Alastair Scott - Eccentric Wealth: The Bulloughs of Rum

ECCENTRIC WEALTH

THE BULLOUGHS OF RUM

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The Bulloughs of Rum

Alastair Scott

This ebook edition published in 2011 by
Birlinn Limited
West Newington House
Newington Road
Edinburgh
EH9 1QS
www.birlinn.co.uk

First published in 2011 by Birlinn Ltd

Copyright Alastair Scott 2011

The moral right of Alastair Scott to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without the express written permission of the publisher.

ebook ISBN: 978-0-85790-052-4

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

To Catherine Duckworth and Thomas Krebs

I first went to Rum in 1972 with a school camping expedition. The experience made a profound impression on me and Rum has lured me back many times since. Over these decades the spelling of the islands name has changed from Rhum to Rum the details are given in the narrative but to avoid confusion I should point out here that both refer to the same place.

The more I learned about Rum the more incredulous I became that no one had written a biography of Sir George Bullough or troubled to investigate the intoxicating rumours of extravagance. My priority with this book has been to create a factual, and above all readable, account and to this end I have given reference sources for major or controversial quotes, but not for the minutiae. To keep footnotes to a minimum I have included an Appendix on some of the Bullough family who played a part on the fringes of Sir Georges life, and added a timeline so that the chronology of events can be followed with greater ease and clarity.

Sir George died in 1939, Lady Bullough in 1967 and their daughter Hermione (Countess of Durham) in 1992. There will be many people who knew them personally, and more who heard about them indirectly through others. I would be delighted to hear from anyone who would like to share memories or recall incidents involving them. No biography can ever be considered complete and many gaps remain in this one, despite three years of research. This book is my best attempt using the archive material available. If any of my facts or theories are wrong, I welcome the opportunity of correcting them.

I can be contacted through my website: www.alastair-scott.com.

George Randall and Ewan Macdonald founded the Kinloch Castle Friends Association (KCFA) in 1996. In the pages that follow I pay tribute to the enormous impact this organisation has had in bringing the plight and importance of the castle to public attention. I hope this book inspires many more to lend support. Details can be found on www.kinlochcastlefriendsassociation.org

Catherine Duckworth is the font of knowledge on all aspects of the Bulloughs in Accrington, and much more besides. Without the information she provided and ideas she inspired, this would be a much leaner volume. Her support and proofreading were invaluable and to her I owe my biggest debt.

Thomas Krebs has left a well-trodden trail between Rum and his native Switzerland, where he alone has uncovered the Schmidlin strand of this story and eagerly passed on his findings. Thanks also, Thomas, for guiding me around the Giessbach.

George Randall is a leading authority on the Bullough family and castle. I am grateful to him for sharing some of his research in the KCFA Newsletters. At the outset these informed much of my own understanding and provided me with springboards into unexplored pools.

Other KCFA members who assisted were Douglas King (for the post-Bullough period), Mary Wardle (the Uddingston connection), John Bullough, Graham Bullough and Julian Mackenzie-Charrington.

Thanks to Scottish Natural Heritage in particular, David Frew, who could not have been more obliging in allowing me access to the castle archives, and Tom Cane for readily answering emails choked with questions.

To Rita Boswell (Harrow School Archives), Gill Parker (recollections of Percy Hills family), Josephine Pemberton (red deer), Patrick (the Fujiya Hotel in Japan), the staff of the ObanTimes, Lancashire Record Office and many libraries including Accrington, Skye mobile, Highland HQ, Perth, Fort William and the National Library of Scotland also thanks.

Permission to use extracts from published works is gratefully acknowledged for the following:

p. , Pen and Sword Books for Aspects of Accrington, Discovering Local History, edited by Susan Halstead and Catherine Duckworth, Wharncliffe Books, 2000.

pp. and John Love, Rum: A Landscape without Figures, Birlinn Ltd, 2001.

p. , Debretts Peerage and Baronetage

p. , Garry Otton (author) and John Hein (editor) have both given permission for this passage to be quoted from Scotsgay Magazine, Issue 53A, September 2003.

p. , Country Life, 9 August 1984, from an article by Clive Aslet.

p. , The Scots Magazine, December 1978, article by Archie Cameron.

p. , Derek Cooper, Hebridean Connection, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977, page 85.

pp. , Archie Cameron, Bare Feet and Tackety Boots, Luath Press Ltd, 1988.

p. , Alastair Dunnett, The Canoe Boys, In Pinn, 2007. First published under the title Quest by Canoe, 1950.

Despite every effort I have been unable to contact the following copyright-holders:

p. , Bridget Paterson, Kinloch Castle Friends Association newsletter no. 4, April 1998.

p. , Donald Cameron, While the Wild Geese Fly: Tales of a Highland Farmer and Auctioneer, privately published by Glen Nevis.

p. , Alasdair Alpin MacGregor, An Island Here and There, Kingsmead Press, Bath, 1972.

, Scotlands Magazine, 1959, from an article by Sir John Betjeman.

Sport Pictures for the Golden Ascot photograph

Hi-Arts awarded me a Scottish Arts Council research grant which allowed me to penetrate deeper and further afield than I ever would have done at my own expense, and Im grateful for the considerable bounty of fact and detail added to an important facet of social history.

Final thanks to Birlinn, namely: Hugh Andrew, for believing in this book and Tom Johnstone, for adding fluency to my prose.

Best wishes and prosperity to the Rum Community. www.isleofrum.com.

With a theme of rags to riches, this story spans three generations of a Lancashire family, the Bulloughs. There is grandfather James, the founder, father John, the augmenter and much the most mysterious and fascinating son George, the spender. He takes high living to a new extreme. Divorce, scandal and rumour always rumour attach themselves to the family name and a cupboard door falls open to reveal the skeleton of a lost son. The Great War intervenes and effectively kills the Golden Age of partying. But what a party it was! Its legacy endures. Around George and his beguiling life of excess a legend is born.