Wallace Day 1954

WALLACE DAY 1954

This article and photograph appeared in the Sunday Herald, dated 18/12/17. The article was written by Russell Leadbetter, and both he and the Sunday Herald retain the copyright. The original page can be found here:

Sunday Herald Article.

Part of the 1954 march to the monument

Sunday Herald 18/12/17
by Russell Leadbetter

LONG, long before anyone had the notion to make a film about William Wallace and call it Braveheart, Wallace was actively commemorated by Scots in simpler ways. As Andrew Marr notes in his 1992 book, 'The Battle for Scotland', Labour supporters in the 1920s would gather for rallies at Elderslie, Wallace's birthplace; and in the following decade, Scottish Communists carried placards of Bruce and Wallace alongside Marx as they marched against unemployment.

A particularly long-standing commemoration has been the Wallace Day Demonstration. The march that took place on Saturday, August 21, 1954, was attended by several hundred people.

Sam Shields, the Renfrewshire organiser of the SNP, had earlier written to the press to publicise the march - "on Saturday, 21st August," he urged, "all roads should lead to Elderslie." He went on to say that the speakers would be Ninian Gibson, Dr Rollo, Mairi Cameron and Robert Curran - four "of the younger generation in the movement to-day, and this is done deliberately, for the hero in whose honour the meeting is being held took his stand for his country when quite a young man."

In the event, wreaths were laid at the war memorial in Johnstone and at the Wallace Monument in Elderslie.

Among those present on the march was William A Christianson, vice-chairman of the appeal committee for a Wallace memorial in London, who had travelled from Yorkshire to take part.

Special thanks to Russell Leadbetter and the Sunday Herald

An interesting piece of history, and it is particularly telling that the march has long been seen to have political overtones. Nowadays, our constitution leans towards an apolitical stance - but as can be read in the article, it was not just the SNP who marched for Wallace. In the past, both Labour Party supporters and the Scottish Communist Party were also heavily involved at different stages. Rightly so, for, after all, Wallace has always been known as a man of the people.

Further to the above, we have been sent this press photograph taken at Elderslie in the 1970s. It shows Paisley Councillor Mary Greig laying the wreath at the monument, watched by SNP Vice-Chairman Willie MacRae.

The Society of William Wallace is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation Registration number SC045959