Category: - VINTAGE LUNDIN LINKS AND LARGO

VINTAGE LUNDIN LINKS AND LARGO

Crusoe 350

4/9/2026

As many will know, this year marks the 350th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Selkirk (the Largo-born inspiration for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe). A whole series of events have already taken place over the summer to celebrate this milestone and more are planned for the remainder of the year. Recent events have included a screening of the film Castaway, a storytelling session, a performance of the musical 'Robinson' by the Ukrainian Amateur Theatre, a 'Selkirk Island Discs' evening, a sail-by from historic fishing vessel The Reaper along with a flotilla of accompanying boats and the launch of the new book 'Alexander Selkirk, Fiction's First Celebrity' by Ronnie Graham.

There was also a fantastic nine-day long exhibition, put together by Largo Heritage Group, hosted in the Aurrie Mor (former Largo St David's Church). The exhibition showcased details of the life of Alexander Selkirk, Largo during his lifetime, the Selkirk family artefacts that survive, the fictional character of Robinson Crusoe and an insight into the island of Juan Fernandez (now known as Robinson Crusoe Island) where Selkirk spent a solitary four years and four months between 1704 and 1709. Books, quizzes and challenges, dressing up, signed copies of the new book by Ronnie Graham all added to the event which was richly illustrated with paintings, photos, maps, artefacts and vintage props borrowed from the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther.

The Selkirk Exhibition also explored the past celebrations of Selkirk's life - including the 1976 festivities at the time of the 300th anniversary, the opening of Selkirk's Birthplace Museum in 1985 and the twinning celebrations in 2004 where the Largo villages were officially twinned with Robinson Crusoe Island.

The 350th anniversary celebrations will continue on until the end of the year, culminating in a re-run of the Selkirk Exhibition within the Scottish Fisheries Museum. This second run of the Selkirk Exhibition will see some of the Selkirk family artefacts come out of museum storage and return to the East Neuk of Fife after many years. All going well the items that will be loaned for this exhibition will include the Selkirk's powder horn, clasp knife, sea chest and coconut cup, along with a model dating back to the 1860s of the cottage where Alexander Selkirk was born. That is an event not to be missed! Keep an eye on the Scottish Fisheries Museum website for details of the opening date and full run of this exciting exhibition. Many thanks to the Largo Heritage Group for all their hard work to ensure that the 350th anniversary of Alexander Selkirk has been celebrated in style.

1995 Guide and the Selkirk Room Exhibition

14/8/2026

The previous post covered the promotion of Largo to visitors in the 1980s, when the focus was on maritime heritage of the wider East Neuk of Fife. A decade later, the style of local visitor guides had evolved but the Largo villages were still set in the context of the East Neuk its heritage. By 1995 the emphasis on Alexander Selkirk had strengthened with a new Robinson Crusoe exhibition within the Crusoe Hotel.

As the page below from the guide explains, hotel proprietor Bob Jurgensen had felt that Selkirk was not celebrated sufficiently. He set about creating a tourist information point and exhibition to tell The Selkirk Story (as a sail shaped sign outside the hotel proclaimed) inside the recently-completed hotel extension.

With input from Fife Enterprise and MKW Design Partnership, six interpretation panels were created relating to the life of Selkirk. The panels were illustrated with images of the island, his sea chest and cup, a ship, Daniel Defoe and William Dampier, who rescued Selkirk on 2 February 1709. The room as a whole was intended to have "the atmosphere of the galley in which he sailed", even including a hatch where "you may view his desert island".

The Selkirk Room exhibition remained within the Crusoe Hotel for nearly three decades before the latest renovations which began in 2021. The space is now a private dining room. Below is a selection of adverts for local businesses from the 1995 visitor guide. Interestingly, the advert for the Crusoe Hotel highlights that the venue had recently appeared on TV's Wish You Were Here! There is also a programme of events for the Largo Festival '95. Attractions included art exhibitions, a plant sale, treasure hunts, barbecue, quizzes, music, vintage cars and a variety of sports events.

Did you know that this year marks 350 years since the birth of Alexander Selkirk? To join in the celebrations, please see here for details of events taking place locally later this month.

