Author: Max Fletcher

Some History of the Craigie Family

by

W. T. CRAIGIE

11th March 1980

Introduction: My Craigie relatives of the older generation used to claim that the Craigies had royal blood in their veins. My own generation paid no attention;’ there were no signs of royalty in our way of life. My father’s cousin, Peggy Yuille, in the last years of her life, urged me to trace the family history. Someone in Edinburgh had done it before; she couldn’t remember who, but she said it was worth doing. She died in her eighty-eighth year. After her death, I started digging into old books and records relating to the Craigie name. I have scanned the records at Register House, Edinburgh, and I have read various history books in the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, and the National Library, Edinburgh. The result of my researches was inconclusive but the exercise itself was very interesting to me, and I write these notes in thye hope that others of the family may find them equally interesting. Indeed, they may be able to fill in some of the gaps which I have been unable to fill.

There are substantial gaps in the records at Register House and some are so badly written as to be illegible. No records for the Orkney Isles exist prior to 1657. At that time the Orkney records were shipped to Edinburgh but the ship and its contents were lost in a storm at sea. Thus it appears impossible to establish any link which my family had with the shadowy “Blue-blooded,” ancestors who lived in Orkney in the fifteenth century other than accept the word of my older relatives that our family is in the direct line of succession and that my father was the oldest son, of an oldest son – and so, to the beginning of the line.

The investigations proved to be interesting. Members of the Craigie family were big fish in a little pond in Orkney for three hundred years. Since then, they have become little fish and middling sized fish, but occasionally a fair sized fish has surfaced. Sir Alexander Craigie edited the Oxford Dictionary and a Norse Dictionary; Sir Robert Craigie was ambassador to Japan from 1938 to 1941. Another Sir Alexander Craigie wrote a Primer on the poet Robert Burns in 1896.

The Orkney Craigies appear to be descended from James Cragy of Hupe and from their mother’s side, descended from the Norse Earls of Orkney and the Kings of Norway. It has also been surmised that James’s wife was also descended from the Stuart and Bruce royal lineage through David, Earl of Strathearn, who was the legitimate oldest son of King Robert II and Euphemia Ross. It appears more likely that James of Hupe’s bride was descended from the previous Strathearn line which was extinguished when the Earl of Strathearn was killed at the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333 [part of the Second War of Scottish Independence, near Berwick-upon-Tweed.] This Earldom reverted to the Crown and was given to the aforementioned David.

CHAPTER 1

The name Craigie indicates that it was a name of territorial origin and it was spelt variously – Cragy, Cragyn, Craguli, as well as the more modern Craigie. The earliest reference to the name concerns Johan de Cragyn of Linlithgowshire who rendered homage to the English King Edward I in 1296. He did this along with two thousand other Scottish landowners (including Bruce) under duress in order to retain his lands. In history, the list of signatures was known as the “Ragman’s Roll”. His seal bears the device of a winged griffin respecting.

Craguli appears to be Craigielea. The ruins of Craigie Castle lie on the farmlands of Craigie Mains near the village of Craigie in the parish of Craigie, in Kyle, Ayrshire. The property was carried by the heiress to Wallace of Riccarton (Richardston) who became the Laird and was known as Craigie. Adam Wallace of Riccarton was the cousin of Sir William Wallace. His descendant, known as Craigie, was second in command under Hugh Douglas, Earl of Ormond at the Battle of Sark, 1448 [Part of the Anglo-Scottish Border Wars at Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway]. The victory over the Earl of Northumberland’s army was achieved principally owing to the judicious conduct and intrepid valour of the gallant Laird of Craigie who died of his wounds after the action.

Bryce de Cragy was a Burgess of Edinburgh in 1317. John de Cragy obtained a charter for the lands of Merchamstom (Merchiston) Edinburgh in 1367 and rendered homage to Robert III in 1371. He sold some, or all, of these lands before 1400. Alexander de Cragy was Bailie of the Templelands of St John, Ayr. Persons of this name early made their way to Orkney, where John de Krage appears as one of the prominent men in 1427, and Craigie of Gearsay were a family of long standing in the islands.

Craigie Place Names

The parish of Craigie in Kyle, Ayrshire, contains the ruins of thirteenth century Craigie Castle, Craigie Mains farm, and the village of Craigie with its old church and graveyard, inn, and surrounding houses, many of which are modern better-class ranch style bungalows. The early thirteenth century castle stands on a small eminence commanding wide views of flat farmland fields in all directions. The most of two walls of the main building face each other and contain handsome inside window frames with steps leading up to the small window apertures. Below each of these high windows is a line of loopholes. The collapsed curtain wall lies scattered round its original position with only the entry gate walls standing. This was the castle of the Ayrshire Craigies. It stands in the modern Craigie Mains farm lands. This farm has a large house which is almost a mansion, as well as a very nice bungalow nearby. The Kilpatricks who own the farm used to have the finest stud farm of Clydesdale horses in Britain. Now, they have an attested herd of Friesian cattle.

The small village of Craigie in Perthshire lies about a mile off the road between Dunkeld and Blairgowrie. It stands high above a small loch which contains an island upon which stand the ruins of Clinie Castle. It is a very small village but the view over the loch to the northern hills is beautiful.

There is an even smaller village of Craigie a few miles north of Aberdeen, and there are districts of Craigie in Perth and Montrose.

The Orkney Craigies have no places named after them in the Islands. The lands they held retained their original Norse names, such as Rousay, Wyre, and Gairsay.

Craigie Hill Fort is an iron-age fort lying adjacent to Cramond, near Edinburgh. Nearby, is Craigie Hall, a building of some age, now used as Headquarters of Scottish Army Command.

The poet Longfellow lived in Craigie House, Boston. There was a James Craigie who lived at the time of the American Revolution and was known as a roué. Whether the house descended from him, or from some other Craigie in America, is not known but it indicates that Craigies settled in America in Colonial days in the nineteenth century – possibly from Orkney?

Orkney Craigies

No firm date can be traced of when the first Craigies went to Orkney. The first date I can trace is contained in a document dated 1418, which refers to the “Auld Privilege of the Craigies.” Another refers to the Craigie brethren. What took them to Orkney, and when? One can only guess. Henry Sinclair, Lord of Roslin, near Edinburgh, married the sole heiress to the Orkney Earldom, and became Earl of Orkney in 1379. He would need knights to assist him in the administration of the Islands (which were under the crown of Norway). Maybe, John de Cragy of Merchiston had met with hard times! He sold his lands! Manybe he had many sons to provide for, and younger sons had to seek their own fortunes. Neighbour Sinclair of Roslin may have provided the answer, or some of it! The Craigie brethren were settled with lands of Pow, and others, by 14th February, 1418, and by 1422 James of Cragy, Laird of Hupe, was married to the eldest daughter of Lord Henry Sinclair and his lawful wife Margaret, daughter of the late Earl of Strathearn. A testimonial (or passport) reads,

“James Cragy of Hupe, Goodman 1424, and Hirdman of the King of Norway, 1422, married Margaret, Eldest daughter of Henry St Clair before 1422. Testimonial given to James of Cragy by Lawman of Orkney, Canons of St Magnus, and citizens of Kirkwall, November 10th, 1422.

William son of Thurgys (Thorgil), Lawman of Orkney, Nicolas of Anyud, and Lawrence of Turay, Canons of St Magnus Church, John Magnusson, William of Erwin, Peter of Paplay, Walter Andresson, citizens of Kirkwall, testify that James of Cragy, dominus of Hupe, the bearer of these presents is a liegeman of the King of Norway residing in Orkney and that he is married to Margaret, lawful daughter of Elizabeth of Strathearne and Lord Henry St Clair late Earl of 0rkney ( Elizabeth being lawful daughter of the late Lord Malise of Strathearne, Earl of Orkney. The lawful birth of and the merits of James of Cragy are set forth, and it is particularly mentioned that he was the firmest supporter of the late Bishop of Orkney, John of Colchester, and endured many troubles through the adversaries of the said Bishop. The seals of the granters of this testimonial are appended at Kirkwall, November 10th, 1422.

Endorsement: Ane testimoniall annentes the auld privilege of the Cragys, aviss har (rest illegible.)”

The testimonial was probably written to enable James to travel to England. Earl Henry St Clair was in command of the expedition which set out to take the young Prince James (afterwards King James I) to France. Their ship was captured by the English off Flamborough Head and the whole party was kept prisoner by the English king for many years. During this time there were many comings and goings between Scotland and England, hostages exchanged, and negotiations for release made. James Cragy as kinsman of the Orkney Earl would almost certainly be involved. Beyond that he would have a leading role in governing the Islands during the absence of the Earl.

In due course, James’s eldest son John was appointed Lawman of Orkney, a position he held from 1455 to 1480. John’s son William succeeded as Lawman and held the position from 1480 to 1495, and William’s son John became Lawman from 1495 to 1509.

The Lawman was the President of the “Thing,” (Norse-type Parliament). He was the Keeper and Expounder of the Law book and Chief Judge of Orkney. The Lawman was, therefore, the chief magistrate under Norwegian law. An important part of his duty was to uphold the rights of the citizens under Udal Law and to keep the Law book. It has been said that the Scots Lawmen did not understand properly their duties and so the Norse “liberties,” were gradually eroded.

Under Udal Law when a landowner died his land was divided between all his children. Thus, in time, the land holdings tended to become smaller and smaller. In practice, one of the heirs bought out the other shares and so preserved the estate. The Lawman and his magistrates in council confirmed the settlement and registered it in the Law book.

In 1468 the Princess of Norway (and Denmark) married King James III of Scotland. Part of her dowry was the Orkney Isles and so, for the first time Orkney became part of the Scottish realm. But it was confirmed that the old Norse Law and privileges would be respected. In 1472 James III decreed that the fee of the Lawman was to be paid only on the authority of the king. In 1470 he contracted an agreement from the Earl of Orkney that the crown take over the Earldom. Lord Sinclair was given lands in Fife, at Ravenscraig, in compensation.

John Craigie continued to preside over “The Thing,” (the Orkney Parliament in which the king, earl, bishop, Odallers, and Odal born, were equals. In 1509 the office of Lawman passed out of the Craigie family. By that time, John’s son Magnus had become Laird of the whole Island of Rousay. In 1503 Sir Thomas Craigie and John Craigie were registered as Tacksmen of the lands of Quhan, Rousay, and James Craigie and his wife were Tacksmen of the Isle of Wyre. In 1564 Sir Nicol Craigie was Vicar of Holm. In 1580 William Craigie of Pabdale (Kirkwall) was Provost of Kirkwall and Commissioner to Parliament. Magnus Craigie was a Kirkwall councillor in 1580 and another Magnus was a councillor in 1615. (He officiated at several of the trials of witches.)

The Coat of Arms on the tombstone of Sir William Craigie of Gairsay, 1620, continues to show the Ermines of the Law as does that of Provost of Kirkwall, David Craigie in 1680. Patrick Craigie was Provost of Kirkwall in 1662, and other Provosts were Thomas Craigie of Saviskaill, 1548, William Craigie of Pabdale, 1624, and Hugh Craigie, 1690. As Provost each was Commissioner to the Scots Parliament representing the Royal Burgh of Kirkwall. Robert Craigie was a Member of Parliament to Westminster, 1742-7, but I do not know if he was a Provost.

The Craigies of Gairsay were substantial merchants and landowners. Provost David Craigie of Oversanday, on his own behalf and on that of Hugh Craigie of Gairsay, paid the Bishop of Orkney for a seat in St Magnus Cathedral and for space to inter deceased members of their families, a cash consideration, and an undertaking to maintain the stained glass window [pictured below] bearing the Craigie arms above the plot.

In the year 1529 a battle was fought at Summerdale between two contending Sinclairs. The one was resident in Kirkwall. He was competent and well liked, but he was a bastard. The other, resident in Caithness, was legitimate but he was not well thought of by the Orcadians; he had the authorisation of the young Scottish King James V. He invaded the main island with a force of five hundred men which was totally wiped out by the resident army. Accepting the position, James pardoned the Orkney leaders amongst whom were James Craigie of Brough, John Craigie of Banks, Gilbert and William Craigie.

Patrick Craigie was the most colourful of the Kirkwall Provosts. He fought many diplomatic battles against the Earl of Morton to establish the rights and liberties of the Royal Burgh of Kirkwall. Here is his story.

Provost Patrick Craigie of Kirkwall

Patrick Craigie came of good stock. The Craigies were one of the oldest Scottish families in the Orkney Islands. His father, William, was a successful merchant who had served Kirkwall first as its Thesaurus [treasurer?] and afterwards as a bailie for twenty years. Patrick was the third son of the family. His mother, Marion, belonged to the Irving family, another Scots family whose roots were equally deep in Orkney history. His wife was Ann Ballenden, the daughter of another old Scots family. The lives of his brothers have not been recorded but Patrick’s name has lived on as a man of courage and resource who fought long and hard for the Royal Burgh of Kirkwall. He was born in 1620 when his father was treasurer of the burgh. Patrick was brought up in affluent circumstances and he received a good education at Kirkwall’s deep rooted grammar school.

The magistrates of the burgh in these days were men of substance; some were of Scots descent while others belonged to the old Norse families. Most of them were landowners, tacksmen, or merchants. They kept a strict watch over the affairs of the town and malefactors were punished severely. A man or woman convicted of petty theft was often ordered to be stripped to the waist and lashed with a rope by the hangman. Sometimes the sentence was carried out at the rampart on the shore, and sometimes the offender was paraded round the town and flogged to the beat of the town’s drummer at the Mercat Cross and at the town’s head. After that, some were banished from the town for life. Some were sentenced to the jougs [an iron collar fastened by a short chain to a wall, often of the parish church, or to a tree or mercat cross] and some were hanged. Convicted witches were sometimes burned to death. Thus order was maintained at this period in the seventeenth century.

To compensate for having to inflict such unpleasant sentences upon the common citizens these Justices of the Peace marked the occasions of national joy or sorrow: a sovereign’s birthday, a military victory or defeat, brought the Provost and Magistrates together to mull over and to discuss thoroughly the event. This they did aided by copious draughts of wine and brandy the cost of which was charged to the town.

Kirkwall was not an ordinary town. It was a Royal Burgh, an honour conferred on it in 1468 by King James III when the Islands which were then Norwegian were impignorated to the Scottish Crown as part of the dowry of James’s Norwegian bride. This honour was confirmed by James V in 1540 and it was one of which the citizens of Kirkwall was proud. From 1468 the Earldom of Orkney belonged to the Crown but it was the custom of succeeding monarchs to lease the Earldom to a high nobleman who possessed at least some royal blood. Two such recent incumbents, Patrick and Robert Stewart, were executed in Edinburgh for rebellion but before Patrick Stewart was apprehended he destroyed all the Records of Kirkwall as well as the ancient Lawbook of the Islands. Thus Kirkwall, among other lost documents, did not have a copy of its ancient charter. [The young Robert Stewart was hanged for treason in Edinburgh on 1 January 1615. Patrick Stewart was beheaded, also in Edinburgh, on 6 February 1615: only after his efforts to evade execution by blaming his son for the uprising had failed. At the time the most damning indictment of his character was that his execution had to be deferred in order to give him time to learn the Lord’s Prayer, which he didn’t know. The Earldom of Orkney was extinguished with Patrick’s death.]

In the reign of Charles I the Earldom was leased to the Earl of Morton. After the inter-regnum of the Protectorate under Cromwell the Earldom was again leased to Morton by Charles II. The Earl set about mulcting the Islanders for as much as he could. He saw a chance of adding to his revenues by depriving Kirkwall of the revenues which as a Royal Burgh it was entitled to collect. It was during this period that Patrick Craigie came into the picture.

Some years after the death of his father, Patrick became a bailie which office he held until 1651 when he, along with all the town’s officers who were Royalist to a man, stood down. Cromwell’s army in Scotland under General Monk had invaded the islands and a military government was imposed. The military machine was effective in controlling the Orkneymen but it rode rough shod over them. It did not concern itself with the maintenance of the Burgh’s properties which, in particular, included the cathedral church of St Magnus. The burghers, seeing the deterioration of the town’s properties through lack of repair and control, called on the former magistrates to resume their duties but it was not until 1656 that these gentlemen were re-constituted and Patrick resumed his position as a bailie.

After much deliberation the councillors decided to try to come to terms with the Protectorate and to seek its co-operation so that they could resume their functions which included the levying of revenue in order that their properties might be maintained or restored. The Burgh lacked both a Town House and a Tolbooth, and the church needed repair both inside and outside. It was resolved to send a representative to Edinburgh and the man they chose was Patrick Craigie. By this time Patrick was thirty-eight; he was in his prime, handsome, strong, clever, and literate. He had eloquence and money and he impressed people. He did things in the grand manner as befitted one of the magnates of the Orkneys. The distance from Kirkwall to Edinburgh was the best part of three hundred miles and the journey could be made by sea, or by land and sea. On land there were only rude paths and travellers went on foot or on horseback hoping they would not be molested either by the soldiery or by brigands. On sea there were the dangers of storms and pirates.

Patrick crossed the Pentland Firth and from Caithness he made the journey on a hired horse. His mission took eleven months to accomplish and he returned to Kirkwall in July, 1659. He had been successful and he had secured an Act discharging Justices of the Peace and Others from encroaching on the Burgh which was to resume its liberties and to enjoy the same. The cost of the expedition was £2,119 7s 6d most of which was legal fees. His colleagues were very satisfied with the result and Patrick was appointed next Provost of Kirkwall.

In the year 1660 Cromwell died, the Protectorate ended, and Charles II came to the throne. Once more, the Earldom was leased to the Earl of Morton who was a Douglas and one of the leading Earls of Scotland. Morton did not live in the Orkneys. His chief interest in the Islands was to extract as much revenue from the inhabitants as he could and to this end he instructed his local representatives. Until this time he was empowered to tax the lands of the Earldom but not the lands of the Royal Burgh of Kirkwall which was entitled to collect its own taxes. The Earl decided on a plan to deprive Kirkwall of its rights and so to enhance his own revenues. The plan was to demonstrate to the Privy Council that Kirkwall had co-operated with the rebel Cromwellians against the King and that the Provost, Magistrates, and Councillors should be declared rebels, debarred from office, and all their estates confiscated. Using this charge and wielding his considerable influence in Edinburgh with his fellow peers he secured on the 21st November, 1660 an Order by the Commissioners of the Estates “Discharging the pretendit Provost and Bailies of Kirkwall.”

Meanwhile, in Kirkwall, in December, unaware of the Action in Edinburgh, but alive to the threat, the Kirkwall Councillors elected Patrick Craigie to be their Commissioner for Kirkwall in Parliament. He was instructed principally:-

To get maintenance for the Kirk,
To formalise the registry of Kirkwall as a Royal Burgh,
To authorise levies for the erection of a Town Hall and a Tolbooth,
To ensure that the system of weights and measures was not interfered with (as had sometimes been done by previous Earls in the past.)

Early in January, 1661, William Young, the Earl’s servitor, appeared in Kirkwall and informed the Council that it was “discharged.” He then presented summonses against Patrick Craigie and the other officers of the Burgh namely the bailies John Edmundson, Thomas Wilson, George Spence and John Pottinger, and against Patrick Spence, the Treasurer. They were to appear before the Privy Council on 15th February. Young would not, or could not, provide written authority for his demands but he was treated seriously enough for action to be taken. The Burgh Fathers did not welcome having to undertake this trip in the dead of winter as it entailed travelling through the storms of that season when few ships ventured from port. Even the journey from Caithness to Edinburgh in the winter snows was a daunting prospect. The Provost rose to the occasion. He obtained the ready assent of his colleagues to go by himself and to represent them all. A week later he set out and attempted to cross the Pentland Firth from South Ronaldsay. Twice the vessel was driven back by storms but on its third attempt it managed to cross the stormy waters to Caithness.

Patrick had armed himself with sword and pistol, and he had sent both his man and his trunk by sea. On reaching Caithness he engaged the services of the Caithness Post, Hucheon Jock, to act as bodyguard and to take the hired horses back to Caithness after the journey to Edinburgh had been accomplished. The journey was not an easy one. They had to cross moor and mountain, river and flood, in rain, snow, sleet, and ice, in the depth of winter riding along rough tracks. After a journey of six weeks they reached Edinburgh on the first day of March.

