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Another History Lesson.

Started by piscatus absentis, April 27, 2007, 09:18:13 PM

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piscatus absentis

This is for those of you who live in the northern parts of England.

I know I promised you details of the Stewards-Stewarts-Stuarts and the Bishop of Glasgow's Curse but someone, not on this forum, raised the subject of blackmail that was, allegedly, invented by a Graham.  It's time to set the record straight.

Hutcheon Graham of Arthuret, one of the English Grahams, reputedly made collections under threat after evensong each Sunday.  Now the people who observed these occurences totally misunderstood and mis-interpreted what was happening and, as usual, historians have repeated the error.

What actually happened is that Hutcheon was the treasurer of the local fishing club and was simply collecting subscriptions and stocking levies.  Now, think about it, would any peace loving man who lived for his fishing profane the sabbath in such a way.  There, I knew you'd understand.  In those days the only time people met regularly was on a Sunday when they felt obliged to attend a church service, as most people did in those days.

Then there's the stories of him riding out with a band of armed men to lay waste to the country around him.  Look, this man was one of the original philanthropists who wanted to make sure that the local rivers and lakes were in good order and that no one was trying to introduce foreign and exotic species that could have a deleterious affect on the brown trout and salmon of the region.  But these were dangerous times when lives could be at risk from the depredations of  parties of armed reivers who were, quite bluntly, poachers of the first order.  Obviously any sensible peace loving man would want to be certain of a long and happy fishing life and that explains why he always made sure some of his friends and family were around to protect him.

So there you are, a greatly maligned man who, in truth, was simply offering a helping hand to all troot catchers by ensuring the continuation of a tradition of brown trout fishing in the North of England.

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