Marketing the East Neuk

7/8/2026

The previous post looked at Largo's place within the East Neuk and how this was reinforced in the 1980s and 1990s when tourism-related marketing of the East Neuk embraced Lundin Links, Lower Largo and Upper Largo. The front and back pamphlet covers shown above date from 1988. This was was one in a series of leaflets promoting each of the main destinations along the coast. Each had specific local scenes and attractions depicted on the front cover but the same East Neuk advert on the back cover - offering an invitation to "discover the unique living history of this lovely part of the ancient Kingdom of Fife". Largo's front cover included the Robinson Crusoe statue, Largo Law, a golfer and the Crusoe Hotel.

Behind the marketing push sat a training initiative aimed at tourism related businesses. Under this East Neuk Maritime Project Training Initiative there was assistance at hand to develop skills around customer care, marketing, book-keeping and more.

The content of the leaflets above included a bit of local history, suggested walking routes, photographs of the area, a list of facilities, street maps and notably many advertisements for local businesses. Many of the businesses across the Largo villages advertised in the area's 1988 local guide. Most are now gone. A selection are shown below, which I hope will bring back some memories.

East Neuk of Fife

31/7/2026

As you travel east along the A915, beyond Blacketyside, a large sign welcomes you to the East Neuk of Fife, just before you reach the west edge of Lundin Links. Such signage has been a feature of this stretch of road for decades. The East Neuk refers to the string of ancient fishing villages along the south east corner (or nook or neuk) of Fife - hence the fisher lass image on the signage.

However, over the years some debate has taken place over where the East Neuk's eastern boundary begins. The piece below appeared in the 8 December 1971 East Fife Mail regarding a disagreement over the definition. At the St Andrews Presbytery the previous week Upper Largo Kirk's Reverend Douglas Lister contended that Largo was included, while Mr Hamish McNab of Kilrenny appeared to disagree.

The article ended by asking readers for their thoughts on the matter. In the following week's issue, The Reverend James G.G. Nicholson weighed in on the debate by quoting the lyrics to the song "The East Neuk of Fife" - the chorus of which begins with the line "Frae Fife Ness to Largo Law" (see below). The implication was that the whole of Largo Parish ought to be included.

More than a century earlier, Reverend Walter Wood's "East Neuk of Fife" (1862) discussed the history and antiquities of the area in depth. He included as far west as Leven in the scope of his work, noting that "as the town of Leven lies just on the border of the district in which we are interested, or perhaps beyond it, our relative notice must be comparatively brief". Wood did however cover the lands of Lundin and Largo extensively in his book.

Also around this time, the local press considered Largo to be within the East Neuk - see example above from the 29 January 1870 Fifeshire Advertiser, where Largo boats are noted among the East Neuk O' Fife herring fleet. In 1886, a publication by D. Hay Fleming entitled Guide to the East Neuk of Fife clearly defined the area in its lengthy subtitle of embracing all the towns and villages, antiquities and places of interest between Fifeness and Leven.

Some confusion was often created over the years by regular suggestions that the East Neuk began after Largo - as depicted in the weekly East Neuk News section of the East Fife Mail, which for a time was accompanied by the map graphic above. This was used around the time of Reverend Lister's gentlemanly disagreement on the matter.

Yet the East Neuk of Fife Preservation Society included Largo in their remit and used the map below in their 1968 publication The East Neuk of Fife - Its Burghs and Countryside. These boundaries still apply today - https://eastneukpreservationsociety.co.uk/about-us/our-organisation/enfps-area-boundaries

In 1982, Mary Murray wrote a book In My Ain Words: An East Neuk Vocabulary which opens with the line "There was a time when all the East Neuk villages from Largo to Crail could rightly have been called fishing communities" and goes on to talk the local dialects of the villages, Largo included. Largo's place within the East Neuk was reinforced in the 1980s and 1990s when tourism-related marketing firmly placed Lundin Links, Lower Largo and Upper Largo alongside the more easterly villages. In the mid-1980s the Fife Tourist Route was established with its brown road signs directing visitors to key sites. More specific marketing of the attractions of the East Neuk soon followed with special brochures regularly produced (see 12 May 1989 Fife Herald further below).

The original "Welcome to the East Neuk of Fife" road signs appeared around this time. Placed at major entry points into the coastal region, sign locations along the main tourist routes included:

A915 (West Entry): Located between Leven and Lundin Links, positioned just past Blacketyside.
A917 (South-West Entry): Positioned heading toward Elie, just after the main junction with the B942.
B9131 (North Entry): Located heading south towards Anstruther, positioned just after the Kellie turn-off.
A917 (North-East Entry): Positioned just north of Kingsbarns, welcoming travellers coming down from the St Andrews direction.

