Final Resting Places: ..... and a city destroyed

In February 2011 the city of Christchurch, New Zealand was devastated by a strong, shallow magnitude 6.3 earthquake that destroyed large areas of the city and left over 180 people dead. As well as having to contend with the shaking, many suburbs were affected by liquefaction, a term that before the earthquake many had never heard of. Much of the city had been build on land that had a shallow soil structure with a sandy base, and as a result, with all the shaking the sand and water rose to the surface and spewed up from the ground. 

The cemeteries in the eastern parts of Christchurch took a real hammering. Hundreds and hundreds of old historic headstones were no match for the shaking and were rocked off their foundations and smashed. Other areas were affected by liquefaction that resulted in the lowering of the ground levels in many places. Although I did not see the damage to these cemeteries in person for nearly two years,  even after all this time and a bit of tidying up, it was still heartbreaking to see.

My husband's family has very strong roots in Christchurch and many of his family members, including his parents, grandparents, great grandparents and great, great grandparents are all buried there. We venture north to Christchurch only about once a year and ever since we were first married it had always been my intention of visiting the various cemeteries and finding their final resting places. But like many other things in this life on my "to-do list", I had not quite got around to it yet. I did have photos of some of the graves, but always felt that a visit was needed to pay my respects to them, especially to my mother-in-law and father-in-law that I never had a chance to meet.

Seeing the damage for myself

In March 2013 my husband and I got to visit Christchurch for the first time since the earthquake and see for ourselves the damage first-hand. To see it on television is one thing, but to see it in person is something else. Although two years had passed, in places it still looked as though the earthquake had happened just yesterday. A drive through the now-deserted suburb of Bexely was heart-breaking. Street after street after street of near-new houses, all broken and empty, windows boarded up, gardens overgrown. A very, very sad thing to witness.

And not far from there we visited the first of three cemeteries that we would visit that day. Ruru Lawn Cemetery was our first port of call to hopefully find Ross's parents and grandparents. I had been online and had downloaded maps of the cemeteries and had found the plot numbers that I needed. I was sure that this would be a quick, easy job locating the graves we wanted. But as soon as we drove in the gate I knew I had severely under-estimated the task. What greeted me wasn't the rows and rows of upright headstones that I am so used to down home. Instead I discovered that this was a cemetery where the plot markers and plaques lie flat on the ground. Which is all good and well in a normal situation. But when you add into the equation an earthquake and massive amounts of liquefaction, what we then have is a logistical nightmare.

I could tell where many of the rows were, or should have been. And I could see plenty of plot markers were still visible. But many of them were no longer visible, having sunk below the surface when the earth was shaking. This wasn't going to be an easy task at all.

The area where Ross' parents graves are located, but hardly a plot marker to be seen.

After nearly half an hour spent searching for Ross's parents graves in the small area where I knew they should have been, we had to admit defeat. Sadly, they were no where to be found. So we moved on to the next search in a different area, searching for Ross's paternal grandparents, John and Mia (nee PRESTIDGE) HURRELL.

Clearing away the dirt to reveal the plaque
four inches below the surface.

After another half hour of fruitless searching we were once again about to give up, but then we struck the jackpot. We were just walking back towards the car and walked across an area of grass with some plaques visible, but with many others buried. And in just one quick glimpse down I suddenly thought I saw some letters that looked familiar. In a small hole in the ground the letters "ELL" caught my eye. I scraped my foot over it to try to push some of the grass aside and the whole word "HURRELL" appeared. Finally we had found one of the plaques we were looking for. After a bit of digging by hand and a clean with a wet rag, Ross's grandparents plaque was once again visible to the world.

That same day we also visited the nearby Bromley Cemetery and the Linwood Cemetery, two of the older cemeteries in Christchurch. Although the "Friends of Linwood Cemetery" organisation have spent a lot of time and energy at the cemetery since the earthquake, there is still so much damage apparent. Many of the oldest historic headstones are broken and smashed, or have fallen face down so they are unable to be read. As is the case in most cemeteries, the Christchurch City Council is only responsible for the actual cemetery, not the headstones. Any repairs to actual headstones must be made by the families. The big problem with this is two-fold. The first problem is that many of the headstones are very old and the chances of finding any family members still connected to these families is probably quite slim. And the second big problem, even if they do find family members related to the people buried in the plots, they probably would not be willing nor able to afford the cost of repairing these headstones.

