Mary Alice Young¹

Parents:

• Birth*: Mary Alice Young was born on 13 October 1864 at Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies, .^1,3,4,2
• She was the daughter of William Young and Maria Long nursemaid to the Bishop of Tasmania.²
• Marriage*: Mary Alice Young married James Findlay police constable, son of James Findlay farmer and Ann Grant domestic servant, on Thursday, 23 June 1887 at St James Church, Muswell Hill, Edmonton, Middlesex, England, .^1,2

• Married Name: As of 23 June 1887, her married name was Findlay.¹
• (Spouse) Death: Her spouse James Findlay police constable died in 1941 at Wimbledon, England, .²
• (Witness) Anecdote: Mary Alice Young was a witness From Margaret Findlay
  Our family history as I remember from what our mother and father told me.
  Copied by Mark Findlay 29^th June 2011. Covers the history of our part of the Findlays until about 1900. I have added a few notes in italics and some informational links at the end.
  Our maternal grandmother, Maria Long, came from Longparish in Hampshire and born I believe about 1830. At the age of 14 she went to Tasmania as nursemaid to the children of the Bishop of Tasmania (This must have been a hard experience for Maria, not only entirely separated from her family, but also a journey of great hardship, long, under very difficult conditions and particularly hazardous to a young, inexperienced girl. So I assume she must have been chaperoned by the Bishop’s lady). Later she must have gone to the West Indies where she met William Young in the W. Indian army, a colour sergeant I believe. They married sometime in the 1850s. Mother – Mary Alice – was born in Barbados on October 13^th 1864. She was their 4^th child – only Frances born 1858 was still living. I understand that Grandmother said she couldn’t face losing another child in the tropical conditions of Barbados so when Mother was a few months old they came home. At some time they were in Sheerness and at another in Dover, as Mother went to school in Dover Castle for a short time. I think Grandfather died in Sheerness so that would have come second. He had developed TB in the colder climate here – that must have been in 1972 when Mother was 8 – by that time another child Louisa had been born – now 5 years hold. Our Grandfather came from a family of soldiers. His father, Thomas Young, had served in the Peninsular War, and had medals having fought in battles in Nive and Nivelle (note from Mark: these occur at the very end of the war in 1813 when Napoleon was more or less defeated) . These were given to our brother Bill, and should be in the possession of one of his two sons.
  There were no service or state pensions to help a widow, so Grandmother was left in her 40s with 2 children still of school age. The eldest, Frances, was working in a post office. There was an uncle Edward, brother I think to Grandmother, who with his wife kept a shop in Fulham. I always understood that the wife did not care for children! Grandmother took a job as a housekeeper and so the uncle and aunt must have helped with the children. Grandmother worked very hard and died at 51 of a stroke I believe. Mother was 17 and auntie 14 (can this be right as Frances was born first). Mother had already been sent into service and Auntie was apprenticed to a dressmaker somewhere near St Paul’s Cathedral. Auntie Fanny doesn’t seem to have had much to do with her younger sisters at this time. Mother was in the house of a Mrs Cook in Muswell Hill when at 22 she met James Findlay one wet evening in April 1887. She was going back to the house after spending her free afternoon either with the aunt and uncle or with one of her sisters, the younger I should guess. She was sheltering from the heavy rain our father offered to share his umbrella with her. They must have walked along together and then continued to meet for on June 23^rd the same year they were married in St James’s church Muswell Hill. They were together for 54 years until Dad’s death in 1941 (I think that’s right – the year that Stalingrad had fallen note by Mark: the battle of Stalingrad took place from 23 August 1942 to 2^nd February 1943)
  James Findlay was born on June 22^nd 1858 at 11.30 am (or so I was told) son of an agricultural worker (also James Findlay – who I believe had a red beard later in life – as remembered by one of our Scottish cousins) – and his wife Ann Grant. He was born in a cottage in Ferryden Farm across the river (South Esk) from Montrose. In 1958 Edwin and I went to Montrose to find the place of his birth and were directed across the river estuary to find the Ferryden Registrar. He was the local cobbler and we waited till his lunchtime when he showed us the entry in the parish register. Ferryden seemed to be no more than a farm with a few cottages. Grandfather worked in the farm. The children walked to school – 3 miles I was told, carrying their lunch packets. Dad said he was only 3 when he started. He had at least one elder sister Annie who became blind, his brother Joe, and a younger sister Isabella. There was also a brother David but whether of the first family or the second I don’t know. Ann died young – when our father must have been in his teens. The father married again and the children did not get on with the new wife. This must have been about the time the schoolmaster wanted to send our father to St Andrew’s University – but his father and the new wife would not agree so Dad and Uncle Joe and Isabella ran away. The 2 boys went to sea, and the little girl aged about 8 worked in fields to earn her keep (I had this detail from her daughter Bella Christie in Arbroath). The official entry of Dad’s service gave the date of his entry as Oct 10^th 1874.
  Unfortunately he suffered badly from sea sickness and after several years came out of the service. He had been a signaller with a very good record. In the next years he was in the London Salvage Corps and went to South Africa with Lord Methuen’s Horse. I don’t know in which order (?) while in South Africa he was injured when a horse trod on his foot so he had to come home and went into the Metropolitan Police. At least part of the time he was in the mounted division, and was on duty at Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. He was offered promotion if he would go to Bow, but mother by that time had a young family and saw the difficulty of bringing up a healthy family in a area like Bow. So they went to Epsom where the children grew up in the country - though at all well off. Later they moved to Wimbledon where the two of us were born (Margaret and Paul).
  Links     
  Longparish, Hampshire http://www.longparish.org.uk/
  Peninsular War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsular_War
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nivelle
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nive
  St James Muswell Hill http://www.st-james.org.uk/history.php
  Ferryden http://www.ferrydenonline.co.uk/ , http://www.angus.gov.uk/history/features/ferryden.htm
  http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=ferryden&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x488690915811a91d:0xe86191675bb22e6d,Ferryden,+Montrose,+Angus&gl=uk&ei=FgoLTpHfEo6whQfe65XWDw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBsQ8gEwAA
  Lord Methuen (Horse) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Methuen,_3rd_Baron_Methuen
  London Salvage Corps
  Stalingrad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalingrad_%28battle%29.²