Recently upgraded, these signs feature the striking image of a East Fife fisher lass. Updated by Fife Council's graphic design team, the Fisher Lass logo is inspired by the work of artists such as John McGhie (1857-1952), who had a home in Pittenweem. While Largo may be situated on the other side of Kincraig point from its more easterly neighbours, there is much evidence supporting that it is indeed part of the East Neuk. Would you agree?

Alexander Selkirk's Birthplace Visitor Book

17/7/2026

There have been a few depictions of the original cottage in which Alexander Selkirk (the inspiration behind Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe) was born. The one above is by Largo engraver William Ballingall from his 1872 book Shores of Fife. For decades after the death of Selkirk in 1721, folks would come from far and wide to visit this cottage, meet his relatives and view some of his surviving possessions. For a spell there was even a visitor's book, for those paying a visit to leave their name and details of where they had visited from. This book, which is preserved at the National Library of Scotland, is linked to a well-known Scottish painter.

Like many artists, Kenneth Macleay (1802-1878), pictured above in a calotype by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, visited Largo and the wider Fife coast. When MacLeay and his family visited Selkirk's birthplace in the summer of 1859, his wife Louisa gifted a smartly-bound book to be used to record visitors to the birthplace. At this time, it was 80-year-old Catherine Gillies, the great grand niece of Alexander Selkirk who acted as keeper of his artefacts. John Selkirk (Catherine's father) was the son of Alexander Selkirk, who in turn was the son of David Selkirk (or Selcraig), the eldest brother of the famous Alexander Selkirk.

Kenneth McLeay was born in 1802 in Oban - the son of a doctor. Receiving his early education at Crieff, he came to Edinburgh in 1814 to study at the School of Art at Picardy Place. In 1826 he was one of the artists who founded the Royal Scottish Academy. Securing the patronage of the Queen, he created life miniatures of nearly every member of the Royal family. Chiefly a watercolour portrait painter, he produced both miniature and full size portraits. He later became a professional photographer. The above piece from the 21 December 1863 Daily Review mentions an example of one of MacLeay's Royal commissions.

MacLeay was in his late 50s when the family visited Largo in 1859, just two years after the arrival of railway which made the village more easily accessible. The image above is the first page inside the visitors' book. The inscription reads...

Presented to Mrs Gillies, the great grand niece of Alexander Selkirk - The World famed "Robinson Crusoe" of Defoe, by Louisa MacLeay, wife of Kenneth Macleay R.S.A. 20th July 1859

Louisa MacLeay was the daughter of Sir James Campbell of Ardkinglas and Craigforth. Perhaps a fondness of Defoe's novel motivated her to donate the visitor book. Eight days later on 28th July, Kenneth, Louisa, several of their children and members of their wider family all left their names in the book (see below). This included family members from Louisa's side - the Campbells and Callanders - one of whom, Alexander Callander, served in Her Majesty's Indian Forces.

The visitors' book went on to be signed by a wide range of people between July 1859 and early 1862. Catherine Gillies (nee Selkirk) to whom the book was gifted, died on 1 February 1862 aged 83 years. Within the year the "quaint old house of her fathers, with its moss-covered thatch, its grey walls and small windows" was pulled down and not long after that the artefacts of Selkirk were put up for sale. However, after a hiatus, names continued to be added to the book up until 1868 - although the later visitors would have seen only the new replacement building and none of the major relics.

Local minister Reverend David Malloch, signed the book twice - first in August 1859, the year before he was ordained as minister of Largo United Presbyterian Church (just along the street from the cottage). He signed it again in 1860 after he officially had taken up his post. Other prominent local figures whose names appear in the book include Colin George Macrae of Drum Lodge, George Todd Chiene, the factor at Lundin House, commission agent Benjamin Philp and David Russell of Silverburn.

Other signatories came from other places across Fife (Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, St Andrews, Elie, Leven, Buckhaven and Cupar), elsewhere in Scotland (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Falkirk, Alloa, Inverness and John O'Groats), as well as the wider United Kingdom (London, Norwich, Manchester, Newcastle, Belfast, Cheshire, Surrey and Suffolk). A few even came from overseas - with examples including Germany, Hong Kong, Bombay, the USA and Australia. Some visitors had clearly arrived by sea - such as master mariner George Curties from Sunderland.

