Alexander Waterston &
Catherine Haddow
Of Hamilton, Lanarkshire
Alexander Waterston’s parents were William and Helen Waterston (nee McLaughlin) who married in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, in the late 1790's. William and Helen were names given to Alexander and Catherine’s children, which would follow the naming pattern of the time.
The 1841 Census (6th June 1841) records Alexander living in Union Street, Hamilton, Lanarkshire, aged 25, with his wife “Katrin” age 30, and daughter, Jean, aged 2. He was a Hand Loom Weaver.
He married Catherine Haddow on Sunday, 15 October 1837 in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, as recorded in the Old Parish Records. Marriage proclamations were called on 15, 22 and 29 October 1837.
It was a time of great change in Great Britain. The Empire was expanding. Queen Victoria had been on the throne for just four months following the death of King William IV in June 1837 (She would be crowned in Westminster Abbey the following year).
There were massive advancements in rail travel - the Paisley and Renfrew Railway is opened, a 4 ft 6 in gauge railway providing passenger services hauled by steam locomotives. The Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr and Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Railways were also approved. The people of Hamilton were distracted by the Cotton spinners' strike in Glasgow; the leaders were sentenced to penal transportation. Unrest had started in 1830 when a sharp depression gripped the West of Scotland. By 1837 the weaving industry was attempting to push through wage cuts. The cotton spinners of Glasgow took strike action in an attempt to defend their wages. The strike lasted from July through to the end of August 1837. During the strike a blackleg (a worker who is not part of a union and works when others are striking), was shot and the authorities arrested the leadership of the union. Those held in prison were indicted on midnight on the 24th of October, the last possible moment they could be legally held. The trial was to take place on the 10th of November in Edinburgh. The sentence of the court was that the prisoners should be transported for a period of 7 years. However they spent 3 years in prison hulks at Woolwich on the Thames and then were pardoned. After the trial the Cotton Spinners' Union collapsed due to the lack of funds.
​It was a sobering lesson for any Cotton Loom Weavers unhappy with their circumstances. Alexander Waterston was one of these men. He had followed his father into the trade and in the 1840's was making around 6/- per week wages (£1.70 in today's money) Things at home were tense with little money coming in.
It was a period of massive change when it came to crime and punishment and public attitude towards what was acceptable and what was not. Burglary, arson and "shooting at" cease to be capital crimes. The use of the pillory (a wooden framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse) is abolished by act of parliament but the stocks remained in use, though extremely infrequently, until 1872.
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Hamilton was known for its infamous Jail, erected in 1642. In its day, the jail was one of the grandest in Scotland. Capital sentences were carried out at the furthest end of Muir Street joining with the Bothwell Road. Outside the prison were the stocks where wrongdoers were padlocked by the ankles. There is note of a boy being laid in the stocks for striking his parents and swearing. The people of Hamilton would excitedly gather in town to taunt, tease and laugh at the offender on display, pelting them with rotten food, mud, offal, dead animals, and animal excrement.
In Glasgow the trial of the year was taking place. Elizabeth Jeffrey, a Lanarkshire woman was accused of a double murder. She first poisoned her next door neighbour Ann Newall with a freshly cooked meal and a glass of whisky as a trial run to the main event. She planned to poison her lodger Hugh Munro, to whom she owed £6, and she wanted to check the poison would be effective. It was and she poisoned his food killing him. She paid for the double-murder on the scaffold on Monday, May 21st, 1838, outside the County Hall in Jail Square, Glasgow. She was the first woman hanged in Scotland during the reign of Queen Victoria.
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In the first few years of their marriage Alexander and Catherine Waterston started having problems. His behaviour was strange and she did not quite trust him. He drank and was unfaithful. The couple ultimately split, in a time when divorce was frowned upon. To avoid public shame Catherine simply declared herself a widow.
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Catherine Haddow was born in Douglas, Lanarkshire, about 1811, the daughter of John Haddow, a Cotton Loom Weaver and Jane Semple.
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She had four children with Alexander Waterston
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Jane Waterston born Union Street, Hamilton, Lanarkshire in 1839
William Waterston born Blantyre, Lanarkshire in 1843
Helen (Ellen) Waterston born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire in 1844
John Waterston born Hamilton, Lanarkshire in 1847
The 1851 Census of Hamilton gives her age as 41. She is recorded as married but Alexander is not listed living with her. The children living with Catherine are Jane (11), William (9), Helen (7) and John (4).
