The East Lothian Bank Robber
This month at the archives it has been all
about William Borthwick - East Lothian’s infamous bank robber! The ‘East
Lothian Banking Company’ was founded in 1810 and became an important part of
the community, promoting trade, agriculture and industry. It grew to have
branches in Dunbar, Selkirk and Haddington. Unfortunately the bank ran into
difficulties in 1822 when the cashier of the bank William Borthwick disappeared
with the company funds. This left the bank with serious debts and it was forced
to close later that year. As for William Borthwick, he disappeared to America.
Although he was caught eventually, he never stood trial for his crime and we do
not know any more about what happened to him.
The archive is a treasure trove of evidence
about the story. I have discussed before the ‘East Lothian Bank Note’ held by
the archive, a beautiful piece, gigantic in comparison to today’s currency. It
is held with fondness by most of the archivists due to the misspelling of
Lothian in the note’s border design, something that most definitely would not
be allowed to occur by the Bank of England today! There are also account books,
bank slips for deposits made at the bank, and boxes full of letters to William
Borthwick from concerned clients worried about their investment.
Last Saturday we invited families into the
Library to retell the story of William Borthwick in the form of a giant booky
sculpture. Using reproductions of the letters, bank notes, maps of Haddington
gathered by Archivist Lindsey, children collaged and painted illustrations of
the Dunbar Bank, William Borthwick escaping by horse and cart, and being chased
some very angry townsfolk. Local history officers Craig and Bill even dug out
images of the original bank building to make our large-scale illustrations as
accurate as possible. This was a great way to tell visitors an exciting story
straight out of the archives and all ages got involved from toddlers to
teenagers and even some enthusiastic adults. Thanks to all that came along and
got stuck in!
As the end of ‘The Illustrated Archive’
fast approaches I have moved away from research and busied myself in the studio
producing work inspired by my discoveries. Attention about the project has also
been growing in the Archives community, with an extensive article in
‘Broadsheet’, the e-magazine of The Scottish Archives, and several blog posts
following on from this. This exciting initiative will hopefully give more
Archives ideas in how to open up the material and pull out stories rooted in
history.
Reflecting on the time spent at the John
Gray Centre, and the work produced I am really excited to have discovered lots
about myself. The quickly produced cartoons reveal a new kind of humour in my
illustrations, and build up an extensive picture of a strong group of
characters. I knew that the objects, colours and textures of archive materials
would inspire me, but the potential for history to feed narratives has amazed
me and I go away with lots of ideas for more projects! Although my days at the
John Gray Centre draw to an end I will be continuing to develop artworks in my
studio into January and look forward to presenting the results soon.
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