Census & Directory Entries

Spouse	5 April 1891	She was listed in the household of James Findlay police constable in the 1891 census at Farrant Avenue, Tottenham, Edmonton, Middlesex, England, . James Findlay, head, married, male aged 32 (1589) Police Constable b Scotland; Mary A, wife, married, female aged 26 (1865) b West Indies. Agnes Mary Findlay, Elsie Louisa Findlay mother's help and Lewis James Findlay were also listed in the household.3
Spouse	31 March 1901	She was listed in the household of James Findlay police constable in the 1901 census at Stamford Cottages, Epsom, Surrey, England, . James Findlay, head, married, male aged 42 (1859) Police Sargeant b Scotland; Mary A, wife, married, female aged 36 (1865) b West Indies. Agnes Mary Findlay, Elsie Louisa Findlay mother's help, Lewis James Findlay, William Francis Findlay, Walter Charles Findlay and Henry Joseph Findlay were also listed in the household.5
Spouse	31 March 1911	She was listed in the household of James Findlay police constable in the 1911 census at 38 Effra Road, Wimbledon, Surrey, England, . James Findlay, head, married, male aged 52 (1859) Police Sergeant b Forfarshire Craig; Mary Alice, wife, married 23 years, female aged 46 (1865), 11 children born 8 still living, b Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies. Elsie Louisa Findlay mother's help, Walter Charles Findlay, Henry Joseph Findlay, Margaret Isabel Findlay and Paul Archibald Findlay Radar expert; Radio Engineer, Deputy Controller Radio Hamburg; Head of Admin; with BBC were also listed in the household.4,6

Notes

• Residence*: Mary Alice Young lived in April 1887 at Muswell Hill, London, England, ; living in the home of Mrs Cook.²