Jane (Wilson) Macfadyen (1862 - 1936)

Born 2 Dec 1862 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Wife of Thomas Douglas Macfadyen — married 15 Apr 1884 (to 27 May 1936) in Kelvin, Glasgow, Scotland

Descendants

Died 13 Jun 1936 at age 73 in Dundee City, Scotland, United Kingdom

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Mark Carroll [send private message]

Biography

Jeannie (Wilson) Macfadyen was born in Scotland.

Overview

Jane Wilson (later Macfadyen) was a Glaswegian teacher who, after marrying, spent much of her life in England and whose three daughters all joined her in the teaching profession in Scotland.

Early life

Jane Wilson was born on 2 December 1862 at 117 Castle Street, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. ^[1] Her parents, Peter Wilson and Margaret formerly Flinn (or Flynn), were both blind, but he was able to earn a living as a sacking weaver. ^[2] The couple had a total of 8 children, but only Jane and her two older brothers, Peter and Charles, survived childhood. ^[3] In 1871 Jane and her family were still living at Castle Street, together with her parents' adopted son, Thomas Lawrie, a 17-year old glass cutter born in Glasgow; Peter and Charles were also working as glass cutters. By 1881 the family was at 3 Martyr Street, Glasgow, but by this time Jane's brothers had both left home; she herself was a pupil teacher, the first rung on the ladder to the teaching profession. Three years later Jane was living at 14 Corn Street, Glasgow in the same house as a young Ayrshire man, Thomas Douglas Macfadyen. The couple were married on 15 April 1884 at the United Presbyterian Church in her home city; his job then was stated to be a mercantile clerk. ^[4]

The move to England

Some time between 1884 and 1891 Thomas and Jane moved to England. He had become employed as a Customs Officer, whose job it was to collect duties on imports and to attempt to prevent smuggling. It was the tradition of that service in those days to post their men to work far away from their home location. By such means it was hoped that the men would not be unduly influenced by friends and family members in the course of their line of duty. By early 1891 the couple was living in Caistor Park Road in West Ham, Essex (now part of east London); Thomas was a boatman Customs Officer, Jane was a teacher with the London Board, and living with them was her widowed blind mother, Margaret Wilson. ^[5] In late 1891 their first child, a daughter called Margaret, was born. ^[6] Two years later she was joined by a sister, Jeannie, ^[7] and two years after that by another sister, Isabella. ^[8] By this time the family was living at 24 Edith Road, East Ham, Essex (now east London), with Thomas working as a Customs Officer (outdoor) and Jane was using the middle name of Bone, her paternal grandmother's maiden name. On the night of the 1901 census he was working away from home in Canning Town, West Ham, Essex, while the rest of the family was in Edith Road; Jane was a teacher with the London School Board. ^[9] Jane's mother, Margaret Wilson, died on 12 March 1905 at the Macfadyen family home at 24 Edith Road; she was 77 years old. ^[10] By 1911 Thomas had been transferred to work in the county of Kent. In the census that year the family was living at Hampton Cottage in Minster on the Isle of Sheppey; he was a preventive officer with HM Customs, Jane was an assistant teacher with London County Council, and their eldest daughter had by then left home. ^[11] At the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 Thomas was too old to fight but he enlisted with the 15th (Reserve) Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. ^[12]

Back to Scotland

By 1918 the family had re-located again, this time to the Dundee area of eastern Scotland. ^[13] In 1921 Thomas was living with his wife and three daughters at Muirloch farm house in the village of Fowlis Easter, Forfarshire, about 5 miles north-west of the city centre of Dundee. ^[14] Thomas was still working as a preventive officer with HM Customs, Jane had 'home duties', while the three young women were all teachers. In 1925 the family home was in the village of North Dronley in the parish of Auchterhouse, a few miles north-east of Fowlis Easter. ^[15] At that time it seems Thomas's preferred mode of transport was a motorcycle fitted with a sidecar in which Jane could travel (see photograph below).

Thomas + Jane Macfadyen

Towards the end

In 1930 the family was still in North Dronley, but by 1935 Jane and Thomas were living in a house called "Inglewood" in the district of Birkhill, a few miles east of Fowlis Easter, a property owned by their daughters, Margaret and Jean. ^[16] Thomas died at 5.40pm on 27 May 1936 at the Royal Infirmary, Dundee; the cause of death was heart failure, the informant was Margaret. ^[17] His widow Jane died only two weeks later under tragic circumstances, at 3pm on 13 June 1936 at Dundee Royal Infirmary. ^[18] The presumed cause of death was complex: "A strangulated ventral hernia with toxaemia [blood poisoning], death under percaine anaesthesia during operation for hernia"; the informant was her daughter, Margaret. A correction in July 1936 to the register entry for the death certificate provides a revised cause of death: heart failure during administration of anaesthetic. ^[19] In a cemetery just outside the village of Errol, near Dundee, is a gravestone with the following memorial inscription: ^[20] "In loving memory of Thomas Douglas Macfadyen, died 26th May 1936, and his wife Jeannie Wilson, 13th June 1936, both interred at Dundee. Also his sister Isabella, died 15th Sept. 1943, and his eldest daughter Margaret, teacher Errol School 1918-1958, and his second daughter Jean, died 2nd November 1968, teacher Errol School 1918-1968". The couple are buried at Balgay Cemetery, Dundee. ^[21] Jane's youngest daughter, Isabella, moved away to London and set up a school there, thereby continuing the family tradition of a commitment to education.

