![]() ![]() ![]() In the light of aristocratic ideals, if Billy sinned it was only because he arrived a little late upon the scene. In The Tinkler-Gypsies of Galloway (1908), Andrew McCormick portrays Marshall as a man out of his time: led forth their various gangs to plunder, and alarm the country, he was by far the most honourable of his profession’. Marking his passing, the Annual Register noted that of ‘all the thievish wandering geniuses, who. Will Marshal is buried in Kirkcudbright church, where his monument is still shown, decorated with a scutcheon suitably blazoned with two tups’ horns and two cutty spoons. He subsisted in his extreme old age by a pension from the present Earl of Selkirk’s grandfather. His later life was less eventful, as Scott notes: When this was suppressed by troops, Marshall was taken prisoner, but escaped with the aid of Andrew Gemmil (on whom Scott modelled the character of Edie Ochiltree). Twelve years later he was said to be the ringleader of the RISING in Galloway. In 1712 he made a bid to extend his fiefdom deeper into Ayrshire, but was defeated in a battle at Newton of Ayr by a force of gypsies from Argyll and Dunbartonshire. Marshall himself claimed to have fought for King William at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, and became king of the Galloway gypsies when he stabbed the previous king, Isaac Miller, to death. He had been seventeen times lawfully married and, besides, such a reasonably large share of matrimonial comforts, was, after his hundredth year, the avowed father of four children by less legitimate affections. Willie had been pressed or enlisted in the army seven times, and had deserted as often besides three times running away from the naval service. It cannot be said that this unusually long lease of existence was noted by any peculiar excellence of conduct or habits of life. ![]() He was born in the parish of Kirkmichael about the year 1671 and, as he died at Kirkcudbright 23rd November 1792, he must then have been in the one hundred and twentieth year of his age. Crockett’s The Raiders (1894), and as Dirk Hatteraick in Guy Mannering DIRK In an ‘additional note’ to the latter novel, Scott gives some more details on Billy Marshall (whom he calls Willie Marshal): Marshall may have been associated with the infamous Captain Yawkins – who appears under his own name in S.R. Marshall and his gang preyed upon travellers on remote mountain passes in Galloway (notably the Corse o’ Slakes between Cairnsmore and Cairnhattie), and were also much involved in the local smuggling trade, using the Fell of Barhullion and a cave high on Cairnsmore to conceal the booty. See also BOLT THE ERRAND MAY COME IN THEĬaird o’ Barullion, the The sobriquet of Billy Marshall (?1671–1792), self-proclaimed king of the Galloway gypsies among his many wives was Flora Marshall, an inspiration for the character of Meg MERRILIES in Scott’s Guy A caird is a gypsy or tinker, and Barullion refers to the location of one of his retreats, the Fell of Barhullion between Port William and Whithorn in the Machars of Wigtownshire. Fiddler’s news or piper’s news is equally old hat the reference is to itinerant musicians. In the context of industrial relations, the expression means to work to rule.Ĭadger’s news Stale news, a cadger being an itinerant hawker. – John Galt, Annals of the Parish (1821), chapter xlviii, year 1807 I made it a rule, after giving the blessing at the end of the ceremony, to admonish the bride and bridegroom to ca’ canny, and join trembling with their mirth. – William Anderson, The Piper of Peebles (1794)Ĭa’ canny An adjuration to proceed cautiously. The word derives either, via the AULD ALLIANCE connections (especially James V’s marriage to Mary of Guise), from French ‘cod’ or, via the trade with the Low Countries, Dutch meaning the same (in Orkney dialect kabbilow is ‘codling’).Ĭabby-labby or kebbie-lebbie A kerfuffle, a brouhaha, a noisy disputation. See also FOOTBALL CLUB RHYMINGĬabbages, detailed depictions of See GLASGOWĬabbieclaw A traditional dish of cod in a sauce of egg and horseradish. ![]() Cabbage, the A nickname for Hibernian FC: Cabbage and Ribs is rhyming slang for Hibs. ![]()
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