My husband's paternal grandparents,

Ruru Lawn Cemetery

Of all the plots we were looking for the day we visited the Christchurch cemeteries, we had about a 50% success rate in finding what we were looking for. Although we had the maps and the plot numbers, it definitely wasn't an easy task. I hope to return to Christchurch early next year to continue my search for all those plots that eluded me the last time we visited.

From the Newspapers: - A Famous Ride

Below is an interesting newspaper article that I came across on my search for family information on the New Zealand history website "Papers Past".

Otago Witness, 28 July 1892 (page 20)

Michael Egan (1844 - 1928)

The Michael EGAN mentioned in this article was the brother of my maternal great, great grandfather, William EGAN. Michael was born in Tipperary, Ireland and came out to New Zealand in 1867 on board the "Elizabeth Fleming".  He married and settled at Wairio in Southland. Here Michael and his wife Margaret (nee DWYER) raised a family of six sons and one daughter. 

For those that aren't familiar with the particular section of road mentioned in the article, the Devil's Staircase (part of S.H.6) even now-days is a road that requires care. It is a winding road, quite narrow in places, that is carved out of the rock cliffs and sits high above Lake Wakatipu in the Queenstown Lakes District. In places it is a very long drop down into the cold, dark lake below. 

Back in 1892 I would imagine the road wouldn't have been much more than a rough dirt track which is what makes Michael's ride such an incredible feat. He was either very brave, or perhaps a wee bit stupid, to attempt this ride on horseback, ..... in the middle of winter, ..... in the dark !!!

As mentioned in the article, the purpose of his ride was to attend a funeral. It was the funeral of his niece, seventeen year old Margaret DWYER (daughter of Matthew and Ellen DWYER), who had died from tuberculosis at Frankton on the 16th of July 1892. 

Brick Wall: Herbert Renshaw ..... war hero (Pt 2)

Continued from Pt 1

My paternal great grandfather, Herbert RENSHAW, is one of the many brick walls in my family history research.

Herbert survived almost five years in the trenches of France and Belgium during the Great War and thankfully returned home safely to his family in Bothwellhaugh, Scotland in late February 1919. Over 9,000,000 British soldiers served overseas during the first world war, of which over 1,000,000 were killed and remain forever in foreign lands. Another 4,000,000 were badly wounded or crippled and came home to a new life and a new world much changed from that they had left.

After the war Herbert, along with millions of other British soldiers, received medals for their efforts in the war. These three medals immediately below were amongst six that Herbert received, with most soldiers receiving these three WW1 campaign medals, commonly and affectionately known as “Pip, Squeak and Wilfred”.

Herbert’s 1914 - 1915 Star , also known in the military world as “Pip”. It was issued in 1918 to any soldier who served in Germany between 5th Aug 1914 and 31st Dec 1915. It was not issued alone though, and the recipient had to have received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal also. An estimated 2.4 million of these medals were issued.

Herbert’s British War Medal, also known in the military world as “Squeak”. This medal was awarded to officers and men of the British and Imperial Forces who served overseas between 5th Aug 1915 and 11th Nov 1918. Approximately 6.4 million of these medals were issued, each with the recipient’s service number, rank, name and unit engraved on the rim.

Herbert’s Allied Victory Medal, also known in the military world as “Wilfred”. Approximately 5.7 million Victory Medals were issued. Interestingly, eligibility for this medal was more restrictive and not everyone who received the British War Medal (Squeak) also received the Victory Medal (Wilfred). However, in general, all recipients of “Wilfred” also received “Squeak'”and all recipients of “Pip” also received both “Squeak” and “Wilfred”. 



Herbert also received three other medals that are very special to our family. They are the Territorial Force Efficiency Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal and the Medaille Militaire.

Herbert’s Territorial Force Efficiency Medal. It was a medal of the United Kingdom, awarded for long service in the Territorial Forces. The criteria was a minimum of 12 years service, with war service counting as double. Herbert’s service was calculated at 16 years; six years prior to the outbreak of war, and then five years in active service overseas (being counted as double).