The news which met him was disquieting. The Kirkwall men had been summoned to appear before the Council of the Estates on the fifteenth of February and as they had failed to appear the Earl’s Petition was granted. The Provost and Magistrates of Kirkwall had been denounced as rebels. Patrick had to act with care. If he was captured he would lose all his worldly goods as they were forfeit. Fortunately, he had friends who gave him shelter and subsequently found him lodgings. He was playing for high stakes and he decided to act a bold but cautious part. He ordered suits of clothes, shoes, stockings, and linen of the finest quality and thus clad in the height of fashion with golden garters and with roses on his shoes set about his business. By this time Hucheon Jock was on his way home but his own man had arrived. Patrick saw him suitably attired to accompany his flamboyant master. He visited lawyers and advocates and he met members of the Privy Council privately explaining his case and soliciting their support. He visited frequently the Convention of Royal Burghs and the Scottish Parliament on the town’s business, civil and ecclesiastical, all the while making friends and trying to enlist sympathy for his own and Kirkwall’s cause. Having thus softened up the ground he petitioned Parliament complaining of the Act which had been passed; he explained the cause of his late appearance and the true position of his town. Indeed, he explained his case so well that the Privy Council suspended the offending Act and Patrick found himself a man free to go about his lawful occasions. It was but a temporary triumph – the Act was only temporarily suspended – but he believed he had won total victory for Kirkwall, his colleagues, and himself. He threw a party, a kind of open house, for his friends and he paid a bill of £20 for strong ale. Then he caught a convenient ship at Leith and sailed home after a very eventful trip to the Capital.

The citizens of Kirkwall were delighted with the news that their officers had been re-established and Provost Patrick was the hero of the hour. He was suitably lionised. The only little fly in the ointment was that Patrick had funded these two missions from his own pocket. Up till that time Kirkwall had been without funds and had agreed to pay Patrick interest at the rate of six percent on the money spent which now amounted to several thousand pounds. The account remained outstanding and Patrick, who had perforce allowed his own business to languish during his long absences, found himself on the horns of a dilemma between public service and personal interest.

The Earl of Morton was not so easily beaten. He belonged to the inner ring of power in Scotland and he was on intimate terms with the key noblemen on the Privy Council. Craigie had not long left Edinburgh before the crafty Earl petitioned the Privy Council again to have the Kirkwall Councillors discharged from their duties. The Privy Council granted his Petition without bothering to summon to a Hearing or even inform the absent Orcadians of its action. Thus the Kirkwall Councillors proceeded with their duties unaware of the ban which had been placed on their activities.

The great Lammas Fair of the Orkneys was held at Kirkwall at the beginning of August. It had been held annually for generations and it was heralded by a procession of the Provost and Councillors through the streets headed by the town’s two drummers. The whole Council was present, proud to demonstrate that their rights as an ancient Royal Burgh had been recognised. On the Sunday, they occupied the Kirkwall magistrates’ seats in St Magnus Kirk for the same reason. The minions of Morton reported these deeds to their lord. This was his chance; he reported these misdemeanours to the Privy Council. Thus Provost Craigie and the Councillors were summoned for trial as rebels at Edinburgh on the twenty-third day of September, 1662.They made the journey by sea and encountered such rough weather that four hours after the ship reached Leith it foundered. Fortunately, the passengers were ashore before the vessel sank.

On the day of the Trial the Councillors appeared but their accuser, the Earl did not. It did not suit him. The Trial was postponed but it was agreed that Patrick should represent the other Councillors who were permitted to return to Orkney. Patrick then tried to have the matter settled out of court but the Earl would not agree. He also called at the Abbey at least nine times requesting to meet the President of the Council and each time he was refused. At last, the Earl’s agent arranged a date mutually convenient to both parties. Two days before that date the Earl arrived at Court and submitted his Petition. Not only was he admitted but also his Petition was upheld and Patrick Craigie, in his absence, was declared a rebel and put to the horn; he was now a fugitive! A Messenger-at-Arms called Carnegie was put on his trail and he had many lively moments escaping from this officer of the law.

Through his advocate, Patrick addressed a long letter to the President of the Council asking for justice. In it he wrote amongst other things that “In defending the Burgh for two years he had to neglect his own business: he had risked his life at sea during winter; his wife had died of grief leaving four motherless bairns. But though broken hearted, ruined, and unjustly declared a rebel, he was true to his trust and he would not betray the Burgh. The Earl had no just reason to persecute him anent what he had done to defend the privilege of Kirkwall. The Earl had not even met him in his lifetime.” He kept his advocates busy trying to get the sentence suspended but without result.

A new door opened. During his social occasions he had chanced to meet influential ladies friendly with the Earl but sympathetic to his plight. They gave him advice which he followed. Accompanied by the Laird of Glentochie and a Mr Buchanan and their servitors they called on my Lord of Morton at his house at Aberdour where, strangely enough, they were entertained for a week. During this time Patrick did his best to come to terms with his noble aggressor and he took the liberty of offering to his Lordship a fine gun and twenty-four pounds in cash as a placatory gesture. The Earl was graciously pleased to accept but he still drove a hard bargain. If Craigie would cease to try to have the decision against him reversed, the Earl was prepared to call off the Messenger-at-Arms and Craigie could return to Orkney. Patrick agreed and took ship for Kirkwall.

The Kirkwall Councillors continued in office, but with the help of the lawyers whom Patrick had retained, negotiations were continued in Edinburgh. During Patrick’s visits to the Capital “ane large parchment,” had been discovered in Edinburgh Castle which put Kirkwall’s case as a Royal Burgh beyond doubt, but it was not until 1668 that the Charters were finally confirmed and the decrees against the Burgh suspended. The Lords of the Treasury gave an order to the Earl of Morton “not to meddle with the town of Kirkwall or its inhabitants.” The Orkney Islands reverted to the Crown and the Earl of Morton was relieved of the Earldom of Orkney. An Act of Parliament of 1670 confirmed Kirkwall’s rights.

Thus Provost Patrick Craigie’s efforts on behalf of his native town were finally successful. His own affairs, however, had been neglected. The total money advanced by him, £7,328 15s 4d (most of which had been expended on legal fees and maintenance) was not repaid for many years and his business was ruined. He had become further embarrassed by standing security for some friend who defaulted and Patrick could not lay his hands on the money to pay up. He was put in the Tolbooth as a debtor. Later, in 1675 he was asked to fulfil a mission to Edinburgh on the town’s behalf – his fourth one! The result was said to be satisfactory. His health failed and his affairs failed to prosper; he got into debt several times and he spent his last days in the Tolbooth where he died on a Sunday morning in February, 1682. All his days he had lived in the grand manner, dressing and behaving like an openhanded lord, handing out gratuities and presents as the occasion demanded. In the end, he died in prison owing the basic sum of sixteen pounds and thirteen shillings.

Notes. Sir William Craigie of Gairsay (17th Century Tacksman and Merchant) built a handsome mansion on Gairsay. It is not possible to ascertain to which of the three lines of family he belonged.

Roithman (Norse): Magistrate.

Lawman (Norse): Chief Magistrate and Keeper of the Lawbook of the Orkneys.

Norse Earls of Orkney

Harald Maddadson, Earl of Orkney (and a descendant of the Kings of Norway). His daughter married Gilbride, Earl of Angus, and his descendant, Isabella, daughter of Magnus, the last Norse Earl, married Malise, Earl of Strathearne, who was killed at the Battle of Halidon Hill, (1333.)

Angus Earls of Orkney

Gilbride was the first Angus Earl, a Scot, with a Norse wife (mentioned above) to whom he owed the succession to the Earldom of Orkney.

Strathearn Earls

Malise, Earl of Strathearn, (another Scot) married Isabella and through her lineage became Earl of Orkney. He was killed at the Battle of Halidon Hill (1333). His son Malise, Earl of Strathearn, Caithness, and Orkney, married

(1) Johanna, daughter of Sir John Menteith, and

(2) Marjory, daughter of Hugh, Earl of Ross (circa 1350).

Malise had no male issue but his daughter Elizabeth married Henry St Clair, Lord of Roslin, who was made Earl of Orkney.

This Henry was the son of William St Clair, Lord of Roslin, who had married Isabella, the daughter of Malise, Earl of Strathearn.

The eldest daughter of Henry and Elizabeth named Margaret married James Cragy, Laird of Hupe, before 1422.

Note. With the death of Malise at Halidon Hill the male Strathearn line died out and the Earldom reverted to the Crown. David, the oldest son of King Robert 11 and Euphemia Ross became the next Earl of Strathearn in 1379.

Pedigree of the Craigie Family from the late Sixteenth Century

As far as I can trace no written records exist to establish the family connexions for two main reasons.

1. During the Earldom of Patrick Stewart, Patrick rebelled against the Crown and before he was apprehended and executed, he destroyed the Records of Kirkwall as well as the ancient Law book of the Islands (with the object of seizing the lands and properties which he coveted).

2. During the Cromwell Protectorate all the remaining records were ordered to be sent to Edinburgh for safe keeping. The ship in which they were dispatched sunk in a storm at sea. Thus the remaining Records were lost forever.

However, members of the Craigie family continued to display the Ermines of the Law on their Heraldic shields thus claiming descent from their Lawman ancestors.

Throughout the Seventeenth Century there were prominent Craigies – merchants, tacksmen, and provosts – who appeared to come from various branches of the family. Then in the Eighteenth Century there is no mention of a prominent Craigie with the exception of Robert Craigie of Glendoig who became Member of Parliament, 1742-47.

The Records of the Islands exist from 1657 but they are incomplete and some of them are illegible. I have scanned them in Register House, Edinburgh, and I have failed to trace my own descent further back than two hundred years. In spite of the claims of my older relations that my father was the head of the major branch of the family, I can find nothing to substantiate, or disprove it. It was owing to “hard times,” that my grandfather and his brothers left Orkney to seek their fortunes in Glasgow or Edinburgh a hundred years ago. Throughout the century prior to that our family were either artisans or tradesmen. How a leading family with several important branches should all lose their prosperity during the same period remains a mystery.

The family tree annexed is derived from these searches. The first James Craigie mentioned is the only one of that name which fits into the pattern but it cannot be substantiated. All the rest is substantiated.

It is possible that the other main lines of the family returned to the mainland of Scotland at various times during the eighteenth century as, apart from Craigie of Gairsay, no other main line Craigies appear in the registers of births, marriages, or deaths. Jim Inkster, the husband of the daughter of William W. Craigie, showed me in Kirkwall Cemetery the headstone of James Craigie (who was born in 1799). Jim became the junior partner of William in the latter’s cabinet-making business which involved extensive travelling throughout Scotland and England. Eventually, the trade declined and the business was wound up. The said William presented a handsome silver trophy for competition at Kirkwall Bowling Green which I saw during my visit.

[James Craigie (1799-1874) married Margaret Hutton Flett (1811-1884) in November 1840. The 1851 census records James being a shoemaker in Albert Street, Kirkwall, employing four men. The two images above show both ends of Albert Street, the hand-tinted postcard showing the ‘big tree’ at the Cathedral end – and the other at the junction of Bridge Street, courtesy of Orkney Library & Archive.]

[The photo below shows the Craigie family headstone in St Magnus Cathedral graveyard.]

My grandfather, along with two brothers, migrated to Glasgow before 1870, while another brother went to Edinburgh.

Grandfather James became a salesman. He married Magdalene Hoey (of Huguenot ancestry) who came from the farm of Strathruddie, near Aberdour, Fifeshire. He became a sergeant in the Volunteers and took part in the famous “wet revue,” (1880?) as a result of which he caught pneumonia. Thereafter he was afflicted with a chest weakness which encouraged him to emigrate to Australia and to join relatives already settled there. He died at sea in the Indian Ocean.

My father, his eldest son, was aged about twelve when his father died and he was forced to leave school. At first he worked in a coal merchant’s office. Then he became apprenticed to a firm of architects, Clark & Bell. At the School of Art he became top student and won a scholarship which enabled him to study in France and Italy. In due course, he became a partner of the firm of Clark, Bell, & J. H. Craigie. When war was declared against Germany in 1914, Captain Craigie (although aged 44) joined up, as did his partner, George Bell Junior. They closed the office for the duration of the war and only resumed business in 1919. In public life he was a Justice of the Peace, Chairman of Cathcart Parish Council, and Member of Cathcart Ward Committee.

His most notable works of architecture were the re-construction of the Glasgow Law Courts, the re-construction of the Grosvenor Restaurant, and the building of Lewis’s Department Store, in Argyle Street, Glasgow. He was an Elder of the Church of Scotland and he was a keen member of Newlands Bowling Club. He was an upright man and a good father.

My brother James was his eldest son. He became a member of the Pharmaceutical Society and practiced all his life in Surrey, except for the years of Hitler’s War when he saw service in England, the Middle East, and Burma, in the Survey Section of an Artillery unit. He died in 1979, aged 70, leaving his widow, Irvine, and two sons, James and Robert.

The writer of this article was William Thom Craigie [b. Glasgow 19/08/1910 – d. Glasgow 29/09/1991]. He was the son of James Hoey Craigie [1870-1930, Glasgow], whose second wife was Roberta Jean Thom [1886-1920].

James Hoey Craigie’s father was James Craigie [1842-1882] of Kirkwall, Orkney, whose wife was Magdalene Hoey [1844-1929 of Glasgow].

The above James Craigie [b.1842] was the son of James Craigie [1799-1874 of Orkney], and his wife was Margaret Hutton Flett 1811-1884.

That James Craigie [b.1799] was the son of James Craigie and Jean Flett – and that James Craigie was the son of James Craigie [b. 1772, Kirkwall] and Marjory Reid.

…………………….

[I am indebted to Janet Craigie-McConnell of Victoria, Australia, for sending me a copy of this document for inclusion on the Rousay Remembered website.]

by

Huw Gwynn-Jones, 2018

Photos by Nicki Gwynn-Jones, FRPS

www.nickigwynnjones.zenfolio.com

Written in January 1980

by

LEONARD CORSIE

Born on November 25th 1906, Leonard Corsie was the son of Malcolm Corsie, Brendale,  [1858-1927] and Agnes Kidd, South Queensferry, [1860-1958]. His father Malcolm’s parents were William Corsie, Nears, later Brendale [1830 -1917] and Ann Leonard, Digro [1833 -1924].

[The following information was assembled by Leonard Corsie of Canada on visits to Orkney in 1970 and 1972 and thereafter with assistance from his cousin Janet Cameron of London. The documents  and all photographs [unless otherwise accredited] were amongst family memorabilia kept by the late Vicky Aitken, Dunedin, New Zealand, and were forwarded to me for use on Rousay Remembered by her daughter Paddy Rapson, of Melbourne, Australia.

Vicky’s maternal grandmother was Ann Corsie, daughter of William Corsie and Ann Leonard. Leonard Corsie’s father Malcolm was also a child of William Corsie and Ann Leonard. The document was typed up in 1980 by Janet Cameron who for many years lived in London and worked at Selfridges. She was the daughter of James, another son of William and Ann.

The NZ Connection was written by Vicky Aitken to fill in the gaps and correct errors about her grandmother Ann Corsie’s family – written at the behest of Janet Cameron.]

When I was growing up in Scotland, I was under the impression that we were an isolated group consisting of our family  and  my father’s  brothers  and  sisters  and  their  children. We were aware that there was a family named Corsie in the town of Kirkwall, Orkney, but did not consider them to be related.

There was also a family named Corsie in Aberdeenshire who were related, but we had never met any of them, except once when a Miss Corsie, a cousin of my father, visited us when we lived in Broxburn. She was a nurse and never married.

In the late 1960’s I became interested in the family history and, to my amazement, found that there are many families of the name of Corsie. There are several in the South of England and also throughout Scotland.

The family in Kirkwall is certainly related, though there is not any definite proof.

We do not know the origin of the name. The book ‘Black’s Surnames’ does not list ‘Corsie’ but does list ‘Corse’, an old surname in Rousay, from ‘Corse’ a farm in the parish of St. Ola.

Mr. J. Storer Clouston in his book “The People and Surnames of Orkney” mentions the Corsies of Rousay as an example of a territorial name, and this would suggest that the name was originally Corse. There are people living in Orkney named Corse and in Edinburgh at one time, perhaps even today, there were people named Corse living in Rousay. The Rousay parish records start in 1733 with a blank period between 1746 and 1798. The earliest record of the name I have is a Will made in 1632 by an Edward Corsie. It is unreadable, being hand-written in a mixture of Latin and Old Norse. I have extracts from the parish records 1734 to 1744 listing many births and also 1807 to 1813 listing many marriages.

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The first record of my particular family is of my Great-Great Grandfather, Hugh Corsie. He was born in 1770 and married Christina Sinclair in 1797. There is no record of his death, and no record whatever or Christina Sinclair’s death – or birth.

Hugh Corsie and Christina Sinclair had two sons, one of which there is on record John born Nov. 11th 1880 [78]. There is no further record of him of which I am aware. Malcolm, the other son, was my Great-Grandfather and was born 17th November 1798.

MALCOLM CORSIE 1798 – 1878

Malcolm Corsie was born 17th Nov. 1798, married lsabella Louttit 7th Dec., 1827. He was 29 – she was 30. In the 1851 census he is listed as the tenant of the farm of Nears (Nearhouse) Rousay, 52 years old. Isabella, his wife, 53 – son John, 22, employed on the farm; son, William, 20, tailor; son James 18 employed on the farm. Daughter Isabella, 16, employed at home, and son George, 12, scholar. I do not know how long he had been at Nears before 1851 but I think he must have been there since they married in 1827. He died at Nears 18th January 1878 and he was 79. His widow Isabella died 17th March 1888, aged 90, also at Nears. Her death was registered by John Robertson, her son-in-law. In the 1881 census John Robertson was listed as farm manager at Nears. Then in 1891 census John Robertson is listed as farmer at Banks. Apparently John Robertson had managed the farm of Nears from Malcolm’s death until lsabella died.

Malcolm spent many years with the Dundee whalers, which meant that he was away from home every year from early Spring until late fall, while Isabella managed the farm. He must have been a fairly successful man, as he was worth, in Bank Deposits, farm stock, implements and household effects, over £500, which in 1878 was quite a respectable sum of money. He must have been a man of strong character and his descendants still refer to him as if he had died ten years ago, instead of a hundred. When Malcolm was away, Isabella had many of her grandchildren at Nears and practically raised them, my father included.

My father told me of once when a pack of gypsies had come around the farm – they were common at that time. They must have thought that Isabella was alone, as they had tried to intimidate her and had actually laid their hands on her just as Malcolm had come around one of the buildings. Malcolm took a whip and beat them up. On occasions, sailing ships would seek shelter between the islands and would signal for a pilot. As many men as could would try to get the job, but, while they were bargaining with the master, Malcolm would board the ship, start giving orders and settle with the Master after  the  ship  had  anchored. I wonder what his neighbours thought of him and his high-handed ways?

The landowner in Malcolm’s day was a retired army General, a General Burroughs of Indian Mutiny fame, and from all accounts a most exacting landlord. The writer, Edwin Muir, in his auto-biography published in 1954 claims that the General’s exactions drove his father off the farm on the Island of Wyre of which he was tenant. My father once told me that once General Burroughs met Malcolm on the road which circles the Island of Rousay, and apparently not for the first time, brought up the subject of Malcolm buying the farm of Nears, saying that he believed that Mr. Corsie was a rich man. Malcolm replied that indeed he was a rich man – he had four sons and a daughter.

Malcolm Corsie and Isabella Louttit had four sons, John, William, James Sinclair and George William Traill, one daughter Isabella.

JOHN CORSIE 1829 – 1913

Malcolm Corsie and Isabella Louttit’s oldest son John married Elizabeth Martin on September 6th 1861 in Aberdeen. She was a daughter of William Martin, Grain Merchants’ Agent, and at that time was farming in the parish of Cleat on the island of Westray. Between 1863 and 1866 John Corsie and his wife moved to Millbrex in Aberdeenshire, and in the census reports or 1871, 1881 and 1891 he is listed as a school teacher, and, for each of these census takings he was acting as the Registrar. There were four daughters and one son of this marriage. Elizabeth, born in Westray 1863 married in 1891 to a William Rae, a Congregational Minister. She married a second time to a J. Strachan and there was a son Malcolm Strachan, a school teacher, who died in the 1970’s. Georgina born 1866, married James Horne, a farmer, in 1893. There were two …. [the rest of this paragraph is missing].

John Corsie’s wife died of cancer on 10th June 1888 aged 53. John died August 26th 1913 at Peterhead. He was 84 and living with his son Malcolm who  was  a  marine  engineer. He had spent several years at sea and then became the owner of a small shipyard at Peterhead. I am not sure but I imagine the scope of the work would be limited to small trawlers, drifters and such like craft. He operated this yard until he retired, and died on 17th July 1949 at the home of his daughter Mrs Robert Smith, 82 years.

Malcolm married Margaret Alexander and there were four daughters Elizabeth (Mrs E. Ramsay), Agnes (Mrs. J. Harper), Christina (Mrs. Robert Smith), and Margaret (Mrs. A. Steel). There are eight grand-children and eighteen great-grandchildren, none  of  whom, of course, has the surname of Corsie. Several have Corsie as a second given name. A son of Christina is a marine engineer and is at sea. I have met him. He is also called Malcolm – Malcolm Corsie Smith. I also met his parents. Another son of Christina is a Government Official in Rhodesia. Margaret, Mrs. Steel, has a son Colin who is a Professor at Brandie University, Boston, Mass., U.S.A.

