COVINGTON & THANKERTON A HISTORY OF THE PARISH AND ITS PEOPLES Volume 2 (of 2) COMPILED BY William A. Fleming 2 Thatched cottages at Thankerton Townhead 3 THE UNITED PARISHES OF COVINGTON & THANKERTON VOLUME TWO CONTENTS LIST OF SURNAMES IN THIS VOLUME - - - Page 4 ROLL OF HONOUR - - - - - - - Page 8 Chapter 12 – THE COVENANTERS - - - - Page 11 Chapter 13 – SURNAMES OF THE PARISH - - - Page 15 MAPS & PICTURES Thatched cottages at Thankerton Townhead - - - - Page 2 Thankerton Residents - - - - - - - Page 5 Miss Nancy McQuid - - - - - - - Page 5 Land Girls - - - - - - - - Page 6 Certificate of thanks from Queen Mother - - - - - Page 6 Thornlea, Boat Road - - - - - - - Page 6 Nurse’s House - - - - - - - Page 7 Donald Cargill - - - - - - - Page 12 Sir Wyndham and Lady Anstruther - - - - - Page 14 Bob Anderson - - - - - - - Page 18 Angus Family - - - - - - - Page 19 Sir Wyndham (Eric) and friends - - - - - - Page 20 Messrs Grant, Pottie & Barr with Rev. M. Ogilvie - - - - Page 22 Allan Campbell - - - - - - - - Page 28 Alexander Darling and family - - - - - - Page 33 Sir Will & Lady Darling - - - - - - - Page 34 Boghall Castle - - - - - - - Page 38 James & Jessie Forrest, Ardmay - - - - - - Page 40 Dick Grant - - - - - - - - Page 46 Thankerton (postcard published by Thomas Hutchison) - - - Page 52 Kitty Hutchison and Sunday School pupils - - - - - Page 52 Irvine, coal merchant - - - - - - - Page 53 Meg Johnstone - - - - - - - - Page 55 Walter Kerr, shepherd - - - - - - Page 57 McMahon family - - - - - - - - Page 67 Alex and Nancy Murray - - - - - - - Page 71 Jinty Smillie Operetta - - - - - - - Page 82 Lawrie & Symington sales voucher - - - - - Page 85 Covington School Group 1948/49 - - - - - - Page 98 Covington School senior group 1947/48 - - - - - Page 99 Henry McMahon - - - - - - - - Page 99 Thankerton Children - - - - - - - Page 100 Miss Brownlee with her pupils - - - - - - Page 100 Thankerton Townhead - - - - - - - Page 101 School Operetta c1953 - - - - - - - Page 101 Four pictures of Thankerton from old postcards - - - Pages 102-103 4 SURNAMES LISTED IN THIS VOLUME Adamson; Affleck; Aitken; Alexander; Allan; Alston; Anderson; Angus; Archibald. Baillie; Ballantyne; Barclay; Barr; Barrie; Bell; Bertram; Black; Blackwood; Blakely; Boak; Bone; Braidwood; Brown; Brownlee; Bryce; Buchanan; Bulloch. Callan; Campbell; Carmichael; Carrick; Chalmers; Clark; Cochran; Core; Crawford; Crichton; Cunningham; Currie; Cuthbertson. Dalgardner; Dargie; Darling; Davidson; Dempster; Dickson; Dobbie; Donaldson; Dunipace. Elder; Ewart. Findlay; Finlayson; Fisher; Fleming; Fordyce; Forrest; Frame; Fraser; French. Galloway; Gibson; Gilbert; Gilchrist; Girdwood; Glasgow; Glenholm; Graham; Grant; Gray; Green; Greenshields. Haddow; Hamilton; Hardie; Harper; Henderson; Hislop; Hoggan; Hope; How; Howieson; Hunter; Hutchison. Inglis; Irvine. Jack; Jackson; Jamieson; Johnston; Johnstone. Kay; Keddar; Kerr. Laing; Lamb; Lang; Laurie; Lawrie; Lawson; Leiper; Levingston; Lightbody; Lindsay; Lithgow; Little; Liverance; Livingston; Lockhart; Lockie; Lorimer; Lowrie; Lowrie. Macgregor; Maclean; Marshall; Martin; McMahon; McMorran; McNay; McQuarrie; McQuid; Menzies; Minto; Mitchell; Moffat; Muir; Muirhead; Murray. Nelson; Newbigging; Newlands; Nicol; Nimmo; Noble. Orr. Padzen; Paterson; Plenderleith; Porteous; Prentice; Pringle; Purdie. Ramsay; Reid; Ritchie; Robertson; Robison; Ross; Russell. Saddler; Sandilands; Scott; Scoular; Sibbald; Simpson; Sinclair; Slimman; Smillie; Smith; Somerville; Spence; Steele; Stevenson; Stewart; Stodart; Storie. Taverner; Taylor; Telfer; Templeton; Tennant; Tervit; Thomson; Thorburn; Tod; Toward; Turner; Twaddle; Tweddale; Tweedie; Tweddle. Vassie; Veitch. Watson; Watt; Waugh; Weir; Wharrie; White; Williamson; Wilson; Wood; Wyld. Young. 5 “Last of the Summer Wine” Thankerton residents - Dick Grant, Mr Stewart, George McMahon, Will Crawford Miss Agnes (Nancy) McQuid (later Mrs Murray) – see Roll of Honour (page 10) 6 LAND GIRLS Certificate of thanks from the Queen Mother Nan Bone & Mary Edge at Perryflats Tomato Houses sent to Nan Bone Thornlea, Boat Road, Thankerton 7 Nurse Wilson (5th from left) is pictured outside her house with some ‘locals’. 1922 – The Carmichael Anstruther District Nursing Association was formed to “provide skilled nursing for persons in their own homes without distinction of creed.” To achieve this aim subscriptions and donations were sought from local people within the three parishes of Covington & Thankerton, Carmichael and Pettinain, fund raising activities were commenced and a sizeable area of land in Thankerton was feud from Carmichael Estate for a minimal feu of one shilling per year. A house was then built on part of this land at a cost of £600 funded by a £500 mortgage loan from the County Council of Lanark. The feu charter was granted to “The Honourable Sylvia Hanbury Tracy, Honorary President, David Inglis, Honorary Secretary, both of the Carmichael Anstruther Nursing Association and L. A. Morrison, factor, on the Carmichael and Mauldslie Estates and to their successors in the said offices. 8 Roll of Honour Covington & Thankerton Parish Church In response to their Country’s call in time of danger the undernoted loyally took up arms in the Great War commencing 1914. * Private Henry Dargie 1st Batt Scots Guards * Lieut James M. Brown 3rd Rifle Brigade Trooper Thomas Plenderleith Lanarkshire Yeomanry Sergeant William W. Lanarkshire Yeomanry Plenderleith Pte Robert Greenshields 2 / 4 Royal Hussars Pioneer William C. M Dickson Royal Engineers Pte Robert Wilson 3rd Royal Scots Pte Robert Fleming Royal Highlanders Pte James Elder Canadian Grenadier Guards Pnr Archibald MacLean Royal Engineers Pte Andrew MacLean Royal Field Artillery Pte Isaac McMillan 13th Royal Scots Signaller David Newlands R. N. Volunteer Reserve Pte Robert McQuid R. N. Volunteer Reserve Pte John Proudfoot 1 / 4 Royal Scots Fusiliers Pte Joseph Johnstone Royal Air Force Pte William D. Inglis 59th Siege Battery R.G.A. Pte James Watson Machine Gun Corps Pte James Tervit 7th Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Pte George Bell A.S.M (M.T.) Prn Robert Proudfoot Royal Engineers Pte William McMillan 520th Siege Battery R.G.A. Pte Alexander Dargie 13th Coldstream Guards Evelyn May Dickson Q.M.A.A.C. 9 * Tpr William G. Marshall Household Battalion * Pte Patrick Tweedie 1st Cameron Highlanders Pte John Greenshields 