A caddie, also spelt "cadie", was an urban occupation in early 18th century Scotland ("in Edinburgh and other large towns") [1] that consisted of running various errands. [2] [3] The term is a Scottish form of the French word cadet (student soldier). [4]
Writing in the middle of the 18th century, the first historian of Edinburgh, William Maitland, described "cadees" as "errand-men, news-cryers or pamphlet-sellers" existing before 1714. [5] As of that date they became an organised society subject to regulation and supervision by the Town Council, which was responsible for upholding the monopoly of its members' activities within the city. Magistrates on the Council determined the number of members, each of whom was issued with an "apron of blue linnen" to be worn as a badge of identification "which none may lend, on pain of losing his privilege". [6] On joining the Company each new member paid a deposit of 10 pounds Scots, as a surety for honesty and good behaviour, and the sum of 14 shillings and 6 pennies Scots into the "Company's Box". Members also had to pay a fixed amount of 6 pennies Scots after selling each new edition of newspapers and pamphlets. They were fined for transgressions of the company's rules, as well as incivilities such as drunkenness and gambling. Rule 3 laid down obligations for moral conduct to the effect that "Every one of the Company shall behave himself decently, and shall not use any unbecoming language to one another, much less to any other person, neither shall they curse or swear by faith, conscience, or the like, much less profane the Lord's name, or break the Sabbath-day; but shall go to church every Lord's Day, and therein behave themselves discreetly during Divine worship." Those who were illiterate were expected to attend school for one day each week to learn to read and write. Slovenly appearance, lodging disreputably and "fighting with any, beating his neighbour, or keeping a correspondence with thieves, pickpockets or debauched persons" were grounds for expulsion. [6]
Caddies were employed on a first come, first served basis, Rule 5 stipulating that "When one is called to go an errand, or sell a paper, where two or more are present, he who cometh first to the person who called him, shall have the benefit of what is sold or had for going the errand, unless the person who called otherwise determine it." [6]
Caddies were also entrusted with carrying out specific tasks by order of the Town Council, as in 1738 when they caught and killed every dog in town to prevent the spread of rabies. [7]
Apart from the purposes identified by Maitland, caddies acted as town guides hired for their specialist knowledge of the city in an age before street plans and directories were available. Hugo Arnot wrote in 1799 that, "They are acquainted with the whole persons and places in Edinburgh; and the moment a stranger comes to town they get notice of it." [8]
An English visitor, Edward Topham, writing in the mid-1770s, noted that,
"It is impossible at Edinburgh to be concealed or unknown, for though you enter into the City a mere traveller, and unacquainted, you cannot be there many hours before you are watched, and your name, and place of abode, found out by the Cadies. These are a Society of men who constantly attend the Cross in the High-Street, and whose office it is to do any thing that any body can want, and discharge any kind of business. On this account it is necessary for them to make themselves acquainted with the residence and negotiation of all the inhabitants; and they are of great utility, as without them it would be very difficult to find any body, on account of the great height of the houses, and the number of families in every building. This Society is under particular regulations, and it requires some interest to become a member of it. It is numerous, and contains persons for every use and employment, who faithfully execute all commands at a very reasonable price. Whether you are in need of a valet de place, a pimp, a thief-catcher, or a bully, your best resource is to the fraternity of Cadies. In short, they are the tutelary guardians of the City, and it is entirely owing to them, that there are fewer robberies, and less house-breaking in Edinburgh, than anywhere else". [9]
"To tell you what these people do is impossible; for there is nothing almost which they do not do. ... A certain number of them stand all day long, and most of the night, at the top of the High-street, waiting for employment. Whoever has occasion for them, has only to pronounce the word "Cadie", and they fly from all parts to attend the summons. Whatever person you may want, they know immediately where he is to be found. Trust them with what sum of money you please, you are quite safe: they are obliged by the rules of their Order to make good every thing they lose. A gentleman once sent one of these Mercuries with a letter enclosing bills for some hundred pounds; the man lost it, and the Society (who are responsible for these losses) restored the sum to the proprietor". [10]
Topham also asserted that the Society of Cadies contributed to law enforcement by acting as the eyes and ears of the Town Guard.
