From Montrose to Medicine Hat

There cannot be many RSCDS members who can claim that their great grandfather taught Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and that they themselves have partnered the Queen in the Gay Gordons. John Bertram of Medicine Hat Branch has that distinction!

John and Janyn Bertram

John Bertram now lives in Calgary, but he was born in Edinburgh. His family roots, however, are in Montrose on the east coast of Scotland. His great grandfather was George Barclay Hadden (1843-1920), a famous Montrose ‘teacher of dancing and deportment’, but also a poet and fiddle teacher. He taught in Montrose, Fordoun, Bervie, and Fettercairn. In those days dance teachers held an end of term ‘Finishing Assembly and Ball’. Mr Hadden’s assemblies were reported annually in newspapers from Dundee to Aberdeen.

First royal connection

George Hadden’s portrait used to hang in Glamis Castle, childhood home of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. He was in the long tradition of ‘dancies’, who taught both ordinary people in small village halls and the gentry in their grand country houses. He is said to have taught the Queen Mother when she was a girl. Two of the best known dancies were Dancie Neill, and Dancie Reid who taught in the early years of Summer School.

Popular poet

Mr Hadden’s poems were regularly published in the Dundee Courier and the Montrose, Arbroath and Brechin Review. Books of his verse in Scots and English were published locally. His nickname was Toll of Tayock. His sketches of local life, written under the pseudonym Samuel Codback, were popular throughout Scotland.

A Letter to Robert Burns

On 3 January 1879 The Dundee Courier reported that Mr G B Hadden ‘sang in brilliant strains, of the pig-rearing perfections of the inhabitants of St Cyrus’, a village just north of Montrose. He clearly felt himself able to address Robert Burns as a fellow poet. Here is the first verse of his Letter to Rabbie Burns:

Dear Rabbie, lad, I tak’ my pen To dae my best to lat you ken O’ a’ the changes that ha’s been Sin’ you left this earthly scene. If ye were here an ’oor or twa, Ye’d scarce believe the things ye saw: A few o’ them to you I’ll mention If ye will gie me your attention. Weel, first o’ a’, there’s a machine That’s driven by the power o’ steam; There’s roads for it laid sooth an’ north, An’ brigs for it ower Tay an’ Forth; It goes as fast’s the swallow’s flicht –Just like the deevil in munelicht; If to London noo ane wants to ga’e They can get there in hauf a day. They tell me, Rab, that in your time It took aucht days, an’ sometimes nine!

Early life and emigration

John’s father, a drummer in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, met his mother at a dance arranged for the soldiers at Redford Barracks in Edinburgh. After WW2 the family moved to Galashiels, his father playing in a country dance band. Jobs were scarce in Scotland in the early 50s. With relations in Australia and an aunt in Medicine Hat, his parents tossed a coin and it came up Canada. They landed there on 28 June 1953 when John was 10 years old.

Glamis Castle

courtesy of Fotosearch UK

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, her brother, and Dancie Neill

Whisky from Her Majesty

John joined the Canadian Army as a boy soldier at 16, serving in Europe, the Middle East, and Canada. He was transferred to The Black Watch of Canada. While in Germany the regiment took part in concerts and parades. As they were preparing to return to Canada, a call came in to play at a garden party in Cologne for the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh. After the gig they were told that they couldn’t leave as the Queen wished to address them. She presented each of them with an autographed bottle of Scotch!

Dancing with the Queen

One summer, after playing at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, they were invited to Balmoral Castle for the Gillies Ball. It was a wonderful occasion. The Drum Major was asked if anyone could dance and John was nominated. He didn’t know until the last minute that he would be dancing The Gay Gordons with Her Majesty.

A family tradition

To cut a long story short, John ended up teaching some folk from The South Alberta Caledonian Society, which was how the Medicine Hat Scottish Country Dance Group began. They had no teachers in the Hat so he and his wife, Janyn, decided to qualify. In 1985 they moved to Calgary and became involved with various groups before starting their own. They have never stopped teaching or dancing. They currently teach three evenings a week. Little did George Hadden know that his great grandson would be teaching Scottish country dancing in Alberta in 2020 – the 100th anniversary of his death!