Identity area
Reference code
MS 135
Title
Papers relating to the Witch of Monzie
Date(s)
- c 1840 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
2 documents
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Kate McNiven (also known as McNieven / Nicniven / Niven), the Witch of Monzie, was nurse to the Graeme family of Inchbrakie, Perthshire. In c. 1715 she was burned at the stake, one of the last women to be executed as a witch in Scotland. Rev George Blair studied at St Andrews. He became pastor of Monzie parish, Perthshire in 1843, but was suspended from the office of holy ministry and resigned the following year. His volume of poetry and prose The Holocaust; or the Witch of Monzie: a poem illustrative of the cruelties of superstition; Lays of Palestine and other poems, to which is prefixed Enchantment Disenchanted; or a treatise on Superstition was published in 1845. He briefly worked as a journalist in Glasgow before travelling abroad and by 1877 was Inspector of Schools in Canada. In the same year, with the backing of influential friends in Canada, he was able to have his sentence of suspension removed by the Presbytery of Auchterarder.
Repository
Archival history
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Colonel Graham of Inchbrakie's Account of the Witch of Monzie", continued and signed by Grace Grame [Graeme?]; memorandum regarding the Witch of Monzie and the Graeme family, possibly by Grace Grame [1840s]
Accruals
Not expected
System of arrangement
Usually chronological within series.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open for consultation subject to preservation requirements. Access must also conform to the restrictions of the Data Protection Act (2018), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, 2018) and any other relevant legislation or restrictions. Clinical information is closed for 100 years.
Conditions governing reproduction
Reproduction is available subject to preservation requirements. Charges may be made for this service, and copyright and other restrictions may apply; please check with the Duty Archivist.
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
The records are on paper
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Previous
MS 15/31
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
MS 135
Rules and/or conventions used
Description compiled in line with the following standards: International Council on Archives, ISAD(G) General International Standard Archival Description; International Council on Archives, ISAAR(CPF): International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families; National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997
Status
Catalogued
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English