Herbert’s Meritorious Service Medal, which was awarded to recognise meritorious service in the field by non-commissioned officers. Recipients were also granted an annuity, the amount being based on rank. Herbert was awarded this medal in June 1918.

Below is Herbert’s most special award, the Medaille Militaire. This is a French medal, an award for extreme valour and France’s second highest medal (ranking immediately after the prestigious Legion of Honor). It is awarded for distinguished acts of bravery in action against enemy forces and was awarded to Herbert by the French government after the war, for putting his life on the line and saving the Fabre family (that I mentioned previously). Exactly what Herbert did I have never been able to find out. My grandmother told me that Herbert (her father), like many soldiers who lived through the great war, would never talk about what had happened to him during this time. They came home from the war and just wanted to try to forget the horrendous conditions they had lived through and the horrors they had seen. 

According to my grandmother, the French government offered Herbert the opportunity to go and live in France after the war and offered to educate his children in the best French schools. But Herbert didn’t want to head back to France ever again, it held too many bad memories for him and he wanted to settle down to a quiet life again in Scotland.

The Medaille Militaire is a very high ranking medal, is reasonably rare and not readily found in many British or Commonwealth groups of medals. I am very, very proud of Herbert for receiving this award; I only wish I could find out more about what he did to earn it.

A very precious document from my family archives; Herbert’s 1919 demobilization papers.

As a child I was always fascinated by Herbert’s war medals and loved to take them out and hold them and look at them. They were left to my older brother by my grandmother when she died in 2000, so unfortunately I never get to see them now. But they will always be very special to me, even more so now that I have finally been able to find out a bit more about what Herbert did during the war and what he lived through.

Right from when Herbert received his medals, he always kept them in this special tin, where they still live to this day. This is a 1914 Christmas tin, sent to the troops fighting at the front line in France for Christmas 1914. The idea was the initiative of Princess Mary, the 17 year old daughter of King George V. Each tin contained a gift for the soldiers and included such things as tobacco or cigarettes, shaving brushes and combs, pencils and notepaper, sweets or chocolates, and a small christmas card.

Another interesting piece of information I very recently learned about Herbert was that his unit was one of many that took part in the now-famous “Christmas Truce” of 1914, where the war stopped for one day and both german and allied soldiers spent the day “fraternizing with the enemy”; singing carols, having a drink together, exchanging small gifts with each other and even playing football. 

Herbert with his wife Bessie (Elizabeth Speirs nee LINDSAY) and family, not long after his return home from war.  The small girl is my grandmother, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Speirs RENSHAW (later ENGLISH), with her older brother Davy. Herbert and Bessie later had another two sons, Herbert (Bert), born in Dec 1920 and Bryan, born and died in Nov 1934.

By early 1926 the Scottish mining industry was in turmoil. The war had seriously depleted many coal seams and exports were falling drastically. Mine owners tried to compensate for lost income by lowering wages of miner workers and increasing hours. In March it was suggested that mine workers should receive a 13.5% decrease in pay to try to improve the industry as a whole. Mine owners threatened to lock out the workers if they did not accept these new terms by May 1st. Workers rejected these new terms and true to their word, mine owners locked out over one million mine workers. Because of this the National Trade Unions called for a general strike to begin on May 3rd in support of the miners. The magnitude of the strike astounded both the union and the government, with more then three million industrial workers going out in support of the mine workers. However, after ten days when things began to turn violent the trade union decided to call off the general strike. Miners remained stoic for a few more months before being forced by their own economic needs to accept the new conditions and return to the mines.

Herbert and Bessie would have been a part of this turmoil and this must have influenced their decision to try to find a better life for themselves. Their eldest son Davy had just turned 15 years old at this time and Herbert had always maintained that “no son of mine will ever  go down the mines”.

Below is the reference that Herbert received from the Bent Colliery Company in late May 1926. This was just after the general strike had finished but the miners had still not returned to work. After 25 years in the mine Herbert had spent many years underground but had now progressed to a more senior role and was a safety inspector and fireman with the mine. I am only guessing but this may have meant he was still working and was not a part of the strike. This is a fine reference, which I very much doubt would have been given to someone still on strike.

