William Smellie

• Name  : Smellie
• Born  : 1740
• Died  : 1795
• Category  : Writers
• Finest Moment : Editor 1st Edition Encyclopaedia Britannica

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William Thomson Lord Kelvin Scientist

• Name  : Thomson, Lord Kelvin
• Born  : 1824
• Died  : 1907
• Category  : Science
• Finest Moment : Rules of thermodynamics published

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William Wallace

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William Wallace

He has a reputation as one of the greatest Scots heroes who ever lived - but the patriot Sir William Wallace may also have been the role model for one of England's greatest historical figures.

Some modern scholars believe that Wallace, whose fearless struggle for his country was immortalised in the film Braveheart, could well have provided the inspiration for the English folk hero Robin Hood.

Comparisons between the man who helped save Scotland from the English yoke and the folk hero of Sherwood Forest who robbed from the rich to give to the poor are uncanny.

For a start, both men were outlaws. Wallace is thought to have had a mistress called Marion, while Robin Hood's partner was called Maid Marion. And Robin had a follower called Friar Tuck, while one of William's retinue was a Benedictine monk called Edward Little.

Another intriguing comparison is that Robin Hood had a colleague called Little John. Wallace, who is reputed to have been six feet seven inches tall, is thought to have had a smaller brother called John, who may have been nicknamed "Little John" by the rest of the great man's followers.

One authority on the period says: "Thus comparison isn't fanciful. The story of Robin Hood could actually be the English making up their own version of William Wallace in order to claim their own hero. It could be the propaganda machine of English history at work."

Many historians are sceptical of the claim, though they do concede that there is no evidence that Robin Hood was a real figure, while we can prove that Wallace existed.

So what do we know about Scotland's great hero? We have plenty of evidence that he was a remarkable man and a great patriot, and that in his short 35-year life, he made a major contribution to Scotland's freedom and independence from England.

Wallace is believed to have been born around 1270 either at Elderslie in present-day Renfrewshire or at Ellerslie near Kilmarnock in Ayrshire. He is thought to have been the son of Sir Malcolm Wallace, a knight and small landowner in Renfrew.

As a boy, Wallace was sent to live with his uncle in Stirlingshire, who instilled him with stories about Scottish freedom and independence. Relations between England and Scotland had been amicable until Edward I took the English throne in 1272 and inaugurated 250 years of bitter hatred, savage warfare, and bloody border forays.

In 1286, when William was a boy, the Scots king Alexander III of Scotland, died. Many claimants to the throne arose, and the Scottish nobles foolishly requested Edward's arbitration. He cleverly compelled them all to recognise his overlordship of Scotland before pronouncing John Balliol king in 1292.

Balliol did homage and was crowned, but Edward's insistence on having the final say in Scottish cases eventually provoked the Scottish nobles to force Balliol to ally with France. Edward invaded and conquered Scotland in 1296, taking the Stone of Destiny on which Scottish kings were crowned to Westminster. Balliol abdicated, and Edward decided to rule the Scots himself.

This treatment, along with the outrages committed by English soldiers, infuriated Wallace, who decided to rise up along with a gang of supporters and take on the invaders. He was made an outlaw after stabbing to death the son of the governor of Dundee in 1291, and news of his bravery and exploits in ambushing English soldiers quickly spread across the country.

Wallace's first major act of resistance came when he sacked Lanark in 1297. He is said to have married his sweetheart, Marion Braidfute, who lived in the town and bore him a daughter. English forces attempted to seize him and when he escaped, they murdered Marion.

The death of his wife turned Wallace's campaign against the English from an act of national liberation into a hate-filled personal vendetta. He returned to Lanark, decapitated the sheriff with his sword, and set fire to the house. The town's population rose up and the entire English garrison was forced out.

Edward's troops on the run, Wallace stepped up the pressure. He put together an army of commoners and small landowners and attacked 500 English soldiers at Ayr. He then seized Glasgow and marched on Scone before moving north into the Western Highlands.

By this stage, Scotland's nobles were beginning to realise the power of this remarkable man, and they started to embrace his cause. Edward responded by sending 40,000 men north to try and sort the problem out. Wallace suffered a setback when many of the nobles deserted to the English near Irvine, but he was undaunted.

William succeeded in pushing the English south of the Forth, but Edward's army responded by trying to move north again. At the abbey of Cambuskenneth, the two sides finally met. The outnumbered Scots refused to negotiate with the English, saying they were there to prove that Scotland was free.

