| Description | Papers re Stewart, Rule & Co, Inverness, 1861-1948; Papers re local government, 1890-1931; Personal papers, 1890-1997; Papers of Mary Beatrice MacEwen , 1903-c.1937; Papers of Alexander and Beatrice MacEwen, 1903-1940; Papers of Robert MacEwen, 1862-1994; Papers of other members of the MacEwen family, 1908-1957; Papers of the Henderson family, 1873-1934; Papers of the Sutherland-Taylor family, 1805-2004; Papers of Clare Taylor-Rule, c.1886-1925 |
| Administrative History | Sir Alexander (1875-1941) was born in Calcutta, studying law at Edinburgh University before serving his legal apprenticeship with Stewart, Rule, Burns and Co., solicitors in Inverness. He became a partner of the firm in 1901 and was first elected to Inverness Town Council in 1908. He was provost from 1925-31, and was involved with many local committees and organisations as well as being politically active with the Scottish National Party.
The collection includes a set of photograph albums of four events in which MacEwen participated as Provost of Inverness, and two of which involved members of the Royal family. Other items relate to the firm of solicitors of which MacEwen was a partner (Stewart, Rule & Co), and to a lesser extent, his work in local government, including papers about the Scottish Emergency Organisation, private correspondence, essays on literary topics and about religion (he was a devout Anglo-Catholic), his education, papers relating to his involvement in the Scottish nationalist movement (he was foundation chairman of the Scottish Nationalist Party), in local government (for which he was knighted - he was made Provost of Inverness in 1925) and in the 'reconstruction' of the Highlands through the relatively short-lived Highland Reconstruction Association. The accession also contains papers from his wife and, minimally, his five children; to a greater extent his father Robert whose career was in the Indian Judicial Service, his mother and several relations. There is a useful family tree at HCA/D375/9/5 which clarifies the unusually complex links between members of his family. |