Time Passages.. James Strachan & Margaret Harris
We have to start somewhere, so let's begin in 1830 and we can work forwards and backwards as is necessary.
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My Great, Great, Grandfather Peter Strachan was born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire on the 17th of May 1830. His parents were James Strachan and Margaret Harris. To learn more about the Harris family click HERE
It was a year remembered for a number of reasons. George IV was on the throne of England, he would die in June of that year and be succeeded by his son William IV. Arthur Wellesley 1st Duke of Wellington was Prime Minister although he would also be replaced that year by Charles Grey. In June 1830, The Beerhouse Act liberised regulations on the brewing and sale of Beer - The intention was to increase competition between brewers, and it resulted in the opening of hundreds of new beerhouses, public houses and breweries throughout the country, particularly in the rapidly expanding industrial centres of the north of England. The Act's supporters hoped that by increasing competition in the brewing and sale of beer, and thus lowering its price, the population might be weaned off more alcoholic drinks such as gin, but it proved to be controversial and was denounced as promoting drunkenness.
In Glasgow the people faced new problems. By 1830 the city was struggling to cope with the very rapid growth of the population. What were once picturesque squares were becoming congested. What were once mansions for a single family were being converted to house a dozen or more people. Some of the city's housing conditions were regarded as among the worst in Europe. Overcrowding and a highly mobile population made the city vulnerable to epidemics. Cholera came in lethal waves. Typhus and typhoid struck with depressing regularity in foul housing backlands or in dingy lodging houses. Polluted water supplies, a smog-laden atmosphere and a lack of sunlight were ripe conditions for chronic illnesses as well as epidemics. There were three Cholera Outbreaks in the Town of Hamilton, Lanarkshire. From July to November 1832, 63 individuals that were living in poor conditions fell ill and died from the disease. They were buried in a mass grave.
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It's unclear what became of Peter's shoemaker father James Strachan as no record of his death can be found, however it's assumed that he died between 1830 and 1834 in Hamilton, Lanarkshire. Divorce was practically unheard of in the 1800's - in fact in the decade between 1855 and 1864, the average number of divorces in Scotland each year was only 17. Perhaps he was a victim of the Cholera Outbreak? We will never know for certain.
By 1834 Peter's mother, Margaret Strachan (born Harris) had remarried. Peter and his sister Ann not only gained a new father, he came with three children of his own from his previous marriage to Elizabeth Wright. It's interesting that Robert Martin lived in the same street as the Strachan family (Church Street, Hamilton) and that he was also a shoemaker to trade. I believe he would have known Margaret's first husband very well.
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The Family would settle at 22 New Wynd, Hamilton, Lanarkshire. (Pictured below)
Margaret and Robert Martin would go on to have a further 3 children together, Ann Kelly, Janet and Margaret Martin. Ann Martin was born 1836 and was named after Ann Strachan, Margaret's daughter form her first marriage who died in 1835.
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Timeline of events:
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1807 - Margaret Harris born to Thomas and Annie Harris in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
1824 - James Strachan listed as a shoemaker in Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
1825 - Margaret Harris marries James Strachan, Hamilton, Lanarkshire (7th November 1825)
1828 - Birth of Ann Strachan, Daughter of Margaret Strachan and James Strachan (Born 27th February 1828, Hamilton, Lanarkshire)
1830 - Birth of Peter Strachan, Son of Margaret Strachan and James Strachan (Born 17th May 1830, Hamilton, Lanarkshire)
1830 - 1834 - James Strachan dies - actual date unknown.
1834 - Margaret Harris Strachan marries Robert Martin 15th December 1834, Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
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An excerpt from the Scottish Banns and Marriages showing James Strachan and Margaret Harris' wedding,1825
An excerpt from the Scottish Banns and Marriages showing the marriage of Margaret Harris to Robert Martin, 1834.
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Timeline (Continued)
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1836 - Ann Strachan dies aged 8 years old.
1836 - Robert and Margaret Martin give birth to the first child of their marriage, a daughter whom they call Ann Kelly Martin in honor of the recently deceased Ann Strachan. 5th June 1836, Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
1838 - Janet Martin born, 18th August 1838, Hamilton, Lanarkshire
1841 - The family live at 22 New Wynd, Hamilton, Lanarkshire as per the Census.
