Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

As mentioned, my family lived in Dunoon around 1940 to 1942 or 1943, some years before I was born. This has to do with my naval service at Holy Loch. At least two of his degaussing vessels (‘Girl Ethel’ and ‘Young John’) were docked at the Holy Loch, Argyll (Ardnadam Pier, Sandbank). My parents may have lived at Rannoch Cottage, 85 Queen Street, Dunoon,²⁶ Scotland, where my oldest brother Alexander was born.

Letters between my parents during the war

Where did my parents actually live during the war years?

The letters that I have read make it clear that my mother was living for most of the time in Edinburgh, Scotland, during and after the war. She lived at 2 Chesser Loan, Edinburgh. In other words, the official documentation of birth certificates and national ID cards has misled me. 

New Hypothesis

I can only propose a hypothesis here; my three elder brothers were born at home and not in a hospital. Thus, it is likely that my parents rented accommodation for a short period, where my mother could give birth to her sons. In other words, they probably rented 85 Queen Street in Dunoon, Argyll, so my mother could be near my father when she gave birth to my eldest brother Sandy (see birth certificate). Stuart was born at Church Square, Dunoon. But they probably never lived there on a permanent basis. My father’s ship was docked in Dunoon. 

But it should be added here that this is a general impression I get from reading the letters. But the dates and locations are vague. 

Similarly, the third eldest son, Alistair, was born in Sunderland, where my father was stationed. He was born at 145 Ryhope Road, Sunderland, England, on July 5, 1945 (written in his National ID card). But it seems probable that they only rented the house in Ryhope Road for the period of giving birth (confinement – ‘lying-in’).  

In other words, during this period (1942-1948), my mother was living in Edinburgh. My father would visit her, but he was stationed at Liverpool, Dunoon, Sunderland, and in Burma, as well as other places for short periods.

To sum up, after the wedding in 1940, my mother lived in lodgings at Woodbank, Dunoon. In 1941, she stayed in a rented cottage called Mardrumho, in Slone, about a 30-minute drive from Dunoon. But by 1942 she was staying at 2 Chesser Loan in Edinburgh.

In other words, my mother was more or less alone in bringing up her first three children, when they were babies and toddlers. So she probably didn’t have an easy life. But what were the alternatives? Carry on doing her ‘live-in’ job at the Highlanders’ Institute with low pay and one day off a week? Join the Red Cross or the army like her friend Janet or Princess Elisabeth? At least she had her own house, and after a period she took control of the household finances. She also had to ‘take control’ of my father on occasion, but this was probably a ‘job’ she did not relish doing.

Summary

All these details can give rise to many hypotheses. But before we get lost in the details, I will make a little table showing dates and locations.

²⁶ It is actually uncertain that they lived at 85 Queen Street, as the only documentation I have of them living there is the birth certificate of my eldest brother Alexander. My brother Gavin has sent me about 50-100 letters written between my parents during the 1940s. On reading these, it doesn’t seem that my parents lived in Queen Street that long – it was just the address where my eldest brother was born. But around 1941 my mother lived in lodgings at Woodbank near Dunoon, and then in a rented cottage “Mardrumho”, Strone, about a 30 minute drive from Dunoon.