NEWSLETTER OFSI THE ORKNEBY FAMIL FOLY HISTORY SOCIETKY NEWISSUE No 56 DECEMBER S2010
Over twelve days of Christmas My true love gave to me A membership of the OFH Society Two bags full of papers Three skeletons in cupboards Four dodgy uncles Five headstone rubbings Six family Bibles Seven parish records Eight census booklets Nine reams of paper Ten Aspirin tablets and Eleven cups of instant coffee
By the twelfth day of Christmas I'd lost all track of time I hadn't slept for twelve days And things were far from fine The brick wall that I'd heard about Was all too plain to see And I was stuck quite near the top Of my new family tree Should I give up? But hark who's that? My love has come to me With another bursting box of bruck And in it I could see The name that I was searching for I'd got my family tree And thanks are due to you my love And the OFH Society
PARODY AND GRAPHICS JOHN SINCLAIR 2 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Issue No.56 December 2010
ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY NEWSLETTER Issue No 56 December 2010 CONTENTS FRONT COVER Twelve 'Daze' of From Christmas
PAGE 2 From the Chair the chair
PAGE 3 Where has this year gone I hear you say - Christmas and New Year Tumbledown is upon us and I send warm Orcadian greetings for the festive season to 'Kirbister Mill' all our members and our worldwide family and friends. May the year 2011 be a good one and all you wish it to be. PAGES 4 & 5 Discovering my Many of the targets set by the Society for the past year have been Orcadian Roots achieved. The appreciative responses to the member's pages on the website are most welcome. The speed at which the indexing of the past "Sib Folk PAGES 8 & 9 News" where members across the world have been Christmas able to participate has demonstrated how interactive Quackers members can be. Members are now helping other members with their queries through the website. PAGE 10 The resources available have attracted many new St Magnus Church members. Our Sib Folk News is a most welcomed Duntroon, New Zealand postal delivery and thanks are due to the members who have responded with articles to John Sinclair, PAGE 11 our Editor. I find a photo- In November, thirty-one members had an enjoyable graph of my gt gt Grandfather from evening at our Annual Dinner held in the Kirkwall Sanday Hotel. We had the opportunity to welcome the Society's No.1 member - Gavin Rendall who was PAGES 12 & 13 the driving force in the Society's formation and kick- My Seafaring started the Sib Folk News as its editor. Eight of our Mainland Family (LtoR) Gavin Rendall, Nan Scott and Alan Clouston original 15 members were present and are pictured PAGES below. Also pictured with Gavin are our Honorary President Nan Scott and myself. 14, 15, 16, 17 May I take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and wish you a healthy and The Past is prosperous New Year in 2011. Another Country
Best wishes PAGEs 18 & 19 HMS Vanguard Alan CCouston Chairman OFHS PAGE 20 I've started on my Orkney Tree
PAGE 21 'Strewth it's gt gt Aunt Margaret'
PAGE 22 Our mystery Photographs
PAGE 23 Daniel MacDonald, the Harray Stonemason
PAGE 24 (LtoR) Helen Manson, Nan Scott, Stephen Manson, FrankEunson,Gavin Rendall, Catherine Cardno, George Gray & Billy Cardno. Membership details Issue No. 56 December 2010 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 3
Another 'Tumbledown' tale from our Chairman, Alan Clouston, member 339 This Tumbledown features families involved in the 'Kirbister in 1901 and 'Sluss' in 1881, named, I suppose, after its location at Mill' - the principal meal mill in Orphir. This substantial property the water control (Sluice) for the Mill. still stands but is no longer used as a mill, however, the dwelling Occupation during the 19th century was predominantly by the house is still occupied. The Mill is in the eastern part of the Parish Frisken family from Berwickshire. George Frisken, before he came of Orphir, its position strategically placed on the burn from the to Kirbister, had been on the island of Shapinsay where, in 1851, Kirbister Loch which lies a short distance north of the Mill. The he was the farm overseer on the Balfour Estate and was living burn continues into Waulkmill Bay on the North side of Scapa at 'Sound'. A George and Agnes Frisken, perhaps his father and Flow. mother, were farming at Waltness on Shapinsay. Descendants of The photo from around 1900 shows the Mill and its neighbour this family still exist within Orkney but only one Frisken surname dwellings. The cottage at the back of the Mill was called 'Clous' remains deriving from George who went to the farm of Inkster.
Residents of Kirbister 'Millhouse' 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901
Name age age age age age age William Farquar (Head) (born Orphir) 53 - - - - Mary (wife) (nee Mouat) (born Birsay) 38 - - - - Mary (daughgter) (born Orphir) 14 - - - - Christian (daughter) (born Orphir) 12 - - - - Jane (daughter) (born Orphir) 10 - - - - Margaret (daughter( (born Orphir) 8 - - - - Jessie (daughter) (born Orphir) 5 - - - - John (son) (born Orphir) 3 - - - -
George Frisken (Head) (b. Coldstream, Berwickshire) - 50 60 71 80 dec Isabella (wife( (nee Barclay) b. Chirnside, Berwickshire) - 44 56 65 74 84 /lill Cottage George (son) (born Chirnside, Berwickshire) - 23 Inkster Inkster Inkster Inkster Grace Elizabeth Mary (daughter) (B. Bower, Caithness) - 21 - - - Isabella (daughter( (born Bower, Caithness) - 19 - - - Alexander (son) (born Bower, Caithness) - 17 Roadside Wast Cottage Honeysuckle 57 Villa Milll Cottage Agnes B (daughter) (born Shapinsay) - 16 - - Eleanor B (born Shapinsay) - 16 - - - Caithrine (daughter) (born Shapinsay - 11 21 - - David B (son) (born Orphir) - 8 18 Cottof Roadside William (son) (born Orphir) - 4 15 24 34 Mill Cottage 44 Mill Cottage Jessie (daughter) (born Orphir) - 1 11 - - Jessie (daughter-in-law) (born Orphir) - - - 20 - George B (grandson) (born Orphir) 3 mths - - - - Margaret O J (wife of Alexander) (born Orphir) 59
Employees at the Mill have not been shown. Descendant families of the Frisken lineage This Tumbledoewn series will soon be coming to an end so if stem from the four sons - George m. Margaret Flett and their family shown over the you have an Orphir family home worth investigating please let census years - Isabella; James F; Margaret J; John F: Alexander m. Margaret and familyme have your story. These articles are fairly easy to research and - Alexander; Jane; George: David B m. Margaret E and family - Isabella; James F; if you would like to tackle a Tumbledown of your own contact me Margaret J: William m Jessie and family George B; Andrew; William; John; Jessie A anL. d I will tell you how I do it. [email protected] 4 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Issue No.56 December 2010
Douglas Clouston. Member No 239 In the long cold and dark evenings towards the latter appeared in the 1871 census in Tynemouth aged 3 living part of WW2 when father was in the Army and stationed with his mother Emma and her family. My father had 'somewhere overseas' my mother used to keep me told me that my grandfather had been born in India and entertained by telling me stories relating to both present returned to England with his mother as a baby after his and past members of our family. As a very young boy I was father (my great grandfather), also a Joseph, had died enthralled by the stories and of course I believed every aged 29 in Lahore, India in 1868 where he had been a word though later I was sure that mother embellished railway engineer. One of my cousins provided me with them all somewhat! One of the stories that remained some letters and masonic lodge papers from Kotri in with me for many years told a tale of my father's great India (now in Pakistan) dated 1865-7 relating to Joseph's grandfather who, it was thought, had been a lighthouse life there, but at this point my documented evidence ran keeper in some wild location on an island off the north out. coast of Scotland! From this it was only a small step, If my parent's tales had any basis then I should have in my mother's stories, for my ancestors to have been been able to find some reference to a lighthouse keeper Vikings. with our surname. This proved to be the case when I Another story was based on the premise that my searched the Association of Lighthouse Keepers website. great grandfather (the lighthouse keeper's son) worked Only one Clouston is listed - Joseph Clouston and he for George Stephenson and helped build the early was born in 1806 in Stromness! The ALK listings provided steam engines and railways. This story extended to his further information for this Joseph regarding his family adventures in India where he went to help build the line and their whereabouts at the census points together with from Karachi to Lahore. his postings. This proved very useful as it listed one of his It was these and many other tales together with snippets children as a Joseph born 1839 in Stromness and after a of information from various relatives that encouraged me, posting to Burnham he was posted to Tynemouth where after I retired from my job as an he appeared in the 1851 census. aerospace engineer, to try and sift Could his son Joseph have been my out the facts from the stories and great grandfather? The dates were determine if any of my ancestors at least compatible. The 1861 census could really have been descended showed his wife Ann (Angus) was from the Vikings! Initially I by then a widow living with the embarked on some rather general surviving children in Tynemouth. research into genealogy and sources About this time one of my sons of genealogical information. In a discovered the Tyneside-Cloustons fairly short time I concluded that website compiled by Peter Clouston if I was ever to trace my side of the and thought I should look at it as Cloustons back to the earliest times there appeared to be some references I would have to establish the link to to our side of the family. This proved the genealogical record published to be mutually beneficial as I was by John Storer Clouston in able to resolve a mystery regarding his book The Family of Clouston a memorial stone that had puzzled which traces his ancestors back Peter for some time and he was to the Earls of Orkney in the 11th able to give me a few leads and century. confirmations of my searches. The Starting with the fact that my memorial stone inscription showed father, Percy Edwin Clouston, that one of the light keeper's children, and his 3 brothers were born in Joseph, was my great grandfather Tynemouth, Northumberland I and therefore as in my mother's determined, with the aid of birth, story my g-g-grandfather was a light marriage and death certificates and keeper. Having established this census searches, that their father direct connection with an Orkney Joseph Cameron Clouston first born antecedent I was now able to Issue No. 56 December 2010 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 5
