Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

So far, I have a list of books I have already written, while others are still a work-in-progress. As new facts and ideas emerge, the stories and books are constantly changed and modified. This post will be divided into those two sections: 1) finished books and 2) my plan for the series of books.

Finished Books

“Boyhood Recollections”

I have written a story of my boyhood called “Boyhood Recollections,” which has been published in 2022 (see footnote). This book obviously includes lots of little stories and photos of me, my family, and my early life. It is based on fact and fiction, and sometimes uses a comparative history perspective.  

“The Isle of Eigg and the story of some of its People”

As mentioned above, I have also published a book about the family of my mother’s grandparents, Roderick and Sarah Campbell. The book is based on my mother’s oral accounts, as well as other sources. It was released in 2010. The second edition will be released in 2023.  

“Rhoda’s Family Photo Album”

This is my mother’s family photo album. Many of the photos were taken by my father, Alexander Whitecross Harkness. This will be published in 2023. It will, of course, include photos, but it will also hopefully include some descriptions of the photos. It will be published in paper and electronic editions. I will limit the descriptions and contextual information about the photos, as this is explained elsewhere in the other books. The posts on the websites will probably be separated chronologically, such as 1940-1962 (during the time when the family lived in Scotland and England), as well as other chronological periods, such as ‘pre-1940’, and 1962-1969.

“Family trees with commentaries”

In 2023, I will publish the four family trees (of my four grandparents).

All of these books are mentioned here because they are all related. As a result, VOLUME II: ENGLAND (1948 – 1962/3) will “borrow” some parts from my “Boyhood Recollections.” 

To recap, as mentioned above, I promised my mother to write a ‘family history.’ At first, this evolved into a comprehensive book centred around the lives of my mother’s grandparents, Roderick and Sarah Campbell, on her mother’s side, titled “The Isle of Eigg and the Story of some of its People” (2010, 2023). But the ‘family history’ also spawned four family trees with commentaries as well. 

While tidying up all my mother’s memorabilia and writing the book on family trees, it seemed like a good idea to turn her ‘scrapbook’ into a book as well. In other words, the original ‘promise’ has evolved into several books, which are still ongoing as of 2023.

My mother’s ideas about her ‘Scrapbook’

Obviously, my mother wanted to mainly have a scrapbook filled with happy memories. However, she also made some critical remarks, such as criticising the headmaster of a school she worked at in Scotland. 

In a newspaper clipping (in Volume VI: 1968-2010) she makes a negative comment about how the headmaster used to put small girls across his lap, pull down their panties, and whip their bare bottoms with a tawse for ‘misbehaving’. To make things worse, when they started bawling, he would comfort them by stroking their hair saying, “There, there dear, it hurt me more than it hurt you. It’s only for your own good my little dear.” 

The fact that this upset my mother was perhaps due to the fact that her own mother Morag had a tawse hanging on the wall, which she regularly used on her children. However, this is mentioned here not as a specific criticism of my grandmother, but as a general comment on the ‘normal’ treatment of children in Scotland at that time. However, this will be discussed in more detail elsewhere. 

Moreover, I have lots of her other papers and diaries where some of the ‘problems’ of her life emerge. So I will interpret these as well, such as her repeated remarks in her diaries about my father sometimes not coming home from work until the early hours of the morning (Volume II). 

Obviously, it is impossible to include everything, but including some of these sources will add more ‘meat on the bone,’ and give the “Scrapbook” more of a biographical element. This was one of my mother’s intentions in the first place, as she wanted me to write a ‘family history.’ It was around 25 or 30 years ago that I promised her that I would write a ‘family history’. As mentioned, I still haven’t finished it as of 2023! But because writing a ‘definitive’ ‘family history’ is too difficult, I will refer to this as a ‘draft’ or a ‘tentative’ edition. 

Plan for the Series of Books

To begin, the ‘plan’ for this series of books may change during the process of writing.

As mentioned above, my mother may have been an avid collector of memorabilia, but she was not always that systematic. Moreover, not all of the documents, photos, and memorabilia were collated in the scrapbook; some were kept in an old box. Aside from that, I plan to use the Internet to collect documents of interest, such as ScotlandsPeople and various military websites. In addition, there are other numerous websites on the Internet that can help fill in the gaps in background information.

