Don’t know why he claimed he was born in Edinburgh, Haddingtonshire because he seems to have had no association with the place at all. All the census forms he appears on say he was born in County Durham. Btw Haddingtonshire is what East Lothian was once called.
1861 Census 5 years old living with parents William & Marian & siblings in Newfield, County Durham. Father a coal miner.
1871 Census 15 years old living with parents & siblings in Witton le Wear, County Durham. Occupation of father given as “Coal Miner” but his is given as “Miner”
1881 Census – appears to be missing
1891 Census – Now married and living with Kate in Anchor Road in Barnstaple where Kate was born. He has put on 3 years, as age given as 38. Working as a General Labourer. they have no children.
1901 Census – missing as one would expect but Kate can be found living alone at 61 Gloucester Road, Barnstaple (interesting that there is a Gloucester Rd in Barnstaple, could lead to a very wet journey if it went as the crow flies).
1911 Census – presumably filled in by his good-self says he was 59 at the time. He & Kate are living at 104 High St, Barnstaple and he is working as a “Stableman to a Confectioner”. They have no children.
1919 Kate passed away.
1921 Census living at 1 Barbican Place, Barnstaple Place with his second wife, Beatrice May Williams. He was now a “Horseman” for a “Cab Proprietor” except he was unemployed at the time of the census – no shame in that as half of England was unemployed at the time of the 1921 Census. They have no children. He seems to have shed the excess years as he gives his age as 64 years 5 months.
The Find a Grave entry was created by Berenice famous for her past ABW Forum posts.
The reason he was missing from the 1881 Census? A transcription record indicates why:
Name: Malcolm Hardy
Discharge Date: 20 Jan 1883
Regiment: 1st Dragoons
Rank: Pte
Regimental Number: 1694
You need to have membership of Fold3, which I do not have, to see the original record. The above is in accordance with his attestation papers where he says “Yes” to question 11. I cannot find any attestation papers or service records regarding this first period of service.
I have to thank a lady who has created a public family tree on Ancestry for most of the above.
I did try to identify the Minister by doing a newspaper exact search for the phrase "four horses shot under him" - I expected zero hits for such a long phrase but received hundreds - I think it might have been an accolade. Only about 15 were connected with the Second Boer War years which is perhaps surprising as more horses died than soldiers during it.
