When Scotland was "North Britain"
"Fareweel even to the Scottish name"
“Fareweel even to the Scottish name” in Such a Parcel of Rogues refers to the alternative naming of Scotland after the Act of Union of 1707 as “North Britain”.
When James VI of Scotland became James I of England in 1603 he united the Crowns of both kingdoms. The King James Bible commissioned in 1604 stated his titles as the “Most High and Mighty Prince James, By the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith”. Scotland and England had their own Parliaments and were separate countries, and the King was monarch of constitutionally separate Kingdoms with a personal Union of Crowns. After acceding to the English throne, and moving to England, King James would return to Scotland only once, for three months, in 1617. He died in 1625.
In 1606 the King issued a proclamation “declaring what Flags South and North Britains shall bear at Sea”. It would combine the Red Cross of St George with the White Cross of St Andrew.
The Blue would remain the lighter blue of the Saltire and was replaced officially by the Royal Navy with the current darker blue in 1869 as it was found to last longer at sea. The term appeared again in a proclamation in 1634 by Charles I on Flags “as well for our Navy Royal as for the Ships of our Subjects of South and North Britain”.
Some Scots chose to fly a combined flag where the Cross of St Andrew overlaid the Cross of St George. No original flags survive, this illustration is from 1704.
The Acts of Union of 1706 (old English Parliament Union with Scotland) and 1707 (old Scottish Parliament Union with England) led to the creation of a united kingdom to be called The Kingdom of Great Britain. The Scottish Parliament adjourned on 25th March 1707. The first Great Britain Parliament met in Westminster in October 1707.
The Scottish Parliament reconvened on 12th May 1999.
Ireland continued as a separated kingdom under the same monarch as the Kingdom of Great Britain until 1801 when a new Act of Union created the new United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Union Flag was amended with the Red Saltire of St Patrick counter changed with the White Cross of St Andrew. In 1921 southern Ireland achieved independence as the Irish Free State and is now the Republic of Ireland, while northern Ireland remained in what then became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
North Britain and North Britain British continued as terms for Scotland and Scottish in the 19th Century. In 1815 the Regiment better known as the Royal Scots Greys (until merged with the 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales Dragoon Guards) as the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards) were named as the Royal North British Dragoons. The Regiment better known as The Royal Scots Fusiliers were named the 21st Regiment of Foot (Royal North British Fusiliers) from 1713 to 1877. In the Nineteenth Century the Postal Address for Scotland was “N.B.” for “North Britain” as that was the official GPO designation (General Post Office, Post Office from 1969, it did not become Royal Mail until 1986). (Linked example 1890 postcard redirected to “Atholl Hydropathic, Pitlochry, N.B.”). An 1894 Guidebook by M J B Baddely recorded, p 178, “The names enclosed in square brackets are required to complete the postal address, to which “N.B.” (“North Britain”) should always be added in England”,
The “North British Railway”, headquartered in Edinburgh, operated from 1844 to 1923, when it was succeeded by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). It owned hotels in Edinburgh and Glasgow and the hotel at the east of Princes Street was called the “North British Hotel” from its opening in 1902 until it was renamed “The Balmoral” in 1997. The hotel on the north side of George Square, originally the “Queen’s Hotel”, was acquired by the Company in 1903 and was called the “North British Hotel”, sold by LNER in 1984 and is now the “Millennium Hotel”.
From the early 20th Century Scotland and Scottish became the dominant terms once again.
“South Britain” and “South British” never gained the same usage in England and Wales, and Scotland has survived as an outward looking, welcoming European Nation which shook off three centuries of promotion of the alternative.