"S.S. Ruapehu"  **

In mid August 1926 Herbert and Bessie and their three children packed up all of their belongings and left Scotland behind in search of a new and better life. They made their way to Southampton and on Aug 26th they boarded the New Zealand Shipping Company steam ship “Ruapehu” for a journey that would take them to the other side of the world, to a land very, very different to that from which they had come.

To the right is part of the passenger manuscript for their ship, “S.S.Ruapehu”, that sailed for New Zealand carrying 230 adults and 61 children as passengers. Their names are shown two-thirds of the way down the page. Herbert is listed as a miner but interestingly, Davy is listed as farming, not something he had done yet but obviously what his intentions were when he got to New Zealand.

The decision to leave Scotland and make a voyage to the unknown on the other side of the world must have been a very difficult decision to make. Herbert left behind his aunt and uncle who had raised him but poor Bessie left behind so much more. She had to say goodbye, knowing it was probably forever, to her father, her grandfather, her three brothers and their wives, nieces and nephews, and numerous other close relations who all lived nearby.

Herbert, Bessie and Davy would never see their beloved Scotland again and it was almost fifty years later before Lizzie and Bert made their way back there again for a visit.

Their voyage to New Zealand was quite rough at times and I can remember my grandmother telling me that many of their precious possessions they brought with them were broken on the journey, possibly when being loaded or unloaded by rough deckhands and ships crew. Things such as special items of crockery that had belonged to Bessie’s family, although well packed, were all smashed. When they were finally able to unpack in their new home town of Mataura, Bessie just sat and cried and cried when she discovered what had happened. 

The family settled well into life in New Zealand. Herbert gained employment in the paper mill, one of two large factories in their new hometown of Mataura. He worked there for many years, right up until he reached retirement age. Although Herbert and Bessie eventually came to love their new country, my grandmother told me it was always her mothers greatest wish “to go back home”, ... back to Scotland. But sadly she never, ever got the chance.

Below is one of the last photos ever taken of Herbert RENSHAW, taken with his family in the mid 1950’s. Herbert is sitting on the step on the left with his wife Bessie standing directly behind him. Standing on the other side is their daughter Lizzie (my grandmother), with her husband Bob ENGLISH also sitting on the step. Lizzie and Bob’s two sons Evan and Ron are also there. I believe this photo was taken on a family holiday they had together at Riverton.

Herbert died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Bristol Street, Mataura on 15th December 1957, aged 72. The photo below shows Herbert’s wife Bessie and daughter Lizzie sitting by his graveside at the Mataura Cemetery. 

The grave of Herbert RENSHAW, and also his wife
Bessie and their two sons Davy and Bryan. This
grave is located in the Mataura Cemetery and is
one of the many graves of my ancestors that
I maintain and visit regularly. 

My great grandfather Herbert RENSHAW is a man that I would love to have known. Although he looks so serious in the few photos that I have of him, from what I gathered from my grandmother, he was a very quiet, gentle, kind and loving man. I would love to have been able to sit and have a chat with him to really get to know him, but sadly he died 14 years before I was born. His life was obviously not easy and I am very proud of him for overcoming all the obstacles he faced.

I would love to know what happened to his parents in Ireland and also his family in Bothwellhaugh. I am also very keen to know what happened to him during the war and find out more about the Fabre family. So with those goals in mind I will keep searching and searching in the hope that someday I will have the answers that I seek.

Thank you Herbert for your bravery and for your service to your country. Thank you also for bringing your family from the other side of the world to settle in New Zealand. I am very, very proud that you are my great grandfather.

__________________________

(Please note; the photo marked ** is not mine and was found online during my research)

Brick Wall: Herbert Renshaw ..... war hero (Pt 1)

My paternal great grandfather, Herbert RENSHAW, is one of the many brick walls in my family history research.

According to Herbert’s World War 1 records, he was born in Portadown, Armagh, Ireland (now Northern Ireland) in May 1885. He was the son of Mark RENSHAW (a joiner) and Mary Jane (nee RENSHAW). Despite a lot of searching I have not yet been able to locate this mystery couple; the only reason I know that these were their names is that they appear on Herbert’s marriage certificate.

