16th of September

St Cornelius, pope and martyr, 252. St Cyprian, archbishop of Carthage, martyr, 258. Saints Lucia and Germinianus, martyrs, about 303. St Euphemia, virgin and martyr, about 307. St Ninian or Ninyas, bishop and confessor, and apostle of the southern Picts, 432.

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Died. – Pope Martin I., 655; Pope Victor III., 1087; Charles V. the Wise, king of France, 1380, Vincennes; Michael Baius, theologian, 1589, Louvain; James [VII.], ex-king of [Britain], 1701, St Germains, France; Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, constructor of thermometers, 1736; Louis XVIII., king of France, 1824.

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On this Day in Other Sources.

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St. Ninian died on the 16th September, 432.¹ He was buried, says his biographer, “in the church of the blessed Martin, which he had himself built from its foundation, and was placed in a stone sarcophagus beside the altar. At his most sacred tomb the infirm are healed, lepers are cleansed, the wicked are terrified, and the blind receive their sight.”²

-Scots Lore, pp.192-210. 

¹  Chalmers’ Caledonia, vol. v. 410.

²  Metcalfe’s Scottish Saints, p. 24.

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This year [1199] died likewise Hugh, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, [10th] of July; to whom succeeded, the 16th of September, William de Malveisin;.. 

– Historical Works, pp.19-38.

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Edward I. spent a fortnight at Glasgow in the autumn of 1301. He resided at the Friars Preachers, but was constant in his offerings at the High Altar and the shrine of Saint Mungo. Of the building spacious enough to receive the monarch’s train, there are now no vestiges. A few years later we find by a charter still preserved in the archives of the University, the Bishop and Chapter granted to the Friars preachers of Glasgu a spring called the Meadow-well, rising in the Denside, to be conducted into the cloisters of the Friars.¹

– Sketches, pp.29-70.

¹  Fontem quendam qui dicitur meduwel in loco qui dicitur Denside scaturientem in perpetuum conducendum in claustrum dictorum fratrum ad usus necessarios eorundem. The grant by the Bishop, dated 16 kal. Sep. 1304, is confirmed by the Chapter die lune in festo S. Bartholomei apostoli, 1304.

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George Sempill was presented to Killallan, and became its incumbent after the 16th of September, 1600. He was, however, discharged by the Synod “for causes and considerations knowin’ to them, and speciallie for a great mislyking that specialls of the paroch had of him.” He insisted, however, on getting his rights as minister of the parish. 

– Scots Lore, pp.253-259.

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Sep. 16 [1616]. – ‘… there arose such a swelling in the sea at Leith, that the like was not seen before for a hundred years. The water came in with violence beside the bulwark, in a place called the Timber Holf [Howf], where the timber lay, and carried some of the timber and many lasts of herrings lying there, to the sea; brake in sundry low houses and cellars, and filled them with water. The like flowing was in Dunbar, Musselburgh, and other parts of the sea-coast. The people took this extraordinary tide to be a forewarning of some evil to come.’ – Cal. 

– Domestic Annals, pp.177-227.

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As Montrose saw no possibility of opposing the powerful and well appointed army of Argyle, which was advancing upon him with slow and cautious steps, disappointed as he had been of the aid which he had calculated upon, he resolved to march into the Highlands, and there collect such of the clans as were favourably disposed to the royal cause. Leaving, therefore, Aberdeen on the sixteenth of September [1644], with the remainder of his forces, he joined the camp at Kintore, whence he dispatched Sir William Rollock to Oxford to inform the king of the events of the campaign, and of his present situation, and to solicit him to send supplies. 

– History of the Highlands, pp.342-364.

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Great was now the excitement within the walls. The militia, called the trained bands, consisted of sixteen companies, or 1,000 men, entirely undisciplined, and many of them entirely disloyal to the Hanoverian cause. In their own armoury the citizens had 1,250 muskets and 200 bayonets, 300 sets of accoutrements, a considerable quantity of ammunition, with seventy-five stand of arms and Lochaber axes belonging to the City Guard. On Sunday, 16th September [1745], Hislop, keeper of this arsenal, issued 500 rounds of ball ammunition and sixty firelocks to each company of the trained bands, thirty-nine firelocks to the additional company of the Canongate-head, 500 rounds of ball to the Seceders, whose muster-place was the Infirmary, and 450 lbs. of powder for the cannon on the walls. All the rest he sent to the Castle. The banner borne by the Seceders is now in the Museum of Antiquities, and was once used at Bothwell Brig. It is blue, with a white St. Andrew’s saltire, charged with five roses, and the motto, Covenants, Religion, King, and Kingdoms. 

– Old and New Edinburgh, pp.322-329.

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As well as winning the world’s first 25–Hole Open, William Doleman is on record as the first person to play golf in North America. When he was 16, he joined the Merchant Navy and sailed to Quebec, where a newspaper reported on a lad by the name of William Doleman hitting ‘golf balls’ on a stretch of land which would later become Royal Quebec Golf Course. “William Doleman was born on September 16, 1838 in the club house at Musselburgh, where his father was the caretaker. According to a report in The Glasgow Herald William ‘began to play as soon as he could swing a club.’ “ 

– Glasgow’s City Necropolis.

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   “SYMPATHY WITH IRELAND. – Last night a crowded meeting of the Rev. David Macrae’s congregation was held in the Kinnaird Hall, Dundee – Mr Macrae in the chair – at which the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:-

   1. That this meeting of Scottish people denounces the policy which the present Government is pursuing in Ireland, as iniquitous and cruel in itself, and fitted to cause riot and outrage, by irritating beyond the limit of endurance the feelings of a high-spirited people.

   2. That this meeting desires to express its heartfelt sympathy with the Irish nation in its present struggle for its national rights, and hopes that in spite of provocation it will move steadily on within the lines of constitutional agitation to the triumph which seems now drawing near.

   3. That this meeting desires to express the warm sympathy with the aims of the Highland Land Law Reform and the Scottish Home Rule conferences now being held at Oban, and its hope that Highlands and Lowlands may stand shoulder to shoulder in seeking the reform of unjust and oppressive laws, and the vindication of Scotland’s right to the management of her own affairs.

   4. That this meeting desires to thank Dr Clark, M.P. for Caithness, and Mr Hunter, M.P. for West Aberdeen, for calling attention in Parliament to the conduct of the present Government in permitting a treaty with China to be negotiated under the name of ‘England’ instead of ‘Britain,’ in direct violation of the Treaties of Union between England and Scotland and between Great Britain and Ireland.

   After the resolutions were carried, a number of Highland airs were rendered by a band under the leadership of Mr McPherson, and national songs were sung by Misses Kidd and Wighton and Mr John Stevenson. Votes of thanks brought the meeting to a close.”

– Dundee Evening Telegraph, Friday 16th September, 1887.

– Treaty of Union Articles, Collection of the Rev. David MacRae.