Home University of Edinburgh Library Essentials
June 11, 2026
I: Edinburgh University Battery Officers’ Training Corps – OTC
LIFE IN THE ARMY, AT STOBS CAMP AND ELSEWHERE… AND SOME FACES OF THE FALLEN…
Edinburgh University Battery Officers’ Training Corps was one of Scotland’s oldest military volunteer Units. By 1860 undergraduates of the University had formed No.4 Company of the Queen’s Edinburgh Rifles and in 1872 they also supplied recruits to the 1st Edinburgh City Royal Garrison Artillery Volunteers. A Medical Volunteer Company was also formed in 1890. In 1908, they combined to form one of the original eight University Officers Training Corps (OTC) contingents.
Badge of Edinburgh University Battery, Officers’ Training Corps, on an invitation card inserted in ‘Minute Book. Artillery Unit. Officers ‘ Training Corps’, Dec. 1914 – Nov. 1920. EUA. Acc.99/017
Also in 1908, and as part of the Haldane Army Reforms, the OTC was formally established as a distinct unit in the British Army. It had the remit of supplying officers for the Special Reserve and the Territorial force. Against this background of Army reform, the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College OTC was also formed… in September 1912.
Officer recruits at a School of Instruction, Barry Camp, August 1914. Album in EUA. Acc.99/017.
On the outbreak of war in 1914, the OTCs would become officer-producing units, but as the war progressed high attrition rates meant that the demand for officers soon outstripped supply. Local Edinburgh recruits would pass through Stobs Camp, near Hawick, in the Scottish Borders, and attend the Officers’ School of Instruction at Barry Camp, near Carnoustie, in Angus.
A group of Sergeants at Stobs Camp, 1914. Album in EUA. Acc.99/017.
By the end of 1914, thousands of recruits were arriving at Stobs Camp to begin their transition from civilian to military life with up to 5,000 men being accommodated. Indeed, there were so many visitors to the Camp that an Exclusion Order was implemented to prevent civilians entering unless issued with a pass.
Specimen ‘kit’ displayed by a Sergeant at Stobs Camp, 1914. Album in EUA. Acc.99/017.
It had been intended that the Camp be used mainly as a summer training ground, and so the troops were only provided with tents. By 1917 however, the Camp contained at least 80 huts, a hospital with 150 beds, its own light railway, stores, workshops, Post Office, and a YMCA outside the perimeter. From October 1914, Stobs also served as a prisoner-of-war camp.
Photograph showing the Gun Team at Stobs, 1914, with Chilton, Balleny, Yorston, Robertson, Wedderburn, Calver, Laidlaw, Hill, Milne, Fraser and Waddy. Album in EUA. Acc.99/017.
The Gun Team of Edinburgh University Battery OTC was photographed in group at Stobs Camp in 1914. The Roll of Honour 1914-1919 of the University of Edinburgh notes that Medical student Frank Chilton, 1912-1914 (standing back left), from Christchurch, New Zealand, served in the OTC Infantry unit from October 1913 to August 1914. He became a Cadet in the 13th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, before becoming a 2nd Lieutenant in August 1914 and then Lieutenant in January 1915. He was then attached to the 2nd Hampshires, 29th Division, and was killed in action at Gallipoli on 4 June 1915 aged 23. He is honoured at the Helles Memorial (panel 183/184) which stands on the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey.
Photograph showing the Band at Stobs, 1914, with W.M.Hutchison, Mackay, W.M.McPhail, J.A.Robertson, N.McRury, C.G.N.Edwards, T.F.Murdoch, R. Hill, Duff, W.A.Sinclair, Younie, R.Coull, and J.D.Russell. Album in EUA. Acc.99/017.
Because of the lack of initials and the common surnames on the group photograph other Fallen from the Gun Team are difficult to identify. However, the general records of service of some war survivors from the group – with less common surnames – can be summarised. William Balleny (standing next to Chilton) for example, was an Arts student, 1913-1914, and like Chilton served in the OTC Infantry unit, though from October 1913 to September 1914. He became first a Cadet, then 2nd Lieutenant, then in September 1916 a Lieutenant with the 2nd Gordon Highlanders.
Robert MacDonald Yorston, a Science student from Montrose, 1912-1914, 1918, (and standing next to Balleny), served in the OTC Infantry unit from October 1912 to September 1914. He served as a Cadet with the 4th North Staffordshire Regiment, and then became a 2nd Lieutenant in August 1914, a Lieutenant and then a Captain in 1917. He served in France and was wounded at the Somme in July 1916. He was posted to Dublin from 1918 to 1919.
