Mary Thomson Runciman (1890 - 1961)

Born 11 Sep 1890 in Glasgow, , Lanarkshire, Scotland

Ancestors

Died 23 Feb 1961 at age 70 in Glasgow, , Lanarkshire, Scotland

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Alan Runciman [send private message]

Biography

This biography was partly auto-generated by a GEDCOM import then significantly added to by Alan Runciman, Mary’s grand-nephew who was born in her home. It is not yet completed, particularly with regard to adding or improving quality of photographs.

Name

Name: Mary Thomson /Runciman/ ^[1]

Birth

Birth:

Date: 11 September 1890

Place: Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland^[2]

Mary was the youngest of 7 children. She was born at home, 175(?) Shamrock Street in the Kelvin registration district of Glasgow.

Schooling

The index of records held at the National Register of Scotland ^[3] shows two entries for Mary. In 1908 and 1911 she received Scottish Education Leaving Certificates while attending Woodside Higher Grade Public School. Given her age they are likely to be at the highest level ie Highers.

Woodside Public School as it was when Mary attended. (this photo is from 1916.)

Training & Profession

The three Runciman sisters all became teachers. Like Jeanie, Mary probably trained at Glasgow’s Dundas Vale Teaching Centre commencing in 1912 on leaving Woodside although that fact has not yet been established. There is however much evidence of interaction with DVTC students around that time courtesy of the autograph book featured in her sister Jeanie’s profile. At one point after training she taught in County Durham, England at West Carnforth (Doggy as it was called). It’s not known how long she taught there but Mary recalls this fact in ‘Wanderlust’ (see below) when she visited the village again in 1938.

However Mary’s teaching career, like Jeanie’s, centred on Holmlea Primary School on Glasgow’s expanding south-side, positioned in the shadow of G&J Weir Ltd’s factory (a company whose pump products were exported to every corner of the globe) and close to Scotland’s national football stadium Hampden Park and the Victoria Infirmary. Cathcart would have been a bustling place. The school was built in 1905 at the same time as the surrounding new tenement flats but it’s not certain when Jeanie or Mary joined the staff. Given she’d moved house in close proximity to the school in the early 1930s (see 'Residences', below) it’s probable she was teaching there at least by then and possibly much earlier.

It’s highly possible one of Holmlea’s notable pupils Thomas Leith was taught by her in at least one of his years there. Leith, who became a successful engineer and director of G & J Weir Ltd, attended the school in the 1930s and, interestingly, given Mary's sister Jeanie's experiences, was one of the pupils evacuated in 1939. Few people in the world will have managed to carve out such a successful career within such a short walk twixt school and employer! (as shown in the aerial photograph)!

FamilySearch

Holmlea Primary School, where Mary taught.

Residence

Mary’s parents moved around within Glasgow during their marriage. Her father was a skilled manual worker. At the time Mary was born the family were living at 175 Shamrock Street which is in the Kelvin registration district. Later the family moved to 188 St Georges Road which remained tenanted by the family until her widowed mother Mary (nee Thomson) died in 1931. This home at St Georges Road was the subject of a poem written by Jeanie’s nephew Rev Jim Runciman. Sometime shortly after their mother’s death Jeanie and sister Mary moved to a beautiful bungalow at 7 Leefield Drive, Netherlee in Glasgow. Jeanie is shown as the owner in Scotland’s 1935 property valuation. It was convenient by public transport to & from work.

The photo was described on the back, "The Wee Hoose".

Later, the Leefield Drive house featured other members of the family as her nephew Alan Runciman Sr & new bride Catherine Kirkland lived the first 18 months of their married life there immediately post-war and their first son, Alan Jr, (writer of this biography) was born there. The house was fronted with a characterful terrace. In the back garden there were two cherry trees which bore bountiful ripe red fruit every summer.

Their house contained some interesting and characterful furnishings. There were a number of original paintings and drawings, a display cabinet with ornaments and knick-knacks from many family travels, hand-built wooden furniture which I’ve always remembered as being built by the sisters themselves. The garden also contained their own hand-built garden bench sturdy enough to survive beyond Mary’s life for the following next two generations.

The house was also a treasure trove for young children like myself as in addition to the usual games there was a selection of children’s games rarely found in the UK courtesy of their North American travels, such as Pick-Up Sticks, Pit and an elaborately designed Chinese Checkers board played with real marbles.