WILLIAM CORSIE 1830 – 1917

In this 1871 census William is listed as a fishermen, but I suspect that this was only a part time occupation and that he also farmed and worked as a tailor on occasion. In 1881 they were still at Catholes and the census lists William as Master Tailor, and Sheriff Officer, Kirkwall Court. In 1882 their oldest son William died. According to my father, they were then on the farm of Brendale and farmed there until, I think, 1889 when they retired to Kirkwall. After retiring from active farming, he was skipper of the “Star of Bethlehem” and of “The Gleaner” both owned by a Kirkwall merchant named Robert Garden. The Gleaner, I know, was fitted as a shop purveying groceries etc. round the Islands. There is an entry in the Kirkwall Harbour Master’s records dated  22nd  July  1894  of  the “Star of Bethlehem” arriving or departing from and to the North Isles, Master Corsie. “The Star of Bethlehem” was still afloat in Kirkwall Harbour in 1972 fitted out as a pleasure craft. “The Gleaner” was built in 1884 and was rammed and sunk in the Firth of Clyde during the Second World War while employed as a Balloon ship. William was active after his retirement with the Royal Naval reserve and also the Coast Guard at North Queensferry. He and Anne Leonard celebrated their Diamond Wedding in 1913 and the account from the Kirkwall newspaper “The Orcadian” follows. William died in Kirkwall on 31st July 1917 aged 86. Anne died Oct. 3rd 1924 aged 90, in Kirkwall.

Account of Mr. & Mrs. Wm. Corsie’s Diamond Wedding – 1913

There was an interesting and interested gathering at the home of Mr. & Mrs. W. Corsie, 11 Albert Street, Kirkwall, on Monday evening. The occasion was the celebration of the aged couple’s diamond wedding – an event which the members of the family fittingly honoured.

William and Anne Corsie were married on February 10th 1853. The husband is 83 years of age as the following Certificate shows: – “March 6th 1831. William, son of Malcolm Corsie and Isabella Louttit, Frotoft, was born 24th August 1830 and was baptised 6th March 1831 before witnesses. (Extracted from the Register of Births and Baptisms of the united parishes of Rousay end Egilshay, by George Robson, Session Clerk).

“Anne, daughter of Peter Leonard and Isobell McKinlay, Digro, Sourin, was born 23 September and baptised 8th December 1833 before witnesses”. (Extracted from the Register of Births and Baptisms in the Pariah of Rousay and Egilshay, by James Gardner Minister of Rousay and Egilshay”).

Mr. Corsie served an apprenticeship as a tailor in Kirkwall and afterwards worked at his trade on his father’s farm. He also occupied the farm of Brendale on the Rousay estate, and, on retiring in 1889, came to Kirkwall to live.

Mr. Corsie was for many years a member of the Volunteer Naval Reserve and is now the doyen of the National Reserve in Orkney. Mrs. Corsie is a sister or the late Mr. Peter Leonard, Cabinetmaker, Kirkwall, and it is of interest to note that her brother James, who acted as best man to her husband, is still alive and is resident in Oban. Mr. Corsie’s only sister, who was Mrs. Corsie’s bridesmaid, died many years ago.

Of the marriage, thirteen children were born – eight sons and five daughters, of whom six sons and all the daughters now survive. The Grandchildren number sixty-five, of whom fifty-seven are alive, and the Great-grandchildren were twenty-three, of whom eighteen survive. The table annexed gives these particulars in more detail.

Children	Grand-children	Great-grandchildren
Margaret	Six (1 dead)	Seventeen (3 dead)
Annie	Four	–
William	(dead)	–
Malcolm	Six (3 dead)	–
James	Six	–
Peter	–	–
George	Eleven (2 dead)	–
John	Thirteen (2 dead)	Six (2 dead)
Charles	–	–
Frederick	Ten (2 dead)	–
Minnie	–	–
Jessie	Seven	–
Bella	Three	–

lt is interesting to note that the combined ages or Mr. Corsie and the eldest of the three succeeding generations total one hundred and ninety-one years.

The company which met with Mr. and Mrs. Corsie on Monday night numbered about thirty-five, including six of their children. Malcolm the eldest, came all the way from S. Queensferry; Minnie from Edinburgh; James resident in Kirkwall, John from Rousay, Margaret from Egilshay and Annie from Evie. Of the five remaining children unable to be present, most of these were in Midlothian and one as far away as South Africa. The Rev. William Pitcairn Craig of St. Magnus Cathedral was asked to preside and opened the proceedings with prayer.

Thereafter he read Mr. and Mrs. Corsie’s marriage certificate, which is in the following terms: –

“Rousay 9th February 1853. This is to certify William Corsie in Nears and Anne Leonard in Digro nave been regularly proclaimed with a view to marriage, and no objection offered. Geo. Robson S.C.

Digro 16th February 1853. I have this day married the above parties. James Gardner, Minister of Rousay and Egilshay.”

Mr Craig heartily congratulated Mr. and Mrs. Corsie on attaining the unique distinction of celebrating their diamond wedding. Referring to the extreme rarity of such celebrations, he remarked that they were impossible without an unusual conjunction of circumstances, those of great longevity on the part of both husband and wife, and also an early marriage. After contesting an ordinary wedding and its thoughts of anticipation and prospects, with a diamond wedding and its thoughts, largely of retrospect and thanksgiving, he went on to speak of the early life of Mr. and Mrs. Corsie in their Island home, and of their joy in the reflection that of their large number of descendants, almost, he said, the population of a village, there was not one who was not a credit and a comfort to them. In this connection he recalled the old wedding wish “Long life and prosperity and may all your troubles be little ones” and said that Mr. and Mrs. Corsie had had no fewer than “thirteen little troubles” who had all however turned out “great blessings”. He concluded by speaking of the many excellent qualities of their venerable friends and by wishing them happiness and peace in the eventide of their life. On behalf of the family he then presented Mr. Corsie with a handsome purse of sovereigns to mark the interesting occasion.

Mr. Corsie replied in a speech reminiscent of his younger days and concluded by handing over the purse to ‘his better half’ who bowed her acknowledgement of the applause with which the company greeted her. Later in the evening Mr. Craig presented Lena Patton, one of the Grand-children whom Mr. and Mrs. Corsie had brought up, since the death of her father, with a Bible and Hymnary to commemorate the notable event. The company then sat down to a sumptuous supper presided over by Mr. Craig, and the remainder of the happy evening was spent in song and sentiment. Before leaving, Mr. Craig was awarded a hearty vote of thanks proposed by Mr. Hugh Robertson (son-in-law) of Egilshay.

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JAMES SINCLAIR CORSIE 1833 – 1875

The next child of Malcolm Corsie and Isabella Louttit was a son, James Sinclair Corsie, born 1833. He is somewhat of a mystery. In the 1851 census he is listed as 13 years old and living at home at Nears. There is no further trace of him until his marriage on 20th November 1873 to a Mary Marwick Low aged 19 years. He was 40 years old. On February 9th 1875 he died of internal injuries and haemorrhage. His wife gave birth to a son, also named James Sinclair Corsie. Malcolm Corsie, the baby’s grandfather, in his Will dated 10th May 1878 provided Ten Pounds towards the boy’s education. In the 1891 census, the widow of James Sinclair Corsie and her son are listed as living at Lower Banks farm with her parents. There is no further record of this boy. The date of his birth was 17th August 1875. My father told me that one of his uncles had been abroad for many years, taken part in some gold rush, returned to Orkney in middle age and later had been killed by a fall on the cliffs while collecting birds’ eggs. The Gold Rush in Australia happened in 1851. In the 1881 census his widow is listed as formerly “sailor’s wife”. I feel that it is fairly certain that James either emigrated, worked his passage to Australia, or went to sea and left his ship in Australia, then spent several years there, returning in 1873 or perhaps some time before that.

A headstone in Rousay’s Westside kirkyard contains the following inscription: ‘Erected by Mary Corsie in memory of her dearly beloved husband James S Corsie who died 19 Feb 1875 aged 42 years. “A few short years of evil past: We reach the happy shore: Where death divided friends at last. Shall meet to part no more.” Also the above Mary Corsie who died 22 Dec 1925 aged 71’

ISABELLA CORSIE 1835 – 1906

The next child of Malcolm Corsie and Isabella Louttit was a daughter, Isabella, born in 1835. She married John Robertson in 1870. They are listed as living at Nears in the 1871 census, and apparently John Robertson was working for her father, Malcolm Corsie. In the 1881 census they were still at Nears and John Robertson was listed as Farm Manager, Malcolm Corsie having died in 1878. There were four daughters, Isabella nine years old; Mary Ann 7 years, Elizabeth five years and Margaret three years old. In the 1891 census the family was resident at Banks. I have no further knowledge of the family. Isabella died on January 21st 1906. She was buried in the churchyard of the ruined Westness Church. I found the gravestone in 1972 and it was in very good condition then.

GEORGE WILLIAM TRAILL CORSIE 1839 – 1917

The last child of Malcolm Corsie and Isabella Louttit was George born 1839. He is mentioned in his father’s Will which was drawn up at Kirkwall in 1878 May 14th when he would have been thirty-nine years old. At that time he was farming at Sandwick, Orkney. He died in South Ronaldshay in 1917 aged seventy-nine.

This completes the account of Malcolm Corsie, my Great-Grandfather and his family, and will now continue with my father and his brothers and sisters.

WILLIAM CORSIE

The second son of Malcolm Corsie and Isabella Louttit, he was my Grandfather. There were thirteen children – five daughters and eight sons. There were numerous descendants and I do not know them all, but will give what account I can of those I know.

On the left is Jemima Jessie Corsie Mowat/Shaw (Minnie) 1890-1977 Huddersfield,
Yorkshire. Standing centre is Eliza Jane Mowat/Kirkness (known as Jean in NZ)
1883-1957 Otago, NZ, and standing to the right is Victoria Williamina Beattie
Mowat/Groat (Vicky) 1887-1921 Evie. Seated between her parents is
Mary Ann Mowat/Johnston (Nannie) 1881-1970 Evie.

MALCOLM CORSIE 1858 – 1927

Malcolm, the fourth child and second son, was born at Catholes 31st Oct. 1858. In the census report of 1871 there is an entry as follows: – “George Scarth farmer of 92 acres, Catherine Scarth wife 54, six children and three servants, one being Malcolm Corsie, 12, cowherd.” In 1877 he and William, his elder brother, were working on neighbouring farms near Ellon, Aberdeenshire. I believe they were there since 1875 or 1876. The date 1877 is positive as my father himself told me that he and his brother were working in the fields when William had waved him over to the fence and said “not to tell anyone, but they had a baby sister.” This was Isabella (Auntie Belle) their youngest sister. The next year, father and his brother James (who was the next youngest) emigrated to Canada. Mrs. Janet Cameron of Chiswick, London, who is a daughter of James, tells me that her father was seventeen years old and my father was 19. My brother Malcolm confirmed this. It was in the spring or early summer and they went by river boat and train to Toronto, Ontario. At the St. Lawrence Market, which in 1980 is still there, they hired out the next morning to farmers from the village of Agincourt, about twelve miles North East of Toronto. Agincourt is now absorbed into metropolitan Toronto. Mrs. Cameron thinks that her father, James Corsie, was in Canada for about 13 years. At any rate, he ended up in hospital in St. Johns., Michigan, U.S.A. Father remained in Ontario working on farms, field work in the summer and land clearing in the winter months. He also worked on what would be a railroad section gang, on track work, and part at least he spent with a cousin named Mainland near Owen Sound.

Their older brother William died Sept. 1882. Their father William was then the tenant of the farm of Brendale and my father went back to the Orkneys to help him run the farm. This, I believe, was in the fall of 1882 as I know that he took the train from Toronto through Niagara Falls to New York and sailed from there. From what father told me, the ships were steamships but carried sails. Sea travel, at least by steerage (the cheapest class) must have been quite casual. Passengers supplied their own bedding, paid their fare at a dockside office and went aboard. No passports – no fuss.

When father got back to Orkney, the three youngest boys were at home – John 16, Charlie 14 and Fred 12 – also the three younger girls, Jemima 9, Jessie 6 and Isabella 5. From what I have been told, father was a hard worker himself and expected everyone else to be the same. Together they made a great many improvements to the farm of Brendale, built up the fences, drained the land etc. Today, almost a hundred years later, Brendale is still a very good farm. Whatever went wrong I don’t know, but father and grandfather did not seem to get along, and in 1884 father left the Orkneys. I would guess the whole affair was wrong and when father was an old man he told me himself that the biggest mistake he ever made was to leave Canada. All the savings he made had gone into the farm, and he had to borrow the steamer fare from Kirkwall to Leith. A younger brother, Peter Leonard, was already a member of the West Lothian Police, stationed at Linlithgow, so he walked from Leith to there a distance of 18-20 miles. Father applied and was engaged at once in the Police and took up duty as a constable 27th March 1884. He retired 37 years later as Inspector on 27th March 1921. When he arrived in Linlithgow he was wearing some sort of a cap or bonnet which he had brought from Canada and of which he was very proud. When he told Peter that he had been engaged, Peter’s remark was – “that being the case, the first thing you have to do is to get rid of that awful hat!” With that, Peter took the hat and stuffed it into the open coal fire in the office. I don’t think father ever really forgave him for that. Father had the reputation of being a good Police Officer, and was well regarded by all. Several times he had differences with the Chief Constable and the Deputy Chief Constables. Twice he was prepared to resign – once had the position of County Clerk of Shetland arranged, but at the last minute decided to remain with the Police. Another time he and my mother were prepared to go to Canada, and that cleared up also. One time there was a row over delayed promotion to the rank of Inspector, and when the promotion was made it was only to Acting rank in 1906. After he retired, he went back to Queensferry to live. For several years father acted as Procurator Fiscal for the Burgh of Queensferry. He was active in Church affairs and was a Member of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He suffered from a heart condition and died suddenly on 27th March 1927.

Father and mother, (who was AGNES KIDD, youngest daughter of John Kidd of Dumbarton, formerly of Leuchars, Fife, where mother was born 11th Feb. 1860) were married at Dumbarton 20th June 1888. Mother died 16th Sept. 1958 in her 92nd year.

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Click > here < to read newspaper articles regarding
Malcolm Corsie’s Retiral and Death

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There were six children in the family. Three died as children, and three lived to old age as follows: –

William, born 1889, died 18th June 1894
Isabella, born 31st July 1890, died 13th Nov. 1976
John, born 1893, died 30th Sept. 1896
Malcolm, born 17th Dec. 1896, died 10th March 1979
Leonard, born 25th Nov. 1906
Edward, born 24th Feb. 1910, but died just 8 hours old.

William and John both died of diphtheria, which was a very common childhood disease in the days.

Isabella was a well-known Nurse in and around Edinburgh for many years. She suffered from tubercular glands; she underwent twelve or fourteen surgical operations and twice she suffered from tuberculoses of the lungs. She also had various other operations to correct problems caused by previous major operations. She never married.

Malcolm joined the Civil Service when he was fifteen, as a boy clerk, at first in the Home Office and then in the Inland Revenue. Except for service in the Amy during the first War, he was never in any other kind of work. Malcolm married Dora Webster or Ripon, Yorkshire, in 1922.

There were three children – Malcolm who only lived a few weeks. David born on 13th July 1925 married June Margaret Martin Sep. 13th 1952. They have two daughters – Linda, born Jan. 8th 1956 and Wendy born 15th Feb. 1959. David is a factory manager with the Clark Shoe Co. in Bath, England. Ian was born 4th July 1931 and married his cousin Kathleen Mary Husband, March 31st 1959. They have three daughters – Gillian born 3rd Aug. 1961, Helen born 31st Dec. 1962, and Clare born 28th Aug. 1967.

LEONARD CORSIE (myself)

I was born 25th Nov. 1906. I went to school in Queensferry, Broxburn and Edinburgh. I was at sea for two years and then emigrated to Canada. I came back to Scotland for two years and then returned to Canada where I have lived ever since. I was Plant Superintendent of Sarnia General Hospital for twenty-two years, retiring in 1972.

JAMES CORSIE 1859 – 1932

James, the fifth child and third son of William Corsie and Anne Leonard, was born at Catholes in Rousay in 1859. He had a healthy happy childhood – helping on the farm, bird-nesting on the rocks and crags, boating, peat-cutting, harvesting etc.

In severe winter weather, when he was a small boy, he sometimes went to school with a peat tied on top of his head, for there was no coal on the island and of course no gas or electricity in those days. When each child brought a peat, both teacher and children had the benefit of a fire at least part of the day.

In 1876, when James was 17 and Malcolm 19, they left together for Canada. Malcolm stayed in Canada, returning to Orkney in 1882, but James moved West into the State of Michigan U.S.A. where he worked in a sawmill for a while. His daughter Janet recalls a story of the load of logs that crashed through the ice on the lake. James leapt to the ice, slashed the harness, grabbed the reins and managed to rescue the horse and ride him madly to safety and home!

In 1888 the family heard that James was in Hospital in St. John’s, Michigan, with rheumatic fever, and destitute. He was in Hospital there for two years and had a stiff leg for the rest of his life. His brothers were able to get him home to Orkney but he had lost his trunk, with all his belongings, while in hospital.

He was a gifted musician and in the 1891 census he is listed as a Teacher of Music and was qualified to teach, not only Practical Singing but the Theory of Music as well. He held at least seven Certificates from the Tonic-Solfa College of Music in London, England, dating from 2nd January 1889 to 29th May 1890 and was qualified to act as an Examiner. He was appointed Singing Master to Kirkwall Burgh Public School and held this post for many years. He was also Choir Master in St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, Orkney, and for some years acted as superintendent of the Sunday School there. When he left Kirkwall, in appreciation of his interest in and all that he had done for the children, he was presented with a silver-headed ebony walking-stick, suitably inscribed. This is now in the proud possession of one of his grandsons.

James was for 19½ years Honorary Agent for the Shipwrecked Mariners and Fishermen’s Society and the many nightcalls are remembered when he had to make a hasty dressing and receive a crew of wet and shivering men for whom he would have to find accommodation, food and clothing first of all and then make arrangements for their sea and rail transport to their homes – often to a foreign country. On one occasion, during the first War, he had 103 men to care for in one week-end.

In the winter months, James was always invited by a Minister of one of the Parishes in the West Mainland (Evie, Sandwick and Harray) to take Singing Classes there on Wednesdays, which was the half-day in Kirkwall when his barber shop was closed, and on special occasions for a Sunday afternoon or Evening Service, he would take two or three male singers of his Class in Kirkwall, for part-time singing, and always his daughter Janet (then about 12 years old) to sing alto. On one occasion, a Sunday he and she had been invited to sing their special duet “Lead Kindly Light” and, when he went to arrange the transport – a horse and gig from Sinclair’s, he was regretfully told that at that moment they had only one young horse not yet broken in to harness. After his life in Canada he was undaunted and said he would take this horse. The test soon came when at the Ayre Mills they met one of the town’s doctors coming in his motor car (one of a very few in Orkney at that time), The horse decided to turn round and ‘run for it’, but James took real control, and, while she was on her hind legs rearing madly, he stood on the shafts, gave a smart crack of the whip over her head that took her down to earth and on the way to Finstown. Later he heard that the doctor had queried his sobriety on a Sunday morning!!

James went to Sanday as best man to his cousin James Grieve who was marrying Mary Ann Cumming of Hillside there. Benjamina the youngest Cumming sister was Mary Ann’s bridesmaid. The outcome of this was that James married Benjamina (or Mina as she was called) on 12th June 1895 and they had six children: –

William was born in 1896
Janet Harcus Cumming, in 1897
James, in 1899
Jane Cumming Harcus, in 1901
Thomas Cumming, in 1903
Bena Marion, in 1907

Bena’s lovely name was a concoction of Benjamina and Mary Ann – two sisters who were very close in their relationship. This close relationship of course became extended to the children of the two families whose mothers were sisters and fathers were cousins. Many happy family holidays were spent together on the two farms at Hillside, Sanday, where the children ran wild and enjoyed the pleasures of both sea and country.

The family of James and Mina Corsie: –

WILLIAM CORSIE 1896 – 1951

William was born on 31st January 1896 and was educated at Kirkwall Burgh Public School, where he obtained his School Certificate and joined the Bank of Scotland in Kirkwall. As he was a member of the Band of the Royal Garrison Artillery (T.A.), he was called up in 1814 and served at first at Stanger Battery guarding Scapa Flow. Later he went to France where he was a range-finder on one of the long-range guns. After the War, he returned to the Bank in Kirkwall and later transferred to the Head Office in London for a few years prior to sailing to Calcutta in 1921 to take up a position in the Bank of Scotland there. Some years later he joined a Jute firm in Calcutta and in due course became chairman of that Company. During the Second War he was appointed Chairman of the Sugar Commission for all India.  He married Netta Pratt, only child of Mr. And Mrs. J. Pratt of High Street, Kirkwall, the ceremony having taken place in Calcutta. He retired in 1946, and, after spending a year with Netta touring the India he had been too busy to see, they returned to Kirkwall. He had hoped to find a suitable hone in Orkney where they could settle and which would be a holiday attraction for the rest of the Corsie family – they had no children of their own. He had brought to Orkney from India all the furniture, furnishings, silver etc. necessary to carry out this aim, but things were difficult in this post war period in Britain and he must have found it all restricting. After visiting his sisters in London en route from India, and learning of the rationing of meat etc. there, his sister Janet received from the postman a slightly blood-stained parcel one day, which, on being opened, revealed four ribs of lovely Orkney beef – the nicest they had ever tasted. There was no rationing in Orkney as in the rest of the country, as they were virtually in the War Zone and to separate civilians from service people too unwieldy. After the second such parcel he was asked to ‘hold it’ as Food Inspectors were known to inspect larders in London at that time and punishment sometimes followed.

