Yetholm History Society is extremely grateful to Lesley Abernethy who has given to the Society three original cartes-de-visite of Queen Esther, as well as an original glass-lantern slide of the Gipsy Palace.
   The three cartes-de-visite are shown above. It is  fascinating to hold these images in one's hand - and to see them in their original size: 2½ inches by 4 inches. Esther was an accomplished self-publicist and had many of these produced to give to visitors to the palace. No doubt she was duly rewarded. If she had been alive today she would no doubt have had her own TicTok, Facebook and Instagram accounts and have delighted in taking hundreds of selfies. She presents herself, usually, in two roles - either as a wandering gipsy, a latter-day 'Meg Merrilees', or as a Royal Gipsy Queen. The two outer examples in the photograph above show her in wandering gipsy mode.
    The central image can be seen in more detail below (left - click on image to see a larger version). We are very fortunate to have been given this image as it seems to be a unique survival. It was taken by the photographer Macintosh of Kelso and is unlabelled. However, it is quite clearly Esther - an identification which is confirmed by the fact that it shows her in the royal robes of the Gipsy Queen, in which she can also be seen in another more familiar self-publicising image - below (right). Note, in addition to the crown, the black band which can be seen on her sleeve in both pictures.
   Esther would, if you were fortunate, display her coronation robes to visitors to the palace. In the image on the right she is shown in her full regal splendour, with the royal sword propped against a nearby table. In the new image she looks slightly more bedraggled and some of her clothes are less impressive - more like, in fact, the kind of thing she wore when posing as a wandering gipsy. Her lower skirt is a more workaday item and note that, in contrast to the image on the right, she is not wearing the mocassins that were sent from America by a nephew, but a pair of sturdy walking boots. It is as if she is presenting herself as a cross between a Gipsy Queen and Meg Merrilees. Or maybe she was just getting old and some of the origal costume had become moth-eaten or lost when she moved to Kelso - ? It seems likely the new image was taken in the late 1870s or early 1880s - Esther died in Kelso in 1883 - see HERE.
    Many thanks - again - to Lesley for donating these items to Yetholm History Society.

On June 13th 1703 the Yetholm  kirk session met and decided on the above 'Act against swine feeding in the kirkyard': 'The session finding that the Kirkyard is frequented by swine and considering how unsuitable and dangerous this is; do unanimouslie onnact that no swine go therein and that the Beddel exact 12 pence for every sow he finds and this to be publickly Intimate'.
   The kirk session no longer has any control over the upkeep of the kirkyard - it is now the responsibility of the Scottish Borders Council, who periodically inspect the area, apply a 'hand-pressure test' to each stone and then tip over any deemed a threat to the health and safety of the public. These efforts aren't universally appreciated, though they also cut the grass and keep things relatively neat and tidy.
   The council's health-and-safety inspections have most impact on the larger and grander gravestones, which are constructed from several pieces of stone and are liable to come apart over time. As already noticed in a previous blog, the gravestone of Andrew Richardson Blythe, a significant benefactor of the church and community, suffered this fate - although it has now been splendidly resurrected - see HERE.
    Other figures from Yetholm's history, who were once prominent members of the community, have also had their monuments tipped over. This has happened to the stones of several church ministers. The photograph below shows the memorial stone of the Rev. John Hastie, minister of the Free Church on Dow Brae, who died in 1863. His monument stood for over 150 years, but has recently been taken down. The photograph on the left was taken in 2018, the one on the right a few weeks ago.

