Erskine Beveridge was a keen and prolific amateur photographer who took his camera on his travels to America, Canada, Europe and around the United Kingdom. A first class photographer, he was until recently, comparatively unrecognised. During a survey of an industrial building in Dunfermline in the early 1960s, a collection of glass plate negatives was recognised as being his work and was subsequently deposited in the keeping of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.

The collection

A small number of the photographs had been published in Beveridge’s volumes on ‘Coll and Tiree’ and ‘North Uist’ but most had not been seen before. This amazing collection now published in ‘Wanderings with a Camera in Scotland’ by Lesley Ferguson offers an insight into late 19th century and early 20th century Scotland. A secure life Born in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1851, he had a comfortable and secure life in one of the wealthiest households of the area. His father was one of a growing number of affluent linen manufacturers and merchants contributing to the development of the Dunfermline area.

He eventually established his own business specialising in the production of fine table and bed linen, and took an active interest in history and archaeology. As far as can be ascertained from the limited dating information, the earliest photographs in the RCAHMS collection are from the early 1880s, after which a pattern emerges of travels in the summer months, usually holidays but sometimes business trips.

A typical year was 1883, when from July until early October there are photographs illustrating Beveridge’s travels in the west of Scotland using steamers, trains and horse-drawn carriages to visit Appin, Duror, Lismore, Loch Creran, Glencoe, Fort William, Loch Sunart, Loch Shiel, Arisaig, Morar, Mallaig and Eigg. In a preface to the book, John R Hume, chairman of RCAHMS, writes that this volume represents only a small selection from the Beveridge collection held in RCAHMS.

The collection can be viewed in its entirety through the Canmore database at www.rcahms.gov.uk. There is no doubt that Beveridge’s output was considerably greater than current knowledge would suggest and RCHAMS would be pleased to hear of other photographs, and indeed to have more information about this remarkable man.

FIELDFACTS

‘Wanderings with a Camera in Scotland – The Photography of Erskine Beveridge’ by Lesley Ferguson. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, John Sinclair House,16 Bernard Terrace, Edinburgh EH8 9NX Tel: 0131 662 1456