Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

James, Charles, and Harry

Photos can often be confusing. Here are the three sons of James Whitecross Harkness, my father’s uncle; in other words, these are my father’s cousins. My mother has written on the back of the photo that the youngest (Harry Reid) died in the war. The eldest, James, was a conscientious objector. He is also the father of my second cousin James Whitecross Harkness – with whom I exchanged emails. The middle son is Charles Robertson.³

They were born in 1909 (James), 1913 (Charles Robertson) and 1916 (Harry Reid). However, it is not so simple to see 2-3 years difference in age between the two youngest. Perhaps the boy standing is the youngest – Harry Reid.

As mentioned, my mother wrote on the backside of the photo of my father’s three cousins, “Uncle Jim’s 3 children from Edinburgh.” ‘Uncle Jim’ was James Whitecross Harkness born 1882 (1882-1952). He married Charlotte Riddle in 1908 (as already mentioned).

She also wrote, “Youngest one killed in the war. The tallest was a conscientious objector.” Thus, the small boy standing must be Harry Reid as he seems to be the youngest. The seated boy is probably Charles Robertson. As mentioned, the eldest is thus, the ‘conscientious objector’ James Whitecross Harkness, born 1909,  and the father of my ‘email friend’, my second cousin James Whitecross Harkness (b. 1938).⁴ 

Email 28 October 2007 from James

On sending the above photo to my second cousin, James Whitecross Harkness, he replied:

Hi, Ian

Thanks for your recent Email with old photos. The photo “unknown 2 ” is quite probably one of my father and his two brothers, Charlie and Harry. Charlie died in the 1980’s and Harry was killed in Belgium in 1944 in the second world war. I have never seen this photo before and it is quite exciting to see it now. I have a photo of my father as a very young baby and one in his early twenties, but nothing in between of his boyhood or teenage years.

Unfortunately, I do not recognise the other photos; but the one of the gentleman on his own, judging by the dress and period, could be one of a Harkness relative of my grandfather Jimmy. But I am only guessing.

The very old couple, I do not think could be my grandfather’s ancestors. It’s because of the fact that they look very old indeed; but it would be exciting if they were William Harkness (born 1834) and Lillias Hunter ( born 1838 (sic) –should be 1837).⁵⁶ My daughter in law Carol does not seem to have been able to ascertain their dates of death unfortunately, when compiling her family tree. However if they both survived into the 20th century, then this could be them. I do not think they were Isabella Whitecross’s parents because James Whitecross lived only from 1822 to 1876.

When I get the chance I will contact my cousin Charlie and see if he has more knowledge of our grandfather’s brothers and sisters. His sister Patricia keeps in touch with the lady in Australia, Margaret Cowan. I think she was Willie’s grandaughter and there may be some old photos and information available from that source. I am afraid the only contact I have now with Charlie and Patricia is at Christmas card time; but if I can ascertain if they have Email addresses it could open up new avenues.

I have also written to my sister in Canada, but I doubt if she will have any ideas; she has been away from Scotland since 1963, but I have sent her a copy of “unknown 2” to let her see her father as a young boy

All the best,
James

Discussion

As you can see, James’ emails gave me many ‘leads’ – but there is a limit to how much time you have to investigate everything. 

I started to investigate ‘Harry Reid.’ This is something I wrote about in more detail elsewhere in this book. I hoped to try and clear some vague details about my father’s life and his photos – while ‘I’m on a roll,’ so to speak. The photo of the three cousins must have been taken sometime after the First World War. 

Notes

³ The mother of James’ wife (Charlotte Riddle) was called Robertson (Paul Harkness’ family tree). The name goes back to the early 1800s. It seems the Robertsons were ‘gentleman’s servants’. And Charles is the name of Charlotte’s grandfather (also a gentleman’s servant) (see appendix: “Paul’s Family tree” Another interesting point is that the family moved to 14 Eyre Place.

⁴ The Alexander/James / Harkness / Whitecross /Edinburgh connection goes all the way back to the early 1800s. See post for “Paul’s Family Tree”.

⁵ I include the marriage certificate of William Harkness and Lillias Hunter in 1857. This is of great interest, but I don’t have the time to research it further for the time being. The reproduction of the certificate is of a poor quality, but they were married in Edinburgh. But their street of residence is difficult to decipher. This marriage is also reported in Paul Harkness’ family tree (see appendix). But of perhaps more interest is the fact that Lillias Hunter was born in 1838 in Lerwick, Shetland (see appendix). This is perhaps a clue to the ‘Spanish Armada’ connection of my father. 

⁶ This is certainly one hypothesis.

As Lillias was born in Lerwick, Shetland (not Orkney as written by my mother on the backside of the photo); but at least this is a neighbouring group of islands.  Moreover, the note made by my mother is perhaps confusing, it is written: “Whitecrosses – Granny Harkness’ (Alex’s) parents. Orkney or Wick.

There are two problems with this hypothesis. First of all, the photo seems to have been taken outside an apartment – which judging from the door and walls seems to be an apartment built in the late 1800s or early 1900s in an urban area.  

The fact that the apartment did not have electric lighting might explain why the photo was taken OUTSIDE the apartment (Electric lighting in homes was not common in the late nineteenth and early nineteenth century). But the fact it is a tenement building also suggests that the photo was taken in an urban area such as Edinburgh and not in a rural area such as Orkney or Shetland.  However, popular photography was introduced in the late nineteenth century.

The second objection to the hypothesis is that the Whitecrosses were not related to Lillias Hunter! (see Paul’s family tree). 

In other words, this is just a hypothesis, but not one which is very credible.  

But at least we have established something here – that the note on the backside of the photo should have said “ORIGINATING FROM Orkney or Wick” (as the photo seems to have been taken in an urban area). More credibility is given to the idea of my father’s connections with Wick regarding the fact that he moved to Wick with my mother, and brother Gavin, in the late 1960s. However, this book is not an Agatha Christie novel. The reader is not given the ‘answers’, but has to find the answers themselves. So this is not only a ‘boring’ family history, but a game of discovery. And the fact this will be published online gives readers the opportunity to contribute.