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Stirling Local History Society

Theodore Fontane in Stirling in 1858

7/10/2012

 
WE have had an enquiry from Claus Cartellieri from Germany who is researching the visit of Theodor Fontane, a German novelist and his friend, Bernhard Lepel, to Scotland in 1858.

The visit was described in Fontane’s book, Jenseit des Tweed, first published in German in 1860. There is an English translation ‘Beyond the Tweed – a tour of Scotland in 1858’. The most recent English version (Trans. Brian Battershaw) is an edition published by Libris, London in 1998 (National Library of Scotland Shelfmark H3.200.1453).

Fontane and his companion had previously stayed in Edinburgh. They arrived in Stirling by steam boat – perhaps the novelist saw this as more Romantic than the prosaic train, which would have been much faster and more convenient! On arrival he stayed at the Royal Hotel, and the enquiry is really about the hotel. On that, we can help!

On 29 April 1836 a notice in the Stirling Journal (p. 1) announced that Archibald Campbell, formerly a waiter at Mr Cameron’s Hotel in Bridge of Allan, was now to run the Royal Hotel in Stirling, though the present building might, in fact, be a little later than this date. Campbell then had a long career at the hotel and was nicknamed ‘The Royal’.  In 1841 Campbell (aged 31) and guests appear in the census return - as they will do in the later returns too!

One of Campbell’s early objectives was to benefit from tourists coming to visit the Trossachs and the southern Highlands, made so fashionable by the writings of Sir Walter Scott. The railway only arrived in Stirling in 1848 and did not run to Callander for some decades after that so Campbell seems almost to have provided what we might now call Package Holidays, collecting guests in Stirling and arranging their onward travel by coach.

This might be why Fontane and his companion stayed there. Campbell features in Wm. Drysdale’s Old Faces, Old Places etc (Second Series, 1899, p. 183-4) and there is information about the hotel in Stirling Central Library’s ‘Stirling Scrapbook’ (page 109a).

Another way of following up The Royal Hotel (and the other places where the visitors stayed) would be through the National Library of Scotland’s astonishing 694 Post Office Directories online at http://www.nls.uk/family-history/directories/post-office which we featured here some months ago.

One of those places was Johnston’s Hotel, Waterloo Place, Edinburgh. The development of Waterloo Place, as an eastward extension of Princes Street from the 1810s is discussed in ‘Regent Bridge and the opening up of Calton Hill, Edinburgh’ by Eric J Graham in Scottish Local History, Issue 81, August 2011, p. 29-35. Graham notes the concentration of hotels on Waterloo Place in its early days. Johnston’s is not mentioned so perhaps the hotel names changed, over time. For one of Graham’s excellent illustrations see http://www.ericgraham.co.uk/node/159

The visit is not featured in Robert Ritchie’s delightful booklet (also featured here some time ago) ‘A Mental Feast of Pure Delight’, an excellent collection of descriptions by visitors to Stirling. But I gather that Fontane’s journey from Edinburgh and visit to Stirling and area fill some 20 pages in Fontane’s book!

That looks like being a useful source for those interested in travel, visitors and the Stirling of the period. Does anyone want to look out the book and give us some more information? Does anyone have further information about Campbell’s Royal Hotel? Mr. Campbell himself retired in 1885 and the dinner in his honour was reported in the Stirling Journal, 11 June 1885.

I am posting images of the former Royal Hotel, familiar to local people at the corner of Barnton Street and Friars Street.
And of Archibald Campbell - the elderly gentleman in the centre - though this is not a very good image (it is from Drysdale).

And Mr Cartellieri has sent images of Fontane (looking every bit the Romantic writer) and of his friend Bernhardt Lepel. What an odd opportunity, to re-introduce people who last met 144 years ago! Mr Campbell, Herr Lepel
If we can fill this one out, we might also feature it on the ‘On this Day’ page?


Picture
lepel - age and date unknown
Picture
chalk drawing of Fontane by the German painter Friedrich Kersting from 1843
Picture
Archibald Campell 'The Royal' - from Drysdale's Old Faces etc.
Picture
The former Royal Hotel at the corner of Barnton Street and Friars' Street, Stirling.
Claus Cartellieri
8/10/2012 02:22:04

Hallo,
what a wonderful idea to post that enquiry on the internet.
The author is right, Fontane indeed had his reasons for taking a steam boat."People in a hurry ususally take the train, but those with time to spare and willing to enjoy the fresh air and beautiful embankments follow our example and use the waterway" (my translation).

Claus Cartellieri
8/10/2012 07:12:08

A few words perhaps describing the impact of his trip to Scotland on Fontane. This tour fired his artistic talents, turning him into a writer of national importance.
30 years later he wrote in a letter to a friend: "...It is now thirty years, almost to the day, that I went on that trip with Lepel - one of the most beautiful in my life, at least the most poetical, more poetical than Switzerland, France, Italy and everything I saw later. The most interesting drawing for me is that showing the Douglas castle and Lake Kinross where Lepel and I went by boat. When, two hours later, after visiting both the castle and the island, we returned across that very same lake and I thought of Rheinsberg and Rheinsberg Lake, I had decided in my soul to describe Mark Brandenburg and its castles and its lakes. And that happened then...

John Harrison link
8/10/2012 09:04:18

I now see an identification and photo of the former Johnston's Hotel on Waterloo Place at
http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_street_w/0_street_views_-_waterloo_place_15-19.htm

John G Harrison link
9/10/2012 01:04:38

Herr Cartellieri is delighted to have the images. What I now suggest is to follow the link to the Post Office Diretories posted above to find the street addresses of the other places they stayed. Then into your search engine put '"hotel name" + "street name" + 'city name' and see what emerges.

Do let us know how you get on and post any links to images to the site!

Claus Cartellieri
11/10/2012 12:02:31

Now that a picture of the Royal Hotel was found, I might also mention that there was street lighting in 1858, and "both gas lanterns of the Royal Hotel shone like stars of the first order". The two visitors were accommodated on the first floor, in a "large and clean room" at the back of the house, "this being another advantage, as the front of the house does not offer any view, whereas the rooms at the back offer a view of the old, picturesquely located section of the town, drawn out both upwards and downwards of the slope of the hill."


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