I don’t know much about Scotland or the Scottish people. I’ve known a few people of Scottish descent and they’re delightful people. I definitely believe there’s such a thing as a national character, or things that are generally true of people from any given nation in the world. But I’m less sure whether those qualities continue to be inherited once the family has left that region. For instance, if your grandparents immigrated to the United States, they probably had the national characteristics of the place where they were born, but when you were born in America decades later, did you inherit those traits? I’m not sure. The people I know who had Scottish ancestors didn’t have much in common with each other, but I would describe all of them as pleasant and brisk. Are those qualities you would expect to find in a Scottish person?

Anyway, the National Library of Scotland has an amazing collection of photographs available. I won’t bombard you with too many at once. Here are just a few from the Graham family, who owned Airthrey Castle and estate, near Stirling. The family compiled an album between 1900 – 1910, mostly of their estate and various family members. For reference, Stirling is a bit north of Glasgow. Besides the castle, it looks like the estate contained many beautiful homes.

Their pictures give us a tiny window into their lives. Not large enough to tell what it was really like there but it’s fascinating nonetheless. This is one view of their castle. It must have been summertime because the window are open.

There were lots of pictures of animals on the estate including some sheep.

 

No one in the pictures is identified so I can’t tell you much about them. This picture looked almost funereal but there’s nothing to identify it as such. The man in the middle looks like he might be of Indian descent. What an interesting study of faces!

Members of the Graham family were often photographed around the estate, looking casually dapper.

 

I wish canes would come back into style. They look sharp! You rarely see people carrying them unless they need them, but maybe they’ll make a comeback.

 

And lastly, two fashionable ladies of the family, wearing very different styles. I wonder if they were going to an event or if they just floated around their castle in these beautiful clothes?

We’ll return to Scotland one day soon. The photographs look like a fairytale!