108-569: Alexander Shields or Sheilds or Sheills (January 1661 – 1700) was a Scottish, Presbyterian, nonconformist minister , activist, and author. He was imprisoned in London, in Edinburgh and on the Bass Rock for holding private worship services. After his escape from prison he wrote A Hind Let Loose which amongst other things argues for the rights of people to resist tyrants including the bearing of arms and
216-925: A Free Church named after him there. James Anderson lists 39 Covenanting "martyrs" who were imprisoned on the Bass: Patrick Anderson , William Bell , Robert Bennet of Chesters , John Blackadder , Sir Hugh Campbell , Sir George Campbell , John Campbell , Robert Dick , John Dickson , James Drummond , Alexander Dunbar , James Fithie , Alexander Forrester , James Fraser , Robert Gillespie , Alexander Gordon , John Greig , Thomas Hog , Peter Kid , John Law , Joseph Learmont , William Lin , James Macaulay , John M'Gilligen , James Mitchell , Alexander Peden , Michael Potter , John Rae , Archibald Riddell , Robert Ross , Thomas Ross , Gilbert Rule , George Scot , Alexander Shields , William Spence , John Spreul (apothecary) , John Spreul (town clerk) , John Stewart , and Robert Traill . Charles Maitland held
324-635: A Covenanter who attempted to assassinate the Archbishop of St Andrews . Mitchell was tortured, imprisoned on the Bass Rock and eventually also executed. A pibroch was written by Iain Dall MacAoidh (MacKay), commemorating Neil Bhass' imprisonment and escape from the island, entitled "The Unjust Incarceration". It also featured as the cover photograph of the 1967 album "Gateway To The Forth" by Jimmy Shand & his Band. The Bass Rock appears as background in
432-654: A castle on the island from an early date. Sir Robert de Lawedre is mentioned by Blind Harry in The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace as a compatriot of William Wallace , and Alexander Nisbet recorded his tombstone in 1718, in the floor of the old kirk in North Berwick : "here lies Sir Robert de Lawedre, great laird of the Bass, who died May 1311". Five years later his son received that part of
540-465: A century and a half. Culturally, in England and Wales , discrimination against Nonconformists endured even longer. Presbyterians , Congregationalists , Baptists , Calvinists , other "reformed" groups and less organised sects were identified as Nonconformists at the time of the 1662 Act of Uniformity. Following the act, other groups, including Methodists , Unitarians , Quakers , Plymouth Brethren , and
648-582: A fourteen-year-old in 1428. He was kept there as a hostage after his father, Aonghas Dubh (Angus Dhu) of Strathnaver in Sutherland , was released, as security. According to one website Following the murder of King James at Perth in 1437 Neil escaped from the Bass and was proclaimed 8th Chief of the Clan Mackay. After almost 600 years, the Lauders lost the Bass in the 17th century during Cromwell's invasion , and
756-559: A great part of the more active members of society, who have the most intercourse with the people have the most influence over them, are Protestant Dissenters. These are manufacturers, merchants and substantial tradesman, or persons who are in the enjoyment of a competency realised by trade, commerce and manufacturers, gentlemen of the professions of law and physic, and agriculturalists, of that class particularly who live upon their own freehold. The virtues of temperance, frugality, prudence and integrity promoted by religious Nonconformity...assist
864-672: A harsh punishment. An extraordinary chapter in the Bass Rock's history was its seizure by four Jacobites imprisoned in its castle, which they then held against government forces for nearly three years, 1691–1694. In 1688 the Catholic King James VII had been deposed by and replaced by William III of England and Mary II of England . During the ensuing years, supporters of exiled King James, known as ‘ Jacobites ’, fought unsuccessful wars of resistance in Scotland and Ireland, where Catholic allegiances were strongest. The Bass Rock's castle
972-555: A major role in English politics. In a political context, historians distinguish between two categories of Dissenters, in addition to the evangelical element in the Church of England. "Old Dissenters", dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, included Baptists , Congregationalists , Quakers , Unitarians , and Presbyterians outside Scotland. "New Dissenters" emerged in the 18th century and were mainly Methodists. The " Nonconformist conscience "
1080-456: A non- Anglican church or a non-Christian religion. More broadly, any person who advocated religious liberty was typically called out as Nonconformist. The strict religious tests embodied in the laws of the Clarendon Code and other penal laws excluded a substantial section of English society from public affairs and benefits, including certification of university degrees, for well more than
1188-443: A paper renouncing all previous engagements "in so far as they declare war against the king". This was accepted as satisfactory, but he was still detained in prison. A letter to his friend John Balfour of Kinloch , expressing regret for his compliance, fell into the hands of the authorities. They sent the two archbishops, Arthur Ross and Alexander Cairncross , with Andrew Bruce , bishop of Dunkeld , to confer with him. On 6 August he
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#17328945447421296-519: A psalm, he explained that it was the same as had been sung by Robert Bruce at the cross of Edinburgh, on the dispersion of the Spanish Armada . On 3 March 1689, with Thomas Lining and William Boyd , he took part in a solemn renewing of the covenants by a concourse of people at Borland Hill, parish of Lesmahagow , Lanarkshire. After the Revolution Shields joined the Church of Scotland, and
1404-642: A reconsecration of the restored and ancient St Baldred's chapel on the Bass. In 1576 it was recorded that the church on the Bass, and that at Auldhame on the mainland, required no readers, doubtless something to do with the Reformation . During the 15th century James I consigned several of his political enemies, including Walter Stewart , to the Bass. In this period, many members of the Clan MacKay ended up there, including Neil Bhass MacKay (Niall "Bhas" MacAoidh), who gained his epithet from being imprisoned there as
