Gentry Links ... to the Modern Game: The Bigger Picture

Chapter Summaries

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PART 1: CAPTAIN DRIVING OFF (ALSO KNOWN AS MEDAL DAY, 1894) 

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CHAPTER 1. ABOUT THE PAINTING 

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The scene; about the artist; the origin of the painting; identification of the 191 characters; identification of the principal protagonists who were the ‘famous golfers’, the Captains of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. 

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CHAPTER 2. ‘FAMOUS GOLFERS’ IN THE AURORA OF PROFESSIONAL GOLF 

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The postcard is titled ‘Famous Golfers’; the artist included in the painting gentlemen ‘elite’ golfers (in the present-day sense of competitors in The Open and The Amateur Championships), Club Champions and professional players who would become known as ‘professional’ golfers. 

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CHAPTER 3. THE CENTRAL FOCUS: THE RIGHT HONOURABLE ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR MP 

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Who was he? his genealogical links; his wider family; his political life; his golfing connections in Scotland, London and Ireland.

 

PART 2: EXTENDED FAMILIES 

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CHAPTER 4. THE NORTH ATLANTIC WORLD: THE METAPHORICAL FAMILY 

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The transatlantic Anglo-Saxon family: a Victorian concept built on British Imperial foreign policy of extension of families beyond the boundaries of independent nation states, founded on the twin pillars of governorships and Freemasonry, serviced, predominantly, by the Scottish aristocracy whose families were the dynastic Grand Master Masons of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. The significance of Freemasonry in the military throughout the Empire. 

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CHAPTER 5. THE KEYSTONE: TALES OF GLORY 

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Tales from the Big Room: basking in their, and their ancestors’, reflected glory in the military engagements of the Scottish gentry golfers; their association with the evolution of Canada after the American Revolutionary War. 

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PART 3: BENEATH THE CANVAS: GENTLEMANLY SOCIETY 

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CHAPTER 6. ACCEPTABLE GENTLEMANLY ACTIVITIES: THE PROFESSIONS 

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Beneficiaries of the Scottish Enlightenment, evidenced by early winners of the Silver Club, resulting from the strategies of King James IV of Scotland (1473–1513) creating the five Scottish Universities, educating leading professionals in the law, the clergy and medicine. 

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CHAPTER 7. SACKCLOTH AND ... RICHES: SCOTTISH GENTRY CAPITALISTS FROM 1850 

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Repeal of the Navigation Acts in 1850: free trade, and a new era of gentlemanly capitalism; Dundee: the power and influence of jute; investment of profits in America; the age of the Dundee and Edinburgh investment trusts: the new risk frontiers of the Trans-Mississippi West. 

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PART 4: THE COMING OF AGE OF THE MODERN GAME 

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CHAPTER 8. GENTRY LINKS WITH AMERICAN GRANDE DAMES 

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The importance of Pau Golf Club (historically and in 1894): the warm weather golf resort of the gentlemen golfers of St Andrews; the transatlantic meeting place (encompassing Pau and Biarritz) with the ‘aristocracy’ of the New World; the habits and leisure activities of the British aristocracy and their winter retreat the envy of Americans; linkage with Mrs Astor of New York. 

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CHAPTER 9. ENGLAND’S GOLFING GENTRY 

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London’s gentry links with St Andrews; Scotland’s financier gentlemen; resultant links with the origins of the Silver Club of St Andrews; emigrees of Edinburgh’s medical excellence to London; acceptance of English gentry golfers as gentlemen golfers of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. 

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CHAPTER 10. THE RULES MEN 

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The route of the Scottish Clubs to a common Rules of Golf; the challenge from the English Clubs to adopt their own Rules; the gentry golfers charged with reaching a solution: the creation of the Rules of Golf Committee in 1897; the legacy of the governance role of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews today. 

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CHAPTER 11. SCOTTISH GENTRY GOLFERS IN CANADA FROM 1873 

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The rich heritage of the gentry golfers linked with the maturity of the modern game in the nascent Golf Clubs of North America; a new aristocracy and extension of social circles to include industrialists taking leading roles in the arrival of the modern game across the Atlantic. 

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CHAPTER 12. THE NORTH ATLANTIC AMBASSADORS OF THE MODERN GAME 

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Old Tom Morris’ ambassadors linked with St Andrews: Charles Blair Macdonald, Findlay Douglas, and James Forgan. Old Tom Morris’ acclaimed golf-course designers: James Hunter, William Watson, the Fowlis brothers and Donald Ross. Scotland’s leadership in the publication industry. 

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PART 5: ROYAL AND ANCIENT ORIGINS 

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CHAPTER 13. ROYAL AND ANCIENT DESCENT 

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Using ambilineal descent, the extent to which the Scottish gentry golfers were related to each other can be established. Intergenerational relationships between the principal Scottish families can be identified but, perhaps, might not be as expected. These links reach right into the heart of Scottish history, the Bruce dynasty, and could justifiably be regarded as being both royal and ancient. 

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CHAPTER 14. SCOTTISH GENTRY GOLFING FAMILIES 

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Gentry golf: distinct from the overall boom in golf from 1880. The ‘long game’ in Scotland: for 150 years a game of the Scottish gentry (1744–1894); with particular focus on four principal landed gentry families: Bruce (Elgin): including Skene (Moncrieff); Sinclair (St Clair): including Wemyss, Erskine, Wedderburn; Seton: including Anstruther; Bethune of Balfour; Hay (Drummond/Kinnoull); Kinloch; Leslie; Lindsay (Balcarres); Maitland; Ogilvy (Maitland-Heriot & Scrymgeour-Wedderburn); and Murray of Atholl.

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CHAPTER 15. ROYAL AND ANCIENT CAPTAINS IN MEDAL DAY, 1894 

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The origins of the Driving In: the Challenge for the Silver Club; the ‘Noblemen and Gentlemen of Fife’ in 1754; who were the Noblemen? The institution of the captaincy of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews; the significance of the selection of past Captains from 1847 to 1893, and their common genealogy. Identification of Captains appointed after the date of the painting. 

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EPILOGUE: SCOTLAND’S GIFT: A TRILOGY, THE END OF THE BEGINNING 

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The holistic value of the examination of social history stretching over half a century beneath the canvas of three iconic paintings is captured in this three-book series, identifying the gentlemen responsible in bringing the modern game to its maturity. A game that developed to a point that it was embraced around the world: the most important period of golf development in the history of the game?