Previously I have written about my wife’s paternal Great Grandfather who died at a very young age leaving his widow, Agnes, to raise six children with the help of the Parish.
This week, I am looking at the story of my wife’s Great Aunt Louisa. She was the eldest daughter of John McKie. His widow, Agnes, was being supported by the Parish of Kirkinner and Louisa was the eldest of six children that she was bringing up. As each child left school they would immediately require to work and the level of financial support from the Parish under the Poor Law (SCotland) would be adjusted.
Louisa Wood McKie was born on the last day of December 1870 in Kirkinner. She was the eldest of six children. In order they were: Louisa (1870), Andrew (1872), Alexander (1873), John (1875), William (1877), Robert (1879).
In Scotland there were traditions for the carrying of maiden and paternal surnames as a second name. Indeed, the Scottish tradition was to name nearly all the children after a relative. In the North East of Scotland there was also a tradition of giving a middle name after the name of the family owned fishing boat. However I don’t think it is linked to the naming of Glasgow hackney cabs after the children and wife of the driver which is entirely different!
So Louise was carrying a name that I have not identified, probably the surname of Agne’s mother perhaps.
Louisa appears in two Census returns in Kirkinner, 1871 when she was three months old and again in 1881 when she is a ten year old scholar. The big change occurs in the Census return for England in 1891.
Louisa is living in a large household in Christchurch, Hampshire. The house was called Bella Vista and the street is Parsonage Road. A Google Streetview shows that the original housing has long gone. However, Bella Vista was a significantly large house because Louisa was one of six servants who all originated from Scotland. There was a housekeeper, a butler, a lady’s maid, a kitchen housemaid, a kitchen maid and lastly, Louisa who was an under housemaid. She was aged 20.
So, how did she get there ? There are no records to tell me the story but I can make presumptions. The railway systems in Britain were now well established and although it would have been a very long journey, Louisa could at this point in time have travelled by train from Kirkinner, her home village and changed at Carlisle and via London arrived in Bournemouth. She would have been exhausted. This young woman aged in her late teens, leaving her small village for the first time. Leaving her mother who she had assisted in bringing up her brothers. This takes a lot of courage.
The next question is why Bournemouth and how was she recruited. The Census return for the house she is living in gives us some clues, but very few answers. The head of the house is George W G M H Gordon who is aged 46 and is described as ‘living on his own means’. Of course he was, with all those servants. He was a gentleman of means but where his money came from has been difficult to find. Although I have found it very easy to trace Louisa, George Gordon has been elusive. There are no records that I can discover that tell me about George’s background, or that of his wife.
I can only imagine that there were methods of recruitment for servants during this time. Perhaps adverts in parish magazines, or agencies that recruited in specific areas. How Louisa found her job will remain a mystery but this was such a popular occupation, servants in households, during the 19th and early 20th Centuries that travelling these distances would have been common.
Between the 1891 and 1901 Census returns, Louisa has transformed her life. Between those years she has met and married Benjamin Thom Tait. Note his Mother’s maiden name has been given to him. Benjamin Tait was born in Ardrossan, Ayrshre. This was an important port on the West Coast of Scotland, as important as any of the ship building towns on the River Clyde. In 1870, when Benjamin was born, Ardrossan was a shipbuilding and seafaring port that was sending out shiploads of coal from the Ayrshire coal fields. It had a significant railway network and locomotive yards. Louisa’s brother, Andrew, was to later arrive here and settle in the town with a lifetime career as a Railway Guard. There was an enormous amount of employment opportunity here. In 1870 Benjamin’s father, Archibald, was a Steamer’s Engineer, an occupation that my wife’s father practised in Ardrossan.
Again, it is difficult to know how they met. When did Louisa return to Scotland and how did she meet Benjamin. I can only recount the records. Louisa and Benjamin married in 1899 in her Parish church in Kirkinner. They were both 28, she was still a Housemaid and he a Barman. Benjamin’s father is now described as a Gas Manager.
By 1901 they have settled in Irvine, and they have a one year old son, Archibald. Irvine is a coastal town just south of Ardossan and has important links to the shipping industry. It had it’s own shipyards. It was frequently receiving ships to load up with explosives from the Nobel Dynamite Factory. It had strong industrial links with the Ardeer peninsula forming the mouth of the River Irvine. Ardeer is the site of the Dynamite Factory that was developed after 1870 and provided employment for thousands of men and women for nearly a hundred years. Irvine Harbour is currently home to the Scottish Maritime Museum.