1512-489: A registrar was present. Also in 1836, civil registration of births, deaths and marriages was taken from the hands of local parish officials and given to local government registrars. Burial of the dead was a more troubling problem, for urban chapels rarely had graveyards, and sought to use the traditional graveyards controlled by the established church. The Burial Laws Amendment Act 1880 finally allowed this. Oxford University required students seeking admission to submit to
1620-623: A series of disabilities on Nonconformists that prevented them from holding most public offices, that required them to pay local taxes to the Anglican church, be married by Anglican ministers, and be denied attendance at Oxford or degrees at Cambridge. Dissenters demanded removal of political and civil disabilities that applied to them (especially those in the Test and Corporation Acts). The Anglican establishment strongly resisted until 1828. The Test Act 1673 made it illegal for anyone not receiving communion in
1728-472: Is a steep-sided volcanic plug , 107 m (351 ft) at its highest point, and is home to a large colony of gannets . The rock is uninhabited, but historically has been settled by an early Christian hermit , and later was the site of an important castle, which after the Commonwealth period was used as a prison. The island belongs to Hew Hamilton-Dalrymple , whose family acquired it in 1706, and before to
1836-542: Is crossed by a curtain wall , which naturally follows the lie of the ground, having projections and round bastions where a rocky projection offers a suitable foundation. The parapets are battlemented , with the usual walk along the top of the walls. Another curtain wall at right-angles runs down to the sea close to the landing-place, ending in a ruined round tower, whose vaulted base has poorly splayed and apparently rather unskilfully constructed embrasures . The entrance passes through this outwork wall close to where it joins
1944-432: Is entitled simply The Bass , and gives a long description of the island, which is described as "just the one crag of rock, as everybody knows, but great enough to carve a city from". It was an unco place by night, unco by day; and there were unco sounds; of the calling of the solans [gannets], and the plash [splash] of the sea, and the rock echoes that hung continually in our ears. It was chiefly so in moderate weather. When
2052-473: Is fertile and supports a wide variety of plants. These include the Bass mallow which is otherwise only found on a few other islands, including Ailsa Craig and Steep Holm . Due to its imposing nature, prison and connection with Scottish history, the Bass has been featured in several fictional works. Robert Louis Stevenson had at least one strong connection with the Bass, as his cousin, David Stevenson , designed
2160-534: Is mainly from 2 books: An Enquiry into Church-Communion and A Hind Let Loose . The second of these, A Hind let Loose , is divided into a historical part and a theoretical part. At the beginning of the historical survey of the history of the Scottish Church from the Culdees downward. It is (says MacPherson) in the second half of the book that Shields’ power as a thinker is manifested. Under seven heads, he discusses
2268-564: Is used in a broader sense to refer to Christians who are not communicants of a majority national church , such as the Lutheran Church of Sweden . The Act of Uniformity 1662 required churchmen to use all rites and ceremonies as prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer . It also required episcopal ordination of all ministers of the Church of England—a pronouncement most odious to the Puritans ,
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#17328945447422376-624: The Apologetical Declaration issued by James Renwick in November 1684. On Sunday, 11 January 1685, he was apprehended, with seven others, while preaching from the words in Genesis xlix., 21 : "Naphtali is a hind let loose," — afterwards the title of his famous Treatise. Captured by the city marshal at this conventicle in Embroiderers' Hall , Gutter Lane, Cheapside , he was brought before
2484-964: The Baptists , Brethren , Methodists , and Quakers . In Ireland, the comparable term until the Church of Ireland 's disestablishment in 1869 was "Dissenter" (the term earlier used in England), commonly referring to Irish Presbyterians who dissented from the approved Anglican communion. English Dissenters such as the Puritans who violated the Act of Uniformity 1558 – typically by practising radical, sometimes separatist , dissent – were retrospectively labelled as Nonconformists. By law and social custom, Nonconformists were restricted from many spheres of public life – not least, from access to public office, civil service careers, or degrees at university – and were referred to as suffering from civil disabilities . In England and Wales in
2592-822: The East Lothian coast including the Islands of the Forth . To the west are Craigleith , and the Lamb , Fidra and finally to the west of Fidra, the low-lying island of Eyebroughy . These are also mainly the result of volcanic activity. To the northeast can be seen the Isle of May off the coast of the East Neuk of Fife. Bass Rock stands more than 100 m (330 ft) high in the Firth of Forth Islands Special Protection Area which covers some but not all of
2700-486: The English Moravians were officially labelled as Nonconformists as they became organised. The term dissenter later came into particular use after the Act of Toleration 1689 , which exempted those Nonconformists who had taken oaths of allegiance from being penalised for certain acts, such as for non-attendance at Church of England services. A census of religion in 1851 revealed Nonconformists made up about half
