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From: "Mike Clouston" <>
Subject: [ORKNEY] Sir John Login
Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2000 21:38:42 -0000


Hi,

Clever me, I went an wiped all my messages instead of saving them!
Somebody was asking about Sir John Login.
Login is not an Orcadian surname that I've ever come across except in
connection with Login's Well in my home town of Stromness which was used in
former days to fill the water barrels of visiting ships. There's a stone
beside the well, a bit like a gravestone, on which there is the following
inscription:-

"There watered here the Hudson Bay Coy's ships 1670-1891
Captain Cook's vessels Resolution and Discovery 1780
Sir John Franklin's ships Erebus and Terror on Arctic Exploration 1845
Also the merchant vessels of former days.
Well sealed up 1931."

Across the street are a pair of "double houses" one of which was Login's
Inn.

The following is taken from the book "Sea Haven - Stromness in the Orkney
Isles"

"Login's Inn
"...a pianoforte in the next room, separated from mine only by boards, was
touched by a practised hand. I had expected, in these remote and storm beat
isles, to meet nothing but rude words and ruder men, but here was the luxury
of music provided for my entertainment as if by the wand of a fairy."
Taken from "Excursions through the Highlands and Islands of Scotland in 1835
& 1836 by Rev. C. Lessingham Smith.

The article continues:-
"This traveller (Lessingham Smith) had experienced the delights of Login's
Inn, which early last century catered for ships' officers and passengers.
The owner, Margaret Login, also ran her late husband's shipping and whaling
interests from the Gothic-windowed office on the pier.
The Logins' eldest son John was a born leader and "lad o' pairts". Another
son, William, recalled his brother's activities while home from medical
studies in Edinburgh: "I remember how he busied himself in improving the
streets of our town: there were no rates available for the purpose, so he
went about collecting subscriptions... He hired labourers to carry out his
ideas... when the pinch came, [he] often lent a hand himself... A few weeks
before he left home for the last time a terrific storm broke over the North
of Scotland... Our harbour was full of ships... and the havoc among the
boats and jetties was terrible... he roused all the pilots and boatmen, and
compelled them to follow his leadership in defending the piers and jetties
against the ships that were driven against them..."

"John Login's wife later recalled the farewell party arranged at the Inn on
the eve of his departure for India in 1831: "All the bigwigs of their little
community were there - doctors, lawyers, baillies, ship captains, the old
parish minister and his assistant, all much impressed with the dignity
incumbent upon their positions, and the sedate gravity which it behoved them
as elders, to maintain on an occasion so appropriate for parting words of
counsel and admonition to a young friend about to be launched in life.
Scenting some intention of the sort in the air, Login electrified the
company by proposing that all, young and old, should join in a game of
"blind-man's buff"! Spite of all protests, he carried his point; and the
"guid folk" of Stromness had presented to their astonished view the unusual
spectacle of all those 'grave and potent seigniors' tearing about in a state
of the wildest excitement, like school-boys broken loose!"

"Serving as a surgeon in India, John Login was appointed guardian of the boy
maharaja Duleep Singh of Lahore, and was knighted for his services by Queen
Victoria."

Historical extracts from "Sir John Login and Duleep Singh" by Lady Login,
1890.

Hope this has been of some help.

Mike Clouston.

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