George Hope Tait

George Hope Tait (1861–1943) was a Scottish painter, designer, poet and civic leader whose watercolours and imaginative illustrations of anthropomorphic animals reflected the spirit and scenery of the Scottish Borders. Deeply committed to preserving the region’s history and traditions, he served on the Galashiels Town Council for nearly three decades and was instrumental in founding the Braw Lads’ Gathering, creating civic emblems, and reviving ceremonial customs in both Galashiels and Innerleithen.

George Hope Tait was born in Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, in 1861 and spent his formative years in the Borders; frequent visits to Traquair House, where his uncle was employed as butler, are recorded as formative influences on his interest in regional history and tradition.^[1]

Tait moved to Galashiels as a young man and entered the service of Milroy & Son, painters and decorators, before forming the firm Tait Brothers in partnership with his brother. He developed his skills as a decorative painter and designer and, in 1903, was awarded first prize for the best decorative panel by a Master Painter in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.^[2]

Primarily a watercolourist of Border landscapes, Tait also worked as a graphic artist and designer of book covers, advertisements, and labels. He produced a manuscript volume titled the Cleikum Book, based on the Cleikum Ceremony and the legend of St Ronan, and is credited with designing ceremonial objects associated with the Cleikum Ceremonies, including the effigy of the De'il, the Cleikum Crozier and the Cleikum Chair.^[1]

He also created a number of memorials, most notably to Robert Burns, Walter Scott and George Meikle Kemp.

In 1897 Tait married Catherine Riach of Duddingston; the marriage produced five daughters. His name appeared in Who's Who in 1921, Principal Poets of the World (1938), and Who Was Who (1941–1950). He died in 1943.

Tait was elected to Galashiels Town Council in 1913 and served for more than twenty-nine years. During his tenure he was closely associated with the constitution of the Braw Lads' Gathering (1930), the erection of the Galashiels War Memorial and the development of the new Burgh Chambers. He was also responsible for redesigning Galashiels' town crest.^[3]

During World War I, Tait was involved in public discourse about Robert Burns and Scottish national identity. In a letter to The Scotsman, he attempted to interpret Burns as expressing hostility toward Germany by citing a letter Burns had written to Rev. Dr McGill of Ayr, in which Burns invoked "a withering curse to blast the Germans of their wicked machinations". This interpretation was part of broader wartime efforts to enlist Burns's poetry in support of the Allied cause.^[4]

In 1923, during the construction of the War Memorial,^[5] Tait proposed the addition of a commemorative torch to be installed on the burgh building facing Cornmill Square. Although the proposal was not realized at the time due to budget constraints, a Remembrance Torch was eventually unveiled at the site in 2020, ninety-five years after the memorial's dedication by Field Marshal Earl Haig in 1925.^[6]

He designed the original Burgh Arms and Games Banner of Innerleithen in 1897 and later headed the consortium set up to inaugurate the Cleikum Ceremonies along with William Sanderson (the Tweedside Laddie) and J.A. Anderson.^[2]

Tait was also a poet: his verses were published in a collection titled Collection of Printed Poems and Articles^[7] and Original Border Poems,^[8] issued shortly before his death and now recorded among local archival holdings. The Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue of the National Library of Scotland also holds Three letters, 1925 and undated, of George Hope Tait to William Ormiston Roy.^[9]

His artistic and civic work — including watercolours of Border landscapes, designs for civic heraldry and ceremonial regalia, and the revival of local customs — remain part of the material and cultural heritage of the Scottish Borders.^[17] Among his surviving works, Tait's watercolour illustrations of anthropomorphic animals stand out. These playful compositions show elaborately dressed creatures in surreal situations — a well-dressed frog, formally attired birds in flight, and a dog weighing an elephant.^[18]

• Frog dressed as gentleman with flowers, top hat and umbrella (Wellcome Library).
• A bat and three fully dressed birds flying by moonlight (Wellcome Library).
• A dog weighing an elephant (Wellcome Library).
• Six kittens asleep in bed with a mouse and candles (Wellcome Library).
• Storks dressed as guards (Wellcome Library).
• A lobster seated at a table, serving itself from a bowl of salad (Wellcome Library).

• Poems of the Borderland, George Hope Tait (publication recorded in local archival catalogues).
• Local studies: entries on George Hope Tait at Past Innerleithen and Galashiels Heartland of the Borders.