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Jessie Tannahill Kelly
Jessie was born in Greenock in 1882/3 she was the 2nd daughter of James Kelly and Catherine Gray. She was an operatic singer who sang with the Carl Rosa Company and in later years taught the piano. She died in Greenock in 1966 at the age of 83.
James Moffat 1818 – 1884
James Moffat was the youngest child of James Moffat and Mary Bell. He was born in Carnwath, Lanarkshire on 10th August 1818. He came to Port Glasgow with his widowed sister Mary Lees and niece Catherine some time prior to the 1841 census, where he is shown as a grocer. He worked at the grocer’s shop […]
Patrick Downie 1854 – 1945
Patrick Downie was born in Greenock in 1854. He was the only son of Irish parents Peter Downie and Margaret Murray. He was their youngest child and was baptised in St Mary’s, Greenock on 12 October 1854. His sisters were Susan and Agnes. Patrick always wanted to be an artist but family circumstances were such that […]
William Somerville Shanks 1864 – 1951
William Somerville Shanks was born in Gourock on 28th September 1864 to John and Helen Shanks. In the 1871 census they were living at 1, George Place, Gourock and there were 4 children in the family, Mary, William, Agnes and Archibald. By the next census the family were in Glasgow and William was working as a […]
Muriel Ritson 1885 – 1980
Muriel Ritson was born on the 8th July 1885 to John Fletcher Ritson and Agnes Jane Catto in Broomberry Drive, Gourock. John and Agnes had married in Peterhead on the 6th June 1882. Muriel was the middle child of the family, Ada, the eldest and Cecilia being the youngest. The family was originally from the north […]
Captain Duncan McPherson 1845 – 1910
Duncan McPherson was born in Inveraray, Argyll on 28th April 1845. His parents were Mary Smith and Alexander McPherson who had married on 4th July 1844. He had a brother Alexander who was also born in Inveraray on 15th June 1847. By the 1851 census the family had moved to Gourock. Duncan was educated at the Gourock […]