19 November 2025Tribute to Ross
Tribute to Ross
Tonight I have a very sad announcement to make. Our longstanding committee member, Ross Couper, tragically passed away two weeks ago in Raigmore Hospital. We truly missed him at the last couple of meetings and had hoped that we would see him back taking charge of all our technical needs again. Sadly that wish wasn’t fulfilled, as Ross’s health deteriorated rapidly in the end. As you would have wished, I sent a condolence card to his family on behalf of the society.
Ross lived in Cromarty for many years and enjoyed being part of the history society. As well as being a committee member since 2011, he also happily undertook research to present some lectures. His last talk was in relation to his own family history, in particular his grandfather and great grandfather. He managed to weave such an interesting tale of these 2 Cromarty men, while also giving an insight to life in Cromarty during their lives as well as enlightening aspects of the wider world at the time.
Further back, he gave a talk called “Nigg and Rigs”. With the benefit of his engineering training, he gave his audience a comprehensive background to the history of drilling for oil in the North Sea and Nigg’s part in that history.
I remember when several committee members presented short talks for one of our Christmas meetings. Ross and I collaborated to tell members about a Dr. Elizabeth Fraser, the first woman to hold a professorship at Aberdeen University. We read extracts from an account of her young life in Cromarty. Ross was enthusiastic in the research and determinedly embarked on finding all the photographic interpretation needed to illustrate the presentation.
A lot of what Ross did was behind the scenes, I can’t tell you how many times I came into the hall (both the West Church and this one) to find that Ross had already put out all the seats and tables and was busily getting the equipment set up. He was practical and inventive and looked for best value and often idiosyncratic solutions to any problems. He just quietly got on with things and as I have mentioned before, it’s only when someone isn’t here, you truly appreciate what they actually did. We’ll miss Ross as a loyal member of our society and also as a friend.
A service of celebration of his life will be held at the East Church, where he was a keen volunteer, on Monday 1 December at 1.00pm.
04 November 2025Meeting Tuesday 18h November
A Jacobite Portrait — George Keith Last Earl Marischal of Scotland and his ‘menagerie of heathens’
David Alston
Victoria Hall, Cromarty
David Alston’s talk ‘The Menagerie of Heathens’ will explore the portrait of the exiled Jacobite, George Keith, (last Earl Marischal of Scotland) and an enslaved African boy named Salvador. Keith led the Spanish forces which landed in Lewis in 1719 and were defeated at the Battle of Glenshiel.
Later his household in Italy, Spain and France included not only Salvador and others from Africa but enslaved people from Turkey and Kazakhstan. They were agnostic, Christian, Buddhist and followers of Islam — and they were known to Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, James Boswell and David Hume.
David’s Slaves and Highlanders: Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean was the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year in 2022. He is currently working on an account of a murder in Larkhall in 1905 and the execution of Pasha Liffey, the only Black African to have been hanged in Scotland
Meetings begin at 7.30pm in the Victoria Hall, Cromarty and are followed by refreshments. The fee for each talk is £5 but a whole year’s membership costs only £15 for all 8 meetings. Please bring cash.
Members come from the Black Isle and beyond and further information can be found on the Society’s website at www.cromartyhistory.scot. We look forward to meeting you as the new session begins.
17 October 2025Meeting Tuesday 21st October
Highlights from the Highland Archive
Lorna Steele‐McGinn
Victoria Hall, Cromarty
Archives are not always thought of by those who want to learn more about the history of a place or that of their family or what was happening in a Highland community long ago but the Highland Archive Service collects, conserves and makes records accessible in its four centres (which won the ARA Record-keeping Award in 2024) that cover 700 years of Highland history and diversity.
To discover more, Cromarty History Society’s October 21st meeting will hear from Community Engagement Officer Lorna Steele‐Mc Ginn about some of the records which are available and how those records enrich the lives of those who consult them. Lorna works with schools, adult learning groups, HMP Inverness, care homes and many others. Her ‘Learn With Lorna’s online talks’ have chalked up over 600k views.
17 October 2025Philip Paris Book Tour 2025
vvvvvvvvPhilip Paris Book Tour — A fire in their hearts
Join bestselling author Philip Paris and discover the extraordinary story of the civil war in Scotland when Covenanters fought kings for the freedom of the Kirk. An epic tale of love, faith, loss and loyalty, it also explores the little-known story of captured Covenanters sent to plantations in Barbados as forced labour.
- Tuesday 4th November, 11 am, The Old School, Beauly
- Friday 21st November, 2 pm, Dingwall Library
The one-hour talks are free to attend,