The Lindsays of Balcarres
A Century of an Ancient Scottish Family in Photographs
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Pimpernel Press Ltd
Published:7th Oct '21
£60.00
Available to order, but very limited on stock - if we have issues obtaining a copy, we will let you know.
The Lindsays of Balcarres began with the rediscovery of some dusty photograph albums at the home of the author’s late father in Fife. The wealth of images within, unexplored for over eighty years, provided the perfect way to present the fascinating untold stories of the people who had been brought up at Balcarres.
The Lindsay family, which traces its roots back to the time of Charlemagne, almost lost everything after siding with the Stuarts for two hundred years, but fortunate marriages, colonial endeavours and the industrial revolution enabled them to create a new fortune and in 1848 successfully reclaim their position as the Premier Earls of Scotland. This renewal coincided with the birth of photography in the 1840s, which encouraged the family to capture moments of their leisure pursuits and other enthusiasms and the part they played in the events of their time. The collection also serves as a social history, recording the rapidly changing industries they were involved in and the relationships with their staff on which their way of life depended.
The reader will encounter a gallery of colourful characters, including Elizabeth Lindsay, who married the 3rd Earl of Hardwicke in 1782 and became Vicereine of Ireland; her great-nephew, Robert, who joined the Guards at the outbreak of the Crimean War and carried the Queen’s Colours to the heights of Alma, earning him the first of two citations for the Victoria Cross; and his brother-in-law, Alexander, the 25th Earl of Crawford and his polymath son Ludovic, who together rebuilt the family library, Bibliotheca Lindesiana, into one of the world’s finest.
Some of the earliest daguerreotypes in the family archive point to the enduring affinity that would develop between photography and the country house. It was the perfect medium for a family so deeply involved in both fine art and the latest technology. Ludovic Lindsay’s painstaking restoration of these remarkable family photographs and archival research mean that a chronicle of his forebears’ lives, told through over three hundred hitherto unpublished images, is for the first time possible.
"A collection of unique photographs, unexplored for 80 years, which present a fascinating cast of characters and shed light on over 150 years of leisure, travel, industry, relationships and passions in a family that has been at the heart of Scottish history for centuries."
* History Scotland *"...Remarkable pictures...More than just a family’s memories, it offers an important glimpse into the nation’s social history through the story of one aristocratic family."
* Scottish Field *"The wealth of images within, unexplored for over eighty years, provided the perfect way to present the fascinating untold stories of the people who had been brought up at Balcarres. The collection also serves as a social history, recording the rapidly changing industries they were involved in and the relationships with their staff on which their way of life depended."
* Listed Property Owners Club magazine *“A superb testimony requiring the widest readership.”
* The Field *“Forgotten but thankfully not lost, the Lindsay albums area fascinating and valuable archive.”
“A diverting book of biography, richly illustrated with over 300 photographs."
* The Victorian *“The photographs, which could so easily have overwhelmed the narrative, are skilfully pressed into service to personalise a fascinating slice of family, economic and national history.”
* Historic House magazine *“…crammed with chapters on themes as diverse as electricity and yachts, as well as profiles on dozens of Ludovic’s ancestors.”
* Scotland magaziISBN: 9781910258576
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
296 pages