William had the good looks of the previous generation, such as John Corsie of Knarston and Malcolm of Linlithgow, was good at golf and snooker, a clever musician who could write and transpose music, a staunch friend, the soul of honour, slightly aloof, a man’s man – he ended his own life in Kirkwall in 1951.

JANET HARCUS CUMMING CORSIE 1897 – 1988

Janet Corsie, the first daughter and second child of James and Mina Corsie was born in Kirkwall on 2nd June 1897. On leaving K. B. P. School she learned shorthand and typewriting in the legal office of T. P. & J. L. Low on Broad Street, Kirkwall, and, after three years there she went to Highland Park Distillery for a similar period. In January 1920 she went to London as secretary to a director of a firm of Engineers’ Furnishers with offices in the heart of the City. After five years she was offered a post in Grand Buildings, Trafalgar Square, as secretary to a director of Dominion Motor Spirit Co. then in process of being formed. When the offices moved to the City, she was engaged at working out delivery costs per gallon, for each Board meeting, which proved rather boring to her and in 1926 she joined the National Flying Services at Hanworth, Middlesex, in process of formation under the Chairmanship of the late Lord Sempill (at that time The Master of Sempill) where she soon was in charge of the supply and control of petrol and oil – not only there but for eight aerodromes in other parts of England. However, too much travelling was required for her liking and in 1930 she obtained an interview at Selfridge’s and was selected as secretary and later personal assistant to a director who was also General Manager. There she found such a variety of interests and problems, meeting people from all countries and all stations of life, helping in the control of 4,000 staff, so that even although she married Joe Cameron in 1941, it wasn’t until 1949 (after nearly 20 years’ service at Selfridge’s) that she finally retired to Chiswick Village. Joe Cameron was a Higher Executive in G.P.O. Telephone Headquarters and holds a certificate of 40 years’ service, from the P.M.G. of that time.

JAMES CORSIE 1899 – 1971

James junior was also a R.G.A. bandsman but on the outbreak of War had to be a Bugler as he was under 14 and of course could not be sent abroad. He did, however, serve some time at one of the Batteries guarding Scapa Flow. When Lord Kitchener was lost at Marwick Head, James and another young bugler played “The Last Post” in Magnus Cathedral at the Memorial Service – a most impressive event with two young boys high up in that ancient Cathedral making melancholy music.

James followed William to India in 1923 and spent his time in Eastern Bengal in the Jute growing business, where Jeannie Tait, second daughter of Mr. James Tait, cabinetmaker, Broad St., Kirkwall, joined him in marriage. She returned to Kirkwall for the birth of their only child, James, in 1933, and when James senior left India they settled in Bournemouth where very happy holidays were available to all family and friends. Both of them were the very best of hosts and he was the kindest of men who would have given all he had to anyone in need.

The Tait house on Broad Street, Kirkwall, became available in 1970 when Jim and Jeannie decided to return there as their son had by then gone to Kuala Lumpur for the Norwich union Assurance Co.

Unfortunately they did not have a long retirement there as he was rushed to hospital one night when he became seriously ill of some internal obstruction. He had immediate operation but did not survive. He died on 8th July 1971 – a sad loss to all who knew him. A few months later, Jeannie died of shock when an oil heater caught fire in her sitting room. She tried to telephone but was so incoherent that the operator felt that something was wrong and sent someone round to see if all was well. He extinguished the fire, but the fright had been too much for Jeannie’s weak heart. She and Jim had been so close since their schooldays that to all who knew them it seemed in some ways right that they should not be too long apart.

Young JAMES, on leaving School in Bournemouth, joined the Norwich Union Assurance Co. in Bournemouth, was later sent to Singapore where he met and married ANN GILES from Australia, whose father was in charge of Tin Mining in Malaya. They married in Kuala Lumpur and their oldest daughter Alison was born in Sydney, Australia. Ann came to Kirkwall for the birth of their next child, another daughter, Fiona. The third daughter, Trina, was born in Bournemouth and the fourth child, lain was born in Calcutta, surely an International family! They have been since 1970 in Perth, Western Australia, where Jimmy is Norwich Union Assurance representative for West Australia.

[The following information on William Corsie (1896-1951) and James Corsie (1899-1971) was sent to Janet Cameron by Jimmy Corsie (son of James) from Perth, Western Australia, in a letter dated 2 Sep 1980. Jimmy could not remember the names of the companies they worked for in India but Janet remembered that the firm they started with in India – and for which William left the Bank of Scotland in Calcutta – was Sinclair Murray & Co.

‘Bill’s real claim to fame was the marketing (and consumption) of CAREW’S GIN, which is now regarded as one of the world’s best Indian gins. It all started when he teamed up with a distiller in the middle 1930s and through his company he launched the product which never looked back. You may recall that after the War the entire Board of Directors voted themselves out of office in order to give returned soldiers more rapid promotion within the Company. While in India I met a couple of clerks who remembered him.

Father’s (Jim’s) career fell apart with the demise of the European jute grader plus his inability to get other work during the depression. I also feel that mention might be made of his Trade Union activities which took up much of his time and interest and also earned him his Imperial Service Medal when he retired.’]

JANE CUMMING HARCUS CORSIE 1901 – 1981

JANE was born on 25th July 1901 and promptly named ‘Polly’ by the older children as she had arrived at the same time as an African parrot to Hilda Farquhar who lived next door! In London she was re-named ‘Pete’ and, in spite of her father’s efforts against it this name stuck.

Jane also obtained School Certificate standard at K.B.P.S. and worked for a short while in Kirkwall Post Office as a telegraphist, but in March 1920 she joined Janet in London at the same Engineering Office where she did Costing and some typing. She met and married Charles B. Woodward in 1925. He was born in London but had been taken to New Zealand by his parents while he was very young. He was a major in the N.Z. Army and in that capacity had returned to this Country during the War, but when he met Jane he was working for British Ropes Ltd., and this soon earned him the nickname of ‘Ropey’, which, again in spite of her father’s protests, became attached to him for good. Charles was a widower, twelve years older than she was and with two young children who stayed with their grandparents in S.E. London most of the time. Jane and Ropey bought a house in New Malden, Surrey, and her father James Corsie went to stay with them. There, his first grandchild, James Corsie Woodward was born and proved a great and delightful companion to him.

After James senior died in 1932, Pete and young Jimmy accompanied Ropey to the West Indies where they had a house in Port of Spain, Trinidad. They travelled a good deal, in the Caribbean and down through South America as far as Argentina. Often Pete and little Jimmy came to London to spend many months with Janet (who was then at Selfridge’s, unmarried, and had a little flat in W. Kensington) while Ropey did concentrated business tours in and around the Caribbean. They returned to England and went to live at Kingston Hill to enable Jimmy to attend Tiffen’s School in Kingston-upon-Thames where he distinguished himself in Geography by earning the highest marks in England for his School Certificate. At that period, his ambition was to join the Navy, but when his opportunity came, during the war, his eyesight did not pass the test. He decided to study the Wool Industry and to this end he went to Buenos Aires and now has his own Wool Export Business there, keeping close contact with London….. two sons William and Andrew, and a daughter Deborah.

Charles B. Woodward died in 1973, since when Jane has slowly and now completely lost her memory. She stayed with Joe and Janet Cameron in Chiswick for four and a half years, and for over two years now has been in hospital where she is very well cared for and her sister is able to visit her regularly.

William J. Woodward has just graduated from Brunel University; Andrew has shown an interest in his fellow-man, has been studying the German language and is currently assisting in one of the Group-Captain Cheshire homes situated in Kent. Debbie completed a Secretarial Course at St. Godric’s Secretarial College in North London. She is a keen horsewoman.

THOMAS CUMMING CORSIE 1903 – 1969

Tamo (as he was known) was born in Kirkwall on 28th May 1903 and, after being educated at KBPS joined the Commercial Bank of Scotland in Kirkwall. Following the family to London, after the death of their mother, he obtained a transfer to the Commercial Bank of Scotland in the City of London, and, after some years there he became the youngest Bank Inspector in the Country. In 1931, he married Christina Shiells and he became Manager of the Markinch Fife, branch of his bank and stayed there many years. Chris died or cancer in 1955, after years of suffering most courageously borne. They had one son, Olaf John Corsie, who graduated in Engineering from St. Andrews University. Tamo came to London and spent some time in Bournemouth with Jim and Jeannie, and also to the Camerons in Chiswick where he met and married Elizabeth Cameron, younger sister to Joe. They lived at first in London but later went to Deal on the Kent coast where Tamo found great interest in the channel shipping, but unfortunately his health gave way and after a short period of illness he died in 1969. Bess returned to London and a recurrence of cancer operations at St. George’s Hospital, Hyde Park Corner, but all to no avail, and she too died in 1979. Olaf had married Doreen Kinnaird, whose father was a farmer in Fife, and they have moved around in Scotland and England as his engineering projects dictated. They have one daughter, Jane Elizabeth, and they live near Kirkcaldy in Fife. Although Jane has had a very interrupted education, moving from one school to another between England and Scotland, it does not appear to have affected her in any way and she holds her place – at the top.

BENA MARION CORSIE 1907 – 1925

BENA, the youngest member of the family was born on 23rd Feb. 1907, a beautiful girl who was more interested in home-making than in study, and consequently did not extend her schooling like her sisters. Her mother became unwell and Bena nursed her, but the illness was found to be tubercular and Mina died in January 1923. Bena came to London with her father and joined Janet and Pete in New Malden, Surrey, where they had bought a house. However Bena also had contracted the trouble and died in London in 1925. She was just eighteen years old, an outdoor type with a lovely gay nature, and was Ladies’ Golf Champion before she left Kirkwall.

PETER LEONARD CORSIE 1862 – 1943

GEORGE CORSIE 1864 – 1912

GEORGE, the seventh child of William and Anne Corsie, was born 22nd August 1864. I don’t know much of Uncle George and do not remember him at all. I have met one or two of his children many years ago but know nothing of them now.

In 1890 he married Eliza Bella Lennie in Kirkwall where he was employed as a mercantile clerk. He was 24 and she was 18 years old. Between 1890 and 1894 they moved to the Edinburgh area. A daughter Anne Leonard Corsie, aged 1 year and 10 months, died of pneumonia in 1894. The address given was 9 East Thomas Street, and George was working as a salt-man. He died on 11th February 1912 and his wife a few years later. What became of the children, of whom there were nine, I do not know.

JOHN CORSIE 1866 – 1948

The eighth child of William and Anne Corsie was a son, John. I have no knowledge of his early life, but as long as I remember he farmed Knarston in Rousay. Knarston was really two crofts, and totalled, I have been told, thirty acres. One croft had been willed to George, the youngest son and youngest child, by his maternal grandfather. John raised Clydesdale horses, Cattle, Sheep and Pigs. Barley, Oats, Turnips, Hay and Potatoes were all grown. My father figures in the early 1920’s that John was worth in horses alone in the neighbourhood or a thousand pounds. That was a considerable sum of money in those days.

Below are photos [courtesy of Orkney Library & Archive]
of four of John and Margaret’s children in later life:-

John and his wife had 13 children. She died in 1906 when George, the youngest, was born, and she was 37 years old. Of the sons, two remained in Orkney, and three went to Canada. John had a blacksmith’s business at Orphir and his son Jackie still carries on the business. A younger son Leonard is a police officer in Kirkwall and his son is the chief of police at Heathrow Airport, England. William farmed the Glebe farm, alongside Knarston. Peter Leonard went to Canada, had an electrical business in Port Arthur for many years then went to British Columbia. He was in business there for years in the heating trade and is now (1980) living in retirement in New Westminster. George is retired in Thunder Bay – he was a paper maker in the paper mills there. Tom also went to Canada and after some years or farm work etc. as was usual he joined the Fort William City Police Force. After a few years there he joined the Ontario Provincial Police in 1928 retiring in 1964 with the rank of superintendent. Tom died in 1968 and the following is from the Fort William newspaper at his death: –

OPP Vet. T. Corsie dies at 71

One of North Western Ontario’s best known and popular policemen over four decades, retired OPP Superintendent T. G. (Tom) Corsie, died in hospital here on Friday night. He was 71.

Native of Rousay, Orkney, Mr. Corsie emigrated to Canada and Hamilton 50 years ago. He came to Fort William in 1924 and joined the City Police. Transferring to the Ontario Provincial Police 3½ years later, Mr. Corsie devoted the following 40 years to maintaining law and order in the Northwest, serving at one or another in every area west of White River.

Promoted to Sergeant in 1939, he became Inspector at Kenora in 1948 and retired as Superintendent, when the family moved back to Fort William to establish residence at 2708 Park Row.

Mr. Corsie was an active member of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, of the Masonic Order, A.F. and A.M. 287 Port Arthur Superior Lodge of Perfection, Nannabijou Chapter Rose Croix, North Star and Moore Consistories of Scottish Rite. He is survived by his wife, the former Maude (Penny) McNichol whom he married here in 1940; one daughter Geraldine (Mrs. J. Spence) Thomas Jr., Dryden; Robert Nestor Falls; Allan, Fernie B.C. and Douglas, Winnipeg. Also surviving are three brothers, William in Scotland; Peter, New Westminster, B.C., and George Corsie, 363 N. John St.; six sisters – Mrs. Jean Nicholson, New Zealand; Mrs. Janet Sinclair, Mrs. Anne Grieve, Mrs. Robert Seatter, Mrs. Minnie McFarlane and Mrs. Cilla Nicholson – all of the Orkney Islands. He was predeceased by his parents, one brother John, and a sister, Mrs. John Craigie in the Orkneys.

As a gesture of affection and respect OPP at Kenora named a new 26 ft. patrol boat the “Thomas G Corsie” after he retired.

George also went to Canada and settled in Fort William. He was a paper mill employee. Peter also went to Canada and for several years was in the electrical business in Fort William. He moved to New Westminster B.C. and was then in the heating business, just when natural gas became available there, and he did very well. He is now retired and lives in New Westminster.

Tom had one daughter and four sons, one of whom, Robert, is a member of the Ontario Provincial Police. George has two daughters. Peter has two daughters and several sons. The remainder of John Corsie’s family stayed in the Orkneys. John was a blacksmith at Orphir, and a son still carries on the business and a son of his runs a garage at Scapa Pier. He is named James Sinclair Corsie.

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The two photos below were taken on August 30th 1955 when relatives from
far and wide gathered for a family get-together at John and Marie Corsie’s
house, Smithy Cottage, Orphir.

CHARLES CORSIE 1869 –

Charles was the next child of William and Anne Corsie. He was born on 11th October 1869. The date of his death is unknown but must have taken place in the 1950’s. He was somewhat of a mystery and no one seems to know much about him. In the late 1890’s he was a member of the Mid Lothian County Police, and I think that Lindsay, who married his sister Jessie was also in the same Force. From all accounts, they lived high, wide and handsome. They were always up to some sort of mischief and always in trouble. Charlie became the father of illegitimate twins. This was towards the end of the South Africa war, and he went to South Africa. The following is an account of what happened, according to Mrs. John Ivory of San Diego, California. She is the daughter of my Uncle Fred – and my cousin: –

“Anyway, did you know the story of why he went to South Africa? When I was old enough to understand, my mother told me. Seems he was being hunted by the police in Mid Lothian and around there, the charge being that he had fathered twins to some dame and he was in no mood to be tied up to her, so he decided to get out of the Country – and that he did. (I don’t understand how the police came into it, but that’s the story). His brothers George and Fred (my father) and probably your Dad too were all on this escape. They planned that he go quietly by himself to Haymarket station, and my father (who resembled him very much except in height) was to walk along the Waverley Station as if he was Charlie, and the cops would think it was Charlie – and that’s what actually happened, and when they grabbed my father he could prove he wasn’t Charlie – so Charlie by this time was well on his way and they never caught up with him.”

According to Margaret Ivory, Charlie used to write occasionally to his sister Jemima who had loaned him money to get to S. Africa. I have heard that he engaged in railroad building. He was in France as a Sergeant in a native labour battalion. At that time he visited Edinburgh while on leave and also visited his mother in Kirkwall. My father had a postcard from him, posted in Southampton, apparently on the eve of sailing for South Africa. To my knowledge that was the last time my father ever heard from him. When we lived in Broxburn, my father used to hear of him through people visiting Broxburn from South Africa. Margaret Ivory tells me that he married a 19 year old French girl when he was in his 40’s. This seems convincing as he would be about that age during the War. When he visited Scotland on leave from France he told every woman in the family a different story. He told one he was single, another that he was married to a negro woman, another that he had married a Chinese woman – whether he was married or not, no one really knows. Personally I wouldn’t be surprised if we had several cousins in South Africa, and they are liable to be any colour. I am not sure, but I believe he got in touch with his sister Isabella in Australia, but I am not certain of this, shortly before his death.

FREDERICK BURROUGHS CORSIE 1870 – 1950

Uncle Fred was the next child of William and Anne Corsie. He was born on 19th December 1870. Of all my father’s brothers and sisters, I knew him best of all. I don’t know when he came to the Edinburgh area and the first I remember of him was him driving the four-horse brakes which used to bring sightseers to the Forth Bridge on Sunday afternoons before the first war. At one time he was a driver on the horse-drawn street cars, while Leith, which was a separate city then, changed to electric cars, and Fred went over to the Leith cars. For a time he was training new horses. This was a steady job as the turnover of horses was high. Their feet and legs gave out with the constant pounding on the hard surfaces of the streets. Edinburgh and Leith became one city in the 1920’s and the cable cars disappeared. Fred drove the last cable on Princes Street. This was quite an occasion and there was a picture of it in one of the newspapers. My sister had a copy but it got lost when she died.

Fred’s wife died quite young leaving three children. Louie, who in later life went to Australia – a daughter of hers also went to Australia; another daughter, Adeline of whom I have no knowledge; and William, who I believe was in the London, England, Fire Service.

Fred married again, and of that marriage there were seven children. Margaret, Mrs. John Ivory of San Diego, Cal. U.S.A. She is a widow and has one son and two daughters. There are also several grand-children. Jean (Mrs. Sandison) living in Scotland and also a widow has no family. Angus (who never married) died in 1976. Charlie still living in Leith never married (1979). Fred was a Marine Engineer with the Currie Line of Leith. He died but left some family, John and Donald, whom I never met. Uncle Fred retired before the last war but was recalled and drove street cars during the war finally retiring when it  was  over.  He died in 1950.

JEMIMA CORSIE 1874 – 1916

Jemima (Aunt Minnie) was born on 23rd August 1874. She was the eleventh child. My first recollection of Minnie was when she and Isabella (Belle) were working for a dentist, the name of Finlayson at Manor Place near the Haymarket. Minnie was the dental assistant and Belle was cook-housekeeper. Belle (Mrs. Patton) was a widow and Minnie was unmarried, though I believe she was engaged to be married. Minnie died in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on April 12th 1916, of a ruptured appendix. She was 42 years old.

JEMIMA CORSIE 1874 – 1916

Jemima (Aunt Minnie) was born on 23rd August 1874. She was the eleventh child. My first recollection of Minnie was when she and Isabella (Belle) were working for a dentist, the name of Finlayson at Manor Place near the Haymarket. Minnie was the dental assistant and Belle was cook-housekeeper. Belle (Mrs. Patton) was a widow and Minnie was unmarried, though I believe she was engaged to be married. Minnie died in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on April 12th 1916, of a ruptured appendix. She was 42 years old.

ISABELLA CORSIE 1877-1959

The thirteenth and last child of William and Anne Corsie was Isabella, Aunty Belle. Belle married a man named John Dunn Patton, whom I never knew as he died before I remember. There were three children – Anne Leonard (LENA), Jack, and Charlie. Lena was brought up by her grandparents in Kirkwall [and lived to the age of 102]. Jack and Charlie were in Donaldson’s Hospital, a school for orphan boys. The school is still standing in the Morningside district, in Edinburgh, but it is not now used as an orphanage. Both Jack and Charlie became Electrical Engineers, receiving their training at the Bruce Peebles Co. As soon as Jack finished his training there was a period of severe unemployment and he had little or no chance so he put in about two years at Knarston, Rousay. I remember my Uncle John lamenting to my father that Jack had left just when he was beginning to be a useful man at the ploughing. When Charlie finished his training, the working position was the same, so Auntie Belle, with Lena and Charlie followed Jack to Australia.