The 1861 Census of Hamilton records Catherine as the daughter of John Haddow, living with him at 86 Townhead Street, Hamilton, a widow, aged 55, born in Douglas, Lanarkshire. Catherine’s daughter Jane (21) and granddaughter Mary (1) are at that address. William and John are not recorded as living at that address.
Jane Waterston married Peter Strachan on 10 October 1862. Click HERE to discover their story
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William Waterston born about 1843 in Hamilton, Lanarkshire. He grew up in Hamilton and became a carpenter before joining the Royal Navy. He next appears in records on the 7th April 1861. His occupation listed as Carpenter Crew on board the vessel 'HMS Impregnable'. A boy seaman training for the Royal Navy. The census place is Anglesey, an island off the north-west coast of Wales.
He next appears on the 31st of March 1868 on the UK List of Military Deserters. Desertion Place: Chatham, Kent. Publication Date: 14 April 1868 Regimental Number: 8822 Military Corps: Royal Engineers
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By 1871 he's back in Scotland. Aged 26 and still single. He appears on the census - a
boarder in the Bryden household at 26 Annfield Street, High Church, Dennistoun, Glasgow. Occupation Joiner
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On the 21st of September 1889 William Immigrated from Glasgow, Scotland to New York, USA on board the Bolivia. He was never heard from again.
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Helen (or Ellen) Waterston born about 1845 in Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
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As a child she grew up at 15 Lamb Street, Hamilton before the family moved to 86 Townhead Street, Hamilton when she was a teenager.
Helen had an illegitimate daughter, Grace, born on 3 September 1862 at 89 Townhead Street, Hamilton, Lanarkshire. Catherine Waterston, the child's grandmother, signed the birth certificate with a cross.
Helen (or Ellen) married Thomas Law on Henrietta Street, Pollockshaws, Eastwood, Renfrewshire, on 9 December 1870. Prior to the marriage they were living together on King Street, Pollockshaws.From the wedding certificate you will notice her fathers name is incorrect. I think this is a good indication that he had been out of her life for a long time at this point - Or perhaps it was to mask his identity and perpetuate her mothers lie that she was a widow.
In the 1871 Census of Eastwood Thomas and Ellen are living at 37 New Street. Thomas is a Labourer, his age given as 39, born in Johnstone, Renfrew. Ellen’s daughter Grace lives with them, aged 9. Ellen is aged 27. Grace is no longer calling herself Waterston but has adopted her stepfathers surname of Law.
Later that year, on 30 September, a daughter, Mary Law is born in Eastwood. A second daughter, Catherine Haddow Law, is born on 3 September 1873 in Hamilton.
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Helen Law (nee Waterston) died in Hamilton on 21 June 1876, aged 30. She had returned to Hamilton to give birth and died of Puerperal Fever. A daughter, named Helen Law, died in Hamilton shortly after her mother’s death on 22 August 1876 of Diarrhoea, aged 11 weeks.
Puerperal fever was a devastating disease. It affected women within the first three days after childbirth and progressed rapidly, causing acute symptoms of severe abdominal pain, fever and debility. The patient tended to lie on her back and appear listless and indifferent. The tongue was usually white, although it could become dark and furred in the face of impending death. Respiration was difficult due to the abdominal pain and distension, and the patient was prone to nausea and vomiting. Few women survived the experience.
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Thomas remarries in 1877 in Eastwood, Renfrewshire. His second wife was Elizabeth (Lizzie) Nicholson. Lizzie was a neighbour of Thomas and Ellen's, who lived on King Street, Pollokshaws. She was Irish and had previously been married to Robert Williamson. Robert had died in 1875, aged 34, from consumption, leaving Lizzie with seven young children.
Thomas and Lizzie amalgamated their families and now have eleven children between them. However the marriage is a short one.
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Thomas died aged 40 in early 1881 at 93 Harriett Street, Pollokshaws from bronchiectasis - a long-term condition where the airways of the lungs become abnormally widened, leading to a build-up of excess mucus that can make the lungs more vulnerable to infection. He was a Freestone Quarrier.
