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

Isabella McFedries Fleming 1903-1995

ca 1950

Today would have been the the 108th birthday of my mother-in-law.

Known as Bel, she lived until a month short of her 92nd birthday.

She was born in Elbow Lane, Cumnock the first child of Hugh Fleming and Mary Cowan Wilson. She had 4 younger siblings and 3 older half siblings. When Hugh's first wife died he married his young cousin Mary.

Bel worked in a hotel in Ayr and she was married there to David McMeekin, a Cumnock coal miner who was 11 years older than her. They had 3 children, the youngest when she was 45 and her husband was 56.

with her sons in the 70s

They lived in Glengyron Row a miners' row on the hill above Cumnock until 1939 when they moved into the town.

What was remarkable about her that she was profoundly deaf from her early twenties but she could speak very well and was excellent at lip-reading. She would "listen" to her son's reading. She had trouble with modern words that she had never heard such as video which she pronounced as vidAyo and chiropodist which was CHERRypodist.

She was an excellent cook and expert at knitting and crochet. Widowed in 1973, she lived on her own until shortly before her death, supported by her daughter-in-law and grandchildren who lived nearby.

Most of all I remember her as a kind and funny lady who never bad-mouthed anyone. She had a large number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren who loved her dearly.

1989 at Lochside Hotel with grandson David

Christmas 1994

http://mcmeekinfamily.tribalpages.com/family-tree/mcmeekinfamily/1823/278/Isabella-Fleming-Family

What's in a name?

I had an uncle Colin, my mother's brother and as a child I was tickled to find that she had an uncle Colin too. However family history research reveals (so far) 11 Colins and a Colina in the same line in New Zealand, Canada and Denmark. The first was Colin Sievwright born 1792 a surgeon who served in the Peninsular wars. I thought at first he was my great great grandfather, the poet, but turns out he was his uncle. I think Colin was an unusual name at that time. Colin the poet didn't name any of his sons Colin but his children did. They are all Colin Sievwrights with the exception of 2 Colin Shearers and 2 Colin Clarks. Colina Charlotte seems to have preferred her Charlotte middle name which made her difficult to track down but now think she married George Dixon as Charlotte C Sievwright.

I wondered where my uncle George (father's brother) got his middle name Herbert. It was after a younger brother of his father who died in infancy. And uncle Ted's names were Edward Colbourne. Turns out Edward Colbourne was the husband of his granny's sister Delilah Ball who lived in Dudley. One of her children was James Clifford Colbourne b 1896 which are also the first names of my father, though I think it more likely he is named after his uncle Clifford b 1894.

I think this is one of the most interesting things in doing family history - seeing names occuring in different generations. I've mentioned traditional Scottish naming patterns before. It helps confirm you have the right family in a census. It is particularly useful when there are unusual first names, however my Muirkirk Murdochs are all unhelpfully called Andrew, Alexander, George, John, James, Robert and William.

The English forbears have many biblical names Moses, Abraham, Hezekiah, Zachariah, Delilah, Samson, Emanual, Mark and Samuel.

But my all-time favourite is a distant ancestor of my Cumnock born husband - Marmaduke! Marmaduke McCrae b 1776 in Cumnock. I'm so glad he wasn't named after him.

Speids and Sievwrights

Uplands Cultural and Heritage Centre in Lennoxville, Quebec

I made a visit to Angus Archives last November. It is situated outside Forfar in the grounds of Restenneth Priory. I wanted to have a look at the Speid of Ardovie papers.
I knew that there were various papers and artefacts pertaining to my Sievwrights although I didn't at first know the connection between the Speids and the Sievwrights.

Helen Catherine Sievwright (1842-1917) was the main beneficiary of the Sievwrights after the death of Marjory in 1874. She married Henry Speid (1821-1904) of Ardovie, who was 22 years older than her, some time before 1882 (birth of their only son Arthur.) I haven't found a marriage for them in this country so assume they got married in Canada. * They lived in Montreal and moved to Lennoxville, Quebec about 1893. The families must have known each other for some time as in amongst the papers in the Archives were photographs and some drawings Helen Catherine made of Henry and his sister Margaret at Ardovie in 1862 and 1863. I wasn't allowed to photograph anything unfortunately.

Helen Catherine was born in Canada the eldest of three daughters of Joseph Alexander Sievwright. He was in the Island of Demeraray according to his mother's will dated 1825. There is no such island at the present but I think it refers to Guyana. Joseph Alexander turns up in Halifax Nova Scotia in 1842 when Helen is born. I have no idea what he did for a living. **

Helen and Henry Speid had the one child Arthur Theodore Speid (1882-1974). He was well educated, a teacher and twice mayor of Lennoxville. He married the girl along the road Mary White in 1912 and they had 3 daughters. In 1919 he bought a house called Uplands (above) and set about remodelling it. He certainly made a lovely home. It is now a museum and is situated in Speid Street, named after him in 1929.

My tree

with thanks to fifth cousin Doris in Star, Idaho for info!