track my particular branch of the Clouston family the Stephenson Company.Some time later while using through the Old Parish Records and other well known the Scottish Archive Network for other references to the references. It was not all plain sailing but after a few Clouston family I put in a search reference for Joseph deviations, disappointments and useful consultations Clouston and looking through the resulting list came with other people researching the Clouston family, I upon the title 'Photocopies of records of Joseph Clouston believe that I have traced my side of the family back (born in Stromness, died in Pakistan) Dates 1839 - 1868'. from Joseph (the lightkeeper) to Harry (1769 - 1839) The repository given for the documents was in fact the then to James (1751 - ?) a son of Thomas Clouston and Orkney Archives! I received excellent service from the Marjorie Clouston. Marjorie was the younger of the Orkney Library and had copies of the documents in my two daughters of Nicol Clouston of Netherbigging (1700 hand within a few days. - 1772). This final step provided the link to John Storer They proved to be the papers that my father vaguely Clouston's genealogical record which gives a credible remembered with the family bible as they included: trace back to Havard Gunnason the great chief of the •An apprenticeship indenture contract with 1090's Robert Stephenson Company signed by As a chartered engineer and the son of a railwayman I Stephenson himself in1853 was very keen to follow up on the family stories regarding •A number of testimonials and letters of my g.grandfather's connection with George Stephenson introduction to the Sindh Railway Company and the development of the Indian Railways. This story in India arose from my father recalling that, when he was a boy, •Articles of agreement with the Sindh Railway folded in the family bible there was a letter from George Company Stephenson recommending his grandfather to the Indian •Death Certificate 2 Jan 1868 ( died of typhus Railway Company. However neither my father nor his in Lahore) brothers knew what became of the bible after their father I now have a credible trace back to the Viking Earls of died in 1938. Orkney with the invaluable aid of John Storer Clouston's In an attempt to establish the validity of this connection work and verified the link to the Stephensons and the with George Stephenson or his Company I wrote to the early days of steam locomotive and railway building. Stephenson Trust in Newcastle asking if they had any However I am sure that there is still much to discover record of an employee Joseph Clouston in the time about my forebears and my researches to date have frame 1855 to 1868. They replied saying that they had opened up many sources for further information. • no records of him but then they had very few records References: of employees from that time. They pointed out that the John Storer Clouston - The Family of Clouston reference to George Stephenson must be incorrect as he James D Clouston - book of Cloustons died in 1848 but his son Robert Stephenson was in charge Orkney Archives of the Locomotive Works until his death in the latter part www.cloustons.co.uk of 1859. This line of enquiry proved fruitless but did not www.thecloustons.tribalpages.com entirely discount the possibility of some connection with www.cursiter. com
Now we have names to the photographs The three Westray girls in this photograph which ap- peared in our September newletter have been iden- tified by Cathie Rendall, member no. 40. The girl on the left is Jamesina Rendall of Windywalls, Westray. Sadly she died at the young age of 17 and she was Cathie's mother's sister. The girl standing on the right is Margaret Rendall Thanks to George Burgher, member no.101 we also know who these of Peatwall, Westray. people are and coincidentally they are also from Westray. She married Davie On the left we have Joan Couper Bain b.1921, d.1988. Her husband, Burgher and became George Feregus, B.1923, D.1975 is on the right and the lad in the Maggie o' Cubbigoe. middle is Thomas Fergus, b.1941, D.2004. The lass in trhe middle is Maggie Ann Rendall of Most of our mystery photos are from the Library Archives and they Stanegeo, Westray. are grateful to our members for their help in identifying these. 6 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Issue No.56 December 2010
By Gavin Rendall. Member No 1 My father, James Rendall, was born at Saverton, his grand- father's house, in Westray in 1901. He was the eldest of 15 children. His father became the tenant of Skethaquoy in the district of Dykeside a few years later. That is where most of his brothers and sisters were born. His first job on leaving school was as a farm servant on the farm of Noup. His maternal grandmother was born there so he was among relatives. He went to sea sometime later. When I was young I was not interested in family history and never asked questions of those living. When I was born in Westray he was based in Leith and was a crewman on a ship trading between Leith, Antwerp and Gwent. He served on a number of these ships and their names were mentioned by my family from time to time. In 1953 he was tragically lost at sea when his ship, the Three large vessels, provided with extensive cargo-handling gear were Island Magee, sank in a storm off the Fife coast. built in 1920. One was Crichtoun (1.125grt, 1920) which was employed I had some interest in who my ancestors were when on the Leith - Antwerp sailings. She was sunk by an E boat off Lowestoft on I was a teenager 19th March 1945, while on a voyage from Leith to London, with a and my grand- general cargo; twenty-two of her crew of twenty-five were lost. father gave me a very good fam- Until my visit to Greenwich the only record I had of my ily tree; however father being on a ship was a reference from the master of I never asked my the Crichtoun found in our home in Leith after his death. father about his It was very interesting as it had been said that my father career on ships, was a skilled steersman and could steer a ship into Leith so when I became harbour without the aid of a pilot. For the first time I interested in find- learned his rank - quartermaster. ing out about So far, so good. Was this the end of my research? At them I had no one Greenwich I learned about another source of maritime to ask. My father records. I discovered that the University of St John's in served on at least Newfoundland had amassed maritime records for Atlatic four ships trading shipping and Greenwich had transferred all the crew from Leith. They lists, except those with year ending in a five, of British were the Melrose, merchant ships to them. the Borthwick, the My father, James Rendall, on the left Crew lists are the records which all captains are re- Crichtoun, and the Lan- quired to keep of crews they hire. The lists record dates rick. Armed with a list of the ship names I went to the of egagement, discharge, payment, rank, sometimes the library of the Maritime Museum at Greenwich where to name of a previous ship and finally, the signature of the my delight I obtained photographs and brief histories of seaman. these ships. I can recommend visiting the Museum or How was one to have access to these lists? The first es- contacting them on the web. The web-site is www.nmm. sential, I discovered, was that St John's required the of- ac.uk and their information line is 0181 312 6565. Gen- ficial Lloyd's number for the ship being researched. This eral library information may also be obtained on 0181 number is obtained from Greenwich. One must be care- 312 6672. ful here as there are sometimes several ships with the Specific library enquiries can be obtained by e-mail li- same name. Having obtained the official Lloyd's number [email protected]. I found the staff extremely helpful. I for the ship being researched, one can either contact St was only interested in merchant ships but the library has, John's by email or visit Newfoundland. Either way costs of course, extensive records of Royal Navy men and ships. money because St John's have charges for searching an Issue No. 56 December 2010 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 7
copying records. The St John's web site is www.mun.ca/mha and that is where to begin after you have obtained the official Lloyd's numbers. This summer I decided to visit Newfound- land. I had two goals. One, to visit the Viking site at L'Anse aux Meadows and two, to visit the Maritime Library in St John's to do the research on my father's ships. I began with the crew lists of the Crichtoun for the years I knew he was a crew member. I then looked up the crew lists of the other three ships to find out if and when my father was on board. The 1928 crew list of the Crichtoun recorded that my father had served on the Majorca in 1926 and 1927. The Majorca crew list referred me to the Crackshot on which my father served from 1925 till mid 1926. After his time on the Crichtoun he served on the Lanrick until 1938. After this date I became stuck. It had been said that he was on the old Amelia, well known for her Kirkwall to Leith trade. When I checked her crew lists I did not find his name. I did recall one trip in the first month of the 2nd World War when he sent a postcard home from Montreal, Canada. Not knowing the name of his ship I was not able to research her. Father left the sea after that and worked as a stager in Henry Robb's shipyard in Leith. There he sometimes was crew on ships being deliv- ered to their owners after launching. I do hope this will inspire some readers to research any relations who were seamen. The War Memorial in Westray records men who were killed at sea during both wars. That could be the start of another piece of re- Father's reference from the master of SS Crichton. 6th January 1934 search. • A V
Hot off the press, this new book from a well-kent face throughhout its pages. Nan Scott, whom many of you know Westray names such as Reid, Seatter, as Hon President of OFHS, looks back Harcus, Rendall, Drever etc abound at 200 years of the Westray Baptist A View from the Pew is a worthy addition Church. to anyone's collectiion of Orkney books Nan has known about the church for and it is guaranteed to keep the reader nigh on 80 years, has been a member engrossed from start to finish. for 40 of those and was married to its You can obtain a copy, signed by the secretary John Scott. author, post free in the UK for It is packed with information on the £12 from Nan Scott at 'Leckmelm', . many activities of the kirk and repre- Annfield Crescent, Kirkwall. Orkney. sents months of painstaking research KW15 1NS. presented in a lively, entertaining man- All proceeds will go to the refurbish- ner. It contains over 70 photographs, ment of Westray Baptist Church. most in colour, and you will spot many Please allow 21 days for delivery. 8 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Issue No.56 December 2010
at last,Billy Cardno reveals what really happened on the Earl Thorfinn on Christmas Day 1958
