Political and social movements in Dalkeith from 1831 to 1882

Front matter

m ■ a POLITICAL AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN DALKEITH POLITICAL AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN DALKEITH FROM J 831 TO 1882. BY ALEXANDER MITCHELL. PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION. 1882. PREFATORY NOTE. The notices of political and social movements contained in this volume, extending from 1831 to 1840, appeared originally in the Dalkeith Herald, a journal estabUshed in 1867 to promote the cause of municipal reform, and to these are now added a number of similar jottings from 1840 to the present time, the whole forming a nearly continuous, though, of course, very imperfect record of the public and social life of Dalkeith during the last fifty years. There still happily survive a few friends and feUow-labourers who witnessed and took part in the reform movements of 1831 and 1832, and who may be expected to recur with special interest to the events of that exciting and stormy time.

The local occurrences of the subsequent period will have their attractions for a gradually-increasing number of friends and feUow-citizens, whUe even those who are but entering on the career of busy life may be wiUing to learn what were the aims and aspirations of the generation that preceded their own. The survey will, I beUeve, show that, on political and social questions generally, public opinion in Dalkeith has kept pace with the advancing intelligence of the country, and that when circumstances have caUed for its collective expression, the means of doing so have seldom been wanting. I may add, that the preparation of these notes would not have been possible but for the circumstance that I had been personaUy engaged in the movements which they describe, and had preserved, in printed or manuscript form, the materials on which they are chiefly founded.

In putting these jottings together for the VI PREFATORY NOTE. perusal of private friends, I have not hesitated to give my own contributions at greater length than would have been warrantable in a volume intended for pubUcation. It would be affectation on my part to affirm that no feehng of self satisfaction has mingled with more pubUc considerations in the composition of the following pages. On the contrary, I freely own that one of the motives influencing me, and that not the least powerful, has been a desire to preserve for those who may be interested therein a record of my own opinions and work, and to connect my name with the political and social movements of half a century in the community in which my lot has been cast. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

1830-1834. PAOK Pre-Reform Period — First Reform Meeting in Dalkeith — Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway — Reform Jubilee — County Election — Sir James Gibson-Craig — Testimonial to Mr. George Gray — Reform of Scottish Burghs — Royal Commission on Burghs of Barony — Anti- Slavery Society — Mr. Peter Borthwick — Visit of Earl Grey — Second County Election — Emancipation Society 1

Chapter II

1835-1842. Dalkeith Scientific Association — Voluntary Controversy — Third County Election — Snowstorm — Savings Bank — Anti-Corn Law Movement— Chartism — Night Watch — The Queen's Visit — Trades Incorporations and Friendly Societies — Dalkeith Incorporation of Shoemakers — Dalkeith Kilwinning Lodge — Corporation of Hammermen — The Carters' Society — Dalkeith Youths' Society, . . 23

Chapter III

1843-1854. The Disruption — Repeal of the Corn Laws — Highland Relief Fund — North British Railway — Combination Poorhouse — Testimonial from Fellow-townsmen — Centenary of East U. P. Congregation — Great Exhibition — Majority of the Earl of Dalkeith — Social and Sanitary Reform, 37

1857-1863. Hawick and Carlisle Railway — Centenary of Robert Burns — Dalkeith Rifle Corps — Prince Consort Memorial, CONTENTS. VIII

Chapter VII

1863-1868. P-aoi; Municipal Reform Movement — Dinner and Testimonial to Mr. Andrew Gray — Building and Investment Company — Renewed Movement for Municipal Reform — Petition for Lower Franchise — Dalkeith and Ormiston Railway — Refusal of Police Act — Dalkeith Herald — Working Men's Club — Burgh or County — Deputation to London, 95

Chapter VIII

1868-1871. The Irish Church — Representation of the County — The Water Question — Dinner and Testimonial to Mr. James Gray — The Municipal Question again — Musselburgh and Dalkeith Water Bill — Subsequent Water Movements — Heresy-hunting — Formation of Science Classes — Marriage of the Princess Louise, . . . . . 121

Chapter IX

1873-1878. Education Act — The Test Ballot — County Election of 1874 — Lord William Hay at Dalkeith — Marriage of Lady Margaret Scott — Bulgarian Atrocities — Marriage of Lady Mary Scott — First Meeting of Commissioners, 144

Chapter X

1878-1879. Midlothian Liberal Association — Earl of Dalkeith's Candidature — Buccleuch Street U. P. Church— City of Glasgow Relief Fund- Liberals of Dalkeith and Candidature of Mr. Gladstone — First Annual Meeting of Midlothian Liberal Association, . . . 165

Chapter XI

1879-1881. Mr. Gladstone's First Meeting in Corn Exchange — Mr. Gladstone's Meeting in Foresters' Hall — Mr. Gladstone's Second Meeting in Corn Exchange — The Election : Return of Mr. Gladstone — Celebration of the Liberal Victory — Anniversary of Foresters' Association — Opening of Liberal Reading-Room — The Evening Meeting — Majority of Lord Eskdaill, 184