* married in St John New Brunswick 4 February 1880 - record found in Daniel F Johnson's New Brunswick Vital Statistics - taken from local newspaper reports

** more on Joseph in this post

another David Sievwright

I was contacted yesterday by a Sievwright researcher from Australia asking about David Sievwright who he thought was his ancestor. I could see immediately he wasn't since it was the David Sievwright who went to New Zealand.
The only info he had was the notion that David Sievwright was Scottish, he had a wife Lilly Auld and their children Lilly, Jane and Charles born 1865, 1867 and 1868 respectively.
I found the birth of Jane with mother's name Lillias.
Then I found the marriage in 1863 which also gave a date of birth for Lillias of 18 AUG 1834. Wondering if she too was from Scotland I had a look on the IGI and yes indeed she was born in New Monkland to Lillias Russell and William Auld.
I did parent searches on the IGI for more children of David Sievwright and Lillias Auld and found younger children William, David, Margaret and Elizabeth.
Following Scottish naming patterns, the first child, a daughter, was named Lillias after Lillias Auld's mother Lilias Russell, the next daughter Jane should be mother of David and the first son Charles should be David's father,second son William after Lillias's father.
So we are looking for a David Sievwright son of Charles and Jean. Yes there is one born 1829 in Marykirk, Kincardineshire to Charles Sivewright and Jean Duthie.
Meanwhile in Australia the researcher has come up with a David Sievwright transported to Western Australia (where he is) in 1856 on the William Hammond. Lots of information on the convicts on this site
The ship sailed from Plymouth in January 1856 with 250 prisoners. They landed at Fremantle, Western Australia 86 days later.
David Sievwright was tried and sentenced to 10 years for robbery at Aberdeen on 14 April 1853. he was 23 at the time of the trial which fits perfectly with the birth I found. He was unmarried with no children. His occupation was gardener. There is also a physical description, round face, light brown hair, hazel eyes, pock marked face, deep scar near left eye and anchors and blue marks on both arms. Fantastic!
Meanwhile back to his family in Scotland. I couldn't find them in the census but tried again using a wildcard S*vright and they turned up on ancestry site in 1841 under Suvewright and in Aberdeen which ties in with the trial: Charles and Jean, William, David age 10 a combmaker, Jean, Margaret, Andrew & Elizabeth. In 1851 it's just David 21 still a comb maker and sister Margaret. Combmaker doesn't tie in with gardener but, apart from this, I think it fits.
Unfortunately I can't tie them in with my Sievwrights but they were from Aberdeenshire too so there is probably an older connection.

Jas B Rolinson Ltd

ca. 1975 by Andrew Gaylor

Grandfather founded the garage business at 400 Gallowgate in the east end of Glasgow in 1935. He was joined by his three sons. They were Rootes dealers (latterly Chrysler) and sold new and used cars, petrol, had a spares department and a workshop. They also had a filling station at Muiryfaulds in Shettleston, at the junction of Westmuir Street and Shettleston Road.  For a while in the sixties they hired cars and dormobiles (motor homes, see photos below). My cousins and I used to clean them out on Saturdays. From the age of 13, I worked in the office on Saturdays and in the holidays. I did filing, answering the phone and calling for my father or uncles over the tannoy system. I balanced the ledgers using an enormous adding machine. When they didn't balance I did them mentally and we're talking big columns of pounds, shillings and pence. I was allowed to take money to the bank along the Gallowgate in leather pouches. I can remember the occasional £100 note. I wouldn't dream of doing this now.
In 1960 to celebrate 25 years in business they had a big event in the McLellan Galleries in Sauchiehall street. They invited customers and prospective customers to a Silver Jubilee on the 5th and 6th of April. I have the guest list, the invitations, the thank you letters and publicity photos and I recently came across the following slides.

Add caption

think this is Margaret Baird later Mrs James Colquhoun who worked in the office

hire a dormobile for £25 a week
Miss Baird and Mrs McIntosh

Humber Super Snipe Touring Limousine

 L-R Fay & George, Lena & Cliff, Margaret & Jim, Helen & Ted

They opened Muiryfaulds filling station in 1962 at the junction of Westmuir St and Shettleston Road in Parkhead with Uncle George in charge. I don't recognise anyone in the photo from the Evening Times of 22 Nov 1962.

The premises at 400-420 Gallowgate in 1975 and after regeneration in the eighties. The only part to be retained (and restored) was an 18th century building seen on the right of the top photo. 

1944

Link to document about the restoration of the old building

Happy Anniversary!

My grandparents James Ball Rolinson and Margaret Mayes Haig were married on this day, 2nd January, in 1913 at Dollarbeg, Clackmannanshire where they were in service.
I don't have a photo of the wedding but found this photo of their Golden Wedding party in 1963.
The family gave them a gold (coloured) tray. Granny looks suitably unimpressed!

Merry Christmas in days gone by.

As an only child I was undoubtedly very privileged at Christmas.

Christmas Day would start with the discovery of Santa's goodies laid out in front of the fire. The postman would bring cards and parcels even on Christmas morning.

We would go to the Christmas Day Service and we would have the grandparents for Christmas dinner.