Louisa MacLeay died on 1 January 1868 aged 50 years and Kenneth died 1878 aged 76. Their visit to Selkirk's cottage and their generous gesture of gifting the book allows us to have this insight into who was visiting Largo and its Selkirk heritage back in the mid-nineteenth century. In terms of who visited the birthplace in the years before 1859, we can only imagine but with prominent figures such as Sir Walter Scott and his Fife-born publisher Archibald Constable paying a visit, there were no doubt many interesting characters among the earlier visitors.

James Macmaster RSW RBA (1856-1913)

27/6/2026

The above painting, entitled At Largo Bay, is by James Kennedy Macmaster, who was born on 10 March 1856 at Mill Street in Catrine, Ayrshire to woollen draper David Macmaster and his wife Jane Reid. The piece is dated 1889 and depicts the old shorefront buildings close to the Crusoe Hotel, which were demolished around 1890 to make way for "Edina View", "Rock View" and "Beach House" (new developments created by Andrew Selkirk (1836-1909).

MacMaster's mother was widowed soon after the birth of youngest child James and when she in turn died in 1868, twelve year old James, went to live with four of his mother's unmarried siblings, including her brother John Reid - a cotton manufacturer - at Shawlands. After John's death, James continued to live in the household of his uncle Robert Reid (a wine merchant) and aunts Elizabeth and Janet. By the census of 1881, James was 24 years old and described as an Artist Painter Landscape.

Soon afterwards, James relocated to Fife, inititally living in Kilconquhar. On 25 June 1884 James married Cellardyke-born Euphemia Nicol in St Monans, The couple settled in St Monans and went on to have three children during their time there - Euphemia in 1887, Robert in 1889 and Jane in 1892. In 1885 James was elected to the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour and to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1890. The Macmaster family were recorded in the 1891 census at Station Road in St Monans where James was described as a Marine and Landscape Artist. In 1891 one of his pieces was bought by the Prince of Wales. During his time in Fife, James painted many local villages including Cellardyke, Anstruther, St Monans, Pittenweem, Crail, Elie, Dysart, West Wemyss and of course Largo (some detail of which is shown below).

The above 1889 watercolour of Largo Bay was not the first time that Macmaster had captured this view. A very similar piece from 1884 was created for the Dundee Fine Art Exhibition and was noted in the 26 December 1894 Dundee Advertiser below. This was named The Birthplace of Alexander Selkirk - Robinson Crusoe.

By 1897, James and his family had moved to Ayr and the census of 1901 found them at Monument Road in Ayr. By 1911, they were at 36 St Leonard's Road in Ayr and that is where James died on 5 April 1913, aged 57 years. The piece below is from 7 April 1913 Dundee Evening Telegraph.

Alexander Selkirk's Gun - Part 3

16/6/2026

On 11 December 1985, precisely a century to the minute after the unveiling of the Robinson Crusoe statue, the Alexander Selkirk Museum was opened in Lower Largo. The image above from the 12 December Scotsman shows TV personality Tom Weir next to a plaque which we had unveiled. The accompanying article noted that a couple of key artefacts were absent from the museum's collection. One was the sea-chest which was (and still is) held at the Scottish Museum of Antiquities (now the National Museum of Scotland). The other was the flintlock gun, which was of unknown whereabouts.

It was this article and the specifically the words "it is the gun which the family would most dearly like to get hold of" that prompted journalist Rick Wilson to set off on a mission to track Selkirk's gun down. In fact, his subsequent investigations identified three different guns with supposed links to 'Crusoe'. One was the gun known to have been in Lower Largo until around 1800 when it was sold to John Lumsdaine of Lathallan (read about that here). Another was a gun with a carved butt that emerged in the 1880s when a gentlemen contacted the Largo Field Naturalists' Society about it (read about that here). Then a third gun emerged from Rick Wilson's efforts.

While following the trail of guns one and two, Rick Wilson received a tip-off about an article in Sporting Gun magazine about a gun with a possible link to Robinson Crusoe. He contacted the magazine editor, who put him in touch with the author of the piece. Eventually the weapon in question was traced a Mrs Florence Osbourn of East Dereham, Norfolk. Her late husband had purchased the gun around 1953 from an antique shop in Newmarket, paying only a couple of pounds for it. After some negotiation, this gun was purchased for the Lower Largo Museum. The photograph below shows Ivy Jardine, the driving force behind the museum, holding the gun. The detail further below shows the name roughly carved in capital letters: ALEXR SELKIRK. Apparently on the reverse it read 1705.

