Alston Auld and the Scottish pension list

Alston Auld receives a pension

The following article appeared in the Dundee Courier on 25 April 1907 which lists Alston Auld as being a successful candidate to receive a £13 pension.

Source: Pensions for Aged Scots. (1907, April 25). Dundee Courier, p. 7. Retrieved January 8, 2014, from http://search.findmypast.com.au/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0000164%2f19070425%2f122

A transcript of the article follows:

PENSIONS FOR AGED SCOTS.
At a special court of the Governors of the Royal Scottish Hospital, held for the purpose of electing candidates to fill vacancies in the pension-lists, the following were, at the close of the poll, declared to be the successful candidates:-
£13 PENSIONS.
Catherine Forrester, spinster, aged 65, at Kincardine, 1041 votes.
Catherine Connan, widow (66), Aberdeen, 988.
Henrietta Laing, spinster (68), Leith, 962.
Wm. Mitchell, unmarried (87), New Monkland, 906.
J. F. Mackenzie, spinster (68), Redcastle, 904.
Janet Cowper, spinster (70), Whitburn, 898.
J. L. Sutherland, widow (77), Paisley, 875.
Jas. Meikle, married (72), West Calder, 790.
John Mackenzie, married (72), Ullapool, 649.
Elizabeth Jack, married (69), Rhynie, 643.
Isabella Conlan, widow (55), Darnaway, 624.
Alston Auld, married (65), West Calder, 609.
John Cullen, married (80), Douglas, 597.
L. P. Chisholm, unmarried (77), Jedburgh, 576.
Vacancies in the £18 pensions-lists were filled by the following promotions from the £13 lists:-
Jean Beardwell (78), or Orkney; Elizabeth Conolly (87), Stromness; Mary Gillies (76), Arbroath; Jas. Ewing (77), Glasgow; Annie Grant (74), Inverness; Jessie Tolmie (75), Black Isle; Elizabeth Sutherland (74), Edinburgh; Margaret Smith (67), Aberdeen.

Scottish key dates and background information

• 1574-1845 - Old Scottish Poor Law
• 1845 - Poor Law (Scotland) Act 1845
• 1908 - Old-Age Pensions Act 1908 - the beginning of the modern welfare system in the UK 

There is also a good breakdown of the English Poor Laws that also provides information on UK poor laws.

John Adamson & Son, Glasgow, SCT [Photographers]

This post is a continuation in a series of posts looking at late nineteenth century photographers. By using the information on the rear imprint, our aim is to use this information as a guide to helping us narrow down a date range of when the photograph was taken.

John Adamson & Son - 126 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow

On the back of one of the carte de visite photographs in the Georgina Auld nee Muir album is a photograph by Scottish 'Photographic Artists' John Adamson & Son. The Adamson studio is listed as 126 Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow, as well as Victoria Street in Rothesay.

Example rear imprint for photographers John Adamson & Son
[Auld Photograph Collection apc-000023-s2]

Using the Scottish Post Office Directories

Researching through the Scottish Post-Office Directories for Glasgow, there is no listing for a John Adamson & Son in the 1871-72 Post-Office Annual Glasgow Directory under the name Adamson in the General Directory or alternatively under the list of Photographic Artists in the Trades Directory section.

The 1872-73 Post-Office Annual Glasgow Directory has several entries for John Adamson & Son. Under the General section of the directory there is a listing under the surname Adamson. The father and son team are listed as photographic artists at 126 Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow.

1872-73 Post-Office Annual Glasgow Directory, p50

In the Street Directory section under "SAUCHIEHALL STREET", the above information is confirmed with a listing at number 126. Here John Adamson & Son are listed as artists, as opposed to photographers.

1872-73 Post-Office Annual Glasgow Directory, p533

In the Trades Directory section there are two listing, one under "ARTISTS", and another under "PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTISTS". Extracts follow:

Trade Directory: Artists
1872-73 Post-Office Annual Glasgow Directory, p558

Trade Directory: Photographic Artists
1872-73 Post-Office Annual Glasgow Directory, p658

There is no listing John Adamson & Son in the 1873-74 Post-Office Annual Glasgow Directory. In fact, according to the Street Directory section at 126 Sauchiehall Street, the photographer John Stuart is now operating from these premises.

