There was a Soldier, a Scottish soldier … James Ross (about 1835 – 1891), 79th Regiment, Cameron Highlanders.
I have this lovely photo of Catherine Miller*, my dad’s Grannie, with my dad, Alexander Malcolm Miller, and his younger brother, Jack (John Miller). Catherine is dressed in a black dress, jacket and hat. She has a slight smile on her face. To me, she looks like a caring grandmother, happy to have a photograph taken with these two small boys.
My dad's Miller family lived in Edinburgh, Scotland, for many generations and many worked as printers. Catherine Miller (M.S. Macdonald) married Alexander Miller in Edinburgh in 1877.
The father of the children in the photo was Grannie’s eldest son, John Lucas Miller, born in 1878. He was killed at the Battle of Loos 1915 during WWI. As I wrote this story, I realised that this photo, and another I own that shows John Lucas in his Cameron Highlander uniform with his wife, were most likely taken before John Lucas left Scotland for the front. The family would probably have kept a copy and he, too, would have taken a copy to keep as he faced the horrors of that war.
.jpg)
Catherine MacDonald and grandsons
Catherine died in 1926. I obtained a copy of her death certificate through the Scotland’s People website. In that document, I found that her mother’s name was Alexandrina Ross. This was my first inkling of my connection to the Ross clan. I soon came across the existence of James Ross, who became a Scottish Soldier. Joining the British Army seems to be part of a family tradition as there were at least a couple of other generations of this family who were members of Scottish Regiments. *
I searched for Alexandrina’s death record. I found that Alexandrina had died in early 1877. The details on that record are:*,
Alexandrina McDonald. Widow of Hugh McDonald, Private, 92nd Highlanders
1877 JanuaryThirteenth 1hr am, No. 376 Castle Hill, Edinburgh
Female, 67 years
Father: Hugh McDonald, Colour Sergeant, 92nd Highlanders, deceased *
Mother: Catherine Ross, M.S. Ross, deceased
Cause of death: Chest Affection (sic) As certified by J. Cochrane, M.D.
Informant: Jas. Ross McDonald, son, present.
(Note: on Catherine Macdonald's marriage record, dated only weeks later, her father is recorded as Archibald McDonald, Plumber, Deceased)
Now I had a couple of family names, I began searching the Scottish census records trying to find Catherine and her family.
In the 1851 census, I found Catherine's family living in the Parish of Trinity College, Edinburgh at 34 Baile Fyfe's Close. The family consisted of Alexandrina MacDonald, a widow, aged 40, with her children; James Ross, aged 16 years old, born in Musselburgh, Isabella MacDonald, aged seven years, and Catherine, aged four years. James was already working as an Errand Boy in a shop. Both girls were scholars. Given this information, James would have been born around 1835, Isabella about 1844 and Catherine about 1847.
Well, that was a bit of a surprise. Catherine had a much older brother who didn't share her surname.
I shared this information with my siblings and a cousin still in living in Edinburgh, Scotland. This information rang some bells, when my cousin came across four military medals, inscribed with the name James Ross, his rank and, on a couple of them, a regimental number. These medals are joined by a bar inscribed SERGT JAMES ROSS 79th CAMERON HIGHLANDERS. Wow!! What a find in a box of family records and memorabilia handed down to my cousin from a previous generation of the Miller family.
The battles for which these medals were awarded were:
- Northwest Frontier medal, not dated, inscribed: 4285 Pte James Ross 79th Foot
- Sevastopol dated 1854: inscribed Corpl Jas Ross. 79th Regt
- Crimea dated 1855; inscribed 285 James Ross 79th Cameron Highlanders
- Lucknow dated 1857-1858; inscribed: “Sergt Jas Ross 79th Highlanders”
Details inscribed on rim of medals
My cousin emailed me with the news of this find and photos of the medals. Rather coincidentally, shortly after this find, this cousin was travelling to the Pacific region and this trip included a stop of a couple of days in Brisbane. He visited me and my family and brought the medals for us to view and hold. This was a great experience. We were so fortunate.
My Scottish cousin has since spent some more time investigating the box of family treasures. He came across a letter relating to these medals written by my father’s brother, Jack, to a cousin in 1987. In this letter, we read:
The medals are a mystery for the moment, but I clearly recall Grandma Miller* having a set of medals framed and hanging in the “Parlour” at Marischal Place in Blackhall, … These were sacrosanct, no touching. … these articles belonged to Grandma Miller’s* own son, who had been born to Grandma before her marriage to Miller the Printer. This lad had an adventurous life in the Army, of which I was told, and was connected in some way to Inverness and the Army.
It seems that Jack was mistaken. The records already show that the medals actually belonged to Alexandrina's son, Catherine's half-brother. He was born before Alexandrina married Catherine's father, Archibald Macdonald.
Looking for more information about James Ross, I found a death certificate for James Ross dated 2nd February 1891 appeared in Scotland’s People. It states:
James Ross, Army Pensioner, married to Isabella Ross.
1891, February second, 0 hours 45 mins AM, Queensberry House, 64 Canongate, Edinburgh
Male, 53 years
Father: James Ross, Soldier, deceased. Mother: Alexandrina Macdonald, MS Ross (deceased) formerly Macdonald
… Informant: A. Miller, Clerk, Queensberry House.
