Jeanie Thomson Runciman (1879 - 1942)

Born 8 Oct 1879 in Kelvin District, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland

Ancestors

Died 30 May 1942 at age 62 in Netherlee, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Alan Runciman [send private message]

Biography

This biography was part auto-generated by a GEDCOM import & added to by Jeanie’s grand nephew Alan Runciman, who would have loved to have met such a talented relation but was born just too late! The Profile is not yet completed and will be added to, with regard to Jean's autograph book.

Name

Name: Jeanie Thomson /Runciman/ ^[1]

Birth

Birth:

Date: October 8 1879

Place: 259 New City Road, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland

Registration District: Kelvin District, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland^[2][3]

Training & Profession

Jeanie was the middle of three sisters who all entered teaching. She trained at Glasgow’s Dundas Vale Teaching Centre, around the late 1800s. She taught at Holmlea Primary School on Glasgow’s expanding southside, a location in the shadow of G&J Weir Ltd’s factory (a company whose pump products were exported to every corner of the British Empire) and close to the national stadium Hampden Park and the Victoria Infirmary. Cathcart would have been a bustling place. The school was built in 1905 at the same time as the surrounding new tenement flats but it’s not certain when Jeanie joined the staff. Given she’d moved house in close proximity to the school in the early 1930s it’s probable she was teaching there by then and possibly much earlier. Perhaps looking after her ageing mother until then kept Jeanie rooted in Glasgow’s west end although her job was on Glasgow’s southside? Public transport links were good enough to make this practical.

Holmlea Primary School - Architects Drawing.

Cathcart Road showing Holmlea on left.

It’s highly possible one of Holmlea’s notable pupils Thomas Leith was taught by Jeanie (or indeed her sister Mary) in at least one of his years there. Leith, who became a successful engineer and director of G & J Weir Ltd, attended the school in the 1930s. Few people in the world will have managed to carve out such a successful career within such a short walk twixt school and employer! (as shown in the aerial photograph)!

The school (arrowed in blue) dwarfed by the Weir factory.

Residence

Jeanie was born at the family home of that time, 259 New City Road. Later the family moved to 188 St Georges Road which remained tenanted by the family until her widowed mother Mary (Thomson) died in 1931. This home at St Georges Road was the subject of a poem written by Jeanie’s nephew Rev Jim Runciman. After their mother’s death Jeanie and sister Mary moved to a beautiful bungalow at 7 Leefield Drive, Netherlee in Glasgow. Jeanie is shown as the owner in the 1935 property valuation. It was convenient by public transport to & from work.

The photo was described on the back, "The Wee Hoose".

Later, the Leefield Drive house featured other members of the family as Alan Runciman Sr & Catherine Kirkland lived the first 18 months of their married life there immediately post-war and their first son, Alan Jr, (writer of these notes) was born there. The house was built with a characterful front terrace. In the back garden there were two bountiful cherry trees bearing wonderfully red ripe fruit every summer.

Hobbies & Interests

Jeanie & Mary shared a number of interests. Both were well read, as it seems were all their siblings, and the house was stocked with a wide range of books - classics, Scottish authors, travel, horror, big sellers & books of note etc. They were also artistic, Jeanie the more so of the two. They loved international holidays which was unusual for the 1920s and 1930s, the period of their travel, particularly for single women. Winter evenings were often spent writing up & illustrating Mary's holiday journal about that previous summer’s travels.

'Wanderlust' opening double page. To read more about the journal see Mary's profile.

Jeanie & Mary Runciman, in closer view

Jeanie’s Autograph Book

The first entry - Inside Front Page

Another of Jeanie’s pastimes was her autograph book. It was started in 1902 and over the next 20 years or so various friends and relatives added their contributions to what is an interesting insight into quiet home-based amusement of that era.

Many of the pages inform us of who Jeanie knew as friends, colleagues and relations -

Friends of Jeanie

and some more...

Jeanie & Fellow Students

Numbering from 1 at the '12 o'clock' position: 1 L. Nicol 2 Ella Smillie 3 (Difficult to decipher) - Erma(?) Wormled(?) 4 M Maxton 5 Milligan 6 Blank 7 JR (ie Jeanie Runciman) 8 Meg Rob 9 Jane Morgan 10 Agnes Spence 11 Flora Sutherland 12 Agie Muter(?) 13 Maude Wissenby(?) 14 M Paterson 15 Jeanie Robertson 16 Blank

[Insert images of friends photos] Some entries: M Maxton Jeanie B Scoular DVTC 13/2/03. A Crichton Pender (son of) 1956 Art Teacher at York Street School, Ottowa, Ontario, Canada (per Schools and Teachers, Elementary schools, Part 1, Province of Ontario, November 1956)

The attractive postcard-style card

The well-wishers sign the reverse side.

A Get Well card inside the Autograph book offers an interesting glimpse of Jean's colleagues. From where? It could have been fellow students at Dundas Vale College or it could be from Holmlea School. The definitive clue is an Alex Robertson appends (janitor) to his name, so surely it is from her Holmlea colleagues.

