T H E C O V E N A N T E R
taste. “Not at the office dear boy,, surely.
Robert Owen and New Lanark
You ought to know. It’s the sort of thing
you do in Prussia, but not in Vienna!
In 1948, as I walked from Winston Barracks
There’s only one place in this town
past the racecourse and the loch to Lanark,
where gentlemen meet for coffee, don’t I became aware that below the town was
you know. At Demel’s of course”. Clare another community called New Lanark
duly arrived at the appointed time, and which had been built on a picturesque area
absorbed the ambiance of this select coffee
near the Clyde. Although I knew there was
house that, clientele apart, seemed to have
a mill there, I did not know its connection
changed little from pre-War days. Clare
with Robert Owen, one of the most
had forgotten the Austrian convention
important reformers in the nineteenth
that punctuality did not require prompt
century. Friedrich Engels said: ‘every real
arrival, but in reality meant fifteen to
twenty minutes after the stated time.
advance in England on behalf of working
He recounts the incident with relish..
men links itself to the name of Robert
“I had forgotten (this custom), but ci-
Owen’. His influence became so important
devant Heimwher Major, ex-Pioneer Corps
that his view of society was eventually
Sergeant and now Major in the Cameron
called Owenism and those who supported
(sic) Highlanders - obviously had not. But
him were known as Owenites. Robert Owen
to be there before him was the best thing
has left his mark on society in the same
I could have done, not for all the coffee
way as the Covenanters or Cameronians
and the cakes at Demel’s today (in 1947 influenced the outcome of the Scottish
there was not much choice) would I have Reformation.
missed his entrée. As he came through the In Lanark there were no street names,
door the waitresses curtsied and welcomed
statues or displays in the library or even
him with a chorused “Griss Gott, Herr
words from the local folk to inform me
Major”. He in, Glengarry, black buttoned
that Robert Owen had been an inhabitant
khaki doublet, silver buckled Sam Browne
of New Lanark., The years went by until I
and Douglas tartan trews, graciously raised
found myself a student in the late fifties.
his silver topped swagger cane in response.
Slowly, with many a ‘Kuss-die-Hand’ to
I had been given a reading list for my
the ladies and many a drawled ‘Ja, Servus’
Education paper and was attracted by
to the gentlemen, he progressed through
the title ‘A New View of Society to the
the room, proving with his every gesture
County of Lanark (1821)’ by Robert Owen.
that his native Highlands were the Vienna
I satisfied my curiosity immediately by
Woods and Hofmannsthal his Rabbie
reading the book and knew for the first
Burns. Had the Cameronians worn the kilt
time that New Lanark had had for almost
instead of trews, this performance would
thirty years an outstanding historical figure
have been even more wondrous.” in their midst. Just before a visit to friends
While George Clare made the common in 1965, I wrote to the New Lanark Mill to
error of confusion between the Highland and request a visit.
Lowland Regiments and the Cameronians
I arrived at the Mill (it closed in 1968)
and the Camerons, this in no way detracts
on a chilly autumn afternoon and found
from his perceptive description of the
myself being treated as a very important
essential MacSchnabel. Even while a private
visitor. I was shown both the records and
soldier ‘he had the air of the Viennese
the buildings where Owen carried out his
dandy about him’. He was ‘the perfect
raconteur, I could have listened to him for
social experiments, given tea, signed the
hours’. MacSchnabel remained in Vienna,
visitors’ book and departed with the feeling
but his pride at having served in the British
that seeing his community based village
Army, and the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
had enhanced the reading I had done over
clearly never left him. True to character to
many years.
the last, his obituary notice in the Viennese
A few years later in 1971, I attended
newspapers read: ‘Died in Vienna on 17
a conference whose dual purpose was
February 1983, Peter Joseph Schnabel, aged
to acknowledge the bicentenary of
82, Royal (sic) British Major ret.’ - certainly Robert Owen’s birth and to celebrate his
one of the most extra-ordinary Cameronians contribution to the welfare of his fellow
of the Second World War. men. The largest number of delegates came
C.S.P. October 2002
from Japan whose terms of employment
The writer is indebted to Macmillan, Pan Macmillan,
are everything Robert Owen would have
publishers London, for permission to quote from ‘Berlin
wished. After I told the conference my
Days 1946-1947 - George Clare - MacMillan London,
story, there was mild amusement and
1989, and also to Colonel Charles Michie, OBE, TD disbelief that Owen was among the
and Major M.T. MacNeil TD for supplying personal
unknown of Lanark!
reminiscences.
42
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