Introduction
So far in my articles I have only written about my direct family, but it will provide some contrast to give an account of my wife’s forebears, as they hail mostly from Scotland and Wales. I will begin with her paternal line, the ancestors of her father, Alan MacDonald (1919-1998).
The compiling of Scots Family History presents certain difficulties but also opportunities, which distinguish it from the use of English or Welsh records.
The basic records are the same – the Census every 10 years, Civil Registration (Births, Marriages & Deaths) and parochial church records, yet there are major differences. Civil registration was not introduced into Scotland until 1855 (compared with 1837 in England & Wales), but the details contained in them are much fuller – for a brief period 1855-1856 marriage certificates required the birthplace of both parties and the occupations of the parents as well as the maiden name of both mothers. This was all found to be unworkable and the information recorded reduced, yet the records are still more useful than south of the border. A death certificate in Scotland remains much more useful – it gives the deceased’s parents’ names, which can be invaluable for those born before 1855.
The Parish records are as patchy as English ones – much depends on the efficiency of the minister who compiled them. There is further confusion as only the registers of the established Presbyterian Church are easy to access. There were many splits in the church (as well as a numerous Catholic population) which makes the tracing of records difficult. Also burials are rarely recorded at all. Despite this, one great advantage remains – all the “Old Parish Registers” as they are known have been gathered into the Scottish Record Office and microfilmed – so they are available online (for a fee!).
The MacDonalds of Dingwall
The story begins with an entry in the Parish Register of Dingwall for the last day of 1819. This records the marriage of John MacDonald, servant, living at Kinnairdy to Catherine Urquhart, a dairymaid of Uplands.
Servant in this case probably implies he was an agricultural labourer, working on a farm and possibly “living in”. Kinnairdy was a hamlet a mile or so north of Dingwall, and is today covered by a suburban housing estate. Uplands lay a little further to the north-east, very close to where the modern Cromarty Bridge connects the area to the Black Isle.
This entry has obviously been extracted at some point from an older register, for reasons I cannot ascertain.
Their son, John was born on 27th April 1823 and baptised two days later at St Clements. John senior is listed as a labourer and the family is still living at Kinnairdy. An elder son, William had been born in 1821, and Angus (1828) and Colin (1829) were to follow.
This map shows Dingwall in 1821, the church in the centre, to the north of the High Street. Kinnairdy would be off the map to the north-east.
It has not been possible to find the family on the 1841 census with any certainty, but by 1851 John junior was married and living in Grant’s Lane, Dingwall and his occupation was Carter. His new bride was Jane Yule whom had married at St Clements, Dingwall on 14th May 1847. Jane was the daughter of John (b1786) and Catherine (b1796) Yule and the family were recorded at Rosskeen in the 1841 census.
St Clements, Dingwall
In the census of 1851 John and Jane already have two children, another John, aged 3 and Catherine who was 10 months. They had moved to George Street by 1861 and then to Wardens Lane in 1871 and other children had been born to the marriage, Elizabeth (c 1856) James (c1858) and another Catherine (c1862). The elder Catherine does not appear in 1861, so we may presume she had died.
John’s occupation is always given as “Carter” but we cannot tell if he worked on his own account or for another. At this time, with railways sparse and roads in generally poor condition, carters were an important element in transportation, both locally and further afield. It was the only available form of transport for the poor, apart from walking and was a necessity for the movement of goods, either business or personal.
This photograph, showing carts making deliveries in Dingwall High Street was taken around 1870, when John was still plying his trade
John died from pneumonia, on 20th October 1880 and his second son, James, is described as a carter in the 1881 Census. The occupation of his widow Jane is given as outdoor worker. The informant on the death certificate (making a mark X) was the eldest son, John who had married (this time signing his name) Mary McKenzie on 16th November 1877.
I cannot find John junior on the 1871 Census – he is not with his parents, and the fact that the name is a very common one in the area makes it difficult to be sure. Intriguingly there is a John McDonald of the right age serving as a militia soldier at Fort George, near Inverness, and given that his future father-in-law had been a militia soldier, and the military careers of his son and grandson, it is possible that this is the correct John. In 1877 his marriage certificate describes him as a wire fencer, and later records give either this as his occupation or labourer. In the twelve years of their marriage (Mary died tragically young, aged 33, of acute Nephritis in 1890) John and Mary had five daughters and a son, Donald, who was born at Warden Street, where the family had lived for over twenty years, on 4th August 1885 at 5.30 in the morning – Scots records are very precise.
