#Lord Provost

[scotianostra]

William Chambers, of the publishing firm and Lord Provost of Edinburgh died on May 20th 1883.

Chambers was born in Peebles the son of James Chambers a cotton mill owner, said to have 100 looms in his factory, and his wife, Jean Gibson. William was educated locally, but well, being trained in the Classics.

During his childhood William Chambers was an avid reader of books from a circulating library in Peebles. He moved with his family to Edinburgh where he started an apprenticeship with John Sutherland, Bookseller. He set up on his own in 1818 and taught himself bookbinding and type-setting before venturing into publishing.

William worked with his wee brother, Robert, to launch a successful weekly paper, ‘Edinburgh Journal‘, in 1832 and produce a gazetteer of Scotland the following year. They founded W and R Chambers, publishers of school text-books, People’s Editions of literary works and the famous Chamber’s encyclopaedia and Chamber’s English dictionary.

William Chambers was elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1865 and worked to improve sanitary conditions in the city as well as the restoration of St Giles Cathedral. Other major town planning exercises, including the creation of Jeffrey Street, St Marys Street and Blackfriars Street. These streets were all created under the City Improvement Act of 1866

Chambers Street is named after him. His statue stands outside the National Museum of Scotland there, as seen in the pics I took a few weeks ago.

William Chambers, printer and publisher, died on 20th May 1883, aged 83 years, he is interred at the family plot in Peebles.

[dadsinsuits]

Robert Aldridge

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

Dusty black robes while in office—that’s what he’s described as wearing. The dark green-adjacent clothes are when he was in school/still an active assassin.

I love that every disc fanartist I've seen has agreed that you must draw lord havelock vetinari like a celery stick colored with sharpie. A dark leek of a man. A super-sized black pencil. I know he's described as a tall thin man but you all went full goth anime legs uncle with him and I respect that so much.

I was gonna say "well he's an assassin, they're all like that" but then I remembered he canon wears slightly off-black-dark green robes because they're harder to see in the shadows, so you got me there, BUT he is also regularly described as flamingo shaped, which is definitely the anime legs uncle of birds so I won't hear anything else about that

[littlespaceinsurrection]

loli mercenaries. loli executioners. loli assassins. loli bodyguards. loli gangsters. loli military officers. loli cops. loli prison guards. loli drug lords. loli spies. loli interrogators. loli drone operators. loli militia. loli gendamerie. loli terrorists. loli spetsnaz. loli insurgents. loli partisans. loli conscripts. loli provosts. loli secret police. loli missileers. loli shock troops. loli bandits

[whimsicallywiddershins]

I'm just imagining one day that George, Alanna, Jon, Thayet, Numair, Daine, the knights, ect are just hanging out after a council meeting or something, and they all start talking about famous ancestors, cause they are all noble and I'm sure they all have great records. And George is sitting there, listening but quiet, cause he really can't contribute to all these ancient bloodlines and kings and such. Jon feels bad and is like

"George, do you have any interesting family members? I've bet you've got lots of famous thieves." You know, the include him. And George is like.

"Well, there is this one lady, Rebekah Cooper. She was a guradswoman that caught some big kidnappers and such."

And everyone's like, cool cool, how ironic, ect.

Then Jon starts thinking. That name is familiar, but he just can't place it. So later everyone is drunk and having a good time and Jon goes and unearths a book about his family. And there, in the section of his famous ancestor King Gareth III, there is a sungle page about his kidnapping. And one sentence mentioning his rescue by Provost Guardswoman Rebekah Cooper.

Jon goes insane. He goes running back to the little party and is like

"George!!! You won't believe this shit!"

And everyone gathers around and is amazed. That George's many great-grandma saved Jon's many great-grandfather. And there are lots of jokes about how Tortall would be lost without a Cooper there to save it.

But then, as the weeks go by, Jon keeps looking. He finds old Provost reports about a stubborn Puppy named Cooper that nabbed a notorious child kidnapper. About a rookie dog that ended a counterfeit ring practically singlehandedly. Reports left by Lord Gershom of Haryse, praising Rebekah Cooper for her work. Small accounts talking about an odd cat. A scent hound. The amount of people Rebekah Cooper saved. The difference she made.

