BROUGHTY FERRY GUIDE AD ADVERTISER, 3RD JANUARY 1919
DEATH OF WELL-KNOWN DUNDEE BUSINESSMAN
By the death of Mr John Bald, which occurred on Saturday morning at his residence, Cairneymount, Grove Road, West Ferry, the doyen of Dundee businessmen has been removed.
Mr Bald was born at Cairneyhill, near Dunfermline, eighty-two years ago, and served his apprenticeship as a draper with Messrs W & J McLaren, drapers, Dunfermline. He afterwards went to Edinburgh, where he was in the service of McLaren, Oliver & Co, and came to Dundee in 1865.
Cairneyhill Main Street
He started business as a linen merchant with Mr R C McGregor under the firm name of McGregor & Bald, and the firm continued under that style until the death of Mr McGregor in 1898. Five years afterwards Mr Bald assumed his son, Mr James C Bald, as a partner, and the business has since been carried on under the firm name of John Bald & Son.
Mr Bald retired from active business life three years ago. He was a unionist in politics, and an esteemed member of St Stephen’s Parish Church, Broughty Ferry. Mr Bald is survived by one son and two daughters.
Welcome to the start of another series – I would describe this series as a combination of local and family history. The entries for Carnock parish in the Dunfermline Register, which was printed periodically from 1837 to 1859, contain voter’s details, teacher’s details, heritor’s details, transport details and some extras.
I thought the numerous mentions of Cairneyhill in the Carnock parish entry in the 1837 Dunfermline Register were very interesting.
David Erskine of Carnock Sir C Halkett of Pitfirrane R Hogg of New Liston & Clune Adam Rolland of Luscar and Camps George Mill of Blair
SACRAMENTAL FAST
Thursday before the first Sunday of March; and, Thursday before the third Sunday of July.
TEACHERS
A MacGregor, parochial W Reid, Cairneyhill Seminary for Young Ladies, Mrs More, Cairneyhill Manse
PARISH OF CARNOCK FUND SOCIETY FOR DEATHS
Thos Reid, preses & treasurer H Bruce, Clerk
CAIRNEYHILL SUBSCRIPTION LIBRARY
Rev J More, preses & treasurer J Bruce, librarian
CARRIERS
Heron and Mitchell, to Saline, on Monday; Edinburgh, on Tuesday; and Auchterarder, on Thursday. W Erskine, to Dollar and Crieff, on Tuesday; and Edinburgh, on Friday
I am so excited to start a new family history Cairneyhill series – the censuses of Cairneyhill, beginning with 1841, 4 pages of the original schedule at a time.
I do hope all of you with Cairneyhill ancestors will find this useful.
EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1957
EDINBURGH WOMAN KILLED BY VAN
Three persons were injured – one fatally – in road accidents in Edinburgh during the weekend.
One Saturday night, Mrs Catherine Sandilands Taylor or Robertson (76), 7 Downfield Place, Edinburgh, was knocked down by a motor van at the junction of Learmonth Terrace and Queensferry Road, Edinburgh. She received head injuries from which she died.
William McIntosh (34), of 38 Pilton Park, Edinburgh, received head injuries when his motor cycle collided with a ‘keepleft’ sign at Atholl Crescent, on Saturday night. He was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where his condition early today was reported to be satisfactory.
On Sunday morning, Mrs Margaret Cullerton (72), 44 Stewart Terrace, Edinburgh, was knocked down by a motor cycle in Robertson Avenue, Edinburgh, and was taken to the Royal Infirmary with head injuries. Her condition early today was also reported to be satisfactory.
THREE INJURED
Alexander Campbell Neil (21), commercial traveller, residing at 38 MacDuff Street, East Wemyss, is in hospital at Kirkcaldy following a head-on collision between his car and another on the Kirkcaldy-Leven road near West Wemyss Toll, late on Saturday night. His condition was comfortable today.
In the other car were blacksmith John Matson and his wife Anne. They were driving home to Ashdene, Cairneyhill, from East Wemyss, where they had been visiting friends.
Main Street, Cairneyhill
Mr Matson, whose nose was broken, and his wife, with a broken ankle, were also taken to Kirkcaldy General Hospital, but left after treatment.
A man who chased his wife along Main Street, Cairneyhill, with a table knife in his hand was sent to prison for 30 days at Dunfermline Sheriff Court today.
He is Arthur Devlin (42), labourer, The Yews, Main Street, Cairneyhill. Devlin pleaded guilty to having, on January 18, in Main Street, assaulted his wife, Margaret Devlin, kicked her, and committed a breach of the peace.
Main Street, Cairneyhill
The depute procurator-fiscal, Mr W G Chalmers, said Mrs Devlin stated that her husband came home from work about 10.30pm. He had been drinking and began to swear at her. She put on her coat and he said: ‘Get out quick if you value your life’. He chased her out of the house with a table knife in his hand. She ran along Main Street and when he caught up with her he kicked her several times.
