1644
In 1644 about 500 of Cromwell’s English soldiers reigned terror in the Fischertoon. They were encamped on Keith Inch with their headquarters in the castle (Neish).
1645
In 1645 the bubonic plague swept through the town. It continued for about six weeks, killing over three hundred people (Neish).
1710
In 1710 Baron Bailie Thomas Arbuthnot, who was gifted with an enterprising disposition, initiated the manufacture of kelp on a commercial scale. Historians have recorded that in 1722 the inhabitants of the island of Orkney were the first people in Scotland to manufacture kelp by the incineration of seaweed (Neish).
1715
On Sunday night of 22nd December 1715 the Old Pretender landed at Port Henry Pier. He was lodged overnight in the house of Captain Park in the Longate (son-in-law to the Earl Marischal). Earlier on the 23rd September 1715, on the order of the Earl Marischal, the Pretender King James the VIII was proclaimed King (Neish).
1728
The Earl Marischal was declared forfeit after he had played a leading role in the unsuccessful Jacobite Rebellion in 1715. His estates were confiscated and sold to the York Buildings Company. When it became bankrupt, the Governors of the Merchant Maiden Hospital in Edinburgh purchased the town and harbours of Peterhead in 1728; the Edinburgh Merchant Company has retained the Superiority of the town ever since (Buchan, James Postcards).
1788
The "Robert" was a two-masted vessel of 169 tons carrying four whaleboats. She sailed on 18 March 1788 from Peterhead under Captain Harrison, an Englishman, on what was to be the first of many trips by whaling ships from the port (Buchan, Alex).
1832
A cholera epidemic in Wick, in 1832, forced boats to move to Peterhead for the summer herring fishing. From then on, the port developed into one of the main centres of the herring industry (Buchan, Jim Postcards).
The Reform Act of 1832 resulted in Peterhead becoming a ‘Parliamentary’ burgh. Along with the royal burghs of Elgin, Banff, Cullen, Inverurie and Kintore, it formed the Elgin Group, which returned one member to the House of Commons. Male householders, whose property was valued at £10 or more annually, were enfranchised for the first time. Local Whigs decided to commemorate the passing of the Act by erecting the ‘Reform Tower’ (Meethill monument) on the Meethill on the southern outskirts of the town. The foundation stone was laid on 8th August 1832, and it was intended that the tower should become an observatory, but it was never properly completed (Buchan, Jim Postcards). 1857
The fleet reached its zenith in 1857 when thirty-one whalers sailed from Peterhead (Buchan, Alex).
1859
In 1859 the first - and only - two steel vessels to go whaling from Peterhead, the "Empress of India" and the "Innuit", were both nipped in the ice and lost (Buchan, Alex).
1880
Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, served as a surgeon while still a student at Edinburgh University. He sailed from Peterhead on 28th February 1880 in the "Hope (2)", under Captain John Gray. Doyle did very little doctoring in the seven-month voyage. His main occupation apparently was to amuse the captain and keep him supplied with tobacco (Buchan, Alex).
1891
The foundation stone of Peterhead Public Library and Arbuthnot Museum was laid by Mrs. Carnegie, on a site on the corner of St.Peter Street and Queen Street, on 8th August 1891. Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-American industrialist, gave over £1,500 to the building fund. The building cost £5,000 and was opened to the public on 12th October 1893. (Buchan, Jim Postcard).
1914
7th September. The Admiralty demanded that for security of the coastline, all harbour and navigational lights were to be extinguished.
Peterhead becomes a leading supply port for minesweepers. Large quantities of coal are kept to fuel these vessels under the control of Peterhead Naval Authorities. The town becomes an important manufacturer of military tweeds too and so Peterhead becomes more industrious in serving her country and the war effort (Taylor).
1919
One Peterhead man, Fred Cameron of the "Albert", is said to have spent the years 1914-18 with the Eskimoes and it was not till he was relieved in 1919 that he even heard of the war (Buchan, Alex).
1925
The "George Birnie Memorial Bridge" was built at a cost of £2,728 of which £2,000 was paid by Mr. Alexander Birnie. The bridge was opened 11th April 1925. Alexander Birnie, as a young man was engaged in pearl fishing off the coast of Western Australia, where after a most adventurous career and hard work, he succeeded in making a tidy fortune (Neish). (Last section acknowledgement - from Wade Buchan's Geneology site http://users.bigpond.net.au/phdgen/)
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