Scottish People Who Became Famous

The Scottish have contributed to almost every aspect of our lives. Many have become well known. Some were born in Scotland and others in the U.S. All have given us enjoyment, security, convenience, products, or information.

Actors & Actresses

“Bond, James Bond…”	Charleton Heston

• Warren Beatty (MacLaine)
• Ava Gardner
• Judy Garland
• Greer Garson
• Katherine Hepburn
• Alan Ladd
• Robert Mitchum

Marilyn Monroe	John Wayne	Shirley MacLaine

• Robert Redford
• Cliff Robertson
• Jayne Russell
• George C. Scott
• Jimmie Stewart
• Elizabeth Taylor

Keifer Sutherland ~ image courtesy wikipedia.com

Reese Witherspoon ~ image courtesy wikipedia.com

Vin claims the Sinclair clan as his ancestors At the 2003 MTV awards in Edinburgh, Vin made international headlines when wore a black leather kilt ~ Image courtesy wikipedia.com

Great Scots in Africa

• In 1770 James Bruce, a wine merchant from Stirlingshire, found the source of the Blue Nile River
• In 1796 Mungo Park first European to see upper reaches of the Niger River in Gambia.
• In 1823, Hugh Clapperton and the Englishman Dixon Denham first Europeans to cross the Sahara Desert
• In 1826, Alexander Gordon Laing, of Edinburgh, was the first European to achieve Timbuktu. He was slain 2 days later
• In 1862 James Grant & John Speke an Englishman, discovered and named Lake Victoria, the principal source of the Nile River
• In the 1850’s, David Livingstone, discovered Victoria Falls, Zambesi River & Lake Nyasa

Athletes with Scottish Roots

• American Baseball ~ Ty Cobb, Don Drysdale, Catfish Hunter, Harmon Killebrew, and Cy Young
• Hockey ~ Bobbie Orr
• Auto Racing ~ Jackie Stewart and David Coulthard

David Coulthard races for Team McLaren Mercedes of the UK ~ Image courtesy wikipedia.com

Lance Armstrong Bicyclist Tour de France 7 time winner 1999-2005 Image courtesy wikipedia.com

Scottish Authors

• Robert Burns ~ one of history’s greatest poets
• Michael Crichton ~ Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ~ Sherlock Holmes
• Ian Fleming ~ James Bond series, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
• Kenneth Graham ~ The Wind In the Willows
• Rudyard Kipling ~ Kim, Jungle Book

Sir James Barrie Author Peter Pan with Tinker Bell Windy Captain Hook The Lost Boys Never Neverland ~ Image courtesy wikipedia.com

• J.K. Rawlings ~ the Harry Potter series
• Sir Walter Scott ~ the Waverley novels
• Robert Lewis Stevenson ~ Treasure Island, Kidnapped, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Brand Names

Well known companies founded by men of Scottish ancestry ~

• Armour and Company ~ the largest meat packer in the world
• Black and Decker Tools
• Cannon towels
• IBM
• Lenox china

Keiller’s Marmalade ~ begun when a grocer bought a distressed cargo of Seville oranges in Dundee harbor in 1797. If you like ginger and haven’t tried their ginger marmalade, it’s wonderful.

• Liggett-Rexall Drugs
• Lipton Tea ~ the founder was born in Glasgow
• Rose’s Lime Juice

• Simmons Mattresses
• McKesson and Robbins Pharmaceuticals
• Thom McAn Shoes

David Jack, a Scotsman who joined the California gold rush, has become a household word. He didn’t do so well in the gold fields, so he settled in Monterey and developed a cheese called Monterey Jack.

Businessmen

The Scottish are well known for their astute business sense.

• In 1694, William Paterson founded the Bank of England.
• Andrew Carnegie ~ steel magnate, the greatest philanthropist of all times, died the richest man in the world.
• Dale Carnegie ~ author of How To Win Friends and Influence People.
• Malcolm Forbes ~ founder of Forbes magazine.
• John Kenneth Galbraith ~ economist and author.
• J. Paul Getty ~ oilman. His mother’s ancestors fled Scotland after Culloden. The family founded Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
• Malcolm McLean ~ inventor of containerized shipping and McLean Trucking.
• Andrew Mellon ~ Gulf Oil and Alcoa.

Donald Trump ~ Scottish mother The Apprentice Trump Towers Taj Mahal at Atlantic City ~ Image courtesy wikipedia.com

Educators whose Parents were Scottish

The Scottish contributed greatly to our education system.

• William Holmes McGuffey (1800-1873) author of the McGuffey Readers, which improved the American education system.

  In use for over 120 years, only The Bible has outsold them. In their first 75 years they sold over 122,000,000 copies.

• While less than one-half of 1% of the world’s population, 11% of all Nobel prizes have been awarded to Scotsmen.

• The world’s first university faculty of engineering and technical science was in Glasgow.