The result was that, on September 11 1297, the English army under John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, tried to push across a narrow bridge across the River Forth at Stirling Bridge. It was a poor piece of military judgement, and Wallace immediately capitalised on it.

Wallace, who had only 16,000 men, had two major advantages. Firstly, he commanded the high ground; and secondly, the bridge would only take horse riders two abreast. However, he also faced a dilemma. If he attacked too early, it would have left most of the English army unscathed on the other side of the river and in a position to counter attack. But if he attacked too late, most of the solders would have crossed and he would be hopelessly overwhelmed.

Wallace picked his moment carefully. As the army began to cross in numbers, his forces charged and secured the bridgehead. The English caught on the bridge panicked and fell and jumped into the water. Some of the English army, stunned by the ferocity of Wallace's charge, fled back across the bridge. The ones left behind on the north side were systematically butchered.

The battle lasted barely an hour. More than five thousand English had died while Wallace suffered only negligible losses. De Warenne beat a hasty retreat, harried by Wallace's forces as they moved south. It was a great victory, and led to Wallace being appointed Guardian of Scotland by a delighted Scottish nobility.

By the end of the month the English had been expelled totally from Scotland. Wallace then marched into England in search of booty, which he collected as far south as Newcastle, often showing the same brutality which the English forces had shown the Scots.

A furious Edward swore revenge and put together a massive army of 100,000 footmen and 8000 horsemen. Recognising the superiority of Edward's army, Wallace withdrew north. Unfortunately, his plans to surprise the English in a night attack were betrayed by two Scottish nobles. Edward immediately ordered his men to advance, until the two armies met at Falkirk.

Wallace's problems in being massively outnumbered were made infinitely worse when Comyn, the Lord of Badenoch who provided a large part of the Scots army, deserted the field with his men. It was a fight William could not win. The Scots army was utterly defeated, though Wallace himself slipped away from the battlefield, resigned the Guardianship and went to France to beg for help from the French.

Unable to gain support from Philip - and, it is now believed, from the Pope, as he either planned or actually made a trip to Rome during this time - Wallace returned to Scotland in 1303 and once again began harassing the English.

Since his departure for France, however, things at home had changed. Edward had now completely overwhelmed the Scots, and most nobles now submitted to him. Scotland had become a treacherous place for Wallace, especially since he was still public enemy number one as far as Edward was concerned and a bounty of 300 merks had been placed on his head.

Inevitably, he was betrayed. He was seized by a Scots baron, John Monteith, near Glasgow, taken to Dumbarton castle, and then moved to London under heavy guard. On 23 August 1305, he was tried for treason. In an impassioned statement, Wallace rejected this, point out he had never accepted Edward as king. "I cannot be a traitor", he said, "for I owe him no allegiance. He is not my sovereign; he never received my homage."

His resistance was futile. Wallace was found guilty, condemned, and immediately dragged on a cart through the streets of London to Smithfield. He was subjected to the most brutal of executions - hung until only half-dead, castrated, and then slit open while still alive to have his guts pulled out and burned in front of his eyes. Only then was he finally beheaded.

Even this was not the final ignominy. His head was placed on a pole on London Bridge, and his body cut into quarters and sent to Berwick, Newcastle, Perth and Aberdeen as warning to others. It was an inglorious end, but by then Wallace's place in history as one of the great men of Scotland had been assured.

Modern day historians agree that Wallace was one of the greatest Scots who ever lived. Geoffrey Barrow, Emeritus Professor of Scottish History at Edinburgh University and an expert on the period, says: "His one outstanding quality was his sense of single mindedness. He had one aim - to re-establish the independence of the kingdom - and he stuck to it."

And another Wallace expert, Professor Archie Duncan of Glasgow University, says: "He seems to have been a remarkable man. What is really interesting is that he seems to have been accepted as a leader despite his social class as the younger son of a relatively inconsequential family. You'd normally expect to find someone like that in the entourage of someone further up the social hierarchy."

Meanwhile...

• 1275 Marco Polo is at the court of Kublai Khan

• 1278 The glass mirror is invented

• 1282 Florence is Europe's leading trading and financial centre

• 1284 The "Pied Piper of Hamelin" rids the town of a plague of rats

• 1289 Block printing begins in Ravenna

• 1290 Spectacles are invented It was a quiet year

• 1295 Marco Polo returns to Italy

• 1297 The Moa, New Zealand's giant bird, is extinct

• 1298 The Mongols invade Delhi, India

• 1298 Work began on the building of Barcelona Cathedral

• 1300 Wenceslas II of Bohemia becomes King of Poland

• 1301 Edwrd II becomes the first Prince of Wales

• 1303 Rome University is founded

• 1280 Early Jewish Ghetto in Morocco.