From the start, there was some doubt over the authenticity of this gun. Experts from both the National Museum of Scotland and the Scottish United Services Museum at Edinburgh Castle had reservations about its age. When the small museum at Largo closed, the gun was offered to both the National Museum of Scotland and Christie's saleroom. Both declined to take the gun, as it was concluded that it could not be genuine. In Rick Wilson's 2009 book The Man Who Was Robinson Crusoe, it states that "there is some talk that it now resides in Germany". Indeed the gun was placed in Hamburg, Germany, where it was photographed in 2018 by travel blogger Eugene Kaspersky - see image below from his blog at https://eugene.kaspersky.com/

The third gun - probably still in Germany - is quite clearly different in design to the first gun, pictured below from its time at Lathallan House in the mid-1800s. Described as "a very long-barrelled brute with a wedge chopped off its butt", this musket could well be the one that accompanied Alexander Selkirk the island of Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island) between 1704 and 1709. Sadly, decades have passed since its whereabouts were known.

So, today, the situation remains much the same as the time when the article below appeared in the 6 January 1983 Hull Daily News. The Hull Docks Museum was searching for gun number one (the one pictured above), while the Clapham Antiquarists' Society were looking to track down gun two. Neither had success and it's ironic that today the only gun with known whereabouts is gun number three - the one with the least credibility. Perhaps revisiting the story of the three Selkirk guns in these days of the internet may yield some new leads. If you know something - please get in touch!

Alexander Selkirk's Gun - Part 2

12/6/2026

The previous post traced the history of the gun once possessed by Alexander Selkirk. This gun was potentially with him during his four years and four months on the island of Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island) between 1704 and 1709. Brought home to Largo, it remained with the Selkirk family until circa 1800 when it became the property of the Lumsdaines of Lathallan, remaining in their family until going up for sale at auction in Edinburgh in 1895. The buyer of the gun (described as very long-barrelled brute with a wedge chopped off its butt) was Mrs Hulda Whyte of Philadelphia, USA.

The motivation behind her purchase is unclear but the gun duly made its way across the Atlantic. Research into what happened next was carried out in 1976 (at the time of the Crusoe 300 celebrations) by Douglas Wright - a director of Keep Scotland Tidy, former soldier and history buff. He found that Mrs Whyte had sold the musket on to Mr Louis Schmidt, manager of Cafe Ostendorff German Kitchen on Market Street in Philadelphia.

This eatery was famous for its display of guns and taxidermy. The postcard image above shows the restaurant's Old Gun Exhibit. One of the guns in this image may well have been the musket of Alexander Selkirk. Ostendorff's (seen below just left of centre) closed around 1920 when the prohibition laws were enacted in Pennsylvania. However, Mr Wright's investigations suggested that the gun collection was still on display in Philadelphia at the time of the 150th anniversary of the USA, a century ago, in 1926.

Wright's research found that the gun was next given to the Mayor of Philadelphia, who in turn presented it to the British Ambassador to the United States of America Esme Howard. Howard was Ambassador from 1924 to 1930 and visited Philadelphia on 1 June 1929 to unveil a granite memorial cross dedicated to the memory of British veterans buried in the area. With the death of Esme Howard in 1939, the trail of this (likely genuine) gun goes cold. A plea in the 19 August 1976 Dundee Courier below, instigated by Douglas Wright, suggests that it may have moved to London Museum for a Daniel Defoe exhibition prior to being list.

A second gun with claims to belong to Alexander Selkirk emerged in the 1880s. While the first gun (with traceable links to the Selkirk family) was at still at Lathallan House, the Largo Field Naturalists' Society received an interesting letter dated 20 February 1882. The 6 April 1882 Fifeshire Journal below explains. The letter was from a gentleman in Sidcup, Kent who had bought a gun with the following carved into the stock:

A. Selkirk Largo NB 1701

..along with other words and imagery such a thistles and a seal. The letter writer recognises that there was a gun at Lathallan and suggests that Alexander Selkirk may have owned more than one gun - making it still possible that his (second) gun had a genuine connection. Note however that the man he had bought it from had no backstory to the gun, having bought it "merely as an old gun".

