Only Smiths

by David James Smith

How a Smith aided William Wallace win at Stirling Bridge, in Norman dominated Scotland. James Smith wanted to find his own way in life. Born in Badenoch, southwest Highland Scotland, he was determined to help William Wallace fight against Norman dominance for independence. Smiths were victims of a Moray clearance when Oengus, or Angus Chief of the Chattan and last Mormaor or King of Moray, had fallen at Stracathro to be replaced by a Norman Earl. James, a 3rd generation blacksmith, crossed the Causey Mounth cattle drover road to emerge at Fetteresso, before Durris on the east coast armed with a self-made sword, targe, adaptable skills, and handed down family history shaped by war. His skills served another Earl Moray who declared for Wallace burning out Normans from Dunnottar castle still smoking as they went south for Dundee and Stirling Bridge. This decision shaped the destiny of east-coast Smiths, now told.

258 pages, Paperback

Published July 8, 2019

About the author

David James Smith is the author of six acclaimed non-fiction books and is an award-wining journalist for The Sunday Times Magazine of London. His latest book LET US PREY - A TRUE STORY OF MURDER AND DECEPTION is an Audible Original, available exclusively on Audible read by the author. It is an account of the Maids Moreton case. His first book, THE SLEEP OF REASON - THE JAMES BULGER CASE is in a new edition from Faber (2017) and remains the definitive account of the 1993 murder of a child by two ten year old boys. David has a close interest in criminal justice and served five years (2013-2018) as a Commissioner at The Criminal Cases Review Commission, appointed by HM The Queen to oversee investigations into miscarriages of justice. He was a local newspaper reporter and wrote for the monthly magazine Esquire before joining The Sunday Times Magazine, for whom he travelled around the world writing cover stories, investigative articles, reportage and profiles. It was an article for the Magazine that led to his second book, ALL ABOUT JILL: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JILL DANDO, which was published by Little Brown in 2002. Barry George was convicted and later acquitted of the infamous 1999 shooting of the television presenter on the doorstep of her London home. SUPPER WITH THE CRIPPENS, about the notorious Edwardian crime was published by Orion in 2005 and is currently in development as a drama series for television. ONE MORNING IN SARAJEVO made a gripping non-fiction thriller out of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in June, 1914: it was published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson in 2008. YOUNG MANDELA is the story of the early life of the iconic South African activist and leader who died in 2013. The biography was published in 2010 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK and Little Brown in the US. David’s research involved interviews with most of Mandela’s close family and comrades, including Winnie Madikezela-Mandela, and culminated in a meeting with Nelson Mandela himself.