A gift from ‘Chief-Shot-on Both Sides’ comes to Peebles

The eagle feather headdress with its cape and gloves is now on display.

The ‘John Buchan Story’ Museum has now opened its doors for the new season with an exciting new artefact relating to Buchan’s time in Canada.

John Buchan was Governor General from 1935 until his death in 1940.

During that time, he toured extensively through the country, receiving many honours, including some from the people of the First Nations.

One such presentation was made in Saskatchewan in 1936, with a wonderful eagle feather headdress. With its cape and gloves it is now proudly on display.

The headdress was presented by ‘Chief-Shot-on Both Sides’ of the Kainaiwa tribe of the Blackfoot nation and Buchan was given the title Chief Eagle Head (or Eagle Face).

After his death, it found its way to a museum in Bournemouth and has now returned again to Peebles on loan for a few years.

Buchan is chiefly remembered for writing his famous novel The Thirty Nine Steps, but the Museum shows that there was much more to this great man.

To learn more about John Buchan’s impact in Canada and to see this headdress and other First Nation items, why not pop in some time? This small gem of a museum in the Chambers Institution is sure to delight.

The Museum is open Monday-Saturday inclusive (10am-1pm) and for more information visit the website at www.johnbuchanstory.co.uk