Henry William McKenzie born 1869

[Penberthy]

A real mystery.  Henry may have been an illegitimate son of John born 1842 and went to live with mother perhaps.  Otherwise it has to be another Ann Gordon, maybe even born in England and moved back to Scotland.  It is interesting that in Hong Kong in a reference from G.C. Anderson JP Member of the Committee of the Hong Kong St Andrews Society says “The Bearer Mr Henry McKenzie has been known to me for some years first as a  Piper in the 91st Highlanders and a member of Hong Kong Police Force has been strongly been recommended to me by the Late Captain Superintendent Major General Gordon as a respectable man and a worthy Highlander.  He has played for the St Andrews Society of Hong Kong at the last Ball and practising giving universal satisfaction. Etc etc. Dated 1893 before he left for Australia.
I have just examined his papers and have found one when he resigned from the Highlanders 9 January 1890 Place Hong Kong and very faded to read.   Age 23 yrs 8 months Lt. Corp Henry (no William). 6ft blue eyes Groom. No 2557.
This means that he could have lied about age but older joining the day before his 21st birthday 6 May  1887.  Maybe Born 1866.
In MC and other documents all 1869. 
I am sure if this is true his family didn’t know, and I am sorry for leading you up the garden path although it probably makes no difference.  He may have added the William himself for a second name.
All the best.  Diane. 

[Penberthy]

I have found Henry on a Chelsea Pensioners Service Record Box No 3379 etc with 7 images that I cannot open. Yes, age 21 Birth year 1866 Invernesshire.  So 21 years untraceable!! 
I am very appreciative of your time and work done.  I didn’t subtract and work it out earlier.
Cannot find any Henry’s in 1866 born so still an enigma.  Thank you.

My Roberts family came from Cornwall in 1853, (not convicts I am afraid) as did my husbands a very Cornish name.  I have gone back to 1600 and find it all fascinating. So from end of England to the other with Wales and Cumbria in between in my history. We are a big mixture down here in Australia.
Diane 😊

[Penberthy]

Of course you are right and I wasn’t thinking.  I do know the history and I do apologise. I should not have said England.  I even went to Culloden once and we were explained the terrible battle there.

[Forfarian]

Of course you are right and I wasn’t thinking.  I do know the history and I do apologise. I should not have said England.  I even went to Culloden once and we were explained the terrible battle there.

Yes, though Culloden wasn't Scots v English.

There were Scots on the Hanoverian side and English on the Jacobite side as well.

Still can't find your Henry William

[Penberthy]

To Forfarian I am back.  I have been searching all the details that you sent in May, and I have overlooked I think an important Census in 1881 that you found of Henry William at Glenmuick, Tillich and Glencairn.  I didn’t realise that the McKenzies had an estate there, now long gone. Why I think it is my grandfather there is because when he joined the army in 1887 at Stirling at age 21 I have found, he was employed as a groom for horses, which now makes sense.  Why 21 I have no idea unless that was the age required!
The other thing as a long shot is that the Matthew Allan aged 4 in 1871 census at CIA (Allan a family name at Glenmuick) could have been him a grandson, as I am sure he was illegitimate, very much hidden in those days. Was he a son of one of their children, but who? Could even be the son William born 1824 1st marriage, but my guess is Ann born 1840. She still lives with her mother at age 50.  But where is the connection to Glenmuick I ask? 
I am still searching for father of William born about 1789/90 at Boharm.  I think his brother Alexander born 1794 in Boharm graveyard. 
There is a William at Glenmuick born to Wm (Merchant) and Barbara 1739 brother of Kenneth 1737.  No one has done his history properly except to say he married Isobel Gauldy. 
It appears that the McKenzies got into financial trouble at Glenmuick but Guy mentions that the Balmoral neighbours not keen on his birthdate. Wow!
I may be disappointed now if no connection, but I think that HW could have been there for some time.
Diane.

[Forfarian]

I have overlooked I think an important Census in 1881 that you found of Henry William at Glenmuick, Tillich and Glencairn.

That census in 1881 in Glenmuick etc is irrelevant, because that's the Henry McKenzie born in Maryculter and you already know he isn't yours.

1881 Census: Glenmuick Stable Yard, Glenmuick Tullich and Glengairn, Aberdeenshire
William MCKENZIE, Head, 48, Gardner Dom, born Dingwall, Ross and Cromarty
Mary MCKENZIE, Wife, 47, Maryculter
William MCKENZIE, Son, 21, Gardner, Maryculter
Henry MCKENZIE, Son, 12, Scholar, Maryculter
John MCKENZIE, Son, 10, Scholar, Maryculter
Alexander MCKENZIE, Son, 8, Scholar, Glenmuick
Mary MCKENZIE, Daughter, 5, Scholar, Glenmuick
George FORBES,G Son, 3, Aberdeen

His father is employed as a domestic gardener, not the owner of the estate. The 1885 valuation roll lists William Mackenzie as inhabitant occupier of a house at Glenmuick. This means that he was in a tied house that went with his job as a gardener.

The owner of the estate was James Thomson Mackenzie but this does not mean that William was necessarily related to James Thomson Mackenzie. In any case it really doesn't matter because it's not your Henry Mackenzie to start with.

I think his brother Alexander born 1794 in Boharm graveyard.

Alexander Mackenzie who is buried in Boharm kirkyard died in 1874. So he is almost certainly the Alexander McKenzie, mother's maiden surname Fowler, who died in Mortlach in 1874 aged 80.

There are two deaths of William M(a)ckenzies with mother's maiden name Fowler: one aged 60 in 1860 in Inverness, and one aged 68 in Urquhart and Logie Wester in 1878. The one in 1860 obviously isn't the father of your Henry, who was born several years later, but the one in 1878 might be. Either could have been his grandfather. You need to look at the death certificates to see if the parents' full names match.

 

[wivenhoe]

Is this your family?

What do you see on this marriage certificate?.

Can you please list all the information.

WA BDM marriage
PAGE   Charlotte   marr.   MCKENZIE   Henry   @   Cottesloe   33/1899

[Forfarian]

I looked at his service record. It says that he was plain Henry McKenzie, and that he joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at Stirling in 1887. He said he was 21 and born in the parish of Inverness in or near the town of Inverness in the county of Inverness. 

On a later page he gives his next of kin as his sister Jean Ann McKenzie, New Street, Culsalmond, by Huntly (which is in Aberdeenshire).

So unless he is lying you are looking for a birth in 1865 or 1866 in the parish of Inverness.

[Forfarian]

She's in the census in CIA
1871: aged 62, widow, with grandson Mathew Allan, 4.

Curiouser and curiouser.

On the FreeBMD transcription (FreeBMD is normally more accurate because it's done by people who have some knowledge of the place they are reanscribing, and it is done twice and any discrepancies are double-checked) the child's name is Allan Mather, not Mathew Allan, and he is a boarder, not a grandson.

Scotland's People index says Allan Mathew.

The IGI lists a birth of Allan Mathew or Cruickshank, parents Allan Mathew and Jane Cruickshank, in CIA on 25 June 1866. SP has a listing of the birth there of Allan Mathew in 1866.

So it looks as if this child is also a red herring.