Both Jack and Charlie worked for a time on farms – then both got back into their profession. Lena married Jack Kenyon, a Royal Air Force Officer whom she met in Kirkwall and he also went to Australia where he became famous as a stage designer. He died a few years ago. Jack became Chief Electrical Inspector of the city of Melbourne. Once when I was in London, England, I talked with a daughter, Heather, whose husband Noel Svensson is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of New South Wales, Australia. They have two children, Adrian and Jane now almost completing their education. Jack is dead. Charlie visited Great Britain a year ago but Jack or Lena never did.

Janet Cameron tells of an occasion, before she married Joe, when she returned home from Selfridges and was astounded to see a light on in her sitting-room. On entering she found her Aunty Belle sitting on the one comfortable chair with her feet soaking in warm water and that was the first indication she had that her Aunt wasn’t at home in Australia! It transpired that she (Aunty Belle) had enquired of a neighbour where the landlord lived – luckily nearby – she had called on him and he allowed her into the flat. At that time she took a course of Chiropody in London and I understand that she did very well with the result of this in Melbourne later. One grandson is a well-known cartoonist in Australia. Aunty Belle was a most enterprising lady – unfortunately no longer alive.

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This completes to the present (January 1980) the history of our branch of the Corsie family. The Corsies, according to Tom Corsie of Racine, Wis. U.S.A., have always been leaders in the community where they live. Until my father’s generation, they have always been tenant Farmers. My grandmother’s people, the Leonards, appear to have been crofters and woollen weavers.

My mother’s people, the Kidds, have been resident for over two hundred years around Leuchars, Fife, Scotland. Mother was the youngest of eleven – there were two brothers and eight sisters.

Her oldest brother Alexander married the niece of the then managing director of the North British Railway and there was a statue of him in Waverley Station. I never met Alexander and I think he cut himself off entirely from his family. He had two daughters who never married. The other brother Tom was also a railway man with the NBR. He had at least one son. Grandfather Kidd was, I believe, a farm worker, and, with the help of his sons, moved to Dumbarton where mother received her education. An older sister, Mary, had married a John Seth who was the landlord of the Cross Keys public house in Bo’ness where father was stationed as a constable and they were married in 1888. Mother’s sisters all married shipyard workers -carpenters, platers, caulkers, marine engineers and what have you. Some of the Aunts considered themselves much superior to a mere police constable. There are still cousins living around Dumbarton, and quite a few emigrated to the United States, around Pittsburgh. When my parents were first married and up until they lived in Linlithgow, there was quite a friendship with the sisters in Dumbarton – after that a decided coolness developed.

The other family of Corsies who are resident in Kirkwall, for as long as I remember, are definitely related to us. There was a common ancestor in the late 1700’s. There are several Corsies living in Edinburgh who are our relations. In the South of England there are several Corsie families and I do not doubt that they also are related to us. The relationship is not close and it would be impossible to establish it now. There are a tremendous number of younger people who are Corsie descendants, but do not carry the name. In many cases Corsie is used as a second name. This is quite common and personally I am very glad to see it.

My Great Grandfather, Malcolm Corsie, claimed he was indeed a rich man. He had four sons and a daughter, and I have no doubt that could he see the many prominent people who are his descendants, he would still consider himself a rich man.

LEONARD CORSIE

Sarnia, Canada
January 1980

____________________________________

[Leonard passed away in 1989, and is interred alongside his wife
Louella Longhurst [1899-1986] in Lakeview Cemetery
(Section: R), Lambton County, Ontario]

His Retiral and Death

Inspector Corsie’s Retiral. Sketch of his Career

From the “West Lothian Courier” of Friday Nov. 4th 1921

On Tuesday last week, Police Inspector Malcolm Corsie, Broxburn retired under the age limit from the West Lothian Police Force, in which he has spent the long period of 37 years and 7 months.

The subject of this little sketch was born in the island of Rousay, Orkney, and was the fourth child in a family of thirteen. His father was a tailor to trade in early life and in later years he took up farming. His death occurred but two years ago.

Having received his education in the Parochial School at Rousay, the boy left school at the age of 13 and for four years assisted his father in farm work. At the age of 17 he left the Islands and went to Aberdeen where for three years he pursued his previous calling. Then he heard the call of the West and went out to Canada. Again farm work claimed his attention for the most part, at the township of Scarborough near Agincourt about 20 miles out of Toronto. After 3 years, he returned to his home in Orkney and again went into the fields but he found the Islands much too quiet for his freshly acquired tastes. So he went South to Edinburgh and made straight for the County Building, having made up his mind to enter the Police Force. He was appointed on the spot and took up duty at Linlithgow on 27th March 1884. Capt. Munro was then Chief Constable.

The next four years were served between Linlithgow, Bathgate and Bo’ness. Champileurie Oil Works were in the heyday of their prosperity. After 11 months he was transferred to Uphall as Senior Constable and served there for three years. Uphall was a busy and a rather wild place in those days. Next he was sent to Armadale as Senior Constable and remained there for three years. There was a deal of work there at that time, scarcely a week passing without Court having to be attended. It was a common sight to see large batches of witnesses being driven down to Court in the old horse-drawn brakes. He was promoted Sergeant in 1900 at the close of the Armadale service, and was transferred to headquarters at Linlithgow as Office Sergeant. His duties there were the recording of crime, compiling statistics and generally keeping the Police Books – rather a big job in those days. Having occupied this job for 6 years, he was transferred to Queensferry and promoted to Inspector. There he remained for 8 years to a day. While stationed there his duties demanded the exercise of much vigilance, owing to the visits of the North Sea Fleet, when large numbers of men were sent ashore on leave and great crowds visited the Ferry to see the leviathans.

In the year in which Sir Charles Beresford visited the Forth with practically the whole fleet, the crowds that flocked thither were enormous. The ships lay there for over a fortnight, and on a certain Sunday the influx of visitors from Edinburgh and all the surrounding districts, and as far off as Paisley, numbered from fifty to sixty thousand people. The number of vehicles and bicycles was extraordinary, and as the day wore on, the place became congested. The inspector and his men kept all vehicular traffic on the move in one direction only, namely from East to West through the narrow thoroughfare. Thus regulated, the congestion was relieved, the huge crowds got rid of, and at the close of the eventful day it was found that not a single accident had happened. Exactly how the inspector managed to deal with the hordes of undesirables of both sexes who congregated in the town in those days, the writer does not know, but that he did ultimately succeed in clearing them out is well known. In 1914, about one month after the outbreak of War, Inspector Corsie was transferred to Broxburn. Previous to that, Broxburn was a Police Section under Bathgate, but it was then raised to the status of a Division and is now called a sub-Division. Notwithstanding the great circulation of money during the war period, and the large population, crime in Broxburn reached its lowest level on regard. It is now a place for respectable people to live in, and Inspector Corsie during his 7 years’ service there, has helped beyond the ken of many to make it so.

His motto has always been “Prevention is better than cure”. To detect crime was his duty – to prevent was his delight.

No police official in the County has come more into contact with Royalty and eminent personages than he has.

In 1864, 3 months after joining the force, he was sent to Dalmeny House, and was on duty there for two weeks during a visit by the late King Edward, then Prince of Wales, Queen Alexandra, then Princess of Wales, together with their family, including the Duke of Clarence and the present King and other members of the Royal Household. Also on the occasion of a visit by the late Mr. W. E. Gladstone, and in 1886 he was on duty in Lothian Road, Edinburgh, when the late Queen Victoria visited the Industrial Exhibition in the meadows.

The next important occasion was when the Ex-Kaiser of Germany visited Lord Roseberry at Dalmeny and went aboard his yacht “Hohenzollern’ at the Hawes Pier.

Later he was on duty when Queen Alexandra drove down to the Hawes Pier and joined the Royal Yacht there.

On the occasion of the opening of Colinton Hospital by the late King Edward, he was in charge of number of men at the entrance gates and he was also present at the opening or the Forth Bridge by the same Monarch. When King George and Queen Mary visited the Marquis of Linlithgow at Hopetoun House, he was in charge of the local police at Queensferry, who were responsible for guarding the road.

While stationed at Kingscavil, he was detailed for night duty in the corridors of Hopetoun House when the late Sir Stafford Northcote paid a visit there.

Among many other distinguished visitors to this Country, whom he was called upon to guard, was Li Hung Chan, the eminent Chinese Statesman.

During his long career, he had wide experience in criminal investigations and was called upon to deal with two local tragedies.

One thing he scorned to do was to encroach on the preserve of another police official, and the writer could narrate cases in which his name would have figured prominently had he cared to violate this principle.

He holds two Police medals – one given by the late King Edward and the other by King George, The latter medal was for good conduct and long service. Only three of these medals were given to the West Lothian Police Force.

He retires with a pension and has secured a cottage at Queensferry overlooking the Firth of Forth where he has taken up his abode. A lover of gardens, of flowers and of books, time is not likely to hang heavily on his hands.

Before leaving Broxburn, he narrated to the writer the following incident which he regarded as one of the funniest that occurred during his service. A Company of Volunteers were being paraded for inspection at Armadale. The Captain, passing along the line, found fault with a private for being untidily dressed. Incensed at this being put to shame, the private threatened to resign on the spot, and, suiting the action to the word, he doffed his busby, tunic and trousers and marched off the field clad only in his two remaining undergarments.

The Inspector was a man who commanded respect everywhere, was possessed of an amicable disposition, had a reputation for punctuality, a fine sense of humour and had great patience with the exuberance of youth. It was a grief to him when his duty compelled him to invoke the law against a boy or girl. His effort to maintain peace and order without undue severity was crowned with success.

---

DEATH OF MR. MALCOLM CORSIE

From the “West Lothian Courier” – Friday April 1st 1927

By the sudden death of ex-Inspector Malcolm Corsie, which occurred after a very brief illness, on Sunday evening at his residence, Bridge View, Dalmeny, a well-known and much respected County and Local Official and one who identified himself in many ways with movements of more than merely local interests has been lost to the community.

Mr. Corsie was 68 years of age, retired from the County Constabulary fully five years ago and was living in retirement at Bridge View near the South end of the Forth Bridge.

He was a native of Rousay, Orkney, and joined the constabulary service on 27th March 1884. His whole period of service having been connected with West Lothian, Mr. Corsie was promoted to Inspector on 2nd Dec. 1906 and carried out his duties as such for eight years and for a similar period at Broxburn. He retired from the Service on 25th Oct. 1921 and took up his abode at Bridge View. Since 1921 Mr. Corsie has acted as Burgh Fiscal for Queensferry. He held the office of Elder in the Church of Scotland on coming to reside permanently in the district, joined the Kirk Session of Queensferry Parish Church of which he was a much respected member whose energies were directed to various channels tending towards the welfare of the Congregation and the furtherance of schemes connected with the Church. He was appointed representative elder to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and had recently his commission for the forthcoming Assembly in May. Among his other activities he was a very keen Free Mason and took an active part, not only in the various Lodges, but lent much appreciated assistance to the establishment of more than one Royal Arch Chapter.

Mr. Corsie is survived by his widow, a daughter and two sons for whom widespread sympathy has been expressed. His demise, since he was only laid aside on the previous Friday with a heart attack came as a shook to his many friends and acquaintances. The funeral took place in Bathgate cemetery and was attended by a large and representative company.

[The NZ Connection was written by Vicky Aitken to fill in the gaps and correct errors in Leonard Corsie’s text about her grandmother Ann Corsie’s family – written at the behest of Janet Cameron.]  

As a far-off N.Z.er living in isolation from most of the Corsies I must begin by saying how thrilled I was to receive a copy of the family history from Janet Cameron and written by Leonard Corsie (Canada). When I visited Britain in 1948 & 49 I enjoyed Janet’s hospitality many times and from her learnt much of my family’s background. It still holds a certain mystique for me as so many are unknown to me. In fact, when I left N.Z. I did not even know she existed. When the ship I travelled in – “Mataroa” – left here it stopped at Melbourne to load on cargo (of rabbits) – food for the still rationed Britons, The 360 passengers disembarked to fill in the scheduled three weeks break, but fortunately for me (though unfortunately for many of the others who ran out of the very-hard-to-get-out-of New Zealand money) the stay was extended to 6 weeks. I was able to spend most of this time with my mother’s Aunty Bella, the youngest of my grandmother’s family. (Sister.) My aunt in Orkney had sent us her address when it was known that I would be calling there and so I got to know our previously unknown Australian cousins. (I still keep contact with them and have made two visits there since.) Just before my arrival they had had an unexpected visit of a Peter Corsie from Canada who was a sailor on a boat. It was Aunt Bella who gave me Janet’s address in London, and that was the first of several stepping stones.

It intrigued me greatly to read that my mother had 65 cousins on the maternal side – I’m sure she could not have seen many of them. In contrast, today, my sister’s children have only one cousin – my daughter! One of my nieces tells me that people think there must be something wrong with them when they say that. In reference to Leonard’s document where he mentions that Jack and Charlie Patton (Bella’s sons) were in Donaldson’s Hospital – a school for orphan boys, I would like to say that my grandmother kept Charlie and looked after him at Woo, Howe, Evie, when he was small for quite some time. I have photographs of him there in his knickerbockers and he also remembers it. Referring again to Leonard’s document and the statement that the origin of the name Corsie is not known, I have read that it means “fighter”, and that is where the Corsaire fighter planes used in the last war derived their name from. I understood it to be of Norse origin, and also that our line was descended from pirates. It has always been a joke in our family that the reason we wear out the sides of the heels of our shoes first is because our ancestors had to “hang on” while walking the slippery decks! I have a paternal cousin who is married to a Corse and I think he may be of Rousay extraction. He also has been a policeman in Kirkwall for many years and is now the only undertaker in Orkney. I think I counted eleven through the pages who have been – or are – policemen, including Willie and Dave Robertson, sons of Margaret Mainland Corsie (1854-1943). These 2 came to N.Z. and spent their lives here in the Police Force. I can remember Dave being involved in some famous murder cases in the North Island, and before that when he lived down south. I last saw him when he lived at Otorohanga and was visiting a son in Auckland. He died not all that long ago. He was married three times – all his wives predeceasing him. Willie lived latterly in Wanganui and retired there but died at Palmerston Nth. 11/11/61. I recall visiting their brother Hugh at Swannay when I was in Orkney. (He and his wife were living with their daughter there then. They had a son at that time in Australia – something to do with Cow & Gates products there.)

It is interesting how often the name Leonard crops up – and likewise Ann – through the family. There is a Leonard family living in Balclutha today (where I was brought up) whose grandparents came from Rousay and I knew there was some sort of distant relationship. I can see now where the tie-up is through my great grandmother being a Leonard. I remember being told this too when I was in Orkney. Anyway when I went overseas this family gave me addresses of their connections to contact and I can remember while going round the Corsies in Rousay with my cousin Betty visiting a Miss Leonard and her son. I think it was about Digro or Sourin – I can still picture them.

After all these menfolk mentioned being in the Police Force maybe we here can claim to have the first female member. My eldest niece has been computer girl in the Oamaru Police Station since she left school. Perhaps I had better explain where we come into the family. I seem to belong to a great line of females so we have long lost the Corsie name. My daughter’s last baby was the 12th girl in a row descended from my grandmother Ann Corsie (1855-1936) and through my mother. (I have just read somewhere that this phenomenon is caused by the wife sleeping on the left side of her husband – I must remember to tell my daughter about this.) Ann Corsie married William Mowat. (1847-1926) and lived at Woo, Evie, and I think spent some later time at Harbour Cottage, Evie, too. In her last years she lived with her eldest daughter Mary Ann (Mrs. Peter Johnston) on their farm at Dale, Evie. To my knowledge the Mowats were never out of Orkney. They had four daughters – Mary Ann (Nannie), Victoria (Vicky), Eliza Jane – my mother, and Jemima Jessie Corsie (Minnie).

MARY ANN MOWAT 1881-1970

Married Peter Hunter Johnston of Birsay. They came out to New Zealand after their marriage at the beginning of this century. They lived in Dunedin for some time. He must have had some engineering experience as he had something to do with laying the tram lines in this city (now all removed) and also with the building of the graving dock at Port Chalmers – the Port of Otago – living there meanwhile. They also worked at Kurow and Totara in North Otago. Returned to Orkney and were actually in London on their way back to N.Z. when they got word to say her sister Vicky had died so they went back and stayed though their luggage came on to N.Z. After selling the farm of Dale in 1937 they again came to N.Z. intending to stay but Orkney pulled them back to farm at Nigley in Evie until retiring in the cottage of Smithfield nearby. At this stage she told me that they had made a mistake by not staying in N.Z. from the beginning. They had no family. She also kept the post office at Evie for some years.

VICTORIA 1881 – 1921

Vicky was known as the lively one of the family – always full of fun and playing tricks on people. After two broken engagements the third time proved lucky and she married David Groat from Westray and a blacksmith at Rendall. She had a daughter ELIZABETH (BETTY) and then died in childbirth when her son DAVID was born said to be through infection being carried by the Dr from another woman in the district. Vicky – as she was called – was named after Queen Victoria. My father’s youngest sister was named Victoria after my aunt. They thought it such a nice name, and as I was born after her early death was given the name too. The next generation saw Betty name her daughter Vicky after her mother too. Betty married David Miller and they succeeded the Johnstons farming at Nigley where they are today. They both visited Canada not long back and also Norway more recently. They have six of a family – four sons (one in Norway, another in Melbourne) and two daughters.

Vicky’s son DAVID GROAT (born 1921) died of a heart attack in 1971. He married Margaret Louttit and farmed firstly in partnership at Nigley and then at Cloke, Dounby. He had three of a family – two sons and one daughter.

ELIZA JANE – 1881 – 1957

Married William Stephen Kirkness from Sandwick while he was working at Howe, Evie, in 1903 and they emigrated to N.Z. shortly after and lived in the province of Otago all their lives. Visited Orkney in 1913 for 6 months after a lot of homesickness at a time when it was not so easy to travel as today, but found then that they were happy to return to N.Z. getting back just before the Great War of 1914-18 broke out. They took up a farm near Balclutha and retired in 1953 to Oamaru in North Otago. On this voyage out they were accompanied by her cousin Maggie Jean (daughter of John Corsie 1866-1943) and her husband John Nicolson who after some time at Dunback took up residence in Dunedin for the rest of their lives. For many years they operated a grocer’s shop and were well known in the community. They had no family but evidently suffered from the RH factor of which nothing was known in those days as she had several miscarriages and I think one maybe did live a few days. When neighbours were cleaning out the house after her death a few years back they found tucked away in the bottom of a drawer an old small baby’s blanket – the only memento left of many sad years. Her love of children was very noticeable – she had many young callers and she always stopped to admire any baby – friends’ or strangers’ alike. Both were cremated and their ashes were scattered over the sea at St Clair nearby where they lived for so long.

ANNIE JOYCE EVIE (Joyce). Born 1927. Named firstly after her grandmother, then for the joy she brought as a sister and latterly after her mother’s birthplace in Orkney. Lived at Balclutha and Oamaru and then went to Benmore Hydro as one of the pioneer residents and started the first tearooms and shop there. Married Stan Orr there and after a few years returned to Oamaru where they live today operating an auto-electrical business. Had 3 daughters.

JEMIMA JESSIE CORSIE 1890 – 1977

Minnie or Mima, as she was known, was the fourth and youngest daughter of Ann and William Mowat.

Went south and married a widower – Edgar Shaw (1883-1936) with one daughter Monica. He was a partner with his brother in the business of John Shaw & Sons manufacturing printing machines. (They are used here in N.Z.) The family lived in Huddersfield, Yorks, but she later spent some time in Edinburgh and Harrogate. See p17 reference to Peter Leonard Corsie living at Slateford House in Edinburgh. Peter and his wife had no children and in their later years Mima, who was by this time a widow, went with her youngest child Angela and lived there and looked after them until they died. He was affectionately referred to as “Peter the Apostle.” The Shaws had five of a family, and all but the youngest was brought up in boarding school.

JOHN – He was brought up by his father’s brother who had no family and so inherited their wealth and business. Married Doreen – divorced and remarried. Had 2 girls plus ?

WILLIAM – Rather the “black sheep” of the family and was sent out to N.Z. in 1939. War broke out shortly after his arrival and he volunteered for the N.Z. Expeditionary Force. Did service in the Middle East and was wounded three times. Returned to England but was promptly sent back again! Whereabouts unknown today but last heard of in the Auckland area here.

GRENVILLE – Accountant. Joined RAF – trained in Canada and shortly after returning to England crashed on night flying near York and was killed.

MARGARET – Died about 1966. Joined Wrens (Women’s Naval Forces.) Married Major Wm. D. Johnston, nephew of her aunt Mary Ann’s husband, a chartered accountant, and lived in Elgin, Morayshire, Scotland. They had twins – boy and girl – born about 1946.

ANGELA – Was first engaged to an Edinburgh lawyer but then married Michael ——– in Huddersfield and emigrated to Canada. Contracted polio there. Divorced and remarried to an Army Officer. Had 2 daughters of the first marriage.