1873-74 Post-Office Annual Glasgow Directory, p548

John Adamson & Son - Victoria Street, Rothesay

Currently the Scottish Post-Office Directories have available to view online the Bute County Directories for 1889-1912. Searching the first available directory, the 1889-90 Bute County Directory, which includes the areas Rothesay, North Bute, Kingarth, Port-Bannatyne, reveals John Adamson & Son are still operational in 1889. They are listed under the "Part II - Householders - Parish of Rothesay" section of the directory, and although they now no longer have their studio in Victoria Street, it clearly shows the pair are still operating their photographic studio at this time.

1889-90 Bute County Directory, p.33

Dating the photograph based on the evidence

The documentary evidence based solely on the information sourced from the Post Office Directories, dates the photo to between 1872 and 1873. Further research may be able to narrow the date range down further.

Trove Tuesday: Troves notification service

Several weeks ago in the course of researching Auld obituaries, I came across an article which was part way through the digitisation process. For users of the Digitised newspapers on Trove, these articles will be noticeable by being grayed out and the words [coming soon] appended to the end of the newspaper article title. An example of a current article (as of today) that is part way through this process follows:

Example of notification service on Trove. Retrieved August 13, 2013.

Having an interest in the obituary article I had found, I signed up to the notification service by typing in my email address into the field provided then I clicked on the "Email me when available" button.

Last Saturday evening I was pleasantly surprised to see an email from Trove with the following subject heading:

Trove - National Library of Australia - newspaper/magazine article availability notification

On opening the message the text reminds the reader of what article(s) have changed status on Trove and have completed the quality assurance process and is now available for general access. All of the articles that have changed status are then listed, for example the obituary I was after had the following text:

The following article has completed quality assurance processing and is now available for you to access:
  Newspaper/magazine: Queensland Times (Ipswich) (Qld. : 1909 - 1954)
  Issue: Monday 31 May 1909
  Page: 7 Edition: DAILY
  Article: OBITUARY.
  Web URL: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/112057171

I proceeded to click on the link provided and the article was displayed in my browser. A few corrections to the text later, as well as tagging the individuals and places mentioned in the text, and the text was ready to use in my research with the citations conveniently provided by Trove.

Another newspaper comes online

With the notification I received from Trove, I am also alerted to the fact that another newspaper is now available, or is in the process of coming online. In this particular instance the newspaper is the Queensland Times (Ipswich) and covers the period 1909 - 1954. Some background history to the publication is also available on Wikipedia.

The article found relates to an obituary for John Livingstone Auld which was printed in the Queensland Times (Ipswich) on 31 May 1909.

Obituary of John Livingston Auld

Source: OBITUARY. (1909, May 31). Queensland Times (Ipswich) (Qld. : 1909 - 1954), p. 7 Edition: DAILY.
Retrieved August 13, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112057171

William Dargavel, Newton, Ayr [Photographer]

This post is a continuation in a series of posts looking at late nineteenth century photographers. By using the information on the rear imprint, our aim is to use this information as a guide to helping us narrow down a date range of when the photograph was taken.

William Dargavel - 4 Murray Place, Newton Ayr

On the back of one of the carte de visite photographs in the Georgina Auld nee Muir album is a photograph by Scottish 'photo artist' William Dargavel. Dargavel's studio is listed as 4 Murray Place in Newton, Ayr.

Example rear imprint for photographer William Dargavel
[Auld Photograph Collection apc-000007-s2]

Unfortunately there does not appear to be very many examples (on the internet at least) of the rear imprint from a William Dargavel photograph to use as a reference...to the extent that I haven't been able to find any! Another problem associated with trying to track down William Dargavel is access to online Scottish newspapers covering Ayr. For the purposes of this post I will be using Scottish Post Office Directories which have been made available via the Digital Collections from the National Library of Scotland.

Using the Scottish Post Office Directories

Searching through the Post Office Directories of Ayrshire, the first mention of William Dargavel appears in the 1870-71 Post Office Directory for Ayr Newton and Wallacetown.

In this directory William is listed on page 38 at the house address of Gordon Place in Wallacetown. He is also listed as being of W. & J. Dargavel. Wm. & John Dargavel are listed as tobacconists at 6 High Street, with John Dargavel also listed as living at Allison Place in Allison Street Newton. William Dargavel is also listed on page 71 of the directory as a tobacconists at Gordon Place and at the shop on 6 High Street, Ayr.

The 1873-74 Post Office General and Trades Directory for Ayr, Newton, and Wallacetown lists William Dargavel on page 34 as living at 1 Albert Place, New Bridge Street. John Dargavel and the business John & Wm. Dargavel [sic] are listed at the same addresses. There is no mention of a William Dargavel listed under Photographic Artists in the Trade Directory section of the Directory (page 111). J. & W. Dargavel are listed under Tobacconists on page 115.

