Kirkcudbright carswells

Kirkcudbright Carswells

Recent discoveries about our Kirkgunzeon Carswells include several articles taken from the defunct Carswell Chronicle (found in the Canadian subsection below), a variety of documents in our possession, website browsing, some contributions from friends, and some recall of memories of our own relatives. As well, we feature a comprehensive genealogical summary and an account of Carswell shipping interests in the Appendices. In other words, we're finding that a lot of the information new to us about our Kirkgunzeon branch results from discussion with our helpful Carswell Network colleagues, from details found on Internet sites, from our own curiosity and digging, and from a good amount of luck. We believe all of this is worth recording and sharing here.

Military Men. First, we found impressive Commonwealth War Graves Commission "Debt of Honour Register" references to two family members: William Jackson Carswell, infantryman, who died at Gallipoli in 1915, and John Jackson Carswell, fighter pilot, who died in Egypt in 1945. Both were sergeants, both were 22 when they died, and both were uncles of JS.

Serjeant (sic) William Jackson (#806), a member of the 1st/5th Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers, died on 12 July 1915. He was the son of John and Anabella Carswell, Barrbridge Mills, Dalbeattie. His grave/reference is Panel 84-92 or 220-222 located at the Helles Memorial in Turkey. The Helles Memorial stands on the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula. It takes the form of an obelisk over 30 metres high that can be seen by ships passing through the Dardanelles. The Panel numbers quoted relate to the regiment(s) served with. The Helles Memorial serves the dual function of Commonwealth battle memorial for the whole Gallipoli campaign and place of commemoration for many servicemen who died there and have no known grave.

Sergeant Pilot John Jackson Carswell (1568844) was a member of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He died on 28 April 1945. He was the son of John Whitfield Jackson and Robert Haxton Carswell of Dalbeattie. He is buried in grave 5.D.21 at the Fayid War Cemetery, Egypt. The cemetery is located on the south side of the town of Fayid , 20 km south of Ismailia on the western shore of the Great Bittern Lake, which is a mid-point of the Suez Canal.

More about the Mill. The following article was taken by an unknown hand from the Kirkcudbrightshire Advertiser, May 26, 1865 via microfiche at the Dalbeattie Library:

"Messrs Carswell's Bone and Flour Mill. To say that the odour in a bone mill, especially when first entered, is pleasant to the olfactory nerves would be stating what would probably he considered incorrect, but as it is well known that bones are used very largely as a manure by agriculturists, and consequently are a great aid to the prosperity of the district, we visited the works. The hones are imported by Messrs Carswell from numerous quarters of the world, Ireland supplying the greatest quantity. South America also furnishes a large supply, in consequence of the cattle there being boiled down principally for hides and tallow; a large quantity of the beef being now imported and sold as 'jerked beef' Horse bones also form a staple commodity.

After the hones are assorted, they are placed on a loft, from where they are fed into the mill in which there are three pair of cutters, this being worked by powerful water wheels, one of them being sixteen feet by five. They are soon replaced to very small dimensions, half-inch bones being the largest sent out from the works.

Dissolved bones are another manure used to a large extent, the dissolving of the articl being accomplished by the extensive use of sulphuric acid. The process is continued still further, the bones are being reduced to a meal or ash, in which state the manure is considered most valuable. It is used extensively over the Stewartry, many farmers sending a long distance for it, so they may secure the genuine article.

The flour mill is also driven by the same motive power. The process of manufacturing flour is interesting and may be shortly described. It is an old adage that if hare soup is wished, it is necessary first to catch the hare, so in a flour and meal mill it is desirable to have the wheat and oats on the loft before commencing operations. Of these articles, Messrs Carswell have a large stock

The wheat is first raised to the top loft where it is emptied into a hopper, from which it descends into a mill hopper and then into another hopper. It is then placed on large circular stones called French Burrs, of which there are three pairs in use, one for grinding oats, one for shelling oats and one for wheat. After this process is completed, the flour is placed in bags and allowed to stand for eight days for the purpose of cooling. When it is ready for the next operation it is put into a machine with an oblique cylinder constructed of various qualities of wire cloth. Inside this there are six brushes fixed on a spindle, which work at the rate of about four hundred revolutions per minute. The machine separates the superfine flour from the fine and the seconds, and also the fine bran from the coarse. Immediately under the machine in the apartment below are the receivers for the various kinds we have described, which are now ready for the market."

A footnote to this hand-written note to JS states: "Nice to see that a Carswell is still engaged in the agricultural supply industry (John Searle's firm is Feed Specialties Ltd., with head office at Swavesey near Cambridge, England). Kenneth Bigger said recently 'it always riled us that Carswell's started two years before Bigger's, but at least our mill lasted longer..."

Gillespie (1985) has also written about Carswell's mill, its this case, the newer operation at Kirkcudbright: "Carswell's mill was a four-storied concrete framed building with brick infill panels. It stood on the quay wall at it's northeast end, opposite what is now Crosbie & Bateman's Garage. Its design was not unique to Kirkcudbright, and at least one other identical building can still be seen in the west of Ireland. Although unloved by many people, it was an interesting piece of industrial archaeology and provided a powerful visual stop to the harbour when viewed from the west...Oppenheimer liked it for this reason and often incorporated it in his paintings.

The mill opened in 1936. The general manager was James Haugh, uncle of George Haugh. James was in charge of Carswell's depot at the station, and was an expert at sheep prices. A foreman called Smith, together with Alex (Sonny) Sally and Tommy Penny were brought from Dalbeattie. Jack Gillespie, Alister Sewell and Nelson Durham (boilerman) were recruited from Kirkcudbright. After eighteen months, Smith was killed in a motorbike accident near Gelston while travelling to Dalbeattie. Alan Caig became foreman. When the three other Kirkcudbright men were called up in 1939, Joe Kirkpatrick and David McCullough were taken on. Maize was shipped from America to Liverpool , and thence by coaster to Kirkcudbright. The vacuum hose allowed the cargo to be unloaded by one man until the last of it had to be swept out of the corners. It was steamed and rolled, and packed into one-hundred weight bags for distribution. Linseed oil was also imported for cattle cake. There was a molasses tank on the harbour side of the mill."

