Obit watch: October 23, 2022.

Ian Hamilton, historical footnote.

Mr. Hamilton was the last survivor of the four men who stole the Stone of Destiny on Christmas Day in 1950.

Mr. Hamilton was studying law when he hatched his plan with three others to recover the stone. It was not, in his view, a silly escapade or a student prank. An ardent Scottish nationalist, he viewed the stone as a potent symbol of Scottish independence that rightly belonged on Scottish soil.

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All he and his crew had to do was break into Westminster Abbey, wrest the stone — a sandstone block weighing 336 pounds — from beneath the Coronation Chair built by King Edward I to enclose the relic after his conquest of Scotland, and get away cleanly.

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“You sort of know that when you take a crowbar to a side door of Westminster Abbey and jimmy the lock that there really isn’t any going back, don’t you?” Mr. Hamilton told British newspaper The Telegraph in 2008.
They moved swiftly into the darkness of the abbey and found their way to the Coronation Chair. They pried off a wooden retaining bar across the front of the chair, but freeing the stone was more difficult. They pushed and jimmied it until they were able to lift it and carry it for a yard before realizing that it was too heavy to take any further.
They then heaved the stone onto Mr. Hamilton’s coat, hoping to slide it to freedom. But as he pulled at one of the stone’s iron rings, it came apart, one chunk of about 100 pounds, another more than double that weight. Mr. Hamilton ran outside, almost giddily, lugging the smaller piece. The fourth member of the group, the getaway driver, Kay Matheson, drove up, and Mr. Hamilton laid it on the back seat.

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Mr. Hamilton returned later with the other car, dragged the remaining stone to it, and drove off.

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The four plotters were interrogated by a Scotland Yard detective in March 1951, but they denied any involvement and none were arrested.
In April, deciding that he had done all he could to advance Scottish nationalism, Mr. Hamilton decided to surrender the stone anonymously. He, the politician who had repaired it and another nationalist friend laid it at the altar in the ruins of the Abbey of Arbroath, about 100 miles northeast of Glasgow.

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In 1996, Mr. Hamilton’s goal was fulfilled. Prime Minister John Major of Britain agreed to return the stone to Scotland, and it was taken to a new permanent home at Edinburgh Castle, with the provision that it would be returned to London for coronations. And so it will be next year for the crowning of King Charles III.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 23rd, 2022 at 3:13 pm and is filed under History, Obits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “Obit watch: October 23, 2022.”

  1. pigpen51 says:
    October 23, 2022 at 7:43 pm

    I remember reading about the stone being returned to London for coronations. I now know the rest of the story, about just how it came to be in Scotland, a land of half of my heritage. Germany is the other half.
    I think that most people in American are sort of like that. Especially the older our young nation becomes.