And he compiles these findings, and spreads them around. Everyone is reading about this young Guardswoman that saved Tortall's people, over and over. Girls are inspired to become guards and knights and Riders. The Lower City is proud of its savior. The commoners are excited about a hero that came from nothing, like them. People start telling stories, making songs. Talling the story of Rebekah Cooper, so she will never be forgotten.

[aimeedaisies]

Court Circular | 23rd October 2024

Palace of Holyroodhouse

The Princess Royal this afternoon attended a Bicentenary Commemorative Service to recognise the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh, and was received by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of the City of Edinburgh (Councillor Robert Aldridge, the Rt Hon the Lord Provost).

Her Royal Highness, Patron, Vine Trust, later received Dr Claire Bawn upon assuming her appointment as Chairman and the Reverend William McPherson upon relinquishing his appointment as Chief Executive Officer and Mr Kenneth Holt upon assuming the appointment.

The Princess Royal, Patron, Moredun Foundation, subsequently received Professor Julie Fitzpatrick upon relinquishing her appointment as Chief Executive Officer and Dr Tom McNeilly upon assuming the appointment.

Her Royal Highness, Royal Patron, Leuchie Forever Fund, this evening held a Benefactors’ Dinner at the Palace of Holyroodhouse

[queenmarytudor]

"Trusty and well beloved, we greet you well, and where it hath pleased Almighty God of his great grace and infinite goodness and as we verily trust by the mediation and intercession of that blessed Virgin Mary his mother, to send unto us at this time good speed in the deliverance and bringing forth of a princess, to the great rejoicing and comfort of my lord, us, and all his loving subjects of this his realm, for which singular grace we have especial cause to give high thanks laud and praising unto our said maker and so we right heartily do. And forasmuch as we trust this our good speed is to the comfort of you and to all other lords true subjects of that his city advertise you thereof by these. Desiring therefore and praying you to give with us unto our said maker laud and praising, and to pray for the good health and preservation of the said princess. Given under our signet at my lords manor of Greenwich, the 18th February 1516"

- Catherine of Aragon's letter to the provost and brethren of Tournay, announcing the birth of her daughter Princess Mary, later Queen Mary I, in Archaeologia, or, Miscellaneous tracts relating to antiquity/ Society of Antiquaries of London. Volume 27, 1838, page 260

Happy Birthday Mary!

[kemetic-dreams]

Peter (fl. 1863) (also known as Gordon, or "Whipped Peter", or "Poor Peter") was a self-emancipated, formerly enslaved man who was the subject of photographs documenting the extensive scarring of his back from whippings received in slavery. The "scourged back" photo became one of the most widely circulated photos of the abolitionist movement during the American Civil War and remains one of the most notable photos of the 19th-century United States.

The photo of the scourged back "spurred a number of different narratives, all of which were intended to illustrate the meaning of his portrait, and privilege his photograph as a means by which to picture slavery and dramatize the need for abolition." In 2013, Joan Paulson Gage wrote in The New York Times that "The images of Wilson Chinn in chains, like the one of Gordon and his scarred back, are as disturbing today as they were in 1863. They serve as two of the earliest and most dramatic examples of how the newborn medium of photography could change the course of history."

Many historians have repeated the account presented in an 1863 Harper's Weekly article which consisted of a triptych of illustrations (all said to be of Gordon) and a narrative describing Gordon's escape from slavery and enlistment in the Union Army as factual.However, while the historicity of the photograph of Peter's scourged back and the narrative of his life and escape are well-documented, the narrative that appeared in Harper's was a generalized legend dashed off by Vincent Colyer as page filler, based on a combination of factual anecdote and convenient fiction. Harper's "Gordon" is a composite character, while the historical Gordon and Peter are almost certainly two different people who were combined by Harper's for narrative convenience. Peter or Gordon's service in the U.S. Colored Troops after emancipation is attested in news reports in Harper's Weekly and The Liberator but so far has not been verified through other records.