   Reverend Hastie's death took place in 1863 and was reported on in the Kelso Chronicle (10th July 1863), at length and in a style long since abandonned by local newspapers:

   It is interesting that, despite ecclesiastical dispute and division, the ministers of the three presbyterian churches which were (very) active in Yetholm at that time, would join, together with their congregations, for 'Union Prayer Meetings' - 'a beautiful example of brotherly love'.
   The Kelso Chronicle obituary then goes on to remind readers that the early 1860s had seen successive deaths among the clergy of Yetholm. The Rev. Baird of the Established church had died in November 1861 and the Rev. Hume of the United Presbyterian church (which met in what is now the Wauchope Hall) died in December 1861. Then, to the obvious shock of the community, the Rev. Ebenezer Whyte, the young replacement minister to the long-serving Rev. Hume, died within days of the Rev. Hastie. His obituary in the Kelso Chronicle immediately follows that of the Rev. Hastie, shown above.
    The Rev. Walter Hume had served for 44 years as minister of the UP congregation. Latterly, in frail health, he was assisted by the Rev. Whyte, to took charge after the Rev. Hume died. Whyte only served for two years as minister. The two men were commemorated by a joint memorial stone on the wall of their church - shown in the photograph below. This stone was removed when the building became the Wauchope Hall and placed in the garden of the house that had been the UP manse. It now belongs to the History Society and is simply propped against the wall of the old Mission Hall/Heritage Centre. We need to find a more permanent way of displaying the stone, although it is too heavy to put on the wall (and there is no space!):

   However, the grave memorial that is perhaps most shockingly derelict is that of the Rev. John Baird, the minister of the Established church. Baird, more than anyone else, had a profound influence on the built environment of Yetholm. Under his energetic influence a splendid new bridge replaced the rickety wooden footbridge that joined Kirk- to Town Yetholm, a new schoolhouse was built (now the Youth Hostel) and a state-of-the-art church built on the site of the picturesque, but dilapidated, old kirk.
   John Baird came from a relatively privileged clerical background, but his life was not without its tragedies. He married Margaret Oliver (b.1813), daughter of Robert Oliver of Blakelaw, in 1833. They had two daughters, Margaret (1834) and Sarah (1836), but his wife died in September 1837 aged just 24. The 1841 census shows him living the manse, along with his unmarried sister Elizabeth, who presumably acted as a surrogate mother. Then, tragically, the two young girls died a few years later – Margaret in 1845 aged nine and Sarah in 1846 aged ten. In 1849 he married for the second time. Elizabeth (Bessie) Hughes was from Ireland. They had four children – James Oliver (1852), Anna Margaret (1853), Nathaniel Hughes (1855), Sarah Mary (1860). John himself died on 29th November 1861 of ‘Hepatic disease’, when his youngest daughter was less than a year old. His health had been ‘precarious’ for a while and he had visited Ireland in the Summer before he died, but this trip was ‘not attended by any improvement’. He was 62 years old. As he lay dying he could hear the sound of the coronation festivities for the gipsy Queen Esther in the distance.
    The current council maintainance regime ensures the grass in the kirkyard is cut short - and, as already noted, that monuments deemed unstable are tipped over. However the grass cutting efforts are relatively rough-and-ready. Many monuments are left covered in ivy or have tree saplings starting to grow from their base. In some ways the situation of family enclosures is the most neglected of all. The council motor-mower is unable to get in and they are left to turn into a jungle. This is the case of the enclosure for the Baird family (and of that of his predecessor the Rev. Blackie, which is adjacent). It is now very badly overgrown:

   After hacking one's way through the undergrowth and then removing the ivy, the neat slate stones that commemorate Baird and his family are eventually revealed. There are three stones altogether - shown below is the one which the Rev. Baird erected for his first wife, her sister and their two young daughters. His name added at the end:

   Baird is the earliest minister for whom we have a photograph. In those days carte-de-visites showing prominent kirk ministers were offered for sale to the general public - times have changed, only film stars and tiktok personalities get that kind of adulation today! Mrs Wilson, 'Bookseller and Stationer' of Kelso, advertised several such clerical portraits in the Kelso Chronicle of 1864, including one of of the Rev. Ebeneezer Whyte, although no known copy of this survives. The portrait of the Rev. John Baird shown below is probably a copy of the one which she also advertises for sale:

"Christ is All"