2808-703: The Irish Catholics in an otherwise unlikely alliance. The Nonconformist conscience was also repeatedly called upon by Gladstone for support for his moralistic foreign policy. In election after election, Protestant ministers rallied their congregations to the Liberal ticket. (In Scotland, the Presbyterians played a similar role to the Nonconformist Methodists, Baptists and other groups in England and Wales.) Many of
2916-494: The Peace of Ryswick he returned home, was called to St Andrews on 4 February 1696, and admitted 15 September 1697. On 21 July 1699 he was authorised by the commission of the general assembly to proceed, with three other ministers, Francis Borland, Alexander Dalgleish and Archibald Stobo, and a number of colonists, to Darien , this being the second expedition in pursuance of the ill-fated scheme of William Paterson . They sailed in
3024-579: The Rising Sun on Sunday 24 September 1699, his charge at home being supplied by brethren in his absence. Shields and his companions were really the first foreign missionaries of the Church of Scotland, the Commission of Assembly having, on 21 July, charged them "particularly that you labour among the natives for their instruction and conversion, as you have access." He was appointed senior minister; they reached Darien late in November 1699. There were quarrels among
3132-617: The Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England. Cambridge University required that for a diploma. The two ancient universities opposed giving a charter to the new London University in the 1830s, because it had no such restriction. London University, nevertheless, was established in 1836, and by the 1850s Oxford dropped its restrictions. In 1871 Gladstone sponsored legislation that provided full access to degrees and fellowships. The Scottish universities never had restrictions. Since 1660, Dissenters, later Nonconformists, have played
3240-842: The Uniting Church in Sweden , was formed by merging the Baptist Union of Sweden , the United Methodist Church , and the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden . Bass Rock The Bass Rock , or simply the Bass ( / b æ s / ), ( Scottish Gaelic : Creag nam Bathais or Scottish Gaelic : Am Bas ) is an island in the outer part of the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland . Approximately 2 km (1 mi) offshore, and 5 km (3 mi) north-east of North Berwick , it
3348-424: The 2021 Stella Prize . The island is a volcanic plug of phonolitic trachyte rock of Carboniferous ( Dinantian ) age. The rock was first recognised as an igneous intrusion by James Hutton . Hugh Miller visited in 1847 and wrote about the rock's geology in his book Edinburgh and its Neighbourhood, Geological and Historical: with The Geology of the Bass Rock . It is one of a small number of islands off
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3456-541: The 20th century, until only pockets of nonconformist religiosity remained in England. Nonconformity in Wales can be traced to the Welsh Methodist revival ; Wales effectively had become a Nonconformist country by the mid-19th century; nonconformist chapel attendance significantly outnumbered Anglican church attendance. They were based in the fast-growing upwardly mobile urban middle class. The influence of Nonconformism in
3564-549: The Bass Rock, at that time the world's largest colony. In 2022 more than 5,000 dead birds were counted on a single day, following a whole-island drone survey undertaken by the University of Edinburgh , in a colony that normally had 150,000 birds. Susan Davies, chief executive of the Scottish Seabird Centre, said, "We know many more birds died before and after that. The scale of impact was heartbreaking to see." The soil
3672-645: The Bass for James VII for a brief period after the Scottish Convention declared him to be deposed. However, some of the prisoners were there for many minor misdemeanors. In 1678 Hector Allan, a Quaker in Leith was sentenced to a period on the Rock for "abusing and railing" (i.e. verbally insulting) Rev Thomas Wilkie of North Leith Parish Church. Although this was then commuted to imprisonment in Leith Tolbooth, this seems
3780-468: The Church of England to hold office under the crown. The Corporation Act 1661 did likewise for offices in municipal government . Although the Test and Corporation Acts remained on the statute-book, in practice they were not enforced against Protestant nonconformists due to the passage of various Indemnity Acts , in particular the Indemnity Act 1727 , which relieved Nonconformists from the requirements in
3888-527: The Council, to come under this engagement, he was recommitted to the tolbooth of Edinburgh, but he succeeded in making his escape from it disguised in women's clothes." In a footnote he comments: "Howie, in his Scots Worthies, erroneously says that it was from the Bass that Shields made his escape." Shields made his way at once to Renwick, whom he found on 6 December 1686 at a field conventicle at Earlston Wood, parish of Borgue , Kirkcudbrightshire. On 18 October 1687
3996-638: The Lauder family for almost six centuries. The Bass Rock Lighthouse was constructed on the rock in 1902, and the remains of an ancient chapel survive. The Bass Rock features in many works of fiction, including Lion Let Loose by Nigel Tranter , Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson , The Lion Is Rampant by the Scottish novelist Ross Laidlaw and The New Confessions by William Boyd . Most recently it features prominently in The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld , which won
4104-648: The Nonconformists elected to Parliament were Liberals. Relatively few MPs were Dissenters. However the Dissenters were major voting bloc in many areas, such as the East Midlands. They were very well organised and highly motivated and largely won over the Whigs and Liberals to their cause. Gladstone brought the majority of Dissenters around to support for Home Rule for Ireland , putting the dissenting Protestants in league with
4212-609: The Old group supported mostly Whigs and Liberals in politics, while the New, like most Anglicans, generally supported Conservatives . By the late 19th century, the New Dissenters had mostly switched to the Liberal Party. The result was a merging of the two groups, strengthening their great weight as a political pressure group. After the Test and Corporation Acts were repealed in 1828 , all
