It depicts Lochaber’s wild mountainous scenery and was selected for the gallery because of the artist’s special relationship with the West Highland Museum. It was painted by Sir David Young Cameron (1865 – 1945) one of the foremost painters and printers of his day. Cameron had close links with the West Highlands and our museum. He was one of our earliest museum members and in 1928 printed proofs from the Strange Plate, an 18th century copper printing plate to raise funds for the museum. “October in Knoydart” hangs in our Jacobite gallery next to the printing plate and one of Cameron’s 1928 prints. It will tell the story not only of Cameron’s connection with the museum, but also the story of the aftermath of the 1745 Rising when Prince Charles Edward Stuart was on the run in the Highlands hiding in this landscape from the Hanoverian army. This painting was acquired with the assistance of Art Fund and National Fund for Acquisitions in 2020. It was purchased in memory of former Trustee John Gooch (1929 – 2019).]]> In the early 18th century medical schools in Scotland started to use dissection methods to teach the medical sciences. They general used executed criminals, but found demand out stripped supply. This gave rise to a trade in body snatching, stealing bodies from fresh graves and selling them to anatomists.
The practice shocked society, but no effective deterrent was found until around 1816 when the iron coffin guard was invented. It was placed around and over the coffin. This one is missing its lid. It would protect the body until it had decayed suitably to make body snatching undesirable to the thieves.
These were expensive to make, so only the rich could afford them. Sometimes churches would buy them and hire them out. This guard was from the old Glen Nevis cemetery in Fort William. It is one of the museum’s most sinister objects.]]> The first pair are percussion pistols with octagonal barrels, a ramrod, and a belt hook, and were made by gunsmith W. Powell. They date from the 1830s or early 1840s. There is a pistol and a spare. They would probably have been sold together in a presentation box, usually with gunpowder and a bullet making kit.
The second pair are percussion mechanism pistols made by Hewson of London, a fairly big gun manufacturer of the era. These pistols have been dated to the first decade of the 19th century. They are a last defence weapon and a person would conceal the weapon on their person and use it to either end their own life, or the life of their attacker.]]>