Mary Hannah was born in Newton, Ayr in the county of Ayrshire on the 16th February 1859. The sixth child of William and Agnes, her siblings were Robert (1844), Margaret (1847), Janet (1849), Agnes (1852), Jane (1854), William (1957), Isabella (1861), Thomas Baird (1863) and John Cooper (1867). She is listed as a two year old on the 1861 census, living with parents and family at Douglas Street, Kilmarnock.
Her mother Agnes died in December 1873, and father William in August the following year.
On the 22nd of December 1876, Mary married Dugald Brown, her next door neighbour, in a ceremony which took place at 2 Berkeley Terrace, Glasgow. The service was conducted by Robert Stuart, the Minister of St. Marks Church of Scotland.
Dugald was born in Tollcross (now part of Glasgow) between 1850 and 1852 and was the second son of John Brown, recorded as a harbour labourer in 1876, and Ann Brown (m.s. Brown). John and Ann were probably from Islay (an island off the west coast of Scotland) and almost certainly spoke Gaelic as their first language. Dugald had six other brothers and sisters.
There are diverse accounts of the numbers of Gaels in Glasgow prior to the more accurate census results of 1881. The census of 1881 calculates the Gaelic speaking community of the city at over 11,000 people rising to a peak of around 18,500 in 1901. There are about 6500 Gaelic speakers in Glasgow today.
At the time of their marriage, Mary described her occupation as a cotton loomer (the word loomer is almost illegible), and her address as 37 Hill Street, Glasgow. Dugald was a hammerman, and lived at 35 Hill Street.
Mary and Dugald had at least six children, Rodger (16/1/1877), Margaret (Maggie) (1878 in England), John (1880) and Isabella (unknown). Two younger brothers of Rodger were known to exist but theirs is a sad tale. According to Mary Milne (1927), great-granddaughter of Mary and Dugald, both of them joined the Merchant Navy and were killed (eaten) by sharks. The youngest brother fell in the sea and the older brother dived in to save him. Mary remembers the trauma of their deaths still being with the family when she was growing up. It is hoped that this event can eventually be found in the official records.
In the 1881 census Mary and Dugald were living at 3 Alice Place, Abbey, Renfrew, just south of Glasgow. Dugald’s job must have been very insecure and dependent on the heavy industry of the day, either shipbuilding or the railway as Maggie was born in England not long after Mary and Dugald were married. It is likely that he was a hammerer of steel or some other type of metal.
Glasgow around the time had attracted a great number of immigrants, particularly between 1850 and 1900, to feed the industrial revolution. Some 30% of the population were from Ireland by the end of the 19th Century showing the sheer scale and attraction of Glasgow at that time. Glasgow of all the major West Coast ports, including Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol was the biggest of its day. Unfortunately this had the drawback of over population, slum housing and almost unimaginable living conditions. Anderston, in Glasgow, where Mary and Dugald were living at the time of their marriage, was a slum area with thousands of people living in tenements and was within easy reach of the main railway station and the river Clyde. Many of the poorer tenements, including Hill Street, were demolished by the turn of the century.
Dugald and Mary probably lived out the rest of their lives in Glasgow. Dugald died in 1922 at 22 Centre Street of senility and heart disease. Dugald’s death certificate was witnessed by his daughter, Isabella Douglas of 13 Ardgowan Place, Glasgow. She records her grandfather John Brown as a ‘Railway Engine Driver’ on Dugald’s death certificate. John is also recorded as a coal waggon driver in 1859.
Unfortunately little else is known of Mary. Dugald’s death registration records that he was a widower of Mary Hannah when he died, however to date a death entry for her has not been established.
Thanks to Neil Brown for this contribution
