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Well done Cynthia, everything is worth a shot!

Just for information the 1911 Census for Stornoway has 163 boy's called Donald aged between 6-10yrs, 25 of them have the surname MacLeod and 16 of them the surname McLeod. We would expect some of these Donald's would be at the Nicolson Institute in 1918/19.

Did any have sisters named Ishbel or have we already been down that route?


:-S :-D

Sorry can't remember off hand who was checking the Scotland 1911 Census when it came out but searches were made for Diane and then Donald and Ishbel MacLeod together but found nothing. I only did a search on SP I haven't viewed them there's far too many it would cost 205 credits just to view all the Donald Macleod/McLeod's to see if there's a Donald & Ishbel together. To find a Donald and Ishbel together a separate search would need to be done on Ishbel's of Stornoway maybe a few years younger than Donald and then go through every single one to match up the surname and census data number. I'll have a bash but can't promise I'll come up with anything :-)

Ok so I concentrated on MacLeod/McLeod first and found no Ishbel's, Sunday names must of been used. I searched many variants and I found some Isabella's and Bella's. No Isobel's or Ishobel's that were children in Stornoway. I never found anything that jumped out at me and never found any stray children (I didn't think I would to be honest, think Diane was either in India or England for 1911 census). I crossed matched the data numbers with the Donald's and found a few siblings living together. I will post the censuses next week hopefully, just busy with work, family etc at the moment and I'm busy packing for a trip this weekend but I just can't help myself when its comes to looking for Diane. I will also check all the other surnames for Donald & Isabella/Bella to see if any of them lived together. Its a needle in a haystack stuff but worth a shot. I'm still working on the MacLeod neighbours of the Goddard-Fenwicks and following other things through :-)

Thanks Traciey.....you're a gem...... :-D


It was FBG who searched the census when it first came out - if you remember, we were all waiting with baited breath to see if anything came out of it...........some hope!

Nudging for Evelyn

Hi Cyn and all, here are a few censuses that I found with siblings Donald & Isabella/Bella living together. These are only MacLeod/McLeod children. All the MacLeod/McLeod censuses have been sent to another kind member so she can look at them in greater detail.

I also have a list of all Donald and Isabella/Bella with various surnames
to cross reference the data numbers and I have started looking at them too.

Below is the few census details, I have included families in Lochs as this area was nearby Stornoway as it was the nearest postal town and while searching Scotland's People Lochs is included although back then I think it was 8 miles apart.

1911 Census - 8 Calbost, Lochs, all born parish of Lochs
Angus McLeod 36 Handloom weaver/Fisherman
Effie McLeod 32 -Married 1yr, children born alive 1, children still living 1
Donald McLeod 8 school
Isabella 7 school
Angus 4months

1911 Census - 10 Balallan, Lochs, all born parish of Lochs
Robert MacLeod 59 Crofter
Mary Macleod 40 -Married 20yrs, children born alive 10, children still living 8
Catherine MacLeod 16 Crofters daughter
Kenneth MacLeod 14 School
Margaret MacLeod 12 School
Donald MacLeod 10 School
Donaldina 8 School
Isabella 6 School
Alexander 4

1911 Census - Vatisker Road, No number, Stornoway
All born Stornoway
William McLeod 50 Fisherman
Mary McLeod 40 -Married 24yrs, 10 children born alive, children still living 9
Angus McLeod 23 Fisherman
Donald McLeod 12 School
Murdo McLeod 7 School
John McLeod 5
Malcolm J McLeod 4
Mary McLeod 15 Domestic Servant
Bella McLeod 3


As you can see its a needle in a haystack but I think anything is worth a shot to rule things outs. Age ranges I have searched is Isabella/Bella age 1-10 yrs and Donald's 6-14yrs. Possibly need to widen the search to cover other areas at some point but for now I will stick with Stornoway.

Any other suggestions/questions please ask I do tend to wander off on searches and come up with zilch.

Also just a wee note I came across while reading about schooling in Stornoway. Someone writes about their family research while living in Lochs which I believe is about 8 miles from Stornoway that in the early 1920's during the economic depression very few pupils could afford to go to the secondary school in Stornoway (Nicolson Institute) and went to Planisker School, Marvig. If Diane(thats a big if) was living in Lochs maybe this was the school she attended.

Many thanks Traciey..........needles and haystacks certainly come to mind.

There is, of course, Aunt Kate to consider along with Donald and Ishbel.....and I wonder if MacLeod maybe wasn't Diane's real surname, but one she added. That name Leslie has some significance......if only we knew what!!!

I'm no good with census, but will look into the Planisker School query.


Thanks again........

Cynthia/all helpers

Cynthia you may remember me mentioning a Margaret who was something of a 'character' .Found the site again and posted below as I think it would interest all. Please read to the bottom of the page where the interesting replies are seen.
Do forgive me if another 'blind alley' but felt it worth investigating, plus some help and your thoughts re finding which Margaret it is.

http://www.theinvergordonarchive.org/picture/number163.asp

I have now searched for R Macleod, officer in Seaforth Highlanders, in the Army Lists 1907-1917, and there is no mention. Details of which Army Lists I've searched are included in my summary on page 102.