Proceeding to the next available directory, the 1876-77 Post Office General and Trades Directory for Ayr, Newton, and Wallacetown, Willliam Dargavel is listed at the house address of 4 Murray Place, Newtonhead.

1876-77 Post Office General and Trades Directory for Ayr Newton and Wallacetown, p.35.

As can be seen in the extract above, William is still listed as a tobacconist in the partnership of John & Wm. Dargavel at 6 High Street. The partnership of J. & W. Dargavel is also listed in the Trade Directory section of the 1876-77 Directory under the subheading of Tobacconists (page 109). It is in the Trade Directory section that William Dargavel is also listed under the Photographic Artists, thus confirming Dargavel as operating his photographic business from the same address as his home. Six other Ayrshire photographers are also listed in this years directory.

1876-77 Post Office General and Trades Directory for Ayr Newton and Wallacetown, p.105.

There is no mention of either William or John Dargavel listed in the 1878-79 Post Office General and Trades Directory for Ayr, Newton, and Wallacetown.

Dating the photograph based on the evidence

The documentary evidence based solely on the information sourced from the Post Office Directories, dates the photo to 1876 ±2 years. Further research may be able to narrow the date range down further.

Mrs John Auld (Georgina Muir) by Bara [Cabinet card]

Photo details:

Title Mrs John Auld (Georgina Muir) by Bara Date 1893 Collection Georgina Auld nee Muir photo album Digital ID apc-000003 Photo Type Cabinet card Mount Size 107 x 166 mm Mount Thickness 1 mm Mount Colour Cream Mount Edges Straight, gold gilt Mount Corners Round Image Size 102 x 148 mm Technology Albumen Features Vignette Front Imprint Logo and text Back Imprint Medium sized, text and artwork

Front face Rear face

Front face:

Mrs John Auld (Georgina Muir) by Bara (front face)
[Auld Photograph Collection apc-000003-s1]

Larger version on Flickr

Bara
AYR, N.B. (N.B. denoting North Britain)

Written on the page in the album where this photograph was placed is the following identification text and year:

Mrs John Auld (Georgina), mother of J H G Auld (1893)

Rear face:

Mrs John Auld (Georgina Muir) by Bara (front face)
[Auld Photograph Collection apc-000003-s2]

Larger version on Flickr

Imprint on rear face is medium sized and includes both text and artwork. Inscription of the text reads as:

13389 (written in pencil on the top left)
12 (written in pencil on the top right)
UNDER
DISTINGUISHED
PATRONAGE
Bara
AYR.
ALL NEGATIVES KEPT. COPIES CAN BE HAD.
ENLARGEMENTS
PLAIN IN OIL, WATER COLOR, OR CRAYONS
MINIATURES ON IVORY &c. &c. 

The number(s) written at the top of the cabinet card in pencil most likely represent the negative number of the photo in case a duplicate needed to be reordered from the photographer.

1895 Valuation Rolls now available on Scotlands People

28 May 2013 saw the launch of the 1895 Valuation Rolls on the ScotlandsPeople website, so this weekend I decided to have a look and see what sort of information could be retrieved from the (VR) Rolls.

Searching the Rolls

To see how many Auld names are listed in the 1895 Valuation Rolls an initial search was performed using the AULD name and the 'Exact surnames only' option. The result ended up with 735 matches (or thirty pages of results). In order to narrow the results down a tad, West Calder was selected from the comprehensive list of Parishes - results one match on one page of results.

As users of the ScotlandsPeople website will know, the site uses pre-purchased credits. These credits in turn are used to purchase certificates / register entries / census records and valuation rolls. For the 1895 Valuation Rolls. one credit is required to view one page of your search results and a further two credits are required to view each page of the Rolls.

Viewing the results of my search revealed a surprise in that my 2nd Great Great Uncle William Wallace Auld was listed. From all of the information I had previously collected on William Wallace Auld and my particular branch of the Aulds, the family could be tracked growing up in the small village of West Calder, before they moved into Edinburgh to continue their shoe/boot making business.

Viewing the results

Wanting to know more I proceeded to view the Rolls. What one gets is a fantastic page of typed information that lists the property in question, who the proprietor of the property is including their address, name and occupation of the tenant if the property is tenanted, plus the rates paid for rent.

