Descendants of William SCOTT
Notes
Death: Scotland, 1889, Jane Park (nee Scott), Holytown, Lanarkshire
Annie Scott witnessed her older sister Janet's marriage in 1886. She was married in 1900 at Plevna Newmains. Her marriage was witnessed by her half sister Lizzie Scott.
Ann married William Girdwood. Ann Scott and William Girdwood were 2nd cousins. Their common ancestors were John Scott and Sarah Lochhead.
Death: 1949 GIRDWOOD ANNE SCOTT F 83 AYR /AYR 578/01 0416
James Scott was born in the town Bellshill in the parish of Bothwell, Lanarkshire on 21 August 1838.
In 1858 when James Scott (b1838) married his first wife Ann McMillan he was a clerk at the iron works (presumably Coltness Iron works) in Cambusnethan. He had eight children from his first wife: John (b1858), Margaret (b1860), Janet (b1862), Thomas (b1864), Ann (b1866), James (b1868), William (b1871) and Sarah (b1872).
In the 1861 census James was described as "book keeper big Iron", and in 1871 he was a commercial clerk.
Ann Scott (nee McMillan) died on 27 December 1872.
In 1871 there was intense debate over whether it was permissible for a man to marry his deceased wife’s sister. In that year a group of 24 leading Scottish ministers (who were opposed to change) addressed a pamphlet to English Nonconformists (who generally favored change in the law). The Scottish ministers believed that change would jeopardize existing relationships in which the sister of the wife had lived as if she were the sister of the husband as well. As a punch-line, they quoted an English judge, who later became Lord Chancellor, saying that change would lead "to hopeless sinking into the abyss of cold and cynical indifference to the purity of our national life".
The Deceased Wife’s Sister Act remained under debate in the British parliament from 1835 to 1907, when enabling legislation was passed. That was some seventy-two years. So protracted was the debate that by the end of the nineteenth century it had become a matter of satire, even finding its way into Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta Iolanthe, where the Queen of the Fairies sings: "And he shall prick that annual blister, Marriage with deceased wife’s sister". The very thought of such a marriage created a steamy literary genre of its own, with novels like Felicia Skene’s "The Inheritance of Evil" (1849) and Mary Braddon’s "The Fatal Three" (1888). Holman Hunt, the great Pre-Raphaelite artist, whose painting, The Light of the World, is considered the most powerful religious image of the nineteenth century, alienated the Church of England by marrying his deceased wife’s youngest sister in November 1875 at Neuchatel.
James married his first wife Ann's sister, Marion, on 26 February 1879 in Neuchatel Switzerland. Marion and James were married in Switzerland as, according to the above Scottish law one was not permitted to marry a sister of a wife. Ann and Marion's father Thomas McMillan also worked at the Coltness iron foundry as a blacksmith.
The children of James and Marion were: Robert (b1879), Walter (b1882), William (b1884), Elizabeth (b1886) and Alice (b 1888).
In the 1881 census James Scott was still a clerk at the iron works and was living with his second wife Marion McMillan in Pleona Cottage in Cambusnethan.
There was a suggestion from his family that he also went into partnership with another person in the Brass industry. This was thought to have failed mainly due to the other partner.
By the time of the 1891 census James Scott had progressed to be the Commercial Manager at the Iron Works in Coltness. He was listed as having been a cashier at the Iron Works and deceased on his son Robert's Marriage Registration in 1911. His son Robert (b1879) was also employed at the Coltness Iron Works until about 1910. James Scott eventually became the Managing Director of the Coltness Iron Company.(Ref: Robert Scott's obituary 1960)
When James(b1838) married his first wife (Ann McMillan) he declared that his parents were: John Scott (a mason) and Sarah Lochhead (deceased). No record of these parents of James has been identified. No family with a John as father or Sarah as a mother of a James Scott could be found in the 1841 census results in Bothwell. When James married his second wife in Neuchatel he declared his parents were James Taylor and Janet Taylor (nee Scott). On James Scott's(b1838) death certificate in 1901 his son Robert(b1879) described him as illegitimate with his mother as Janet Scott.
Oral family history reports that James was the illegitimate son of William Houldsworth (an upstairs-downstairs affair) and that James got some money but not the name of his father. There is some basis for this view as James appears to have had a long term role at the Coltness iron works. Henry Houldsworth & Sons (ie William and John) bought the Coltness Estate near Wishaw in Lanarkshire in 1836 and set up the Coltness Iron Works in 1839. The Company remained in the control of the Houldsworth family, firstly via Henry's children and later his grandchildren until 1906. When James Scott died in 1901 he had 7,350 pounds worth of shares in the Coltness Ironworks.
A Janet Scott did have parents of John Scott, a mason and Sarah Lochhead as mother who lived in Bothwell. According to John Scott's death certificate Janet died in 1846 only about 7 years after James' birth. So it can be reliably assumed that John Scott and Sarah Lochhead were James' grandparents, not his actual parents. However no record of a James Scott born in 1838 could be found living with a relevant Scott family in either the 1841 or 1851 Bothwell census. But living with John and Sarah Scott in both 1841 and 1851 is a James Taylor - a grandson (born about 1838 in Bothwell). It is assumed that James went by the surname Taylor from at least 1841 to 1851. No record of a James Taylor could be found in Lanark in the 1861 census but a James Scott could be found in the 1861 census living with Ann, his first wife. Note that in James' second marriage certificate from Neuchatel Switzerland he gives his father as James Taylor.