It was the bitter cold that awoke me on that morning way back in 1958; Christmas day to be exact and I was a 15 year old cabin boy on the Earl Thorfinn. I tried pulling up the two blankets that covered me as I lay there on the horsehair mattress but that only left my feet uncovered. cleaned out and relit. A generous helping of paraffin soon As I looked around for my three companions who shared had the flames roaring up the lum. the foc'sle with me; Ernie, Willie and Andrew, it was very A big hen, of unknown vintage, had been given to us obvious that last night's party was very much evident as by a local farmer for our Christmas dinner. It was still Ernie and Andrew were still fully dressed in their party sprouting a fair amount of stubble and I had poured some finery. I remember Willie holding up his mattress, ex- methylated spirits into an old lid which when lit would tracting his party breeks, and declaring that they had as singe this off. good a knife edge crease than could be achieved with an Just then the door of the galley flew open and in came iron. Now I could see them, twisted round his body, as he Ernie. lay there in his bunk. But what of Andrew? I could hear a soft gentle snore but I could not see much in the dim morning light that forced its way through the porthole. Following the noise I eventually spied him lying flat out under his bunk and sporting only his underpants. I might as well get up, I thought, and looked across to the bogey stove in the hope that someone had stoked it up the night before. Last in their bunk was supposed to perform this chore. Obviously no one had felt up to this task for the stove had long died and a pile of grey ash lay round its legs. No heat or light came from the Tilley lamp either as it swung above our heads bereft of paraffin. I pushed back my blankets and lowering my head to avoid the bunk above, I extricated myself from the mea- gre heat my bed provided. I swung my legs out and on to the deck pulling them back quickly as the cold from its waxcloth covering shot up my legs like an electric shock. Plan B was called for as I reached for my clothes and dressed myself in a horizontal position. That feat achieved, I made my way up the foc'sle stairs and out "Wir no haen that owld bird," he announced "see whit on to the deck and the crisp morning air of Westray, still wae caught last night—twa wild ducks," he said, waving heavy with frost. them before my eyes. "I'm awa tae pluck them so git that Westray is a beautiful island and the view took my stove fired up and come and help me". breath away as I looked across Pierowall Bay to the vil- Some ten minutes later I made my way back to the lage beyond, nestling under the watchful eye of Fitty Hill. foc'sle head to find Ernie, a jute sack across his knees, Standing there drinking it in was pure intoxication. holding up one of the ducks and gazing at it intently. But the cold is a hard taskmaster and Christmas din- "What's wrong?" I asked. "Have you never plucked a ner had to be prepared. In no time I had the galley stove duck before?" Issue No. 56 December 2010 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 9
"I don't need any of your cheek, you young whipper- snapper," said Ernie, "And don't be cliping aboot this tae a living soul or you'll no be faithering any bairns," he said. "Clipe about what," I asked. "Luk at their wings beuy. They've been clipped tae stop them fleeing. Wae must hiv taen somebody's tame ducks." "Och nobody will ken any different when they are on SIB FOLK NEWS Binders the plate," I replied. And neither they did. Christmas Here's a great addition to your bookshelf, a set of three Sib dinner was a great success. Folk News Binders. Attractively finished in dark green with gold On our next trip to Westray, however, we met up with embossing, they will hold all of your newsletters with space for one of the dockers who was normally a cheery fellow but next year too. now was in the doldrums. Easy insertion and removal of contents and every page of your "Whit's wrong Tammo beuy," shouted one newsletters will open flat. of our crew. "Wis Priced at £5 each. Weight of each binder 400gms. Include Santa no good tae amount for post and packing when ordering. This can be cal- you?" culated by referring to our website at www.orkneyfhs.co.uk and "No," came following the link 'Publications'. the reply. "It's been me saddest Christmas ever caes Jeemie and Mary, me pet ducks hiv wan- dered off an I don't ken whar they've gann an I'm just breeksed lukkan fir them." And, as far as I am aware Tammo, who is still living in Westray, never did find out. However, someone is bound to tell him that all has now been revealed in the Decem- ber issue of Sib Folk News, 52 years later. Billy Cardno, Member No 13 Nov 2010
IF YOU WANT TO SEND ME A CHRISTMAS PRESENT, JUST SEND ME AN ARTICLE FOR OUR NEWSLETTER AND I WILL BE ABLE TO SHARE IT WITH ALL OUR OTHER MEMBERS. WE HAVE AROUND 2500 MEMBERS, YET OVER 2000 HAVE NEVER CONTRIBUTED TO THEIR If Tammo, or any of his kin, wishes to comment on this NEWSLETTER. WE RELY ON YOUR ARTICLES TO KEEP SIB FOLK dastardly deed I will be delighted to publish their com- NEWS GOING SO PLEASE MAKE A NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION TO ments. .. provided they are printable. Ed. SEND AT LEAST ONE ARTICLE FOR THE 2011 EDITIONS. ED. 10 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Issue No.56 December 2010
By James R (Bertie) Harvey. Member No 94
In the past, when life had fewer distractions, over half of the population were regular churchgoers. Now congregations are be- coming smaller and smaller with many reaching the point where they cease to be financially viable. This is happening the world over and I was sad to learn that St Magnus Presbyterian Church of Duntroon, in New Zealand was one of the churches that had been Marwick show that Hugh Marwick settled near Oamaru. He forced to close its doors. was, one of four brothers: John, James, Hugh and David, who In early July, St Magnus Church in Birsay was emigrated to New Zealand. They were the sons of John Marwick visited by Rev Des Botting, who was on some- and Margaret Costie from Rousay. John worked as a miller in thing of a pilgrimage, having been minister of Rousay for some time before moving to the small farm of Cuppar St Magnus Church, in the Parish of Waitaki. in Evie. Duntroon from 1974 to 1982. I was interest Hugh's son John attended Waitaki Boys High School and went on ed to learn more of this church from the to become a distinguished geologist and palentologist, and a daugh- Rev Botting especially as some of my ter, Thora, was dux of Waitaki Girls High School, and after graduat- kin had migrated to this corner of ing M.Sc. in New Zealand, moved to England where she gained her the world many years ago. Ph.D. She was a research physicist, and worked, in London for the Duntroon is a small farm- Armaments Research Department during World War II. ing town in the Waitaki Hugh Marwick's eldest daughter, Margaret, visited Orkney District of New Zealand's in 1952 and made contact with many other relatives in Orkney South Island. The 2001 including my mother. census recorded Duntroon It would be interesting if any of Hugh's descendants, or indeed as having a population of anyone who has relatives in that area, could tell us more about the 120. By the 2006 census Orkney involvement in this St Magnus Church on the other side the population had declined to 114. of the world. I learned that the first Presbyterian service in Duntroon was con- ducted in 1878 by a lay preacher, Mr H L Gilbert. In 1882 the first minister, Rev P S Hay, M.A., was inducted to the charge and did St MAGNUS CHURCH - BIRSAY, ORKNEY the visiting of his parishioners with a horse and gig. stands on the site of the original Christchurch built by Duntroon then was a growing parish, and when in 1897 Kurow Earl Thorfinn, c. 1064. The site has housed a continuous and Duntroon became two separate parishes, it was decided to place of worship for over 900 years. build a church at Duntroon. After the murder of Magnus Erlendson in Egilsay, The church was designed by C H Roberts of Invercargill, the c.1116 his body was brought to Thorfinn's Christchurch tender of J Rosie was accepted, and stonemason Robert Gibson for burial. Soon there were stories of 'heavenly lights was employed to build the church. Many families in the district at and a strange fragrance' surrounding his grave. This this time came from Orkney - I would guess that Robert Gibson was followed by many pilgrimages and stories of visions and miracles. Twenty years after the murder of Magnus was a member of one of these families, and perhaps also J Rosie his body was exhumed and his bones were placed in a - and the church was named St Magnus after St Magnus Church in shrine above the high altar in Christchurch. Egilsay. He was officially declared a saint. A huge cathedral When St Magnus Church was built, horses were the mode of was built in Kirkwall to venerate the new saint and his transport and meetings were often arranged for the period of the bones were taken to the new cathedral full moon, as carriage lights were not very bright. and interred there. The church has had sixteen ministers over the years with oth- St Magnus Church is ers serving the congregation for short periods during vacancies. It open to view all year was closed temporarily in 1919 because of the flu epidemic, but on round in Birsay March 28, 2010, it closed permanently because the building was - a capital of the Vikings. in need of extensive repairs and attendance had declined to single figures. Some of my own relatives from Rousay settled in this area. Rousay Roots and Marwick Families in New Zealand by Robert, Issue No. 56 December 2010 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 11
By Jemima Manson. Member No 132 In Sib Folk news No. 42 Ann Cormack wrote about the German In 1886 the family ship that was wrecked on Sanday in 1861. There is a report in sold the property The Orcadian newspaper of 30th March1861 telling of how, on to Peter Shearer, the morning of 27th March, The Johannes (enroute from Bremen a Kirkwall tailor to Baltimore) with her Captain C.Van Pritzen, one hundred and and clothier and the thirty-seven passengers and eighteen of a crew, were wrecked at family, together with Araby, between Newark and Tressness. Before coming ashore their mother, Mary she had struck the rocks below the farm of Newark causing left Orkney. Mary, considerable damage. and her sons Charles In the census records of that year at Cleat, we find a 54 year and Andrew moved old lodger Dudench Van Fritzen, a shipmaster born Bremen, to 7 Albert Drive, while at nearby Mill House there are German born lodgers Crosshill, Glasgow. Natalia Smidt aged 25, Daniel Smidt aged 1 and Anna Tabina Catherine had Nuttilddorf aged 21. married Charles Scott Members of Orkney Family History are now able to access a draper, Possilpark, details of the others who were housed at outhouses at the Glasgow ( he was nearby farms on Tressness, Newark,Cleat and at a newly built the son of Simon schoolroom in the area. Scott and Jean Grieve This information can be accessed by entering the members' Mary Thomson and her eight children. from Sanday). website
Family