Birth of Donald McDonald
At this point it is worth recording Mary McKenzie’s ancestry. Her father, George was born and baptised in the parish of Lochbroom on the western coast of Ross-shire, but in 1855 he married Alexandrina Gollan (known as Lexie) at Urquhart in Cromarty. This marriage entry is fascinating as it it one of those giving the fullest information regarding the parties in the brief period 1855-6 before changes were made in civil records.
Marriage of George McKenzie and Alexandrina Gollan 1855
It shows the date and place of the marriage; the names of the parties and witnesses, recording if they signed or not (neither party did). Then came their places of residence, both ‘present’ and usual, followed by their ages, occupations and marital status. On the second page the date and place of their births is noted (both were ‘not registered’) and then the names of their parents, including their mothers’ maiden names, and the occupation of the fathers. Finally the names of the witnesses and registrar. It is obvious why such documentation was soon abandoned, but very sad for researchers.
The information given certainly helps trace back these lines a further generation, giving (on the Gollan side at least) the further surname of Logan, and helping me to add Fraser and Mcgregor using earlier parish registers.
In 1881 the newly widowed Jane with daughter Betsy & younger son James were living at 11, Warden Street, whilst Mary with daughters Mary Jane and Ketty Ann were at no.14. Mary’s husband John seems to have been working away from home – she is described as a general labourer’s wife. For the first time we are told that the adults all spoke Gaelic and English, whilst the children only spoke English.
Following Mary’s death the family obviously suffered a crisis, for the 1891 Census finds the five younger children housed in the newly established Highland Orphanage in Inverness. The eldest daughter, Mary Jane and her father had moved back in with Jane MacDonald who had now moved to Fingal Place, into a smaller dwelling (only two rooms had at least one window, compared with four in the Warden Street premises). John’s sister Catherine is also back with her mother, as is another granddaughter, Jane Kate Walfer.
I am not sure how long the children stayed at the Orphanage – one assumes until they finished their schooling – in 1901 the youngest, Elizabeth (Bessie) was still there, but the other girls were all in service. I have no firm proof of Donald’s whereabouts in that year, although there is a Donald McDonald (aged 15, born Dingwall) in the Royal Artillery Barracks in Glasgow where he was a soldier trumpeter. This is a very tempting identification, but on his enlistment papers of 1911, our Donald says he had not previously served in the forces, so we cannot be sure.
The Highland Orphanage, Inverness
We can be sure however that Donald was in the Inverness area by 1908. Just before midnight on the 27th February 1909 a baby girl was born at 47 Castle Street, Inverness to Jamesina Catherine McLellan. On the birth certificate the child was given the name Vandom Macdonald and she was registered as the illegitimate daughter of Donald Macdonald. The profession of both parents were given as Domestic Servant, Donald also being described as a coachman. The entry in the Register was “corrected” by a court order in September 1909, following an action brought by Jamesina against Donald – the Sheriff Court decided that Donald was indeed the father of baby Vandom. I do not know if the action was brought because Donald contested the paternity or if it was a necessary way of obtaining some support from him for the child’s upkeep. In any case Donald, who was now employed as a coachman by the Loch Mhor Hotel, Gorthlick obviously made no attempt to marry Jamesina.
Two years later, on the 29th March 1911 Donald enlisted as a private in the Scots Guards at Edinburgh. His profession is given as coachman and his age as 23 years 1 month (in fact he was 25 years & 7 months). He was 5ft 9¾ins tall, with blue eyes, brown hair and a fresh complexion. He had a tattoo on his right forearm of a bird and a heart (?) and a scar on the front of his right ear. His military record gives no more information (apart from passing basic training and swimming tests) until the outbreak of the First World War.
The Scots Guards leaving the Tower October 1914
War was declared on 4th August 1914 and the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards, in which Donald now served, crossed the Channel to France on the 5th October. Before that, he had married Jamesina McLennan at Kensington Register Office on 30th September. His address is the Tower of London (where the Battalion were stationed) and Jamesina was employed as a general servant at an apartment in Iverna Court, Kensington.
