Alexander Selkirk
Alexander Selkirk - A Famous Scottish Castaway - The real Robinson Crusoe
Alexander Selkirk (1676-1721).Born in the fishing- and seaport of Lower Largo, Fife, the son of tanner and cobbler John Selcraig and his wife Euphan, Selkirk was educated at the parish school. After a youth of roistering and a few trips at sea, he joined up as Sailing Master of the barque Cinque Ports of the South Seas expedition of Captain William Dampier of 1702. In time Selkirk was to quarrel with Lieutenant Thomas Stradling of the Cinque Ports and at his own request was put ashore in 1704 off Valparaiso, on the island of Mas a Tierra in the Juan Fernandez archipelago, 360 miles from the coast of Chile. 'On the eastern side of the island', he was to write, 'I found a grotto which I made my home.' There he stayed in complete solitude for four years until he was rescued by Captain Woods Rogers of the Duke. Probably Selkirk's adventures would have been forgotten if his story had not been written up by Woods Rogers in his memoirs. This tale inspired the English dramatist and essayist Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729) to write an article about it for the periodical The Englishman. It was after reading the article that author Daniel Defoe (1660-1731), concocted the theme of his The Life and Strange Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Seaman (1719) with Selkirk as Crusoe and an imaginary companion 'Man Friday'. Selkirk himself joined the Royal Navy after his adventure and died of fever aboard the Weymouth.
Selkirk was also the inspiration for William Cowper's (1731-1800) 'I am the monarch of all I survey' and remains one of the most popular pantomime characters of all time. Sir James Young Simpson (1811-70) The famous obstetriciaBorn in Bathgate, West Lothian, Simpson studied medicine at Edinburgh and became Professor of Midwifery there in 1840. He started to use ether as an anaesthetic in childbirth in 1847. Acceptance of this practice was not forthcoming from the general public until its use during the birth of Prince Leopold (1853-84), Duke of Albany, Queen Victoria's eighth child. Simpson was a champion of hospital reform and he was the founder of modern gynaecological practice.
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