"Poor Peter" is the name of negro whose the lacerated back, as presented in the original photograph, has excited both the sympathy and the indignation of every humanitarian who has seen it. Here is his own statement, taken from his lips April 2, 1863, at Baton Rouge, La., just after he entered the Provost-Marshal's office. It may do well to state that 'Peter' could speak but little English and that in broken accents. The majority of the negroes of Louisiana are owned by Frenchmen or those of French descent, and nearly all speak French; indeed thousands were to be found along our line of march who could not speak a word of English. ¶ Being interrogated in French, "Poor Peter," who stood before us the picture of poverty, shrouded in rags of every color, began his doleful story. 'Ten days from to-day I left the plantation, run away from massa.' 'What made you run away, Peter; was your master ugly—did he whip you?' With a peculiar shrug of his shoulders, and raising his eyes to the ceiling he shouted, 'Lord God Almighty Massa! look here' —and suiting the action to the word, he pulled down the pile of dirty rags that half concealed his back and which was once a shirt, and exhibited his mutilated sable form to the crowd of officers and others present in the office. It sent a thrill of horror to every white person present, but the few blacks who were waiting for passes, men, women and children, paid but little attention to the sad spectacle. 'Who whipped you, Peter?' 'Overseer Artayon Carrier whipped me—I don't remember the whipping. I was two months in bed sore from the whipping and salt brine, which Overseer put in my back. By and by my senses began to come—they said I was sort of crazy and tried to shoot everybody. I did not know it—I did not know that I had attempted to shoot anyone—they told me so. I burned up all my clothes, but I don't remember that. I never was this way (crazy) before. I don't know what make me come that way (crazy). My master come after I was whipped—saw me in bed. He discharged the overseer. They told me I attempted to shoot my wife first one. I did not shoot any one. I did not harm any one. My wife tell me I no do these things when I come away. She thought I was dead with whipping. My master's name is Captain John Lyon [sic], cotton planter, on Atchafalaya River, near Washington, La. I was whipped two months before Christmas.' ¶ The above is a verbatim copy of the original statement of "Poor Peter," as written on the back of the photograph at Baton Rouge, a few hours after it was printed."

[checkoutmybookshelf]

So...Sometimes you write a chapter. And it's great, and you like it, but it's stupid long. So you panic yell at a friend who gives you the solution: Post the chapter in two parts!

Enjoy!

The Polin Shifter Romance (25829 words) by SometimesSheWritesLongIntoTheNight Chapters: 4/? Fandom: Bridgerton (TV), Bridgerton Series - Julia Quinn Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Penelope Featherington/Original Male Character(s), Colin Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington Characters: Penelope Featherington, Colin Bridgerton, Portia Featherington, Original Male Character(s), Eloise Bridgerton, Violet Bridgerton Additional Tags: Blood and Violence, Character Death, Shifter AU, Bridgerton AU, War wounds, Gunshot Wounds, Violent, Violence, parent/child violence, Bruises, descriptions of scars Summary: In a Bridgerton AU where shifters are illegal, Penelope and Colin's love story is complicated by Penelope's secret and a Lord Provost Marshall who could ruin both of their lives. Will Pen and Colin find their way to each other, and maybe make England a better place for shifters on the way? (Tags and warnings will be updated as chapters post, so PLEASE check before you click in!)

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in Irish History | 5 April:

456 – St Patrick returns to Ireland as a missionary bishop. 584 – Death of St Ruadhan (Ruadán), one of the twelve ‘Apostles of Erin’. He died at the monastery of Lorrha, Co Tipperary. 1605 – Death of Adam Loftus. He was Archbishop of Armagh, and later Dublin, and Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1581. He was also the first provost of Trinity College, Dublin. 1806 – William Dool Killen,…

[kingedmundsroyalmurder]

Rating: General Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: Gen Fandom: Tortall - Tamora Pierce Characters: Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau, Delia of Eldorne, Maura of Dunlath Additional Tags: Missing Scene, Frank discussion of treason, Truce for the sake of the traumatized child Word count: 6625

Summary:

“This is Maura of Dunlath,” Sir Alanna says. “She wanted to talk to you.” Delia can’t quite keep her surprise from her face. “Is that so?” she asks. “My sister Yolane was executed for high treason three weeks ago yesterday,” Maura says, and Delia blinks. “I wanted to ask you some questions.”

Oh hey, were you expecting literally any of the fics I've been posting about for days now? Too bad, you get this instead! The ten-years-on discussion between Delia, Alanna, and Maura of Dunlath that I didn't know I needed until yesterday and have now written. Enjoy!

