A Royal Connection!

I found this card amongst postcards my parents had saved. I knew it referred to my mother's uncle Colin. I have been trying to date it by researching the people mentioned by his wife Meg on the reverse of the card.

Dear Sis This is Colin taken at the Braemar Gathering. Prince Arthur is standing at the back and his son is along the front with  Mr Farquharson and Invercauld and Lord Aberdeen with Mr Hosie (the Factor) then the Princess Royal shaking hands and at her back Princess Arthur. Doesand (sic) Colin look nice in his car. The man in Highland dress is the man who is her attendant while at Braemar. Love to all hoping to hear from you soon. Love from Meg & Colin

Prince Arthur of Connaught (13 January 1883 – 12 September 1938) the grandson of Queen Victoria who often represented his cousin King George V. I think that is him on the far left, smoking.

His wife Princess Arthur (Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife in her own right, 17 May 1891 – 26 February 1959). She is the woman nearest the car.

Their only child was Alastair 9 August 1914 – 26 April 1943. He could be about 14 in the photo.

The Princess Royal is Louise the Duchess of Fife, 1867 - Jan 1931, the eldest daughter of King Edward VII and the mother of Princess Arthur. She is the one shaking hands with either Invercauld or Aberdeen.

Mr Farquharson of Invercauld is Lt Col Alexander Haldane Farquharson (1867-1936).

Lord Aberdeen is John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon 1847 - 1934.

Mr Hosie, the factor, I found in a photo of 1938. He is the factor of Mar estate and is seen with Myrtle the daughter of the above Invercauld in September 1938 possibly at the Braemar Gathering.

The date then is somewhere between 1926 and 1930, going by the birthdate of Alastair and death date of Princess Louise. ( I think it is most likely 1928 as young Alastair was there  in 1928.  The Princess Royal was wearing beige in 1929 and 1930 was a washout and none of the Royal Party attended.)

And the driver of the car is Colin Clark my great uncle, son of Jessie Sievwright and Charles Clark. The card is written by his wife Maggie Bella Pirie and "sis" is Colin's sister my granny.

I had previously seen the photo below but didn't know who it was. I believe it is the same car in the first photo, registration HP .. (Moral of the story - don't throw anything out!)

Variations in spellings of names

When starting out in family history research I thought a different spelling of a surname meant a different branch of the family.

However it didn't take too much much looking into records to realise that prior to 1900 not too many of the ordinary folk who make up our ancestors could actually read or write. This is borne out by signatures on certificates being his or her "x mark". And yet they all had some schooling. Surely they managed to learn enough to write their own name? My children could manage to write their own first name before they went to school. But then they had me to teach them.

So they went along to register their births, marriages, deaths and give information to the enumerator on census night. The person recording wrote down what they heard. This is fine as long it was something familiar like Wilson. If it was an unusual name or an outlandish name from Ireland or England pronounced by the Irish or English owner then it was open to fanciful interpretation.

My favourite first name is the Cornish Emma being recorded as Emmor!

Next problem is when it comes to the transcription of the handwritten records. Some of the scans are faint and have ink blots over them or are squashed in tiny writing at the bottom of a page. Some of the handwriting is extremely flowery and you need to study the whole page, checking the way familiar words are written to decipher the crucial word you need.

I struggled to find a marriage of one Josiah (aka Joseph) Felvus and Mary Elizabeth Catherall in England using http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ for English and Welsh birth, marriage and death records from September 1837 onwards. I tried all sorts of spelling combinations and wild cards where you type an asterisk for a missing letter eg c*t*r*l. She was from around Chester just over the border in Wales and he was from the Dudley area. Their first child was born in Prescot in Lancashire. I was beginning to think they weren't married at all. Eventually I remembered that Scottish birth records include the parents' date of marriage and their last child was born in Scotland. That gave me a date and a place Wiston which seem to be in Wales but far from Chester. Nothing. Another person researching gave me the info I needed. It was Whiston near Prescot, Lancs and armed with the date and the place I was able to search for simply first names Jos* and Mary and bingo up it popped Caffril, Mary Elizabeth & Felrus, Joseph! No wonder I couldn't find them. Caffril was how Catherall sounded and Felrus would be a transcription error, a V read as an R.

What a great feeling when I found it and was able to send the details to the other less determined researcher!

William Edward Strudley 1866 -1946

Marchmount House nr Polwarth in the Scottish Borders
The drive extends for 1km behind the photographer
Photo 2004 © Copyright Janet Connochie and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

My great aunt (sister of paternal grandmother) lived here in the 1901 census!! No, she wasn't in the aristocracy but her husband was the butler, the aristocracy of below stairs!

Agnes Sarah Armstrong Haig married William Strudley in Cupar, Fife in 1892. He is down as a gentleman's servant and a widower. Being nosey, I had to find out about his first wife. He married Marion Chisholm in 1888. I find a birth of Agnes Marion Strudley in 1891, But the mother is Janet Leggate, father William Edward Strudley and the marriage date of the parents which also helpfully appears on Scottish birth certificates is the same date as the wedding to Marion Chisholm. What is going on here? Has he 2 women on the go? More delving required. Poor baby Agnes died after only 9 days. From her death certificate it is clear her mother is Marian Chisholm as she is named and already deceased. So who is Janet Leggate? I have a closer look at the marriage certificate and see she is Marian's mother. At the registration of the birth on 13th March, when asked for the name of the mother he gave the name of his wife's mother, not the baby's mother.

What a terrible 9 days for him. Baby born on March 8th, wife dies on March 13th of puerperal fever and septicaemia and phtisis (TB) and baby dies on 16th March. He registered Marion's death on the same day he registered the baby's birth. He must have been distraught.

By the 1891 census, on the night of 5th April, William is back with his mother and 2 year old son Frederick in Hambleden, Buckinghamshire.

However things pick up after he marries great aunt Agnes in December 1892. They go on to have 6 children including twin boys.

And in 1901 he is butler at Marchmount. Can't wait til the 1911 census is available next month so see where they are then.


My tree here