Tracing the work of Beryl Turner, an Australian family historian whose early website explored Turner and Douglas connections, possibly tied to Cambridge. Her pages have vanished from the web, but her research helped many of us. If you have copies, citations, or memories of her work, please get in touch so we can…

From this contribution via Facebook, and using existing material in the Douglas Archives. I share the following generated by AI

Berwick Castle stands at the edge of two kingdoms, but in the memory of the House of Douglas it occupies a place far more intimate: a frontier where the family’s fortunes rose, faltered, and were remade across three generations. Few strongholds shaped the Douglas story more profoundly.

When the first Douglases emerged as minor lords in…

Researching the family of Walter Douglas who married Margaret Marshall led me to look ar shepherds who migrated to Sutherland

The movement of families like the Marshalls, Elliots, and Douglases from the Borders and Northumberland into Sutherland did not happen in isolation. It unfolded during one of the…

THE ENIGMA OF WILLIAM DOUGLAS OF BLAIR COTTAGE: A TELEGRAPHER, A BIBLIOPHILE, AND HIS REMARKABLE BOOKPLATE

This entry was updated on 31^st May 2026

Among the many curiosities preserved in the Crouch Collection at the Society of Antiquaries of London few are as striking - or as…

The death has been announced of John Anthony “Jack” Douglas, Bronx‑born producer whose instinctive, live‑room style shaped the sound of Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, and John Lennon’s final sessions.

A Record Plant alumnus and one of the defining American studio figures of the 1970s, he…

Bootstrap is a popular CSS Framework for developing responsive and mobile-first websites.  I have been using elements of Bootstrap CSS for many years to add functionality to the Douglas Archives.

Recently, I was advised that I was using an image that was subject to copyright.  I tracked it down to one used by Bootstrap in one of its…

The clash between the MacDougalls of Argyll and the Black Douglases in the 14th century sits right at the heart of Scotland’s Wars of Independence: a collision of loyalties, geography, and personal vendettas that shaped the political map of the west and the Borders.

The MacDougalls backed the Comyn–Balliol faction and the English Crown, while the Black Douglases were the fiercest allies of Robert the Bruce. That alignment made confrontation almost inevitable.

- Clan MacDougall…

A NOTE

FROM

YOUR EDITOR

We have a slightly smaller newsletter this quarter as our 16 pages were causing some concern in the Post Office. “Too fat”, we were told — not to be out‑done, our treasurer and band of willing helpers ironed all the newsletters flatter and they passed through the P.O. slot at the right price. We are hoping to come up with some ideas to solve this dilemma as I really have enough Douglas and Sept information to fill the 16…

The old family of the Inglises of Manner or Mannerhead traced their descent from Sir William Inglis, a knight of great courage in the reigns of Robert II. And Robert III., who, in 1395, distinguished himself at Ruel-haugh on the borders, when Sir Thomas Struthers, and English champion, had vauntingly defied any Scotsman to meet him in single combat. Sir William…

Many families along the Anglo‑Scottish Border carry stories of hidden ancestry — noble fathers, concealed births, and name changes made in times of danger. Among descendants of Richard Angus of Dilston, one particular tradition has endured: that he was born Richard Douglas, the secret son of Archibald…

In the turbulent Scottish Marches, where royal authority often faltered, power lay with the great Border families—none more formidable than the Douglases. Like their Highland counterparts, these lords offered protection in exchange for payment, a practice akin to the Highland “black mail.” In the Borders, this took the form of tribute, fealty, or quiet coin, paid by smaller lairds and tenant farmers to ensure their lands were spared from raids—not just from rival clans, but often…

Across much of Scotland, Robert the Bruce is remembered as the king who restored independence: the ruler crowned in crisis, the victor of Bannockburn, and the statesman who secured the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton. Yet when the story is viewed from the Anglo‑Scottish Marches—from Teviotdale, Liddesdale, and the Merse—a more complicated memory emerges.…

Summary based on the article contributed by L. Leon K. Bishop.



In September 1873, the Bolton Evening News reported a serious gas explosion at the Bradley Fold Colliery, owned by Thomas Fletcher of Little Lever. Two miners — Samuel Pilling and Thomas Martin — suffered severe burns when firedamp ignited unexpectedly, despite the pit having been declared…

For many families with deep eighteenth‑century roots, the Seven Years’ War—and especially the Battle of the Plains of Abraham—has become a magnet for tradition, memory, and sometimes myth. The Douglas family is no exception. Over the years, various accounts have linked one or more Douglases to Wolfe’s famous victory outside Quebec in 1759. Yet when we turn to the surviving records, the picture becomes far more complicated.

This article sets out what we can…