Edmond William Waddy (seated front right) had been a student at Merchiston Castle before becoming an Arts student, 1912-1915. He was a member of the OTC from 1908 and became involved with the University Battery OTC, Infantry unit, from October 1913 to October 1914. He was a Cadet with the Scottish Rifles, becoming a 2nd Lieutenant in October 1914, then a Lieutenant in November 1915, before assignment to the 56th Training Reserve Battalion in December 1916. He served in France in 1916 and 1917 an became an Acting Captain in July 1917. He was wounded during his war service.
At least two OTC men from the Band (photographed at Stobs) were killed in action. William Murray Hutchison from Sefton Park, Liverpool, had attended the Liverpool Institute, and been an OTC Cadet Colour-Sergeant there before studying at Edinburgh University. He had been part of the University Battery OTC, Infantry unit, October 1912 to August 1914. He was a Cadet then 2nd Lieutenant (August 1914) then Lieutenant (1915) then Captain (1916) with the Liverpool Regiment. He served in France in 1915 and was awarded the Military Cross as well as being Mentioned in Dispatches in May and September 1915. He died on 27 April 1916 after wounds received in France, aged 22. He lies in plot A.11 at Bruay Communal Cemetery Extension in the large village of Bruay, Pas-de-Calais, France.
Prior to studies at Edinburgh University and participation in the University Battery OTC, Infantry unit, from November 1909 to October 1914, Norman McRury (in front of Hutchison) had been a student at George Watson’s College. He was a Cadet Pipe-Major, then 2nd Lieutenant (October 1914) then Lieutenant (February 1915) with the 11th Royal Highlanders (Black Watch). He was attached to the King’s Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) and was in Gallipoli in May 1915. Like Frank Chilton, McRury was killed in action at Gallipoli on 4 June 1915, aged 24. He too is honoured at the Helles Memorial (panel 144) which stands on the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey.
A second blog on the Edinburgh University Battery Officers’ Training Corps – OTC will appear before November 2018. The website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission was also used in building this picture of University alumni associated with the OTC.
Edinburgh University Battery Officers’ Training Corps is now part of the City of Edinburgh Universities OTC.
Dr. Graeme D. Eddie, Assistant Librarian Archives & Manuscripts, Centre for Research Collections (CRC)
International Women’s Day 2017
During my initial survey of the New College Collections, it was immediately evident, although not surprising, that the majority of the archives stemmed from the work of men or their institutions. What it did mean, though, was that those collections which belonged to women stood out all the more.
Leaving aside the archives of the Centre for the Study of World Christianity in which women missionaries play a significant role, there are three collections with a female provenance which immediately spring to mind.
The first of these are the papers of Betty Darling Gibson (1889-1973), who worked on the International Review of Missions with Joe Oldham (ref. GD5: http://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/repositories/5/resources/85273). The second would be the papers of Margaret Duncan Campbell (ref. GD 37: (http://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/repositories/5/resources/86251) while the third would be the papers of Rachel Kay or Wilson (c.1750-1815) (ref. MS WIL 3).
With this last collection, what struck me was that the author of the manuscripts was only referred to as “Mrs James Wilson, wife of James Wilson, ship’s captain, Leith”. As with Betty Gibson, whose biographical details were hard to find in the shadow of her friend and colleague Joe Oldham, I was keen to give Mrs Wilson her given name and dates for the record. Her contribution to history is a curious set of journals recording her religious experiences, including her attendance at church, interlaced with family history, notable events in her own family life and what she saw as evidence of God’s influence on her own life and the life of her family past and present.
The papers of Mrs James Wilson aka Rachel Kay or Wilson (c.1750-1815) ref. MS WIL 3.
The journals run to six notebooks, each of around 50 pages of manuscript, starting around 1771 and finishing in 1812, three years before she died. There are also a couple of loose sheets, which do not appear to belong to any of the extant notebooks.
Accompanying the documents are two letters giving a bit of background to the manuscripts. The first is from April 1947 from Mr J Ritchie, ‘Nethercraigs’, Tighnabruaich, to his cousin Agnes Moncrieff Leys née Sandys. This letter gives a lot of information such as some of the experiences of James Wilson as a ship-captain: including being captured by Americans during the American War of Independence and then being detained in France for 18 months after which he was ‘persuaded to remain at home and join his father-in-law’s business’.
“My husband came safely home in the month June in 1780 when being detained Eighteen month. My father proposed to him to drop this line of life in giving over all thoughts in proceeding again to sea and to become Maltster and brewer also from my fathers inability from his years of carring on his business by himself…” (ref. MS WIL 3 notebook no1, page 43 – image below)
Rachel Wilson’s account of changing her husband’s occupation.
