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Emma Trotter Lyon in Mourning Podcast TTT Season 4

Season 4 Episode 44: Emma Trotter on Lyon in Mourning and the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion

Emma Trotter

“The Lyon in Mourning is a collection of Journals, Narratives, and Memoranda relating to the life of Prince Charles Edward Stuart at and subsequent to the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.The formation of this collection was to a great extent the life-work of the Rev. Robert Forbes, M.A., Bishop of Ross and Caithness.” 

From the Preface, Lyon in Mourning

Welcome to Tea Toast & Trivia.

Thank you for listening in.

I am your host, Rebecca Budd, and I look forward to sharing this moment with you.

Dr. Leith Davis, Professor of English at Simon Fraser University is a co-founder of the Department of English’s Master of Arts program with Specialization in Print Culture. She is the Director of Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Scottish Studies.  Her current project, which she discussed in a previous TTT podcast, is on The Lyon in Mourning, Memoirs of The Rebellion of 1745. It is a collaboration with the National Library of Scotland and SFU’s Digital Humanities Innovation Lab. 

Today, I am joined by Emma Trotter, Dr. Davis’s research assistant, to share her thoughts on the Lyon in Mourning project.  Emma is currently finishing up her Undergraduate BA at Simon Fraser University in English and completing her Certificate in Writing & Rhetoric. Her research interests include 17th-century American and Puritan literature, as well as late 18th-century feminist literary criticism.

I invite you to put the kettle on and add to this exciting dialogue on Tea Toast & Trivia.

Thank you for joining Emma and me on Tea Toast & Trivia.

And a special thank you, Emma, for opening the doors of the past and demonstrating the power of story to influence our lives today.  

I invite you to meet up with Emma and Dr. Leith Davis at the Centre for Scottish Studies at Simon Fraser University. The Centre, located at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby campus, provides a focal point for faculty, students, and all who are interested in exploring Scottish history and culture and the connections between Scotland and Canada in the contemporary global landscape.  It is a place where the past reaches out to our time and reminds us to live boldly, with courage and hope.

Until next time we meet, dear friends, safe travels wherever your adventures lead you.

Emma Trotter on Lyon in Mourning and the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion – Tea. Toast. & Trivia.

By Rebecca Budd

Blogger, Visual Storyteller, Podcaster, Traveler and Life-long Learner

19 replies on “Season 4 Episode 44: Emma Trotter on Lyon in Mourning and the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion”

Really fun and informative episode. Even though I have what is generally considered a Welsch sir name, the DNA analyses from my mother and brother indicate were are mostly of Scottish descent.

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Thank you Tim for your heartwarming and encouraging comments. The Scottish diaspora has a far outreach. Canada has many towns, rivers and mountains named after Scots. Consider the Mackenzie River, Simon Fraser River (and university) I read that Calgary, Alberta is named after a Scottish beach. Nova Scotia province is Latin for New Scotland. Our first Prime Minister Sir John A MacDonald came from Glasgow.
Some say that there is a little bit of Scotland in all of us!!! LOL!

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I really enjoyed this conversation, because it emphasized how real people with real lives are part of history. To gather evidence from the losing side is necessary for gaining insight into the whole story. I would like to view Rev. Forbes documentation on Flora MacDonald, since she is interesting to me, an American. (As the wife of a British officer in the colonies, she supported the crown during our Revolution.) I wonder how much of Rev. Forbes’ evidence is used in modern depictions of her, or do they mostly hold to her courage in helping Prince Charles Edward Stuart escape from Scotland after Culloden. The Prince was the actual King Charles III, not the current pretender LOL! Flora paid a price for supporting the Jacobites, and I wonder if that caused her allegiance to the crown. Anyway…so much food for thought in this episode. Thank you for a providing it.

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I have a book entitled “Her Story – Women from Canada’s Past” by Susanne Merritt, which includes the history of Flora McDonald. It seems that every country wants to have a connection with Flora. I read that she married Allan Macdonald who was a supporter of King George and had fought against Charles Stuart’s army at the Battle of Culloden. They had 7 children, the first named Charles after Bonnie Prince Charlie. Allan inherited a large estate but had financial difficulties which led them to immigrate to North Carolina just in time for the American Revolution. As you noted, Allan and Flora became Royalists, a dangerous position for that time. They were captured and kept in prison by the Patriots until 1777 when they were traded back to the British for Patriot prisoners. In the end, they arrived in Nova Scotia. It is difficult to understand the back and forth loyalties, but that is the way of history. We don’t know the whole story and we view what is known through the lens of our time. Many thanks, Mary Jo, for adding so much to this discussion.

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Rebecca, you know that I enjoy history. When I hear about someone like Emma, who is working to not only preserve history, but to make the wonderful stories about that history easier for people like me to find, I can’t help but smile.

Thanks you for sharing your conversation with us, and thanks to Emma for her passionate approach to her work on this project.

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Terrific discussion, Rebecca and Emma! I particularly liked hearing about how this project was one of the relatively rare instances where the voices of the “losers” were a big part of the history, and that women’s voices were well-represented, too. (I also thought about the early “Outlander” novels and how they dramatically and compellingly chronicled the Jacobite rebellion and its aftermath.)

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This is a very special discussion, very historical for those of us that enjoyed the firsthand accounts by special contributors. The picture of Emma, very lovely really, brings life to her very important part in the story. We are reminded of the huge influence that Scotland and its people have had on the world and on our Canada! Even though I was born in USA, f felt the influence in my youth of Scotland there as well. Actually, Scotland has had a big influence in the whole world. Although I have no connection with Scotland in my blood, my husband had a little and it was evident in his wise choices and personality. I will be following the continued story of this great land, its influence and its people!

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Thank you for adding a personal reflection of our Scottish Connection. As you know, Dad’s mother was a Paxton. We have traced the Paxton family to the Border Reivers who raided along the Anglo-Scottish borders from the late 13th to the beginning of the 17th century. Sir Walter Scott’s poem “The Reiver’s Wedding” refers to this time in history.

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It was good to hear a conversation focused on scholarship. I enjoyed learning more about the historical research process itself, the encoding of the manuscript file in particular. Amazing! So different from what I went to college. I love how technology has made primary sources and history itself accessible to people around the globe. I also appreciated that the Reverend Forbes’s work included women’s voices.

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I have been following this research project for some time, Liz. I share your gratitude that emerging technologies allows knowledge to expand beyond academic walls and become relevant and compelling in social media. I continue to learn.

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