This carved gun was assessed as potentially genuine. It was surmised that Selkirk could perhaps have left it at his London lodgings. It was given to the Antiquarian Society of Scotland. The Field Naturalists visited there to make sketches of its carvings. Those sketches were then displayed at their museum in Upper Largo (the former school on North Feus). The piece below from 1 January 1886 East of Fife Record tells us that the gun subsequently moved to the British Museum.

However, the gun did not remain at the British Museum for long, if it was there at all. As it was later claimed that the porter at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford sold it to collector of antiquities Randolph Berens of South Kensington later in 1882. This was the story that appeared in The Golden Penny (a prominent illustrated weekly magazine published in London), in the 5 September 1903 issue. Berens, pictured below (at a later date in the 19 November 1919 Daily Express), explained that he had been touring museums in search of objects to acquire, when the porter alerted him to a gun which was he had in his lodge and was available for sale.

Upon the death of Berens, the carved gun was put up for sale at Sotheby's and sold in May 1924 for £250. The buyer was antiquarian bookseller Charles J Sawyer of Grafton Street London. As the 24 May 1924 Fife Free Press below shows, the gun was now asserted to be "the authentic weapon carried by Alexander Selkirk during his four years' exile". The earlier information from the gentleman in Sidcup seemingly lost and forgotten (i.e. that this was a different gun to the Lathallan one and that he had been sold it by a person to whom the gun had no meaning nor provenance).

Sawyer subsequently put the carved gun up for sale in December 1925 asking for £500. It too reportedly was sold to the USA, where its subsequent journey is unknown. If anyone reading this has information about either the first (likely genuine) gun or the second carved gun illustrated above - please do leave a comment or get in touch.

With two guns of interest lost in the mists of time, what of the third gun unearthed in the mid-1980s by the investigations of journalist Rick Wilson?

More on that to follow, linked to the opening in 1985 of Alexander Selkirk Museum in Lower Largo.

Alexander Selkirk's Gun

5/6/2026

When Largo-born Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, was marooned between 1704 and 1709 on Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island) one of the important items he had in his possession was a gun. This musket (a muzzle-loaded long gun) would have been a key tool for survival - providing a means of both a means of defence and tool for hunting food. Also referred to as a firelock or a flintlock, this gun would have had a firing mechanism, whereby a piece of flint held in a clamp would strike a steel plate to create sparks. The sparks would ignite a small amount of gunpowder to fire the gun.

It is presumed that the gun which Alexander Selkirk had with him on the island, returned home with him post-rescue. The question of where it is today, is an intriguing and complex one to attempt to unravel. In the 1980s, journalist Rick Wilson set off in pursuit of an answer to that question. In the resulting article, published in the Scotsman on 2 May 1986, not one, not two but three separate guns, each with a claim to have once belonged to Alexander Selkirk, were traced. The full article can be viewed here. Wilson went on to write the book The Man Who Was Robinson Crusoe (2009) in which there is a more detailed account of his gun investigations.

Eighteenth century sources suggest that Selkirk's gun was, after his death, in the possession of family in Largo. The extract above from a piece in the 1 December 1797 Scots Magazine clearly states that the musket was still in the possession of Alexander's grand nephew John Selkirk, a weaver. John was the grandson of Alexander's eldest brother David. Five years earlier, the Old Statistical Account of Scotland of 1792 for had similarly noted that "the chest and musket which Selkirk had with him on the island are now in possession of his grand nephew, John Selkirk, weaver in Largo".

However, around 1800 the gun left the Selkirk family. The 1803 reprint of Sir Robert Sibbald's A History Ancient and Modern of the Sheriffdoms of Fife and Kinross discusses Alexander Selkirk and the footnote below appears with reference to the whereabouts of his possessions. While John Selkirk was still reported to have the chest, the musket was now noted as "in the possession of a gentleman in the neighbourhood".

The gentleman in question was John Lumsdaine, who had purchased nearby Lathallan Estate to the south of Largoward in 1788. Lathallan is approximately five miles away from Lower Largo and can be seen in the top right of the Roy Military Survey of Scotland map (1747-55). Lumsdaine appears to have been a collector of historical curios. Like many others, he probably visited the Selkirk family cottage in Largo to view the relics of Alexander Selkirk. Perhaps he took a particular interest in the gun and made an offer for it that could not be refused.