Hobbies & Interests

Mary shared a couple of interests with her sister Jeanie. Both were well read, as it seems were all their siblings, and the house was stocked with a wide range of classics, Scottish authors, travel, such as HV Morton, horror (eg Edgar Allan Poe), encyclopedias (eg the complete 10 volumes of The Children's Encyclopedia), The Works of Robert Burns, Shakespeare etc.

At one time (probably the 1920s) Mary wrote a stage play which was performed by the Theosophical Society in the McLellan Galleries, one of Glasgow’s illustrious public venues.

A Ticket for Mary's 'Spell of Hecate' and a newspaper para

They were also artistic, perhaps Jeanie the more so of the two. They loved international holidays which was unusual for the 1920s and 1930s, the period of their travel, particularly for single women. Many a winter evening was spent writing up and illustrating the holiday journal (‘Wanderlust’, see below) about that summer’s travels.

’Wanderlust’

In 1926 Mary made her first entry in a travelogue. On the inner front page of a large bound book she attached a photograph of herself and sister Jeanie and entitled it

‘WANDERLUST, The travels of Two Scots Sisters, Written by M.T.R Illustrated by J.R.’

'Wanderlust' opening double page

Jeanie & Mary Runciman

In fact the first trip abroad features a solo trip of Mary’s to Holland to attend an International Congress led by the Order of the Star in the East, an organisation with origins in India which believed in the arrival of a world-leading Messiah. The 1,030 delegates from 33 countries were addressed by Dr Annie Besant, its driving force, and also by her adopted son, Krishnaji, amongst notable others. There are connections with the Theosophical Society. It’s not clear which particular hook attracted Mary although I suspect she had a strong leaning towards feminism and presbyterianism. Her impressionable young years occurred during the rise of the Suffragette movement and she had a strong interest in tracing the trail back to her reputed direct ancestor, the hanged Scottish Covenanter John Potter.

Despite travelling alone she seems already to know a few of the attendees from Scotland. Mary’s account of the Congress and her subsequent touring holiday with Miss Agnes Pirie ‘a teacher in Glasgow’ makes interesting reading. (An Agnes Pirie is described in records of 1931 as ‘ran Mile End Nursery School’, so quite possibly one and the same.)

Between the years 1926 to 1939 Mary recounted her travels in 'Wanderlust'.

Hotel Rossli is still trading in 2019.

Following her Dutch trip Mary took a Frame's trip to Switzerland with Maggie Kerr in 1927. It's believed Maggie is family of John Kerr, Mary's brother-in-law, as a Maggie Kerr appeared elsewhere in a photograph with Kerr in-laws. They stayed in Hotel Rossli in Lucerne, still a hotel to this day (2019). They moved on to Locarno for 3 days and then as part of the journey homewards, stayed in Paris for a further 3 days following the full tourist paths from The Palace of Varseilles ('here took place some of the most thrilling episodes of the French Revolution') to the Moulin Rouge ('rather shocked!').

The Fun of Planning & Anticipation!

Nothing ventured...off we go!

'In the summer of 1932 Jean and I decided to have a Continental Holiday. Jean had never been abroad before, so there was a good deal of exciting anticipation in viewing the various Travel Books.'

Later in the holiday, in Yugoslavia....

Battle with a local 'inhabitant'.

Interesting comment about 'the great explosion which led to the Great War'. Written before there was any thought of the possibility of a second such war.

There followed 'The Grand Tour of Italy' in 1935 with Jean & 'Belle' and 'The Grand Tour of Scandinavia' in 1936 on which just Mary & Jean went. Nice & Corsica followed in 1937 comprising 'we three', ('Jean and I and our friend Cissie McIntyre') :

Piana, Corsica - 1937

At Juan-les-Pins

Quite an adventurous trip given the ages of the participants and it's 1937.

Pre-war anxiety on the sail back across the Atlantic.

In 1938 Jeanie & Mary made a promise to the Kerr family (descendants of their sister Annie Runciman) to make a return visit to Canada the following year. They did so, and only just made it back to Scotland by 1 week before the outbreak of WW2.

This 1939 holiday was the last to be entered in Wanderlust. It was probably the last one they had together, brought about by the onslaught of war. Jeanie did not survive WW2 dying in 1942, as told in her own profile. Here is Mary's last entry in 'Wanderlust':

The last, sad entry in 'Wanderlust', the only one to be written in pencil.

