Major Ramsay, coalmaster (to read this sequence in order, scroll down to the 1789 General Defence blog)

A letter from Archibald Campbell dated Wednesday morning lands in Whitehill, reminding Major Ramsay that his Grieve has delivered only 2 carts of coal to Balburnie, instead of the half dozen promised.  They are worried that if a storm comes “we shall be in a scrape”. Any quality of coal will do, but please send more!

This letter casts some light on how Major Ramsay was running the coalworks in Fife (Dundonald) as well as Whitehill, and supplying the senior Balfour family home in Fife with coal. Dependence on coal for heating and local industry was well entrenched by the end of the 18th century, and Balburnie was already a big place.

Ramsay must have had this letter in his pocket as a reminder, as he used it to jot down calculations about the number of infirm persons in Cockpen parish who would require transport to evacuate them in the event of an invasion. Maybe the preparations for an invasion had put pressure on coal supplies.