Throwback Thursday stories
For #ThrowbackThursday, we present two examples of receipts from 1714, acknowledging wages and payment from George Heriot’s Hospital. Around this time, the handwriting was changing, moving away from what is known as Secretary’s hand. The use of the thorn and yogh had disappeared, leaving us with the modern 26-letter English alphabet. Peacock’s backward e, the x, v and spelling suggest he was an older gentleman who had learnt Secretary’s hand. Bennet, in contrast, uses more ‘modern’ writing and spelling. The receipts also show the move away from Scots to English after the 1707 Union.
