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by Hugh Fairlie with the following inquiry.
My name is Hugh Fairlie,
I am a GP in Cornwall, and am the son of Hugh, the late
Director of Education of Renfrewshire, and descended
therefore from Hugh who was the Provost of Maybole at one
time. He must have been my great Grandfather, and my
Grandfather was Tom Fairlie, who lived in Ayr and who was a
Baker. I have a family heirloom, a fob watch which was
presented to the Provost Hugh, by the people of Maybole and
District, Hamilton, Canada. I wondered if there was any
record of an official visit by him, during his term in
office, which might relate to this?
"About 1908 .... one of the
larger shoe factories (Grays) closed down and gradually the
industry dwindled and Maybole again returned to hard times.
It is said over 2,000 of the townsfolk emigrated around 1910
many of them going to Hamilton in Ontario, Canada, where
there is still a district known as "Wee
Maybole"." from Chapter 7 of the book Maybole, Carrick's
Capital by James T. Gray.
Also see:
William Ross - Maybole to Hamilton Ontario ( Little Maybole)
If there are there any of
our website visitors that can answer this question please
contact us so that we
may solve this little mystery. |
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Above: Provost Hugh Fairlie and his wife Jane (nee Hunter) on the
occasion of dining at Culzean Castle with the then Prince of Wales
(later King Edward VIII and then Duke of Windsor when he abdicated). The
Marquess of Ailsa gave the dinner on the evening after the Prince had
reviewed the British Legion in Maybole. In the next photo Provost
Fairlie is striking the first ball at he opening of Maybole Golf Course
on May 17, 1924.
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Necklace presented to Jane Fairlie by the people
of Maybole
I was thrilled to stumble upon this enquiry from
Hugh Fairlie, who asks about a watch presented
to his great Grandfather, also Hugh Fairlie,
when he was Provost of Maybole.I have another
piece of this story.
Hugh Fairlie is also my great Grandfather. He
and his wife Jane (Jeannie) had 11 children, 8
of whom lived to adulthood. Their youngest
daughter Sarah (Sadie) was my maternal
Grandmother, born in 1899. My Granny recalled a happychildhood growing up at the bakery in
Maybole, along with her brother Tom and their
siblings. She particularly missed her older
sister Agnes (Nessie) who emigrated to Canada.
As I understand it, the watch was gifted to
Provost Hugh Fairlie to celebrate his dining at
Culzean Castle with the Prince of Wales. For the
same occasion, the people of Maybole raised a
collection and gifted Jane Fairlie (née Hunter)
a dainty amethyst locket necklace. The
experience made a profound impression on her,
she described standing in the round drawing room
of Culzean Castle like being on a magnificent
ship sailing out to sea. |
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Later, the necklace was separated, with the
locket part going to Nessie’s daughter, Jean
Colburn (née Ramsay), and the
necklace
to Sadie’s daughter, my Mum, Jean
Hunter Fairlie Mackinlay (née Anderson). This
delicate heirloom was
passed on to me
and I wore it on my wedding day.
We’d love to hear what happened to the locket, it
may be with Jean
Colburn’s daughter, Janet,
who lives in N. in America.
- Text by Rachael Jane Griss (née Mackinlay),granddaughter
of Sadie Cameron Anderson (née Fairlie).
Additional extra details kindly provided by
Hilary Spenceley (née Fairlie), granddaughter of
Tom Fairlie and cousin of
Hugh Fairlie |
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