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51
Assistant Police Magistrate at Bothwe ll for the past five years , he lived
in lavish style with his large fami ly in a beautiful home "Scha\vfield"
which he had purchased from the previous magistrate, Captain i\'enh·orth .
In his attempt to complete the thirty roomed house, unfinished at the tim
of purchase, Schaw almost ruined himself financially, and \as heavily in
debt, even to Eman cipists .
As a man of little tact , sympathy and
understanding of the needs of others , he \'las most unpopular \dth many of
the Bothwell residents , who were so incensed in October 1838 at his
appropriating for his own use seventeen acres of land , the common propert·
of the township, and the impounding at one pound per head such of the
townspeople 's cattle and bullocks which happened to stray on it through
insufficient fences, that thirty four of them directed a petition to Garrett ,
the Presbyterian Minister, requesting him to take some action .
On that
gentleman declining to interfere, the petition was sent to the True Colon ist
and the case finally heard in the Court of Requests which ruled in favour
of Schaw . As a result there was much ill-feeling in the community . 4
However, annoying though Schaw 1 s animosity \-.ras , Ha 1 1 s ti 11 found
plenty to interest him.
Especially attractive to his tastes and
inclinations was the Bothwell Literary Society \-.ri th its 1 ibrary of books .
He immediately became a memb er and enthus iastically devoted much of his
leisure time and energy to the furtherance of its objects .
As earlr as
1834 some of the more enterprising of the sett lers and tO\>nspeople, \•·ho
still cherished a love of science and literature amidst the harsh real it ic
of their pioneering lives , decided to form a society to improve the
education of its members and provide profitable leisure t ime pursu its.
Subj ects for discussion were to be literary, ph ilosoph ical or reora l;
politics and theo logy were excluded .
The first preliminary meting \as
held in the home of · Chief Constable A.E. Wheat ley on June 2, 1834 , but the
project lapsed until August 7 when a second meeting took place with Garrrt
as Secretary .
The first public meeting was held on September 6, 18 34 , an