"The moment a stranger comes into Edinburgh, they know it: how long he is to stay; whither he is going; where he comes from, and what he is. In regard to the Police, this may be a convenience, otherwise it would be a great nuisance. (...) These are the people who are the great means of preserving the public peace, and of preventing all those crimes which are generally perpetrated under a Police which is ill-observed. It is the certainty of punishment which prevents guilt: for when a man is sure of being discovered, he dreads the commission of the smallest offences. ... Nothing can reflect more honour on this City, than the safety in which every man finds himself and his property". [11]
For visitors to the city without their own manservants caddies could be hired to guide them safely by torchlight through the warren of closes in the Old Town at night. Captain Edmund Burt, an English soldier visiting Edinburgh in the 1750s, relates how he was assisted to his lodgings at ten o'clock at night, just as the beat of the city drum signalled the time for residents to empty their chamber-pots from their windows with the cry of "Gardyloo!" (said to derive from the French gardez [vous de] l'eau!). [12]
"Being in my retreat to pass through a long narrow wynde or alley, to go to my new lodgings, a guide was assigned to me, who went before me to prevent my disgrace, crying out all the way, with a loud voice, "Hud your haunds". The throwing up of a sash, or otherwise opening a window, made me tremble, while behind and before me, at some little distance, fell the terrible shower." [13]
When Robert Chambers described caddies in 1824, he used the past tense, implying that the occupation no longer existed. He called them "street messengers" and characterised them as "a ragged, half-blackguard-looking set", but "allowed to be amazingly acute and intelligent, and also faithful to any duty entrusted to them. A stranger coming to reside temporarily in Edinburgh got a caddy attached to his service to conduct him from one part of the town to another, to run errands for him; in short, to be wholly at his bidding." [14]
The term "water-caddie" was used for a hired water-carrier, as recorded by Henry Cockburn in his personal memoir of life in Edinburgh written between 1821 and 1830. Cockburn describes the almost overnight disappearance of this particular occupation as occurring around 1820 as a result of water being newly piped to houses instead of being drawn from communal street-wells. [15]
The term "caddie" has been used to refer to a golfer's assistant since around 1850. [4]
Áed mac Cináeda was a son of Cináed mac Ailpín. He became king of the Picts in 877, when he succeeded his brother Constantín mac Cináeda. He was nicknamed Áed of the White Flowers, the wing-footed or the white-foot.
Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun was a Scottish writer and politician, remembered as an advocate for the non-incorporation of Scotland, and an opponent of the 1707 Act of Union between Scotland and England. Fletcher became an exile in 1683 after being accused of promoting insurrection. He was appointed the cavalry commander of the Monmouth Rebellion, but shortly after landing in England, he killed another leading figure. He again went into exile, this time as a fugitive and with his estates forfeit. He returned with William of Orange, becoming Commissioner of the old Parliament of Scotland.
The Bishop of Aberdeen was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Aberdeen, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th-century cleric named Nechtan. It appears that the episcopal seat had previously been at Mortlach (Mòrthlach), but was moved to Aberdeen during the reign of King David I of Scotland. The names of three bishops of Mortlach are known, the latter two of whom, "Donercius" and "Cormauch" (Cormac), by name only. The Bishop of Aberdeen broke communion with the Roman Catholic Church after the Scottish Reformation. Following the Revolution of 1688, the office was abolished in the Church of Scotland, but continued in the Scottish Episcopal Church. A Roman Catholic Diocese of Aberdeen was recreated in 1878.
Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington and Thirlstane was a Senator of the College of Justice, an Ordinary Lord of Session from 1561 until 1584, and notable Scottish poet. He was served heir to his father, Sir William Maitland of Lethington, East Lothian, and Thirlestane, Berwickshire, on 15 October 1515, his father being one of the casualties at the Battle of Flodden. He held the political office of Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland and was also the Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland, from 1563 to 1567, and was succeeded in this post by his son Sir John Maitland, 1st Lord Maitland of Thirlestane.
Thomas Maitland, Lord Dundrennan was a Scottish lawyer and judge. He was Solicitor General for Scotland between 1840 and 1841 and again between 1846 and 1850. He was also Member of Parliament for Kirkcudbrightshire between 1845 and 1850. In 1850 he was raised to become one of the Lords of Session and the Justiciary, as Lord Dundrennan.
Clement was a 13th-century Dominican friar who was the first member of the Dominican Order in Britain and Ireland to become a bishop. In 1233, he was selected to lead the ailing diocese of Dunblane in Scotland, and faced a struggle to bring the bishopric of Dunblane to financial viability. This involved many negotiations with the powerful religious institutions and secular authorities which had acquired control of the revenue that would normally have been the entitlement of Clement's bishopric. The negotiations proved difficult, forcing Clement to visit the papal court in Rome. While not achieving all of his aims, Clement succeeded in saving the bishopric from relocation to Inchaffray Abbey. He also regained enough revenue to begin work on the new Dunblane Cathedral.
