatt, Belle Vue, 18
23. Capt. JA King, Lennox Castle 18 - W McNaught, Wigan & Haigh, 16
24. J McHenry, Haddington, 12 - Jas. McLellan, Wigan & Haigh, 15
25. John Reside, Cathcart, 3 - W Connell, Blackburn Caledn., 16
27. Major Robertson Aikman, Hamilton, 18 - W Gibson, Blackburn Caledn., 17
28. Wm Paterson, Douglas, 14 - Joe Allweed, Southport, 10
29. M Anderson, Neilston, 10 - Wm Platt, Southport, 7
30. W Callander, Minnigaff, 12 - John Boyd, Southport, 6
31. W Stevenson, Glasgow Lilybank, 7 - WH Milner, Harrogate, 17
32. James Miller, Crossmichael, 14 - W Pearson, Derwentwater, 13
33. JR Blackwood, Rosslyn, 18 - Charles Clark, Derwentwater, 8
34. D Draper, Falkirk, 22 - Thos. Hodgson, Derwentwater, 8
35. W Grieve, Selkirk, 27 - E Bowden, Derwentwater, 2
37. William Sutherland, Partick, 7 - Wm I’Anson, Malton, 18
38. Sir JH Gibson-Craig, Bart., Waverley Kierhill, 15 - W Roberts, Malton, 14
39. W Chapman, New Monkland, 24 - W.Young, Middlesborough, 7
40. John Bell, Tinwald, 22 - John Dickson, Middlesborough, 3
41. R Connel, Castle Semple Loch, 26 - John Davison, Middlesborough, 9
42. J Fulton, Lees & Lithtillum, 18 - W Longshaft, Middlesborough, 18
43. Robert Fleming, Avondale, 20 - W Alexander, Liverpool, 13
44. J Keanie, Lochwinnoch Garthland, 8 - Isaac Graham, Liverpool, 21
45. A Kirkpatrick, Crocketford, 17 - W Gracie, Liverpool, 16
46. W Morris, Craiglockhart, 14 - Samuel Cowan, Bradford, 11
49. J Smith, Hillhead, 10 - Sir J Heron Maxwell, Crystal Palace, 17
50. John Stodart, Pencaitland, 10 - JG Gibson, Crystal Palace, 13
51. W Renfrew, Hurlet & Nitshill, 11 - J Barbour, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 16
53. Dr Haldane, Airthrey Castle, 10 - WHA Marshall, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 29
54. JH Webster, Stenhouse & Carron, 11 - T Taylor, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 17
55. P Turner, Kirknewton, 11 - J Telford, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 22
56. R Husband, Broomhall, 7 - RM Waugh, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 24
57. R Knox, Alloa, 14 - R.Young, Manchester Caledn., 5
58. Col. Hope, Earlston, 14 - Wm McClymont, Manchester Caledn., 8
59. GR Ure, Bonnybridge, 23 - J Ayton, Newcastle Tyneside, 9
60. T Mitchell, Kirkhope, 20 - W Semple, Newcastle Tyneside, 12
61. J Young, Upper Annandale, 20 - J Robertson, Newcastle Tyneside, 5
62. G Robson, Antonshill, 14 - J Main, Newcastle Tyneside, 11
64. R Frater, Stirling Castle, 11 - AC Millwater, Leeds Caledonian, 8
65. J Thomson, West Calder, 17 - J McCulloch, Leeds Caledonian, 6
66. J Coubrough, Strathblane, 27 - A Sword, Leeds Caledonian, 7
67. WJ Gulland, Musselburgh, 20 - T Steel, Barrow Caledonian, 12
68. J Wood, Ayton & District, 21 - T Blacklock, Barrow Caledonian, 12
69. J Dryden, Kirkintilloch, 16 - CJ Armstrong, Carlisle, 11
71. D Thomson, Largo, 6 - W Hamilton, Carlisle, 13
73. Wm Smith, Buchan, 15 - R Todd, jr., Carlisle, 15
74. D Brown, Coatbridge, 10 - W McKie, Carlisle, 13
76. J Craig, Blantyre, 34 - RS Benson, Darlington, 11
77. J Brown, Upper Nithsdale, 20 - Wm Swan, Darlington, 6
78. John Currie, Stewarton Heather, 8 - R Alexander, North Staffs., 13
79. Rev. C Halliday, Scotscraig, 9 - John Smith, Blackburn Rose & Thistle, 13
80. Hugh Gilmour, Waverley, 14 - John Jardine, Blackburn Rose & Thistle, 9
81. A Kerr, Dalton St. Bridget’s, 19 - Wm McCowen, Whitehaven, 9
83. J Scott Davidson, Hercules, 17 - R Currie, Manchester Trafford, 12
85. J Grant, Alloa Prince of Wales, 22 - Wm Carruthers, Workington, 16
86. Capt. Middleton, Cupar, Fife, 16 - Dr. Myrtle, Harrogate, 12

Total……. 1,108. Total…… 827.

Grand Matches

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

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

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

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

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

David B Smith

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

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

The Grand Match of 1929 in progress at Carsebreck.

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

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

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

Photos © David B Smith

Curling Lighters: Part 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

David B. Smith.