• 1300 Decline of Anasazi, Mogollon and Hohokam in North America.

• 1260 Peak of Bohemian power and prosperity.

• 1308 Bohemia and Moravia become dominated by Germany.

• 1300 Popes lose political power.

• 1258 Mongols destroy the Abbasid Caliphate.

• 1279 The Mongols conquer southern China: Song period ends.

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William Wallace Scottish Patriot

• Name  : Wallace, Patriot
• Born  : c.1270
• Died  : 1305
• Category  : Famous Historical Figures
• Finest Moment : Battle of Stirling Bridge, 11 September 1297

Patriotism could be said to have been unfashionable since Samuel Johnson, but in the case of William Wallace it fits. His date of birth, and perhaps even place of birth, is uncertain, but he was the eldest of three sons of Sir Malcolm Wallace of Elderslie, Renfrewshire. This was a brutal age, with Scotland living under the brutal domination of England, and Wallace was a brutal man, through circumstances. But through him, as a waking up call, the Scots built the foundations of Scottish nationalism.

The English King was Edward I, The Hammer of the Scots, and under his rule, the Scots were not a happy people. Much of the history of Wallace is conjectural, but it seems likely, from circumstantial evidence, that he did not take to being ruled by the English very lightly. What is known for sure is the event which brought him into the public light - the murder of the English Sheriff of Lanark, Sir William Heselrig, possibly in retaliation for the murder of a wife, or lover, of his, or a colleague. From then on he was a marked man. This event took place in May 1297.

He then embarked on what was effectively a guerrilla war, leaving a siege of Dundee and joining forces with Andrew Murray. On 11 September 1297, they enjoyed a major victory over the English forces at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Wallace & Murray held the high ground of Abbey Craig, about one mile to the north of the castle. Between the two forces the River Forth slowly meandered across flat, boggy ground. It was crossed by a small bridge, over which two men abreast could cross. The English leader was Surrey, and, unbelievably, that morning he slept in. English troops who had crossed the bridge recrossed it to wait for their leader. Wallace & Murray also waited and watched.

Finally, the English vanguard started over the bridge again. When they had almost gained the north bank the Scots advanced on them from Abbey Craig. The soft ground hindered the English cavalry, much as they were to do so again at Bannockburn, and they were cut down or drowned in the river trying to escape. Surrey had not crossed and so lived; Cressingham did and was cut down. Worse, his fat body was stripped and his skin flayed from him. Wallace had a sword belt made from it.

Now named the people's champion, Wallace recaptured Berwick and rampaged through Northumberland. In March 1298 he was made Guardian of the Realm. He was also knighted, but by whom we do not know (it could have been by Bruce, but there is no evidence). He knew that Edward would return of course, as indeed he did that spring. On 11 July, at Falkirk, Edward's army met Wallace's. There was a small cavalry contingent under the command of Sir John Comyn, but it seems to have been ineffective, and the Scottish spearsmen were defeated by the English longbow.

Beaten for a while, Wallace maintained a low profile, attempting to enlist help on the Continent in 1298-9. On his return he continued to resist, moving from one place to the next, with Edward's men continually harrying him. On several occasions he was forced to fight and was fortunate, and skilled enough, to escape. But the end was becoming more and more inevitable, as Edward became more and more determined.

In or near Glasgow, Wallace was betrayed on 3 August 1305 and sent to London as a prisoner by Sir John Menteith, governor of Dumbarton. He reached London on Sunday, 22 August. Following a trial in London, at which he was accused of treason (an accusation he could legitimately deny, as he had never signed a fealty to the English), he was condemned to death by the usual punishment reserved then for such crimes. It was not a trial as we would know it; Wallace had no jury, was not permitted any witnesses, and there was no plea. He was given no chance to speak for himself, though he managed to make one interruption. Sentence was made and there was no appeal. Those readers of a delicate nature had better stop here.