By Jenny de Rooij -Hill Member No 2295 This account of my family tree search spans six generations of my pony" and leave very early to get there on time for their lessons; bare Mainland family that most likely has it's origins in Orkney and even- footed I was told ! tually leads us to the north of the North Island of New Zealand. My grandfather always told us that our ancestors came from the I have spent quite some time tracking down my Mainland ances- Orkney Islands but he never did say which particular island they tors in New Zealand and London and have now arrived in Orkney hailed from which was a shame. We were also told that my 3 times only to find that all the Rousay Old Parish Records [OPR's] between great grandfather drowned in the Irish Sea and my 2 times great 1746 and 1798 were lost or destroyed. grandfather died of Yellow Fever while trading on the west coast of I think I have found my 3 times great grandfather's parents but am Africa. What I thought were just stories have turned out to be, to my not able to prove it as yet. The Orkney part of my family is still only astonishment quite true. My Grandfather died in Auckland in 1973 at a story past down to me by my grandfather and so I have decided the grand old age of 89. to tell the story about the generations I do know about. Perhaps this My great grandfather was Arthur Mainland. Just before he died account will jog some memories among OFHS members in 1919 he was Chief Engineer of the Northern Steamship Compa-
Jenny de Rooij-Hill I Grace Maurine Mainland I George Arthur Mainland b.1884 I Arthur Mainland b.1849 X Susanna Gibbs I George Thomas Mainland b.1811 X Maria Jane Foster I George Mainland b. bef. 1789 X Mary Halcrow
John Edward Foster X Mary Ann Smith
I will begin with myself. am a New Zealander married to a Mr John Riddle with his pupils at the Royal Hospital School Greenwich 1855 Dutchman and we live in a small village in the south of Holland ny's "Gairloch". He was bom in London in 1849, and when his fa- near the Belgian border. ther George Thomas Mainland died in 1859 three of the boys were My mother's maiden name sent to boarding schools. Arthur was sent as a boarder to the Green- was Grace Maurine Mainland wich Hospital School in London. The Greenwich Hospital School and she was born in 1916 at Kai- was open then to all Royal Navy and Merchant Mariners dependents. para Hills, Nortland, NZ. She This must have been an important influence as he later became Ship's died in 1994 in Auckland. engineer. My grandfather, George By 1861 the boys all were back living with their mother in Tower Arthur Mainland born in 1884, Hamlets, Middlesex. was a farmer in Kaipara Hills. At first Arthur was apprenticed at the locomotive works of the The children all grew up able to North London Railway and then went to sea in 1870 joining the ship ride horses over the hills to "Biela". He then left her to join the Great Eastern Railway Compa- school and if the horses were ny's line of paddle steamers, running between Harwich and Antwerp. needed for work on the farm they He remained in that service as second engineer for eighteen months, My Grandfather: George Arthur Mainland would have to take "Shanks's and then entered the service of David Verbiste and Co., ship owners, Issue No. 56 December 2010 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 13 of Antwerp, where he was engaged in the Mediterranean and Black Leone was still an English colony in 1859. Whether he was buried in Sea trade for twelve months. Arthur then became second engineer on Sierra Leone or at sea I am still researching. the s.s. "Francisco Calderon" chartered for Brisbane with the inten- His widow Maria Jane Foster also came from a seafaring family. tion of afterwards carrying coolies between China and Callo. The They lived in the same part of the East end of London where many vessel was not permitted to go into this trade and was dismantled, seafaring folk from Orkney had settled. Her brother John Edward fitted as a sailer and became the "Gladstone" a wool ship. Foster jnr. married an Elizabeth Ami Mouat/Mowat whose father was In 1875 he arrived in Auckland by the steamer "Llewellyn". He William Mowat also a mariner. Mowat is of course another Orkney settled in Auckland and married Susannah Gibbs. She was bom in surname. Stepney, London in 1857 the daughter of a Master Mariner. Arthur The parents of George Thomas were George Mainland and Mary worked for many years as second engineer and chief engineer on Halcrow. They married in 1810 in St. George-in-the-East Church, ships belonging to the Auckland Steam Packet Company, the Union Middlesex, England. They lived in Ratcliffe in the East End near Steamships Company and the Northern Steamship Company. the docks. According to the Sun Fire Insurance Co. records George He died aged 70 having had 4 children [my grandfather included] insured his house, at Xmas 1811, for 300 pounds. In 1816 he insured by Susanna Gibbs his first wife who died at the early age of 29. He another house in White Horse Street, Ratcliffe for 400 pounds. So he had five more children from his second marriage to Elisabeth Dar- must have been fairly well off. rach. His second wife was Elizabeth Mary Darrach who was bom in George Mainland was already a Master Mariner in 1810 when he Canada on Prince Edward Island in 1859. Her father was ship builder married Mary Hal crow/Hal cro. [Here is another Orkney surname]. at Mahurangi, near Warkworth, NZ. On their "Intention to Marry" entry they gave their ages as "21 Arthur was one of seven children born to George Thomas Main- years and upwards". Therefore both must have been born before land and Maria Jane Foster. Three of the children, two girls and a 1789. boy, died under the age of ten. That left George, Dudley, John and There is strong evidence that this George Mainland was the son Arthur being the youngest. of Alexander Mainland and Isabel Marwick/Morwick and bom on As a matter of interest Dudley John Mainland had one son, Leslie Rousay in 1773. I've not yet found any conclusive evidence of this. George Mainland, who was known as "LGM" of the Daily Mail and So if anyone can help with this problem I'd be very grateful ! wrote books and freelance articles in the period during 1910 - 1930. In 1820 Captain George Mainland sailed from Liverpool to Que- He wrote 2 books based on the London Zoo round about 1924 : "Trae bec on the ship "Knapton" taking English pioneers to Canada. Zoo Stories" and "Secrets of the Zoo". In 1820, after a brief post-war cooling off period, Lower Canada My two times great grandfather George Thomas Mainland was was again proclaimed "open for settlement". Many new arrivals dur- born in 1811. He had a brother named William Halcrow Mainland ing this period were English fanners from Yorkshire who were es- who was bom in 1813 but unfortunately he only lived 22 months.. caping that country's depression of the post-Napoleonic Wars years. Both were baptised in the St Vincent Street Scottish Church in Step- It was coming back from this voyage that the "Knapton" went ney, London. George Thomas married Maria Jane Foster in 1839. down with all hands, including Captain George, near Gal way Bay in [more of them later]. 1821. He was only about 49 years of age. George Thomas became a Master mariner like his father before His widow Mary Halcrow, [whom I think was born to a Thomas him and sailed the long distance routes to Australia, Valparaiso and Mary Halcrow in London in 1784] remarried in 1825 to John [Chile] and Africa. Edward Foster [father of her daughter-in-law] . A Thomas Halcrow According to his records from the "Certificates of Competency, was a w itness at their marriage. John E. Foster's first wife died at sea Masters and Mates, Foreign Trade 1845-1900", he sailed mostly out while accompanying her husband on one of his voyages sometime of Liverpool although the family lived in London. Among the ships between 1818 and 1823. She was only 28 and left 3 very young he sailed were the Princess Victoria in 1847, the Jane 1847-1851, the children. Constitution 1851-1853, the Mersey 1853-1857 and his last ship the There is a very curious story about these children and the death of Nereides in 1859. their mother. Here follows a report from the newspaper South Australian Register. While the parents were at sea the children were left with their "The Constitutions as a 3 mast ship, and was built in 1850 in Que- mother's sister. One day they'd been playing in the garden and came bec. She left Liverpool on May 1st, 1851 with Captain G. Mainland.an d told their Aunt that their mother had come along and smiled at Though becalmed for very many days on the line, she has made a fine them. Their Aunt put it down to the children's imagination but wrote passage, arriving Port Adelaide on 7-08-1851. down the time and the day. A few weeks later she had word of the "The passengers with whom we have had the pleasure to converse death of their mother at sea on the exact time and date that she had are not quite positive as to the day when they were understood to recorded ! htwe passed the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope, but their im- There were no children from the marriage between John Edward pression is that this latter part of their journey has been performed in Foster and Mary Halcrow-Mainland but I think Mary had enough about thirty days. If this is correct, it will afford additional encour- children to care for with her four sons plus the two girls and one son agement to the ad\>ocates of steam communication in Britian, who, from John Foster. She later became mother-in-law to her step-daugh- we are told, are now are fully determined, forthwith, to carry out (by ter Maria Jane as well. George Thomas Mainland married Maria Jane paddle or screw) steam communication with the Australian colonies. Foster and they had 7 children. The two girls died at the ages of eight We feel particularly, gratification in stating that a pratically-expe- and nine and their youngest son died at the age of three. These were rienced gentleman has arrived on the CONSTITUTION, with a full dangerous times in London when Cholera took many young lives es- determination to ascertain the truth as to the rumoured excellence of pecially in the closely populated areas of the East End, Middlesex. the South Australian iron ores. We can only add the expression of our I think it's quite likely that, in the first half of the 19th cenUiry, the opinion that what he heard in Britian will be more than confirmed seafaring Orkney families, being so far from home, kept quite a close by his personal observations here, and that we hope the acquaint- knit community in the East End and Dock area of London. ance will be mutually and abundantly beneficial." (gentleman not Were there more of these Orkney families in London ? Do you named)" have seafaring ancestors who went to London? I would really like to George Thomas Mainland died at Sierra Leone probably of Yel- hear more about these families. • low Fever as pretty well most Europeans did in those times. Sierra 14 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Issue No.56 December 2010
