John and Ann Cumming Memorial Lecture

Born 300 years ago in Kirkwall, Robbie Strang loved to draw and dreamed of going to sea, and went to the grammar school, where the master was Murdoch Mackenzie, later to become the great mapmaker. Then came apprenticeship to an engraver in Edinburgh, and a romance which led to him joining the army of Bonnie Prince Charlie and etching a plate for what would have been a Jacobite government banknote. After Culloden he escaped to Europe and through years of work in France and Italy he became the greatest engraver of the age – and eventually, back in England, a knighthood from King George III as Sir Robert Strange. One son became chief magistrate in Nova Scotia and Madras. A grandson became a surveyor in India, and a specialist in instrumentation.

Patricia Long tells the story of a life of art, travel and adventure.

With the support of the Cuminga Trust

You can watch this free event from here, through the YouTube link which will be coming shortly, or you can also go to the Science Festival’s YouTube channel