Papers relating to the Witch of Monzie

Reference: GB 0254 MS 135
Title: Papers relating to the Witch of Monzie
Dates of creation: [1840s]
Held at: Dundee University Archives
Extent: 2 documents. The records are on paper.
Name of Creator: Unknown [possibly Rev George Blair]
Level of Description: fonds
Language of Material: English

Administrative/Biographical History

Kate McNiven (also known as McNieven / Nicniven / Niven), the Witch of Monzie, was nurse to the Graeme family of Inchbrakie, Perthshire. In c. 1715 she was burned at the stake, one of the last women to be executed as a witch in Scotland.

Rev George Blair studied at St Andrews. He became pastor of Monzie parish, Perthshire in 1843, but was suspended from the office of holy ministry and resigned the following year. His volume of poetry and prose The Holocaust; or the Witch of Monzie: a poem illustrative of the cruelties of superstition; Lays of Palestine and other poems, to which is prefixed Enchantment Disenchanted; or a treatise on Superstition was published in 1845. He briefly worked as a journalist in Glasgow before travelling abroad and by 1877 was Inspector of Schools in Canada. In the same year, with the backing of influential friends in Canada, he was able to have his sentence of suspension removed by the Presbytery of Auchterarder.

Scope and Content

'Colonel Graham of Inchbrakie's Account of the Witch of Monzie', continued and signed by Grace Grame [Graeme?]; memorandum regarding the Witch of Monzie and the Graeme family, possibly by Grace Grame [1840s].

System of Arrangement

There are two items in the collection.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Unknown. The records were found inside a volume of George Blair's The Holocaust; or, The Witch of Monzie [Reference: KLOC 828.99418].

Accruals

None expected.

Access Conditions

Open for consultation subject to preservation requirements. Access must also conform to the restrictions of the Data Protection Act and any other appropriate legislation.

Copyright/Reproduction

Reproduction is available subject to preservation requirements. Charges are made for this service, and copyright and other restrictions may apply.

Note

This collection was previously catalogued as MS 15/31.

Finding Aids

Descriptive list. Subject source lists and databases are also available.

Related Units of Description

Family and estate papers of the Graeme family of Inchbraikie, Perthshire are held at the National Library of Scotland, Manuscripts Division.

Publication Note

George Blair, The Holocaust; or The Witch of Monzie , London, 1845