Reminiscences of Labour History Pioneers

Birth-stool of Scottish Romanticism? Holyrood and Sir William Bruce, ‘Surveyor-General and Overseer of the King's Buildings in Scotland’

“…The palace, he suggested, should be given a use to arrest its deterioration and house the university. 86 But official uninterest and neglect changed when Holyroodhouse was briefly resurrected for palace use from 1796 by the future Charles X of France who took up sanctuary and residence there. 87 As in 1679, Holyroodhouse was again a convenient, sufficiently 'remote' royal provision for housing a royal whose presence was or could be politically uncomfortable around the royal court.…”

Custom, Commerce and Lord Meadowbank: the Management of the Meal Market in Urban Scotland, c.1740–c.1820

“…127 Even if the claims made for the success of the authorities' actions were somewhat exaggerated (there were subsequent disturbances over meal), and other steps were required to damp down food-related unrest, the capital was remarkably well-provisioned and trouble-free even during periods of acute crisis as in 1799-1800. 128 Growing wealth certainly made it easier for the landed classes and the middling sorts in Scotland's towns to contribute to schemes to relieve the needy. 129 Such support, however, had to be mobilised, which was done by provosts and magistrates who had begun to make it their business to gather intelligence on a daily basis about the prospects for their meal market.…”