Alternative Perth

BATTLEGROUND PERTHSHIRE is a concise account of the battles and minor military events that have taken place within the county of Perthshire. Comprising two thousand years of battles, raids, rebellions, sieges, riots, feuds, ambushes and skirmishes, Battleground Perthshire shines the spotlight on the military history of Scotland’s big county. Drawn from extensive primary and secondary sources: archives, eyewitness accounts and official records, it tells the fascinating stories of struggles for wealth, power, freedom and the right to self-determination. This chronicle of Perthshire’s military history stands as an important reminder of some of the events that have marked the development of the Scottish people. It will appeal both to the reader interested in the history of Scotland and to those interested in military history.

Battleground Perthshire can be bought from most bookshops in the Perthshire area: The Watermill at Aberfeldy; Sweet Words at Dunkeld; Waterstones - various stores including Perth; WHSmith - Perth and Pitlochry. And, in Perth Museum, the AK Bell Library, Gloagburn Farm Shop, the Brig Farm Shop by Bridge of Earn. Alternatively, it may be purchased for £7.00 with FREE postage and packing to any UK address {Please email for postage costs for locations outside UK}. Send cheque or postal order (payable to Tippermuir Books) to Tippermuir Books, c/o 3 Graham's Place, King Street, Perth, Perth, PH2 8HZ. It can also be bought through most of the UK online (internet) booksellers.

Spanish Thermopylae: Cypriot Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-39 SPANISH THERMOPYLÆ is the story of the fifty-seven Cypriots who served in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, 1936-39. It is also the story of a war that defined the lives of a generation and whose outcome decided the fate of hundreds of millions of people across the world. Drawing on recently released records from the Comintern Archive in Moscow, Spanish Thermopylae will appeal both to the reader interested in the experiences of the Cypriot volunteers, and to anyone looking for a concise history of the Spanish Civil War. 'This is the first book devoted solely to the contribution made by Cypriots to the cause of democracy and progress in the Spanish Civil War. It bears witness to the injustice committed against humanity by fascism in Spain and the inspirational sacrifices made by a small band of Cypriot volunteers. Spanish Thermopylae is a fitting tribute to them, and the International Brigades.' Demetris Christofias, President of the Republic of Cyprus 'True to the best traditions of their Greek forefathers, the heroes of the Greek War of Independence, the Cypriots rallied to the support of Spanish democracy and independence, realising that a defeat for the Spanish people would have meant world war. On the Spanish battlefields was being decided the fate of Europe and with it that of Cyprus. They recognised fascism as the greatest enemy of humanity and volunteered to help crush it... Many Cypriots lie buried in the Spanish soil fighting fascism. Cyprus is proud of her heroic sons who fell in the anti-fascist cause, but the fight is not over. We fight on until fascism is destroyed from the face of the earth.' Ezekias Papaioannou, Cypriot International Brigades volunteer and General Secretary of AKEL (1949-88) "Before many years have passed, their own countries will feel equally proud of the volunteers. That will be their best and highest reward." Juan Negrín, Prime Minister of the Spanish Republic (1937-39). It is available from www.amazon.co.uk

HISTORY

Eliza Ogilvy

In April 1847 the newly married poets Elizabeth and Robert Browning came to join the substantial group of English people living in Florence, Italy. It was whilst in Italy that they both wrote some of the greatest poetry of the Victorian age. They would stay in Florence for 14 years until Elizabeth's death in 1861. In Florence the Brownings rented an apartment in Palazzo Guidi, that Elizabeth Browning fondly named Casa Guidi. The apartment is now in the hands of Eton College who with the Landmark Trust have restored all the rooms. Within Robert Browning’s study at Casa Guidi (in which he wrote his first successful work – ‘Men and Women’) a marble bust of a woman can be seen on display. This woman was a Scot from Perthshire, Eliza Ann Harris Dick Ogilvy a Victorian poet who along with her husband David resided in rooms a floor above the Brownings for several years.

Eliza Ogilvy the daughter of Abercromby Dick (1794-1879) and Louisa Wintle (1796-1870) was born in Perth on January 6 1822. Her grandfather Dr. William Dick was Chief Surgeon to the East India Corporation in Calcutta. Eliza and her sister Charlotte travelled out in 1838 to stay with him, not returning to Perthshire until 1841. Outside her substantial body of work little would be known of Eliza Ogilvy if it had not been that in November 1971 some letters of Elizabeth Browning appeared for sale at Sotherbys in London. These letters, written to Eliza between 1849 and 1861 were put up by one of her grandchildren. The Browning Institute managed to purchase all of this correspondence and as a result of the subsequent media interest another grandchild came forward with additional letters. In all 39 letters came into the public domain, their text being published in 1973.1 The originals themselves are in the Eton College Library.

The Ogilvys first met the Brownings in Florence through an introduction by the latter's cousin Mrs Martin Lindsay. The consequent friendship between the two women would last until Elizabeth Browning’s death. During these years the families would holiday together in Bagni di Lurca, Paris and Venice. In July 1848 with their two-year-old daughter Louisa, the Ogilvys settled in Florence. Eliza after marrying David Ogilvy on July 6 1843 would give birth to seven children, Rose Theresa Charlotte (1844-1845), Louisa Mary (1846-1870), Alexander William (1848-1887), Marcia Napier (1850-1940), Walter Tulliedeph (1852-1927), Angus (1855-1928) and Violet Isabel (1857-1954).

As a poet Eliza Ogilvy is today found in anthologies of Victorian women’s writing and is considered as having a strong degree of popularity for that period.

“A lady better known as E.A.H.O. than by her full name, and recognised as a writer of clever stories and able criticisms, as well as spirited poems.”

Camilla Crosland - contemporary of Eliza Ogilvy and writer.

Amongst her published works are ‘A Book of Highland Minstrelsy’ (1846), ‘Traditions of Tuscany in Verse’ (1851), ‘Poems of Ten Years’ (1856) and ‘Sunday Acrostics, Selected from names or words in the Bible’ (1867). These published poems encompass themes ranging from the human condition through to history, art and political events with which Eliza Ogilvy was concerned such as the Crimean War. She also published two personal recollections of her friend Elizabeth Browning. Her most notable poems are:

The Vigil of the Dead
A Natal Address to my Child. March 19th 1844.
Newly Dead and Newly Born
Grannie’s Birthday
Allan Water.

“And am I really then thy Mother?
My very child I cannot doubt thee,
Rememb’ring all the fuss and bother
And moans and groans I made about thee!”

A Natal Address to My Child (March 19th 1844).

“By touch and sight, and fine-edged ear,
To certify its thriving,
Then cry O death, go with that bier,
And leave this life surviving.”

Newly dead and Newly born.

In 1850 the Ogilvys left for a visit to Naples and thence onto Perth, Peckham Rye, Lower Sydenham and Forfarshire. Throughout this period letters went back and forward between the two poets. After David Ogilvy died in 1879 Eliza moved to Bridge of Allan to stay at her father’s home. Here she resided until 1900 where she moved with her daughter Marcia to London. She died on January 3, 1912 in Ealing. Increasing poor sight and eventual blindness marred the last years of her life.

1 Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Letters to Mrs David Ogilvy, 1849-1861, edited by Peter N. Heydon and Philip Kelley (New York: Quadrangle/New York Times and the Browning Institute).

email: ap@alternative-perth.org