Iverna Court, Kensington
We do not know how long Jamesina had been in London, or why she moved there, but the marriage was presumably hastened by Donald’s imminent departure, for she was expecting their next child – a son this time, who was born on 2nd February 1915. He was christened Robert, but he did not live to see his first birthday, dying on 9th January 1916.
Donald served with distinction throughout the carnage on the Western Front, spending a mere 79 days in Britain between 5th October 1914 and 4th November 1918. His regiment took part in many of the horrific battles of the War, including First Ypres and Neuve Chapelle (1914), Loos (1915) Somme (1916), Passchendaele and Cambrai (1917) and all the major battles of the final German push & allied response in 1918. He was seriously injured twice – a gunshot wound in the right shoulder (15th November 1916) and another in the left leg on 20th October 1918, which resulted in his final return to England in November, a week before the Armistice. By then he had already been awarded the Military Medal in the summer of 1918 for, as the dedication reads, “Bravery in the Field”.
War medals of Donald MacDonald including the Military Medal (second from right)
Donald was discharged as “surplus to military requirements” on 26th February 1919, but on 16th October he re-enlisted in the Scots Guards with the rank of Corporal, acting unpaid Lance Sergeant, the same rank he had achieved in his previous service. Could he not settle in civilian life, or was this a common procedure at the end of the war? In any case he had another family member to provide for, as a son Alan, had been born on 28th September that year. The family lived in Fulham at the time, and despite other moves (including at least one spell in married quarters) remained there until Donald and Jamesina’s deaths in the 1950s and 1960s. Another son, Roderick (named for Jamesina’s father) was born in 1925, but he died before reaching the age of 4 months in February 1926.
Donald’s second military career was a checkered one – the early part marked by two brushes with the law, civil and martial. He was convicted of travelling on the railway “without having paid & with intent not to pay his fare” in March 1920 (a fine of 20/- and 42/- costs resulting) and was also convicted five months later by a military court of “neglecting to obey camp orders”. These events held up his promotion for a time, but in 1922 he was promoted to Lance Sergeant and soon attained the rank of full sergeant (5th February 1924). In September 1922 he also passed an examination to qualify as the Battalion Chiropodist.
On completion of seven years of service (post-war) Donald was transferred to the Army Reserve in October 1926 and finally discharged on 15th October 1931. With the outbreak of the Second World War he applied for re-enlistment as an instructor, but I can find no confirmation that this took place.
In civilian life he worked in the transport department of the Gas Board.
Jamesina Catherine MacDonald, née McLennan
Alan and Donald MacDonald 1940.
After leaving school, Alan MacDonald became a clerk working for the Gas Board, but on mobilization in 1939 he joined the Scots Guards, his father’s regiment. In October 1940 he was a Lance Corporal when he married Ellen Padfield at Aldershot. They travelled up to London on his service motorbike and honeymooned with Donald and Jamesina.
Alan remained in the Scots Guards until the May of 1942 when, following a spell on an Officer Training Course, he was commissioned into the Indian Army, unattached to a particular regiment, and travelled to the subcontinent; at first in a training capacity and then joining the 7th Rajput regiment in May 1943. He served with the Rajputs throughout the remainder of the war, at one time serving as ADC to General Warren, but also in the field, being involved in the brutal battle of Kohima in 1944. He returned to the UK just before the end of the war, possibly following a bout of Cerebral Malaria. Two children were born to the marriage of Alan and Peggy, Alan Cameron (1942) and Fiona Mhari (1946).
After recuperation Alan returned to service in Malaya and spent several years there, during the Emergency, returning when Alan resigned his commission and went back to civilian life in London. Demobilisation didn’t suit Alan any more than it had his father. Despite returning to his old job at the Gas Board, after a few months he rejoined the Army as a Captain in the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. In 1950 Alan was posted first to Hannover, where the family joined him, and then to Iserlohn, also in Germany. A further spell in Klagenfurt, Austria ended with another resigning of his commission and a permanent return to life on Civvy Street.
He spent his final years on the Welsh borders to be near his sister Vanny, until his death towards the end of 1998.