What were Mary's thoughts as she wrote, in pencil, lightly, almost tentatively ? -

'One lovely May morning Sat 30 1942 The Dear Companion of my wanderings left me for ever and left me The Lonely Trail'

Jeanie & Mary

Death

Death:

Date: 23 February 1961

Place: Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland^[4]

I remember the day of Mary’s funeral although my parents had decreed that as I was 14 I remain behind in Mary’s house with the female relatives during the actual service. It was common practice at that time the ladies & children didn’t attend burials. Where Mary's funeral took place is for future research. I do recall that Mary was considered quite advanced in her thinking and it may be that she was cremated. If so, she was probably among the first to be cremated – and very possibly the first in her family? The nearest cemetery/crematorium to her home is Lynn but what research I have done so far indicates the crematorium had not yet been opened.

Reference

Reference: 71323

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Ancestors of Interest

John Potter, a Scottish Covenanter captured after the Battle of Airdsmoss & hanged at the Mercat Cross, Edinburgh in 1680.

William Runciman of Crail, who drowned with 7 other fishermen in the Crail Fishing Disaster, 1765.

More information about the Crail Fishing Disaster & its 250th Anniversary Commemoration is here Disaster.

WikiTree Profiles of Interest -

Follow the appropriate link below to visit any of the Profiles-

Runciman Lineage 1b-The Early Generations

As the name implies this Profile covers the latest research known of the earliest ancestors on the 'Crail' Line.

Crail Fishing Disaster History and Latest News

Mary is a descendant of William of Crail who drowned with 7 others in the 1765 Crail Fishing Disaster. A 250th anniversary commemoration for the drownings was held in Crail on 16 May 2015.

Scotland and Beyond

In 2004 a history of the William Runciman of Crail lineage was published. The decision was made that the latest research & continuing updates be published on the web rather than in print. At the same time Jen Jelley & Diane Middleton, compilers & publishers of the 2004 publication kindly agreed to make it available to view online but this decision was later revised against the backdrop of concerns over the security of personal data in order to respect the personal information of living relatives.

Sources

• Source: S210 Title: 1881 Census for UK, Record Type: Census transcripts, Location: UK, Record Info: via Family Search/LDS CDs Abbreviation: Census: 1881 UK via FamilySearch/LDS Publication: 1881 Repository: #R21
• Repository: R21 Name: LDS library Address: State: Utah Country: USA Note: films and cd roms
• Source: S212 Title: 1891 Census for Scotland, Record Type: Census transcripts, Location: Scotland, Record Info: via Ancestry.com Abbreviation: Census: 1891 SCT via Ancestry Publication: 1891 Repository: #R121
• Repository: R121 Name: Ancestry.com Address: Country: USA
• Source: S214 Title: 1901 Census for Scotland, Record Type: Census transcripts, Location: Scotland, Record Info: via http://Ancestry.com Abbreviation: Census: 1901 SCT via Ancestry Publication: 1901 Repository: #R121
• Source: S3222 Title: "Scotland and Beyond" (2004) plus subsequent research by Alan RUNCIMAN, Ros RUNCIMAN, Lawrence FLETCHER, Lorna HENDERSON & many, many others, Compiler Address: UK, Australia and New Zealand Abbreviation: "Scotland and Beyond" (2004), plus subsequent research Author: Diane Middleton Jen Jelley Alan Runciman Ros Runciman Laurie Fletcher Lorna Henderson and many others Publication: Jul 2013 Note: imported on 2013/07/24 at 15:44:27.
• Source: S3223 Title: Birth Registration Abbreviation: Birth Registration
• Source: S56 Title: Scottish Birth, Marriage, Death entries (from 1855), Record Type: Scottish BMDB entries (from 1855), File Number: http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/index.php Abbreviation: BDM: Scotlands People certs from 1855

1. ↑ Source: #S3222
2. ↑ Source: #S3222
3. ↑ Filing Reference at NRS : ED36
4. ↑ Source: #S3222

Data Changed

Data Changed:

Date: 27 AUG 2013

Prior to import, this record was last changed 27 AUG 2013

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Alan Runciman for creating WikiTree profile Runciman-668 through the import of RUNCIMANAlansPaternal4WikiTreeAug2013.ged on Aug 29, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Alan and others.