The 1881 Census of Eastwood, Renfrew, records Elizabeth Law (nee Nicholson, formerly Williamson, as a widow, aged 47, born in Ireland, living at 46 Rossendale Road, Eastwood. Her father, Thomas Nicholson, lives at the home and he is a widower, aged 75, born in Ireland. Also living there are three Williamson stepchildren, Martha (18), Thomas (16) and Margaret (12), and two children by Elizabeth’s previous marriage, Robert Williamson (10) and Ann Jane Williamson (7).
Thomas and Ellen’s two daughters, Mirren/Marion (Mary) and Catherine are also at this address, together with the children of Thomas and Elizabeth, Mark, aged 2 and Elizabeth aged 3 months.
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So what became of all the children ?
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Grace Law (Previously Waterston) born 1862 in Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
Grace disappears from the records after 1871 when she was aged 8. No record of marriage or death exist for her.
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Children of Thomas and Helen:
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Mary (Mirren/Marion) Law born 1871 in Eastwood, Renfrew.
Residing in 1881 at 46 Rosendale Road, Pollokshaws, Glasgow, living with stepmother and other step brothers and sisters and sister Catherine. In 1884 she had a brief relationship with John Smith. He was a moulder from 6 Moss Street, Paisley. The end result was an illegitimate baby - Catherine Law born 29th May 1894. John refused to have anything to do with the baby forcing Marion to seek a paternity decree at Paisley sheriff court. She was a Domestic Servant, living at 19 Herriot Street, Pollokshaws. She won the case and the birth record was altered, naming John as the father. Sadly baby Catherine died aged only 1 year and 10 months from Tubercular Meningitis - 21 days, at her mothers house on the 8th April 1896.
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Mary went on to marry John Innes, a Spirit Merchant and Cellarman from Edinburgh. They were married on the 14th September 1899 at 14 Albert Road, Pollokshields (a street leading off Victoria Road) By now everyone knew her as Marion and thats whats recorded on the marriage certificate. Her sister Catherine Vassie (nee Law) is a witness.After the wedding the couple moved through to Edinburgh and lived not far from Haymarket Rail Station. They had 2 children:
- Agnes Innes born 1900. She married James Deans in 1922
- Alexander (Alex) John Innes born 1903. He married Mary Welsh in 1928.
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Marion Innes (nee Law) died on the 5th of April 1929 at 144 Conniston Road, Edinburgh from chronic nephritis and a brain hemorrhage. Her home address at the time was 24 Orwell Place, Edinburgh. Her husband John Innes died before her.
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Catherine Law born 3rd September 1873 in Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
She's on the 1881 census at 46 Rosendale Road, Pollokshaws, Glasgow, Living with stepmother and other step brothers and sisters and sister Mary/Marion
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The 1891 Census of Paisley, Renfrew, records Catherine Law as a Boarder at the home of Callie Forrester, age 31, and her two daughters, Isabella (8) and Margaret (5) living at 27 Williamsburgh, Paisley. Catherine is aged 17 and a Thread Mill Worker.
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At the time of her marriage to William Vassie in 1897 she's living at 56 Dundas Street, Glasgow. The couple were married at 31 Polmadie Street, Glasgow on the 21st of June 1897. He was the son of William Vassie, a ploughman and Janet Coulter both from Carmunnock, Lanarkshire.
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They had seven children:
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- Helen Vassie born the 25th March 1900 in Hutchesontown, Glasgow, Lanarkshire.
She married James Brown in Cathcart, Glasgow in 1928. They had two children
Alfred Brown born 1930 and James William Brown born 1934.
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- Charles Vassie born 1903
He married Annie Stuart McInnes Anderson in Pollockshields, Glasgow in 1923
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- Jessie Coulter Vassie born 1906
She first married Alexander Fraser Lawson in Cathcart, Glasgow in 1928 and had one child Catherine Law Lawson born in 1928. Her second husband was James Ross Muirhead.
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- Thomas Law Vassie born 1907 and died 1913.
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- Catherine Law Vassie born 1909
She married John Wallace Campbell in 1935
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- Cecilia Vassie born 21st of February 1911 at 129 Holmlea Road, Cathcart.
She married Harold Crichton Montgomery at 9 Gallowgate, Glasgow in 1937. They had one son Douglas Crichton Montgomery born 1939.
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- Marion Law Vassie born 1916.
She married John Kennedy Johnston in 1939.