Excerpt:

Lady Delia of Eldorne does not receive unexpected visitors. The Hag-Daughter comes twice monthly, to instruct her in matters of faith and hear her confessions. In years past, the Lord Provost’s agents at Eldorne called upon her regularly, to ensure her continued good behavior and impress upon her the mercy the Crown had shown in permitting her to live. Now, with over a decade gone by and Delia having long since come to terms with her lot in life, the Provost’s agents have been reassigned elsewhere. Her own family visits rarely, generally only once a year during Midwinter, and she is permitted the company of neither personal friends nor admirers. (Upon first hearing her sentence read out, Delia raged at the phrasing, assuming the King was rubbing salt into the wound that was her failure to find a husband at court. With the benefit of a great deal of forced reflection and perspective, she wonders if it was the King’s awkward attempt at guessing her interests.)

She spends her time reading and working on embroidery. With good behavior has come the right to send and receive letters – combed through by the Lord Provost’s agents and probably others besides – but she has few correspondents. She never had many friends, and what few she did have abandoned her long ago, terrified that treason might be contagious. A great deal of her time is spent in prayer and reflection – the letters she does write are primarily to the Hag-Daughter – and in sanctioned artistic pursuits. Delia never used to be artistic, except in matters of her own presentation, but a decade of enforced solitude and idleness has introduced her to many new ways to pass the time. 

It is a monotonous life but not, as she is reminded near-constantly, a bad one. It is a far nicer life than she deserves. She tries her best to be grateful for it. 

She has been imprisoned for eleven years and four months when a knock sounds on her parlor door and Rodwin the guardsman announces that she has visitors. Delia sets down her embroidery, a slight frown on her face. It is too early in the month for the Hag-Daughter and the wrong time of year for any of her relations to undertake their once-yearly pilgrimage to gawk at her.

“Enter,” she calls, and it is all she can do to keep from gawking herself as the door opens and in strides in Sir Alanna the Lioness, looking like she would rather be absolutely anywhere else. 

[scotianostra]

On January 14th 1872 Edinburgh’s world famous dog, Greyfriars Bobby died.

For many visitors to Edinburgh, a must-see is the statue of Greyfriar's Bobby on George IV Bridge and, although it's officially frowned upon, rubbing Bobby's nose for luck. The true story of Greyfriar's Bobby is so enchanting that even Walt Disney decided to make a movie about him.

Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye Terrier who became famous in the 19th century for his unwavering loyalty to his owner. In 1850 John Gray, his wife, Jess and their son John arrived in Edinburgh. John was a gardener but could not find employment in his new hometown, so he worked as a night watchman for the Edinburgh Police Force.

It was a lonely job, so to keep him company, he bought a wee Skye Terrier, who he called Bobby. Soon John and Bobby became inseparable through the long winter nights they maintained a watch over their charges.

Edinburgh's damp and murky weather eventually took its toll on John, who was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Despite treatment from the Police Surgeon, John died on 15th February 1858 and was buried in Greyfriar's Kirkyard.

Bobby, who had never been apart from John, refused to leave the cemetery and stayed by his owner's grave. Despite the efforts of the graveyard staff to evict Bobby, he always returned and eventually, they gave up and provided little Bobby with shelter beside John's Grave.

Word of Bobby's loyalty quickly spread, and he became a local sensation. It is said that crowds would gather outside the graveyard at one o'clock each day. When Edinburgh's famous one o'clock gun was fired, Bobby would leave the grave and join local joiner William Dow for a walk to a local coffee shop.

John and Bobby visited Traill’s Temperance Coffee House on their rounds, and Bobby was always given something to eat by the owner John  Traill. This tradition continued after John's passing, thanks to the generosity of the owner.

A new by-law was passed by the Edinburgh Council in 1867, making it mandatory that all dogs had a licence and a collar. The Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Sir William Chalmers, undertook to pay for Bobby's licence, and he received a collar with the inscription "Greyfriar's Bobby from the Lord Provost 1867 Licensed".

If you visit the Museum of Edinburgh on the Royal Mile, you can see Bobby's collar and drinking bowl. as seen in the pics, that I took in 2016/.

