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May 23, 2012 |
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Wendy Wood (born Gwendoline Meacham) (1892-June, 1981) was a well-known campaigner for Scottish independence and founder of the Scottish Patriots. An eccentric and colourful figure, she was also an artist and writer, and her antics often created controversy. Wendy Wood was born in Kent, England, en route, as her parents were moving from Scotland to South Africa, and was brought up in the latter country. Wendy Wood adopted her mother's maiden name in 1927. Her birth name was Gwendoline Meacham. If challenged as to her Scottish birthright, she would reply, 'One does not have to be a horse to be born in a stable', echoing the old Scottish_Gaelic_language|Gaelic proverb, which Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington too had quoted, albeit for a different purpose. In 1928 she was one of the founders of the National Party of Scotland, which grew into the Scottish National Party but in the 1930s decided a non-party approach to Scottish independence was more effective. In 1932 Wendy led a group of nationalists in "storming" Stirling Castle to tear down the Union Flag and replace it with Scotland's Royal Coat of Arms of Scotland|lion rampant. Soldiers with fixed bayonets failed to stop them. In the 1930s she also founded the Scottish Watch, a youth organisation, and very successful while she ran it. (This is not to be confused with a later, unrelated extremist organisation of the same name.) In 1949 she had founded the Scottish Patriots, and at the time of her death in June 1981 they were some 2,000 strong. In the 1950s came protests against the use of the regnal title "Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Elizabeth II" in Scotland, as Scotland had not had an Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I (see also the case of MacCormick v. Lord Advocate and List of regnal numerals of future British monarchs). In 1960, she spoke to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, to try to mobilise them behind the re-convening of the Scottish parliament (which in 1707 was never properly dissolved, merely adjourned). This request was turned down. She engaged in many international campaigns, for Ireland|Irish causes, to the remembrance of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British concentration camps (the first-ever concentration camps) during the Boer War which killed thousands, to supporting the Indian independence movement and supporting the Iceland|Icelanders in their 1970s cod war over fishing grounds. In 1972 came her hunger strike for home rule, which effectively failed, but in 1979, Scots were given a referendum on the matter: Scotland referendum, 1979. In the early 1970s she often read Scottish stories on the BBC children's TV programme Jackanory under the name Auntie Gwen. Having spent over a decade as a crofter in Moidart (moving to Edinburgh in 1952) she had a wide span of experience to call upon. In all she wrote ten books, the last being her aptly-titled autobiography, Yours Sincerely for Scotland.
Category:1892 births|Wood, Wendy Category:1981 deaths|Wood, Wendy Category:Natives of Kent|Wood, Wendy Category:Scottish artists|Wood, Wendy Category:Scottish National Party (SNP) politicians|Wood, Wendy Category:Scottish writers|Wood, Wendy Category:Women writers|Wood, Wendy scotland-bio-stub This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Wendy Wood".
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