An article by Jocelyn Rendall based : on her talk to the OFHS October 2010 f you have spent time delving in archives and painstakingly written down by the poor Session Clerk. census records and graveyards to trace your The Rev. William Blaw had the unenviable task family tree, you have probably found that of attempting to bring Traill to book for his many moments of exciting discoveries alternate misdemeanours, for the Kirk had the authority to witIh moments of frustration, when you think: it's investigate and punish all 'ungodly' or anti-social fine to know that my great-great or great-great-great behaviour. Thomas, however, was having none of grandparents were Jessie Burger and William Flett it, and their feud escalated for years. In an amazing or whoever, and that they had ten children and were scene in which the laird and his two sons threatened buried in Deerness kirkyard, but I wish I knew more Blaw in St Boniface kirkyard, Thomas Traill did about who Jessie and William actually were. What swear with a Dreadfull Oath that he should build up were their daily lives really like, what did they talk the Kirk door, and break the bottom of the Boat that about, what happenings stirred up the gossip and the would bring the Minister to the Isle, and then like one mad arguments around the peat fire in their home? What he ran to the Shoar, and took away the four oars would it actually be like if I could jump in a time machine and go and spend a weekend with Jessie of the boat that had carried and William, in the mid 18th century for example? the Minister over and beat In comparison to the long millennia of Orkney history, the past inhabited by the ancestors in our family trees is recent, but in terms of culture it is a very far-off and foreign place, and our knowledge of the daily lives of ordinary people is surprisingly limited. It can be very hard to get beyond the names and the dates in the census forms and connect with real people, but a useful tool for building that time machine is the collection of minute books belonging to the Orkney Presbyteries and Kirk St Boniface, Papay Sessions in the Kirkwall archives. These record far more than information about kirk business: they are some of the Boatsmen and swore if any man took the Minister absolute goldmines of social history. They contain over and gave him lodgeing in the Isle he should presently be contemporary comment on historical events, local putt out of it. and national - our only source of knowing how 'The Wicked Laird' inhabits that timeless zone in island people viewed events at the time before the advent tradition. The Minister's Flag - the rock where the minister of newspapers - and actual dialogue, recorded had to disembark and walk two very rough miles of shore verbatim, which brings people long since dead to the kirk because the laird forbade him to set foot on his wonderfully to life. land - is a landmark. I did not know how true the stories of him were or when they had happened, (they were told to If you had been a member of the North Isles me so vividly I imagined they belonged only two or three Presbytery in the first quarter of the 18th century, generations back), until Thomas Traill leapt out from many for example, you would have found meetings acrimonious pages of the North Isles Presbytery minutes, extremely lively, if somewhat stressful, due to written 300 years ago! The Wicked Laird was every the long-running feud between the laird of Papay bit as mad and bad as in island folklore, but even and his brother-in-law, the Westray minister. In more colourful and, best of all, real. 1718, the minister reported that, (amongst many other sins): Thomas Traill of Holland, casting off The story of Thomas Traill is entertaining all fear of God and regard to man, does not only but not typical. He was a relatively rich remove seats in the Church, yea and the Pulpit at his and powerful laird and could afford to own hand and Dispose of money collected for the defy the Kirk. He evidently wasn't too poor as he thinks fit, but also does most wickedly bothered about the possibility of retribution prophane the Sabbath by calling his Ser\>ants to the in the next life and nobody could really do house upon the same, and then and there contriving much about him in this one (they were all too and commanding all the work that is to be done all terrified of him), but this was definitely not the week after. Thomas' response, full of violent threats, the situation that most people were in. Their invective and thoroughly unecclesiastical language, was all lives were controlled, to an extent we can^ Issue No. 56 December 2010 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 15
Fhardly imagine, by the enormous power of the Kirk. fine, ff you were lucky enough to To understand this, we have to take a dive back in time into a own money or property, you might world where there was absolutely no concept that your beliefs or be able to buy your way out of the religious practice, or non-practice, could be a private affair and up to worst punishments, because the your own conscience. The Kirk was a state institution, established Session always needed money by law at the Reformation in 1560. Going to the parish kirk and to pay for building repairs and obeying the commands of the Kirk was a legal requirement. If you fining delinquents was one broke the Sabbath, or got drunk or quarrelled with your neighbour, of the few ways they had of or had sexual relations outside marriage, you would be tried by the earning cash. The delinquent Kirk courts and, if you resisted their authority, you could expect to Elspeth Linkletter was able to be hauled off to face the magistrates. If it was your first offence, buy her way out of the Hole by you might be let off with a promising the Session that she stern rebuke and a fine, but would pay a brown-rigged, white-horned three-year-old if you appeared again you The Stocks could expect to be sitting on cow, but she still had to sit on the stool of the stool of repentance in the repentance on Sundays for the next six months. kirk, or standing at the kirk So the punishments were really serious ones, and reading these door, wearing sackcloth, Session minutes you get a sense of what a very Sunday after Sunday, for as totalitarian society it was. Sometimes I many Sundays as the Session reminded of reading a novel saw fit. Adam Brebner from by Solzhenitsyn set in the Soviet Papay appeared in sacco 30 Union under Stalin. There was times, and Henry Gray had to absolutely no personal freedom stand a year and a day in the as we understand it. If we could Westray kirk. get in that time-machine and visit The following is a very our relatives 200 or 300 hundred small selection from a long list years ago, it would probably be of punishable sins recorded quite an unpleasant experience, in a 17th-century Session and not just because of the lack The Cathedral Session Book Book of the Cathedral: of electricity or sanitation. It Act 8 Absence from the kirk upon the Sabbath day - to be seems that it would be advisable punished by a fine of 10 shillings, public repentance and whipping to avoid visiting on a Sunday by the magistrate. (Kirkwall was patrolled by elders who would anyway. check every house to see if anyone was at home instead of in the The Act about 'rude' people kirk). giving up their seats to their Act 19 For a single fornication, fine £6. (A little later you read superiors reminds us that, that Fornicators are to be imprisoned and fed only on bread and although Orkney society may be water for 48 hours). egalitarian today, it certainly was not Act 40 Uncivil and rude (i.e. uneducated) people presuming to sit in the past, and the Kirk had no such in the stalls (the best seats in the kirk) who will not rise up to give revolutionary views. The elders, place unto their betters and superiors, fine 6 shillings. the members of the Session who There is even an act against cross-dressing! Men wearing women's were sitting in judgement, were clothes - or women wearing men's clothes - in the form of gysing all men of course, middle aged or (as in the new year revels) to be fined, married people £10 and elderly, and always the better off: unmarried £5. the employers, the big farmers or St Magnus was particularly well-equipped to deal with sinners, the merchants and businessmen or 'delinquents' as they are usually called. in the town. You can see that for Outside of the Cathedral were the Cuckstool, A late 17th century them the Session acts as a useful tool the Jougs, and the Stocks, while inside were 'Parish Sacklotlf for social control, because the people in the White Stone of repentance, the Stool of the dock were their employees: maids, farm servants, fisher Repentance, Sackcloth, the Prison and the girls, apprentices. Of course the gentry also broke the rules and Minister - the last worst of all. (Hossack fornicated just as much as everyone else, but you do not find them p.417) The Jougs was a very unpleasant iron standing in sackcloth at the kirk door or sitting on the repentance collar attached by a short chain to the wall of stool. Delinquents of quality - wonderful phrase ! - could buy the church and the cuckstool was similar to themselves off by paying a fine, privately, and of course the poor stocks; these were particularly used to punish could not afford to do that. people accused of slandering their neighbour Neither could they afford not to submit to the Session and do their or spreading scandal. The stool of repentance penance and be absolved and received back into the Kirk. If they stood in a front corner of the Seaman's Loft did not, even if they were prepared to risk what might happen - presumably a very prominent position in the The Jougs to them in the next life, this one would be impossible. They Kirk. The Prison was a dungeon known as Marwick's Hole, where would have no character reference, no job, probably no home, no you were likely to be incarcerated if you were unable to pay your acceptance in the community. Servants had to have a minister's^ 16 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Issue No.56 December 2010