4320-557: The Privy Council put a price of 100 Sterling on the heads of Shields, Renwick and Houston. On 22 December, at a general meeting of Renwick's followers, he publicly confessed the guilt of "owning the so-called authority" of James VII of Scotland . His Hind Let Loose is a vindication of Renwick's position on historical grounds. The two became fast friends, and collaborated in writing the Informatory Vindication, for which Renwick
4428-616: The Scots"), published in 1521. Today, the Scottish Seabird Centre at North Berwick has solar-powered cameras located on the island which beam back live close-up images of the seabirds to large screens on the mainland, just over a mile away. The images are sharp enough for visitors at the Seabird Centre to read the ID rings on birds' feet. The Seabird Centre has a range of cameras located on
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4536-678: The Test Act 1673 and the Corporation Act 1661 that public office holders must have taken the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in an Anglican church. In 1732, Nonconformists in the City of London created an association, the Dissenting Deputies to secure repeal of the Test and Corporation acts. The Deputies became a sophisticated pressure group, and worked with liberal Whigs to achieve repeal in 1828. It
4644-571: The adjacent island of Craigleith and within nearby Edinburgh , namely Arthur's Seat , Calton Hill and Castle Rock . The Bass does not occupy the skyline of the Firth quite as much as its equivalent in the Clyde, Ailsa Craig, but it can be seen from much of southern and eastern Fife , most of East Lothian, and high points in the Lothians and Borders, such as Arthur's Seat , and the Lammermuir . The island
4752-441: The arguments in detail, applying them to various scandalous divisions. Shields published: Posthumous were: [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : " Sheilds, Alexander ". Dictionary of National Biography . London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. Nonconformist (Protestantism) Nonconformists were Protestant Christians who did not "conform" to
4860-564: The attempts of the hero – David Balfour – to gain justice for James Stewart – James of the Glens – who has been arrested and charged with complicity in the Appin Murder . David makes a statement to a lawyer, and goes on to meet Lord Prestongrange – the Lord Advocate – to press the case for James' innocence. However his attempts fail as he is once again kidnapped and confined on the Bass Rock, until
4968-445: The authority as ordination is done at Presbytery level; they did not claim to be a separate church. James Renwick was sent by them to be ordained by Dutch ministers. When Renwick was killed, also on the scaffold, Shields became their leading minister. After Renwick's execution (17 February 1688) Shields pursued his policy of field meetings, preaching on a celebrated occasion at Distincthorn Hill, parish of Galston , Ayrshire. He became
5076-448: The birds were harvested for their eggs and the flesh of their young chicks, which were considered delicacies. It is estimated that in 1850 almost 2,000 birds were harvested from the rock. Other bird species that frequent the rock include guillemot , razorbill , shag , puffin , eider and numerous gulls . The natural history of the rock was written about almost five hundred years ago in John Mair 's De Gestis Scotorum ("The deeds of
5184-414: The castle of the Bass, Walter Stewart, the eldest son of Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany , his cousin. The person who received the payments for the prisoner's support was Sir Robert Lauder", whom Tytler further describes as "a firm friend of the King". The second-last Lauder laird, George Lauder of the Bass died in his castle on the Bass in 1611. In May 1497 King James IV visited the Bass and stayed in
5292-434: The castle subsequently (in 1671) became a notorious gaol to which for many decades religious and political prisoners, especially Covenanters were sent. The island has been called the Patmos of Scotland. Alexander Shields the Covenanting preacher, imprisoned on the island, later described the Bass as "a dry and cold rock in the sea, where they had no fresh water nor any provision but what they had brought many miles from
5400-404: The castle with a later Sir Robert Lauder of the Bass (d.bef Feb 1508). The boatmen who conveyed the King from Dunbar were paid 14 shillings. George Lauder of the Bass entertained King James VI of Scotland when he visited the Bass in 1581; the king was so enamoured that he offered to buy the island, a proposition which did not commend itself to George Lauder. The King appears to have accepted
5508-411: The colonists. In a letter to the Presbytery of St Andrews, dated 2 February 1700, Shields wrote :"Our meetings amongst ourselves are in the woods, where the chattering of parrots, mourning of pelicans, and din of monkeys is more pleasant than the hellish language of our countrymen in their huts and tents of Kedar ; and our converse with the Indians, though with dumb signs, is more satisfying than with
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#17328945447425616-412: The continent." Subsequently, says Tytler , "Sir Robert Lauder of the Bass was one of the few people whom King James I admitted to his confidence." In 1424 Sir Robert Lauder of the Bass, with 18 men, had safe conduct with a host of other noblemen, as a hostage for James I at Durham . J. J. Reid also mentions that "in 1424 when King James I returned from his long captivity in England, he at once consigned to
5724-483: The country walks of David Balfour, to identify Dean , and Silvermills, and Broughton , and Hope Park, and Pilrig, and poor old Lochend – if it still be standing, and the Figgate Whins [the area near Portobello ] – if there be any of them left; or to push (on a long holiday) so far afield as Gillane or the Bass. So, perhaps, his eye shall be opened to behold the series of the generations, and he shall weigh with surprise his momentous and nugatory gift of life. Chapter XIV