Written in August 1980 by:-

Mrs Vicky Aitken,
Studholme Hall,
127 Clyde St.,
DUNEDIN.
NEW ZEALAND.

PREFACE

My grandmother, born Hughina Mainland, of Frotoft, Rousay, in 1860, came to New Zealand in 1878, meeting the people of Craigie-Lea soon afterwards. She later married Richard Craigie, junior, and my childhood memories of her are of tales by the fireside or bedside about life in Orkney but especially the exploits of members of the Craigie family.

In 1945, after war service in Italy, I was able to pay a brief visit to Orkney, where I stayed in Frotoft with Hughina’s sister, whose son took me about Rousay, indicating the sites of the homes of our ancestors, the Craigies of Brugh, Westside, as well as the Marwicks of Scockness and Trumland House, home of the later owners of Westside.

These experiences stimulated my interest in family history, and for its continuance I must record my appreciation of the assistance and encouragement given to me by my mother, named Mary Craigie Craigie, so that the name Craigie would remain alive for at least another generation; her sister, Pearl Craigie Harrington, Captain Clifford Craigie, as well as members of the booklet committee, Messrs George Craigie and Howard Perkins.

ORKNEY

Known as the Inse Ork to the ancient Celts and Orcades by the Romans, Orkney is an archipelago of about 70 islands containing 375 square miles of land spread over a space of 56 by 29 miles of the North Atlantic Ocean, within sight of the north of Scotland, from which it is separated by the stormy Pentland Filth. Ward Hill, in Hoy, at 1,564 feet, is the highest point in the group overlooking Scapa Flow, that famous natural anchorage surrounded by the southern isles and of considerable strategic importance in both world wars.

North of the principal island, Mainland, are the Inner North Isles which include Rousay, home of the Craigies as well as the Marwicks, who provided two wives for a Craigie, an island rounded in shape with central hills rising to 821 feet, giving views, including Fair Isle, far to the north and Foula, a mere speck on the northern horizon. Magnificent views are to be obtained from the road which encircles the island.

AVERAGE RAINFALL

The average rainfall in Orkney 125 years ago was 40.91 inches (1,035 mm.) on 105 days, ranging from 7.82 inches on 23 days in October to 0.94 inches on six days in April, while temperatures averaged 12.9 degrees celsius in July and 3.25 celsius in January. This mild weather at such a latitude (59 deg 10″ N) is understood when the effect of the warm North Atlantic Drift is considered. The sea is often so much warmer than the atmosphere that it is reputed that our ancestors, when out fishing during winter in their open boats, would jump into the sea to warm up their bodies.

Ample evidence is to be seen of the long occupation of Orkney by mankind, but nowhere more so than in a half-mile or so of the shoreline of the western side of Rousay, where the ancient monuments of the past include three broch-mounds, a huge stalled burial cairn, the ancient, long disused parish church of St. Mary, ruined buildings of the farm of Sigurd of Westness at Skaill, and the remains of the homestead of Brugh (or Brough) formerly the seat of the Craigies for over 400 years.

ORIGINS OF THE FAMILY

Researchers have traced a family tree from the 5th century, when King Erc ruled over the realm of Dal Riada, in present-day North Antrim, Ireland. His son, Loarn, was appanaged [a provision made for the maintenance of the younger children of kings and princes, consisting of a gift of land] in Lorn, Scotland, a dependency of Dal Riada. A later king of this line subdued the early residents of the Isle of Man. The family ranged across Scotland by the time of the death of Malcolm, King of Moray, who died in 1029 A.D. Malcolm’s daughter married Earl Sigurd the Stout, of Orkney, who was descended from the “Peace-Kings of Uppsala,” Sweden, whose great burial mounds, dating to the 7th century, are prominent features of the landscape.

They were the ancestors of a great family of Norsemen, one of whom, Whiteleg Halfdan, King of the Upplanders in Sweden, was the father of two kings whose descendants, Torf Einar and Grelod married. Einar was Earl of Orkney in 894 A.D. while his brother, Rolf, was the ancestor of the Dukes of Normandy and the English monarchs. Sigurd the Stout, killed in battle at Clontarf, Ireland, in 1014, was a great-grandson of Einar.

About 1162, there is a trace of a Henry de St. Clair, of Herdmanston. He was the descendant of a family which lived at Saint-Clair-sur-Ell, near St. Lo, in the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy, whose great-grandson, Sir William Sinclair of Roslin, Scotland, married Isabella, a descendant of Sigurd the Stout. Their son, Earl Henry Sinclair I, of Orkney, a great figure in his day, having made many epic voyages including crossing the North Atlantic to Greenland, Markland, Helluland and even Vinland, had, as an aide, one James Craigie of Huip, who later married his masters daughter Margaret.

JAMES CRAIGIE

James Craigie was descended from a family resident in Linlithgowshire, Scotland, in the reign of David I (about 1120-1130), when Joannes de Craigie witnessed the signing of a charter. The name Craigie is derived from the Celtic word “creagach,” meaning a craggy ridge, and was applied to land in Linlithgowshire, later known as Craigiehall. The name of John de Craigy appears on the Ragman Roll of 1296. Another John de Craigy of that ilk was present at the coronation of King Robert II of the Scots, in 1371. In 1367, he had married Margaret, daughter of Sir John de Monfode. Their family included James Craigie of Huip, another son whose fate has not been discovered by the author, and Margaret, whose descendants maintained Craigiehall for many generations. James, well known to the Earl, Henry Sinclair I, of Orkney, acting as his aide when he went to meet the King of Denmark, acquired much property and influence in Orkney, owning land in Stronsay at the time of his marriage to Margaret Sinclair. By 1422, James had acquired sufficient estate and prestige to be admitted to the “hird,” of the King of Norway as a hirdman.

A “hird” is a bodyguard of hand-picked, well-born warriors through which ranks lay the road to high position in the State. In due course, he was recognised as being a “goodman ” or member of the “godings,” the aristocracy of Orkney. He was also described as “armiger,” that is, he was entitled to bear arms.

By 1443, the armiger entitlement was held by John Craigie, who was also a “lawman,” a paid Crown position which, in 1468, carried a salary of £12 per annum. John’s son, James Craigie, of Brugh, fought at the Battle of Summerdale in Orkney on June 7, 1529. Also included in the victorious Orcadian force were John Craigie, of Banks, Rousay, William Craigie, and Gilbert Craigie.

BRUGH

The farm of Brugh, sometimes written Brough, is named from the “broch” on the coast nearby. The name means a fortified place, and is derived from the same origin as the present-day words of borough and burgh. It occupied a sizeable part of the ancient estate of Westness, owned by Sigurd of Westness in 1126-1137, the remainder forming the farm which was called Skaill. This ancient Westness is further west than the present-day farm of Westness, and was later known as Westside.

Some of the Craigies left Brugh and became involved in commercial activities, but the fortunes of the family at Brugh seemed to have early waned so that in 1556 the farm was sold to Sir Magnus Halcro of South Ronaldsay, a controversial clergyman of the day, but the Craigie family remained in residence.

In 1584, however, the farm was taken from the Halcro heirs by means of a rather dubious process of law by Lord Robert Stewart, a close friend of Lord Darnley and illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland, our ancestors remaining as tenants.

FEMALE HEIRS

At the beginning of the 17th century, the tenancy was left in the hands of female heirs, so to ensure the continuance of the name, a marriage was arranged with a relative, a Craigie from Dumbarnie in Scotland. The official positions previously held by the Brugh family now devolved on the next males in line, the Craigies of Gairsay, one of whom, Sir William Craigie, in 1653 was one of the wealthiest men in Orkney, owner of the Skali, or mansion, of Sweyn Asliefson, the last of the Viking chiefs, killed in a raid on Dublin in 1171, which was then known as Langskaill. Sir William added to this building, including a two storeyed wing.

Returning to Brugh, we find that in 1803, Isabel Craigie, of Brugh, married Hugh Craigie, Jnr. We do not know which branch of the family he came from, but they later became tenants of the Brugh estate, now owned by the Traill family, where their son Hugh was born in 1804. Hugh grew up to be a typical young man of his day, kept occupied with woodworking, fishing and agricultural pursuits to occupy his time. When he was 18, he married a widow, Margaret Harrold, née Marwick, 25, who was mother of two sons, James (5) and Sinclair (3) of the earlier marriage.

HUGH AND MARGARET

Hugh and Margaret went to live in the village of Sourin at a house called Grindally, where their two daughters were born and later, on September 9, 1828, a son, Richard, arrived. Grindally would have been a typical house like the majority of those on Rousay at the time, with only two rooms called the but and the ben, both being used for all purposes, including accommodation for the household pets, which would include pigs, dogs and geese.

The walls of stone, three feet thick, would not have exceeded six feet in height. They would be unbroken, apart from the door-way. The low-pitched thatched roof would have an opening about two feet square, with an 18-inch high wooden “lum,” serving to provide light and ventilation near one gable end. Smoke from the smouldering peat on the hearth-stone, some distance away would eddy about the cottage (or cott), before making its way out through the lum. The doorway would open from a porch called the oot-by which also gave access to the back where the calves were reared and the fowls roosted.

The only sign of ornamentation would probably be the house door, made of deal boards, secured to the rails by square-headed wooden pins, set diamond-fashion on the outside.

IN THE KAIL-YARD

In the kail-yard, Hugh would grow his cabbages, as well as the “bere,” or barley, keeping a watch on the tide, so that he would be able to catch sufficient fish for the household as well as for bartering for other needs.

At certain seasons, large flocks of sea-birds would indicate the presence of shoals of small fish, known as sillocks, which, when fried whole and eaten with home-made bere bread, made a delicious meal, enjoyed by Orcadians to this day.

Often he would see sailing ships pass on the horizon, laden with deck cargoes of timber, which, if jettisoned because of bad weather, may wash ashore on the Orkney coasts. As duty had to be paid on the timber recovered, it often happened that soon after bad storms, the local residents would decide to do some ploughing, hiding the good planks from sight until the Customs men had returned to Kirkwall, when it would be salvaged for use in furniture-making or boat-building.

HALF-BROTHERS LEAVE

Richard grew up to see his half-brothers leave home to go to sea, James travelling to Rupert Land (now part of Canada) with the Hudson Bay Company as a seaman and trader, no doubt enlisting in the company’s service at Stromness. Sinclair, though also a seaman for a time, preferred to stay nearer to home. In due course, Hugh and Margaret returned to Brugh, where they were one of some 30 or 40 families spread over about 500 acres forming the district of Westside. All of those families were housed in thatched-roofed cottages, with windowless stone walls, though Brugh was larger than the rest, with three rooms.

OWNED BY ONE MAN

Most of Rousay, an exception being Frotoft, was owned by one man, who lived at Westness House, not far from Brugh. This extensive holding was inherited by Lieut-General Burroughs, who, after retirement from Army service, including a long period in India, decided to live at Rousay. As the old Traill homestead at Westness was too small for his needs, he erected a large and imposing mansion, Trumland House, about four miles east of Westness, where he established the first trees to grow on Rousay for more than 1,000 years.

Deciding to convert his holdings at Westside into a large sheep farm, he evicted all his tenants, providing them with passages to the colonies. Because he claimed the houses were insanitary, he set them all alight. The stone walls of most remain to this day.

Before Hugh and Margaret left Orkney, one of their daughters died of smallpox. After packing their effects, including the shawl Margaret wore on her wedding day, they sailed from Orkney for London. Before they could embark for the long voyage from London to New Zealand, their other daughter died of measles.

TO NEW ZEALAND

At London, Hugh and Margaret, saddened by the loss of their daughter, boarded the ship Bernicia. Their son Richard was among the 60 passengers. Also on board were Margaret’s two sons from her earlier marriage – James Harrold (31), with his wife Agnes (17), and Sinclair Harrold (29), whose wife Barbara was 34 at the time.

The ship also carried a cargo for the Infant settlement of Dunedin. It included “canvas, Europe rope, twilled blue shirts, bottled ale, porter, bottled wine, Martells brandy and prime Havana cigars.” Captain Arnold gave the orders to cast off on July 7, 1848, and soon the little ship was heading down the Thames toward the English Channel.

Little is known of the experiences of the company until the ship made its New Zealand landfall at New Plymouth, the first port of call here. From there, she visited Nelson and Wellington, before finally reaching Dunedin on December 12, 1848. The ship’s passengers would have experienced better weather, because of the season, than earlier immigrants on the run.

Our travellers would have been able to read, in the first issue of “Otago News,” published on the following day, the local headlines and also see the prices of food: Beef, 7d (6c) lb; bread, 10d (8c) a 4 lb loaf; butter, 1s 8d (17c) lb, fresh, or 1s (10c) lb, salt. Probably they all stayed on the ship for a few days, until they had unloaded their baggage and found suitable accommodation ashore.

EARLY DAYS IN NEW ZEALAND

Less than a month after the arrival of our family in Dunedin, on January 7, 1849, the ship Ajax arrived, bringing, among its passengers, one W. H. Valpy, a very wealthy man. He soon established a sawmill at Leith Valley, which was quite close to the section of land granted to our family at North-East Valley, finally sold by ‘Ina Craigie in 1921.

Soon, however, James Harrold set off for Scrogg’s Creek, site of the later Allanton railway station, from where he operated a punt service to the head of Lake Waihola, near Clarendon, leaving Agnes to live with the rest of the family. As the main south road was extended south, James saw the need for a ferry across the Taieri River. He soon established this amenity, using a 40ft by 10ft square-ended vessel, which was operated for him by Robert O’Neill, commonly known as “John Bull,” a former whaler from North America.

ACCOMMODATION HOUSE

By January 1851, James had established an accommodation house on the south bank of the river at Taieri Ferry and installed his young wife as manageress. The house was, years later, moved in two parts to form additions to other houses, one of which remains to this day. A return trip across the river by punt took about two hours. Motive power was provided by the action of the tide on the vessel’s rudders.

The Rev. T. Burns visited the site, as well as North-East Valley during his visitation.

About 10 years later, James and Agnes moved to Stewart Island, where they kept a boarding house for a number of years. Agnes acted as midwife for many years, while James engaged in boat-building activities, as well as owning a ship which ran between Bluff and Australia. In later years, he conducted a store, which was afterwards run by the only son Joseph, who was born on the island in 1868, but never married. Many relics of the HarroIds remain on the island, many of them in the Half Moon Bay Museum.

Besides owning a grant of farmland, later incorporated in Craigie-Lea, Sinclair Harrold and his wife Barbara owned a shop in Duddingstone, North-East Valley. They had no family so the Harrold property was taken over by Richard Craigie on Sinclair’s retirement, though he lived on in his old home on “Razor Back” until his death about 1890.

MOVE TO “CRAIGIE-LEA”

Meanwhile, Richard had started to build a house at Craigie-Lea but before he had advanced far (he was engaged in shipping activities) his parents persuaded him to build them a little house. This was done and the small “punga” or tree-fern house was built for them about 1851, on the south side of the Taieri River, about a mile or so down-stream from the Ferry. Richard had an interest in the small coastal trader Endeavour (16 tons), which made news in 1853, when, after a week-long voyage from Lyttleton, arrived in Dunedin on November 5 with news of the passing of the New Zealand Constitution Act. Captain Raki skippered this ship for a time.

Richard, in partnership with his half-brother, the Harrolds, and another man, Peter McGill, established a sawmill at Anderson’s Bay, near the site of what was later a petrol station. There, timber was prepared for building activities in Dunedin, as well as for building a schooner, the Brother, of 16 tons.

The native forest, which, at the time, was down to the water’s edge, provided the mill with adequate supplies. However, the partnership was soon dissolved, as the new ship was used to begin trading from Dunedin to Taieri Ferry, Balclutha, Bluff and even as far as Auckland.

TAIERI MOUTH SHIPWRECK

On a voyage from Dunedin to Waihola, with a cargo of wheat, potatoes and other produce, including perhaps, barley – ostensibly for poultry food, but possibly also for distilling “moonshine” whisky in some of the less accessible gullies in the locality – the little ship, in September 1855, grounded on the bar at Taieri Mouth. It became a total loss.

To replace her, the partners built another ship on Otago Harbour. It was called the Hope. A cutter of 21 tons, registered number 40,354, she was 45.5 feet long with a beam of 15.6 feet and a depth of 5 feet. The Hope, which resumed the trade in 1856, was later sold and was finally wrecked at Moeraki on July 26, 1876.

A wharf shed built by the brothers in those far-off days is still standing, now half a mile from the river at Port Molyneux, the river course having changed during the 1878 flood. At times, the trip from Dunedin to Balclutha by ship took from a week to 10 days. The journey can now be accomplished by a car in an hour. Richard is reputed to have been the first to have worked Port Molyneux, in the Endeavour.

Hugh Craigie lived in the fern-tree cottage until his death at the age of 66. That occurred in 1870. His wife Margaret lived to the age of 88.

In 1857, there arrived from Scockness, Orkney, in the ship Jura, Thomas Marwick, a widower, with his daughters Mary and Isabella. Both were to have Craigie family connections.

It was in 1858 that Richard Craigie, with assistance from local tradesmen, completed the first part of Craigie-Lea homestead, near the fern-tree cottage.

RICHARD MARRIES

On April 15, 1859, he married Mary Marwick, who lived in the new house until her death on February 27, 1862. Then on October 1, of the same year, Richard married Isabella Marwick (born 1843).

Elizabeth Marwick had married Hugh Yorston on March 28, 1842 in Orkney, coming to New Zealand in the ship Alpine in 1859. Her daughter Betsy married Edward Perkins, whose son William married Mary Ann Craigie, fourth child of Isabella.

The Marwicks of Scockness had earlier been associated with the Craigies. A boy born about 1814 was christened “Craigie” but I have not been able to trace any connection between Margaret who married Richard Craigie, and the Scockness family.

Richard’s first son, Hugh, lived for less than three months. In those days, before the institution of the Plunket Society, his mother’s inability to breast-feed the infant proved fatal.

The second son, Richard, was fed by another woman, but his birth proved too much for Mary, who wasted away and died on February 27, 1862, aged about 21.

Richard married again soon after – on October 1, 1862 – this time Isabella Marwick, aged 19, and their family consisted of James, Thomas, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Margaret, William, Isabella, Hughina, and Maud.

On March 2, 1887, Isabella died and her eldest daughter, Elizabeth, 20 years old, took over as housekeeper until New Year’s Day, 1890, when Richard again married. This time, his wife was Eliza Mackay, a daughter of a local settler who had come from Caithness, Scotland. There were no children from the third marriage.

MAGNIFICENT VIEW

The house at Craigie-Lea commanded a magnificent view of the river and the surrounding country, made up of rich flats, hills and ridges, many of them steep and bushclad. In the river opposite the side of the old home is an island more commonly called “Craigie’s Island.” Although never actually part of Craigie-Lea, it was once used for keeping the household pigs.

On the farm itself, many kinds of poultry were run. A wide selection of tree-fruits – raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, apples, pears and so on – were grown in addition to vegetables, thus ensuring the provision of a varied menu of good food, for which Craigie-Lea was renowned.

RICHARD’S CAREER

Richard Craigie was for many years active in local affairs. He was chairman of the Taieri Ferry School Committee and among many other offices he held was that of member of the Waihola Road Board.

He was also greatly respected by the Maori people in the district. One indication of that was the presentation to him by Chief Korako Matene of a treasured paddle when the chief was no longer able to use it. The relic is now in the Otago Early Settlers’ Museum, Dunedin.

CRAIGIE-LEA FARM

Craigie-Lea farm contained about 900 acres. At one time, Richard also owned two farms on the Taieri, managed by his sons. They carried both sheep and cattle. Ultimately, what became a partnership was broken up.

Most of Craigie-Lea was sold to members of the Sinclair family in 1913. The exception was a ten-acre block surrounding the homestead.

Eliza Craigie died in April 1915 and Richard’s death followed on July 12, 1917. Hughina (Ina) remained in the homestead until her death in 1953, which followed a long illness. In 1953, the property was sold to the neighbouring Bungard family. Since then, it has again changed hands. The cottage and Craigie-Lea homestead have been demolished and most of the old landmarks, including Richard’s smithy, have disappeared.

The widow of the last surviving member of the family, James, who died in 1959, at the age of 95, undertook much research into its history. This poem, which she composed, caught some of the nostalgia which had gathered around the homestead:-

“FAREWELL TO THE OLD HOME”

In Craigie-Lea a bellbird sings
(Dear Craigie-Lea, on Taieri stream),
Its melody sweet memory brings,
Of days departed, as a dream.

The lofty bluegums, straight and tall,
Old sentinels of long ago,
Their sickled leaves still softly fall
On scattered gumnuts far below.

O Craigie-Lea where bellbirds sing
In lofty tree and bushy glade,
To youthful days we fondly cling,
For never can their influence fade.

The stately river flows along,
‘tween bushclad hillsides standing high,
Murmuring still its ancient song,
Of dusky warriors long gone by.