^testimonial even to visit another parish. anguish caused by the dread of the interrogation and the public The Magistrats ar desired by my Lord Bishop and Session to erect humiliation, but there was no way anyone could escape. Every ane cuckstool or Pillory in the Churchyard as wes formerlie, and kirk, every presbytery was in a network, alerting each other of that upon the Session S expenses, for the terrification of scandalous runaways, so that wherever they fled to, someone would notice persons and scolds. (Hossack p.417) To be 'scandalous', a spreader them and they would be forced, by the magistrates if necessary, to of scandal, was regarded as a very serious offence, and slander return home and face the Discipline. meant something quite different from what it means today. There The fact that the Session minutes of all the parishes are so full are many cases when someone is up before the Session because of the trials of sinners tells us that of course people did break the they have quarrelled with a neighbour, (their sheep got into their rules despite the inevitable retribution. From the frequency with corn, or their cow was tethered too close to their patch of grass, or which young men were punished for playing football on Sundays, their dog bit their lamb) and they have lost their temper and called it must have been quite impossible to enforce this law, and it is them rude names. In every case the Session is not concerned with obvious that people would risk not just Discipline but hell and the amount of provocation or the rights and wrongs of the quarrel, damnation if a pod of whales appeared on a Sunday. It was also but only with the crime of taking away someone's good name. difficult for the Session to enforce Discipline when they were Your name was something almost tangible, and for the poor, heavily outnumbered by the sinners - as when almost every able- especially women, their good name was really all they had. Janet bodied man in Deerness rushed off to salvage a ship wrecked off Brown was hauled before the Stromness Session for calling Bess Copinsay in 1842. They were all summoned to the Session, but Sutherland a blabbing bitch. She probably was, but it was Janet one wonders how they could possibly have fitted into the little not Bess who had to do penance. Session house! The greater part of the Kirk Sessions' Sometimes the stories that emerge are very sad, and eloquent time was spent dealing with cases of both about the conditions in which people were living and about sexual misdemeanours, and sometimes the harshness of the Kirk in the past. There's a very short entry the accusations conjure up marvellous in the Stromness minutes for 1702 about a widow called Anna pictures of the goings-on in an Orkney Hestwall, accused of breaking the Sabbath because she has been parish. In 1701 John Brown spent four seen down at the sea shore. She explains that she was looking for Sundays in the Stromness kirk sitting some seaweed for her children to eat, not having anything to give on the stool of repentance inbetween them. This was a time that the weather was particularly cold and the two girls he had made wet, the harvest failed repeatedly in the 1690s and many people pregnant. Imagine the gossip in died of starvation. The stark couple of sentences paint a tragic Stromness! There are delightful picture of a time of famine. little postscripts to the story: in One wants to read that the their next meeting, the Session Session offered to help her, agreed a payment to the carpenter for instead the minister ordered The Stool of Repentance mending the repentance stool. A her to appear before the month or two later, John Brown Junior is baptised. pulpit the next sermon day Here is another snippet, from the Deerness Session minutes in acknowledge her fault When 1835, when evil reports were spread abroad against Jannet Spence we read or hear about disasters and Jane Horry respecting their behaviour at Mirkady during the or famines today, it is often fishing . . . Margaret Russell saw Jannet Spence standing on the hard to imagine the scale of top of a barrel and the Master of one of the vessels lifted her down the tragedy, but if we see a single in a very unbecoming manner and they both went behind the individual tell their story, suddenly barrel. . . Also saw Jane Horry take 4 glasses of whisky at once. it all comes into poignant focus. The scene is almost as clear as a photograph: the lasses going to There were times when the Session did try and help the the old fishing station at Mirkady to work at gutting the fish and poor of the parish. The fees for a marriage or baptism, the fines for packing it in barrels, and of course having a bit of light relief with 'delinquency' went into the parish Poor Box, and little hand-outs the men on the fishing boats. Perhaps these would be boats from were made from time to time, to someone whose barn had burnt another part of Scotland, so there would be all the excitement of down, to an elderly widow or to an orphan, or to some shipwrecked seeing some new blood, not just the familiar Deerness lads. And sailors who had been cast ashore. They might pay the school fees don't you wonder about the tittle-tattle Margaret Russell? Was for a poor child, or buy some grain in a time of famine. All these she an older woman and a bit of a prude? Was she another young records give a graphic picture of how close most people were to girl who was not as pretty as Jane or Jannet and jealous that no- living on the economic margins and what a very thin line there one tried to kiss her? was between survival and starvation. They throw a beam of light This does open up one of the dark sides of these Session onto daily life, and attitudes and preoccupations so different from meetings. You cannot help feeling that because the Session relied our own because, even though we may be living geographically on informers like Margaret Russell, it must have encouraged all in the same place as our ancestors did two or three centuries ago, the nasty side of a small community, providing an opportunity our culture has changed so much that the past really is another for people to settle scores with someone they didn't like by country. You need to travel with your map and guidebook and a dropping them in it with the Session. Someone informed on John very open mind. Corner - he had been seen kissing his servant Isabella behind Until the end of the 18th century, the authority of the Established a peatstack - and they fled to Caithness rather than face the Kirk was virtually undisputed in Orkney, but gradually it lost its inevitable Discipline. The story conveys a sense of the personal monopoly of power as people started to break away, into theA Issue No. 56 December 2010 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 17
FSecession kirks from the 1790s and, in a tidal wave of to priestly tyranny. This was the condition of Kirkwall down dissent, into the Free Kirk from 1843. All the Kirks had the to the last decade of the 18th century, when, with dissent, same structures of Sessions and Discipline and punishments, came the dawn of freedom . . . Cuckstool and cutty stool were but they also wanted recruits, so there are signs that people abolished, the jougs were wrenched from church door and were able to play off one against another. Threatened with market cross, Marwicks Hole was closed, and the punitive punishment in one kirk, they could leave it for another power of the clergy came to an end. Not that the Seceders congregation, without the fear of losing their place in the were less strict than was the Church by law estab. . . but, with Christian flock. For the anti-clerical Hossack, Dissent a choice of churches, ministers were bound to be civil lest they liberated Orkney from the totalitarian regime of The Kirk. should lose their customers. (Hossack p.443) It is ecclesiastical history and national experience that any North Isles Presbytery Records country in the hands of an undivided church must be subject B. H. Hossack, Kirkwall in the Orkneys (Kirkwall 1900) •
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If you enjoyed this article by Jocelyn Rendall you'll love her book 'Steering the Stone Ships.' It is the story of Orkney's kirks and people, through the records of its churches, from the Ca- thedral of St Magnus to the tiny chapel on Lambholm created by the Italian prisoners in WW2 and the coming of the Transalpine Redemptorists who bought the island and farm of Papa Stron- say where they would establish their Golgotha Monastery. If you are thinking that a 'churchy' book will be heavy going then you are in for a pleasant surprise. I guarantee Jocelyn will have you laughing out loud at the antics of our ancestors or even shedding a tear when you read how many Orcadians suffered in the 'good old days'. It's a marvellous read, packed with informa- tion that anyone with a drop of Orcadian blood in their veins will treasure. 'Steering the Stone Ships' normally retails around £12 but Jocelyn has made her book available to Orkney Family History members in the UK for £11.50 including post and packing. Cheques should be made out to Jocelyn Rendall and sent to her at: Micklegarth, Papa Westray, KW17 2BU. 18 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Issue No.56 December 2010
By John Sinclair Member No 588
"Boats were lowered but alas only mutilated bodies were the Royal Oak's crew who could evidently be relied upon recovered....the hopeless search for survivors continued to provide a good night's entertainment. all night.... the heather of Flotta was afire from burning A young midshipman from HMS Vanguard, R. F. debris....a diver from HMS Indomitable reported that Nichols, had thought about attending but as he had the some bodies were still lying in their hammocks at early morning watch with its 5.45am turn-out he had daybreak all I could hear was the tap tap of hammers decided to give it a miss. He was , however, collared by from HMS Victorious as the dockhands made coffins for a particularly awkward Sub Lieutenant and detailed those washed ashore." as his reluctant 'valet' to help him get ready for the These were just some of the comments recorded by sailors concert. By the time he had escaped this duty he was the day after HMS Vanguard blew up in Scapa Flow. so exasperated that, when a signal came from his Vanguard was a St Vincent Class battleship, just seven Australian friend, Baxter Tyrie, to come aboard Royal years old. She had fought at the Battle of Jutland and Oak prior to attending the concert, he needed no second had also seen a separate action against the German invitation. High Fleet. That chain of events was to save his life. Even more The day of the disaster had started on a high note for July amazing, however, is that when the same Royal Oak 9th 1917 was the day scheduled for the inter-squadron was torpedoed in Scapa Flow some 22 years later, regatta at Scapa Flow. Earlier that day Vanguard's crew Midshipman Nichols, now Captain R.F. Nichols and had been practising the routine for abandoning ship second in command of that battleship, escaped with his but now she was tied up alongside the Scout Cruiser life when 833 of his comrades perished in the icy waters HMS Boadicea and Vanguard's stokers had challenged of Scapa Flow. Boadicea's stokers to a cutter's race. Captain Nichols later recalled the events on board the There was a lot of money lying on the result and to theatre ship leading up to the Vanguard disaster. the delight of the Boadicea's crew her stokers crossed "Just as the 'Goodnight Song' was finished, sometime the finishing line 12 strokes ahead of the crew from after 11.15 and long after we were due back on Vanguard Vanguard. we were heavily shaken by two terrific explosions at no The regatta over, the Vanguard returned great distance from us. Still the 'National Anthem' was to her fleet position and by 10pm sung before we streamed on deck to find out what had everyone not on duty had turned in happened. All we could see was a dark cloud of smoke for the night. against the starlit sky. Fully an hour passed before the Around twenty of the Vanguard's Vanguard's officers were summoned to the quarter deck officers, however, had decided to to learn that our ship had blown-up and sunk within a finish off the evening with a visit matter of seconds." to the theatre ship Gourko. She All hands were called from every ship to search was used as an amenities for survivors. Only one officer, Lieutenant vessel on which personnel Commander Duke, and two ratings, from the vessels in the fleet Private Williams and Stoker Cox, were gave performances of home made found. The officer was so badly injured revues and plays in the that he mercifully hold theatre which capable of seating 600 The show that evening was being performed by members of Issue No. 56 December 2010 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 19