My mother would make a capon for most of us and a steak for dad who wouldn't eat poultry after he saw an aunt kill a chicken when he was small. This aunt may have been Jessie Rolinson as I remember seeing baby chicks when we visited Uncle Andrew Duncan.

We would all listen reverentially to the Queen's speech on telly at 3pm and watch telly in the evening.

The only difference nowadays is the church visit and the queen's speech are neglected. I cook beef as the head of the family doesn't like turkey and chicken nowadays isn't a special treat.

Here are some photos from past Christmasses.



Christmas Day 1956 at our house in Thornliebank



Left to right, mum, granny Shearer, grandad Shearer, me, Papa Rolinson, Dad (and a bit of granny R)

New Year's Day 1957 with the Rolinsons, possibly at the grandparents' flat in Dennistoun.

mum, Fay, George, back of Papa's head, granny, Ted


Uncle George and Auntie Fay whooping it up watched by Jim and me.


Christmas 1958. Dad would have liked a son!


Christmas 1959 in our new house in Giffnock




Going to my first dinner dance in 1969. I still have the red glass vase that's on the mantelpiece and the pearl bracelet from Majorca. The dress cost 21 guineas from a shop in Renfield Street and ended up in my daughter's dressing up box.

James Clifford Rolinson 1913-1994

Thinking of my father Cliff today on his 97th birthday, were he alive.

He was the first of three sons of James Ball Rolinson and Margaret Mayes Haig. They were in service at Dollarbeg in Clackmannanshire in 1913. By 1917 they were living in Glasgow.

My grandfather bought a car - a 12 HP Austin - in 1927 which must have been quite unusual. That first year they had it dad aged 13 wrote a diary of the weekly trips they made in it going to Loch Lomond or Gleneagles, sometimes taking neighbours along for the run. Its registration was V-9508, its year 1922, it had 5 seats. Its colour was Royal Blue and its fittings an Auster rear screen, side curtains, auto wiper and electric horn. He noted the route, the mileage and petrol consumption. I wonder if that is it in the photo above. The day they bought it 26 August they went to Dunoon and the following day to Calderbank, presumably to show the grandparents.
As a child in the 50s, I still remember going for weekend runs in my grandfather's big Humber Super Snipe.

My parents met at a dancing class I think just before the war. They married in 1942. Dad was in the Gordon Highlanders and served in Greece and Italy. He did winter training in Banff National Park in Canada which he often talked about, though I couldn't imagine him skiing. I never saw him do any sport unless minigolf.

Before the war he was an Insurance clerk for Legal and General but after the war he joined his father and brothers in the family garage business started in 1935. They were Rootes dealers - Hillman, Humber, Sunbeam in the Gallowgate in Glasgow. I remember when the Hillman Imp came out at first. My dad hit the accelerator instead of the brake when driving a brand new one.

He didn't have many hobbies but he liked photography. He was an elder in the Church of Scotland and did slide shows for the Men's Association. We would holiday in Scotland right up until 1968 when something persuaded him to go to Majorca. Thereafter my parents went abroad regularly. He had a heart attack in 1976 and we realised that he had never walked the length of our street, always taking the car! He recovered well from the heart attack but he was principal carer to my mother who had suffered a stroke. After she died in 1985 he had a good spell of retirement and enjoyed his grandchildren but gradually his sight deteriorated which was very frustrating for him.

He was an easy going man. I can't recall him ever losing his temper. I remember being shocked when he used bad language in the garage. To go to work or church he wore an overcoat and trilby. He would go out to lunch every day in Goldberg's in Glassford Street where he met some pals. Social life centred around the church. At Christmas time there was the motor traders' ball in Glasgow City Chambers and in the sixties the 5 past 8 Show at the long gone Alhambra Theatre in Glasgow's Wellington Street.

He was good with his hands and made furniture, a doll's house and a record player cabinet. He could type amazingly fast with just two fingers. He wrote a church newsletter which was cranked off on a hand turned Gestetner. He would have loved computers!

Dad and I on a picnic in 1957

Lest we forget

In this armistice week it is appropriate to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Agnes Wilkie Clark my great aunt and a grandaughter of Colin Sievwright lost her husband Alfred Allan Walker aged 33 on 14 November 1914 in France. He had served only 45 days. I found his service record online. It was, not surprisingly, rather short. He was a corporal in the Gordon Highlanders, had grey eyes and black hair. He was a marine engineer.

Their only son William Sievwright Walker who was 11 when his father died, also died as a result of "enemy action" on 9 November 1940. He was second engineer on the MV Shelbrit 2 when it was bombed. The ship survived. I think it must have happened in harbour at Portslade, Sussex. He was 37.

My great uncle Richard Ewart Shearer died of pneumonia in Ayr Military Hospital in 1917 while serving as an apprentice engine fitter with the Royal Flying Corps. He was only 19. He is remembered on war memorials in Ayr, Hightae and Lockerbie. I do wonder though, why they were working on planes in Ayr. It's not exactly convenient for crossing the Channel.