Wallace was drawn, perhaps wrapped in an ox-hide, at the tails of horses to the place of execution. He would have been wrapped in hide so as not to die during the four-mile course through the city, to the delight of the populace. At Smithfield he was hanged, but taken down before he was dead, so as to continue the suffering. He was then disembowelled, and probably emasculated, though there is no mention of the latter in the official record. His heart, liver, lungs and entrails were removed and thrown onto a fire. He was then decapitated and his head stuck on a pole on London Bridge.

Wallace's body was cut into four pieces: one piece went to Newcastle upon Tyne, which he had invaded in 1297-8; one quarter went to Berwick; a third went to Perth, while the fourth probably went to Stirling, scene of his most famous defeat of the English.

Edward had had his revenge, but in murdering Wallace he ultimately made a martyr out of him. The Scottish War of Independence would be continued by others, notably Bruce, but it had been Wallace who had made the Scots realise that self-determination was a possibility.

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William Wilson Naismith Mountaineer

William Wilson Naismith / Mountaineer

William Wilson Naismith

• Name  : Naismith
• Born  : 1856
• Died  : 1935
• Category  : Mountaineers
• Finest Moment : Founder member of the SMC; 1st winter ascent North-East Buttress (Ben Nevis, April 1896); 1st ascent Naismith's Route (Crowberry Ridge, 1896); Naismith's Direct (Bhasteir Tooth, Cuillin Ridge, 1898); formulator of Naismith's Rule* (1892)

Brought up and educated in Hamilton, just south of Glasgow, Willie Naismith's parents were both fond of the mountains, so that Naismith had climbed Ben Lomond when about nine years of age. Naismith's father, William Naismith, practised for 20 years as a physician in Hamilton, living in the family home, Auchincampbell. He married Mary Anne Murray and had two children, Annie, and William. Naismith received his schooling at Gilbertfield House School, Hamilton, where he had Andrew Bonar Law as a contemporary.

Before he was 14, Naismith had made a winter ascent of Beinn Bhreac. Always renowned for his walking abilities in general, in 1879 at the age of 23 he walked from his Hamilton home to the summit of Tinto and back, a distance of 56 miles (90km). The perennial active man, at the age of 60 he walked from Glasgow to the summit of Ben Lomond and back, a distance of 62 miles (100km). This latter walk he finished in 20 hours, including stops. When asked by a nephew what food he carried, he replied that he found a bag of raisins in his pocket quite good.

Contemporaries in Hamilton recalled Naismith as a "rather careless, pleasure-loving young man", but Naismith took up the Church and became one of the "twice-born" as his tribute spoken from the pulpit recorded. On selling the family home in about 1905 and moving to Glasgow, Naismith became active in church work, taking up the unpaid post of Western Treasureship of the National Bible Society, a position he held for nearly 23 years. He was also an elder in Kelvinside (Botanic Gardens) Church, Glasgow, for 27 years. His beliefs precluded Sunday climbing.

Continuing his education, Naismith attended Glasgow University, graduating as a chartered accountant. It was there in 1872 that Naismith's class received a lecture by Professor George Ramsay, on Alpine Climbing. The entire class was spellbound by the Professor's demonstration of how to use an ice axe.

By the 1880s in Scotland, those few who climbed were frustrated by a lack of communication with others of like mind; in March 1884, Naismith climbed a very icy Ben More equipped only with a long, metal-tipped pole. This exciting experience convinced him that in winter and spring the Scottish hills demanded at least the same respect as the higher Alps.

On January 10th, 1889, a letter from Naismith was published in the Glasgow Herald, proposing the formation of a "Scottish Alpine Club". It was the catalyst whose time was due and answering letters quickly appeared, including those from Maylard, Gilbert Thomson and D.A. Archie. Following on from this exchange, the Scottish Mountaineering Club was formed in Glasgow, on March 11, 1889. Naismith became its first Treasurer. He was quickly and fondly regarded as "the father of the club". The Dinner Menu from the 21st Annual Dinner of the SMC in 1909 had, along with the photographs of the first President, Secretary, Editor and Treasurer, a drawing of a little girl with a long ice axe, rope and bag. The girl is saying "I'm father!"

Not only was Naismith a competent and energetic mountaineer, he was a pioneer in Scottish skiing. In 1890 he made the first recorded expedition on skis in Scotland, tackling the Campsie Fells north of Glasgow wearing heavy Nordic-style wooden planks. He was a member of the Scottish Ski Club, founded in 1907. He joined the Alpine Club in 1893. Two years later, in 1895, during a great freeze, he was the first to explore Loch Lomond on skates, getting as far as Rowardennan. He tried canoeing, boxing and horse riding. Not content with the above sports and mountaineering, on September 2nd 1901, he made a balloon ascent over Glasgow, reaching an altitude of 5,350 feet (1,630m).

