DOUGLAS family, Glasgow area

[angelicauk]

Hi
I am looking for information and connections to the Douglas family from the Glasgow area.

The only info I have is:

William Douglas born 1 Mar 1799, Glasgow, Lanark - parents Peter Douglas/Agnes Frazer
William married Susan Gauntlett in London in abt 1841.

I would appreciate any census lookups for this family in the Scottish Census returns for pre 1841.
Thanks for your help.
Regards
Victoria

UPDATED INFORMATION AUG 2010:

Since posting my original message, I have discovered that William's father is actually William Douglas who was a mariner in 1841.  I believe his mother may have been called Margaret but I have found William and Margarets in the Scottish Census so am unsure whether the correct one is either McNab or Thomson?  Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanks  Victoria

[sonofthom]

I have just spotted this query, so I hope that you are still checking this board. Peter Douglas and Agnes Fraser were my great x4 grandparents. If we are looking at the same family Peter was a merchant in Glasgow and is buried in the Ramshorn Kirk in Glasgow. I was there two weeks ago but although I could locate the plot there is no trace of the stone. However the inscription has been recorded and is "The burying ground of Peter Douglas wright in Glasgow his wife and children" I also know that his grand daughter Mary Wilson (mother Mary Douglas) is buried in the same plot. I reckon that Peter Douglas was born about 1759 and he died 28 December 1803. His wife was born about 1763 and died on 22 August 1837; they were married on 23 October 1785.

Let me know if I can be of further help.

[angelicauk]

Hello, thank you for your reply.

I have done some further research and discovered that William's father is also called William - this is on his marriage certificate dated 1841.  William (senior) was also listed as being a mariner.  William (junior) had been married previously so I am also on the hunt for his first marriage!

I thought initially that Peter and Agnes were his parents and started researching them too but it looks like I was climbing the wrong tree unfortunately.   I do still have the downloaded copy of Peter's will (testament dative) and would be happy to send this to you if you dont have it already.

Thank you again for your reply, it is much appreciated.  I have found two Williams both with the father named William and the mother in both cases is called Margaret so I am not sure which one, if any, are the 'right' William and Margaret!  I guess this will be my next thread to unravel!!

Kind regards
Victoria

[sonofthom]

Hi Victoria,

Thanks for your reply. Sorry that it is not the same family but good luck in your quest. I already have the testament dative and the burial details - the Ramshorn kirk kept good records.

Thanks again,
Alex.

[Black Douglas?]

Hello Victoria,

I picked up your posts when I googled the name of my Great-Great-Great-Grandmother Susan Gantlett and her date of birth, 1813.  Very interested to see some of the information you have about her son Walter Joseph Douglas.  One of his 15 children (13 of whom survived to adulthood) was my Grandfather Percy Oswald Douglas.  My father, Roy Ian Douglas has done considerable research on the family, but like appears to have had a problem getting past William Douglas.  Some notes from him below:

Walter Joseph Douglas - born 8 October 1851; died 4 May 1916.  Son of William Douglas (c 1799-1861) and his second wife Susan Gantlett.

The marriage certificate for William Douglas and Susan Gantlett (1 March 1841) indicates that that he was a widower and a stonemason, son of William Douglas, mariner.

The Death Certificate for William Douglas, stonemason shows he died 18 June 1861, Ward Street, Lambeth.  There is a slight discrepancy about his age - the death certificate shows his age as 62, but the census return earlier in the same year gives his age as 63.  The 1851 census gives his age as 51.  So 1799 +/- 1 seems right for his birth.

Percy Douglas said that his grandfather came from Dumfries.  Have not been able to locate him in Dumfries or Dumfriesshire, but William Douglas, son of William Douglas and his wife Margaret Campbell was baptised in Minnigaff, in the next door county of Kirkcudbrightshire on 22 April 1799.  The Minnigaff Old Parish Register lists the baptism of an older William Douglas (possibly the mariner)  on 15 November 1753.

I wanted to attach a photograph that we have of the wedding of Grace Douglas to William Veale in 1915, which show Walter John Douglas, his wife Elizabeth Douglas, his sister Susan Douglas, 10 of his 13 surviving children (there were 2 others who died early) and 4 of his grandchildren.  Unfortunately it is too large an attachment to send, so I have attached a photo of Elizabeth Douglas on her last visit to Percy's house in Northborough Road, Norbury in 1937.

Percy Douglas kept in contact with his family and we have a range of photos of them, particularly descendants of Grace and Gladys.

Percy Douglas married Lilian Bowley on 8 June 1918 and they had one child (my father) (*) Happy to expand on my very incomplete knowledge of other descendants.

I will follow up with what we know about Susan Gantlett.

Bruce Douglas

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[Black Douglas?]

I am interested to know whether anyone has any further information about another one of the sons of Walter Joseph Douglas and Elizabeth Douglas (nee Sanders).

Ernest William Douglas was their fifth son - born in 1878.  He is one of three missing children in a family photo we have from the marriage of Grace Douglas and William Veale in 1915 and, apart from William George Douglas (who died aged 2 in 1878) and Florence Augusta Douglas (who was born in 1885 and also appears to have died young), he is the only one of the 15 children that we do not have a photograph of.

I understand that Ernest was not in the family photograph of 1915 because he was fighting at the front.  I have also been told that he did return on leave in 1916 for his father's funeral and died at the front shortly after his return.  Walter Joseph Douglas died in May 1916, so I think there is a very strong likelihood that Ernest William Douglas died in the Battle of the Somme (July - November 1916) along with around 40% of all British and Empire casualties in the First World War.

Any further information about Ernest Douglas gratefully received.

The other two children missing in the 1915 photograph are Walter John Douglas and Maurice Edgar Douglas.  I have heard various interesting hints about why each of them was missing, but nothing definitive ......

[Black Douglas?]

Just a brief update on Ernest Douglas (and an apology for giving him the wrong middle name - I have another Great Uncle who died in the First World War called Ernest William Bowley and I had a "senior" moment!).

I asked a friend of mine who does a lot of research on the War Graves how I should start to find out more and he replied:

"I can tell you that Serjeant EF Douglas (S/13161) of 11 Battalion Rifle Brigade was killed on 15 June 1916 in Belgium and is buried at Vlamertinghe Military Cem. So he did not die on the Somme. The Battle of Mount Sorrel (just outside Ypres) finished just a couple of days earlier so he may have been involved in that. A quick search on the CWGC website however does not reveal too many casualties from the Battalion over that period though so my current guess is that he was wounded by random shelling and died at the casualty clearing station that was next to the cemetery."

I shall update as and when I learn more ......

[pommykiwi]

Have just come across your postings regarding a William Douglas born 1799 in Scotland (Lanarkshire?) who married a Susan Gantlett in London in 1841.
I also have an interest in this William and in his son William James Douglas born 1823 in Aldbury, Hertfordshire. 
Am wondering if you have confirmed a connection to Lanarkshire. I am aware that on his marriage certificate he gives his father as a William Douglas, mariner.

Don