The police were sent for and Devlin was arrested.
DOMESTIC TIFF
An agent for Devlin said accused had been working in the kitchen and had merely had the knife in his hand without intending to do anything with it. It was largely a matter of a domestic tiff.
Sheriff R R Kydd sentenced Devlin to 30 days’ imprisonment on each charge, the sentences to run concurrently.
Seventy-one-year-old John L Napier, 10 Rose Crescent, Dunfermline, until recently a bus driver, was ordered to undergo a driving test yesterday. He has held a licence for 46 years.
At Dunfermline Sheriff Court Naples admitted that on January 26, in Main Street, Cairneyhill, he drove a bus without due care. The bus collided with and damaged a stationary motor lorry.
Main Street
When Naples retired from the employment of Messrs Alexander a few weeks ago he was their oldest driver.
He told a reporter after the court proceedings, ‘I intend to take the driving test, because I have my own car. I feel I have two or three years driving left in me yet.’
When Sheriff Middleton in court expressed surprise at accused’s age his agent, Mr A P MacBain, commented: ‘Marvellously well preserved, my Lord.’
The fact that Naples had only two previous offences – one of them in 1936 – in his long career showed he had exercised considerable care. It was dark at that time of the accident and there was a storm of sleet and snow.
Welcome to the twelfth (and final) part in a series, a list of the people, with address and occupation where known, who were connected with Cairneyhill in 1940.
(Please see a note at the end of this introduction regarding the next series particularly for my blog readers looking for their ancestors in Cairneyhill).
In 1940 there were 136 people listed (a substantial reduction on 1935) with 82 addresses specified (exactly the same as 1935!) and 22 occupations (a substantial increase on 1935) comprising 6 shop keepers, 4 small holding workers, 2 railway employees, 2 blacksmiths, 1 piggery keeper, 1 joiner, 1 doctor, 1 air raid precaution warden, 1 Church leader, 1 slaughter house keeper, 1 hall owner and 1 garage owner.
This compares with 147 people listed in 1935 (a quite substantial increase on 1930) with 82 addresses specified (again a large increase on 1930) and 15 occupations (a slight increase on 1930) comprising 6 shop keepers, 2 smiths, 1 doctor, 1 Church leader, 1 slaughter house keeper, 1 hall and rooms keeper, 1 hall keeper, 1 joiner and 1 pig keeper, 117 people listed listed in 1930 with 32 address specified and 11 occupations comprising 2 farmers, a Church minister, 1 smith, 4 shop keepers, 1 petrol pump attendant, 1 joiner and 1 weaver, 120 people listed in 1925 with 25 addresses specified, and 7 occupations comprising 1 Church minister, 1 joiner, 4 shopkeepers and 1 smith, 135 people listed in 1920 with 14 occupations comprising 1 Church minister, 2 joiners, 1 market gardener, 1 slaughter house keeper, 6 shop keepers, 1 station master, 1 smith and 1 weaver, 131 people listed in 1915 with 20 occupations comprising 10 shopkeepers, 2 publicans, 1 farmer, 1 Church minister, 1 smith, 2 slaughter house keepers, 1 market gardener, 1 joiner and 1 weaver, 110 people listed in 1905 with 10 occupations comprising 4 weavers, 1 publican, 1 esquire, 2 Church ministers, 1 smith and 1 shop owner, 106 people listed in 1895 with 9 occupations comprising 5 weavers, 1 Church minister, 1 blacksmith and 2 joiners, 98 people listed in 1885 with 17 occupations comprising 10 weavers, 2 Church ministers, 2 blacksmiths, 2 joiners and one farmer, with 75 people listed in 1875 with 22 occupations comprising 14 weavers, 2 Church ministers, 2 wrights, 3 farmers and one joiner, with 65 people listed in 1865 with 27 occupations comprising 22 weavers, one blacksmith, one joiner, 2 wrights and one Church minister and with 66 people listed in 1855 with 4 occupations comprising 3 weavers and one blacksmith.
Hopefully those of you with ancestors from Cairneyhill will find this list useful.
I have now reached the end of my series on the valuation rolls for Cairneyhill. My next series particularly for those people searching for their ancestors in Cairneyhill, published every 6 weeks or so, will be the censuses for Cairneyhill from 1841 through to 1911 (or even 1921 if the National Records of Scotland publishes the 1921 census within the time of writing of my census series) blogged as 2 or 3 pages of the original census returns at a go.
