150 Years of Exploring Stirling’s Past

Born in Brechin around 1809, Alexander Croall trained himself in botany through relentless field trips — reportedly sleeping on the heather and carrying his food in his pocket. His reputation grew to the point where Sir William Hooker of Kew Gardens commissioned him to prepare a herbarium of the plants of Braemar for Queen Victoria herself. His four-volume work on British seaweeds earned him the affectionate nickname ‘Roosty Tangle’ — Scots for tangled seaweed.

Croall arrived in Stirling in 1874 to take charge of the newly opened Smith Institute. He saw the potential for a society that would channel the enthusiasm of local naturalists and antiquarians into structured study of the district. In 1878, working with colleagues including art master Leonard Baker, he founded the Stirling Field Club — the direct predecessor of today’s Society.

One of Scotland’s most noted naturalists, Harvie-Brown specialised in ornithology and initiated the bird migration survey for the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He amassed a large collection of stuffed birds and was affectionately nicknamed ‘Johnny Always Hunting Birds’ — a playful interpretation of his initials J.A.H.B.

Harvie-Brown’s estate at Dunipace House, near Larbert, served as both a natural history museum and a base for fieldwork across Scotland. His systematic approach to recording bird distribution across defined ‘faunal areas’ was pioneering, and his published works on the vertebrate fauna of the Forth area remain reference texts.

Sir John Murray is regarded as one of the founders of the science of oceanography. Born in Canada and educated in Edinburgh, he served as naturalist on the HMS Challenger expedition of 1872–1876 — the first major scientific voyage to map the world’s oceans. Murray subsequently edited and published the expedition’s 50-volume report (1876–1896), a monumental achievement that laid the foundations of marine science.

Murray’s connection to the Stirling district was through his scientific networks and his collaboration with Fred Pullar on the bathymetrical survey of Scottish lochs. His membership of the Society reflects the remarkable calibre of its early participants.

A young and promising scientist, Fred Pullar worked as assistant to Sir John Murray on the bathymetrical survey of Scottish lochs — one of the most ambitious freshwater surveys ever undertaken in Britain. The survey measured the depths of over 500 Scottish lochs and produced detailed maps that are still referenced today.

Pullar’s life was cut tragically short at the age of 25 when he drowned in Airthrey Loch, near Bridge of Allan, while attempting to rescue a skater who had fallen through the ice. Sir John Murray continued the survey in Pullar’s memory, and the completed work was published as the ‘Bathymetrical Survey of the Scottish Fresh-Water Lochs’ (1910) — dedicated to Pullar.

David B Morris served as Secretary to the Society for an extraordinary 49 years, making him perhaps the longest-serving officer in its history. He was simultaneously Town Clerk of Stirling from 1901 to 1939, placing him at the intersection of civic administration and heritage scholarship.

Morris was a prolific contributor to the Society’s Transactions, lecturing on 76 different subjects and publishing numerous articles and books. His work on the raised beaches of the Forth Valley contributed to understanding Scotland’s post-glacial landscape and remains cited today.

Dr James Rae served as a naval surgeon until 1866 before settling in Stirling, where he practised as a doctor from 1866 to 1888. He was a founder member of the Society in 1878, bringing a scientific rigour shaped by his medical training and naval experience.

Dr Robert Kidston was a palaeobotanist of international repute whose work on fossil plants was groundbreaking. His botanical papers published in the Society’s Transactions were cited internationally, and his contributions to the understanding of Carboniferous-era plant life earned him Fellowship of the Royal Society.

Dr Galbraith was an active member and contributor to the Transactions whose recollections of Society life were later published by the Stirling Local History Society. His annual presidential address on an old Church Minute Book relating to the Episcopal congregation in Stirling (1798–1817) is preserved in the 1892–93 Transactions volume.