My grandmother Elizabeth ENGLISH nee RENSHAW (Herbert’s daughter) told me that his parent’s died when he was just a young boy. He then went to live with his aunt and uncle David and Mary (nee McMullan) RENSHAW, who lived in Bothwellhaugh, Scotland. I believe the uncle David RENSHAW to be the brother of Herbert’s mother Mary Jane but this is yet to be confirmed.

Herbert had one sister, Bella, and after their parent’s died Herbert never saw her again. I do not know whether she was older or younger than Herbert, but my grandmother told me that Bella died young when she was still just a teenager and still living in Ireland. Who she was living with is another mystery yet to be solved.

I am not sure when or how Herbert moved to Scotland but the first real proof I have found of him being there is the 1901 Census which shows him at age 15 living at 43 Clyde Place, Bothwellhaugh with his aunt and uncle, David and Mary RENSHAW, and their children William (age 8), James (age 6) and David (age 3). Herbert is listed as a miner, working in the Hamilton Palace Colliery. 

1901 Scottish Census showing Herbert living with his aunt and uncle in Bothwellhaugh

Below are the four cousins that Herbert grew up with in Scotland and that he considered to be his brothers and sister. Herbert's daughter (my grandmother) grew up knowing these four siblings as her aunt and uncles.

William RENSHAW was born on 26 Nov 1892, James on 28 Feb 1895, David on 19 May 1897 and Edith in 1904. There was also another brother, Robert who died age 8 months of age in Feb 1900. His cause of death is listed as infantile convulsions and acute bronchitis.

I have not found too much information yet on William and David, other than a few facts told to me by my grandmother. According to her, William married Agnes HUNTER and had a daughter named Chrissie. William and David both served in France during World War 1.

James RENSHAW served during WW1 with the 18th Btn. Highland Light Infantry (Queen’s Own Glasgow Yeomanry) which arrived in France in May 1915. He spent almost three years fighting in France and was killed on 25 March 1918 (age 23 years) during the First Battle of Bapaume (part of the Second Battle of the Somme). His body was never found and he is commemorated on the Pozieres British Memorial, situated approx 6km from the small town of Albert in France. 

According to my grandmother, Edith RENSHAW was very intelligent young woman and was in training to become a teacher when she became very ill and died on 25 Aug 1923, age 19 years. Her cause of death is listed as toxemia and exhaustion of acute confusional insanity, and hypostatic pneumonia (13 days duration).

Below is the marriage registration of Herbert RENSHAW and his wife Elizabeth Speirs (nee LINDSAY). They were married at the Parish Church in Bothwell, Lanarkshire Scotland on 9 Sept 1910. Although the registration lists their ages as 22 for Herbert and 17 for Elizabeth (known as Bessie), Herbert was actually 25 when he was married.

Below is the 1911 Census (taken on 2 April 1911) showing Herbert and Bessie living together at 23 Avon Place Bothwellhaugh. Herbert is listed as being 26 years old, Bessie as 18 years old. This census was taken only two months before the birth of their first child, David (known as Davy) on 16 June 1911.

The tiny mining village of Bothwellhaugh in Lanarkshire, Scotland was the place that Herbert and his family called home. He worked for at least 25 years at the Hamilton Palace Colliery which had built the entire town to house it’s workers. The town was abandoned in the early 1960’s after the mine closed in 1959. The village was subsequently drowned when the Strathclyde Loch was created in the early 1970’s as part of the development of the Strathclyde Regional Park. 

The west end of Bothwellhaugh, date unknown  **

Hamilton Palace Colliery, Bothwellhaugh  **

In May 1908 Herbert enlisted as a volunteer with the territorial force and began life as a part-time soldier, still working in the mines but receiving military training during days off.  When war broke out in 1914 the territorial forces were amongst the first volunteers to be set to France, arriving there in Nov 1914 as part of Kitcheners Army, reinforcements for the British Expeditionary Forces. The British Expeditionary Forces were the full-time soldiers who were the first to head to France in August 1914 and who suffered massive losses in the first couple of months of the war. Herbert was part of the 5th / 6th Btn. Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) which during the course of the war lost over 37,400 men from their division.

