Alexander Stuart: The Final Voice of Gaelic

fàilte chridheil

Gaelic the ancient language of Scotland, once spoken throughout all of Scotland and intertwined with folklore, music and tradition. Gaelic gradually declined. It moved out of the lowland Scotland into the highlands. It then declined further as Scots and English became more prevalent.

The census records have helped me identify that some of my family spoke both Gaelic and English. The last Gaelic speaker in my family was my 2x great grandfather Alexander STUART (1866-1926).

Alexander STUART was born on 22 August 1866 at Garten Road Cottage, Tulloch. Alexander was the seventh of eight children born to Peter STUART (1826-1871) and Mary Lamond (1831-1916). He had four sisters (Ann, Mary, Margaret, and Helen) and three brothers (Andrew, Peter and John).

Alexander was born and raised at Garten Road Cottage, also known as Gatehouse. After the 1868 clearances of crofts in Tulloch, the house was built as a Gatehouse. It was manned by a gatekeeper to establish the Abernethy Deer Forest. The estate built a deer fence. It enclosed all the farms and crofts. The deer forest was used for the fashionable and lucrative sport of stalking etc. The fence and the gates at the Gatehouses were really to keep all the deer in the forest and not allow any into the crofting area in case a crofter might shoot one for the pot!

On 5 November 1871, Alexander’s father Peter died at the age of 45; Alexander was 5 years old. The 1881 census shows Alexander living at Coyburn Bridge in Rothiemurchus with his sister Mary and her family. He was 14 and still at school.

In the 1880’s, all of his brothers emigrated to Australia. Andrew went in 1883. Peter went in 1887. John emigrated in 1889.

At some point in 1890, Alexander courted Annie FRASER (sometimes called Annie Rattray). Annie gave birth to their daughter Mary Ann on 28 March 1891. At this time Alexander appears to be at Millarbank Street Glasgow, where he was working as a railway engine cleaner. In June 1891, Annie Fraser died from anaemia and exhaustion following childbirth.

Alexander came back to Abernethy sometime before November 1892 and was working as a Shepherd, living at Advie Station. He started courting Bella McDonald (1871-1944). Their first daughter Jane Ann (Jeannie), was born on 20 August 1893.

Alexander and Bella married on 5 July 1895 at Easter Straan in Advie. Seventeen days later, on 22 July 1895, Bella gave birth to their son Peter. Their second son, Alexander, arrived in February 1898.

By 1901, the family were lodging with Jane Grant at Bush Cottage in Advie.  Alexander’s daughter Mary Ann was also living with them by this point. Bush Cottage had one room with one or more windows, and on the census is listed between Straan and Dalchroy.

By 1905 the family had moved into Delyorn, at Advie. They had added two more children to their family, Charles and Isabella. They lived in the house on the farm. The Dowager Countess of Seafield owned Delyorn. Mrs Jane Grant, a different Jane Grant than the one they had lived with, was the tenant of the farm. Delyorn is described as a small but substantial farmhouse. The family would stay at Delyorn until 1935.

By 1911, Alexander and Bella had added two more children to their brood, Andrew and Helen. Alexander no longer a shepherd was working as a water bailiff for the fisheries board. Youngest daughter Agnes was born on valentine’s day 1913. 

In February of 1915, daughter Mary Ann died at the age of 23 from a cerebral tumour. She had been ill for two years.

Two months after this, Alexander was involved in searching for a missing gamekeeper. The gamekeeper had drowned in a boating accident on the river Spey. The accident occurred on 29 April. The boat, fishing in Castle Grant waters, struck a stone and sprung a leak and then filled with water. All four people in the boat jumped, two of them drowned. A thorough search was conducted over a distance of 12 miles. The body was found in the March Pool on 5 May 1915. Alexander attended the inquest as a witness, the Aberdeen Daily Journal reported on the inquest 1 June 1915:

“Alexander Stewart, river watcher, Dalyorn, Advie said that about two o’clock on Wednesday 5th May, he along with others, found the body in the March pool in about five feet of water, face downwards.

Sergeant John McKnockater, Grantown, corroborated.

The jury returned a formal verdict.“

In 1916, Alexander’s mother, Mary Stuart (also a Gaelic speaker), came to live with them. Mary died on 22 November 1916.

Eldest son Peter was killed in action on 4 May 1917 in Arras. He is buried in Crump Trench Cemetery in Fampoux. Son Alexander also served in France and was wounded twice, but came back from the war. 

By 1921, Alexander was no longer working for the fisheries board. He is employed as a wood cutter for F Sime Wood Merchant.

In March 1926, Alexander passed away from carcinoma of the stomach; at Delyorn, he was 59. He is buried in Advie Cemetery.

Alexanders wife Bella did not speak Gaelic and neither did any of the children, so when Alexander died, so did the Gaelic language in our family. The language of our ancestors lost within one generation. 

Sources:

• Census records from Scotlands People.
• Alexander Stuart birth record. Scotlands People (Statutory Births 124/00 0041).
• Alexander Stuart and Isabella McDonald marriage record. Scotlands People (Statutory Marriages 128/01 0001).
• Mary Ann Stuart death record. Scotlands People (Statutory Registers Deaths 128/2 4) 1915.
• Mary Stuart death record. Scotlands People (Statutory Deaths 128/01 0012).
• British Newspaper Archive. Inquiry into Spey Boating Tragedy, How Two Lives Were Lost. Original data Aberdeen Daily Journal 1 June 1915.
• British Newspaper Archive. Spey Boating Tragedy, Gamekeepers Body Found. Original data Highland News 8 May 1915.
• STUART, ALEXANDER (Valuation Rolls VR010900070-/32, MORAY (ELGIN) COUNTY) Page 32 of 238 1925. Scotlands People.
• Alexander Stuart death record. Scotlands People (Statutory Deaths 128/01 0001) 1926.