25th Batt Australian Imperial Force Pte William Greenshields 51st Divisional Training Pte John G. Proudfoot 1 / 8 Royal Scots Sapper Alexander Dalziel Royal Engineers Pte Alexander Elder 16th Highland Light Infantry Pte John Elder 1st Highland Light Infantry Tpr Angus MacLean 1st Mounted Canadian Rifles Tpr Peter McMillan 17th Lancers Pte William R. Jackson Engine-room Artificer R.N. Pte Thomas Hutchison Army Service Corps (M.T.) Pte Douglas Hope Royal Scots Fusiliers Tpr John Hardie 7th Dragoon Guards Sergt James Plenderleith Royal Air Force Pte Archibald Steele 4th Scottish Rifles Pnr John Tervit Royal Engineers L-Cpl David Dargie Royal Army Service Corps (H.T.) Pte William Geddes, M.M. Stretcher Bearer 16th H.L.I. Pte David Greenshields 11th Scottish Rifles Pte David Baird 1st Div Canadian Field Artillery Spr James Reid 7th Batt Canadian Engineers * Pte James Miller Engineer Artificer R.N.V.R. * Killed in Action 10 Parish of Covington & Thankerton Roll of Honour World War 1939-1945 Alexander, David B. (R.A.F.) McMahon, George (Army) Angus, John S. (Army) McMahon, Miss Lucy Blacklaw, Charles McMahon, Miss Mary (A.T.S.) Bone, Miss Mary McMahon, Maurice (Army) Brace, Herbert (Army) McNee, J. Brown, Miss Catherine McQuid, Miss Agnes S. (A.T.S.) Brown, Miss J. C. McQuid, James (Army) Crawford, David (Army) McQuid, Robert (Royal Marines) Edge, Charles (Observer Corps) Newlands, Charles (R.A.F.) Forrest, James Ogilvie, Rev Millar Gass, G. Paterson, H. Gass, H.W. Russell, Jack (Army) Grant, Alexander (Army) *Scott, Thomas Grant, David (Army) Simon, Miss Barbara (W.A.A.F.) Greenshields, David (Army) Simon, C. Greenshields, Miss Elsie (Nurse) Simon, Douglas (Army) Haliburton, Miss Elizabeth Simon, Miss M.A.B. (A.T.S.) Hutchison, Thomas (Army) Simon, Miss M. Lyon, A. Smellie, Miss Janat (W.A.A.F.) Morrison, Miss C. Watson, S. Eric (Army) Morrison, N. Williamson, Adam (Army) Murray, Miss A. Williamson, Miss Jemima (Nurse) McIntosh, John (Army) Wilson, Robert (R.A.F.) McIntosh, J.Thomas *Yuill, Hugh 11 CHAPTER TWELVE THE COVENANTERS By WILLIAM A. FLEMING Covington Mill and the Covenanters For centuries, generations of a family by the name of Fisher lived in Covington Mill where they were both farmers and millers. From their surname we can assume that their early ancestors had been fishermen. The use of surnames in Scotland only started in the 11th century having been introduced to England the previous century from France. The name was frequently recorded in ancient documents in the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire, - Andrew Fisher (Andro Fischar) was a burgess in Lanark in 1488. The Fishers were tenants in the Mill from before the introduction of the Old Parish Registers which date from the 1600s. Their simplistic lifestyle of working the land and grinding the grain in good years and bad was in contrast to that of their superiors, the Lindsays of Covington who in past times were more notorious for their law breaking activities and their great feuds with the Somervilles of Carnwath, many resulting in murders. The Mill at Covington was on the Glade Burn which rises near the summit of Tinto passing through Eastend and being joined by the Cleugh Burn