The Davie Family

About the Davie family - a pretty ordinary history, but as there are one or two mildly interesting aspects, I enclose a chart which I compiled from the records in Edinburgh [Ian Goodall independently did the same and the details are elsewhere on this website] with some explanatory notes. To go further back would mean visiting local parish records in far flung places and I wasn't really interested enough to do this.

My grandparents Davie were married in Neilson where the family (John Davie) ran a printing factory. They moved to Kirkintilloch where Robert Davie was appointed Poor Law Officer. (I wonder what sort of training Social Workers had in these days? [Probably better trained than many associated with children's homes in North Wales in the 1980s, Ed]).

My grandfather John McLellan was born in Kilmartin, Argyll and learnt his trade on the Poltalloch Estate of the Malcolm family. I visited their ruined Victorian mansion and saw the walled garden where my grandfather must have worked. Brick wall 9ft high, double thickness, with pipes running in between through which hot water was piped and enabled peaches, etc, to be grown in the open.

The Malcolm family now live in a wing of their ancient castle a few miles away overlooking Loch Crinan. Colonel Malcolm bred and identified the West Highland White terrier as a separate breed.

My grandfather became Head Gardener at Woodilee Asylum in the days when these institutions supported farms and gardens where patients worked. According to my mother [Ella Davie] he won West of Scotland Championships for growing roses!