I have no idea when the photo below was taken but I tend to think it was before the war when Herbert’s unit was still part of the territorial forces. Herbert is in the back row on the very right.

I have no idea when or where this photo was taken either, all I know is that my grandmother thought it was taken at the end of the war. Herbert is in the middle of the front row in his dress uniform of tartan trousers and button up tunic.

My grandmother told me that the lady in the back row third from the right was Herbert’s aunt who brought him up (Mary nee McMullen RENSHAW) and the rest of the people were “relations from Canada”. I have never found any information on any branches of the family that went to Canada so it is something that I am yet to spend more time on and hopefully discover more about.

During Herbert’s time in the Scottish Rifles his unit was involved in many of the famous battles of the first world war including:

* The Battle of Albert and the attacks on High and Deville Woods (all were phases of the Battle of the Somme in 1916)

* The First and Second Battles of the Scarpe and the Battle of Menin Ridge (phases of the Arras Offensive of 1917)

* The Battle of Polygon Wood (a phase of the Third Battles of Ypres 1917) which saw them encounter mustard gas for the first time, Herbert’s unit suffering 2,905 casualties in one day. This also included heavy fighting around Passchendaele in Nov of 1917.

Herbert’s unit and division were still in Flanders when the Germans launched their spring offensive of 1918. His unit spent much of 1918 on the front line and was heavily engaged in the Battles at Epehy, St Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir Line and Cambrai (phases of the Battles of the Hindenburg Line). They were part of the Advance to Victory and their final action was the Battle of Selle in late October. After the Armistice in November of 1918 the division stayed in France and was finally de-mobilized in Feb 1919.

In early November 1917 Herbert was “Mentioned in Despatches”. This is not the award of a medal but is a commendation of an act of extreme gallantry by an individual (though a medal of some kind may also be issued for the same act). A “Despatch” is an official report written by the senior commander of an army in the field recognising these individuals. All “Despatches” were published in the London Gazette in full or in part after the event. In 1919 it was decided that all those “Mentioned in Despatches” would receive a certificate honoring their achievement, all individually signed by Winston Churchill. 

This is Herbert’s certificate, now almost 100 years old and showing the
effects of time (and having gone through the Mataura flood in 1978).

Below is the London Gazette published on 18 December 1917 showing Herbert’s name “Mentioned in Despatches”. At this time his unit was fighting near Passchendaele in Belguim. Six months later in June 1918 Herbert was awarded the “Meritorious Service Medal” which is awarded for “meritorious service in the field by non-commissioned officers”. Whether this medal relates to this same time period in late 1917 or something completely separate I have not yet been able to find out.  Medals were often not awarded until many months later so hopefully one day I will be able to find this out and also find out exactly what he did to receive these recognitions.

During the later stages of the war Herbert was involved with saving a French family, the Fabres, from being captured and killed by the Germans. So far I have been unable to find out any further details about this family or the events surrounding them, but I do have in my possession this photo of their family that they sent to Herbert after the war.

After the Armistice in November 1918 while Herbert was still in France he was able to go back to the area where the Fabre's lived and go to visit them. Sadly, when he arrived there they were not there and he never got the chance to see them again. Not long after this he received this letter from them. It is a bit hard to read so I have written a transcript of it below. Herbert sent it home to his wife Bessie in Scotland and wrote the piece on it in pencil. Almost one hundred years later and I have this letter in my possession and it is a very treasured part of my family archives.

"My dear friend,

I am very content that you are good health and I was very sad the last day

when I knew that you came to see me and I was not there.

If you come again be kind enough send me a postcard so I shall stay

at home and wait for you.

My mother sends you her best regards.

Both of us reminds you every night in our prayers, so that

God keep you in good health and take you safely back to your family.

I would be very pleased to give my best respects to your wife and

your children whom I hope are enjoying good health.

I remain your grateful and faithful friend,

Gabrielle Fabre

Rue du Paradis, (?) "

________

"Perhaps you can't make out her name very well it is

Gabrielle Fabre. 

Show it to my aunt and uncle."