5832-422: The country, and when they got it, it would not keep unspoiled". He is reported to have escaped by dressing in women's clothing but this occurred from the Edinburgh Tolbooth rather than from the island's gaol. James Fraser of Brea gave a fuller description including eating fruit from the island's cherry trees. John Blackadder , and John Rae , died on the Bass and were buried at North Berwick. Blackadder had
5940-519: The difficult task of unloading a coal ship on the rocky landing stage. The garrison had no choice but to depart on the coal ship. When news spread on the nearby Scottish mainland, Jacobite supporters made covert boat trips to the Bass Rock with supplies and with men who wished to join the defenders. Word reached King James, exiled in France under the protection of Louis XIV , and ships from France brought supplies, including two large rowing boats from King James. The Jacobites used these boats to mount raids on
6048-430: The early part of the 20th century, boosted by the 1904–1905 Welsh Revival , led to the disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Wales in 1920 and the formation of the Church in Wales . In other countries, the term Nonconformist is used in a broader sense to refer to Christians who are not communicants of a majority national church , such as the Lutheran Church of Sweden . The largest Nonconformist church in Sweden,
6156-406: The entrance there was a tower that formed a simple keep/bastion and to which had been added a gabled chamber in the 17th century, which, though of restricted dimensions, must have been comfortable enough, with blue Dutch tiles round its moulded fireplace, later very much decayed. The keep and the living quarters within the walls were taken down to provide stone for the lighthouse in 1902. A well at
6264-433: The faction of the church which had come to dominance during the English Civil War and the Interregnum . Consequently, nearly 2,000 clergymen were "ejected" from the established church for refusing to comply with the provisions of the act, an event referred to as the Great Ejection . The Great Ejection created an abiding public consciousness of nonconformity. Thereafter, a Nonconformist was any English subject belonging to
6372-405: The family. The chapel appears to have been rebuilt by the Lauder family several times. A papal bull dated 6 May 1493, refers to the parish church of the Bass, or the Chapel of St Baldred, being noviter erecta (newly established) at that time. On 5 January 1542 John Lauder , son of Sir Robert Lauder of the Bass , was recorded as "the Cardinal's Secretary" representing Cardinal David Beaton at
6480-407: The first MPs elected for the Labour Party in the 1900s were also nonconformists. Nonconformists were angered by the Education Act 1902 , which provided for the support of denominational schools from taxes. The elected local school boards that they largely controlled were abolished and replaced by county-level local education authorities that were usually controlled by Anglicans. Worst of all
6588-440: The following description (original spelling): ane wounderful crag, risand within the sea, with so narrow and strait hals [passage] that na schip nor boit bot allanerlie at ane part of it. This crag is callet the Bas; unwinnabil by ingine [ingenuity] of man. In it are coves, als profitable for defence of men as [if] thay were biggit be crafty industry. Every thing that is in that crag is ful of admiration and wounder. The family had
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#17328945447426696-473: The fundamental social, political, and ecclesiastical questions of the day. These heads are concerning (i) hearing of curates, (ii) owning of tyrants’ authority, (iii) unlawful imposed oaths, (iv) field meetings, (v) defensive arms vindicated, (vi) the extraordinary execution of judgment by private persons, and (vii) refusing to pay wicked taxations vindicated . The last-named section was added, Shields tells us, as an afterthought. Some Scottish Presbyterians were at
6804-473: The governance and usages of the established church in England, and in Wales until 1914, the Church of England . Use of the term Nonconformist in England and Wales was precipitated after the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1660, when the Act of Uniformity 1662 renewed opposition to reforms within the established church. By the late 19th century the term specifically included other Reformed Christians ( Presbyterians and Congregationalists ), plus
6912-406: The hated Anglican schools would now receive funding from local taxes that everyone had to pay. One tactic was to refuse to pay local taxes. John Clifford formed the National Passive Resistance Committee . By 1904 over 37,000 summonses for unpaid school taxes were issued, with thousands having their property seized and 80 protesters going to prison. It operated for another decade but had no impact on
7020-418: The house of Isabel Murray at Port Royal , Jamaica. He left property valued at £6,483 16 s . 10 d . On the failure of the Expedition, he sailed for Scotland, heart-broken by the profligacy of the settlers and the little success his labours had met among them, but died of malignant fever in the house of Isobel Murray, Port Royal , Jamaica , 14 June 1700. All attempts to identify his burial-place have failed. He
7128-423: The household, religion, and moral behaviour. Religiosity was in the female sphere, and the Nonconformist churches offered new roles that women eagerly entered. They taught Sunday school , visited the poor and sick, distributed tracts, engaged in fundraising, supported missionaries, led Methodist class meetings , prayed with other women, and a few were allowed to preach to mixed audiences. Parliament had imposed
7236-413: The interval. Without trial in England, Shields and his friends were sent to Scotland on 5 March, arriving at Leith by the yacht Kitchen on 13 March. Shields was examined by the Scottish privy council on 14 March, and by the lords justices on 23 and 25 March, but persisted in declining direct answers. At length, on 26 March, under threat of torture, he was drawn to what he calls a "fatal fall". He signed