Her colleagues who signed are -

Jessie, Meg, Minnie AG Wilson, Catherine WG Thomson, MB Rodie, MD Forbes, John H Davidson, Rich McKechnie, Andrew R Young, Helen B Nisbet, John MacKay, Greta Christie, Janette G Clanahan, James Smith, Alex Robertson (Janitor), Elizabeth McCloskey.

The major stumbling block to concluding that these are Jeanie's Holmlea colleagues is that there are a number of males. Would that be the case in Primary teaching in the 1930s-1940s? - it certainly wasn't from my own experience in the 1950s onwards. But where else would a janitor know her well enough to sign her card?

Death

The final word, as written by younger sister Mary in 'The Wanderlust', :

'The Lonely Trail' - written lightly in pencil, as if too difficult to face the permanance of it all 'One lovely May morning Sat 30 1942 The Dear Companion of my wanderings left me for ever and left me The Lonely Trail'

Death

Date: 30 MAY 1942

Place: Netherlee, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland

Note: c.o.d. Disease of coronary artery^[4][5]

Jeanie's death was subject to a post mortem. The subsequent report was signed off on 22 June 1942, an unfortunate length of time for the family to wait following her death on 30th May. Such public services would be additionally stretched by the number of civilian war deaths – Glasgow factories and the Clyde shipyards were major targets for Luftwaffe bombers.

The reason for the post mortem was probably because it was unexpected/sudden and in a public place. Place of death is described as First Avenue, Clarkston Road rather than a given house number. This implies the junction of these two roads & its location is not far from home at Leefield Drive, lying between home and shops. Death occurred at 12 noon.

The cause of death is recorded as 'Disease of the Coronary Artery'. This is a surprise to the undernoted as I had been aware of the family story that Jeanie in her schoolteacher role had accompanied her Holmlea pupils when they were evacuated during the war. The story goes that they were stationed in a large house which was always cold as the lady owner refused to heat it adequately. Jeanie complained and pleaded many times on behalf of the children to no avail. Jeanie told her family that many of the children suffered badly in the cold, as did Jeanie. Jeanie caught pneumonia and apparently never recovered fully from it and died as a consequence.

This information was provided by Catherine Kirkland a niece by marriage who lived with Jeanie's sister Mary at Leefield Drive for a period of 18 months following her marriage.

Perhaps the explanation merges the two in that following her pneumonia Jeanie hadn't recovered full fitness, pushing herself before her system was ready and a diseased artery was worked too hard. I cannot say whether her death occurred during convalescence or whether she had returned to work. (Her death occurred on a Saturday, so no clues there.)

Reference

Reference: 71319

Data Changed

Data Changed:

Date: 27 AUG 2013

Prior to import, this record was last changed 27 AUG 2013 .

Ancestors of Interest

John Potter, a Scottish Covenanter captured after the Battle of Airdsmoss & hanged at the Mercat Cross, Edinburgh in 1680.

William Runciman of Crail, who drowned with 7 other fishermen in the Crail Fishing Disaster, 1765.

More information about the Crail Fishing Disaster & its 250th Anniversary Commemoration is here Disaster.

WikiTree Profiles of Interest -

To visit any of the Profiles follow the appropriate link below-

Runciman Lineage 1b-The Early Generations As the name implies this Profile covers the latest research known of the earliest ancestors on the 'Crail' Line.

Crail Fishing Disaster History and Latest News

Jean is a descendant of William of Crail who drowned with 7 others in the 1765 Crail Fishing Disaster. A 250th anniversary commemoration for the drownings was held in Crail on 16 May 2015.

Scotland and Beyond

In 2004 a history of the William Runciman of Crail line was published. The decision was made that the latest research & continuing updates be published on the web rather than in print. At the same time Jen Jelley & Diane Middleton, compilers & publishers of the 2004 publication kindly agreed to make it available to view online but this decision was later revised to respect the personal information of living relatives.

Sources

• Source: S3222 Title: "Scotland and Beyond" (2004) plus subsequent research by Alan RUNCIMAN, Ros RUNCIMAN, Lawrence FLETCHER, Lorna HENDERSON & many, many others, Compiler Address: UK, Australia and New Zealand Abbreviation: "Scotland and Beyond" (2004), plus subsequent research Author: Diane Middleton Jen Jelley Alan Runciman Ros Runciman Laurie Fletcher Lorna Henderson and many others Publication: Jul 2013 Note: imported on 2013/07/24 at 15:44:27.
• Source: S3223 Title: Birth Registration Abbreviation: Birth Registration
• Source: S3225 Title: Death Registration Abbreviation: Death Registration

1. ↑ Source: #S3222
2. ↑ Source: #S3223 Page: Kelvin, Glasgow - 644/09 1498 CONT 1879
3. ↑ Source: #S3222
4. ↑ Source: #S3225 Page: Busby, Renfrewshire - 571/01-0052 CONT 1 JUN 1942
5. ↑ Source: #S3222

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Alan Runciman for creating WikiTree profile Runciman-666 through the import of RUNCIMANAlansPaternal4WikiTreeAug2013.ged on Aug 29, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Alan and others.