207 items

• Alexander Fleming and the Discovery of Penicillin

  The Ayrshire-born scientist’s 1928 observation at St Mary’s began penicillin’s journey from a culture dish to a medicine. Discover the team that made it usable.

• Alexander Irish Surname Meaning, History and Ulster Origins

  Discover the history of the Alexander surname in Ireland, especially its Ulster presence, Scottish links, and wider family heritage.

• William Alexander Smith: The Glasgow Beginning of the Boys’ Brigade

  Born near Thurso on 27 October 1854, William Alexander Smith brought faith, discipline and recreation together in a Glasgow mission hall. Discover the beginnings of the Boys’ Brigade and the...

• Alexander Graham Bell’s Telephone: How a Voice Became a Signal

  Follow Bell and Watson’s 1876 experiment from vibrating membrane to spoken words, and learn what a patent, a notebook and a surviving telephone can each tell us.

• Alexander Scottish Surname History: Origins, MacAlasdair Roots & the Earls of Stirling

  Alexander, the Anglicized MacAlasdair, rose from Clan Donald roots to become Earls of Stirling with a royal claim on Nova Scotia and Canada.

• Alexander Graham Bell Birth in Edinburgh | March 3 Scottish History

  Born in Edinburgh in 1847, Alexander Graham Bell would grow to revolutionize communication and become one of Scotland’s most influential innovators.

• The Death of Alexander III, 1286: The Night That Doomed Scotland's Golden Age

  Alexander III's death in 1286 ended Scotland's golden age and opened the road to succession crisis and war.

• Andrew Carnegie to Alexander Graham Bell — Scottish Genius That Built Modern America

  Andrew Carnegie built America's steel industry and gave his fortune away. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. John Muir created the national parks. Allan Pinkerton founded the first detective agency....

• Stevens History & Origins: An English Patronymic in Scotland, Alexander Stevens & the Stevenson Distinction

  Scotland counted 746 Stevens in 1901 against 11,200 Stevensons. Why the two names are not the same, what Stevens actually means, and the mason who spanned the Tweed at Drygrange.

• Speirs History & Origins: The Speirs of Elderslie, Alexander Speirs the Tobacco Lord & Renfrewshire Heritage

  Alexander Speirs bought the Elderslie lands from a Wallace and built a Robert Adam house at King's Inch on a tobacco fortune. We trace the Renfrewshire family, what the money...

• Berry Surname History: English Origins and a Documented Family Legacy in Fife, Scotland

  Berry is an English topographic surname meaning "at the fortified manor," not a Scottish clan name — but one Berry family built three centuries of real history in Fife.

• Sanderson Surname History: Origin, Meaning and Family Roots

  Sanderson is a Scottish and English patronymic meaning “son of Sander,” with Sander a medieval short form of Alexander. It is particularly associated with northern England, the Borders and Lowland...

• The Maid of Norway, 1290: The Child Queen Scotland Never Crowned

  Margaret, Maid of Norway, became Scotland's child queen but died before coronation, plunging the kingdom into crisis.

• Garden History & Origins: The Gardenia, Gardyne Castle & a North-East Scottish Name

  The gardenia carries the name of a doctor from Birse in Aberdeenshire. We follow the Garden surname from that flower back to the Gardynes of Angus, the 1720 founding of...

• Kemp Surname History: Origin, Meaning and Family Research

  Explore the Kemp surname’s documented meaning, origins, geography, variants and genealogy with honest clan and heraldry guidance.

• Who Were Clan MacGillivray? History, Motto & Origins in Strathnairn

  Clan MacGillivray is a Highland clan of Dunmaglass and the Clan Chattan Confederation. Explore its correct motto, Alexander MacGillivray at Culloden and the longer chiefly chronology.

• Dennistoun History & Origins: Danzielstoun, Colgrain, J. & A. Dennistoun and the Glasgow District

  Dennistoun began as a Renfrewshire barony named for a man called Daniel, lost its chief line to two coheiresses in 1399, survived through the Colgrain branch, and ended up as...

• Binnie Surname History: West Lothian Origins to Scotland's North-East Coast

  Binnie traces to the lands of Binny in West Lothian, with medieval clergy records, a Victorian sewer-engineering knight, and a modern astronaut test pilot among its bearers.

• Duthie History & Origins: Aberdeen Clippers, Duthie Park & a North-East Surname

  Duthie is an Aberdeenshire surname carried around the world on the sterns of Aberdeen wool clippers and written across a city park. We weigh the Saint Duthac derivation honestly and...

• The Battle of Largs 1263: The Day Scotland Turned Back the Norse

  In 1263, a Norwegian king brought a great fleet to the Firth of Clyde to defend his island territories. The Battle of Largs that followed was inconclusive in itself, but...

• Waugh History & Origins: The Britons of Strathclyde, East Gordon in Berwickshire & the Man Who Named Everest

  Waugh is a Scottish Borders surname meaning foreigner or Briton, from Anglian Old English walh, the word Northumbrians used for the Britons of Strathclyde. Alexander Waugh of East Gordon, Andrew...

• Cross History & Origins: Corse, the Mercat Cross & Scottish Heritage

  In older Scots a cross was a corse, which is why native Scottish families became Corse and Corss rather than Cross. The English topographic name, the Irish Mac an Chrosáin,...

• Clan Robertson: History, Motto & Origins in Atholl, Perthshire

  Clan Robertson is the Robertson chiefly line of Clan Donnachaidh, rooted in Atholl. Learn how the surname developed, the motto Virtutis Gloria Merces, the current chief and the clan's Jacobite...

• Battle of Harlaw 1411: Red Harlaw and the Clans Who Fought

  On 24 July 1411, Donald of the Isles and the Earl of Mar fought the bloody, inconclusive Battle of Harlaw near Inverurie.