Looking back in history the important dates this month include:

1 In 1695, an Act of the Scottish Parliament founded the Bank of Scotland. And in 1828, Rumford Medal-winning Balfour Stewart was born at 1 London Row in Leith, the son of William Stewart a tea-merchant, and his wife, Jane Clouston. Also in 1897, Naomi Mitchison (née Haldane), author, poet, and politician, was born in Edinburgh; Mitchison was a campaigner for women’s issues and a lifelong Socialist.

2 In 1593, King James VI issued a proclamation that no one should trouble the papist Lords but treat them as faithful and true subjects.

3 In 1698, the Darien Expedition of about 1,200 persons landed at “Caledonia” in Panama; this was the first phase of an ambitious scheme to establish a Scottish colony in Panama for the purpose

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