In May 1892, Naismith made a solo walk taking in Cruach Ardrain, Stob Binnein and Ben More, three of the Crianlarich Munros. From this, he devised a simple arithmetical rule allowing a walker to calculate the time required for a walk. This has now been hallowed by time and is called Naismith's Rule*.

Within the SMC, Naismith made many fine ascents. With his best friend Gilbert Thomson he made the third ascent of Tower Ridge on September 27th, 1894, suggesting that name for the route, which had so far not been named. Eighteen months later, the SMC held their Easter Meet of 1896 in Fort William, from which Naismith made one of his finest climbs, the first winter ascent of the North-East Buttress on Ben Nevis on 3rd April.

It was typical of his modesty that it was not until 1925 that Naismith penned a few lines of description of the ascent. Now a classic Grade III, the 40-year-old Naismith had four companions on the seven-hour climb. This was on the Friday of the meet. On Saturday Naismith made an ascent of Carn Dearg by the South Castle Gully. Sunday was reserved for Church, then on the Monday a winter ascent of Original Route on The Castle, Grade III.

In August 1896 Naismith was on the Buachaille in Glencoe, with William Douglas. Together, they climbed Crowberry Ridge by what is now known as Naismith's Route. It was the first route to find a way up the formidable challenge of the steep ridge. Naismith made other notable climbs elsewhere in Scotland, including a very exposed route on the Bhasteir Tooth in Skye, straightening out a section of the Cuillin Ridge in the process.

As a mountaineer several who knew and climbed with him have commented that he was bold but safe, with very few bettering his skills in any branch of mountaineering. He made the first ascent of Staircase Climb on Ben Nevis in 1898 for example but few knew that previously he had attempted the route following a bivouac in the valley, waiting for first light. He came up against a difficult section, estimated that he could climb up it but not being certain that he could descend the same section he retreated. Later, he examined the difficult section from above before being satisfied that although it was difficult, it was not impossible.

In his 69th year, to the delighted surprise of his friends, he married Edith A.W. Barron, the daughter of an Aberdeenshire minister, who earlier had settled in Australia. His wife accompanied him on walks and they continued to scramble on his local Campsie Fells until almost the end of his life. In 1933 he suffered from an illness, which kept him in a nursing home for some weeks but he recovered from this. In September 1935 the Naismiths attended a meeting in Strathpeffer, a "Conference for the deepening of Spiritual Life". Naismith fell ill on the night of Friday 27th and died within two hours. He was 79. He was buried in Bent Cemetery, Hamilton, on Tuesday, 1st October, following a service in his Kelvinside Church.

• Naismith's Rule: a simple rule, which allows an averagely fit walker to calculate the time of a walk. In old Imperial measure it is based on three miles per hour as measured horizontally, plus 2000ft per hour of ascent. In the metric system, this approximates as 4.5km per hour, and one minute per 10m of ascent.

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Winnie Ewing

Winnie Ewing / Political Figures

• Name  : Ewing
• Born  : 1929
• Died  :
• Category  : Political Figures
• Finest Moment : Winning the Hamilton by-election in 1967.

Born in Glasgow, in 1929, Winifred (Winnie) Ewing was educated at Glasgow University after which she practiced law. She became involved in politics, joining the Scottish National Party. In 1962, membership of this party had declined to a microscopic 2,000. In 1966 the SNP contested some 23 seats at the General Election, its biggest ever entry. It polled over 128,000 votes.

But its biggest ever victory, in symbolic and emotional terms, came on 2 November 1967, when Ewing won the Hamilton by-election in a three-cornered fight between Labour, the Conservatives, and SNP (the Liberals did not contest this by-election). The previous year, Labour had gained 70.2 per cent of the vote at the General Election in this seat.

Ewing's victory was a tremendous shot in the arm for the SNP, though she lost the seat in 1970. She gained a seat again with Moray and Nairn, where she was MP from 1974-79. She became a MEP in 1975. Re-elected to this post in 1984 she had a 16,000 majority. This was trebled in 1989, with a majority in the Highlands and Islands of 45,000. She was elected President of the SNP in 1987, and joined the Scottish Parliament in 1999. She lives in Elgin.

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