When John Lumsdaine died in 1823, the estate of Lathallan passed to his son James. Within months of his father's death, James retired from active service as a Surgeon with the East India Company, and returned to Lathallan. He married Sophia Lindsay on 27 October 1824 and they had four sons: James (1827-1849), William Lindsay (1828-1859), John Small (1830-1860) and Stamford Robert (1831-1878). James died in 1853 and the estate passed initially to William, then John and finally to Stamford Robert. Stamford married Anna Maria Briggs of Strathairly in 1864 and they went on to have a son who died in infancy and then three daughters. The gun likely remained at Lathallan throughout this period.

When Stamford Robert Lumsdaine died in 1878, there was no male heir and his daughters were all young children. For over two decades, the Lathallan Estate was in the ownership of Trustees of the Late Stamford Robert Lumsdaine and was let to a series of tenants including Lieutenant Colonel Francis John Outhwaite, Colonel William Babington and Thomas Jeffrey Esquire. In 1895, the Trustees decided to sell the "fine collection of historical relics and curios" held within Lathallan House. Among them was "the fowling-piece" (an archaic term for a hunting gun) or musket of Alexander Selkirk (see 14 December 1895 Fife News above).

So, in 1895, a century and three quarters after the death of Alexander Selkirk, and around a century after the gun was procured by John Lumsdaine, the weapon left Fife. More to follow on what happened next, including the surfacing of a second gun with claims of association with 'Robinson Crusoe'.

Colporteurage

14/5/2026

The word "colporteurage" was defined in the 10 October 1861 Fife Herald as "the spread of Bibles, and religious tracts and books, by means of hawking them". This system of distributing such materials began to be formally organised in Scotland around 1855, facilitated by bodies such as the Edinburgh Religious Tract Society and the Religious Tract and Book Society of Scotland. By 1861, there were 130 colporteurs throughout Scotland and eight of them were based in Fife.

The colporteur was remunerated partly through the proceeds of his sales and partly through a subscription paid by the District in which he worked. The word colporteur itself is thought to originate from 18th-century French, combining "col" (neck) and "porter" (to carry) in relation to an itinerant peddler who carried books, etc. in a holder over their neck or shoulders.

In 1864 the Largo District appointed its own colporteur and this was Robert Strang, the father of one-time Largo Station Master William Strang. The piece below from 7 May 1864 Dunfermline Saturday Press reports on his removal from Wellwood near Dunfermline, where he had been a miner, to Largo. Initially, he lived in Lundin Mill with his wife Mary and young son William.

When Robert's only son William found employment with the railway around 1872, the family moved to Temple Railway Cottage. Robert became a member of Largo School Board and Treasurer of the U.P. Church, during the time of Reverend David Malloch. After sixteen years as Largo's colporteur, Robert Strang retired, due to ill health. The 28 February 1880 Dunfermline Saturday Press informs us of a presentation held to mark his retirement, noting that prior to coming to Largo, Robert had worked for 26 years for colliery owner Thomas Spowart in Wellwood.

The 21 February 1880 Fife News below also covered this presentation. Note that, in addition to the work of distributing books and periodicals, Robert Strang would also read and pray with the sick and aged people as part of his mission as colporteur.

The role of colporteur for Largo District continued for many years after the retiral of Robert Strang. The 1881 census tells us that Alexander Duffus fulfilled the role for a spell. A decade later in 1891, it was James Suttie who was the colporteur. The 14 June 1892 Fife News below had an advert for the dwelling house in which Suttie had lived until he left the area in 1892.

Above is an article from the 12 July 1900 Leven Advertiser and the local colportage society. It is interesting to see the widespread support for the Society by local landowners and by multiple Church denominations. At that time it was James Harris who held the position of Largo colporteur. He served on the Parish Council and remained in post until 1903. Briefly, a Mr Prentice filled the position, coming from Galashiels (see below from 29 May 1903 East of Fife Record), but within a few months he had in turn been superseded by Forfarshire-born James Martin (see 17 Sept 1903 Leven Advertiser further below).

James Martin was still colporteur for Largo at the time of the 1911 census. Then aged 53, he lived in Broomfield Buildings in Upper Largo with wife Annie and 4 of their eleven children. By 1924, there was a colporteur by the name of Rankine covering a much wider area - "from Largo to Auchtertool", according to the 11 November 1924 Leven Advertiser below. This suggests that the demand for such an occupation had waned - a trend that likely continued over time, as social, economic, and technological shifts rendered the traditional colporteurage model obsolete.