0 Craigie-Lea – dear Craigie-Lea!
Such treasured thoughts our memories fill,
And sacred shall those memories be,
Of loving hearts forever still.

Some of the bluegums still stand; Craigie’s Island still bisects the river, but hollows have been filled with spoil from the rises and a new house commands the river vista, so long a part of our family’s life.

RICHARD CRAIGIE’S FAMILY

A. HUGH: Born January 27, 1860; died April 20, 1860.

B. RICHARD: Born September 20, 1861; mother died February 1862; Richard married Jane Hughina Mainland (born March 28, 1860) on June 2, 1891. She had come to New Zealand in 1878 from Frotoft, Rousay, with a letter of introduction to the Craigies.

Richard lived at Craigie-Lea till marriage; then moved into “Uncle Tom Marwick’s house” on the farm; in 1900, he went to Pukeran, where he became the storekeeper; moved to 128 Albany Street, Dunedin, after five years; then dairy farming at “Hilton Hill,” Anderson’s Bay; wife died October 10, 1937; Richard died July 26, 1940. Interests: Book-keeping, fishing net-making and draughts.

C. JAMES: Born February 4., 1864; married Ethel May Meeking on August 7, 1902; died April 29, 1959; learned trade of cabinetmaking; then, with his brother Joseph, farmed at Pukeran; partnership dissolved after some years; he then leased and afterwards bought from the estate of Edward Perkins “Eden Farm,” later called ” Wairere,” Waikaka Valley. Interests: Violin playing; former member of Gore Orchestral Society; used to accompany his sister Mary, who played the piano, at functions in Taieri Ferry school; Murihiku Mounted Rifles officer.

D. THOMAS: Born July 29, 1865; married (1) Annie Bruce, 1892; (2) Christina Potts, November 26, 1911; died September 8, 1918; farmed at Craigie-Lea and then Milburn. Interests: Violin player. (See ” Dickie Family History” and “Strong is the Lion.”)

E. ELIZABETH: Born June 22, 1867; married Daniel Bruce, brother of Annie, who married Thomas, February, 1893; died, April 28, 1958; housekeeper at Craigie-Lea; then, with husband, farmed at Momona (“The Firs”) until 1917; later, lived at Bruce Rocks, Brighton. Interests: Piano and Scottish soloist; often accompanied her husband, who was a champion bagpipe player. (See “Strong is the Lion.”)

F. MARY ANN: Born August 8, 1869; married William Perkins, whose grandmother, Elizabeth Marwick (wife of Hugh Yorston), was eldest sister of Mary and Isabella, who both married Richard Craigie; died April 30, 1940; lived at Craigie-Lea until marriage; then, with husband, farmed at Waikaka Valley until retirement to Gore. Interests: Piano, singing; was at one time member of East Gore Presbyterian Church choir; later, was president, for a term, of Baptist Women’s Missionary Union.

G. JOSEPH: Born October 20, 1871; married Mary Martin, 1901; died February 8, 1952; farmed at Pukerau in partnership with James; then storekeeper at Drummond, Southland; for a time was manager of Hukariri Sheep Station, Heriot; farmed Te Tipua, near Brydone, Southland; worked at Glencoe sawmill, near Mataura, and before retiring to Christchurch conducted, with his wife, a store in Invercargill.

H. MARGARET: Born February 15, 1874; never married; drowned in Taieri River; November 1893. She is believed to have walked in her sleep at Stewart Island during a visit there some months before her death. It is said that on the night of the tragedy, she left her bed and dressed.

Mary, her sister, is believed to have wakened just as Margaret went out and, in reply to a question, Margaret said she would be back soon. Later, footprints were found along the river-side where pedestrians normally walked, but, instead of turning left to cross a floodgate on a creek, they continued straight into the water at the mouth of the creek. Searchers found the body in the river a few days later.

I. WILLIAM: Born March 27, 1876; married Catherine Knarston, August 1908; died February 8, 1944; farmed at Craigie-Lea, Henley and Owaka; was fond of horses and dogs; indicative of his attachment for dogs was his success in inducing Lassie to jump up and sit in front of him while riding his horse. Like Joseph, he had a dry sense of humour and played many practical jokes at Craigie-Lea and later.

J. ISABELLA (Bell): Born September 11, 1879; married. John Graham, November 1914; died November 11,1921; nursed in Wellington Hospital before marriage to John, who was variously a dredgernaster, flaxmill manager and farmer, ultimately near Riverton.

K. HUGHINA (Ina) MAINLAND: Born April 4, 1882; never married; died January 24, 1953; named after the wife of her brother Richard; had sketching ability and played the piano; visited Orkney a few years before her death; lived all her life at Craigie-Lea; with her sister Maud, cared for her father until his death.

L. MAUD: Born September 4, 1884; never married; died October 16, 1920; also nursed in Wellington and privately; like her sister was good sketcher, Richard intended to call her Madeline, but mis-spelt the name when registering the birth.

SOME INTERESTING ENTRIES IN REGISTERS AND FAMILY BIBLES

” Novr. 27th, 1803: Craigie and Craigie – Hugh Craigie and Isabel Craigie, Brough, Westside, were married before witnesses.”
” Septr. 16th, 1804: Craigie, Hugh, son to Hugh Craigie, jun., and Isabel Craigie, Brugh, Westside, was born, 24th, baptised ye 16th Ser. before witnesses.”
Hugh Craigie was born 27th January, 1860.
Richard Craigie was born 20th September, 1861, 9 o’clock at night, Friday.
James Craigie was born 4th February, 1864, at 2 o’clock, Thursday morning.
Thomas Craigie was born 23rd July, 1865, 9 o’clock Sabbath morning.
Elizabeth Craigie was born 22nd June, 1867, 5 o’clock, Saturday, p.m.
Mary Ann Craigie was born 8th August, 1869, 5 o’clock, Sabbath, a.m.
Joseph Craigie was born 27th October, 1871, 11 o’clock, Friclay, a.m.
Margaret Craigie was born 15th February, 1874, 9 o’clock, Sunday, p.m.
William Harrison Craigie was born March 27th, 1876, at the houre of 2 o’clock in the morning, Tuesday.
Isabella Jane Craigie born 11th Sept., at the hour, ½ past 11 o’clock, a.m., 1879, Thursday.
Hughina Mainland Craigie born 4th April, 1882, at the hour ½ past 8 o’clock p.m., Tuesday.
Maudlin Craigie born 4th September, 1884, on Thursday, at 2 o’clock p.m. (14-day moon age).
Mary Craigie, wife of Richard Craigie, died on 27th February, 10 o’clock, 1862.

BURIAL PLACES OF EARLY MEMBERS OF FAMILY

Hugh Craigie (1804-1870), Clarendon.
Margaret Craigie (1797-1885), (formerly Harrold, nee Marwick), Clarendon.
James Harrold, Stewart Island.
Agnes Harold, Stewart Island.
Joseph Harrold, Stewart Island.
Sinclair Harrold, Clarendon.
Barbara Harrold, Clarendon.
Richard Craigie (1828-1917), Otokia.
Mary Craigie, nee Marwick (died 1862), Clarendon.
Isabella. Craigie, nee Marwick (1843-1887), Clarendon.
Hugh Craigie (1860-1860), Clarendon.
Richard Craigie (1861-1940), Andersons Bay.
James Craigie (1864-1959), Gore.
Thomas Craigie (1865-1918), Clarendon.
Elizabeth Bruce (1867-1958), Mosgiel.
Mary Perkins (1869-1940), Gore.
Joseph Craigie (1817-1952), Invercargill.
Margaret Craigie (1874-1893), Clarendon.
William Craigie (1876-1944), Owaka.
Isabella Graham (1879-1919), Otokia.
Hughina Craigie (1882-1953), Otokia.
Maud Craigie (1884-1920), Otokia.

DIRECTORY

125th Anniversary Celebration, Dunedin,
May 11-13, 1973.

President: Richard Harrington.
Secretary: Ronald J. Stuart, 17 Embo Street, Dunedin.
Treasurer: Robert Stuart.
Programme Convener: George Craigie.
Committee: Robert Flett, Winifred Geeves, Joan McGregor, Roa McElrea, Morva Kreft, Hilton Harrington and Howard Perkins.
Principal Speakers: Friday evening, May 11, Irvine Craigie. Saturday evening: Rev. F. R. Belmer, toastmaster. Messrs Roy Miller and Andrew Robert Craigie.
Church service, Sunday: Preacher, Rev. F. R. Belmer.

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, William – ” The Scottish Nation,” 1863.
Clouston, J. Storer – “A History of Orkney,” 1932.
“Cyclopedia of New Zealand,” (Otago and Southland), 1905.
Hocken, T. M. – “Contributions to the Early History of New Zealand (Otago),” 1898.
Ingram, C. W. N., and Wheatley, P. 0. – “New Zealand Shipwrecks,” (third ed.), 1961.
Lemon, D. – ” More “Taieri Buildings,” 1972.
Marwick, H. – “Orkney,” 1951.
Moncrief and Hicks. – “The Clans of Scotland,” 1966-67.
Shaw, Margaret S. and Farrant, Edgar D. – “The Taieri Plain,” 1949.
Shearer, John and Mackay. – “The New Orkney Book,” 1966.
Wainwright, F. T. – “The Northern Isles,” 1962.
“The Dickie Pioneers and Descendants,” 1964.
“Strong is the Lion” – The story of the Bruces, 1972.
Taieri Ferry and Henley – “Our Native Place,” 1941.

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The author of ‘Craigie-Lea’ Ronald John Stuart was the son of Robert William Francis Ferguson Stuart [1884-1961] and Mary Lydia Isabella Elizabeth Craigie [1893-1987]. Mary’s parents were Richard Craigie [1861-1940] and Jane Hughina Mainland [1860-1937]. Richard Craigie’s parents were Richard Harold Craigie [1828-1917] and Mary Mainland Marwick [1834-1862]. Jane Hughina Mainland’s parents were John Mainland [1819-1907] and Lydia Mowat [1825-1903], Cruseday, Frotoft, Rousay.

Jane Hughina went to NZ to act as housekeeper to her two elder brothers who had emigrated some years earlier. She had a letter of introduction to the Craigies who also hailed from Rousay. Husband Richard was born in NZ but both his parents were born in Rousay.

Ronald John Stuart was married to Joyce Jensen, and they had three children: Marion, Brian, and Graham.

Ron served with the NZ Forces in Italy during WW2. At the end of hostilities in 1945 he visited Rousay to meet his Mainland relatives. He made a return visit in 1984.

Ron passed away in 1989.

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I am indebted to Janet Craigie-McConnell of Victoria, Australia, for sending me ‘Craigie-Lea’ for inclusion on the Rousay Remembered website. Born and raised in Southland, New Zealand, Janet is the daughter of Irvine Craigie and Margaret Cooper, and is also related to the booklet’s author.

A deep interest in her Craigie family roots began when she started a ‘pen-pal’ friendship in 1963 with Mary Craigie [nee McDonald], of Warsett, Egilsay. Janet is also directly connected to the Marwicks of Scockness and has visited Orkney a number of times, visiting her relation Robert C. Marwick on the way, who she says has been an invaluable source of information regarding her Craigie forebears.

Janet is No 1 bass drummer with the City of Melbourne Pipe Band. She also plays pipes, though only socially nowadays. Work and the Band involvement takes up most of her time – as do her four grandsons. A short while ago she sent me a large package containing not only a photocopy of ‘Craigie-Lea’ but a number of other documents of great interest – which have since been reproduced within this website.

A Rousay Heritage Walk

by

Christopher J. Harris

Published by The Orkney Pottery, Rousay, Orkney, in 1978
and reproduced here with the author’s permission.

The Department of the Environment’s Guide to Ancient Monuments in Orkney is a great asset on any tour in Orkney and ought to be bought before crossing to Rousay.

Information about transport to the Island is to be found elsewhere in this booklet.

The tour, which will take us from the main pier, opposite Wyre, to Scabra Head in the West, follows the public road for most of the way and you can see where it runs as you sail round the skerries and enter Wyre Sound en route for Trumland Pier. The crossing looks innocent enough but the strong currents in Eynhallow Sound are very much respected by the boatmen and are still a hindrance to communications when wind against tide produces rough water.

PIER AREA – TRUMLAND HOUSE

The pier has just been extended to allow the inter-island cargo boat to call once a week at any tide. The original pier can be seen, and it was built in the 1870’s by the largest proprietor in the Island – General Traill Burroughs of Trumland House. He was the largest shareholder in the first steamboat company for these Northern Isles, and the “Lizzie Burroughs” plied a regular service from this pier, enabling him to ship sheep and cattle to market with relative ease. The larger of the two boathouses at the right hand side of the pier housed Burroughs’ private yacht and his boatman lived in “Pier Cottage” built in 1877. “Ivy Cottage”, a little nearer the Kirk was built in 1878 for his joiner.

Burroughs is a figure we shall recall several times during our tour.

Perhaps one of the first buildings to catch your eye to the left above the pier will be the Rousay Fish Processing Factory which processes shell-fish. It is a cooperative, owned by many of the Islanders who employ a manager to run it for them. The workers are men and women from within the parish and their numbers vary according to the season. Much of the product is exported to the Continent.

To the right of the telephone kiosk and adjacent to Pier Cottage is one of the Island’s two shops. We shall pass the other one later.

Continuing up the road we turn left at the War Memorial and walk up to the “main” road and the entrance to Trumland House. This imposing mansion, which is private property, comes as quite a surprise to most folk as it looms up from the low woodland round it. It was designed in Scottish baronial style by David Bryce who was the architect for the larger Balfour Castle in Shapinsay. Trumland House was built in 1873 for General Traill Burroughs. When he married he thought his previous residence, Westness House, too small for the largest landowner in Rousay. Burroughs had inherited the estate from his grand uncle, George Traill, in the middle of the century. Traill had made his fortune in the Indian Civil Service and on his return to Britain had bought the estate. Burroughs, too, did service in India where he commanded the 93rd. Sutherland Highlanders. These two men consolidated their fortunes and positions by the so-called land “Improvements” which made them notorious in the Islands and brought on Burroughs’ head the wrath of two Royal Commissions on Crofting. Both men evicted tenants from parts of the estate in order to make larger farms for the new Cheviot and Leicester-cross sheep and Shorthorn cattle. The old self-sufficiency of the crofters was being replaced by a market economy and it was this which lay behind the “improvements”. It is easy with hindsight to condemn Traill and Burroughs for the Rousay evictions but in their class it was thought to be the only way to improve everybody’s lot. They saw the abolition of the run-rig field system, the enclosures of land and a more intensive utilisation of it as a way of generally improving everyone’s standard of living. If some folk had to leave their homes and adopt a whole new way of life then it was said to be for their own good. Traill was responsible for the cruellest evictions in the 1840’s whereas Burroughs preferred “to leave the people in their houses and make them labourers,” as he said. When his tenants objected he told the Crofters Commission that “they all want to be masters and not servants, and that is impossible”. Despite their pronounced good intentions there is no doubt that these two landowners caused great hardship in Rousay and indeed completely changed the way of life of the Islanders. Trumland House stands here as a stark memorial to “the little General” who was even condemned by the other land-owners in Orkney.

It was this mansion that became the home of the late Walter Grant, Director of the Highland Park Distillery in Kirkwall and perhaps the greatest private benefactor ever to Scottish Archaeology. Most of the large monuments we shall visit were excavated at his expense by such well known archaeologists as Callender and Professor Gordon Childe.

Continuing along the road we come to the bridge, with Trumland Farm on the left. If you go through the small gate on the right of the bridge you can take the Burnside Walk, a pleasant path through the trees. At the other end of this path you come out into an open field across which our first monument can be seen. If you do not wish to take the walk through this delightful wood, you can keep to the road until you see the sign directing you to Taversoe, our first stop.

BLACKHAMMER

Hammer is presumably from the Old Norse “hamarr” meaning projecting rocks or cliff. Although presumed to be of a similar age (about 3,000 B.C.) this cairn is of a different construction which must reflect the builders’ different traditions or customs from their neighbours. This so called stalled-cairn contained only two burials with grave goods such as pottery, an axe-head and a flint knife. Why was so much energy used to build such a tomb which was only used twice? Were mound burials replaced by another burial custom? Were these the tombs of a ruling class – the Chieftains of a farming community or were they community tombs? These are just a few of the questions which archaeologists have speculated over for years. The sheer size the Rousay burial cairns makes one thing quite clear however: they were either built by a society whose farming methods created a surplus of time during which the tombs could be erected, or else they were built by a people with a dominant belief in the after life. The amount of time spent tomb building could so easily have been to the detriment of their food-gathering activities: fishing, hunting and farming.

Before leaving the Blackhammer cairn look down towards the shore, about a quarter of a mile east of the farm of Nears. Here there is a large turf-covered mound known as the Knowe of Hunclett. Hunclett is the name of the Norse township and probably means a place of many stones or stoney place.

The original head house of the township has never been identified but it seems most likely that it is not this which is under the Knowe but a Broch. The shores of the Eynhallow Sound are dotted with these Broch remains but few have been archaeologically investigated.

YARSO

Not far along the road from Blackhammer is the sign for the turn off to Yarso, the third of the Rousay Cairns under the guardianship of the Department of the Environment. It takes about 15 minutes to reach but as the path is badly marked it may take a little longer and many people find that they have not the time to visit the highest of the large Rousay cairns. It can be seen from the road on the edge of a small cliff, about 300 ft. above sea level, and is a good viewpoint for those who make the effort to visit it. Yarso means “mound of the edge” from the Norse “Jadarr” = edge, “Haugr” mound. It is a cairn of similar construction to Midhowe which we shall visit later, but much smaller. Despite its size it contained the bones of 21 humans, along with those of a dog, sheep and many red deer.

This cairn is just one of the several large tombs overlooking the fertile district of Frotoft which must have been densely populated already in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, several thousand years ago. However, after retracing our steps to the road, just before we reach the road, on the left we pass the old Frotoft School, now converted into a comfortable home. We turn right along the road. After a few paces, on the left, is the one and only pub in Rousay, the new Taversoe Hotel. Here one can obtain sandwiches or a Bar lunch in addition to the usual liquid refreshments. It is a very friendly and convenient place to stop for a break in our walk.

From the pub it is just over three miles to our next “official” monument, but there are many places of interest on the way, and after visiting the prehistoric Neolithic tombs we now pass into the historical times, going down the Cot-a-fea brae into the Norse township of Frotoft. There is one last monument here from the distant past and that is the standing-stone which is at the roadside, at the end of the croft as we go down the hill. This croft has taken its name from the “longsteen” or “langstane”. The Longsteen is nearly seven and a half feet high and two feet three inches broad at the base. It is only one of many Standing-Stones in Orkney and exactly when they were built and to what purpose is a mystery. The crofts we pass on the roadside here bear the names Langstane, Cott, Broch, Burrian and Breek, in that order. Apart from names the crofts also have numbers, an unusual feature in Rousay and indicating clearly that they were erected to a plan. These are some of the crofts which were built in the 1840’s by those folk who were evicted from the Quandale district we shall see at the end of the tour. The least fortunate crofters had to either build outside the hill dyke or to leave the Island, but here in Frotoft a small number of buildings were erected along the new road.

The croft called ‘Broch’, No. 3 Frotoft, is certainly one of the most picturesque of the Rousay crofts, and very typical of the “improved” buildings of the last century. One of the innovations of the “improved” croft was the gable fireplace with chimney, whereas the traditional Orkney croft had an open hearth near the centre of the room with a smoke outlet in the roof.

BROCH – BREEK – HULLION

The names Broch and Burrian are taken from yet another unexplored Broch, the Knowe of Burrian, which is at the shore edge some 50 yards west of Langstane and can be seen as a mound if one looks down towards the shore. Further along the road we come to another croft in Frotoft called Breek. Although uninhabited it is interesting to know that there are still folk on the Island who used to live here.

There is much written about the buildings in Frotoft but there is only room here for a few general remarks. From Hullion we continue on the main road, past the Chapel Field and the turning down on the left to Hullion pier. For many years this was the pier for the mail-boat, and this crossing is also the shortest to the Mainland. Immediately opposite the pier, on the Mainland, is the Broch of Gurness, which is the second of the Orkney Brochs under the Guardianship of the Department of Environment. From the very sharp S-bend in the road we can look back up towards the Yarso cairn which is clearly seen from here on the edge of a small cliff.

BANKS

The next croft on the right hand side of the road is called Banks (from old Norse “Bakkar” steepish slopes) and this was the largest property in the district at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The name Banks was often used instead of the older name Frotoft. Today it is workshops of The Orkney Pottery. (visitors are welcome).

The large two-storeyed house on the left near the shore is Viera Lodge. This was once the home of the Factor for the Burroughs estate and later became a guest-house. There is yet another Broch-mound immediately to the West of the house at the very edge of the shore. Once again we are reminded of the continuity of the settlement from prehistoric times to the present.