Buittle Surprise. One of the most pleasant surprises during the recent past, again thanks to our Australian cousin John Carswell, was the discovery of what we believe to be most of the rest of the descendants of Thomas & Jannet of Torkirra Farm, ie, those not relocated to Dalbeattie (JS ancestors) or those immigrants to Canada. Indeed, they lived in the vicinity of Dalbeattie as shown in the Carswell Obelisk at Buittle.

As a result of this significant discovery of information right under our noses, we looked at the names listed, then checked into our files. There seemed to be a gap of about one generation or so between the deaths of the nine children of our Thomas and Jannet and those individuals and the dates of their death shown on the obelisk. While there was little doubt of the family connection, our enthusiasm flagged a bit when we thought about dealing with the gap, and trying to arrange many of the repeating names - eg, John, George, Margaret, William, Allan, Elizabeth, Robert, James... We decided it was time to stop pulling out our hair, to fess up to our own limitations, and to get some experienced, professional help to fit those at Buittle, Palnackie, Dalbeattie, Canada, and elsewhere into a comprehensive Carswell register. Fortunately, we found Jim Bell, genealogist at Kirkcudbright, as contractor for this work. He already had a personal interest and head- start on tackling this burning question about fine-tuning and filling the gaps for our Kirkcudbrightshire heritage. The results of his work are proudly enclosed in Appendix A.

Dalbeattie Area Carswells. In addition to the details contained in Appendix A, a search for grave information produced the following information:

1. Dalbeattie Graveyard.

(On Paton stone)
John Whitfield Jackson Carswell died 2/11/1966
His wife Roberta Haxton Carswell 28/1/1974
Their only son Jackson, Sgt Pilot 28/4/1945 (interred in Egypt)

Henrietta Carswell, wife of Alexander Kincaid Young, died 10/12/1934, age 71

John Carswell, Barrbridge Mills 29/5/1926, age 76
His wife Annabella Gerrand Jackson 21/7/1907
Alex McKenzie Carswell, their son 5/6/1906, age 3
Ellen Elliot, their daughter 23/4/1907, age 17
William Jackson Carswell, died at Gallipoli 12/7/1915
James Carswell 15/2/1963, age 81
Kate Carswell 16/1/1961, age 69

Elizabeth Carswell 26/3/1890, age 80
Robert Carswell 28/2/189? age 78
Mary Carswell, wife of Gordon Douglas Carnley 21/10/1912, age 87

Margaret Carswell, wife of James Glendinning, 14/51911, age 61

John Carswell 22/4/1868, age 83
His wife Margaret Grierson 23/3/1861, age 72
Thomas Carswell 27/101893, age 72
His wife Henrietta Caven 21/2/1893, age 69
John, their son 1/3/1881, age 35
Helen Elizabeth, their daughter 26/9/1884, age 27

James Carswell (our diarist) 21/8/1912, age 92
(His wife) Margaret Caven Carswell 29/6/1911, age 90
(Their daughter) Elizabeth 24/11/1860, age 8
(Their daughter) Margaret G Carswell 23/101916, age 69

2. Buittle Kirkyard .

(Names on the Obelisk)

Thomas B Carswell died Oct 1872, age 25
James Carswell (lost at sea) 1874, age 23 years
Margaret Carswell died Nov 1874, 25 years
Robert Carswell 1881, 28 years

Thomas James Carswell died Sept 1837, age 9
John Carswell died 6 April 1891, age 63
His wife Thomasina W B Carswell Jan 1871, age 43
Jane Carswell died January 1869, age 1

Captain John Carswell died 1 Sept 1927, age 65
Mary Helen McKinnel died in South Australia 16 August 1959, age 85

James Henry died 13 December 1902, age 47
Isabella Black Carswell, his wife, died at Adelaide, Australia 31 Jan 1938, age 82
Helen Carswell, wife of Samuel Milby died 28 April, 1919, age 47
Elizabeth Henry died 15 June 1891, age 2
Thomas Henry died 17 April 1901, age 13
Jessie Henry, wife of William Gordon, died 19 November 1924, age 38

Further, the 1841 Census for nearby Palnackie confirms the Carswell sea-going tradition. Two families are listed:

James, 25 (merchant seaman), and his wife Ellen, 25, and their two children,
Robert , 3, and Jannet, 1.

James, 47 (ship owner), his wife Violet, 45, and sons Robert, 17, and John, 14.

A Meeting of Dalbeattie Commissioners. An undated document in Dalbeattie miller/ merchant James Carswell's handwriting confirms a continuing involvement of Carswell men in community affairs. His father, John Carswell (1785-1868), had served as Dalbeattie's second Provost. James (1820-1912), as shown by his diary entries (Appendices B), had involvement in several local entrepreneurial ventures and in sporting activites.

Further, the 1841 Census for nearby Palnackie confirms the Carswell sea-going tradition. Two families are listed:

James, 25 (merchant seaman), and his wife Ellen, 25, and their two children,
Robert , 3, and Jannet, 1.

James, 47 (ship owner), his wife Violet, 45, and sons Robert, 17, and John, 14.

Torkirra Farm. One of the key historical locations for our Carswell line is Torkirra Farm near Kirkgunzeon (Fig. 10). The word 'Torkirra' means 'Tory Hill." There was a Roman watchtower here. It was part of the Terregles Estate, as was Brounhill.