Some five William Houldsworths have been identified in the Houldsworth family. A Sir William Houldsworth was born in 1834 and was clearly too young to be James' father. A possible father was William Henry Houldsworth born in 1798. In the 1841 census William Henry Houldsworth lived at Belvidere House, Barony, with his wife Mary and six children and six servants. It is conceivable that Janet Scott had been an earlier servant at that house when she conceived James Scott. This relationship thus can only be supposition and needs further confirmation. The lands of Belvidere extend to twenty-five acres, and are situated about two miles eastward from Glasgow, on the line of "London Road" leading from Bridgeton to Clyde Iron Works.
It is noted that James Scott's last son was called William Henry Scott. It is possible that he named this child after his father William Henry Houldsworth.
From 1879 until his death in 1901 James lived in Plevna Cottage, Newmains, Cambusnethan.
Will:
Scott James 27/5/1901 Plevna, Newmains, Parish of Cambusnethan, d. 04/03/1901 at Newmains aforesaid, testate Hamilton Sheriff CourtBothwell was a village and a parish of North Lanarkshire. The village stands in the South West corner of the parish, near the right bank of the Clyde. The Clyde was here spanned by a suspension bridge leading to Blantyre Works, and by Bothwell Brig, leading to Hamilton. By road it is 2 1/4 miles NW of the latter town, 8 SE of Glasgow, and 36 1/2 WSW of Edinburgh. The parish church here is a fine Gothic edifice built in 1833 containing 1150 sittings, uprears a massive square tower to the height of 120 feet; E of which tower is the ruined choir of the old collegiate church, an interesting specimen of Second Pointed architecture.
The parish contains also the towns of UDDINGSTON (1 3/8 mile NNW of Bothwell village), BELLSHILL (2 1/4 NE), and HOLYTOWN (4 1/4 ENE), with portions of CALDERBANK (6 NE) and CLELAND (7 E), and the villages of NACKERTON (2 1/2 N by W), Carnbroe (4 NE), MOSSEND (2 3/4 NE), New Stevenston (4 5/8 E by N), Legbranock (5 3/4 ENE), Newhouse (6 3/4 ENE), CHAPELHALL (6 3/8 ENE) CARFIN (5 1/2 E), and NEWARTHILL (5 3/8 E by N).
In the 1901 census Thomas is still single and living with his step mother.
Death: 1924 SCOTT THOMAS M 60 CAMBUSNETHAN /LANARK 628/00 0043
Annie Scott witnessed her older sister Janet's marriage in 1886. She was married in 1900 at Plevna Newmains. Her marriage was witnessed by her half sister Lizzie Scott.
Ann married William Girdwood. Ann Scott and William Girdwood were 2nd cousins. Their common ancestors were John Scott and Sarah Lochhead.
Death: 1949 GIRDWOOD ANNE SCOTT F 83 AYR /AYR 578/01 0416
Death: 1871 SCOTT WILLIAM M 0 CAMBUSNETHAN /LANARK 628/00 0205
Death: 1873 SCOTT SARAH F 0 CAMBUSNETHAN /LANARK 628/00 0092
Birth: Scotland, 1881, Walter James Scott, Cambusnethan, Lanarkshire
Walter Jas Scott witnessed his mother's (Marion) death certificate. He also witnessed the marriage of his brother (Robert) to Janet Lindsay Watson.
Walter was hard of hearing in his old age and used to go round to Robert (Bob) Scott's home and hold his hands behind his ears to hear.
Walter was a steelworks clerk and never married. His death was witnessed by his brother Robert Scott.
Birth: 1883 SCOTT WILLIAM HENRY M CAMBUSNETHAN /LANARK 628/00 0502
According to his death registration William did not marry.
Birth: 1885 SCOTT ELIZABETH F CAMBUSNETHAN /LANARK 628/00 0634
Elizabeth signed her brother William's death registration in 1938 as Elizabeth Scott, sister.
According to her death registration Elizabeth did not marry.
Birth: 1887 SCOTT ALICE VICTORIA F CAMBUSNETHAN /LANARK 628/00 0435
Marriage: 1913 FRASER FRANK THOMSON SCOTT ALICE VICTORIA CAMBUSNETHAN /LANARK 628/00 0087
Death: 1974 FRASER ALICE VICTORIA MCMILLAN SCOTT F 87 MOTHERWELL AND WISHAW /NORTH LANARKSHIRE 570/00 0955
Marriage: 1913 FRASER FRANK THOMSON SCOTT ALICE VICTORIA CAMBUSNETHAN /LANARK 628/00 0087
Marriage: 1857 SCOTT Margaret, GREENEP Benjamin, Liverpool, St. Luke Liverpool 2111LP/2/419
Marriage: Margaret Scott
Spouse: Benajmin Greenep
Year of Registration: 1857
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
District: Liverpool (1837-1934)
County: Lancashire
Volume: 8b
Page: 214
