Author Topic: Sir James Young Simpson and his great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson  (Read 12534 times)

Offline Forfarian

  • RootsChat Marquessate
  • *******
  • Posts: 14,970
  • http://www.rootschat.com/links/01ruz/
    • View Profile
Re: Sir James Young Simpson and his great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson
« Reply #9 on: Tuesday 19 May 15 17:44 BST (UK) »
Ah yes, I remember now. Someone who thought that Sir JYS had a son called Pinkney Simpson. The Pinkney in question was 14 years older than  Sir JYS!
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline hurworth

  • RootsChat Aristocrat
  • ******
  • Posts: 1,333
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: Sir James Young Simpson and his great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson
« Reply #10 on: Thursday 28 May 15 09:40 BST (UK) »
Sir James Young Simpson had nine children. Only one of those children married and had a family. This was Sir Walter Grindlay Simpson (1843-1898).

Sir Walter had two sons and two daughters. Neither son married or, as far as I know, had any family.

One daughter married Sir Bertram Long and had one son, who was killed in the second world war.

The other married Sir Arthur Willert and had one son, Paul Odo Willert. He was twice married and had three daughters.

I have read a record that says Sir Walter Grindlay Simpson married Rose Anne Fitzgerald Mackay in 1874.  Would you happen to know anything about her ancestry please?   I have read that her father was an Alexander MacKay, an architect.

This book about Robert Louis Stevenson says it was an "irregular marriage".

https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=xqb0AwAAQBAJ&pg=PP164&lpg=PP164&dq=anne+fitzgerald+mackay&source=bl&ots=6T1BCvJ2Kf&sig=ZaOF89XAoqGmACezv5-kR7Md-G8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bt1mVZeAEOOxmwWnjoHQBA&ved=0CDEQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=anne%20fitzgerald%20mackay&f=false

Offline Forfarian

  • RootsChat Marquessate
  • *******
  • Posts: 14,970
  • http://www.rootschat.com/links/01ruz/
    • View Profile
Re: Sir James Young Simpson and his great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson
« Reply #11 on: Thursday 28 May 15 12:37 BST (UK) »
Walter Grindlay Simpson married Anne Fitzgerald Mackay on 13 January 1881 in the Manse, Banchory-Devenick, Kincardineshire. The marriage was performed by William Paul DD, Minister of Banchory-Devenick, which gives the lie to the suggestion that it was an irregular marriage.

Her parents were Alexander Mackay, architect, and Isabella Catherine Thomson. According to the 1911 Census, Anne was aged 53 and born in Thurso, Caithness, so she would have been born about 1857/8. I had been unable to find a birth until now, because she does not seem to have used the name Rose on her marriage of in the census, but I now see a birth of Rose Anne Mackay on 31 August 1856 in Thurso to Alexander Mackay and Isabella Thomson, who were married in Wick, Caithness on 7 November 1854.

Normally I don't research the parents and ancestors of people who marry into my family, but I have had a brief look just now. However Alexander M(a)ckay is not listed in the Dictionary of Scottish Architects, and I have failed to find the family in any census so far. Anne gave her address in 1881 as Kintore, Aberdeenshire.

I wondered why they chose to marry in Banchory-Devenick, and from the 1881 census I see that Margaret, wife of William Paul DD, was born in Caithness. However her surname was Smith, so there is no immediately obvious connection. Her father was William Smith, Minister of Bower, Caithness, and I think that her mother was Ann Longmire Sinclair.

So I can only confirm that, according to Anne's marriage certificate, her father was indeed Alexander Mackay, architect, but at the moment I cannot tell you anything more about him.


Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline hurworth

  • RootsChat Aristocrat
  • ******
  • Posts: 1,333
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: Sir James Young Simpson and his great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson
« Reply #12 on: Friday 29 May 15 04:02 BST (UK) »
Thank you Forfarian.

I have found a McKay (not MacKay) family at Dempster St, Wick, in the 1861 census that could be the same family. 

Alexander is 55 years old and a mason (not an architect), birthplace is Rogart, Sutherland.  Isabella is 36, birthplace Orkney.  Another Isabella is 11, birthplace Orkney, and Rose Ann is 4, birthplace Thurso. 

That's quite a large age gap between Alexander and Isabella.  If it is the same family Isabella jnr was born before the marriage in 1854. 

My knowledge of Scottish geography isn't very good.  I hadn't realised just how far north Caithness is!


Offline Forfarian

  • RootsChat Marquessate
  • *******
  • Posts: 14,970
  • http://www.rootschat.com/links/01ruz/
    • View Profile
Re: Sir James Young Simpson and his great-niece Mary Beatrice Simpson
« Reply #13 on: Friday 29 May 15 08:55 BST (UK) »
Thank you for that.

In the 1851 census Alexander McKay, 44, journeyman mason is in Burn Street, Wick with sister Jannet, 49. Both born Rogart; and Alexander is described as a widower. So maybe Isabella Jr is a daughter by Alexander's first marriage?

In 1871 Alexander, mason, 66 and Isabella Thomson, wife. 46, born Sanday, and Rosanna Mackay, 14, are at 9 Dempster Street, Wick.

The IGI has a baptism of Alexr Mackay in Rogart on 31 October 1806, which would fit. Parents George Mackay and Sibella Macdonald. However there is no Janet listed among their numerous other children, so he may not be the right one. On the other hand there are gaps in the list.

In 1851 there is a family in Kirkwall including Isabella Thomson, 28, born South Ronaldsay, and Isabella Halcrow, 1, born Kirkwall. Isabella Sr's age, and both Isabellas' birthplaces, don't match the 1861 details, but I'd bear them in mind. I have not found a one-year-old Isabella Mackay, or a one-year-old Isabella Thomson, born in Orkney.


Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.