Robert Barclay Allardice
Encyclopedia
Stonehaven
Stonehaven is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It lies on Scotland's northeast coast and had a population of 9,577 in 2001 census.Stonehaven, county town of Kincardineshire, grew around an Iron Age fishing village, now the "Auld Toon" , and expanded inland from the seaside...
, Kincardine and Mearns
Kincardine and Mearns
Kincardine and Mearns is one of six area committees of the Aberdeenshire council area in Scotland. It has a population 38,506 . There are significant natural features in this district including rivers, forests, mountains and bogs .Transport links with Aberdeen have encouraged rapid population...
- 8 May 1854), the 6th Laird
Laird
A Laird is a member of the gentry and is a heritable title in Scotland. In the non-peerage table of precedence, a Laird ranks below a Baron and above an Esquire.-Etymology:...
of Ury
Ury House
The current incarnation of Ury House is a ruined large mansion built in the Elizabethan style in 1885 by Alexander Baird. It is situated about a mile north of Stonehaven, a town in Aberdeenshire on the North-East coast of Scotland...
, generally known as Captain Barclay, was a notable Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
walker of the early 19th century, known as the celebrated pedestrian
Pedestrian
A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In some communities, those traveling using roller skates or skateboards are also considered to be pedestrians. In modern times, the term mostly refers to someone walking on a road or footpath, but this was not the case...
. His most famous feat was the walking
Walking
Walking is one of the main gaits of locomotion among legged animals, and is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults over the stiff limb or limbs with each step...
of 1000 miles (1,609.3 km) in 1000 hours for 1000 guineas
Guinea (British coin)
The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813...
in 1809. He is considered the father of the 19th century sport of pedestrianism
Pedestrianism
Pedestrianism was a 19th-century form of competitive walking, often professional and funded by wagering, from which the modern sport of racewalking developed.-18th- and early 19th-century Britain:...
, a precursor to racewalking.
He should not be confused with his father, who had assumed the name Robert Barclay Allardice, who undertook the first redevelopment of the town of Stonehaven
Stonehaven
Stonehaven is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It lies on Scotland's northeast coast and had a population of 9,577 in 2001 census.Stonehaven, county town of Kincardineshire, grew around an Iron Age fishing village, now the "Auld Toon" , and expanded inland from the seaside...
.
Family
Captain Barclay's father was Robert Barclay (1732–1797), 5th of Ury, a member of an ancient ScottishScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
family, and great-grandson of Robert Barclay (1648–1690), 2nd of Ury, who published in 1678 a noted Apology (i.e. defence) for the Quaker faith. The banking Barclay family which founded Barclays Bank were descended from this 2nd Laird.
Robert Barclay married, in 1776, Sarah Ann Allardice, a descendant of Robert II of Scotland
Robert II of Scotland
Robert II became King of Scots in 1371 as the first monarch of the House of Stewart. He was the son of Walter Stewart, hereditary High Steward of Scotland and of Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert I and of his first wife Isabella of Mar...
and of the Earl
Earl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
s of Airth
Earl of Airth
Earl of Airth was a title in the Peerage of Scotland created on 21 January 1633 by Charles I, for William Graham, 7th Earl of Menteith. It became extinct on the death of his son in 1694.-Earls of Airth :*William Graham, 1st Earl of Airth...
, Menteith
Earl of Menteith
The Mormaer or Earl of Menteith was originally the ruler of the province of Menteith in the Middle Ages. The first mormaer is usually regarded as Gille Críst, simply because he is the earliest on record. The title was held in a continuous line from Gille Crist until Muireadhach IV , although the...
and Strathearn
Earl of Strathearn
The Mormaer of Strathearn or Earl of Strathearn was a provincial ruler in medieval Scotland. Of unknown origin, the mormaers are attested for the first time in a document perhaps dating to 1115. The first known mormaer, Maol Íosa I is mentioned by Ailred of Rievaulx as leading native Scots in the...
. In recognition of the nobility of his wife's family, Robert Barclay thenceforth took the surname of Allardice.
Several of the Barclay family were noted for unusual strength. The 1st Laird of Ury was reputed one of the strongest men in the country at the time of the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, and Robert Barclay Allardice senior was himself a noted pedestrian, who once walked 510 miles (820 km) from Ury to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 10 days.
Captain Barclay made his home at Fritwell Manor in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
.
Feats of Pedestrianism
- In 1801 Captain Barclay walked 110 miles (177 km) in in a muddy park
- In 1802 walked 64 miles (103 km) in 10 hours
- In 1805 walked 72 miles (116 km) between breakfast and dinner
- In 1806 walked 100 miles (161 km) over bad roads in 19 hours
- In 1807 78 miles (125 km) on hilly roads in 14 hours
The thousand-hour walk
Captain Barclay's most famous exploit took place between 1 June and 12 July 1809 at Newmarket, during which he walked 1 mile (1.6 km) in each of 1000 successive hours, to win an initial wager of 1000 guineas.The enterprise quite caught the public imagination. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, which carried little in the way of general interest news, printed this report alongside an account of the campaigns of Marshal Soult
Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult
Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia , the Hand of Iron, was a French general and statesman, named Marshal of the Empire in 1804. He was one of only six officers in French history to receive the distinction of Marshal General of France...
