2110-6-1-6

[G.S.C. Swinton]

45, Sussex Gardens, W.2. Paddington 5977.

8th June 1932

My dear Buchan

Of course I hope that you will keep it, and put it away in the drawer in which you probably accumulate odds & ends of Scottish history.

Perhaps, some day, you may light on more scraps about this man which might be added with advantage. My W.S. notes of the last twelve years show that, since I wrote the thing originally, I have chanced on such other fragments, but it was of course Armitage Smiths' writings on John of Gaunt which originally pulled everything together for me.

So far as strength of arm went my old man was evidently "a hell of a fellow", and I am justified in pointing out that it was not 'a dead Douglas' but his very-much-alive step-father who won Otterburn- a notable instance of what one man in armour could sometimes do in mediæval warfare.

It is a pity that Froissart mixed up Mar & March, also that Scott, after intending to write about Otterburn, switched off onto Homildon, and then called it "Holidon" and christened the man "Alan"; queering the pitch all round!

In Scotland, unfortunately, we possess so very little contemporary historical record of these early days that everything we can dig out should always be put in print.

Yours sincerely,

George S. C. Swinton