The McLennan Family
Strangely enough, as with the MacDonald family, we can begin this story with a marriage at Dingwall between a John MacDonald and a Miss C Urquhart on January 13th 1808. In this case the young lady was named Christian and she was the daughter of William Urquhart. John’s profession was given as shoemaker, although later in life he was to be described as a Sheriff Officer (working for the local court as a sort of bailiff) and an Innkeeper. The marriage produced seven children, one boy, William in 1818 and six girls, Justina (December 1808), Isabel (1810) Catherine (1812) Christian (1819) Alexandrina (1821) and finally Vandam in 1826.
I have not been able to find out much about the family until an entry in Census of 1851. By then Christian was a widow living at 37 High Street, Inverness with her daughter Catherine (she too already a widow at 30) and granddaughter Mary aged 6. Catherine’s surname is given as Dyle (usually Doyle in later records) and their joint profession as “Washing and Dressing”. Mary’s place of birth is given as Edinburgh.
By the time of the 1861 Census it appears that Christian had died and Catherine and Mary have moved a few miles south of Inverness and are in service at the Castle of Leys, the newly built home of the Hopegood family. This is where their paths cross with the McLennan family of stonemasons. Catherine was employed as the household’s cook and Mary was a housemaid, with her place of birth mysteriously given as England.
There are always problems in Scottish family research as so many common surnames make positive identification difficult, but the McLennan family have caused me more trouble than most. The head of this branch, Donald normally gives his birthplace as Contin – a parish to the west of Dingwall. Highland parishes are often very large and the mother church is commonly in an isolated spot, not close to a village or town. I cannot find a positive baptismal record for Donald (there are several possibilities), although his father was probably named Alexander. Scottish naming patterns followed very strict rules and although this broke down in the 19th century, most families I’ve researched at this time still maintained them. The eldest son was given the name of his paternal grandfather; the second son his maternal grandfather; third son his paternal great-grandfather (this was usually the same as his father) and fourth son his maternal great-grandfather. Where we have the names the McLennans seemed to have followed this pattern.
Donald had married Catherine Mackintosh at Inverness parish church on 22nd January 1833; he is described as a mason and they both reside at The Leys. At this time Donald was, no doubt working on the new building and presumably Catherine was working in service there.
Leys Castle, built in the 1830-40s in mock Tudor style
They were to have five children, Alexander, John, Donald, Roderick and Catherine. Roderick was born on 27th August 1840 and baptised in Inverness, the family’s address given as Leys. They presumably lived in estate buildings whilst Donald was employed on the Castle construction. Following the completion the work at Leys Castle the family continued to live in the area, Donald sometimes away working at the time of a Census, but Catherine (and the family home) always being within a mile or two of Leys. Alexander certainly took up the profession of mason, and by the 1860s Roderick too was described as such, although he is not always traceable in earlier Census records.
By the mid 1860s the Doyle and McLennan families were united when Roderick and Mary married at Daviot Church, just to the south of Inverness (19th January 1866). Mary signed her name, but Roderick could only make his mark. Mary gives her father’s name as David Doyle, who is described as a mason (deceased). I have never been able to find any record of David, or indeed, any record of Mary’s birth, either in England or Scotland. She continued to give her birthplace as Shropshire, England on every succeeding Census. Later Census records also show that Roderick and Mary were the last members of the family to speak both Gaelic and English – their children were only to use English.
Old houses in Bogbain with the Moray Firth beyond
Donald and Catherine remained in the area of Leys, at a hamlet called Bogbain, although by 1871 they had moved to Culcabock, a small village which is now a suburb of Inverness. Their unmarried daughter Catherine stayed with them as well as a boy, John McLennan (born 1860) who was described as a nephew in 1861, but their grandson in 1871. Catherine died of a Cerebral Apoplexy just before midnight on the 14th October 1874, but I never been able to find a record of Donald’s death, which unfortunately means we cannot be certain of his parent’s names.
By the time of the 1871 Census Roderick and Mary had moved into Inverness, where they remained, at various addresses until their deaths (Roderick 5th April 1894 and Mary 21st March 1905). They had a large family, Catherine Jane (1867), Mary Ann (1871), Vandum (1874), Isabella (1876), Ella (1878), Roderick (1881), Robert (1882), Margaret (1885), Jamesina Catherine (1887), Johanina (1893) and finally Donald (1895). It seems as if Vandum (named for her MacDonald great-aunt?) died young, and this no doubt led Jamesina to give the name to her daughter in due course.
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