in the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
(14 July):
- The gentleman on Wednesday completed his arduous pedestrian undertaking, to walk a thousand miles in a thousand successive hours, at the rate of a mile in each and every hour. He had until four o'clock P.M. to finish his task; but he performed his last mile in the quarter of an hour after three, with perfect ease and great spirit, amidst an immense concourse of spectators. The influx of company had so much increased on Sunday, that it was recommended that the ground should be roped in. To this, Captain Barclay at first objected; but the crowd became so great on Monday, and he had experienced so much interruption, that he was at last prevailed upon to allow this precaution to be taken. For the last two days he appeared in higher spirits, and performed his walk with apparently more ease, and in shorter time than he had done for some days before. With the change of the weather, he had thrown off his loose great coat, which he wore during the rainy period, and on Wednesday performed in a flannelFlannelFlannel is a soft woven fabric, of various fineness. Flannel was originally made from carded wool or worsted yarn, but is now often made from either wool, cotton, or synthetic fibre. Flannel may be brushed to create extra softness or remain unbrushed. The brushing process is a mechanical process...
jacket. He also put on shoes thicker than any which he had used in the earlier part of his performance. He said that during the first night after his walk he would have himself awaked twice or thrice, to avoid the danger of a too sudden transition from almost constant exertion to a state of long repose.
- One hundred to one, and indeed any odds whatever, were offered on Wednesday; but so strong was the confidence in his success, that no bets could be obtained. The multitude of people who resorted to the scene of action, in the course of the concluding days, was unprecedented. Not a bed could be procured on Tuesday night at Newmarket, CambridgeCambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, or any of the towns and villages in the vicinity, and every horseHorseThe horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
and every species of vehicle was engaged. Among the Nobility and Gentry who witnessed the conclusion of this extraordinary feat, were:—
- The Dukes of Argyle and St. Alban'sAubrey Beauclerk, 6th Duke of St AlbansAubrey Beauclerk, 6th Duke of St Albans was the son of Aubrey Beauclerk, 5th Duke of St Albans.He married, firstly, Jane Moses , on 9 July 1788...
; Earls Grosvenor, BesboroughFrederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of BessboroughFrederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough was a British peer.Ponsonby was the eldest son of the 2nd Earl of Bessborough and succeeded to his father's titles in 1793...
and JerseyGeorge Child-Villiers, 5th Earl of JerseyGeorge Child Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey GCH, PC , styled Viscount Grandison until 1805, was a British courtier and Conservative politician.-Background and education:...
; Lords FoleyThomas Foley, 3rd Baron FoleyThomas Foley, 3rd Baron Foley PC , was a British peer and Whig politician. He served as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen Pensioners under Lord Grey between 1830 and 1833.-Background:...
and Somerville; Sir John Lode, Sir F. Standish, &c. &c.
- Capt Barclay had a large sum depending upon his undertaking. The aggregate of the bets is supposed to amount to £100,000.—He commenced his feat on the first of June.
During the 42 days of this exercise, his average time per mile increased , while his weight dropped . If the report of the total wagers was accurate, they were equivalent to some £5 million ($US 8 million) in modern terms.
Army career
Captain Barclay's rank was in the 23rd Regiment of Foot, which he joined in 1805. In 1809 he served as aide-de-camp to the Marquess of HuntlyAlexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon
Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon KT , styled Marquess of Huntly until 1752, was a Scottish nobleman, described by Kaimes as the "greatest subject in Britain", and was also known as the Cock o' the North, the traditional epithet attached to the chief of the Gordon clan.-Early life:Alexander...
on the ill-fated Walcheren
Walcheren
thumb|right|250px|Campveer Tower in Veere, built in 1500Walcheren is a former island in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Oosterschelde in the north and the Westerschelde in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus...
campaign, starting out just 5 days after the completion of the 1000 miles (1,609.3 km) feat.
Claims to titles
Captain Barclay claimed the Earldom of AirthEarl of Airth
Earl of Airth was a title in the Peerage of Scotland created on 21 January 1633 by Charles I, for William Graham, 7th Earl of Menteith. It became extinct on the death of his son in 1694.-Earls of Airth :*William Graham, 1st Earl of Airth...
, his lawyers claiming that this title could be inherited through the female line. The claim was rejected by the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
in 1839. A similar claim to the Earldoms of Menteith
Earl of Menteith
The Mormaer or Earl of Menteith was originally the ruler of the province of Menteith in the Middle Ages. The first mormaer is usually regarded as Gille Críst, simply because he is the earliest on record. The title was held in a continuous line from Gille Crist until Muireadhach IV , although the...
and Strathearn
Earl of Strathearn
The Mormaer of Strathearn or Earl of Strathearn was a provincial ruler in medieval Scotland. Of unknown origin, the mormaers are attested for the first time in a document perhaps dating to 1115. The first known mormaer, Maol Íosa I is mentioned by Ailred of Rievaulx as leading native Scots in the...
was not pursued. A curious aside to the latter claim is that it would have implied that Captain Barclay was the rightful King of Scotland.
Descent of the title
Captain Barclay died in 1854, as a consequence of injuries from the kick of a horse. The only surviving child from his marriage was a daughter who settled in AmericaUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The Lairdship of Ury, heritable only in the male line, passed to a third cousin, Charles Barclay, who lived in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
.