Page:EB1911 - Volume 08.djvu/703

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DUNDERLANDSDAL—DUNDONALD, EARL OF
  

(the latter drawn from the loch of Lintrathen, 18 m. to the N.W.) and the electric tramcars.

History.—There appears to be some doubt as to the origin of the name of Dundee. It is extravagant to trace it to the Latin Donum Dei, “the gift of God,” as some have done, or the Celtic Dun Dhia, “the hill of God.” More probably it is the Gaelic Dun Taw, “the fort of the Tay,” of which the Latin Taodunum is a transliteration—the derivation pointing to the fact of a Pictish settlement on the site. The earliest authentic mention of the city is in a deed of gift by David, earl of Huntingdon, younger brother of William the Lion, dated about 1200, in which it is designated as “Dunde.” Shortly afterwards it was erected into a royal burgh by William the Lion. When Edward I. visited it, however, as he did twice (in 1296 and 1303) with hostile intent, he is said to have removed its charter. Consequently Robert Bruce and successive kings confirmed its privileges and rights, and Charles I. finally granted it its great charter. Dundee played a prominent part in the War of Scottish Independence. Here Wallace finished his education, and here he slew young Selby, son of the English constable, in 1291, for which deed he was outlawed. In that year the town fell into the hands of the English, and it was whilst engaged in besieging the castle in 1297 that Wallace withdrew to fight the battle of Stirling Bridge. In their incursion into Scotland under John of Gaunt the English captured and partially destroyed the town in 1385, but retreated to meet a counter-invasion of their own country. The English seized it again for a brief space during one of the 1st earl of Hertford’s devastating raids in the reign of Edward VI. Dundee bore such a prominent part in propagating the Reformed doctrines that it was styled “the Scottish Geneva.” It saw more trouble at the time of the Civil War, for the marquess of Montrose sacked it in 1645, and then gave a considerable portion of it to the flames. Charles II. spent a few days in the castle after his crowning at Scone (January 1st, 1651). In the same year General Monk demanded the submission of the town to Cromwell, and on its refusal captured it after an obstinate resistance and visited it with condign punishment. More than one-sixth of the inhabitants and garrison, including its governor Lumsden, were put to the sword, and no fewer than 60 vessels were seized and filled with plunder; but the ships, says Gumble in his Life of Monk, “were cast away within sight of the town and that great wealth perished.” In 1684 John Graham of Claverhouse—whose family derived its name from the lands of Claverhouse in the parish of Mains immediately to the north of the town—became constable, and in 1688 provost. In the same year James II. created him Viscount Dundee. Thenceforward the annals of the town cease to touch national history, save at very rare intervals. The greatest local disaster of modern times was the destruction of the first Tay bridge (see Tay).

Many interesting old documents have been preserved in the Town House, such as certain characteristic despatches from Edward I. and Edward II., the original charter of Robert Bruce, dated 1327, a papal order from Leo X., and a letter from Queen Mary, dated 1564, providing for extra-mural interments. It may be mentioned that to describe Claverhouse himself as “bonnie Dundee” is a modern invention, the old song from which Sir Walter Scott borrowed a hint for his refrain referring solely to the town.

Since the middle and particularly during the last quarter of the 19th century many of the more unsightly districts have been demolished. In the process several picturesque but insanitary buildings, narrow winding streets and unsavoury closes disappeared, along with a few structures of more or less historic interest, like the castle, the mint and numerous convents. The wholesale clearances, however, improved both the public health and the appearance of the city, some of the new thoroughfares vieing with the finest business streets of the largest commercial centres in the United Kingdom. Queen Victoria granted a charter to Dundee, dated the 25th of January 1889, erecting it to the status of a city, and since 1892 its chief magistrate has been styled lord provost.

