This week I am writing about my wife’s Grandfather, Andrew McKie. The second born child of John McKie and Agnes McKean of Braehead, Kirkinner in Galloway, formerly Wigtownshire.
I have previously described John McKie’s tragic death and Agnes McKies reliance on the Parish for Poor Law relief. Agnes had six children to care for and as each one became of working age the amount of relief was reduced by the parish. Eventually Agnes’s children grew up and left home. This was enabled by the arrival of a booming railway development throughout the United Kingdom.
To start, here is the list of John and Agnes’s children from the 1881 Census return.
| Louisa Wood McKie | 1870 – 1954 |
| Andrew McKie | 1872 – 1951 |
| Alexander McKie | 1873 – 1952 |
| John McKean McKie | b. 1875 |
| William Cumming McKie | 1877 – 1903 |
| Robert McKie | 1879 – |
Andrew was born in the Parish of Kirkinner. The McKie family lived in a cottage in Braehead, a hamlet a short way out of Kirkinner. I have tried to locate where they might have lived but there is little of the original hamlet remaining and the main road is lined with new build bungalows.
In 1872 when Andrew was born there was no rail link to Braehead or Kirkinner. Then, a branch line from Newton Stewart to Whithorn arrived in 1875. This line came very close to the hamlet and it would have been a focal point of village life for years to come. Consider though that there would have been a lot of navigation and engineering going on to get the line through. Young Andrew would have been watching all of this with interest. I conjure up in my own mind images of the Railway Children with regular steam trains coming close to the McKie cottage.
The railway line cutting through the hamlet of Braehead. (OS map section courtesy of National Library of Scotland)
Throughout the 1870’s there would have been a lot of activity laying this railway and getting it up and running. It would have been developed and owned by a private company and passengers would have been one of the commodities but the main aim would have been for carriage of goods and minerals for industry and building.
At the time of the 1881 Census all the McKie children were living with their mother who was described as a Dressmaker. They were at school or at home. When they were not doing their chores for their mother they would be aware of the railway that had arrived in their community.
Over the next ten years Louisa has left home and become a Domestic Servant in Bournemouth. Andrew’s younger brother Alexander had also left home and had become a Gardner.
Andrew remained at home. In the 1891 Census return Agnes was still a Dressmaker. Andrew was an Agricultural Labourer. This was one of the most labour intensive occupations in Galloway and the Borders in Scotland. It was not a well-paid occupation but it would have been providing for his Mother and her other three children.
The rail network in Wigtownshire was now well established with a line going through to Port Patrick and the line to Whithorn travelled through the port of Garlieston.
The rail network after 1872 in Wigtownshire. The branch line going up from Glenluce would have been connecting this southwestern part of Scotland with Ayrshire. The line down to Garlieston enabled passengers to travel by steam to the Isle of Man , and to Liverpool. (Map from The Railway Atlas of Scotland, David Spaven (2015).
There is little doubt in my mind that the arrival of the railways in Wigtownshire influenced Andrew’s next step. During the next ten years and by the time he was 27 years old, Andrew had left home and arrived in Ardrossan. He was working for the railways.
Map from The Railway Atlas of Scotland, David Spaven (2015) Page 147
Ardrossan in the late 19th Century was a significant ship building port and export hub on the West Coast of Ayrshire, just below the Firth of Clyde. Coal was the main export. It was being mined from seams that ran from Lanarkshire through Ayrshire and down as far as Galloway. It had fast been developing as a deep sea port for passengers and trade. It served ports in Belfast, Arran, Liverpool, Fleetwood and the Isle of Man. The port imported, exported and built ships to do that. All this activity needed rail infrastructure. By the time that Andrew arrived, Ardrossan was a thriving industrial port with the need for workers at every level. Transport at this time was such a manual activity that employment would have been readily available. The railway companies would have given good prospects to their workers and that included a pension.
The 1901 Census return for Scotland shows Andrew living at 7 Seton Street in Ardrossan.
Andrew was a lodger in the house of Andrew Ferguson and his wife. There is a Wigtownshire connection because Andrew Ferguson was born in Penninghame in Wigtownshire, not far from where Andrew McKie came from. I can imagine that a lot of employment opportunity came from word of mouth and that the two Andrew’s may have known one another in Wigtownshire. Or had a mutual connection who recommended Andrew Mckie to the Fergusons. Andrew McKie was aged 29 in 1901 and he, like Andrew Ferguson, were Railway Goods Guards. Also lodging with them is Charles Jones who is either 21 or 24, the enumerators mark has crossed the column out in a confusing way. Charles was born in England. He is also a Railway Goods Guard.
Everybody wished to be a Train Driver and those who became one would have been well paid at the turn of the beginning of the 20th Century, earning about four times that of an Agricultural Labourer. Railway Goods Guards were an essential element of the train, protecting not only goods but also passengers who became prey to travelling conmen and tricksters. Andrew McKie would have had a good occupation at this stage of his life with prospects that he might never have had in Wigtownshire. At the age of 29 he would also probably be looking to settle permanently in Ardrossan.
Andrew McKie married Agnes Scott on 24 November 1905. Their wedding took place at 19 Seton Street, just down the road from the Ferguson’s. It was quite common to get married in a house. This was a regular marriage in Scotland, and conducted according to the forms of the Church of Scotland.
Agnes Jones was recorded as living in Ardrossan. Her father, a Joiner, is deceased but a witness at her wedding was Charles Jones. My guess is that Andrew McKie and Charles Jones, previously lodgers with the Ferguson’s, all Railway Goods Guards, having become friends and introduced Andrew to Agnes. She was aged 23, ten years younger than Andrew.
They moved to Glasgow Road, Ardrossan where they lived for the rest of their lives.
The only know photograph of Andrew McKie and his wife Agnes with their daughter Mary. Probably taken in the 1940’s. (courtesy of the late Roger McKie).