Preachers' appointments became a sore point,
Wrangling for ten years then came a disjoint,1
Failure resolving orthadox riddle,2
Split Church of Scotland right down the middle.3
The Free Church was born, the Temple was rent,4
Volunteer cash to the new Kirk was sent,
New churches to build and preachers to pay,5
Schools they established to have their own say6
Other sects then, an amalgam of three
Conjoined together to form the U.P.7
Fifty years on these two merged together,8
Then the Auld Kirk again was to tether,
Fusion of three to one was specific,
Church of the land again monolithic9
Intrepid explorers in foreign lands,10
Mapped out new countries, hills, rivers and strands,11
Continents crossed with great mission'ry zeal,
Souls for conversion and bodies to heal.
Undeterred Rob faced fierce Matabele,12
Son-in-law Dave was more touchy-feely,13
Born in Blantyre set off on his travels,
In "Darkest Afric" found many marvels,
Falls called Victoria on the Zambesi,
Nile exploration wasn't so easy.
New Zealand's Dunedin founded by Burns,14
While Churches all three sent missions in turns,
All these endeavours we greatly admire,
Also extended the British Empire!
Literature flowered with Sir Walter Scott,15
Carlyle, Jeffrey, Galt should not be forgot,16
Scots culture nurtured by journal or book,
Though nation'list flavour their penmanship took,
"British", they'd claim without hesitation,
Int'rest renewed in pre-Union Nation.
Geordie (the fourth) came north for a visit,17
Wore the kilt too, no longer illicit,
Like an old highland chief proudly he stood,18
Portrayed by Wilkie evoking the mood19
Vicky and Albert both came to Deeside,20
Bought a house there, and each summer they'd bide,21
With scenes picturesque in love they both fell,
Of their highland trips her diary does tell22
After Al died she felt lonely and down,23
Played pool on her hols with surly John Brown.
Victorian age brought in railway trains,24
Folk scooting about twixt diverse domains,
For transporting goods a method ideal,
Reducing the cost of iron and steel.
Flourishing trade, canals superseded,
Ships built in Glasgow foreign trade needed;25
"Clyde-built" a distinction of excellence,
But workers strove hard for just a few pence,26
Miners' conditions were just a disgrace,
Workers in fact'ries hard times they did face,27
None but a handful of people did well,
Employers alone allowed to excel.
New Towns grew up, more urbanization,
Crammed housing soon reached their limitation,
Crowded conditions, poor sanitation,
Ill-health and early life termination
Survival a gamble 'til one reached five,28
Poverty’s challenge was then to survive;29
The plagues of the era quite plain to see,
Cholera, Typhoid and dreaded TB.30
Notes
1 Disagreement over appointment of ministers,1843 by local heritors.
2 One third of the congregation left.
3 39 percent of the ministers left,
4 Founded by Dr. Thomas Chalmers, Professor of Moral Philosophy at St. Andrews.
5 By 1847 the Free Church had over 700 churches of their own.
6 Almost 600 by 1869.
7 The United Presbyterian Church.
8 Forming the United Free Church, 1900.
9 Churches reunited, 1929
10 Ross, Douglas, Stuart, Thomson, Cameron, Laws.
11 Mungo Park, (1771-1806).
12 Missionary Robert Moffat, (1795-1883).
13 David Livingstone, (1813-73).
14 Rev. Thomas Burns, nephew of the poet.
15 Walter Scott, (1771-1832). His Waverly Novels, (1814-1819) et al.
16 Thomas Carlyle, (1795-1881), John Galt, (1779-1839) and Lord Francis Jeffrey, (1773-1850).
17 1822, George IV, (r.1820-1830).
18 1829, Portrait to commemorate his visit.
19 Sir David Wilkie.
20 Queen Victoria, (r.1837-1901).
21 Balmoral.
22 She called Scotland "The finest country in the world".
23 Prince Albert died in 1861.
24 Glasgow to Edinburgh, 1842.
25 Robert Napier, (1791-1876).
26 Shipworkers were paid £70 per annum, 8% less than in England
27 50 to 60 hour week in some trades
28Infant mortality in 1855-9 stood at 118 per 1000 live births and rose to 130 during 1895-9
and was still at 122 in 1900-4
29In 1861 the deaths of children under ten made up 54 per cent of all deaths in Glasgow.
In 1870 the live expectancy of a male was 41 years and a female 43.5
30Cholera was well contained by 1900 but respiratory diseases were also killers.
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