Ballater & crathie Community magazine - Ballater Community

Charles Davidson – TheBallater Poetby Sheila Sedgwick51Approximately a year ago, Peggy Frasercontacted the Eagle and forwarded a copy of apoem written around 1910 by Charles Davidsonabout the shops and shopkeepers in Ballater. Thepoem was extracted from the book “Deeside Lyrics”and was reproduced in our Christmas issue,as Peggy felt that current residents of Ballatermight be interested to read of the shops andshopkeepers of the village of yesteryear. Therefollows an article by Sheila Sedgwick giving somedetail of Charles, the Ballater Poet.Charles Davidson, a well known characterin Ballater, lived with his wife in Albert Road.Little is known of his early life, but it would havebeen similar to that of any young lad in Ballaterat that time - a smattering of education and anearly start on a job to help to support the rest ofthe family.Like most of the male members of the family,Charlie was a keen Freemason. He was alsovery musical and was in demand for many localmusical events. However, his real interest wasin writing poetry – not necessarily of the statusof Byron who wrote of the beauties of the areaand of “Dark Lochnagar”, but of local eventsand Ballater’s residents, - always with a touch ofhumour. Charles Davidson was a mild man, ofquiet speech and popular in the village. Usuallyhe behaved impeccably.On one occasion Charlie’s mild mannerleft him and he appeared in a different light. Hedid not always take to “foreigners” and when ona rare occasion he felt he had been “affronted”he did not mince his words.The Tsar, related by marriage to QueenVictoria, came for a visit to Balmoral. The StationSquare, extra wide to allow for horsesand carriages and for parades of welcoming troops,was the usual reception base before the carriagesdrove to Balmoral. Charlie was well used to potentatesarriving and to handling their quantitiesof baggage. However, when he had to deal withthe Tsar’s arrival in 1896, the Russian languageand the mountains of luggage were too muchfor him on a pouring wet day. Charlie put some‘immediately needed’ luggage in a waiting horsedrawnvehicle. He ignored, or deliberately didnot hear incomprehensible shouts by a Cossackwho obviously wanted this luggage elsewhere.The Cossack, in a strange environment, gettingwetter every minute, lost his temper with a manwho, to him, was an inferior, stupid Aberdeenshirepeasant. He was about to hit Charlie withhis stick. “Stop” yelled Charlie at the top of hisvoice, “That’s maybe a’ richt in Russia, bit itwinna work in Ballater”. An ugly situation wasdeveloping. Locals were lining up on Charlie’sside when a Russian security man stepped in,spoke to the Russian and pacified Charlie in whata local referred to as ‘Christian Scotch’. Charlielater commented - ‘I suppose I micht hae beenshot in Russia.”To my knowledge Charlie never recorded theevent in verse.A volume of Charlie’s poems, named “DeesideLyrics” that give a picture of life in Ballater duringhis lifetime was published privately, paid for partlyor wholly by the Free Masons and a number ofcopies still remain in the village.Moira MelroseKiltmakersince 1992Quality Hand Sewn Kilts013398 80074Email: kiltmaker@hotmail.co.uk