George Gordon Lord Byron
The famous poet Lord Byron spent his childhood summers in Banff, his mother’s home town, where his great-grandmother Lady Gight was head of a notable landed family.
Entries by David McCubbin
Walford Bodie: The Electric Wizard of the North
Walford Bodie was a famous magician whose popular and sometimes controversial show toured the UK. In 1905 he moved to Macduff and styled himself ‘The Laird of Macduff’. He used his wealth for the benefit of the town.
Silversmithing in Banff
For over two hundred years Banff was known for the high quality work produced by generations of silversmiths. These skilled craftsmen made items ranging from communion cups for churches to cutlery, ewers, watchcases and even buckles.
Macduff Harbour
The town of Macduff has grown up around its busy working harbour and thriving shipbuilding industry which continues today.
James Macpherson: James of the hills
James Macpherson, or ‘James of the hills’, has been described as Banff’s Robin Hood. He and his band of followers roamed the north east, and were said to steal only from those who could afford it and to give much of their loot to the poor.
Banff and the Jacobites
Aberdeenshire and Banffshire were Jacobite heartlands. The unsuccessful 1715 Rising had begun at Braemar, where the Earl of Mar raised the Jacobite standard in support of James Francis Stuart’s claim to be King James VIII and III.
Thomas Edward: Banff’s naturalist
A blue plaque on the gable end of a house on Deveronside marks the home of Thomas Edward (1814-86), naturalist.
Is the Macduff Mystery solved?
The mystery begins, If William Henry Conrad Lohr is not on the War Memorial or on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, then how is he recorded in Doddie Dickson’s book?
Macduff War Memorial
Macduff’s war memorial is a striking 70-foot tower overlooking the town and the coastline beyond. It is inscribed with the names of those men from the Macduff area who fell in the First and Second World Wars.
Walter Biggar and the herring industry
In the 19th and early 20th centuries Scotland’s herring fishing industry became the biggest in the world, and the towns of Banff and Macduff both played their part in that.