7344-436: The island against William III's government for nearly three years. The final page summarises the differences between this fictional account and actual events: the names of the main characters have been changed to justify novelist inventions about their personalities, but otherwise the story largely follows the historical facts. The novel takes the form of invented letters and journal entries by different characters in order to tell
7452-422: The island which until then had been retained by the Church because it contained the holy cell of Saint Baldred . A century later Wyntown 's Cronykil relates: "In 1406 King Robert III , apprehensive of danger to his son James (afterwards James I ) from the Duke of Albany, placed the youthful prince in the safe-custody of Sir Robert Lauder in his secure castle on the Bass prior to an embarkation for safer parts on
7560-400: The islands in the inner and outer Firth. The Bass Rock is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in its own right, due to its gannet colony. It is sometimes called "the Ailsa Craig of the East". It is of a similar age (c.340 million years), geological form and petrology to nearby North Berwick Law , a hill on the mainland and to Traprain Law . There are related volcanic formations on
7668-405: The islands of the Forth and also broadcasts the images live on the internet. The centre also has exclusive landing rights to the island from the owner Hew Hamilton-Dalrymple and operates a range of boat trips going around, and landing on, the island throughout the year, weather permitting. In mid-June 2022 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was detected in the northern gannets connected to
7776-466: The late 19th century the new terms " free church " and "Free churchman" (or "Free church person") started to replace "Nonconformist" or "Dissenter". One influential Nonconformist minister was Matthew Henry , who beginning in 1710 published his multi-volume biblical commentary that is still used and available in the 21st century. Isaac Watts is an equally recognised Nonconformist minister whose hymns are still sung by Christians worldwide. The term
7884-475: The lighthouse there. Amongst his earliest memories were holidays in North Berwick . He often stayed at Scoughall Farm , whence the Bass can be seen, and local lore is credited as the inspiration for his short story The Wreckers . Catriona is Stevenson's 1893 sequel to Kidnapped . Both novels are set in the aftermath of the Jacobite risings , in the mid-18th century. The first part of Catriona recounts
7992-597: The linkage between the Nonconformists and Liberal Party was weakening, as secularisation reduced the strength of Dissent in English political life. Today, Protestant churches independent of the Anglican Church of England or the Presbyterian Church of Scotland are often called " free churches ", meaning they are free from state control. This term is used interchangeably with "Nonconformist". The steady pace of secularisation picked up faster and faster during
8100-466: The lord mayor, who took bail for his appearance at the London Guildhall on the 14th. He attended on that day, but being out of court when his name was called, his bail was forfeited. Duly appearing on the 20th, he declined to give any general account of his opinions, and was committed (by his own account, decoyed) to Newgate Prison till the next quarter sessions (23 February). King Charles II died in
8208-434: The mainland for more supplies. They used the castle's cannon to waylay some passing ships. William III's government sent two large warships to bombard the castle but its position high above a sheer rock face made it impregnable. A naval blockade of the Bass Rock was then attempted instead which made access to fresh supplies increasingly difficult for the defenders. Their numbers had fallen since some were captured during raids on
8316-617: The mainland – there had been possibly 20 defenders at most. Furthermore, prospects for the Jacobite cause elsewhere in Britain had become hopeless. However, William III's government was itself in despair at how to end the Bass Rock siege. In early 1694 the Bass Rock prisoners’ leader, Captain Michael Middleton, negotiated a visit by government representatives to discuss a solution. Middleton guessed that his adversaries lacked any means for estimating
8424-419: The mainland, large regions of the surface appear white owing to the sheer number of birds (and their droppings, which give off 152,000 kg of ammonia per year, equivalent to the achievements of 10 million broilers ). In fact the scientific name for the northern gannet, Morus bassanus , derives from the rock. It was known traditionally in Scots as a "solan goose". As on other gannetries, such as St Kilda ,
8532-709: The mainland. The fortress was abandoned by the government in 1701, and on 31 July 1706 the President of the Court of Session, Hew Dalrymple, Lord North Berwick , acquired the Bass by charter, ratified by an act of Parliament, the Bass Rock Act 1707 in March 1707), for a purely nominal sum, and the island has been ever since in the uninterrupted possession of the Dalrymple family. Its inaccessibility became to mean something impossible with
8640-535: The most part of our own people. Several of them came to our meetings for worship, and we have exercised in their families when travelling among them, where they behaved themselves very reverently, but we have neither language nor interpreter. But our people do scandalise them, both by stealing from them and teaching them to swear and drink." Shields made some expeditions inland; at length, with Francis Borland, he crossed over to Jamaica , but had scarcely arrived there before he went down with fever. He died on 14 June 1700 in
8748-501: The number of defenders or their reserves of food, in view of the covert comings and goings to the island by ships from the mainland or from France. Accordingly, he stage-managed the visit to give a deceptive impression of strength on both counts. The ruse succeeded. On 18 April 1694 the Jacobite defenders accepted the very attractive surrender terms which they were offered – freedom, free transport to France if they wished, and release from prison for people who had been caught helping them from