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Helen Law born 21st June 1876 and died 27th August 1876 of Diarrhoea at 35 Muir Street, Hamilton
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Children of Thomas Law and Lizzie Nicholson
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Mark Law born 1879 in Pollokshaws, Glasgow. He died aged 11 on the 13th August 1890 from a heart defect at 15 Harriet Street, Pollokshaws
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Elizabeth (Lizzie) Law born 1880 Pollokshaws, Glasgow. She married Alexander Smith McEwan on Pollock Street, Pollokshaws on the 29th December 1905. She died on the 1st of May 1950 at the Southern General Hospital, Glasgow - Heart failure.
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John Waterston born about 1847 in Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
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On the 1851 Census John's living at 15 Lamb Street, Hamilton with his mother Catherine, sisters Jane and Helen and brother William. As a youth he worked as a coal miner living on Quarry Street, Hamilton.
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In 1866 at the age of 19 John was involved in a horrible crime. The circumstances of what actually happened are still unknown, however what is known is that a 40 year old woman, Marion Robertson from New Wynd in Hamilton, lost her life. Her body was found in a field between Hamilton Barracks and Bothwell Road. She had died of hypothermia having been stripped of all her clothes while intoxicated. It was a prank that went gravely wrong. John and his friend William Sloan and 18 year old glazier from Holmes Street, Hamilton are charged with the crime of Culpable homicide at the High Court in Glasgow. Culpable homicide is committed where the accused has caused loss of life through wrongful conduct, but where there was no intention to kill or "wicked recklessness". It is an offence under common law and is roughly equivalent to the offence of manslaughter in English and Welsh law.
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The trial papers tell us that William Sloan's verdict was 'not proven' he was considered an assoilzied simpliciter and dismissed. Shockingly John was described as an 'outlaw and fugitive'. In reality this means he did not attend trial.
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The story and the trial made front page news at the time and The Hamilton Advertiser reported full coverage on the 5th of May 1866
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The Hamilton Advertiser does a good job of detailing the story.
Sloan is found 'not proven', the verdict is still out on John Waterston. A woman has died senselessly and needlessly and while the public appear to be in support of Sloan & Waterston, it's likely that the social stigma would have been too much for them both. After all they may not have killed the woman but they allowed her to die
Little is known about John's life over the next ten years. He joined the army. Perhaps his experience as a young adult set him on a better course for the future. In 1880 he's a member of the Seaforth Highlanders, serving in the 2nd Afghan War, and was decorated. He also served in the 2nd Egyptian War in 1882 again he was awarded a military decoration.
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In 1888 he married Helen Gordon Russell. At the time he was living at Maryhill Barracks, Glasgow. They were wed at 13 Arthur Street, Cannongate, Edinburgh on the 11th November 1888. Helen was born in Edinburgh in 1862, the daughter of Archibald Russell and Maria Gordon .
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John and Helen had five children :
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- John Waterston born the 9th of October 1889 in Glasgow. He died the 12th of arch 1915 aged 25 in France. A member of the Seaforth Highlanders he was killed in battle during the war.
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- Maria Gordon Waterston born 1891 in Edinburgh. She died in Newington, Edinburgh on the 2nd of October 1889, aged 8, from spinal disease and waxy disease of the liver.
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- Catherine Haddow Waterston born 3rd of October 1893 in Edinburgh. She died aged 19 at Edinburgh City Hospital from Diphtheria.
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- Helen Robb Waterston born the 1st of April 1897 in Edinburgh. She married Thomas Watson on the 3rd of October 1924 at Wishaw Manse, Cambusnethan. No known children. She died from Hypertension and Heart Disease in Wishaw on the 29th of December 1951 aged 54.
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- William Waterston born in Canongate, Edinburgh on the 26th of April 1899.
He's on the 1901 Census living with the family at Canongate South, Back of 49, Edinburgh, Canongate, Midlothian, Scotland
He next appears on the 5th of August 1929 travelling as a member of crew onboard the La Marka on his way the New York, USA. No further records of his adventures have been found.
John Waterston died from heart disease on the 4th of November 1915 at 61 Rose Street, North Lane, Edinburgh. He was 68 years old. His wife Helen Gordon Waterston (nee Russell) died on the 26th of February 1921 at 24 Meadowbank Terrace, Edinburgh from Influenza. She was 59 years old.
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