soon died. He was buried in Lyness Royal Naval had just left Vanguard a few hours before the disaster. He Cemetery. had been working on the gear in 'A' turret and sleeping in the Armourers' Mess along with an assistant. He had also been working on HMS Natal just before she blew up in the Cromarty Firth in mysterious circumstances, on the 30th December 1915, with the loss of over 400 men. He denied all knowledge of the event and the Court decided that there was nothing in the man's evidence to arouse suspicion. The man continued to work for the Admiralty eventually receiving his full pension on retirement. The hurriedly convened Court of Enquiry was unable to to discover why Vanguard blew-up. No formal cause for the explosiion was ever found. Its conclusions were that the explosion may have been caused by the 'ignition of cordite from an unavoidable cause' or 'the deterioration of unstable cordite'. The two survivers of the Vanguard disaster They made a number of recommendations regarding One of the men to lose his life in the explosion was an magazines, the use of only improved cordite and the observer from the Japanese Navy, Commander Ito. The stowage of explosive materials — all of which had been photograph shows him being presented by Admiral implemented by 1919. Sturdee to King George V during his visit to Scapa Flow Many articles have been written about the loss of HMS in June 1917. The Captain of HMS Vanguard, James Vanguard and the loss of life varies between 800 and Dick, who also lost his life in the tragedy, is second from over 1000. the left. A great deal of research has been conducted by distinguished military historians and enthusiastic { v) • \ f amateurs. One of these, Brian Budge of Kirkwall, has t come up with the figure of 843 - 10 more than the 41 ^ ^ ^ i official figure of those lost on the Royal Oak. This is » Vk the result of extensive research into the Register of st V Commonwealth War Graves Commission Memorials at Chatham, Plymouth, Portsmouth and Lyness together i r t with additional information from colleagues across the nt ..world. c Eighteen of the dead are buried in !i A - 1 n Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery on Hoy. This cemetery has 439 Commonwealth burials from the E t i 11 first World War and 200 from the km second World war including 26 men C tl from the Royal Oak. The cemetery ill j also contains the graves of 14 sailors King George V meeting Commander Ito of the German Navy from the High No one knew what had happened and the first thoughts Seas Fleet interned in Scapa Flow were that a submarine had got into the Flow. Orders were after the 1918 Armistice. given to 'take up station for protecting the anchorage' but The remains on HMS Vanguard it was soon realised that the Vanguard had blown up from still lie at the bottom of Scapa Flow. an internal explosion. The concensus of opinion of those Previous salvage operations have witnessing the explosion was that there was a bright flash removed much of the non-ferrous followed by two heavy explosions and then either another metal. The turrets have gone and the explosion or a series occurring in rapid succession. Most guns and gunhouses have vanished. A agreed that the initial explosion took place between the large part of the stern and forecastle foremast and the two turrets amidships. The conclusion still remains intact and upright. was that one of the magazines amidships had blown up It was not until 1984, 67 years after followed by the others. the event, that a bouy was placed As with most disasters one does not have to look far for indicating that the site is a war grave. Further unauthorised diving conspiracy theories. It was wartime and we knew that The memorial at the Royal and disturbance is forbidden and the German agents used devices to start fires aboard vessels Naval Cemetery, Lyness, site's close proximity to Flotta ensures leaving New York. Irish terrorists would also have an Hoy, to the men who died that anyone ignoring this would be interest in the destruction of British shipping. when HMS Vanguard quickly spotted. • There was also another suspect; an ordinance fitter who exploded in Scapa Flow. 20 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Issue No.56 December 2010
From Orkney to Manchester by Robin Wilcockson, Member No 2407 Over recent years, and particularly since retiring, I have had some difficult to decipher - more probably perhaps 'in OverScapa' ? moderate success in tracing my family roots, notably one line down Of the various Magnus Linay/Linnay names in the baptism south via the Devon 'Yeo' family link very probably back to the records, none stood out as a firm link, though based on projected Norman kings via Henry I !! age at marriage two of the Kirkwall baptisms look more feasible: But until recently a Scottish link remained a mystery, just a - Magnus (03 Jan.1681) - son of Magnus Linnay and Isobel great great grandmother recorded on a census as born 1813 in Eshen. Edinburgh. Further exploration, largely via the Scotlands People - Magnus (07 Nov.1676) - son of Thomas Linay and Issabell website, revealed that the Edinburgh link had arisen from a Ewensone. Lancashire born Royal Artillery gunner marrying a local girl while During the 1700-1740 period there were a number of other stationed at Leithport. Then to my happy surprise I came across Magnus Linay/Linnay entries in the Kirkwall records for marriage a link back to ORKNEY when two further generations back, a and as father at baptisms, which would certainly suggest a number 1789 Edinburgh marriage of ISOBELLA GRAY described of other similar age Magnuses were still around during that same her as a daughter of the late WILLIAM GRAY, a maltman at time, with consequent difficulty in identifying the origin of our KIRKWALL in ORKNEY. particular one. This is some six generations back from my own Manchester HELEN WHYTQUOY - Very probably the baptism 12 Aug.1683 roots. I was myself born in what was then Cheshire, now Greater at Kirkwall, daughter of William Whitequoy and Jean Gairnach. Manchester, though now live close to Nottingham. I have traced This is the only Helen Whytquoy found in the baptism record pages. further back from Isobella with reasonable confidence for some A 'Helen' in the records index (16 Aug.1677) was actually listed two or three generations in Orkney, but then inevitably either run as 'Elspet' in the record page itself, parents as William Whytquoy out of information or run into same-name uncertainties. But this and Jean Garner, (looks like the same family parents with variant is the essence of what I have found so far, and some loose ends spellings - but with an Elspet/Helen indexing error). However, that may link into findings of others : there is another Helen Whytquoy marriage record (12 Apr.1716 ISOBELLA GRAY - Probably the baptism as ISBEL - 05 at Kirkwall), which, if it is the same Helen, suggests that Magnus Nov.1757 at Kirkwall, with parents William Gray and Barbara may have died and Helen re-married during her pregnancy with Linay. Barbara. The later descriptor as 'deceast' for Magnus (Barbara There is another (1745) Isobel baptism in the same family Linay 1736 marriage) may possibly hint at this ? which suggests perhaps that the earlier Isobel had died and the WILLIAM WHYTQUOY - Marriage to JEAN GARNER - 09 name used again ? Nov.1676 at Kirkwall. WILLIAM GRAY - Marriage to BARBARA LINAY - 02 They had 5 children - James(1673), Elspet(1677), William(1680), Nov.1736 at Kirkwall.William as Maltmaker, Barbara as daughter Helen(1683), John(1693). of deceased Magnus Linay. They had 10 children from 1737 to Another Whytqouy family at the same time was listed as 1757. James Whitquoy marriage to Catharin Garner, 22 Jan.1678 at Would a 'Maltmaker' be a skilled (rather than just labouring) Kirkwall, with children Jean(1675), Elspet(1681), Thomas(1683), profession, and if so might he figure in some other local records? Marione(1685), Isobell(1693). It looks very much that two Having 10 children, albeit some possibly with infant deaths, Whytquoy brothers married two Garner sisters ! Not surprisingly suggests that some other family trees might also link back to for the time, there are a variety of variant spellings of the him. respective surnames in the written records, but this deduction Of the William Gray names in the baptism records, I found no looks reasonably probable. reliable trace, though the most feasible one (as closest to Kirkwall) No baptism records found for William or Jean (or James or would seem to be son of George Gray and Ann Henderson, Catharin), but a recorded death at Kirkwall 03 May 1671 of baptised 13 Sept.1719 at Orphir. JAMES WHYTQUOY 'older in Scapa' suggests perhaps the BARBARA LINAY - Baptism 25 Oct.1716 at Kirkwall,daughter father of James (younger) and William, one generation even of Magnus Linay and Helen Whytquoy. further back. This seems the only Barbara Linay in the records to fit the So as a very new member of Orkney FHS, I contribute herewith names and dates. what I have found so far about my own Orkney roots way back MAGNUS LINAY - Marriage to HELEN WHYTQUOY in time. I hope that this may be of interest to other members, that - 17 Dec.1713 at Kirkwall. it may just possibly generate some further information back to They had 2 children, Margaret (1714) and Barbara (1716). Both myself, and that it may indeed lead to a visit ourselves to your these baptism records describe Magnus as 'in Oversay' ? - very fascinating islands. • Issue No. 56 December 2010 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 21
