This painting shows the first blow struck at the Battle of Bannockburn. Sir Henry de Bohun (pronounced “Boon”) nephew of the Earl of Hereford recognised King Robert the Bruce and galloped against him at full speed with his lance. Bruce, mounted on a small grey horse stepped aside and swung his axe so hard that it split de Bohun’s helmet and ‘clove skull and brain’ before the shaft broke. This was the start of a two-day battle which secured Scotland’s independence after a war with England lasting nearly 20 years.
The opening blow of Bannockburn is remembered in a little rhyme used by Battleaxe Toffee in the 1930s:
Bruce and de Bohun, were fightin’ for the croon,
Bruce taen his battle-axe and knocked de Bohun doon.
The painting by the artist John Duncan (1866-1945) was an entry in the art competition of 1914 held in Glasgow to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn. It was bequeathed by the artist to the Smith.
Remember Bannockburn! 
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