There will be a Carnegie Lecture in the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum on Thursday, April 27, on the subject of Andrew Carnegie’s wife, Louise Whitfield, entitled ‘The Lady of Skibo’.
It will be delivered by the archivist at Skibo Castle, Dr Victoria Connor, who outlines what she will be concentrating on: “Louise Whitfield was both Andrew Carnegie’s wife and his partner in distributing enormous wealth, yet there was much more to the woman than her relationship with her husband.
"This talk will explore the life of Louise Whitfield Carnegie from her birth in 1857 to her death in 1946, with a particular focus on her time as ‘The Lady of Skibo’."
The Carnegies came to Skibo in 1898 and it remained in the family until 1982.
The first photograph in this week’s trip down West Fife’s Memory Lane shows Andrew Carnegie on the balcony at Skibo Castle, which he described as ‘Heaven on earth’.
The next photograph shows the opening of the Memorial Building that was built on to the cottage in which Andrew Carnegie was born in on Moodie Street.
Louise had bought the original cottage in which Andrew Carnegie was born as a birthday present for him during his lifetime, and then later funded the construction of the Memorial Building.
The architect was the prolific James Shearer who also designed the art deco Dunfermline Fire Station.
Interestingly, in light of Dunfermline’s recently granted City Status, in this article in the ‘Carnegie Magazine’ that describes the opening, Dunfermline is referred to as a ‘city’ rather than a ‘town’: "On the afternoon of Thursday June 28th 1928 the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Memorial Building at Dunfermline was formally opened to the public by Mrs Carnegie and her daughter, Mrs Rosewell Miller, in the presence of a large and representative gathering of Dunfermline citizens, members and officials of the several Carnegie Trusts and personal friends of the Carnegie family.
"At Mrs Carnegie’s request the proceedings were of a quiet and simple nature, and the building, with funds for its endowment, was handed over to the care of the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust.
"As a possible locality for the Memorial, two cities had outstanding claims to consideration, one in Scotland, the other in the United States – Dunfermline, where Mr Carnegie was born, and Pittsburgh, in which, after many years of hard work, he rose to eminence.
"But the associations identified with the little house in which he was born, and to which in after years he returned so often and so affectionately in thought, in allusion, and in an ever-present solicitude for the welfare of the ancient city of his parentage, stood forth irresistibly."
The final photograph is an old view up Moodie Street, at the top of which on the right was the birthplace cottage of Andrew Carnegie.
Tickets for the ‘The Lady of Skibo’’ lecture on Thursday, April 27, at 7.30pm are on sale online at Bit.ly/ACBMEvent priced £5, as well as from the Birthplace Museum in person between 11am and 3pm each day.
More photographs like these are available in Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries.
With thanks to Frank Connelly
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