Mystery Monday - Who's that man?

In one of the bundles of photographs at home we have this one of a young soldier, presumably from the First World War period:

My grandfather, Malcolm, had four brothers who served in the war, John, Alexander, Duncan, and Peter.  The family sadly lost three of these boys in the war and only Peter and my grandfather (the youngest) survived, along with their sister Mary.

We presume that this is one of the boys, but do not know which one - as far as we can gather the boys served as follows:

• Peter Cameron Macdonald served as a private in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, spending the war mostly in the Balkans and France

• John Macdonald was a corporal in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (A company, 2nd battalion) and previously in the 93rd Highlanders.  He died at Arras, 24 April 1917 aged 25

• Alexander Macdonald was a sergeant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and in the Black Watch (8th battalion) - he died 19 July 1918, aged 23.

• Duncan MacCrimmon Macdonald was a private in the Highland Light Infantry (1st/5th battalion) and died 24 August 1918, aged 21.

Now, the man in the above photograph seems to have at least one stripe on his arm, which makes me think that it should be John or Alexander as they are the ones who held a rank above private (as far as we know), but we just do not know which of them it could be.

There is another photograph that may hint at this definitely being one of my grandfather's brothers:

 

In this photo (of my grandfather) there is another photo above the fireplace of a man in uniform with a moustache - this man looks a bit like the one in the photo that I began this blog post with - I have tried to zoom in a bit, but can't really get close enough to tell:

Anyway, the 'working hypothesis' is that it is probably John or Alexander in the 'big picture' and that this might be the same person in the 'little picture' seen at the family home.  If there are any military experts out there who recognise the cap badge, or anything distinctive about the uniform then I would love to hear from you...until then, my photograph remains labelled as simply 'probably one of the Macdonald boys'.

Wedding Wednesday - Malcolm Macdonald and Mary Bell Macdonald

I seem to be concentrating on my mother's side of the family just now (the paternal line is stuck in a rut just now - awaiting adequate time and enthusiasm to start it up again!), so today I have a photo of my mother's parents on their wedding day to post (I use it in the website banner - so it might look familiar!).

My grandparents, Malcolm and Mary, are in the centre, and are accompanied by the witnesses to their wedding, John Miller and Rachel Macdonald.  They look so very elegant, I only wish that the wedding dress still remained in the family (although I imagine my grandmother would have been slimmer than me at that age, so I don't think I could have recycled it for my own wedding!)

The couple married on 29th June 1934 at St Cuthbert's Buildings, Corbiehill Road, Davidsons Mains, Edinburgh.  Their marriage certificate gives this as Malcolm's address and Mary lived at the place she worked as a domestic servant, 35 Inverleith Terrace, Edinburgh.  Malcolm was 34 and was a railway clerk, and Mary was 28.

Malcolm's parents were Alexander Macdonald (a retired railway plate layer) and Christina MacCrimmon.  Mary's parents were Donald Macdonald (a Church of Scotland missionary) and Isabella Macdonald.  The two witnesses also recorded their addresses on the marriage certificate: John was at 12 Clarence Street, Edinburgh, and Rachel was at the Southern General hospital, Glasgow (nursing was big in our family).

I also have this lovely photo of my grandparents on their honeymoon - they didn't go far, only a bit further up north in Scotland, but they did have this super photograph taken of them (with a young female relation of Malcolm's) up near to Conon Bridge (if anyone recognises the house, I would love to know!).

Those Places Thursday - Peinchorran, Skye

While rooting through some of our own old family albums at the weekend I found a number of great shots of my great-grandparents' house on the Isle of Skye.  They (Donald and Isabella Macdonald) had moved there from the island of Harris just after the end of WW2 and my mother and aunt went often to visit them at their home at Peinchorran.  It was fairly remote and involved quite a journey to get there!  

You can get an idea of the location, spelled 'Piennachorian', on the 1832 map of the island [hint: find the island of Raasay first, then look across from the very bottom of Raasay to the opposite shore on the 'mainland' of Skye]

The picture above shows my mum 'being decorative' while her father Malcolm and uncle Donald look slightly more industrious - this must have been not long after my great-grandparents moved there, probably around 1946 (and yes, both men are smoking while they work!)  It was a fairly typical house of its period with the sloping upstairs ceilings that will be so familiar to any who have stayed in a house of this type.

This is probably one of my favourite old family photographs - it shows the house at Peinchorran and the typical contents of the ground outside it - I think that it's shots like this that can help to give a snapshot of 'real life' and 'real living' - milk pails, garden tools, and I think there's a butter churn in there somewhere too.  The two men coming around the corner are my mother's uncle, Angus Macdonald, and a man named Peter Nicolson - my mother remembers often watching for them coming home: they would return from the salmon fishing over the hill that you can see in the background, and would be watched for so that the family would know when to put the tea (dinner!) on. [if you look closely, the man on the left is carrying a bottle - my mother swears that it would be a bottle of milk that he was bringing home, but I like to think it might have been something a bit more fortifying for the walk home!]

Finding these two photos in a box really brought to life some of my ancestors and the place that they lived...and it also gave me some new questions to ask my mother about her own childhood and her memories of her family.  So, if you have any old photos at home, why not get them out and have a 'chin-wag' with someone who knows some of the people in them: you might get some new ancestor stories that you have never heard before...

Wordless Wednesday (My grandfather - at work and relaxing!)

At work: Malcolm Macdonald, at Peinchorran, Skye, c.1950...

...and relaxing: Malcolm Macdonald, at Edinburgh, c.1960