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Alexander Livingston(e), baptised East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, Scotland, on 16 April 1820, married Margaret Speirs in East Kilbride (EK) on 30 April 1837. They had at least five children, and if they got them baptised they omitted to have the events recorded in the parish register.

In 1841 Alexander Livingston, 20, hand loom weaver; Margaret, 20; and Robert, 2, are in the census in EK.

On 15 January 1850 Alexander was tried and convicted for assaulting James Watson and robbing him of 18 shillings. He was sentenced to seven years' transportation, and was duly transported to Tasmania aboard the 'Oriental Queen', arriving on 19 February 1853.

The Tasmanian Colonist of 28 November 1853 reported that he had been given a ticket of leave.

According to his records (Tasmanian Names Index CON33-1-114 Image 173 and CON18-1-59 Image 145) at some point after this the Sydney authorities received an enquiry about him from Mrs Margaret Livingston, EK. She described herself as married in the 1861 census and widowed in the 1871. She remarried in EK in 1875.

Would he have had to stay in Tasmania after being granted his ticket of leave? Would there be any records of how the authorities responded to his wife's enquiry? Did he die before 1871, and if so where and when? Is he the Alexander Livingston who is on record as residing at 3 Fitzroy Place, Hobart, in September 1853?

I've just looked at the death of Charles Finlayson in Larbert on 12 March 1879.

The informant was 'David Finlayson, cousin's son, Larbert'. Obviously I am keen to use this snippet to attach the correct relatives to one another.

The only David Finlayson I can find in Larbert is David Aitken or Finlayson, illegitimate son of Christina Finlayson, born 17 September 1866 in Larbert.

However this David would only have been 12 years old on the date when Charles' death was registered.

Does anyone know how old you had to be before you could register a death? I have looked in Bisset-Smith's book Vital Registration but it says nothing about the age of an informant.

If any one happens to be going to the archives in the Mitchell Library and would be willing to look up one person for me in the Poor Law records, I would be interested in all available information about John Gray, who was an inmate in the Barony Poor House in 1871, a scholar, aged 11.

This is what I have so far
30 March 1851: John Gray, son, aged 9, born Eastwood, in household of Henry Gray, coach driver, born Ireland, and his wife Ann (?Walker), along with numerous other children
18 February 1860: John Gray, illegitimate son of Susan Gray, residing New Wynd, Glasgow, born in City Poors House, Glasgow.
7 April 1861: John Gray Gray, 1, born Glasgow, in household of Henery Gray, coachman, born Ireland, and his wife Ann (?Walker), along with several children of Hen(e)ry and Ann.
2 April 1861: John Gray, 11, scholar, born Glasgow, is an inmate in Barony Poor House
30 April 1880: John Gray, slater, parents John Gray, freestone quarrier, and Susan Macdonald, marries my relative Robina Stewart in Glasgow
5 April 1891: John Gray, slater, 41, born Glasgow, is in Shettleston with wife Robina and three sons: John, 12; James, 3; Hector, 1.
12 July 1923: John Gray, 63 slater, married to Robina Stewart, dies in Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Parents John Gray, stone quarryman, and Susan Gray, maiden surname Macdonald. Informant R Gray, widow.

I'm not interested in the rest of the family of Henry and Ann Gray, as they are not related to me, but I would like to know if I am on the right track and all these John Grays (other than the one in the 1851 census) are the same person.

Update: I have now learned that John Gray, son of Henry Gray and Ann Walker, the one in the 1851 census, died in 1857 aged 16, so he has nothing to do with the husband of Robina Stewart.

There is a death record of this soldier, serving with the Highland Light Infantry, on 20 February 1915 in France or Flanders. The death record says 'D of D' and the medal card says 'PoW'.

I would like to know if he was the son of Alexander Stewart and Christina Glencorse, born 7 March 1883 in Glasgow.

I've tried CWGC, which doesn't mention him at all (why not?) and FindMyPast.

Can anyone please point me in the right direction?

According to the censuses, James Clark(e) was born about 1809/1813 in Ayr.

He married Margaret Galloway Stor(r)i/e(y) (1814-1907) on 5 June 1838 in Barony, Glasgow, and they had six children:
Ann, baptised 31 March 1939 died Kilmallie, 1927
Christina, born 22 April 1841 in Ayr, married William Henny in 1863, died in Islay in 1912
Margaret, born 1842/1843 in Ireland, died in Islay in 1930
Helen, born 1844/1845 in Islay, last heard of in Islay in 1871 census
John, baptised 22 November 1847 in Islay, sailor, died in Glasgow in 1872
Jemima, baptised 25 October 1849 in Islay, last heard of in Islay in 1881 census

In 1841 the family were in Ayr, and James was a merchant seaman.
In 1851 and 1861 they were in Port Askaig, Islay, and James was a general merchant.
In 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 Margaret, widow, and assorted daughters were in Port Askaig, and Margaret was described as general merchant and late as grocer and draper.

Now comes the curious bit. When Christina married in 1863, the marriage was announced in the Inverness Courier, and she was described as 'second daughter of Mr James Clark, Foyers Hotel'.

Advertisements in various newspapers and magazines confirm that James Clarke took on the tenancy of the newly built Foyers Hotel in the summer of 1861. On 25 May 1867, the 'Household Furniture, Vehicles, Harness, Farm Implements etc' belonging to Mr Clark, outgoing tenant of Foyers Hotel, 'who is leaving this part of the country', were sold by public roup in Inverness.

After that, I have no information about James Clark(e). I am confident that he is not one of the nine James Cl*rk*s, born 1809-1813, whose deaths were registered in Scotland between 1867 and 1871, but he is not in the 1881 census (LDS CD-ROM set) and I have failed to find him in 1871 so far.

Did he desert his wife and family, and was Margaret genuinely a widow by 1871, or was she just saying so to save face? (Though I'd have thought that was fairly pointless as all her neighbours would have known full well that he had gone to Foyers.)

Ideas, anyone?