8856-509: The number of people who attended church services on Sundays. In the larger manufacturing areas, Nonconformists clearly outnumbered members of the Church of England. Nonconformists in the 18th and 19th century claimed a devotion to hard work, temperance, frugality, and upward mobility, with which historians today largely agree. A major Unitarian magazine, the Christian Monthly Repository asserted in 1827: Throughout England
8964-432: The other. The main defences are entered a little farther on in the same line, through a projecting two-story building which has some fireplaces with very simple and late mouldings. The buildings are of the local basalt , and the masonry is rough rubble; there are, as is so frequently the case, no very clear indications for dating the different parts, which were in all probability erected at different times. A little beyond
9072-621: The recognised leader of the United Societies , and to the general meetings of the Societies his brother Michael acted as clerk. He certainly approved of the Cameronian insurrection, under Daniel Ker of Kersland, at the end of the year, when the incumbents of churches in the west were forcibly driven from their charges. He was present at the gathering at the cross of Douglas, Lanarkshire , where these proceedings were publicly vindicated; giving out
9180-632: The resistance of taxes. It even argues that assassination, in extreme cases, is sometimes justified. Shields was one of the ministers who supported the Cameronians who disowned the king. They were brutally put down. All three of the Cameronian field-preachers, of which Shields was one, rejoined the church after the Revolution . Shields served as a chaplain to King William's armies in the Low Countries . Shields
9288-497: The saying: Ding doun Tantallon ,— Mak a brig to the Bass. The island plays host to more than 150,000 northern gannets and is the world's largest colony of the species. Described famously by naturalists as "one of the wildlife wonders of the world" (often credited to David Attenborough), it was also awarded BBC Countryfile Magazine's Nature Reserve of the Year, following a nomination by Chris Packham, in 2014/15. When viewed from
9396-561: The school system. The education issue played a major role in the Liberal victory in the 1906 general election , as Dissenter Conservatives punished their old party and voted Liberal. After 1906, a Liberal attempt to modify the law was blocked by the Conservative -dominated House of Lords ; after 1911 when the Lords had been stripped of its veto over legislation, the issue was no longer of high enough priority to produce Liberal action. By 1914
9504-487: The situation with good grace. George was a Privy Counsellor – described as the King's "familiar councillor" – and tutor to the young Prince Henry . In 1848 it was reported that there were "about a score and a half" of sheep grazing on the island. By 1870 it was claimed that "twenty-five sheep could be grazed on the grassy top of the rock". The Lauders built a fortification not far above the island's only landing-place. The slope
9612-512: The tale. A detailed diagram of the Bass Rock and its castle is supplied to show the locations of places mentioned. The Bass Rock is a key location in The Fanatic by Scottish author James Robertson . The novel tells the story of a tourist guide in modern-day Edinburgh who becomes obsessed with two characters from Edinburgh's past: Major Thomas Weir, a presbyterian who was eventually executed for incest, bestiality and witchcraft; and James Mitchell,
9720-412: The temporal prosperity of these descriptions of persons, as they tend also to lift others to the same rank in society. The emerging middle-class norm was for women to be excluded from the public sphere—the domain of politics, paid work, commerce and public speaking. Instead, it was considered that women should dominate in the realm of domestic life, focused on care of the family, the husband, the children,
9828-403: The time refusing to pay their church rates, which went to support the establishment episcopal church, and Shields defended their practice. The first book is an appeal to the people of the "United Societies" to join the Church of Scotland which was reconstituted after the revolution. Shields made his case for unity, and against schism, in the book An Enquiry into Church-Communion . Vogan discusses
9936-400: The top of the Bass, where today the foghorn is situated, provided freshwater for the island's occupants. Halfway up the island stands the ruin of St Baldred's Chapel , which is sited upon a cell or cave in which this Scottish Saint spent some time. Although the Lauders held most of the Bass Rock, this part of it had remained in the ownership of the Church until 1316, when it was granted to
10044-506: The trial is over, and James condemned to death. The book begins with a dedication to Charles Baxter, a friend of Stevenson, written in his home in Western Samoa and says: There should be left in our native city some seed of the elect; some long-legged, hot-headed youth must repeat to-day our dreams and wanderings of so many years ago; he will relish the pleasure, which should have been ours, to follow among named streets and numbered houses
10152-474: The waves were anyway great they roared about the rock like thunder and the drums of armies, dreadful, but merry to hear, and it was in the calm days when a man could daunt himself with listening; so many still, hollow noises haunted and reverberated in the porches of the rock. Scottish writer Bruce Marshall used Bass Rock as the miraculous destination of the "Garden of Eden", a dance hall of dubious reputation in his 1938 novel Father Malachy's Miracle . The book
10260-439: Was a major achievement for an outside group, but the Dissenters were not finished. Next on the agenda was the matter of church rates , which were local taxes at the parish level for the support of the parish church building in England and Wales. Only buildings of the established church received the tax money. Civil disobedience was attempted but was met with seizure of personal property and even imprisonment. The compulsory factor
