Gude Cause Media Project

19/04/2026

09/10/2024

Today (9 October) in 1506, King James IV ratified the Charter incorporating the Surgeons and Barbers. :-)

And in 1867, at around midday a fire broke out in the ground floor of the premises of fireworks maker Thomas Hammond, a blaze that would ultimately claim the lives of five people – mostly children, with a further nine badly injured; it was reported that Mr Hammond had been in his shop filling one of his rockets with powder, when a spark from an unknown cause ignited the small missile in his hand and within minutes, the whole shop was ablaze since the shop was packed to the gunnels with fireworks and other combustibles. :-(

Also in 1900, Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE, Scottish character actor, was born in Edinburgh. :-)

Finally in 1909, a Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) demonstration attracted thousands of suffragettes to the streets; the procession began at Bruntsfield and ended at Waverley Market via Lothian Road and Princes Street (pictured). :-)

02/11/2022

Aye a battle.

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08/07/2022

Robert Burns and the Suffragette Movement - or vice-versa maybe...

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10/05/2022

New Suffragette mural in Glasgow.

https://www.facebook.com/107633890886804/posts/538666964450159/

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05/04/2022

Flora Murray

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-60983463

WEA Lothian Women's Forum WEA Breaking the Mould Project Women in Black: Edinburgh Women for Independence - Edinburgh

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Suffragette and medical pioneer Dr Flora Murray is pictured on the Bank of Scotland's polymer £100 note.

17/03/2022

23/08/2021

MARCH 2015 mfb x

For the first time MARCH (36mins) is free to view online from 23rd August to 6th September, as a companion to the virtual event Performing the Past.

31/08/2020

Henria Leech Williams

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Take a walk through Cathcart Cemetery. Pick your way along an overgrown path scythed by a fallen branch. Clamber up behind the Hood mausoleum, with its Philae Temple of Hathor pretensions. Squelch through the mud and mulch, then stop under a spreading horse chestnut tree.

13/06/2020

Women and Democracy - the West Lothian story booklet to download (just click on the download button at the top right of the page).

https://tinyurl.com/yaay377q

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WEA Lothian Women's Forum

13/06/2020

This from West Lothian Council - Museums and Local History page, in March last year.

https://www.facebook.com/123490381172089/photos/a.123522074502253/1037024326485352/

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WEA Lothian Women's Forum

Did you know that three young women from Broxburn marched at the front of the Edinburgh Suffrage Demonstration in 1909?

They were Sarah McDougall, Miss McGavin and Miss Black. They were part of Dr Kelso's "Lothian Lasses." Alongside two other member, and dressed in full Highland costume, they played the pipes at the front of the procession.

The 1909 demonstration was the biggest spectacle of the Scottish suffrage movement. Thousands of women, dressed in suffrage colours, paraded down Princess Street. The event was planned and managed by women. Women acted as stewards, flagholders and chauffeurs. They were some men present - Broxburn Public Band also played at the event.

The young female pipers had originally started out as the highland dancers for Dr Kelso's Lothian Pipers. They were given the opportunity to learn the pipes and under Dr Kelso's guidance became one of the first female pipe bands in Scotland.

The 1909 demonstration culminated in a large suffrage meeting at Waverley Market. As thousands of protestors arrived, the female pipers played on the platform, stopping only when Mrs Pankhurst arrived to give her address. According to the Linlithgow Gazette, "mere men held their breath in admiration."

Find out more by visiting our exhibition, "Women & Democracy: the West Lothian Story - it's on display at Strathbrock Partnership Centre for the next 3 weeks.