1841 - Birth of Margaret Martin Jnr. - 28th August 1841, Hamilton, Lanarkshire
1842 - Death of Margaret Martin Jnr (Born 1841)
1853 - Ann Kelly Martin marries Alexander Inglis - 23 January 1853, Hamilton, Lanarkshire
1855 - Death of Janet Martin (Born 1838) Tuberculosis of the Mesenteric and Retroperitoneal lymph nodes, aged 16
1855 - Ann Kelly Martin Inglis gives birth to her first child, Margaret Inglis
1856 - Ann Kelly Martin Inglis gives birth to her second child Sarah Inglis
1859 - Ann Kelly Martin Inglis gives birth to her third child Janet Inglis
1861 Ann Kelly, her husband and three children move to Fairnegare Colliery, Hamilton, Lanarkshire
1861 - The rest of the family move to 16 Church Street, Hamilton, Lanarkshire
1862 - Peter Strachan marries Jane Waterston on the 10th October 1862 at 86 Townhead Street, Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
1865 - Death of Robert Martin, 5th August 1865, 16 Church Street, Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
1869 - Ann Kelly Martin Inglis gives birth to her fourth child Matthew Inglis, 7th October 1869, Hamilton, Lanarkshire
1875 - Death of Margaret Harris Strachan Martin, 2nd February 1875, 16 Church Street, Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
1903 - Alexander Inglis dies of bronchitis, 39 Muir Street, Hamilton, 13 January 1903
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So what was life actually like for people living in Hamilton, Lanarkshire during the early Victorian Age?
In the mid 1800's, life expectancy was 40 for men and 44 for women. Children had a 1 in 7 chance of dying before their first birthday. Tuberculosis was a major health hazard in this period – killing 361 people in 100,000. It wouldn’t be until the 1940s – and the discovery of penicillin by Scotsman Alexander Fleming – that TB would be brought under control. Scotland’s industrialisation lead to overcrowding on a massive scale. By 1861, 64 per cent of the entire Scottish population lives in houses with just one or two rooms. On average five Scots lived in a single room. The rapid growth and overcrowding of Scotland’s urban population during 19th century industrialisation led to unprecedented problems of public sanitation. Meager bathing, shared facilities and poor sewage systems meant that diseases spread like wildfire. Without an NHS equivalent many were left untreated. It wasn’t until the 1889 Local Government Act for public health affairs that an organised response was developed to tackle the situation.
If you look at the map above you will see the green lines which indicate where our family lived from around 1780 to 1850. New Wynd, Church Street and also Castle Street. In modern times referred to as the 'Old Town' of Hamilton however at the time it was right next to the lands owned by the Duke of Hamilton and therefore a central point of the town.
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The origins of Hamilton can be traced back to the 1320's when Walter Fitz Gilbert from Hameldone in Northumberland was granted estates in the Clyde Valley by Robert the Bruce. Sir Walter Fitz Gilbert of Cadzow, 1st Laird of Cadzow (Died around 1346) was a Scottish nobleman. The son of Gilbert Fitz William of Hameldone, and husband to Mary Gordon of Huntly. The marriage date is 1308 in Cadzow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He is the first historically confirmed progenitor of the House of Hamilton, which includes the Dukes of Hamilton, Dukes of Abercorn and Earls of Haddington. He quickly expanded his estate by building a hunting lodge and a castle close to the River Clyde. The town become known as Hamilton by the time Lord James Hamilton obtained a burgh charter in 1455, changing its name from Cadzow to Hamilton. Hamilton Palace was continuously developed from the 1400s onwards, and the town of Hamilton grew in importance alongside the family whose name it had been given. In the 1470s Lord Hamilton married Princess Mary Stewart, sister of James III, and the family's place in Scottish nobility was secured. By 1560 the Hamilton Earl of Arran and Duke of Chatelherault was the most important person in Scotland not in the immediate royal family. A college was founded in the town in 1451; a parish school appeared in 1570; and one of Scotland's first post offices was established in Hamilton in 1642.