Has anybody heard of/looked at a site called Families in British India?
just came across it on another well known help site, but haven´t had chance to look at it.
Bearing in mind what Annie Laurie says, we may not be looking for Robert Macleod anyway. :-( :-( :-( :-S :-S :-S

Just looked at above site only Robert info from search was-
Newspapers and periodicals : Allens Indian Mail
Groom Surname Macleod
Groom First names Robert B.C.E.
Bride Surname Willoughby
Bride First names Ellen A.
Year 1857
this marriage took place in Paddington LONDON
(MARRIAGE cert image online} ???could be grandfather!!!
Name:
Robert Bruce Eneas Macleod
Spouse Name:
Ellen Augusta Willoughby
Marriage
Event Date:
5 Mar 1857
Parish:
Paddington St John
Borough:
Westminster
Father Name:
Roderick Macleod
Spouse Father Name:
John Pollard Willoughby
Register Type:
Parish Register
1881 census

Name:
Robert Bruce Aeneas Macleod
Age:
62
Estimated Birth Year:
abt 1819
Relationship:
Head
Spouse's name :
Helen Augusta Macleod
Gender:
Male
Where born:
Edinburgh
Registration number:
81
Registration District:
Rosskeen
Civil Parish:
Rosskeen
County:
Ross and Cromarty
Address:
Invergordon Castle
Occupation:
Retired Commander R. Navy Landed Proprietor

This could be their son 1901 census

Name:Roderick W Macleod
Age:42
Estimated Birth Year:abt 1859
Relationship:Head
Spouse's name : Alice D Macleod
Gender:Male
Where born: naili, Nairnshire
Registration number:81
Registration District:Rosskeen
Civil Parish:Rosskeen
County:Ross and Cromarty
Address: Invergordon Castle
Occupation:
Labe Captain Q D C Highis

Name:
Alice D Macleod
Age:
29
Estimated Birth Year:
abt 1872
Relationship:
Wife
Spouse's name :
Roderick W Macleod
Where born:
Pitlochry, Perthshire

Name:
Robert R D Macleod
Age:
3
Estimated Birth Year:
abt 1898
Relationship:
Son
Father's Name:
Roderick W Macleod
Mother's Name:
Alice D Macleod

Name:
Forquil H L Macleod
Age:
1
Estimated Birth Year:
abt 1900
Relationship:
Son
Father's Name:
Roderick W Macleod
Mother's Name:
Alice D Macleod
Gender:
Male
Where born:
Rosskeen, rossshire
plus a lot of staff

cwgc?? son above

Name:
Torquil Harry Lionel McLeod
Age:
15
Birth Date:
abt 1900
Death Date:
13 May 1915
Cemetery:
Chatham Naval Memorial 1915
Burial Country:
England
Mother:
Mrs MacLeod
Region or Memorial:
Memorial Register

Hello everyone........

Autumnleaves - I had a look at that link and some of it is familiar. I remember Fans tracking down some Macleods linked to Bolitho in the Cornwall area, but nothing came of it. I will try and find where it was on here when I have a minute. Thanks.

Jansmith and Wisechild - some of those names are, again, familiar and I'm pretty sure were looked at at some stage........trouble is, it's hard to remember 4 years of work isn't it? :-)

As Robert Macleod wasn't an officer in Seaforth Highlanders, how do we even know the name is right?!

had a very quick glance at the India site & notice a mention of a Major J H Leslie.
Haven´t had time to explore further, but I wonder......

Cynthia don;t worry about looking up about the Bolitho connection I found it myself. Roderick Willoughby Macleod was visiting them - his sister was the Bolitho mans wife. Interesting thing about Rodericks second name 'Willoughby" could this be where Evelyn Goddard Fenwicks family link in as one of her brothers had the Willoughby name.
Read somewhere once where there was a naming pattern whereby children took a name from paternal and maternal side- forget which way it went.
The Invergordon site I listed above Interested me because of the mention of a Margaret who had been ''trouble'' .Did wonder if it would have been ok to contact them,but did not like to in case anyone else helping here had already done so.Or whether you felt it was not the thing to do.

I was about to say the Willoughby name rang a bell.

All these coincidences, there is a tiny piece of a jigsaw just waiting to be slotted in and then we'll have the finished puzzle, but what is the tiny piece we are missing.

Robert MacLeod may well of been in the army but he might never have

been a major or officer, family folklore runs away with itself sometimes.

My mother told me as a little girl that my great uncle was a sergeant in

the SAS WW2, I searched everywhere for his details, bought several

books, to see if I could find out anything on him. He was in fact one of

the original founding members of the SAS but he was never a

sergeant. My husbands great grandfather was a sergeant major in

WW1 of the royal horse artillery only I never found him as a sergeant

major or any other acting officer he was a normal soldier. My great

great grandfather Fisher who is in my avatar was supposedly this

wonderful man who served in the Royal Scot Fusiliers fighting in Africa,

my great aunt who is 89 speaks very fondly of her grandfather and his

army days, so you can imagine her disgust when I told her he didn't

actually see much service as he infact spent several months at a time

in hospitals with many bouts of syphilis.