Not only have Louisa and Benjamin moved to Irvine, they have moved into 2, High Street. Benjamin is described as a Spirit Merchant and his wife Louisa is the Spirit Merchant’s wife. Also living with them is Louisa’s younger brother Robert who is described as a Spirit Salesman. What the Census return is telling me is that Benjamin is a Publican and he and Louisa are running it with Robert as a Barman. And 2, High Street, Irvine is a pub, The Porthead Tavern.
In 1902 Archibald was joined by a sister, Agnes McKean Tait. Can you see how the Scottish tradition of naming is continued here? Baby Agnes is named after her Grandmother, Agnes McKie whose maiden name was McKean.
In 1903 Archibald and Agnes were joined by their sister, Elizabeth Thom Tait.
According to the 1911 Census return Benjamin and Louisa had a further three children. John (1906), Louisa Jane (1907), and Ethel Cook (1910).
There is no mention of Archibald. Sadly he has died in 1910.
The 1921 Census return shows a dynamic family life with Benjamin still running the Porthead Tavern with Louisa now described as doing ‘House Duties’ which is what most woman running the home were described as doing in all of the Census returns if they did not have an occupation. Their eldest daughter Agnes, 19 years old, is a Typist with a firm of solicitors, Murray Gillies and Wilson. They are still an active business today. Elizabeth at the age of 18 is at home helping her mother with ‘house duties’. Louisa and Ethel are both at school. There is no mention of John who would have been at 15 years old, a school leaver. It is possible that he was visiting another household and was counted there.
The Taits ran the Porthead Tavern for many decades and they were probably a well known family in Irvine.
Agnes McKie, Louise’s mother, was a regular visitor to her daughter in Irvine. Agnes was living in the town of Wigtown and in 1928 on one of her visits to her daughter, she died. Benjamin was responsible for reporting her death.
Benjamin Tait died in 1933. I am not aware of the circumstances other than he died in Llandudno on the Welsh coast. What was he doing there I wonder. He possibly was on holiday in North Wales, but that would have been a lengthy journey even if Benjamin had a motor car at that time. I know that there was a lot of steamer activity to various places such as the Isle of Man from Garlieston in Wigtonshire. Could Benjamin have been on a day trip to Llandudno from Ardrossan ? It would have been a long journey to the North coast of Wales but probably a similar distance to the Isle of Man.
Louisa carried on running the Porthead Tavern after her husband died. In 1954 Louisa died while still living in the tavern. Her death was reported by her son, John, who was living at 18 Annick Road, Irvine at the time.
Of her children I have found one interesting story.
Ethel Cook(e) was the youngest daughter. At the age of 24 in 1934 she married David Ness a professional footballer. He played for Partick Thistle (the Jags), a Glasgow based team favoured by support from a lot of academically minded people in the city. David Ness played 400 games for the Jags and scored 100 goals for them in his career. This put him in the top fifteen in both tables for these instances. He became a publican in Saltcoats and died in 1971.
There is a memorial stone to Benjamin Tait in the Irvine churchyard.
The inscription reads:
| Name | Benjamin Thom Tait |
|---|---|
| Death Age | 63 |
| Birth Date | abt 1870 |
| Death Date | 1933 |
| Cemetery | Irvine Old Churchyard |
| Burial Place | Ayrshire, Scotland |
| Notes | Erected By Louisa McKie Ilmo Her Husband Benjamin Thom Tait D. 1.8.1933 Aged 63y, Their Son Archibald D. 26.4.1910 Aged 10y. Also Their Grandson Benjamin Tait Christie D. 25.3.1934 Aged 1y & 8m. the Above Louisa McKie D. 20.9.1954 Aged 83y, Their Son John McKie Tait D. 1.1.1957 Aged 51y Beloved Husband of Elizabeth Nisbet Wylie |
This stone was erected by Louisa and she included their son Archibald and a grandson also named Benjamin. Louis’s name and that of her son John, were added later. Louisa and her Mother had a pattern for memorial stones that , set in stone, confirm many of the records that I find.
This does not complete the story of Louisa and her family. My intention is to put out a plea for any grandchildren who might still be living in the Irvine area, on an Irvine heritage Facebook group The connections with the Porthead Tavern are too strong for their not to be a memory, an image or photograph, to be found somewhere.