Now for one of those strange coincidences that fre- quently happen in connection with the newsletter. I select the 'mystery' photographs at random from the hundreds, if not thousands, that the Kirkwall Library Archives have accumulated over the years. Back in June 2008 I included this unidentified photo- graph in the Maga- zine. When Lynn got her copy of the magazine, there, staring out of pic- ture L5422/4 was William Simpson Harcus her great great uncle and his son Harry. Great excitement indeed and Lynn could hardly wait to fire off an e-mail to Orkney proclaim- Lynn ing this happy S k u r k a event. Unhappily , William Simpson Harcus and his son Harry from Aus- however, the news never reached me and it is only now tralia, spot- that I can remedy the situation. ted her great Now the coincidence that I mentioned earlier is that great aunt the William Simpson Harcus in the photograph is one the Margaret siblings of the Margaret Simpson Harcus whose picture I Simpson selected at random in 2010. Harcus in Now, just to complete the details I received from Lynn; this photo- the photograph was taken in Glasgow: William Simpson graph which Harcus was born at Swarthill, Westray on 25th June appeared in our September newsletter. Margaret, in the 1880. Lynn does not know when he died. Apart from Har- centre of the picture, was born on 11th Jan 1870 but Lynn ry, William had four other children: Marion (Minnie); does not know when she died. William; Elizabeth (Ella) and Mima. Lynn has no Lynn tells me that she has a copy of this picture, the information on Harry apart from knowing that he was original of which is held by Tommy Harcus of Smith- married. yquoy, Westray. Tommy and his brother Jim, of Sanday William was the 8th child born to James (1844 - 1930) and member no 1709 of the OFHS, were both staying at and Ann Jamima/Jemima (1849 - 1911) Harcus of Lynn's home in Canberra and the photograph was dis- Swartmill, Westray. The Australian connection arises cussed. because John Simpson Harcus, born in 1867 and the Lynn had thought that the other two women in the photo- eldest of the children, migrated to Australia some time graph were Margaret's daughter and grand daughter but before 1887 when he married Lynn's great grandmother. Tommy did not think that this was right. Tommy and Jim Lynn is at present working on a family banner which were confident, however, that the picture had been taken in she hopes will have photographs of William's 8 siblings. Boston, possibly at an anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. She has six of them but has no success in finding pictures Lynn explained that Simpson is a family name and of Williamann (Annie) and James. that her own father was John William Simpson Lynn is pinning her hopes on one of her fellow members Harcus. Several of Margaret's siblings (there were 9 waving a magic wand and producing the missing pictures children in the family) were also given Simpson as their or indeed any other photos or family information. second name. You can reach Lynn at
If you CAN GET YOUR ARTICLE FOR THE MARCH EDITION TO ME BY THE 16TH JANUARY THAT WOULD BE GREAT. PHOTOGRAPHS, SENT AS GOOD QUALITY JPGS, WOULD BE MOST WELCOME TOO. ED. Issue No. 56 December 2010 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 22 Issue No. 56 December 2010 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 23
THE HARRAY STONEMASON WHO FOUND SUCCESS IN SUB TROPICAL QUEENSLAND
By Velzian MacDonald Todd. Member No 781 Recently in Queensland Australia, we celebrated 150 Church on the tenth of February 1855. She eventually in- years of statehood and many of our older buildings were herited the family farm of the Velzians and the couple re- refurbished and their history revisited. I am proud to say mained there for the rest of their lives. Alexander, their that my grand- eldest son, stayed on the farm but Daniel immigrated father Daniel to Australia in 1876 and his younger brother James fol- MacDonald, an lowed him two years later. Orcadian stone- mason born in Harray on the tenth of Novem- ber 1859, was as- sociated with two of the finest build- ings in Brisbane Old Government House - Old Government House and Parliament House. Both are magnificent pink sandstone structures erected in the latter half of the nineteenth century but further added to by Daniel at the Appiehouse today turn of the twen- The farmhouse Appiehouse still stands today though tieth century. it has been much altered since Daniel's time. Original- Daniel Mac- ly a typical long house, Alexander in 1888 built a solid Donald, chris- two storey home adjoining it for his parents. Alexander tened Donald but never married and on his death during the First World always known as Was, Appiehouse was sold to John Isbister and it has Daniel, was the remained in ownership of his family ever since. The second of three Isbisters added a further single storey section making it sons born to Don- a long rambling house adapted for modern living. It is at ald MacDonald present occupied by a daughter-in-law of John Isbister Parliament House and Margaret who has lived there since 1948. Ann Watt Velzian, small farmers of Appiehouse, Har- For a time Daniel and James prospected for gold at Ta- ray, near Dounby in the West Mainland of Orkney. loom, in northern New South Wales. James didn't marry Daniel's father, Don- ald, was not an Orcadian and followed the lure of gold all his life. Daniel, however, but came from across the Pentland Firth met and married Mary Ann Furness. No doubt she in- and Weydale, near Thurso in the county fluenced him to return to his old craft of stone masonry. of Caithness. Possi- bly he came to Orkney Eventually they settled in Brisbane the capital of Queens- to work on road con- struction but while land, where they had two sons James and Alexander there he met and married Margaret and three daughters Edith, Margaret and Flora. Velzian at St Michael's Like most Orcadians Daniel was a versatile man. He owned and operated a granite quarry and stone from it was used in the foundations of the City Hall, Brisbane. He continued to build, adapting to other forms of con- struction. He built a brick brewery, the patterned facade of which was retained when it was recently converted to a modern apartment block. A charming concrete bridge of his is still standing and supporting modern traffic af- ter more than one hundred years. Eventually Daniel retired but his two sons continued in his footsteps and eventually two grandsons also. A great grandson is a heritage architect and all have been proud to acknowledge the fine standard of workmanship Margaret Ann Watt Velzian and her husband Donald with son Alexander c. 1870 set by Daniel. • THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY
rkney Family History Society was formed in NEW MEMBERS 1997 and is run by a committee of volunteers. Membership of the Society is through subscription O and runs for a period of twelve months from date of It is similar to societies operating worldwide application. where members share a mutual interest in family Members will receive our magazine 'Sib Folk News' history and help each other with research and, from which is published every 3 months and the 'Members' time to time, assist in special projects concerning the Directory' which is renewed annually in September. countless records and subjects available to us all in This Directory lists members' contact details and their finding our roots. research interests. The main objectives are: Members will receive a password to access the 1 To establish a local organisation for the study, members' pages on the website, details of which are collection, analysis and sharing of information about shown on the Home Page. individuals and families in Orkney. A great deal of research can be achieved through these 2 To establish and maintain links with other family resources history groups and genealogical societies throughout THE PRESENT MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES AND RATES ARE the UK and overseas 3. To establish and maintain a library and other 1. UK only ORDINARY reference facilities as an information resource for Family membership £10.00 members and approved subscribers. 2. UK only FAMILY MEMBERSHIP 4.To promote study projects and special interest Spouse, Partner and Children under 18 £15.00 groups to pursue approved assignments. We are located on the upper floor of the Kirkwall 3. UK only SENIOR CITIZENS Library next to the archives department and are open Single or couple £7.00 Mon—Fri 2pm-4.30pm and Sat 11am-4.30pm. 4. OVERSEAS - Surface Mail £12.50 Our own library, though small at the moment, holds a variety of information including: 5. OVERSEAS - Air Mail £15.00 The IGI for Orkney on microfiche. DOWNLOAD THESE and SEND The Old Parish Records on microfilm. WITH YOUR SUBSCRIPTION The Census Returns on microfilm transcribed on to a computer database. Visit www.orkneyfhs.co.uk/docs/mempack.pdf where Family Trees. you will find a New Membership Application form and Emigration and Debtors lists. a blank Family Tree. Please complete these, print and Letters, Articles and stories concerning Orkney send with the appropriate subscription to The Treasurer and its people. at the address below. Hudson's Bay Company information. EXISTING MEMBERS Graveyard Surveys (long term project). Existing members wanting to renew their subscription This material is available to members for 'in house' can now do so online. Just Log In and use the link from research by arrangement. My Details on the Member's Page. You can, of course, Locally we have a Members' Evening, most months, still send your subscription to the Treasurer at OFHS. with a guest speaker. CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATE We produce a booklet of members and interests to Overseas members, paying in their own currency, allow members with similar interests to correspond should check the exchange rate to ensure the correct with each other if they wish. amount is forwarded. Our bank will accept overseas We also produce a newsletter 4 times a year and are cheques without charging commission. We regret that always looking for articles and photographs of interest. foreign Postal Orders are not acceptable in the UK. A stamped addressed envelope should be included if Members residing in the UK may pay their subscriptions these are to be returned. Back copies of the magazine by Bankers Order and if they wish can have their can be purchased at £1 per copy. subscriptions treated as Gift Aid donations. Forms are We can usually undertake research for members available on request. who live outwith Orkney but this is dependent on the Cheques should be made payable to:- willingness of our island members giving up their ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY spare time to help. Any costs incurred, such as fees for and forwarded to The Treasurer certificates, will reqire to be reimbursed by the member. ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Orkney Library & Archive 44 Junction Rd. Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1AG Scotland. Telephone 01856 879207 General enquires should be addressed to the office in writing or to Treasurer George Gray (e-mail: [email protected]) General Secretary. Elaine Sinclair (e-mail: [email protected]) Research Secy. Adrianne Leask (e-mail: [email protected]) Editor. John Sinclair (e-mail: [email protected]) Orkney Family History Society website— www.orkneyfhs.co.uk Articles in the newsletter are copyright of the Society and its authors and may not be reproduced without permiss- ion of the editor The Society is a registered charity in Scotland and a member of the Scottish Association of Family History Societies. The Society's newsletter, Sib Folk News is registered with the British Library under the serial number ISSN 1368-3950. The Orkney Family History Society is a Registered Charity in Scotland SC026205