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T is not only as the Founder and the present

J President of the Edinburgh Borderers'

Union that Mr. John Telfer claims a place in the Border Magazine series of Biographies. As an enthusiastic Borderer, his name is known not only in Edinburgh but throughout the whole Border Counties. As a highly successful business man of sterling integrity and honesty, who has risen from the ranks, as an earnest and conscientious politician, municipal as well as imperial, as an ardent temperance reformer, as an advocate of pure and healthy literature, and as a sincere and devout Christian worker-in all these different spheres, he is well and favourably known. For forty years he has devoted his time, his money, and his talents to the moral, social, and religious improvement of his fellow men.

With great

and undoubted powers of organisation, a fine presence, an aptitude for public speaking, and a fearless independence and honesty of purpose, he has done much good in the City, and especially among the young.

For two generations the Telfers (grandfather and father) were Land Stewards at Easter Nisbet near Jedburgh, and here under the shadow of Penielheugh, the subject of our sketch was born some sixty-two years ago. Thomas Telfer, the father, was a man of character. After forty years service at East Nisbet, he came to Edinburgh in 1870, and for nineteen years

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laboured successfully as a district missionary in
connection with Barclay Free Church. He died
in August, 1889, at the ripe age of 83.
cated at Eckford Parish School, with an occasional
spell of farm work during the busy seasons,
John Telfer at the age of 13 was apprenticed to
a grocer and wine merchant in Jedburgh, where
he remained for ten years, and rose to be
manager with the prospect of a partnership.
But a change in his views on the "drink
question" having led him to renounce his
excellent prospects there, he abandoned the trade,
and came to Edinburgh. Obtaining an appoint-
ment in the well-known firm of Andrew Whyte &
Son, wholesale stationers and paper merchants,
he set himself with diligence to learn his new
business, and speedily rose to be manager, was
admitted to a share in the business, and is now
the senior partner of the firm. Having excellent
health, superabundant energy, and great capacity
for organisation, he was able not only to meet
the heavy demands on his attention in the
management of the large and still increasing
business in all its multifarious details, including
the supervision of upwards of 200 employees,
but also to devote much time and interest to
various schemes for the benefit and welfare of
his fellow-men.

These schemes can only be briefly indicated here. They include Band of Hope and other Total Abstinence movements, licensing reforms

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in Session and in Presbytery without fear or favour. In work for and with the young, Mr. Telfer has always taken great pleasure, and his gifts of organisation, tact, and discipline have found full play. Nor has he neglected to visit the sick and afflicted, to many of whom he has given welcome aid. To many young men, his helping hand, friendly council and discriminating recommendations have been of the utmost value. In parliamentary and municipal elections, Mr. Telfer has been a tireless worker. A consistent and life-long Liberal, he is free from dogmatism, and much of his social and temperance work has been undertaken and carried through in conjunction with men of all parties. He has been frequently invited to enter the the Town Councils both of Edinburgh and Portobello (where he resides), but has hitherto declined.

It is, however, as a Borderer that our chief interest in Mr. Telfer centres. In all his work he has never forgotten the "crystal streams' and "sylvan banks" of Jed, or "sweet Teviot's' "silvery shore," and he has always cherished fond remembrances of his native district. Accordingly, he was one of the first to join with Mr. Thomas Usher, and the other gentlemen animated with similar sentiments, who, in 1865, founded the Edinburgh Border Counties Association. But that Association, excellent of its kind, did not reach the class which Mr. Telfer wished to get hold of the working Borderers, and the young men and women coming from the Borders to Edinburgh, and in 1874 he brought about the formation of the Edinburgh Borderers' Unionnow a flourishing Association with upwards of 800 members. Although the Founder of the Union, Mr. Telfer, with native modesty, was pleased to hold a subordinate position in the management until 1893, when he was unanimously and enthusiastically elected President. As President, he has instituted a Juvenile Prize Scheme to encourage young Borderers to read and study Border Literature, and otherwise to foster an interest in Border History and Traditions. He has also established reading-rooms for the members, which are open every night all the year round, and in other ways done much to strengthen the position of the Union, over which he has kept a watchful eye since its formation. The objects of the Union, shortly stated, are the promotion of the welfare and happiness, spiritual and temporal, of fellow Borderers; and Mr. John Boyd of Maxpoffle, his predecessor in the chair, in proposing Mr. Telfer as President, said that the idea represented by the Union had been strikingly exemplified in Mr. Telfer's own life. As President of the

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every promise of being the worthy son of a worthy sire. Miss Telfer gives willing assist

ance to her father in Sabbath school and other philanthropic work, and being an accomplished vocalist as well as instrumentalist, her services are often required, and are always cheerfully given.

During the last year or two, Mr. Telfer has required to be somewhat more careful of his health, but as yet his snowy locks are the only visible symptoms of advancing age. His figure is still as erect and his step as light and buoyant as in the days of youth. A life of activity and

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Jas. Crighton, Edinburgh.

usefulness, of regular and abstemious habits, gives promise of a green old age, and it is the hope of his many friends that he may be long spared to work for the benefit of his fellow-men.

By persevering and conscientious attention to business, and the diligent use of his great natural abilities, Mr. Telfer has, through his own unaided exertions and force of character, risen to his present honourable position, and his example is one which must prove stimulating and encouraging in the highest degree to all young Borderers, and indeed to all young men.

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arranged between England and Scotland. For ten years the dwellers on either side the Border enjoyed comparative quiet, laying aside their weapons of war and applying themselves to more profitable pursuits. To the more restless Border chiefs, however, peace became irksome. At intervals between the renewals of the truce there had been quarrels and bloodshed, till, at length, the terms of peace were utterly disregarded.