Scottish Explorers

• In 1812, the Oregon Trail, from Missouri to the Pacific Ocean, was first traversed by Robert Fulton.
• In 1823, David Douglas traveled to the West Coast, where he discovered over 100 plants and 50 trees, one of which bears his name ~ the Douglas fir.
• In 1831, Sir James Clark Ross discovered the Magnetic North Pole.
• In 1848, James Wilson Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill, creating the California Gold Rush.
• 1933 Douglas Douglas-Hamilton and David McIntyre were the first to fly over Mt Everest. David McIntyre later founded the national airlines of Iceland, Belgium, Greece, and Luxembourg.

William Forsyth (1737 - 1804) Scottish botanist Royal head gardener Founding member Royal Horticultural Society ~ Forsythia named in his honor ~ Image courtesy wikipedia.com

Inventions by the Scottish

The men of Scotland and their Scottish American descendants were great inventors.

• In 1497, the Scots invented the game of Golf, by adding the hole to stick-ball games.
• John Napier (1550-1617) invented logarithms and the decimal notation.
• Branch banking was attempted by The Bank of Scotland in the 1690’s and the 1730’s. The British Linen Company succeeded in 1746. The Bank of Scotland succeeded in the 1770’s.
• A Scot invented suspenders.

Inventions of the American Revolution

• James Watt started the Industrial Revolutions with the first efficient steam engine in 1769, which Robert Fulton needed to improve the Steamboat.
• In 1776, Captain Patrick Ferguson invented the breech loading rifle.

Steamboats and The London Bridge Built by the Scottish

Robert Fulton “Quick Silver Bob” Inventor ~ In 1800 developed first modern submarine, “Nautilus” exhibited on the Seine River in Paris for Napoleon ~ Image courtesy wikipedia.com

• In 1824, Scottish engineer John Rennie, designed the London Bridge.

Postage Stamps, Bicycles, and Morse Code

In 1837, John Chalmers Invented the adhesive postage stamp ~ Image courtesy wikipedia.com

• Around 1839, Kirkpatrick MacMillan invented the bicycle.
• On May 24, 1844, Samuel Morse inventor of the Morse code, sent his first message, "What hath God wrought?"

Stirling Engines, Cable Cars, Seeds, and Fingerprints

• In 1850, Robert Stirling invented the Stirling engine.
• In 1873, Andrew Halladie introduced his San Francisco cable cars, which are a landmark of San Francisco.

In 1876 W. Altee Burpee founded the Burpee Seed Company which is still in business today ~ Image courtesy wikipedia.com

• In 1880, Henry Faulds pioneered the use of fingerprints for criminal identification.

Tires, Buicks, Television, and Penicillin

• In 1887, John Dunlop, a veterinarian by training, invented the car tire.

In 1902 David Buick began manufacturing the Buick automobile with an innovative valve-in-head engine ~ His father, Alexander, invented the process used to bind white porcelain to cast iron bathtubs ~ Image courtesy wikipedia.com

• In 1926, John Logie Baird invented the Television.

• In 1945, Sir Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin.

Chewing Gum

In 1869, Santa Anna was living in exile in New Jersey. He told Thomas Adams about chicle from the sapodilla tree. Adams, an inventor, tried to make an imitation rubber and failed.

Having seen Santa Anna chewing on chicle, Adams added mint flavoring and tried chewing it. This became Adams Chewing Gum, with Black Jack and Clove becoming their most popular flavors. Today their fruit flavor is most popular.

Image courtesy wikipedia.com

Ministers

	Eric Liddell ~ ‘The Flying Scotsman’ A 1924 Olympic runner, immortalized in the movie Chariots of Fire. Known for his refusal to run on Sunday, in later life he chose to referee Sunday soccer matches for children who were getting into trouble on Sunday afternoons.
Born of missionary parents in China, Eric returned to China as a missionary. He died in 1945, while Interred in a Japanese Prison camp. ~ The movie poster and this scene from the movie, were shot on the beach at St. Andrew's Golf Course in Scotland. ~ Images courtesy wikipedia.com

• Dr. Peter Marshall ~ introduced the ‘Kirking of the Tartans’ ceremony in 1941. He was Chaplain of the U.S. Senate from 1947 until his death in 1949.

  His wife, Catherine Marshall, is a well-known author. Though her maiden name was Wood, the fact that her father was a Presbyterian minister, implies she was also of Scottish extraction.

  Widowed at 35, Catherine began her writing career and authored 22 works. The best known are A Man Called Peter, a biography of her famous husband, and Christy, a novel about a schoolteacher in The Appalachia Mountains.

  Their son, Professor Peter Marshall, is a Presbyterian minister and college professor. He co-authored of The Light and The Glory and From Sea To Shining Sea.

  These non-fiction books chronicle the history of the United States from Columbus. Using historical letters and reports, the books tell of our country, it’s founding, and growth from a Christian perspective.

• Reverend Billy Graham was born in 1918. He has preached to more people worldwide than an other evangelist, ever. Billy Graham is called America’s Pastor and has sworn in seven U.S. Presidents.