Research notes

• Jane's forename is recorded as that on her birth certificate, but in the family she was usually referred to as Jeannie or Jeanie. Both those variants of her forename appear in the documentary records, as does Jennie. Sometimes she also used the middle name of Bone, which was the maiden surname of her paternal grandmother.
• Jane Macfadyen nee Wilson is the paternal great-grandmother of the first author and manager of her profile, Mark Carroll.

Sources

1. ↑ "Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQ8Q-G25 : 12 February 2020), Jane Wilson, 1862. [Accessed 14 March 2023].
2. ↑ Scotland Census 1871, entry for Wilson, Peter, aged 46, Glasgow Central District, reference 644/183/10. (Available: www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 14 March 2023]).
3. ↑ Scotland Census 1881, entry for Wilson, Peter, aged 56, St Rollox district, reference 644/635/19. (Available: www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 14 March 2023]).
4. ↑ 1884 Marriage entry for Macfadyen, Thomas Douglas (Scotland Statutory Registers, Marriages, reference 644/9/ 145) [Available: www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk (accessed 14 March 2023)].
5. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1891," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLCH-42M : 22 February 2021), Thomas D MacFadyen, West Ham, Essex, England, United Kingdom; from "1891 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 12, Essex county, subdistrict, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey. [Accessed 14 March 2023].
6. ↑ FreeBMD entry for birth of Macfadyen, Margaret, March quarter 1892, West Ham, vol. 4a, p. 45. (Available: https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=LiddjjK70OvCqqmlhpk%2FMA&scan=1 [accessed 21 March 2023]).
7. ↑ FreeBMD entry for birth of Macfadyen, Jeannie, December quarter 1893, West Ham, vol. 4a, p. 73. (Available: https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=F9WW%2BkzQP4CSa6FB8yIB5Q&scan=1 [accessed 21 March 2023]).
8. ↑ FreeBMD entry for birth of Macfadyen, Isabella, September quarter 1895, West Ham, vol. 4a, p. 224. (Available: https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=6lzuWKrDa6nyn8fsWZE4OA&scan=1 [accessed 21 March 2023]).
9. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1901," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X9NP-MJB : 20 May 2019), Jennie Macfadgen, East Ham, Essex, England, United Kingdom; from "1901 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing East Ham subdistrict, PRO RG 13, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey. [Accessed 14 March 2023]
10. ↑ "England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2NY4-VRW : 31 December 2014), Margaret Wilson, 1905; from "England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Death, West Ham, Essex, England, General Register Office, Southport, England. [Accessed 11 July 2023].
11. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XW63-62F : 28 June 2019), Thomas Douglas MacFadyen, Minster in Sheppey, Kent, England, United Kingdom; from "1911 England and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 14, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey. [Accessed 14 March 2023].
12. ↑ Undated photograph of Thomas Douglas Macfadyen in Army uniform with some soldier pals, annotated "15th Battalion Middlesex Regiment".
13. ↑ 1968 obituary of Jeannie Macfadyen entitled 'Errol mourns "Miss Jean"', in an article from the Dundee Courier newspaper dated 2 November 1968, in the Carroll family collection.
14. ↑ 1921 census for Scotland, entry for McFadyen, Isabella; reference: Census 288 / B1 / 4. (Available: https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [Accessed 28 February 2023]).
15. ↑ Scotland Valuation Rolls, 1925, reference VR88/78/5. Available: www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 29 December 2014].
16. ↑ Scotland Valuation Rolls, 1935, reference VR88/345. (Available: www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 21 March 2023]).
17. ↑ Scotland, Statutory Registers, Deaths, 1936 entry for Macfadyen, Thomas Douglas, aged 72; St Clement RD, Dundee, reference 282/2/501. (Available: www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 21 March 2023]).
18. ↑ Scotland Statutory Registers, Deaths, entry for Macfadyen, Jeanie, aged 73; St Clement RD, Dundee, reference 282/2/557. (Available: www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 14 March 2023]).
19. ↑ Scotland Statutory Registers, Corrected Entries, entry for Macfadyen, Jeanie; reference 282/02/17/111 (RCE) (Available: www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 14 March 2023]).
20. ↑ Memorial inscription at Errol recorded by Mark Carroll in June 2001.
21. ↑ Funeral announcement in Dundee Courier newspaper on Monday 15 June 1936: funeral of Jeannie Wilson, widow of Thomas Douglas Macfadyen, to be held at 3p.m. on 16 June 1936 at Balgay Cemetery.