George Low

Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia

1 The Author
2 Low's "Grand Tour of Schetland"
3 The Aftermath
4 Further reading
5 References

The Author

George Low was born in 1747 in Edzell, Forfarshire, and was baptized there on 29th March as "George Low, lawfull son of John Low, Kirk-officer, and Isabel Coupar, his spouse." As well as being a Kirk-officer Low's father was tenant of a small farm near Edzel which alltogether made the whole family of five a good living.

Low was a boy of just 13 years when his father died in 1760. After his two sisters married into respected and reputable families of Edzell village, Mrs. Low contrived to give her son an university education. Low attended Marischal College, Aberdeen, and later the College of St. Salvator in St. Andrews where he was a student of philosophy and divinity.

The Rev. James Alison (Holm/Orkney) took Low to Orkney in August, 1768, where he obviously carried on with his studies in divinity before he was licenced by Cairston Presbytery in 1771. When in Stromness Low held the post of a tutor to the respected Graham family of Stromness until 1773.

Low's view of Mousa Broch

Like many other clergymen and tutors of his time, Low had scientific interests reaching far beyond his studies of philosophy and divinity, which can be illustrated at the best by the title of one of the works he carried out when in Stromness: Some Observations on Natural History founded on experience, together with descriptions on Curious Animals, Plants, Fossils, Microscopic Views etc. etc. The Whole Illustrated with Drawings very proper for the easier understanding of the Descriptions, Collected, Observed and the Drawings made by George Low, Student of Divinity … 1770. Some of his accuracy is also visible in the drawings he added to his account although most of them have to be considered as some kind of decoration more than exact scientific drawings. Much of his view of Mousa Broch is somehow "generalized" as are the stone rows of the broch wall, but looking at the edges the drawing shows exactly the swing from a convex to a concave line, and he shows the damaged rampart which might have been forgotten because it is barely visible below the turf layers around the broch today.

It is quite likely that the idea of the "grand tour" originated with the visit of Sir Joseph Banks to Orkney and it is quite probable, too, that through Sir Joseph, Low was recommended to both Pennant, the Author of the now famous A tour in Scotland (1769), and Paton, "a well known antiquary and correspondent" of Pennant. Over the years of 1772 and 1773 they had a lot of correspondence and from that there is the suggestion that Low should undertake a tour of the Shetland Islands in particular, which had not been visited by Pennant himself during his tour of 1769. In a letter dated 27th October, 1773 Pennant wrote to Paton: "… Mr Low must not think of leaving Orkney next spring, for to the Shetlands he must go if I can prevail. I propose (self & Co.) to advance a small sum equal to such a little voyage … ".

Low's "Grand Tour of Schetland"

Culswick Broch as described and drawn by G. Low - This is a good example for Low's detailed account and the wealth of information he gathered.

Low accepted the offer and left Stromness on the 4th of May, 1774. After visiting many of the Orkney Islands he left Kirkwall and sailed for Lerwick, where he arrived on the 19th of June, 1774. From there he started his "Grand Tour of Schetland" and according to his day by day account he visited the following places: Lerwick, Scalloway, Trondra, Tingwall, Whiteness, Wisdale ^[1] , Aithting and Sandsting, Kirkholm etc., Culswick etc., Vaila, Waes etc., Foula, Dandness, Papa Stour, Vemantrie, Muckle Roe, South Delting, The (small) Islands of Yellsound, Northmaven, Delting, Yell, Unst, Fetlar, Lunasting, Nesting, Whalsay, Back to Lerwick, Gulberwick & Quarf, Coningsburg, Mauosa, Dunrossness etc., Bressay, Noss. On his way back to Orkney he wanted to visit Fair Isle but due to weather conditions there was no chance for a landing. After two and a half months Low arrived back in Orkney in the early days of September, 1774.

Low was interested in all aspects of the daily life and reported about everything: the health status of the population of various islands and villages, the professions on which they made their living, their clothing standards and their skills as craftsmen. He looked after ancient monuments as well as more modern monuments like churches, which have now gone. He was particular interested in the nature of the islands and was for example the first who reported about bats in the islands of Shetland.

In many aspects Low presents himself as a very modern scientist. As an ornothologist he did not simply shoot down Shetland's bird to have a closer look as their carcasses, but watched their flights and calls and described their economical importance as a nutrition for the Shetland people. As a geologist he did not search for fossils in Shetland as all the other geologists of his time would have done, but instead of stating "there are not much fossils in Shetland" he concentrated on some unknown mineralogical details making his comments and drawings of such things - with mineralogy developing as a special branch of geology more than a hundred years later. He was the first who pointed to the fact that the geology of Shetland is a very particular thing hardly to compare with other regions in Scotland.

The Aftermath

After his return he wrote down his account which was delayed by his illness in the following years. His former "sponsors" quoted a lot of his findings, when they published their own works about the geography of the British Isles and Scotland in particular. After they had taken the best from Low's work they failed in their attempts to get the whole account printed. It took more than 100 years before Low's account was finally published in 1879.