Noisy BrainThe Theory of Eight SurnamesOn a recent trip abroad, I was told that everyone should know and be able to recite their eight surnames. These are the surnames of a…Dec 23, 2018Dec 23, 2018
Noisy BrainThe long summer of 1913This summertime photograph, helpfully labelled on the back, celebrates the “coral” (35th) wedding anniversary of James Scobbie and Mina…May 17, 2018May 17, 2018
Noisy Brain100 years is nothingThe girl on our left in this picture is my great aunt Ebeth, photographed with her siblings and parents in Scotland when she was 12 or 13…Jan 26, 2018Jan 26, 2018
Noisy Brain74 years officiating in Scottish forestryRobert Paterson Galloway (1861–1936), pictured above, and his elder son Angus were both, as Edinburgh lawyers, major administrative figures…Nov 16, 2017Nov 16, 2017
Noisy BrainMorningside Wedding, Morningside FuneralEbeth Scobbie married at 28 and was widowed at 33. As Mrs Ebeth Newton, she married again at 46, to a successful and well-regarded…Nov 16, 2017Nov 16, 2017
Noisy Brain“longing to see you”Scotland knew of David’s death within a couple of weeks, presumably by telegram. Everyone knew Ebeth was in limbo. What information flowed…Oct 20, 2017Oct 20, 2017
Noisy Brain“Broughty Doctor Dies at Smyrna”At the time of his death, Dr David McKenzie Newton had been a medical missionary for around a dozen years, and was the superintendent at…Aug 15, 2017Aug 15, 2017
Noisy BrainEbeth Scobbie (1914–1994)“Ebeth” is a relatively unusual contraction of Elizabeth: compare Liz, Lizzie, Beth, Lisa, Liza, Betty, Libby, and even Lizbet and Eliza……Jun 4, 2017Jun 4, 2017
Noisy BrainSmyrna at war 1914–1918Grace Williamson’s wartime diary started at the end of October 1914, as she arrives back in Smyrna to set up a Maternity Hospital. Within a…Jun 3, 2017Jun 3, 2017
Noisy BrainGrace Williamson’s Smyrna Diaries: entries relating to Ebeth ScobbieAt the beginning of September 1916, Alithea Williamson (pictured) and Nurse-Matron Mary Parkinson from the Beaconsfield New Hospital…Jun 1, 2017Jun 1, 2017