The letter also states that Rachel had about 13 children, ‘of whom she expressly states 9 died in infancy or early youth. This sad mortality was due not to any constitutional weakness, but to small-pox, scarlet fever and measles, which could not then be treated as they can now.’ Ritchie goes on to say that the Wilsons belonged to the Antiburgher section of the Secession Church and were fond of listening to the preacher Rev Adam Gib (1714-1788), and that of the surviving children, David Wilson (1782-), later became minister of the United Secession church in Kilmarnock. Making the personal connection, Ritchie states, ‘I remember being very hospitably entertained by his widow when I was a small boy.’
The manuscripts were eventually passed to New College Library in 1952 by a Miss G Woodward, librarian, who received them from Mrs Hilda Brochet Abercromby, sister of Agnes Leys who by then had passed away. It is clear from annotations made in the manuscripts that family members had read them with a good deal of interest.
At the end of the first notebook, Rachel writes
“By this time I was with Child of twains and although subject to many threatning complaints yet my Shepherd who carries the lambs in his armes and Gently leads thos that are with young suffered no evil to befall he brought me in safety forward to the full time when in the 15 of March 1783 I was safely delivered of two living sons.” [William Wilson and John Frazer Wilson] (ref. MS WIL 3 notebook no 1, page 48 – see image below)
Rachel Wilson’s account of having twins.
Perhaps Mrs Wilson’s manuscripts are not the most valuable or beautiful of those which we hold but they do give a clear and striking voice to a woman of both the 18th and 19th centuries.
Kirsty M Stewart
New College Collections Curator
Woman Suffrage Procession: using our newspaper archives for your research
In this week’s blog I’m using some of the Library’s online resources to find primary source material about a specific event, the Woman Suffrage Procession of 1913.
On 3rd March 1913 a woman suffrage procession was held in Washington DC. Not by chance was this date chosen, 3rd March was the day before a new US President, Woodrow Wilson, was inaugurated. It’s estimated that around 5000 women took part in the suffrage pageant organised by the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and the first of its kind in Washington DC.
Benjamin Moran Dale (1889–1951), for the National American Women’s Suffrage Association; restored by Adam Cuerden, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
But what started as a peaceful parade ended with the women being harassed and jeered by onlookers with the police doing little to intervene.
I have to admit I had never heard the story of this parade until I read a short article on it in the March 2017 issue of the BBC History Magazine1. And reading about it, it wasn’t hard to draw parallels with the recent Women’s March that took place in Washington DC and around the world days after the inauguration of a new US President this year.
I wanted to try and find out more about this Suffrage Parade (also referred to as Suffrage Pageant) using some of the resources available at the Library. And I wanted to focus on primary sources about the event, particularly newspaper articles.
So where better to start than by searching and browsing some of the newspaper archives for US titles that we have access to at the Library, specifically the Historical Washington Post (1877-1999), New York Tribune archive (1841-1922) and the Historical New York Times (1851-2012). Read More
Scottish Court of Session Papers; digitisation pilot
At present I am working on a pilot project, digitising the Scottish Court of Session Papers. The collection is held across three institutions; The Advocate’s Library, The Signet Library and the University of Edinburgh’s Library and University Collections. The collection itself consists of circa 6500 volumes, comprising court cases which span the 18th and 19th century.
The aim of the pilot is to determine the most effect digitisation methods for these materials with a view to a potential mass digitisation project covering the entire collection. The digitisation tests and experiments I have been undertaking have raised the many challenges that such a large project would present, namely around the issue of recording metadata and which digitisation practices to employ in relation to the condition and size of any particular volume.
Aesthetics in Dermatology and Surgery – e-journal now available
With the renewal of our Karger E-Journals package, we have gained access to a new title – Aesthetics in Dermatology and Surgery
A full list of the e-journals available via our Karger deal can be viewed here.
Historic New College Library partnership begins a new chapter
Founded in 1843 as the Library of the Free Church College, and now serving the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh, New College Library is one of the largest theology libraries in the UK with approximately a quarter of a million items.
There have been a number of legacy arrangements allowing borrowing access for ministers of the Church of Scotland and Free Church of Scotland. This reflects the partnership between the University of Edinburgh and the Church of Scotland, which has resulted in the Church’s historic collections being maintained at New College Library and supported by the University of Edinburgh. As of 1 March 2017, we have streamlined our access arrangements and now provide free borrowing access (ID and evidence of status required) to ministers, retired ministers and employees of the Church of Scotland and Free Church of Scotland. Registration enables access to all nine site libraries within the University of Edinburgh Library, including New College and the Main University Library.