This was the first time that I had seen James’ father‘s name given as James. Queensberry House was built in 1667 and still stands at Canongate and is now incorporated into the new Scottish Parliament building. It was used as a hospital for almost 200 years (1803 – 1996). The name of the informant to the hospital on James family details is unknown, although the hospital clerk was named A. Miller. An intriguing coincidence.
James and Isabella’s marriage recorded in 1869 gives this information:
1869 Twenty-first of May, at the Sheriff Court House, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh …
James Ross, Spirit Dealer, Bachelor, 31 years, 40 St Andrew St, Leith, Spirit Dealer, Bachelor.
Father: Hugh Ross, Colour Sergeant 92nd, Gordon Highlanders deceased.
Mother: Alexandrina Ross M.S. Ross.
Isabella Ross, Spinster, 33 years, 2 Old Bridgend, North Leith, Spinster.
Father: Donald Ross, Dock Labourer and Margaret Ross M.S. Turnbull
There is some surprising contradiction in here. Hugh Ross, Colour Sergeant, 92nd Gordon Highlanders (or 92nd Highlanders) was named, apparently by James, in 1877 on the death certificate of his mother, Alexandrina Ross, as Alexandrina’s father. Here James is naming Hugh Ross as his own father. How very curious. James’ death certificate, names his father as James Ross. Obviously, another person was the informant at this time and may have had information from another source, perhaps Catherine.
After finding their marriage certificate, I also found an 1871 Census record for James and Isabella who were living in Cramond at that time. James is noted as being aged thirty-three years and Isabella thirty-one. James’ occupation was Pointsman Rail. His place of birth is given as Edinburgh-shire, which at that time I believe included Musselburgh, the only other place of birth we have for James. Isabella’s place of birth given as Leith.
The 1881 Census shows James, a general labourer at the time, is forty-two years. Isabella, forty-one years, is said to be born in South Leith. They are living in Buccleuch parish. James’ place of birth noted as Edinburgh.
As mentioned earlier in this story, James died in 1891. Sometime later, his British Army medals returned to his family and as we now know from the letter written by dad’s brother, Jack, the medals were framed and displayed on the parlour wall in his half-sister Catherine’s home.
James’ medals in future need to be kept securely in a place where family members who know of their existence can view them. The place that might suit best probably be would be the Highland Regiments Museum at Fort George near Inverness.
It has been fascinating following the story of James. He was a very young soldier and survived a number of quite savage battles. I am pleased to see he returned home and married. It was unfortunate that he died at such a relatively young age. I hope that more information on James’ life and military career might come to light in the future.
Scotland’s People has been a fantastic resource for me. However, I joke with friends saying that using this website is just like gambling; you buy a number of credits, then click on this button and that, hoping you get a reward. Sadly, sometimes the result is a disappointing loss of your credits and the wrong information. It can be a time consuming and somewhat expensive addiction but fascinating nevertheless!
Footnotes
* M.S. MacDonald. The Macdonald name can be spelled in many ways. I have selected to use one capital and a “Mac” prefix despite other versions of the spelling being used in many of the records.
* I feel that James may have added the Macdonald name to confirm his relationship as son, as I haven’t seen that surname used for James anywhere else.
* Note: On Catherine Macdonald's marriage record, dated only weeks after Alexandrina's death was recorded, her father is recorded as Archibald McDonald, Plumber, Deceased. The informant I feel was likely to have been Alexander Miller, Catherine's groom.
* Archibald MacDonald, Alexandrina’s husband and James' step-father, 92nd Highlanders plus Hugh Ross, Alexandrina’s father, also 92nd Highlanders.
* I did find an 1861 census document for most of the family but James was missing. I believe it is the same family despite having “Alexander” (not Alexandrina) appear as the head of family, aged 51, “widower”, living at 65 North Gray’s Close, Edinburgh. With her are a son, John Ross, aged thirty-three years, unmarried, born in Linlithgow and working as a Type Founder. Isabella is now eighteen, a domestic servant, and Catherine, now aged fifteen is a milliner. At first, I mistakenly thought it was James in this family again. But no, it was a John. Interestingly, this son, John, was working in an industry closely related to printing. What a coincidence! Catherine later married Alexander Miller, one of a family that included several generations of printers. Perhaps it is more than a coincidence. Perhaps it was the reason she married into a family of printers.
John, in the 1861 census, given an age of thirty-three at that time, would make his year of birth 1828. So, it appears that Alexandrina must have had two sons with the surname Ross, one James and the other John, who was the older of the two.
Four of the family appear in the 1871 census but not including James. Living in South Leith with Alexandrina on that day were John and Catherine. But there was there was a big surprise in this census. Catherine had an eight-month-old son called James living with them as well. Catherine’s position in the family was described as “wife”, Alexandrina as “mother-in-law” and John, a printer, as “brother-in law”. I found baby James Dunbar Macdonald‘s birth record which declared him very clearly to be “Illegitimate”. So far, I have found no other records for Catherine's baby James but I will keep searching. John was listed in this census as having a disability. Apparently, he was “dumb”, meaning he didn’t speak. He wasn’t noted as being deaf so there was some other reason for his lack of speech.
* Catherine Miller (M.S. Macdonald)
Comments
Post a Comment