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Cairneyhill Main Street
William Adie, Main Street William Allan, Yews, Main Street, Cairneyhill William Appleford David Bald Richard W Bate, Nashdome George Beattie, Cairneyhill Station Mrs Margaret P Bedborough, Main Street Mrs Mary Cairns, Main Street Margaret Cook Peter Davidson Mrs Margaret Deas, Main Street Arthur Devlin, Yews, Main Street James Donald Jean Downie Mrs Effie Drummond, Burnbrae Mrs Agnes Drummond, Burnbrae Mrs Effie Drummond, Burnbank Agnes Drummond, Main Street Agnes Drummond, store James Duffin, Main Street David Duncan Doctor John C Duncanson Doctor John C Duncanson, smithy Doctor John C Duncanson, Main Street Mrs Grace G R Erskine William Erskine Mrs John Erskine David Erskine Grace Erskine, Bankview John Erskine, glebe Elizabeth Fairley Elizabeth Fairley, warden’s post James Fairley, Rose Gardens James Fairley, Main Street Margaret Ferguson Robert Finlayson, West End Robert Finalyson, Ewhurst Robert Finlayson, coal depot, Cairneyhill station Christina Flint Reverend William Forbes, manse James Forrester, Main Street Thomas Fotheringham, Main Street William Fotheringham Thomas Fotheringham, Drummormie Thomas Fotheringham, small holding number 4, Bankhead David Fowler, small holding number 3, Bankhead Charles Gillespie, Main Street Ethel M Glover, Holm Cottage Adam Hadden David Halkett Mrs Robert Hall, Burnside Cottage James Hamilton Alexander Hamilton, store William Hepburn, Main Street William Hill, Main Street William D Hill Peter Hogg, Main Street Barbara M Howieson Mrs Allison Hunter, smithy William Hunter, Burnbank James Hunter William Hynd, shop, Main Street John Kennedy, 1 Mansion Buildings Michael Kirk David Kirk, Main Street John Laird Jean Lawson, Main Street William Lindsay Thomas Lowery Mrs Mary S Lowrie, West End George Luke, West Lodge Andrew Lumsden Mrs Helen Lumsden, West End Mrs Helen Lumsden, slaughter house Andrew Lumsden Janet Lumsden, Yews, Main Street Mrs Helen Lumsden, Yews, Main Street Robert McAllister, Bankview James MacArthur Christopher MacConnell James MacDonald, Carsehill Alexander MacDonald, Main Street James MacDonald, Main Street James MacDonald, Nashdome James MacDonald, Pleasance Norman MacDonald, Pentland View, Pleasance James MacDonald, Cairnbank, Pleasance William MacGuire, Main Street Peter MacKenzie, Main Street Mrs Mary A MacKenzie, Main Street Mrs Margaret Marshall Mrs Annie Matson, Ashdene William Meikle John Milne John Mitchell, Main Street James Mitchell, Bellabank James Mitchell, Glen Cottage Mrs Annie Morgan, Mansions Mrs Annie Morgan, hall John Morris, Main Street Christina B W Patterson Ernest Pattie, The Knowe Archibald Penman, shop and store, Main Street John Penrice Alexander Philip, Ewhurst Robert Philp, small holding number 1, Bankhead George Reid Sebastian Rennie Jack Rennie John Rennie, garage, Main Street John Rennie, shop, Mansion House John Robertson, Main Street James A Robertson, Main Street John Robertson, Catherine Place John Robertson, joiner’s shop Isabella G Robertson, shop James Ross George Russell, Main Street Mrs Margaret Russell John Scott, Bellabank Donald S Sellar, Main Street William Sharp, Yews, Main Street Donald Smith William Stewart Thomas Templeman Thomas Thomson, Mansions John Thomson, 4 Mansion Buildings David Thomson, Threshend Thomas Thomson, Threshend Mrs Christina Watt, Erskine Cottage Alexander Watt Walter Weir, Yews, Main Street Hugh Wildridge, piggery, Braefoot John Wilson James Wishart, small holdings number 2, Bankhead Alexander Wright, Main Street James Wright Mrs Margaret Wright, Batavia Cottage
BURNTISLAND LOCAL NOTES AND NEWS: DEATH OF CENTENARIAN
Our Grand Old Lady, who was in her 102nd year, Miss Catherine Duncanson, passed away early on Monday morning in a local nursing home.
Miss Duncanson was a native of Cairneyhill, near Dunfermline, and although most of her working years were spent in Glasgow, she always maintained a strong interest in her native district.
Main Street, Cairneyhill
Fully twelve years ago she removed from Glasgow and came to reside with her niece, Miss Helen Duncanson, Heriot Gardens, and up to quite recently enjoyed good health and all her faculties. Indeed when she celebrated her 101st birth in November last, she was a wonderful old lady, hale and hearty, able to write her own letters (and she had many correspondents), and an untiring knitter.
Since the outbreak of the war her hobby was knitting socks and comforts for the men in the Forces, and she made hundreds of such articles.