Nevertheless, there seems to be some kind of chronological order, as the first pages of her scrapbook begin with her wedding in 1940, and then progress from there. I left home around 1968-1969. My father died in December 1969, not long after he, my mother, and my younger brother had left Billericay, Essex, to move to Wick in Caithness, Scotland. As a result, it seems natural to focus on the period between 1940 and 1969. The period between 1962/3 – 68/69, will be covered in Volume V.

The years prior to 1940 are also of interest, as there are numerous documents and photographs dating from roughly 1855 to 1940. It also seems logical not only to divide the “Saga” into various volumes, but into chapters as well. I will try to do this in relation to the various locations and addresses where our family has resided. The stories from the years before my birth, that is, the first few years after my parents got married, are often a bit vague, as I do not have the exact dates when they moved houses.

Although it seems logical to have a chronological order, this will not be very strict. For example, when talking about the 1940 wedding, it seemed logical to bring up my mother’s friends and relatives on Eigg in the 1930s, because they were the ones who sent the wedding congratulations telegrams. Similarly, when describing my father’s naval career, it also seems logical to go back to the 1930s to describe his professional qualifications and job experience. In other words, the chronological order will sometimes be interrupted for thematic reasons.

In addition, I will include photos with descriptions, although the descriptions will often be incomplete. The photos will also include my parents’ relatives and friends. 

Thus, the “Saga” will comprise many separate books (‘Volumes’) – six in all – but this is an ongoing project so the structure may be changed underway. 

Volume I (1940-1948) SCOTLAND

Chapter One (1940-48) My parents’ wedding (1940). My parents’ married life at Rannoch Cottage, 85 Queen Street, in Dunoon, Argyllshire, Scotland (roughly 1940 – 1945); and at 2 Chesser Loan, Edinburgh (roughly 1945 – 1948). 

My brother has sent me a collection of letters written by my parents between 1940 and 1946. These letters help to illuminate the official documents; I will probably include these letters in a later edition, as this is an ongoing project. At a rough guess, my father must have written about 100 letters to my mother during the Second World War and in 1946. Obviously, the letters illustrate that my parents were separated for long periods due to my father’s wartime duties. 

Volume II: ENGLAND (1948 – 1962/3)

Chapter One (1948 – 1953) Married life in Cumberland, England, mainly at 60 Bowfell Road, Mirehouse, but also other addresses. 

Chapter Two (1953 – 62) Married life in Culcheth, Lancashire, England, at 3 York Avenue and 26 Hob Hey Lane. 

Volume III (18**- 1940)

The third volume will go back in time, tracing my parents’ families, from my father’s birth in 1916, thus 1916 – 1940 (with additional descriptions of my grandparents). VOLUME III will be divided into:

Chapter One (18** – 1940) My mother’s life before she got married, and also the life of her parents.

Chapter Two (18** – 1940) My father’s life before he got married, and also the life of his parents. 

Volume IV (c. 1855 – 1921)

The fourth volume goes back even further, focusing on the lives of my great-grandparents, roughly between 1855 and 1921. This will review some of the themes covered in VOLUME III. 

Chapter One A description of my mother’s parents and grandparents. The MacGillivray’s and Campbell’s.

Chapter Two A description of my father’s parents and grandparents. The Harkness’s and Hume’s.

Volume V (1962/63 – 1968/69)

Chapter One (1962/63 – 1968/69) Volume V will skip ahead to the time when the family lived in Billericay, Essex. However, Volume V will not be written until I have completed and published/posted the first four volumes. The plan is to start work on Volume V in 2023 and publish it in 2023. 

Volume VI (1968/69 – 2010)

Chapter One (1968/69 – 2010) This volume covers my mother’s life prior to and roughly from the time of my father’s death in 1969, up until her death in 2010. In other words, “Rhoda’s Family Scrapbook” will cover roughly one hundred and sixty years and be reported in six volumes.

After I left home (around 1968-69), I did not have such a close relationship with my mother and the rest of the family. On the other hand, my younger brother Gavin moved to Scotland with her, when he was only about 11 years old. He also lived with her when she moved to Wales, as he was still a teenager. When Gavin started to work in Surrey, he was living in Burpham, Guildford. My mother also relocated to Merrow Park in Guildford, after she retired. In other words, Gavin had a close relationship with my mother for the period 1969-2010. In this case, it seems more appropriate for him to be the author of Volume VI. 

Alternatively, I can write a brief introduction to ‘Volume VI’ by simply including the various mementos from her scrapbook and photos from her ‘family photo album’, and only adding brief comments, hopefully supplemented with notes recorded in conversations with Gavin. This volume will be released in 2023 or 2024.