Midlothian archives
Jean Blades - Fala and Soutra
Name of creator
Jean Blades MBE (1921–2014) and Fala, Soutra and District History and Heritage Society (FSDHHS).
Biographical history
Jean Blades (née Waterston) was born in Edinburgh in March 1921. She served as an occupational therapist at Stracathro Hospital during the Second World War and later worked in Edinburgh. In 1977 she married Reverand Daniel Blades, Church of Scotland minister for Fala and Soutra Parish, and she retired in 1985.
She had wide-ranging interests and was an enthusiastic student of local history. With her husband she researched and wrote Fala and Soutra: Past and Present (1988), modelled on James Hunter’s great book Fala and Soutra (1982). Jean was very active in the local community and helped to establish the Fala, Soutra and District History and Heritage Society (FSDHHS) in 1986. She was a great supporter of the Soutra Hospital Archaeoethnopharmacological Research Project (SHARP) and was instrumental in the restoration of Soutra Aisle as an important visitor attraction.
In her final years she was active in the campaign to save the ‘City of Adelaide’ clipper ship from destruction. She died aged 93 in Edinburgh in December 2014 and left her archive of local history materials to the Midlothian Local and Family History Library.
Scope and content
The collection begins with material from Fala and Soutra Parish Church, including three original communion tokens; parish stipend information, 1883–1915; and information on Fala Secession Church with an original church collection book, 1876–99, and church door collection book, 1899–1923. One charming item is a notebook with photographs about the removal of a double-decker bus from Leith to the White’s farm at Saughland to provide camping for the Boy Scouts.
There is information on the SHARP project and restoration of Soutra Aisle. The original minute book of FSDHHS, 1986–2003, and copies of the society’s constitution, agendas, minutes, annual programmes, exhibitions, etc. There are items about Fala’s entry in the ‘Britain in Bloom’ competition in the 1980s.
The collection includes articles, lectures, reminiscences, memoirs, and research notes about local history, including an article on Fala the Scotch terrier with an original letter from Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt. Also, an original minute book of the management committee of Fala Public Hall, 1920–26; information and newspaper cuttings on the ‘City of Adelaide’ clipper ship and the campaign to save it; certificates awarded to Alice Cowan Alexander, a teacher at Fala and Soutra and Cranstoun Public Schools; notebooks and copybooks c.1900; and manuscript talks and articles on various subjects. One of the highlights of the collection is a series of patient magazines from Sidlaw Sanatorium, Fife, 1904.
There are many images of Fala and Soutra and the surrounding area; and exhibition panels produced by Pathhead Primary School and FSDHHS for ‘Pathhead, Ford and Community (Soutra to Edgehead via Dere Street)’ held at Pathhead Primary School, May 2007.
System of arrangement
| Reference | Subject |
|---|---|
| FS/1 | Fala and Soutra: Church and associated affairs |
| FS/2 | Fala and Soutra: Exhibitions, etc. |
| FS/3 | Fala and Soutra: Community Affairs |
| FS/4 | Fala and Soutra: Misc. local history, photographs, etc. |
| FS/5 | Fala and Soutra: Churches |
| FS/6 | Fala and Soutra: Burials |
| FS/7 | Fala Public Hall |
| FS/8 | Fala and Soutra: Reminiscences, memoirs, etc. |
| FS/9 | Fala and Soutra: Articles on local history |
| FS/10 | Crichtondean |
| FS/11 | Fala the Scotch Terrier |
| FS/12 | Research notes, lectures, etc. collected by Jean Blades. |
| FS/13 | Misc. letters received by Jean Blades. |
| FS/14 | Soutra Wind Farm |
| FS/15 | 'City of Adelaide' Clipper Ship |
| FS/16 | Parish Boundaries |
| FS/17 | Fala, Soutra and District History and Heritage Society. |
| FS/18 | Soutra Aisle and the SHARP project |
| FS/19 | Certificates presented to Alice Cowan Alexander. |
| FS/20 | Pathhead and District Rifle Club |
| FS/21 | Fala and Soutra: Misc. |
| FS/22 | Misc. notebooks, etc. |
| FS/23 | Sidlaw Sanatorium, Angus. |
| FS/24 | Fala and Soutra: Newspapers and newspaper cuttings |
| FS/25 | Publications |
| FS/26 | Artwork |
| FS/27 | Fala and Soutra: Images and photographs |
| FS/28 | Exhibition Panels |
Access and conditions governing use
There are no restrictions on access to, or conditions governing the use of, the collection.
Related materials
Daniel and Jean Blades Fala and Soutra: Past and Present (Edinburgh: George Waterston, 1988).
Jean Blades (ed.) War and Peace 1940 to 1990: Some Changes in the Parishes of Cranstoun, Crichton, Fala and Soutra, and Humbie (Fala, 1990).
John Aitken Tynewater: People and Places: Fala, Soutra, Pathhead, Ford, Edgehead and District (Fala, 2000).