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Of course by the 1830's Hamilton was a thriving town. However problems such as bad housing and ill health and disease were accelerated by the rapid increase in the population. Those unfortunate to fall into poverty or ill-health had no Welfare State to fall back on. What measure of relief that was available consisted of hand-outs from charities and the Poor Law. Daily life in the first half of the 19th century was monotonous and routine for most Hamiltonians with few diversions outside the culture of heavy drinking in dens and taverns. Work was more important than leisure and this was reflected in the length of the working day, 14 to 16 hours.
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For Margaret and Robert and their children life would have been pretty hard. As a shoemaker Robert would do most of his work from home seated at his bench and with his bare hands. The basic equipment he needed was a shoemaker's bench and tools. Customers would come to the house to have their foot measurements taken and then Robert would build the shoes. In those days there was no left or right shoe. Both shoes were the same. The sole was made out of thick leather that was soaked overnight in a bucket of water to soften it. Robert would place the softened leather on a lapstone and hammer it with a broad-headed hammer to further soften it up and make it take on the contour he wanted. Glue would be used to temporarily fasten the sole to the upper so that he could sew the two leather pieces together. Prior to sewing, he would pass a marking wheel over the leather to mark the spots where the needle had to pass through and he would use an awl to bore the actual hole. He used a hog bristle for a needle and thread that was made from flax and which was coated with wax or pitch for greater ease in penetrating through the leather. A well-trained shoemaker could complete a pair of shoes in 8-10 hours, two pairs of shoes per day.
Hamiltonians had a fairly frugal diet of 'broses' made from barley, oats, beans and peas cooked in a cauldron over an open fire. Foods such as kale and porridge featured prominently and in better times they would supplement this simple diet with milk and ale, butter, cheese and fish. For most people though, including the Martins, meat was an occasional luxury.
New Wynd no longer exists. It was demolished in 1930, it was located between the Grammar School Square and Castle Street and although the area looks fairly large, it isn't. To walk right round from start to finish would only take around 10 minutes.
In 1841 the family are living at New Wynd, Hamilton. Times are still pretty tough and their focus was firmly on running the shoemaking business. In the 1841 census Peter is listed by the surname of 'Strachine'. A spelling mistake. He's already helping his stepfather with his work and learning the skills needed to become a shoemaker. Margaret is heavily pregnant and due to give birth in August of that year. Living in the house are: Robert Martin and his wife Margaret. Mary Martin (12) John Martin (10) both from Roberts first marriage, Ann Kelly Martin (5) Janet Martin (3) and Peter Strachan (11) also living with the family is Margaret Cunningham (85) Margaret's grandmother on her mothers side.
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So what happened to the family after 1841 ?
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Young John Martin and Grandmother Margaret Cunningham both died shortly after the 1841 Census - John of Consumption and Margaret of old age. The baby that Margaret Martin was carrying was indeed born in August 1841 but sadly died the year later - She was named Margaret after her mother and her Great Grandmother.
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Mary Martin was the only one of Robert Martins original children to survive to adulthood. She married John Lees in Bothwell, Lanarkshire in 1850 - Click HERE for her branch of the tree.
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Ann Kelly Martin also lived to adulthood and married Alexander Inglis in Hamilton, Lanarkshire 1853 - Click HERE for her branch of the tree.
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Janet Martin died at 22 New Wynd on the 22 June 1855 aged only 16 from Tabes Mesenterica. A rare form of Tuberculosis which destroys the intestinal wall. It's thought to be caused by contaminated cows milk.
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Peter Strachan survived and married Jane Waterston in Hamilton, Lanarkshire 1862 - Click HERE for his branch of the tree.
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Robert and Margaret Martin were last recorded as living at 22 New Wynd in 1856. Soon after they moved to 16 Church Street, Hamilton.
Robert died on 5th August 1865 at 16 Church Street from paralysis. He was 62. His step-son Peter Strachan purchased a lair at the Relief Congregation Church Hamilton (possibly by that time called the Reformed Presbyterian Church) burial ground. In 1963 - nearly 100 years after Robert was buried, the graveyard was excavated to make way for a car park, all bodies were exhumed and reburied in communal grave in the Bent Cemetery.
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Margaret continued to live alone at 16 Church Street where she died on the 12 February 1875 from natural causes. She was 68 years old.
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