New musical tells story of landmark Scottish slavery ruling

The Herald Scotland

3 days ago

Reid, the plaintiff, was a travelling showman who had purchased the girl from her mother for £30.
When the 'Tumbling Lassie' ran away and sought refuge with a family in the Borders he attempted to sue for damages based on lost revenue from not having her perform on his stage.
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However, the Court of Session in Edinburgh ultimately ruled against him, with the only surviving report of the case containing the line: "But we have no slaves in Scotland, and mothers cannot sell their bairns..."
A musical, The Tumbling Lassie, by Ayrshire-based Theatre Alliance, will bring the story to life in Glasgow on August 30 and 31.
Marlisa Ross, director of the musical, told The Herald on Sunday: "It's not a very widely-known story.
'It's the first time in Scottish legal history where the court made the decision, and the statement, that slavery is not a concept in Scotland: 'we have no slaves in Scotland and mothers cannot sell their bairns' is the key line, slavery in Scotland was outlawed from that moment on.
'It was decades before the same thing happened in the English court system, so it's quite a remarkable case.
The case of the 'Tumbling Lassie' set a precedent (Image: Martin Clark) 'We're talking about late 17th Century when thousands of women were being burned for witchcraft so for the legal system to take this one wee girl and make a statement against slavery is remarkable."
Remarkable it may have been, but it didn't suddenly stop the enslavement of human beings.
Scotland, and Glasgow in particular, became wealthy on the backs of slavers like Andrew Buchanan and Archibald Ingram, whose names along with those of places they exploited such as Kingston, Jamaica and Virginia are immortalised in the city's streets.
Nor is slavery ancient history, with an estimated 50 million people living in situations of modern slavery on any given day around the world, including an estimated more than 100,000 in the UK of whom only 10% are ever recovered.
Ms Ross says: "What drew me to the story is that while we have that statement legally, in reality it's not the case – to this day there are still many slaves in Scotland.
'Having connected with people like SOHTIS (Survivors of Human Trafficking in Scotland) and the Tumbling Lassie committee you see that human trafficking is still very much hidden in plain sight in Scotland, it's much more prevalent than anyone knows.
'My main interest in telling the story was really to highlight that.
"You think about how prevalent it was at the time and the whole concept of ownership at the time, so it's remarkable that the statement was made in court – but just because something is illegal doesn't mean it doesn't happen, unfortunately.
'That's certainly not the history that Scotland has had, even if it's a wonderful patriotic statement."
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Other than the landmark ruling, historical details about the figures involved are scant.
As such, the story of the musical had to be largely imagined.
Ms Ross explains: "All we know is that this girl was called 'The Tumbling Lassie', we don't know her real name and we can't find out anything about what happened to her next – she is forever lost to history, we will only ever know her as the Tumbling Lassie.
The Tumbling Lassie (Image: Martin Clark) 'So through the story we've created a whole life and context for her – what was her life before? What was her life like with Mr Reid?
'But we've also focused on all the other people who were part of that troupe, those who didn't get their freedom: what happened to those who remained?
"It's about trying to see the story from the Tumbling Lassie's perspective.
'It's all set around the concept of a travelling show, so it's a group of circus performers who are telling the story of the wee girl and Mr Reid.
'It's a musical, so we've used that to communicate the emotion of the narrative.
"It's quite a challenging piece, because the story of the Tumbling Lassie is such a victory but it's important we see it in context.
"We've created an epilogue which takes the initial court statements and disproves them by giving modern examples in a way that provides a bit of a call to action and highlights the signs people should be looking for when it comes to human trafficking in Scotland.
'The selling of humans is the fastest growing illegal industry in the world, and a third of those recovered in Scotland are children.'
The Tumbling Lassie is at the New Athenaeum Theatre, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on August 30 and 31. Tickets are available here.