now that Gaelic and Scots have been recognized as official languages in Scotland, I figured it was about time to make a masterpost of the characters in the Terror whose Scottish heritage was erased:
- Lieutenant John Irving, born on Princes Street in Edinburgh, where he also went to school before attending the Royal Naval College in England. He was also Presbyterian, which is the Church of Scotland and still exists today and is quite progressive
(so this is my polite request to stop making him ambiguously religiously traumatized in modern AUs, either commit to making him Anglican or Catholic or something else inaccurate in order to preserve his conservative fanaticism, or keep him Presbyterian and actually portray it correctly! Please! I am Presbyterian, I am happy to be a resource!)
- Harry D. S. Goodsir, born in Anstruther, Fife. Studied medicine in Edinburgh and became a member of the Royal Medical Society. Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. His brother, Robert Goodsir, also accompanied Captain William Penny on at least one of his search expeditions.
- John Smart Peddie, born near Edinburgh, probably in the West Lothian area. Also attended the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh.
- Sir John Ross, born in Balsarroch, West Galloway. His family home was on the shore of Loch Ryan. Fun fact, it’s difficult to tell what information about his personality is factual or not when reading second-hand accounts about him because of the simple fact that he was a Scot. However, he joined the Navy at age nine, so I let the accent in the show slide.
Another interesting tidbit about Sir John Ross: he referred to Inuit people as ‘Arctic Highlanders’, which is perhaps the least offensive term I’ve encountered from an Arctic expedition narrative.
And some additional Scottish characters who were not erased but I think it’s important to acknowledge them here too:
- Sir James Clark Ross, born in London, England, but Scottish by blood/Clan relation. Fun fact, I am also part of Clan Ross, though it’s unlikely that I’m actually related to him. If you’ve ever seen me say that I’m related to him, however, that’s just because it’s a) funnier for joke purposes and b) easier than explaining to non-Scots how the clans work sometimes
- Alexander MacDonald, born in Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire. Also attended the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh. Spent his summers serving as ship’s surgeon for Captain William Penny on his whaling ship. Two fun facts here: the Inuk man mentioned in the show but never named was Eenoolooapik, and also due to the way that names were shorthanded at the time, it’s unclear whether his name was McDonald or MacDonald. I choose to spell his name in the show as McDonald because that’s how the show gives it to us, but in real life, in all likelihood it was actually MacDonald, because ‘Mac’ is generally more Scottish while ‘Mc’ is more Irish. However, these spellings have been interchanged so much over the years that you’ll find even Clan MacDonald isn’t particularly picky. It fully does not matter.
- John Rae, born in Orkney. Member of Clan MacRae and worked as a representative for the Hudson Bay Company on the Orkney Islands. Guess what, he also attended the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. The Scottish translator from the opening scene of the show is most likely a reference to him, though he’s also mentioned by name later on as he joined JCR in searching for the FE.
- Captain William Penny, born in Peterhead. Okay, he’s only mentioned once in the show, but look, we really should talk about this guy more because he was the first person to go after the FE and would have found them, too, if not for the ice getting in the way. He launched at least three search expeditions (off the top of my head) and was sponsored heavily by Lady Jane Franklin. I will maintain for the rest of my life that if he had been given just one more expedition he would have found the FE because he was literally just so close every single time, but eventually the Admiralty refused to continue approving him because he was a Scottish whaler and not a Navy man. (Please talk to me about Captain Penny.)
And one more important note: it is VERY UNLIKELY that any of these men would have spoken Gaidhlig or Scots. We’re not talking about Irish people here, but for the record, Captain Crozier wouldn’t have spoken Irish either. Those languages were severely endangered at the time and especially with these men joining the Navy/starting their careers so young, any cursory knowledge that might have existed would have been stamped out in that environment. So, please don’t try to overcompensate or make them more Scottish in your fics by having them speak Gaidhlig. That’s honestly more painful.
Thanks for reading my very long post, and please keep in mind before you jump on me for an incorrect detail that this is very simplified and if I explained every single nuance about Scots at the time we would be here all day. Now, go forth and write more Scottish men!!!