Painters

• Grandma Moses, Anna Mary Robertson Moses ~ a painter of folkart rural scenes. Wife of a farmer, began her painting career at 76, when she had to give up embroidery.
• Jackson Pollack (1912-1956), America’s most influential expressionist.

James Abbott MacNeill Whistler (1834-1903) his famous portrait of his mother hangs in the Louvre Art Museum ~ Image courtesy wikipedia.com

American Scottish Philanthropists

In 1993, thirteen of the twenty-one largest charitable foundations in the U.S. had been started by Scottish Americans.

• Andrew Carnegie ~ steel magnate
• Doris Duke ~ daughter of James B. Duke
• James Buchanan Duke ~ tobacco, hydroelectricity, textiles, Duke University
• J. Paul Getty ~ oilman
• W. K. Kellogg ~ of cereal fame.
• John D. MacArthur ~ Bankers Life & Casualty
• William L. McKnight ~ 3M Scotch Tape
• Richard King Mellon ~ Pittsburgh banking
• Charles Stewart Mott ~ General Motors
• John Davison Rockefeller ~ oilman, mother a Davison
• De Witt Wallace ~ Readers Digest
• Lila Acheson Wallace ~ Readers Digest

Singers with Scottish Blood

• Joan Baez ~ Mexican-Scots
• The BeeGees & Andy Gibb
• Glen Campbell

Johnnie Cash claimed that his line came down from Ada of Huntingdon, the sister of Malcom IV and wife of Floris III, Count of Holland, who was descended from Dub of Scotland, the first King of Scotland. ~ Image courtesty wikipedia.com

• Donovan
• Sheena Easton
• Judy Garland
• Woodie Gutherie
• Arlo Gutherie
• Sir Harry Lauder ~ Vaudevillian
• Don McLean
• Bill Monroe
• Anne Murray

Elvis Presley (1935-1977) ~ the King Image courtesy wikipedia.com

• Rod Stewart
• Dame Joan Sutherland ~ of Australian Scots ancestry. She sang in concerts, oratorios and broadcasts throughout Australia.
• James Taylor

Song Writers

• Hoagie Carmichael ~ Stardust, Georgia On My Mind
• Johnnie Mercer ~ Moon River, Blues in the Night, That Old Black Magic, Autumn Leaves

Scottish Statesmen

• Thomas Blake Glover ~ one of the founding fathers of modern Japan.
• Major General Lachlan MacQuarie ~ known as the Father of Australia.
• Winston Churchhill, Charles deGaulle, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, the leaders of the Allied Forces in World War II, all had Scottish ancestors.

Women

Scottish American Women

• Elizabeth Arden ~ a Canadian Scot who built an empire in women’s cosmetics from her first salon, opened in New York City in 1907.
• Julia Child ~ famous television chef whose programs brought French cuisine to the American masses.
• Martha Graham ~ dancer and choreographer, Modern American Dance.

Princess Victoria Kaiulani ~ heir-apparent to the throne of Hawaii, her life was spent being groomed to be the future Queen of Hawaii. Her father was a Scot. ~ Image courtesy wikipedia.com

• Juliette Gordon Low ~ founder of the Girl Scouts in the United States.
• Mary Lyon ~ began teaching school in 1814, became the first woman principal in America.
• Martha Bulloch Roosevelt ~ wife of President Teddy Roosevelt.
• Elizabeth Wallace Truman ~ wife of President Harry Truman.

Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe 1948 –1986) Chosen from 11,000 applicants, she was the first teacher in space ~ Died in the Space Shuttle “Challenger” disaster. Of Scots-Ulster parentage. ~ Image courtesy wikipedia.com

The Mary’s of Scotland

Mary of Guise ~ the Queen Consort of James V of Scotland and regent for her daughter, Mary Queen of Scots.

Mary Queen of Scots ~ whose life was one of the great tragedies of history.

Image courtesy wikipedia.com

The Four Marys ~ young ladies, closely connected with the Royal House of Stewart, who were chosen by Mary of Guise to be companions to her daughter, Mary, the future Queen of Scotland.

Mary Seton ~ the only one of the Maries not to marry, she remained in service to the queen and shared her captivity in England for 15 years.

Mary Beaton ~ called Beaton because it rhymed with Seton.

Mary Fleming ~ along with Mary Queen of Scots, the granddaughter of James IV.

Mary Livingstone ~ a very robust and athletic girl, whome the others called Lust. Her father was one of Mary Stuart's guardians and sailed with her to France.

Scottish Women

Rhona Martin ~ team leader of Scotland's gold medal Curling team at the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics ~ Image courtesy wikipedia.com

• Lady MacBeth
• Winifred Maxwell, Countess of Nithsdale, who followed her husband, James II into exile, then delivered him from the Tower of London in 1716.
• Elizabeth Mure, the first wife, but not the queen, of Robert II.
• Euphemia Ross, the second wife and only queen of Robert II.
• Mary Fairfax Greig Sommerville ~ one of the leading minds in mathematics and physical science.
• Margaret Tudor ~ first daughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. She married James IV of Scotland on 8 August, 1503, at Holyrood House.

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