During an invasion of England by a Scottish force of four hundred, a battle took place at Nisbet Moor, in which the Scots were defeated. It was with a view to revenge the loss sustained at Nisbet that, three months later, the Scots undertook a second invasion of England, which resulted in the fight at Homildon Hill. In that year, 1402, while Henry IV. was occupied

in the suppression of a Welsh rebellion under Glendower, an opportunity was afforded Douglas of paying off scores with the victors of Nisbet Moor. He collected his whole strength, and, being joined by Murdoch, eldest son of the Duke of Albany, governor of Scotland, the united force amounted to ten thousand men. This force embraced the greater part of the chivalry of Scotland, and such powerful Border chiefs as the Earls of Moray and Angus, Fergus Macdowall, with a considerable force of half-armed Galwegians, the heads of the noble houses of Erskine, Graham, Montgomery, Seton, Sinclair, Lesley, the Stewarts of Angus, Lorne and Durisdeer. With this army, confident in his own strength, and inspired with the memory of Otterburn, Douglas pushed on without opposition to the gates of Newcastle, plundering and laying waste the country as he went. The fate of his own relative, 14 years previously, doubtless nerved him to still greater exertion.

Although the English king was not able himself to repel the invasion, he had taken precautions to leave the protection of the northern counties

in able hands. The veteran Earl of Northumberland and his son Hotspur kept a close watch on the Scottish raiders. The Scottish Earl of March, who had renounced his fealty to the king of Scotland, and become a subject of England, transferring at the same time his military influence and power to the cause of Southern aggression, joined the Percys. It was probably by the sagacious counsel of March, that Douglas was permitted to march unmolested through Northumberland. He was thrown off his guard, and thus led to believe that there was no sufficient force willing to cope with his own, or able to stop his progress. Thus it was that, over confident in his own strength, Douglas had probably become somewhat careless, using no precaution to avoid a collision with the powerful Earl of Northumberland, and his bitter personal enemy the Earl of March.

Loaded with an immense quantity of spoil, the Scots slowly and incautiously (marching though they were through an enemy's country), returned homeward. They had reached Wooler and struck their camp near by, when intelligence reached them that Hotspur, with a strong force, held the pass which lay directly in the line of the Scottish army on their way home. The English leader had kept a watchful eye on the marauders, and only waited a favourable opportunity to attack them. Even while the Scots were preparing to bivouac on English soil with about as much coolness and self-possession as if they had been at home, flanked and protected by their native mountains, Hotspur was advancing to meet them. At once, on perceiving the English host, Douglas drew up his army in a deep square on Homildon Hill, an eminence in the neighbourhood of Wooler. The position was an excellent one, and only required good generalship to turn the conflict into glorious victory, instead of mad rout and wholesale slaughter. Douglas,

from his high vantage ground, saw the movements of the English army. He had abundant opportunity to check their progress as they advanced in the direction of another and higher eminence opposite that of Homildon. Had he chosen to direct his light cavalry, with the large force of Scottish knights and squires, to attack the English host on the lower ground before they had time to reach their strong position, in all probability the first charge would have decided the fortunes of the day in favour of the Scots. Instead of this, Hotspur was permitted to reach the height and arrange his army in regular order without opposition. Another, and not less serious blunder on the part of Douglas tended largely to the discomfiture of the Scottish army. On Homildon Hill he arranged his men

into one dense column. Now it is well knownno one knew better than Douglas himself—that the most fatal foe of the Scots, in almost all their encounters, was the English longbow. To allow the English archers to play upon an army, densely packed and crowded as were the Scots on Homildon Hill, simply meant the nearest approach to utter extermination. It has been said that the Scots were so closely wedged together that a breath of air could scarcely penetrate their files. Thus it was, that almost every English shaft, aimed with skilful precision, could hardly fail to take effect.

The two armies stood facing each other on eminences about a mile apart. Hotspur, always precipitate an example of which we have already had in his action at Otterburn-was about to charge the Scots in person, accompanied by his men-at-arms. The Earl of March here exercised a wise restraint. No one knew better than he the strength and deadly effect of the English longbow. He rapidly approached the English leader, seized his horse's reins, remonstrated with him, and pointed out the opportunity he was about to throw away. To charge the Scots they must first descend to the lower ground, and then climb the hill on which their opponents were strongly posted. This, as March observed, would place them at a very great disadvantage. Breathless and tired with climbing the steep ascent, they could not hope to break the Scottish ranks. He thus prevailed upon Hotspur to allow the archers to make the first charge. This they did with what effect the Scottish host knew to their bitter cost. Slowly advancing down the hill, they poured their volleys "as thick as hail upon the Scots." The Scottish light armour was not proof against the cloth yard shafts of England. That worn by the greater number of Douglas's men consisted of a steel cap, and a thin jack or breastplate; while others wore nothing more than the leather acton or quilted coat. This latter especially afforded but a feeble defence against such deadly missiles.

It is a disputed point whether there were any Scottish archers at all to offer any resistance. Several historians make no mention whatever of these. We know at any rate that, in the Scottish army, this was always a weak point, and that when pitted against the English longbow, they could offer but a feeble resistance. Even the armour worn by the knights and squires was unable to withstand the force of the deadly shaft; the more so as the English advanced nearer, and were thus able to take more level and precise aim. As the unequal combat continued, confusion and panic began to show themselves in the Scottish ranks. Many of the bravest

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