I have never heard of this - is there a way anyone can just give the rest of us Listers a brief idea of what this was about?? Twenty words or less?! :-) Lisa {> on 10/25/05 12:43 PM <} James Irvine wrote -- Paul Sutherland wrote an excellent 38 page Dissertation on the 1847 Muckle Supper in 1985: "The Laird, the Factor and the Elders". It was not published, but the Orkney Room has a copy (Y941.08) and I'm sure would do you a copy at 15p/sheet, plus £5 p&p (maybe more for overseas). ----- Original Message ----- From: "Malcolm" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 3:52 AM Subject: Muckle Harvest Affair > Hi listers, > I am hoping somebody may be able to help with info on the Muckle Harvest > affair of 1847. Some of our family members where involved in this and in a > few cases proved to be the reason why some family members came to South > Australia.

Lisa, The Muckle Supper. When Balfour Castle was being built David Balfour and his wife decided to visit Italy to obtain works of art fit to adorn their stately home. Before leaving they entertained their tenants and servants at a Harvest Home Dance, a traditional gesture of social harmony which had unforseen citcumstances. The elders of the Secession Kirk, intoxicated by the religious revival, disturbed by the transfiguration of their island, believing the outbreak of potato blight to be a sign of divine displeasure, felt that they must discipline the members of their congregation who had danced at the Laird's Muckle Supper. Possibly the elders were emboldened by the absence of David Balfour or relied on his known benevolence: if so they reckoned without his very determined advisers, Calder believing it necessary for his own sake to crush any potential opposition, treated the condemnation as an insult to the Laird and insisted that the elders must apologise if they wanted their leases renewed. Despite the intervention of the Rev Robert Paterson of Kirkwall; the greatest preacher and champion of the Sececssion Church in Orkney, David Balfour followed the advice of his factor and his solicitor with the result that four unrepentant elders had to leave Shapinsay. The four who left the island were Peter Peace, his son William Balfour Peace, William Skethaway and William Work. The triumph made David Balfour master in his own island, laird of everything and everybody that he surveyed from his dominating castle. He continued for the next 40 years to play the part of the caring laird. Thanks to David Balfour Shapinsay today has very straight roads and green fields. It is a low lying green island with fertile soil and breeds some of the best cattle in the country. There are many websites on Balfour Castle and on Shapinsay. The Shapinsay Harvest Home is still held every year and we usually go over to Shapinsay to attend it as I was born on Shapinsay. This year it will be held on the 4th November. However, we will not be able to attend it as the date was changed at short notice. George Gray, Orkney ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lisa Conrad" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 10:07 PM Subject: Re: [Orkney] Re: Muckle Harvest Affair I have never heard of this - is there a way anyone can just give the rest of us Listers a brief idea of what this was about?? Twenty words or less?! :-) Lisa {> on 10/25/05 12:43 PM <} James Irvine wrote -- Paul Sutherland wrote an excellent 38 page Dissertation on the 1847 Muckle Supper in 1985: "The Laird, the Factor and the Elders". It was not published, but the Orkney Room has a copy (Y941.08) and I'm sure would do you a copy at 15p/sheet, plus £5 p&p (maybe more for overseas). ----- Original Message ----- From: "Malcolm" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 3:52 AM Subject: Muckle Harvest Affair > Hi listers, > I am hoping somebody may be able to help with info on the Muckle Harvest > affair of 1847. Some of our family members where involved in this and in a > few cases proved to be the reason why some family members came to South > Australia. ==== ORKNEY Mailing List ==== >>>>TIP: To search the archives of this list go to >>>>http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=ORKNEY on >>>>the next page enter your search word(s) and select the year click the >>>>submit query button<<<< ============================== New! Family Tree Maker 2005. Build your tree and search for your ancestors at the same time. Share your tree with family and friends. Learn more: http://landing.ancestry.com/familytreemaker/2005/tour.aspx?sourceid=14599&targetid=5429

I suppose I have walked into this. WPL Thomson in his History of Orkney (1987 p234) answers your query in 23 words: "Balfour's eviction of Seccession Church elders who had the audacity to croticise the "promiscuous dancing" permitted at the laird's 'muckle supper' or harvest-home." But this only addresses one aspect of the affair. A slightly longer precis of Sutherland's paper could be: In 1846 David Balfour, the new paternalistic laird of Shapinsay, gave his tenants a harvest-home dance, but the elders of the island's Secession Kirk subsequently admonished 4 men and 5 women who had danced with members of the opposite sex, ostensibly because this 'sin' had led to divine providence causing the blight of the potato crop, but probably provoked by the elders' apprehension of the laird's growing influence over members of their congregation. The laird's ambitious factor, Marcus Calder, interpreted the elders' action as an insult to his employer, who had subsequently gone overseas, and persuaded the laird to have notices of eviction served to the nine elders. Of these, five eventually apologised to the laird but four were evicted and left the island in 1847, of whom one, William Skethaway, migrated to Adelaide. However I suggest this website is not an appropriate forum to discuss the many issues arising from this very complex affair! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lisa Conrad" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 10:07 PM Subject: Re: [Orkney] Re: Muckle Harvest Affair I have never heard of this - is there a way anyone can just give the rest of us Listers a brief idea of what this was about?? Twenty words or less?! :-) Lisa {> on 10/25/05 12:43 PM <} James Irvine wrote -- Paul Sutherland wrote an excellent 38 page Dissertation on the 1847 Muckle Supper in 1985: "The Laird, the Factor and the Elders". It was not published, but the Orkney Room has a copy (Y941.08) and I'm sure would do you a copy at 15p/sheet, plus £5 p&p (maybe more for overseas). ----- Original Message ----- From: "Malcolm" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 3:52 AM Subject: Muckle Harvest Affair > Hi listers, > I am hoping somebody may be able to help with info on the Muckle Harvest > affair of 1847. Some of our family members where involved in this and in a > few cases proved to be the reason why some family members came to South > Australia. ______________________________