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!)

Charline Clark Shearer, born 100 years ago today!

My mother would be 100 today, if she were still alive. Thought it would be nice to remember her today with a piece about her.
She was the first child of Willie Shearer and Charline Amelia Annie McKenzie Clark. She was born in the Lodge House of Kincaid House in Milton of Campsie where Willie was the chauffeur. After the war Willie was chauffeur at Millburn House near Dalserf. I have piano music with her name Lena Shearer, Millburn Lodge. She was a good pianist, had passed exams and gave lessons. She played country dance music for the women's guild. I still have her piano which is sadly seldom played.
She worked as a typist in the Labour Exchange. She was an ARP warden during the war.
She met my dad at dancing lessons. He was not a great dancer. Her petname for him was QQS - quick, quick, slow.
They married in 1942. After the war they lived with her parents and her brother Colin and his family all in a council house in Knightswood. They got their own house in 1949. She had many miscarriages before I finally came along in 1950.
She was an intelligent woman but wasn't allowed to go out to work after marriage. The husband would provide. She knitted and made my clothes. She flung herself into church work, making crafts to sell and organising events like fashion shows. She liked crosswords. She passed her driving test but was too nervous to drive.
She was funny, had a wicked sense of humour and a fine turn of phrase including Scots words and phrases.
In the late sixties my parents discovered foreign holidays and went to Majorca, Tenerife, Sorrento, Lake Garda and went on a Rhine Cruise.
She had a stroke in 1973 and life changed dramatically. My father looked after her well, having to learn to cook and work a washing machine.
She died in 1985 sadly never knowing her son-in-law or her grandchildren.

Willie Shearer 1881 - 1960

Grandad with me in front and my pal Elizabeth Ross behind

My grandad William Corbett Shearer was born to David Shearer and Nicholas Hyslop Corbett in Maxwellton, Dumfries. In 1901 census he was a cab driver at the Kenmure Arms in New Galloway near Castle Douglas.


He was working as a chauffeur at Kincaid House in Milton of Campsie when he married Charline Clark in 1909. My mother Lena was born in Kincaid Lodge on 1st September 1910.

During the Great War he was with the Army Service Corps, Military Transport and served in France. I have some cards he sent from France to Lena between 1915 -1919 at Millburn Lodge, near Dalserf in the Clyde Valley where he was chauffeur.







Later they moved to Glasgow where he was chauffeur to Sir Daniel MacAulay Stevenson, who had been Lord Provost of Glasgow between 1911-1914.

In 1922 they were living at the prestigious 5 Parkgrove Terrace in Glasgow where my uncle Colin was born. This sounds like the home of an employer.

He was also employed by James Morton of 7 Hughenden Terrace.  I have a postcard sent to him c/o this address from actress Doreen Morton in Jamaica in 1936 commenting on the roads there.

I don't think he ever owned a car himself but he was still going his bike in his seventies!

In Westbourne Terrace Glasgow