Almost at the top of the incline, as the road rises, is the croft called Corse. It is the boundary between Frotoft and Westness, or the Westside, and the name tells us that at one time there was a wayside cross or prayer stone here. Such crosses were common in Catholic times and were erected on sites where a Holy place came into view. There are many preserved, especially round the Cathedral cities of Britain but others remain only in tradition of place-names. There was a double reason for such a wayside cross at Corse because both the parish church at Skaill, which we shall see, and the monastic settlement on Eynhallow came into view. From Corse we can look back over the populous, thriving community of Frotoft and then look Westwards over the depopulated Westside so cruelly cleared.

The view of the Westside and Eynhallow from along this part of the road is most beautiful. It is a view that has lingered in the minds of several Scandinavian authors, especially those who have been fortunate enough to see the sun setting behind Eynhallow and the evening-glow warm the Saga-sites on either side of the Sound between the Island and the Mainland. 

WESTNESS HOUSE

Just visible amongst the trees below the road on the left is Westness House and gardens. For several generations this was the home of the Traill family, who also owned Woodwick House, the large house you will see to the North West of Tingwall jetty on your return to the Mainland. Dr. Traill planted the trees and gardens of Westness which were thought to be the most beautiful of their kind in Orkney right up to the beginning of this century. Certainly the positioning of both Westness House and Westness Farm (the farm next to the house) have no parallel for charm in the Northern Isles. The story of Westness House has yet to be written, but when it is the eighteenth century John Traill will no doubt be one of the central figures. When suspected of supporting Bonnie Prince Charlie he is purported to have taken refuge, along with others, in the “Gentleman’s Ha” on Westray. It is said that his home was burnt down and presumably the present Westness House is basically his rebuilt home.

The house and gardens are open to the public, viewing by appointment only. (see General Information page). At the bottom of the garden is a small private chapel which seats nine people and is still used by the Episcopalians who live on the Island. This chapel was built at a much later date.

Having reached the bridge, Westness Cottage is on the right and to the right of the cottage is a track climbing up into the hills, keeping to the side of the geo or valley through which the Westness burn cascades. The track leads to Rousay’s two largest lochs; the Muckle Water and the Peerie Water, i.e. the large and the small lochs. The Frotoft folk cut their peats up there to this day. However, to visit the lochs and return would take over an hour and a half.

We recommend that the walk should continue, not along the road, but down the track on the left just over the bridge down to Westness Farm. Pass through the farm and continue the walk along the shore, making sure to close all gates behind you. In the field between the burn and Westness House are a number of smaller cairns and nearer the farm is the disused threshing Mill with its large overshot wheel.

Westness Farm is one of the largest farms in the Northern Isles and as we have mentioned was cleared and “improved” by George Traill in the 1840’s. For as far as we can now see on Rousay and as far again there are no occupied crofts.

SHORE WALK

A walk along the shore brings us to an outstanding Norse site, still being excavated (1978) by Curator Sigrid Kaland from the Historical Museum, Bergen, Norway. It will eventually be laid out as yet another ancient monument – the first Norse one in Rousay and completing the time-scale from prehistoric times to the present on this South Western shore.

The “Noust” or boathouse is the first part of the settlement we come to on Moa Ness. It is remarkable that this site was not discovered until the 1960’s when one considers that after leaving Saviskaill Bay and sailing round the North Western coast, this is the first place one could pull up a boat, even at low tide. We can see clearly that the flagstones on the shore are naturally split and that there is a sandy inlet. The noust is sheltered from the strong currents of the Eynhallow Sound. The building has, presumably, been an open construction measuring 10 x 5 metres with low walls which were primarily a protection against strong winds.

Approximately 50 metres West of the noust on the highest ground of the Ness or headland lies the Norse cemetery. None of the graves can be seen on the surface and their exact numbers are not yet known, but four have been uncovered and there are certainly several more. The cemetery was accidentally discovered in 1963 when the farmer was digging a hole to bury a dead cow and by chance uncovered a richly equipped young woman’s grave. The famous Westness brooch now in a corner of the National Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh, was one of three brooches found in the grave. Two were 9th. century and the Westness brooch itself is not later than the middle of the 8th. century, and was already an heirloom when buried. There were several other grave finds including a necklace of 40 beads and toilet equipment. From other skeleton material found it appears that this young woman died in childbirth. It is one of the best equipped graves ever found in the Atlantic Islands. A mere four metres away was revealed yet another outstanding grave with the remains of two skeletons.

The uppermost body in this oval 9th. century grave had been a woman in her sixties, and under both this skeleton and a layer of sand lay a 30 year old man. His head had rested on his shield and at his side were gaming pieces, arrows, sickle, knife, scissors and some toilet accessories. It is believed that the older man may have been a human offering at the burial. The 10th. century Arab ambassador, Ibn Fadlan, describing a Viking burial, wrote:- “When a Chieftain among them has died, his family demands of his slave woman and servants, ‘Which of you wishes to die with him’, then one of them says ‘I do’ “.

Just over 300 metres farther West lies the farmhouse and associated buildings. There are at least four buildings lying North South. The main house has two long halls with fireplaces and other smaller rooms, whilst on the Eastern side of a paved gangway are presumably a byre for cattle and sheep. There are several building phases and more buildings yet to be uncovered all round the settlement. Seeds found tell us that amongst the plants grown were flax, barley and oats. One problem here is the dating of the site and the great temptation to associate it with the Sigurd of Westness who features in the Orkneyinga Saga. The graves suggest that the settlement could easily be from the earliest Viking colonisation of Orkney while Sigurd lived in the 12th. century. Before briefly describing the Saga events that took place on the Westside we can notice the adjacent turf-covered mound known as the Knowe of Swandro. It is wrongly identified in the Inventory of Ancient Monuments for Orkney as a Viking grave, whereas it is, quite clearly, another Broch. This may have been a good quarry from which the Norsemen could carry building materials for that farm.

Although Sigurd of  Westness is the only Rousay man to feature in the Saga his position is an important one as a close friend of Earl Paul Hakonsson. As usual the Saga events are complicated with rival claimants to the Earldom plotting against each other with their respective supporters. In 1137 Earl Paul, son of Hakon who had slain Magnus on Egilsay in 1117, was visiting Sigurd at Westness, probably to seek his advice on the approval of the rival claimant Rognvald (the builder of the St. Magnus Cathedral). Before Rognvald and Paul could meet there was a very unexpected turn of events. Early one morning Earl Paul was out with some friends otter hunting when suddenly that Norse opportunist Swein Asleifson of Gairsay appeared with his men and attacked the hunters. (Swein had previously been out-lawed by Earl Paul). In the attack all were killed except Paul and he was kidnapped, never to appear in Orkney again. Sigurd and his two sons never swore allegiance to the new Earl Rognvald but waited in vain for Paul to return. It was after this successful return to Orkney from Norway that Rognvald began to build St. Magnus Cathedral.

Where did Sigurd live? One thing seems certain that the Chieftain’s “bu” or manorial farm was not at the present day Westness farm. There is no “ness” or headland there, unless the name describes the whole of this part of the Island. The obvious topographical “nesses” are those of Moaness and the one near Swandro. It is here we find the Norse settlement “noust” and cemetery, but on the other hand such an important 12th. century Chieftain as Sigurd would likely have lived in something more elaborate than this farm. We remember also that the Chieftains appear to have had private chapels, some of which later became the parish churches and this leads us to the strong rival claimant for the site of Sigurd’s “bu” a few hundred yards further along the shore. At the risk of discontinuity we can take up the story when we reach the site. We have dwelt on the excavations and Sigurd, but as nothing is mentioned in the Orkney Ancient Monuments Guide more comment was necessary than for the frequently described cairns.

KELP PITS

If we follow the shore line just a little west of the Knowe of Swandro we can see all that is left of a once important source of income for the landowners, i.e. kelp-burning. The ashes of kelp (seaweed) were used in the southern glassmaking industries and from the first half of the eighteenth century until towards the middle of the nineteenth century large quantities were shipped from Orkney. The industrial archaeological remains we see are the round shallow saucer-shaped stone-filled pits, a few feet wide, in which the kelp was burned. While the women earned from the spinning of flax or the plaiting of straw, the men’s summer work was partly the processing of kelp.

The old Church of Skaill was dedicated to St. Mary but is more commonly called Swandro or Swendro and the name presumably deriving from the personal name “Swein”. It is a single chambered rectangular building 53 ft. by 14 ft. The Norwegian archaeologist Dietrichson and architect Meyer, at the beginning of this century pointed to similarities between Swendro Church and the Magnus Church in Egilsay, and they were in no doubt as to its early medieval origins. However, the inventory of Ancient Monuments published some 30 years ago says that the building is post Reformation. Two panels of Scots pine now in the National Museum, Edinburgh, were originally here, one dated 1622, the other 1798. The church was in use until the clearances and the churchyard, which is in need of repair, was used as late as the 1920’s.

BROUGH

However, we continue our walk towards the next building which was the important house called Brough. Dr. Marwick pointed out that there is a well, known as Mary Well, at the edge of the shore between Skaill and Brough. Although there is no tradition preserved, he believed it may have been a Holy Well. Today it is difficult to see.

Dr. Marwick wrote of Brough in 1948:- “Ruinous and deserted as it now is, Brough was in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries one of the most important houses in Orkney – no fewer than three Craigies of Brough having been Lawmen of Orkney”. The farm lay in Outer Westness and some evidence indicates that part of the Westness estate was private Earldom property which probably came into the Craigie family through James Craigie’s marriage to a daughter of Earl Henry St. Clair in the fourteenth century. The property was one of the most valuable Odal estates in the whole of Orkney. The previously mentioned Charter of 1556 was the sale of Brough by Magnus Craigie to his kinsman Magnus Halcro who was Cantor of the Cathedral. This ambitious and able opportunist married in 1563 the daughter and heir to Sir James Sinclair, the victor at the Battle of Summerdale in 1529. This was the last battle in Orkney. After Halcro’s death the property was acquired, illegally by all accounts, by Earl Robert Stewart. He evicted the Halcro heirs. Robert Stewart was the son of James V of Scotland and thereby half brother to Mary Queen of Scots. He had been created Earl of Orkney in 1581. It was he who built the Earls Palace at Birsay. However it came into the Halcro family again in 1593 and there it remained until the Traills took it over.

How sad it is that this once important farm is now but a ruin on a sheeprun. Between this building and the sea are the remains of a broch — the South howe of the three brochs in this area. It has not been excavated and every year that passes, more disappears into the sea.

MIDHOWE CAIRN

By now we are curious to see inside the hangar-like structure some yards further along the coast. This is the famous Midhowe Stalled Cairn, described in the Guide to the Ancient Monuments of Orkney. The building we see was erected to protect the tomb underneath after it had been excavated at the expense of Mr. W. G. Grant in the 1930’s. This megalithic chambered tomb from the third millennium BC is called a “Stalled” cairn because it is divided into twelve compartments by upright slabs projecting from the side walls just as the stalls of a byre. The barrow is exceptionally large, the external measurements 106 ft. long arid 42½ ft. wide. The chamber is 76 ft. long and 7 ft. wide. Lying on stone benches between the stalls were found the remains of 25 human skeletons. Otherwise the finds were few but included some pottery and a few animal bones: ox, sheep and Orkney vole.

For a more complete description and plan of Midhowe Cairn see the Department of Environment Guide. The guide also contains a good description and plan of the neighbouring Midhowe Broch. In many ways it is remarkable that so many major archaeological monuments should be found so close to each other but when we think about it nothing is more natural than a continuity of settlement in an area of good arable land with the sea at hand.

MIDHOWE BROCH

Midhowe Broch is, as the name tells us, the middle “haugr” or mound of three. The North Howe is the large mound 100 yards from the shore and 300 yards from Midhowe. Only Midhowe of the Rousay Brochs has been excavated and once again we are indebted to Grant of Trumland House for his efforts in the 1930’s. Nearly all brochs are to be found in the north of Scotland and there are great concentrations of them in Orkney and Shetland, roughly 100 in each Island group. They are generally considered to have been tower-like structures, as the best preserved example, Mousa Broch, Shetland shows, but most are now grass covered mounds like those we have already passed. After confidently dating them to the Iron Age from finds like Roman Pottery, coins, saddle and rotary querns we are then left to speculate who built them and why. Their sophistication and defensive positions speak for themselves and Midhowe is a superb example of both. With a spring inside and access to the food from the sea the Broch dwellers must have felt quite safe. Their builders may have been the indigenous farming population threatened by the invaders from the South; the culprits being either the Romans themselves, the tribes displaced by the Romans, or, the Brochs may have been built by an invading people. Their distribution corresponds approximately to the lands known to have been occupied by the Picts, but even here we are skating on relatively thin ice because the “Picts” are a thorny subject only now being archaeologically investigated. Whoever the Broch dwellers were their need of a defensive structure became less and the inner ditch was built up with secondary houses, one of which at Midhowe has an iron smelting hearth. Like the Cairn builders the Broch dwellers were farmers, and finds of spindle whorls and pieces of combs indicate that they knew how to both spin and weave cloth.

QUANDALE

On the Northern side of Quandale the sites of old crofts are still visible with their greener arable rigs close to the piles of stones. There is one croft which stands out though, and this is certainly no anti-climax even after the imposing Midhowe Monuments, for here we are faced with the old mansions of Tofts. The Orkney Historian J. Storer Clouston believed this to be the oldest two storeyed house in Orkney and in 1923 hoped “that this unique homestead will not be allowed to fall into further ruin, if any means, or any money, can be found to avert such a fate”. Unfortunately nothing has been done and this ancient house is slowly falling down.

It is probable that a defensive structure would have been built at this time and we imagine Tofts in its present form to have been built then. Storer Clouston concludes that from 1570 to 1700 there was nobody of any local importance who was styled “of Tofts” or “in Tofts” which suggests that its day of glory was before this time. The buildings round the house are the stables and barn, plus two byres. It is a remarkable collection of buildings, inhabited only by birds today.

From Quandale we must wander back up to the road and begin our walk back to Trumland Pier. From the quarry on the bend of the road it takes about two hours to the pier and you would be wise to accept all lifts from passing Rousay folk if you have not arranged any transport to pick you up.

It has been a long walk but Rousay must be one of the few places where we can discover so many different monuments illustrating past ways of life. We hope it has been enjoyable and that these few pages have, in some way, kept your mind from thoughts of aching legs.

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ACCESS TO ROUSAY

Rousay is easily accessible from Tingwall (MR. 402228 0.S. Sheet 6) in Evie on the Mainland of Orkney. There is a bus service from Kirkwall bus station on a Monday, Friday and Saturday, leaving at 9 am. and returning at 4.30 pm in the evening (subject to alteration on school days). This service meets the Rousay boat. At other times a taxi can be hired from any of the operators on the Mainland. J. A. Rosie, The Shieling, Evie (Evie 227) is prepared to run a mini-bus for larger parties

If you bring your own car, turn off the Kirkwall to Stromness road at Finstown and take the A966. After six miles a sign to Tingwall Jetty indicates a turn down to the sea. There is a free parking and a shelter with a phone.

BOAT SERVICE

Mr Magnus Flaws of Helziegetha, Wyre (Rousay 203), runs the boat service to Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre. The boat leaves Tingwall at 10.l5 am and 4.30 pm For a service outside these times, please check with the boatman.

TRANSPORT ON ROUSAY

Scheduled Bus Service – from the pier (meeting boat) to Midhowe Broch. Mon. Sat. at 10.45 am. (June, July, & August). Other times by arrangement.

Self-Drive Cars – Louise Owen, Taversoe Hotel. (Rousay 325).

Taxis and Self-Drive Cars – telephone Chris and Mary Soames, Brendale, Rousay. (Rousay 234). Also mini-bus hire, day tours arranged for parties to suit the unique requirements of each group. A Guide can be arranged if necessary.

Taxis – John Mainland, 4 Frotoft, Rousay (Rousay 270).

Bicycle Hire – Tommy Gibson, Brinola, Rousay. (Rousay 261). Just above the pier.

Pony & Trap – see Quoys Stables & Saddlery

ACCOMMODATION & SERVICES

Taversoe Hotel – licensed family hotel. Bed & Breakfast. Full Board. Bar Meals. Sandwiches & Coffee. Activities offered include Shooting, Trout Fishing, Sea Angling, and Diving. Near to all ancient monuments, ideal centre for ornithologists. lvan & Louise Owen, Taversoe Hotel, Rousay (Rousay 325).

Old Mlll Cottage – on a working farm, sleeps six, close to pier and sea. Farm produce available, fishing and shooting by arrangement. Jeremy Hulme, Trumland Farm, Rousay (Rousay 279)

OTHER SERVICES & ACTIVITIES

Quoys Stables & Saddlery – Hire a pony and trap for a leisurely island tour. Also riding lessons and pony trekking for beginners or experienced riders – all tack provided. Glyn & Carol Chrystal, Quoys, Rousay. (Rousay 330)

The Orkney Pottery – A Craft Pottery halfway between Rousay pier and Midhowe Broch producing a select range of handthrown Stoneware and PorceIain fired to a high temperature. A range of work is always on display in the showroom, where coffee and scones are available. Frank Harris, Banks, Rousay. (Rousay 266).

Hullion Shop – A general island store selling all manner of goods and petrol. David Gibson, Hullion, Rousay. (Rousay 264).

Pier Shop – A small general merchant – mainly for groceries. Dorothy Munro, Pier Shop, Rousay. (Rousay 391).

Rousay Processors – An island-owned shellfish processing factory. In season, Lobster, crab and scallop can be purchased at the door. Rousay Processors, The Pier, Rousay. (Rousay 216).

The island has a resident doctor and nurse.

EVERYDAY PAPERWORK

CERTIFICATES, BILLS, QUOTES, RENTS
1872 – 1936

Rousay School Board was an elected body. The Church of Scotland played a great part in education and parish ministers had supervisory roles, including the employment of teachers and carrying out periodic inspections. Rousay had three kirks; the Established, Free, and United Presbyterian, and each voter on this list, dated 1872, has his own particular ecclesiastical affiliation marked beside his name. The images below are enlargements of the document above.

THE SKELWICK FAIRIES

There was a green grassy knowe by the pond at South Tuan, Skelwick, Westray, that was the home of the fairies. A field called Savvoquoy was their field, and children were warned not to roll down the banks there, or tread on paddostools (toadstools) as the fairies used them as tables, and danced on them in the moonlight. They were said to dress all in green and were no bigger than a thimble. If you stood by the pond at South Tuan you could hear the fairies humming.

The Skelwick fairies came from Rousay on a simmans rope. They settled in the old picts houses at the shore below Garth. An old woman said that the fairies took over after the picts had left.

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THE TROW WIFE

There was once a peedie boy called Johnny who lived in the island of Rousay. His home was a type of house called a “twa built hoose,” that is two long houses with byres and barns at the ends. The boy used to go from one house to the other every night. One night he did not come in as usual. Time passed, but he never arrived. At last he was sent for, but there was no sign of him. A search followed, and his family called to him “Johnny boy, what has become of you?” After a while they heard him cry, “I’m on the back of the trow.” The old trow woman who was carrying him away dropped him when she heard the word “trow” mentioned, for she had lost her powers. She turned and gave him such a clout on the crown of his head that it took all the hair off him, and he was bald for the rest of his days.

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THE FAIRIES AND THE VIKINGS

A long time ago the Vikings left their homes in Norway and crossed the wide sea to the broken isles of Orkney. They sailed around the islands until they came to Rousay. There they saw a host of fairies standing on the hillside above Trumland. The sun glinted on their glittering spears so that it made a great impression on the Vikings. They turned their ship away from the shore and left. They did not stay away for long though, but returned to fight the fairies. The battle raged until the fairies were defeated and driven from their homes. They moved to the west side of the island and made new homes for themselves underground – and who knows, they may still be there.

From: The Mermaid Bride. The original source was from unpublished papers
of Ernest Marwick in the Orkney Library & Archive.]

A very long time ago there lived a young woman in the island of Rousay. One fine day she went to the hill to cut peats. When her work was done she sat down among the heather to rest. She was surprised to see that she was not alone, for there was a strange man on the hill too. He came towards her and started to talk. They sat there chatting away for some time. At last the man asked the girl if she would come home with him. She refused at first, but the man had a silver tongue and he soon gained her trust and she went with him.

A very long time ago there lived a young woman in the island of Rousay. One fine day she went to the hill to cut peats. When her work was done she sat down among the heather to rest. She was surprised to see that she was not alone, for there was a strange man on the hill too. He came towards her and started to talk. They sat there chatting away for some time. At last the man asked the girl if she would come home with him. She refused at first, but the man had a silver tongue and he soon gained her trust and she went with him.

My thanks to Tom Muir for allowing me to reproduce this from his book
The Mermaid Bride and other Orkney Folk Tales – the original being
in Duncan J Robertson’s ‘Orkney Folk-Lore’, published in Vol I
Proceedings of the Orkney Antiquarian Society, 1922-23, 40.