Iain and I made an excursion to a small Lanarkshire town called Douglas today. While he collected a camper van for Alastair C. I went exploring:
St Brides Church with its churchyard of gravestones proved most interesting! The clock on the tower caught my eye. The story about this church here says "[The clock] is noted for chiming three minutes before the hour rather than on the hour itself: a reference to the Douglas family motto of Jamais Arriere, or "never behind". " (We could do with a clock like that around the house!)
I was intrigued by the inscription on the left hand side, of this Greenshields* family gravestone. Of particular interest was the name and description of the last one, i.e. James Thomas Douglas: The 3 names read (the photo is high resolution so you can zoom in on it):In memory of
Robert Greenshields
Douglas
of Brodie Creek East Falkland Islands
who died of wounds in Egypt
14th August 1916 aged 33 years
John William Douglas
of Brodie Creek East Falkland Islands
who died at Netherwood Newbury
28th July 1943 aged 59 years
Robert Greenshields
Douglas
of Brodie Creek East Falkland Islands
who died of wounds in Egypt
14th August 1916 aged 33 years
John William Douglas
of Brodie Creek East Falkland Islands
who died at Netherwood Newbury
28th July 1943 aged 59 years
James Thomas Douglas
of Useful Hill Station
Straits of Magellan
who died at Metropole Hotel London
20th February 1923 aged 34 years
of Useful Hill Station
Straits of Magellan
who died at Metropole Hotel London
20th February 1923 aged 34 years
Googling came up with this which sheds light on the location of Useful Station!
"William Alexander Blain ... met [a man] who engaged shepherds for the Falkland Islands Company and agreed £65 per annum, free passage and return after five years.... In 1884 he was invited by Thomas Greenshields to start up a sheep ranch at Monte Dinero in Patagonia.
Following Mr. Greenshields death, in 1889 Blain sold his own flock of sheep and accepted a job ... establishing a sheep ranch ... in northern Tierra del Fuego....
[In] William Blain’s papers ... [is] a daily diary ... which begins at Useful Hill, Patagonia ....
I wonder why it was "useful" and what is it called now? And how did James Thomas Douglas's life end at the Metrople in London?
___________________________________________________________
* more information about the Greenshields of Falkland Islands is here describing the Scottish Malverinos.
"William Alexander Blain ... met [a man] who engaged shepherds for the Falkland Islands Company and agreed £65 per annum, free passage and return after five years.... In 1884 he was invited by Thomas Greenshields to start up a sheep ranch at Monte Dinero in Patagonia.
Following Mr. Greenshields death, in 1889 Blain sold his own flock of sheep and accepted a job ... establishing a sheep ranch ... in northern Tierra del Fuego....
[In] William Blain’s papers ... [is] a daily diary ... which begins at Useful Hill, Patagonia ....
I wonder why it was "useful" and what is it called now? And how did James Thomas Douglas's life end at the Metrople in London?
___________________________________________________________
* more information about the Greenshields of Falkland Islands is here describing the Scottish Malverinos.
2 comments:
I have information of this family and a memorial in the municipal cemetery of Punta Arenas Chile....Regards from PATAGONIA
I have information of this family and a memorial in the municipal cemetery of Punta Arenas Chile...Regards from PATAGONIA
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