Source: Valuation Roll for William Wallace Auld in West Calder [ScotlandsPeople VR108 / 26 / 220]

An extract of the information relating to William Wallace Auld follows:

No.:	1458
Description and Situation of Subject:	House and garden, Manse street, West Calder
Proprietor:	Auld, William Wallace, manager, The Willows, Relugas Road, Grange, Edinburgh
Tenant.:	Peter Gowans, mason
Occupier.:	same
Yearly Rent or Value (£ s. d.):	12 10 0
Feu Duty and Ground Annual (£ s. d.):	0 0 6
Within West Calder Water District (£ s. d.):	12 10 0
Within West Calder Drainage District (£ s. d.):	12 10 0

Source: Extract of Valuation Roll for the County of Mid-Lothian for the Year 1895-96 -
Parish of West Calder (Calder District) [ScotlandsPeople VR108 / 26 / 220]

What we can learn from the Valuation Rolls

Previous research using census records and BDM certificates, although extremely valuable in placing an individual at a particular residence at that point in time, did not provide the researcher the wider picture in relation to real estate assets owned by a person. This is where the Valuation Rolls come into their own and may fill some gaps. The other advantage is that individuals, be it only head of household and property proprietors, can now trace in the middle of the ten year 1891 and 1901 census cycle.

Another fantastic resource offered by ScotlandsPeople. Well worth a visit if you haven't been to the site in a while.

Trove Tuesday - Obituary for Rev. John Auld

Are you researching your own family history and ever wondered how newspapers could assist you in your research. Newspaper obituaries for one are a fantastic resource which can help flesh out your ancestors history, getting you out of the standard birth, marriage and death details that we all collect.

With the wealth of resources that is now available on Trove and new material constantly being added, this Trove Tuesday I will be looking at an obituary that can be found in the Digitised Australian Newspapers section of Trove.

Born 12 April 1842 in Stevenston (AYR, SCT) to parents John Auld and Janet Thomson, John Auld was the second born of ten children. The 1861 Scottish Census lists John as working as an enginer locomotive, but this early predilection was not to be his future calling. By 1873 Reverend John Auld had graduated with an MA from the University of Edinburgh, married Georgina Muir (daughter of John Muir and Elizabeth Millar) on 18 August 1873 at Langlands Brae, Kilmarnock (AYR, SCT), before immigrating to Sydney (NSW, AUS) in December, onboard the Christina & Thompson as passengers in saloon.

After spending a career dedicated to the Presbyterian church, Rev. John Auld passed away 14 August 1912 in Mosman (NSW, AUS). His obituary appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald the following day and reads as follows:

DEATH OF REV. JOHN AULD. 

The death took place at Mosman yesterday of the Rev. John Auld, M.A., who was widely known in the State owing to his prominent connection with the Presbyterian Church. He was a native of Ayrshire, Scotland, and had reached his 70th birthday. In 1873 he took his M.A. degree at the Edinburgh University, and also received his license as a preacher for the Free Presbytery of Edinburgh. In the same year he married Miss Georgina Muir, of Kilmarnock, and set sail for New South Wales. Mr. Auld was the first of three ministers who were sent for by the Church Extension Committee of the Presbyterian Church in this State on the foundation of a provision made by the late Joseph Paxton. Shortly after his arrival, through his success as a preacher, he received competing calls from Wollongong and Dobroyde. He chose the latter, and settled in the charge in 1874. The district having been divided in two he chose the Ashfield portion, and removed to the Liverpool-road church, where he remained for 32 years-till 1906. Two years later he settled at Auburn, but after three years' service he became ill, and he retired to a home at Mosman, there to end his days. For many years he was clerk of the Sydney Presbytery, and in 1888 he was appointed Moderator, the highest office in his Church. The family consists of Rev. J. H. S. Auld, M.A., of Muswellbrook; Mr. David T. Auld, of Scott, Henderson, and Co.; Mr. Robert Auld, of J. J. Weeks, Ltd.; Mr. J. Muir Auld, the well-known artist and Mrs. F. H,Greaves, wife of Mr. F. H. Greaves, a Sydney solicitor. Mrs. Auld also survives. 

Source: DEATH OF REV. JOHN AULD. (1912, August 15). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 5. Retrieved March 3, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15347990

Apart from the fabulous information relating to the church service of Rev. John Auld, what this particular obituary does do is give some invaluable insights into his family. Not only does it list all surviving members of his immediate family, it gives us clues for his daughters marriage as well as occupations of all sons and son-in-law. So, instead of thinking of a newspaper obituary as the last word on your ancestor, think of it as a potential starting point for additional research.

Time permitting I hope to give you regular entries for Trove Tuesday - enjoy.