________

To be continued in Pt 2

______________________________

(Please note; the two photos marked ** are not mine and were found online during
the course of my research into Bothwellhaugh and the Hamilton Palace Colliery)

Thank you Grandma

My late paternal grandmother Elizabeth Speirs ENGLISH (Lizzie, nee RENSHAW) is probably the main reason why I first became interested in my family history. 

As a child growing up in Southland, New Zealand I was very fortunate to live right next door to my grandparent’s house (they were Lizzie and Bob English but from here on I will refer to them as Grandma and Grandad). I was their oldest granddaughter, and one of only four grandchildren, so I guess you could say they probably spoilt me quite a bit. I didn’t mind though and their place was my second home. I spent many, many happy hours with them and I loved to listen to Grandma tell me stories about her childhood and her ‘old country’.

Grandma and Grandad both came out to New Zealand from Scotland as children, Grandad in 1914 as a one year old and Grandma in 1926 as a 13 year old. Grandma came from the small coal mining village of Bothwellhaugh in south east Lanarkshire, where her father and many other family members worked underground. Sadly for her she was unable to visit her old hometown when she went back to Scotland for a visit in 1974 as the entire village of Bothwellhaugh and the surrounding area had been flooded in the late 1960’s when the Strathclyde Loch was created.

Grandad’s family came out to New Zealand from Wigtownshire but unfortunately he never knew much about his family background. He couldn’t even tell me the names of his grandparents or any aunts and uncles that were left behind in Scotland. It seems that for some reason no contact was kept between his parents and any family that may have remained in Scotland. 

My very first memory of actually wanting to know more about my family history came when I was about 10 years old. Grandma and I had been discussing baby photos so I went home and collected my baby album to take over to their place to show them. As is usual in many baby albums or baby books, the first page had a graphic of a family tree that you filled in the names of the parents, grandparents and great grandparents. Mum had recorded my paternal great grandmother (Bob’s mother) as Helen McCarthy. Grandad took one look at it and said “Mum’s name wasn’t McCarthy, it was McCallie”.  And from that moment on I just wanted to find out as much as I could about my family history and those who came before me.

In the last ten years or so it has become so much easier to research overseas from the comfort of your own home. So many more records are being digitised and placed online for anyone with an internet connection to access from anywhere in the world. Scotland would have to be one of the easiest countries of all to obtain records from as many of the old birth, marriage and death records can be found online at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk. 

Both Grandma’s and Grandad’s maternal sides have been relatively easy to piece together using these old records and I have managed to amass quite large families for them both. Their paternal sides however are proving to be brick walls at the moment. Grandad’s father (William ENGLISH, born in 1877) has remained very elusive with no trace of him or his family in any records so far. And Grandma’s father (Herbert RENSHAW, born in 1885) has a Scots-Irish background with little to no progress made on that branch either. But I will keep looking and searching for them and hopefully one day I will make the breakthrough that I have been seeking for so long.

Grandma and Grandad on their golden wedding anniversary, 26th February 1988

Grandad died in 1996 and Grandma in late 2000. Since then I have discovered so much more about their families, in fact Grandad’s maternal McCallie side is huge (thanks to his great grandfather who had 18 children, but that’s another story for another day). I only wish that they were both still alive today so I could share with them what I have found. Probably the thing I would most liked to have shared with Grandma was to show her a video that I located the year after she died. “Bothwellhaugh, the Drowned Village” was a 30 minute documentary made by the BBC that featured old home movies shot in the village in the early 1960's. I wish so much that she had been alive to have watched this movie and to have seen her old home one final time. Grandma loved her family and she loved Scotland so much and I know for certain that she would have been absolutely thrilled with my research and what I have found.

So thank you Grandma for giving me this love of family and of our history, for filling my heart with a passion for Scotland and all things Scottish, and especially for instilling in me the desire to want to know more and to pass the stories on.

___________________________

Footnote: Oct 2016 - I have just found that the link for the video of "Bothwellhaugh, the Drowned Village" no longer works and the video has been removed from YouTube. However, I have found another film that shows images of Bothwellhaugh (Lost Village of Bothwellhaugh), still quite good to watch but unfortunately not as good as the original film.