John Maitland, 1st Lord Maitland of Thirlestane, of Lethington, Knight (1581), was Lord Chancellor of Scotland.
Roger de Balnebrich [de Balnebrech, de Balnebriech, de Ballinbreth] was a 14th-century Scottish churchman. Roger received a university education, being styled Magister ("Master") by August 1313, though it is not known where he took his degree; the degree, however, was almost certainly done in canon law. His name derives either from Ballinbreich in Fife or Balnabriech, in Brechin, Angus.
William de Cambuslang was a 14th-century Scottish churchman, presumably coming from a family based at or originating from Cambuslang near Glasgow.
Jonathan was a churchman and prelate active in late twelfth- and early thirteenth century Strathearn, in the Kingdom of Scotland. He was the Bishop of Dunblane during the time of Gille Brigte of Strathearn, and it was during Jonathan's episcopate that Gille Brigte founded an Augustinian priory at Inchaffray.
James Chisholm, Bishop of Dunblane, was the eldest son of Edmund Chisholm, the first Chisholm to own the estate of Cromlix in Dunblane parish, Strathearn, having moved from the Scottish Borders. In his early years as a clergyman, he was a chaplain to King James III of Scotland; the king apparently sent him to Rome for some time.
Walter de Coventre was a 14th-century Scottish ecclesiastic. There is no direct evidence of his birthdate, his family, or his family's origin, although he may have come from the region around Abernethy, where a family with the name de Coventre is known to have lived. Walter appeared in the records for the first time in the 1330s, as a student at the University of Paris. From there he went on to the University of Orléans, initially as a student before becoming a lecturer there. He studied the arts, civil law and canon law, and was awarded many university degrees, including two doctorates. His studies were paid for, at least partially, by his benefices in Scotland. Despite holding perhaps more than five benefices at one stage, he did not return to Scotland until the late 1350s.
William Greenfield FRSE was a Scottish minister, professor of rhetoric and belles lettres, literary critic, reviewer, and author whose clerical career ended in scandal, resulting in him being excommunicated from the Church of Scotland, having his university degrees withdrawn, and his family assuming his wife's patronymic Rutherfurd.
While the area around modern-day Edinburgh has been inhabited for thousands of years, the history of Edinburgh as a definite settlement can be traced to the early Middle Ages when a hillfort was established in the area, most likely on the Castle Rock. From the seventh to the tenth centuries it was part of the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria, becoming thereafter a royal residence of the Scottish kings. The town that developed next to the stronghold was established by royal charter in the early 12th century, and by the middle of the 14th century was being described as the capital of Scotland. The area known as the New Town was added from the second half of the 18th century onwards. Edinburgh was Scotland's largest city until Glasgow outgrew it in the first two decades of the 19th century. Following Scottish devolution in the very late 20th century, Scotland's Parliament was re-established in Edinburgh.
John Craig was a Reformer, and colleague of John Knox. Originally a Dominican, he became a Church of Scotland minister with significant extra responsibilities and played an influential part in the Scottish Reformation.
Sir Richard Cockburn of Clerkington, Lord Clerkintoun (1565–1627) was a senior government official in Scotland serving as Lord Privy Seal of Scotland during the reign of James VI.
James Gillespie (1726–1797) was a Scottish snuff and tobacco merchant in Edinburgh in the 18th century. He never married, and upon his death left a fortune with the request that a hospital and school for the poor should be built, now known as James Gillespie's High School. Gillespie Crescent and Gillespie Street are named after him.
John Arnot of Birswick (Orkney) (1530–1616) was a 16th-century Scottish merchant and landowner who served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1587 to 1591 and from 1608 to death. He was Deputy Treasurer to King James VI.
Queen Elizabeth I of England paid a subsidy to King James VI of Scotland from 1586 to 1602. This enabled her to influence James by delaying or deferring payments to his diplomats in London. Records survive of the yearly amounts, and details of the expenditure in some years. A large proportion of the money was spent on the royal wardrobe of James and Anne of Denmark. Some royal expenses were met by Anne of Denmark's dowry, which was known as the "tocher". The regular incomes of the Scottish crown were feudal rents, customs, and "compositions" charged on grants of land. Accounts for royal incomes and payments survive as the exchequer rolls and lord treasurer's accounts and have been published as historical sources.
A caddie is a person who carries a golfer's equipment and provides them with other assistance.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)