10368-521: Was a retreat for early Christian hermits ; St Baldred is said to have lived there around 600 AD. The earliest recorded proprietors are the Lauder of the Bass family, from whom Sir Harry Lauder is descended. According to legend, the island is said to have been a gift from King Malcolm III of Scotland . The crest on their heraldic arms is, appropriately, a gannet sitting upon a rock. The 15th-century Scottish philosopher and historian Hector Boece gave
10476-465: Was accepted on 25 October, and the three signatories were received into fellowship, with an admonition "to walk orderly in time coming". Shields was appointed on 4 February 1691 chaplain to the Cameronian regiment ( 26th Foot ), raised in 1689 by James, Earl of Angus (1671–1692), son of James Douglas, 2nd Marquess of Douglas . He served in the Netherlands, and was present at Namur and Steinkerk . On
10584-475: Was again before the lords justices, and renewed his renunciation, adding the words "if so be such things are there inserted". A few days later he was sent to the Bass Rock ; he escaped in women's clothes, apparently at the end of November 1686. Anderson says: "About the autumn of 1686, he with the other ministers imprisoned in the Bass were brought to Edinburgh, and had their liberty offered them, provided they would engage to live orderly. Refusing when brought before
10692-590: Was condemned. Shields was asked to superintend its publication, but failed to find a printer. He crossed to Holland, saw the work through the Press there, and busied himself with the completion of his Hind. He went to Holland (1687) to get it printed, but returned to Scotland, leaving it at press. After the death of Donald Cargill on the scaffold, the United Societies were left without a minister. They could not ordain their own ministers because in their own eyes they lacked
10800-559: Was educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.A., "with no small applause," whilst in his fifteenth year (7 April 1675), writing his surname Sheils . He later wrote it Sheilds ; it is often printed "Shields". He began the study of divinity under Lawrence Charteris , but his opposition to prelacy led him, with others, to migrate in 1679 to Holland. He studied theology at the University of Utrecht , entering in 1680 as "Sheill". On returning home he made his way to London and
10908-477: Was finally abolished in 1868 by William Ewart Gladstone , and payment was made voluntary. While Gladstone was a moralistic evangelical inside the Church of England, he had strong support in the Nonconformist community. The marriage question was settled by Marriage Act 1836 which allowed local government registrars to handle marriages. Nonconformist ministers in their own chapels were allowed to marry couples if
11016-425: Was later called to be a minister at St Andrews but did not stay there long as he joined the second Darien Expedition . After its failure he died on Jamaica under 40 years of age. Alexanders Shields was born in 1661, the son of James Shields, a miller, from Haughhead in the parish of Earlston , Berwickshire. His mother was Helen Brown. He was the brother of Michael Shields, author of Faithful Contendings Displayed. He
11124-417: Was one of the last places in Scotland to be surrendered to William III's new government, being handed over in 1690 by governor Charles Maitland. William III's government then chose it as a prison for its Jacobite opponents. In 1691 four captured Catholic Jacobite officers were imprisoned there. On 18 June 1691, they managed to seize the Bass Rock's castle while the much-depleted garrison was outside its walls for
11232-577: Was private secretary to John Owen . He came into close touch with some of the leading Puritans . Supported by Nicholas Blaikie, minister of the Scottish church at Founders' Hall, Lothbury , he was licensed as preacher by Scottish presbyterians in London, declining as a Covenanter the oath of allegiance. Strict measures being taken shortly after (1684) for the enforcement of the oath, Shields proclaimed its sinfulness, and his licensers threatened to withdraw their licence. Shields appears to have bound himself by
11340-549: Was received into communion, 25 October 1690, with his associates, Thomas Lining and William Boyd. On the meeting of the first general assembly under the Presbyterian settlement, Lining, Shields, and Boyd presented two papers, the first asking for redress of grievances, the second (an afterthought, according to Shields) proposing terms of submission. The paper of grievances the assembly received, but declined to have publicly read, as contentious. The submission, dated 22 October 1690,
11448-496: Was the basis for the German film Das Wunder des Malachias a 1961 black-and-white film directed by Bernhard Wicki and starring Horst Bollmann , although the film did not specify Bass Rock as the destination of the offending dance hall. Jane Lane ’s 1950 Fortress in the Forth is a historical novel based on the actual 1691–1694 seizure of the Bass Rock castle by four Jacobite officers imprisoned there and their subsequent defence of
11556-513: Was their moral sensibility which they tried to implement in British politics. The "Nonconformist conscience" of the Old group emphasised religious freedom and equality, pursuit of justice, and opposition to discrimination, compulsion, and coercion. The New Dissenters (and also the Anglican evangelicals) stressed personal morality issues, including sexuality, family values, and temperance . Both factions were politically active, but until mid-19th century
11664-560: Was unmarried. Descendants of his brother Michael, who accompanied the Expedition, and of other members of his family are still found in Jamaica. Shields was "of low stature, ruddy complexion, quick and piercing wit, full of zeal, and firm in the cause he espoused; pretty well skilled in most branches of learning, in arguing very ready, only somewhat fiery; but in writing on controversy he exceeded most men of that age." According to MacPherson this
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