This week's feature comes from Ted McKie, of Innerleithen Community Trust

George Hope Tait

George Hope Tait was born in Innerleithen in 1861. He was deeply influenced by the area as he grew up, particularly by Traquair House, which he visited frequently when his uncle was butler there. He developed a great interest in Borders history and in its interpretation in literature and art. This love of the Borders is marked by the creation of several memorials, most notably to Robert Burns, Walter Scott and George Meikle Kemp.

George Hope Tait went to Galashiels as a young man and entered the service of Milroy & Son, painters, before going into partnership with his brother to form the well-known firm of Tait Brothers. His skills as a decorator developed over the years. In 1903 he was awarded the first prize for the best decorative panel by Master Painter in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In 1913 he entered Galashiels Town Council and served on it for over 29 years. He was closely identified with the constitution of the Braw Lads Gathering in 1930, the erection of the War Memorial and the new Burgh Chambers in Galashiels.

George Hope Tait married Catherine Riach of Duddingston in 1897 and they had five daughters. His name appeared in Who’s Who in 1921, Principal Poets of the World, 1938, and Who Was Who 1941 – 1950. He died in 1943.

It was George Hope Tait who, in 1897, designed the original Burgh Arms of Innerleithen as well as the St Ronan’s Border Games Banner. It was only natural, then, that he was later to head the steering group, which included William Sanderson (the Tweedside Laddie) and John A Anderson, to design the format for the Cleikum Ceremonies. As well as scripting the legend, it was George Hope Tait who applied his skilled hand crafted the effigy of the De’il, the Cleikum Crozier and the Cleikum Chair.

The Cleikum cast of characters in his illustration (see photo), which is in the care of Tweeddale Museums, will be instantly recognisable to Innerleithen folk.

John Miller CE

John Miller was born in Ayr in 1805 and received his elementary education in the town’s Academy. At age 17 he decided he would become a civil engineer. After some years’ study he moved to Edinburgh in 1823 where he joined the civil engineering firm of Thomas Grainger CE, becoming a full partner by the age of 20 in 1825.

Grainger and Miller were heavily involved with the construction of the rapidly expanding railway network in Scotland – the line from Edinburgh to Berwick on Tweed was built under Miller’s supervision. The viaducts at Dunglass near Cockburnspath and at Almondvale on the Edinburgh to Glasgow railway and at Lugar in Ayrshire are lasting testaments to his skill as a civil engineer. He retired as a full-time civil engineer in 1850 at the age of 45.

John Miller married Isabella Ogilvie in 1834. His only son died in his 20s while on military service but the family name was continued by his son-in-law, George Miller-Cunningham. In 1852 he bought the 13,000 acre estate of Leithenhopes for £57,000 and replaced the gamekeeper’s cottage within yards of Leithen Water with Leithen Lodge.

He served as MP for the city of Edinburgh from 1865 to 1874 and took a keen interest in the Parish of Innerleithen, serving on the school board with oversight on Innerleithen, Walkerburn and Leithenhopes schools. A member of the Free Church of Scotland, in 1865 he chaired a committee of local landowners and businessmen convened to select the architect for the new parish church, his proposal to support F W Pilkington’s quirky design being carried by 16 votes John Miller died in 1883.

Leithen Lodge was enlarged and improved in 1887 by George Miller-Cunningham. The stylish house with its first-floor conservatory overlooking Leithen Water was built of harled whinstone with freestone facings and roofed with red tiles. Decorated in the style of the arts and crafts movements it was provided with electric power (generator) from the start. It was bought by the Earl of Roseberry after World War II as a shooting lodge. Afterwards the building gradually deteriorated until the 1980s when it was fully restored.