Bobby stayed by John's grave for 14 years until he passed in 1872. He was buried in the same cemetery, just a few feet away from his beloved owner.

Greyfriars Bobby's story is one of the most enduring tales of loyalty and devotion. It serves as a reminder of the special bond between humans and animals.

In 1981 a new headstone at Bobby's Grave was unveiled by the Duke of Gloucester. The inscription reads, "Greyfriars Bobby – Died 14 January 1872 – Aged 16 years – Let his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all".

The legend of Bobby touched the heart of Baroness Angelia Georgina Burdett-Coutts. She was the daughter of the banker Thomas Coutts (of Coutts Bank fame) and inherited £1.8 million on her grandfather's death, making her one of the wealthiest women in England.

Burdett-Coutts spent most of her wealth on philanthropic causes. She co-founded the Urania Cottage for "fallen young women" with Charles Dickens and became a social housing pioneer.

The Baroness got permission from Edinburgh Council to erect a statue of Bobby at the junction of Candlemakers Row and George IV Bridge, just outside Greyfriars Kirkyard. The artist William Brodie was commissioned to create the statue in 1872.

Since its unveiling, the statue of Bobby has become an important Edinburgh landmark.

[crownedlegend]

Queen Elizabeth II visit to Scotland. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh with the Lord Provost of Glasgow arrive at the City Chambers in Glasgow in 1953. (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

[thiziri]

Princess Anne visits Glasgow and meets the people before entering the city chambers to meet the Lord Provost, and invited guests of organisations for whom Queen Elizabeth was patron, on 15 September 2022.

[carletes]

so so so happy you've updated!! I LOVED the new chapter and really, how good it feels to read carlando from you again after such a long time. while reading this though at the beginning i had a new question and I don't really know if you've explained it before but ill ask anyways lmao.

when lando was in obscurity, did the people know about flo and cisca and their appearance? didn't it rise any suspicion how much they looked alike? or did just nobody realize?

I AM ALSO SO HAPPY I’ve had this fic in my notes since NOVEMBER (proof below lmao) I was literally waddling to school when I wrote this draft!!

I actually do mention it! Basically, if either of the princesses had gone to Silverstone, Lando wouldn’t have been able to stay in obscurity for long lmao. From Chapter 12:

Later, before dinner, Lando and Carlos offered to take the princesses on a tour of the fort. They were wearing sensible, albeit fine, clothes; breeches and tunics, though Cisca kept her hair down and long where Flo kept hers tied back and away from her face. They might have been older pages, or young squires, if not for the way they carried themselves: distinctly like princesses, chins up and shoulders back. Lando wondered if he would be able to project himself like his younger siblings, or if he would always walk like Squire Lando and not Prince Lando.

“Ah! The princesses,” came Emissary Vettel’s voice. He was walking alongside Lord Provost Button, his signature boyish smile worn bright on his face. Both men bowed to the princesses, who curtsied back.

“My Lord, your Excellency,” Flo said.

“Thank you for allowing us to lodge at Silverstone awhile,” Cisca said. Though she was the youngest, her etiquette was flawless. “We have always wished to visit.”

“Indeed,” Lord Provost Button said, smiling. “I regret that you cannot do more than visit. It was my most fervent wish that at least one of the two of you enroll at Silverstone.”

“Ah, but Jenson,” Emissary Vettel said, his grin widening even further. His eyes twinkled as they shifted from Lando to Cisca to Flo and back. “Can you not see the family resemblance, eh? If you had all three as contemporaries, or even just two, why, our dear crown prince would not have had a hope in hell of obscurity!”

Lando grinned, and saw his grin reflected in his sisters. Carlos was looking fondly at all three of them.

“Remarkable, the similarity, and yet scarcely any between you three and your honored parents,” Jenson murmured.

[grandmaster-anne]

9 February 2023 The Princess Royal, Royal Patron, Friends of TS Queen Mary, attended a Ninetieth Anniversary Reception at Voco Grand Central Hotel, 99 Gordon Street, Glasgow, and was received by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of the City of Glasgow (Councillor Jacqueline McLaren, the Rt Hon the Lord Provost). 📸: Friends of TS Queen Mary