Inside New College Library
Sociology Source Ultimate now available
We have upgraded our SocIndex with Fulltext subscription to Sociology Source Ultimate.
Sociology Source Ultimate features more than 2.1 million records with subject headings from a 20,000+ term sociological thesaurus designed by subject experts and expert lexicographers. Sociology Source Ultimate contains full text for more than 1000 journals dating back to 1908. This database also includes full text for more than 1000 books and monographs, and full text for over 40,000 conference papers. Sociology Source Ultimate features more than 26,000 author profiles covering the most cited and most influential authors in the database, who are experts in their field. Coverage of topics ranges from gender identity, marriage and family, to demographics, political sociology, religion and socio-cultural anthropology.
Further info
Title lists can be downloaded from https://www.ebscohost.com/academic/sociology-source-ultimate
In addition to the database entry added to several database lists, individual journals and e-books are listed in DiscoverEd.
Archives catalogues come online
Since I started working with the New College Collections, one of my main aims has been to get the archives catalogues, which sit in a papery, five binder splendour in Library Hall, online. Up until now, with a few exceptions, it has only been possible to consult these catalogues in New College Library itself.
Created sometime in the 1990s, the archives catalogues and attendant indexes are a useful finding aid, however they do not meet archival descriptive standards and could not be added into the catalogue without a lot of extra work.
Bearing this in mind and the resources available, I have created PDF files of the catalogues, divided them by collection, added cover sheets with outline information and then created skeleton catalogue entries online containing a link to the appropriate PDF.
So far, I am probably about half way, with c.250 catalogue entries now available through the University’s Archives Online website: http://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk . The additions run alphabetically by collection reference (which in most cases is directly related to the collection provenance) from MS ADE (Adelpho-Theological Society) to MS BOW (Rev Archibald Bowie) and through from MS BOX 1.1 (Associate Burgher Theological Hall) to MS BOX 54 (Papers of James Fraser of Brea). There are also the more recently catalogued collections in AA4 to AA7 (Very Rev Prof John McIntyre, Very Rev Prof James Whyte, Rev Tom Allan and Rev Prof Alec C Cheyne), the Chalmers Papers (MS CHA), and those allocated a GD reference number some years ago such as the Oldham papers (MS OLD or GD2), papers of Rev Robert Murray McCheyne (MS MACCH or GD16), the Martin Papers (MS MAR or GD14), and the Denney Papers (MS DEN or GD27).
The covenant of Katherine Brown, wife of Rev. Thomas Boston, Covenanter, Ettrick. c.1713-c.1732
It should be noted that the MS BOX series is a miscellany, which seems to have come almost entirely from the Library of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. In an attempt to make its contents more visible to users, it has been divided up into c.190 separate entries, highlighting where possible names of people, organisations and places, relevant dates and in some instances topics.
Admittedly, this solution is imperfect but it is most definitely a step forward. Only another 300 or so entries to go!
Kirsty M Stewart
New College Collections Curator
Academic Search Complete now available
We have upgraded our Academic Search Premier subscription to Academic Search Complete.
The Academic Search Complete multi-disciplinary database provides full text for more than 8,500 journals, including full text for more than 7,300 peer-reviewed titles. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 journals and a total of more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1887, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,400 journals. Academic Search Complete offers access to video content from the Associated Press, the world’s leading news agency. Videos relevant to the search terms will appear in a carousel in the result list. With footage from 1930 to the present and updated monthly, this collection of more than 60,000 videos covers a wide variety of topics.
Further info
Title lists can be downloaded from https://www.ebscohost.com/academic/academic-search-complete
In addition to the database entry added to several database lists, individual journals and e-books are listed in DiscoverEd.
Volunteer Voice – Valentina de Riso
In this week’s blog we bring you another edition of our volunteer voice, this time from Valentina de Riso, who volunteers in the conservation studio every week….
Valentina in the conservation studio
What is your name?
I’m Valentina de Riso.
Where are you from?
I’m from Italy and I’ve come to Scotland to study for an MSc in Comparative Literature at the University of Edinburgh.
What do you do when you are not volunteering?
I am a book lover and I have a passion for literature. When I’m not volunteering I love reading, writing short-stories and exploring the city of Edinburgh. I am also keen on old and used books, so I often happen to be in some second-hand bookshop, sniffing between pages and looking for rare books!
Collections
Hill and Adamson Collection: an insight into Edinburgh’s past
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Cataloguing the private papers of Archibald Hunter Campbell: A Journey Through Correspondence
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Projects
Cataloguing the private papers of Archibald Hunter Campbell: A Journey Through Correspondence
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Archival Provenance Research Project: Lishan’s Experience
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