She was a staunch and devoted Church-woman, and even after passing her century, attended the services at the Erskine UF Church.
Before her death, Miss Duncanson had been in the nursing home for a few weeks.
Here is the 3rd and final (unless I find any other curiosities about this Cairneyhill business) part in my mini-series on mink in Cairneyhill ….
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DUNDEE COURIER, FRIDAY 19 MAY 1950
SHE’S BOSS AT THE FUR COAT FARM
At the Rawlence’s smallholding at Burnside, Cairneyhill,near Dunfermline, is a sight that would turn any woman green with envy.
Scrambling about behind the wire of roomy cages are a score of little animals that might have strayed out of a Walt Disney cartoon.
They range in colour from a rich dark brown to black. They have bushy tails, a perky expression and a waistcoat of slate-blue fur.
They’re minks – fur coats on four legs valued at £300.
Ex WAAF, Miss Norma Rawlence, is the boss here. She looks after her valuable livestock with special care, although at the moment mink farming is a sideline.
Norma Rawlence feeds a tit-bit to one of the minks.
Norma has to devote most of her time to the ordinary business of the smallholding. Her only assistants are her two brothers, Ted and Bill. They are employed at Crombie with the Admiralty and don’t have a great deal of time to devote to the work.
It was Bill’s idea to start breeding mink. A pal of his in the navy told him how to go about it.
At the beginning of their venture the Rawlence family bought six female and three male minks, each costing £25.
So far they can’t say it’s been a paying proposition. But they hope the next few litters will recoup them.
‘DEARS – BUT THEY BITE’
A ‘Courier and Advertiser’ reporter, who called at Burnside, found Norma feeding what she calls ‘her dears’. But they’re very fierce and must be handled cautiously.
‘We’ve all had bad bites’ said Norma ‘but nothing serious’.
‘I can’t say we’ve been very lucky so far with our stock’ she added.
‘Minks breed only once a year. Only two of the first litter of 13 survived. And when I saw the second lot I could have cried – 14 males and one female.’
‘We sold the males – each pelt bought about £5. But naturally we want females to increase our stock’.
Fortunately minks are cheap to feed. They love such things as fish heads and vary their diet with fresh vegetables.
Norma says that at one time about 70 pelts were required to make a fur coat. But now that coats are longer more are required.
Before the war a mink coat cost anything up to £1500. Today you may have to give as much as £4000.
Mink never goes out of fashion. When a man makes a fortune he buys his wife a mink coat. This keeps up the price.
Queen Victoria started the mink fashion. She wore a mink coat on her honeymoon.
And how about a mink coat for Miss Rawlence herself? Norma ‘couldn’t care less’.
Quite some time ago I published a blog post on the mink farm that used to be at Cairneyhill. I have since discovered further information to be featured in this present blog post and another blog post, including, this time, a photo of the mink!
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DUNDEE EVENING TELEGRAPH, FRIDAY 7 JANUARY 1949
DOWN ON THE MINK FARM IN FIFE
Half a pound of condemned meat, fish, cereals, vegetables, tomato juice, and five drops of cod liver oil – all mixed up in one dish. A peculiar mixture, but delicious fare for a healthy young mink.
On this daily diet, ten young mink at Cairneyhill, near Dunfermline, are thriving and growing fur which some woman would be proud to wear.
This small farm was started just over a year ago. It is in charge of the part-owner, Miss Norma Rawlence, whose home is at 11 Main Road, Crombie. With her two brothers, she shared in the initial outlay of about £250.
Everything is now going smoothly in the little herd, but they have had their ups and downs like every other family.
Originally they numbered nine, but one died from an unknown cause. When 18 young were born in May, the Rawlences thought they were well on the way to building up their farm.
All but two – a male and a female – died.
The wife of a mink breeder in Oregon, USA, was holidaying in Fife. She heard of the venture at Cairneyhill and visited Miss Rawlence. She suggested the young had died because their diet had been changed.
Cairneyhill Mink
When rearing their young, the mink get a hard boiled egg between three every day, in addition to their normal diet.
Everything has gone well since, and the minks are happy captives, especially in biting cold weather when everyone else is shivering.
But care has to be taken that their bed boxes are dry and draughtless, otherwise they contract pneumonia and die overnight.
The mink don’t like hot weather. During the heat wave last July they wilted and were uncomfortable until a biscuit tinful of cold water was put in each of their cages. Within seconds they were swimming in the tins.
‘We have had many enquiries from people who would like to keep mink’, said Miss Rawlence, ‘but none so far as I know has started a farm. The initial outlay is the drawback with mink I think’.
‘We hope to get more young next May and be able to sell some pelts’.
Miss Rawlence’s ambition is to breed mutation mink. They are freak animals which can be made almost any colour. Pastel blue is her choice.
Cairneyhill People and History 