Among men more or less eminent who were born in Dundee may be named Hector Boece (1465–1536), the historian; George Dempster of Dunnichen (1732–1818), the agriculturist, a former owner of Skibo; Thomas Dick (1774–1857), the author of The Christian Philosopher; Admiral Lord Duncan (1731–1804); Viscount Dundee (1643–1689); James Halyburton (1518–1589), the Scottish Reformer, who was provost of the town for thirty-three years; Sir James Ivory (1765–1842), the mathematician, who bequeathed his science library to the town, and his nephew Lord Ivory (1792–1866), the judge; Sir George Mackenzie (1636–1691), the celebrated lawyer; Sir Alexander Scrymgeour (d. 1310), Wallace’s standard-bearer, and many of the Scrymgeours, his successors, who were constables of the town; James (1495–1553), John (1500–1556) and Robert Wedderburn (1510–1557), the poets, who were all concerned in the authorship or collection of the book of Gude and Godlie Ballatis published in 1578; Sir John Wedderburn (1599–1679), the physician; and Sir Peter Wedderburn (1616–1679), the judge. Many well-known persons lived for longer or shorter periods in the town. James Chalmers (1782–1853), the inventor of the adhesive postage stamp (1834), was a bookseller in Castle Street. George Constable of Wallace Craigie, the prototype of Jonathan Oldbuck in Sir Walter Scott’s Antiquary, had a residence in the east end of Seagate, the house standing until about 1820. Thomas Hood’s father was a native and the poet spent part of his youth in the town, his first literary effort appearing in the Dundee Advertiser about 1816. James Bowman Lindsay (1799–1862), electrician and philologist, carried on his experiments for many years in Dundee, where he died. Robert Nicoll (1814–1837), the poet, kept a circulating library in Castle Street; and William Thom (1798–1848), the writer of The Rhymes of a Handloom Weaver, was buried in the Western Cemetery.

Suburbs.—Close to the municipal boundaries on the N.W. lies Benvie, where John Playfair (1748–1819), the mathematician, was born, and which has a mineral well that once enjoyed considerable repute. Camperdown House, the seat of the earl of Camperdown, a fine building of Greek design, standing in beautiful grounds, is situated in the parish. Fowlis, 5 m. N.W., is remarkable for its church, which dates from the 15th century, but has even been assigned to the 12th. It contains a carved ambry and rood-screen (with a curious representation of the Crucifixion), decorated font, crocketed door canopy and several pictures. The ruined castle adjoining the church ultimately became a dwelling for labourers. The Dell of Balruddery is rich in geological and botanical specimens. Lundie, 3 m. farther out in the same direction, contains several lakelets, and its kirkyard is the burial-place of the earls of Camperdown. Tealing, 4 m. N. of Dundee, was the scene of the ministry of John Glas before he was deposed for heresy.

Authorities.—David Barrie, The City of Dundee Illustrated (Dundee, 1890); Alexander Maxwell, Old Dundee (Dundee, 1891); A. C. Lamb, Dundee: its Quaint and Historic Buildings (Dundee, 1895); A. H. Millar, Roll of Eminent Burgesses of Dundee (Dundee, 1887).


DUNDERLANDSDAL, a valley of northern Norway, in Nordland amt (county), draining south-westward from the neighbouring glaciers to the Ranenfjord (lat. 66° 20′ N.). There are deposits of iron ore, the working of which was undertaken in 1902 by the Dunderland Iron Ore Company, water-power being provided by the strong Dunderland river. There are also pyrites mines. At the mouth of the river is Mo, a considerable trading village. The valley is remarkable for several stalactite caverns in the limestone, some of the tributary streams flowing for considerable distances underground. From Mo a fine road crosses the mountains to the head-lake of the great Ume river, draining to the Baltic, and from the head of Dunderlandsdal a sequestered bridle-path runs to Saltdal on the Skjerstadfjord, with a branch through the magnificent Junkersdal.


DUNDONALD, THOMAS COCHRANE, 10th Earl of (1775–1860), British admiral, was born at Annsfield in Lanarkshire on the 14th of December 1775. He came of an old Scottish family, the first earl having been Sir William Cochrane (d. 1686), a soldier who was created Baron Cochrane in 1647 and earl of