Annie's Story

The Scottish roots of my family





Thurso in Caithness Scotland -  almost 700 miles north of London the most northerly town in mainland Britain.

My Great Great Great Grandfather William Shearer  may have been Born 13 March 1766  son of Donald Shearer and Margaret Brochie -     He certainly died 3 April 1844 burial in family plot in Troston cemetery.
 I have been unable to find his death certificate or discover accurately who his parents were or when he was born simply because SHEARER is a frequently occurring names in that part of the world.

William at the time of his marriage in 1795  was Tenant of Forss and  Overseer to Capt James Sinclair of Holbornhead  Laird of Forss. It seems that in 1900 salmon fishing was the sport of the day in Forsse -   & still is today .

The marriage of William Shearer Overseer to Captain James Sinclair , Laird of Forsse.

Forss  House

 William married Janet Milne born 23 March 1775 , She may have been one of the 7 children of Alexander Milne and Jean Kynoch of Fyfie Aberdeen, whose ancestry has been traced to 1670.

Proclamation of Banns in Thurso on 15 Nov 1795; Marriage in Reay on 27 Nov 1795
Witnessed by William Milne of Holbornhead and William Manson of Pennyland.

William & Janet had at least six children.

James Shearer B 1796 ;

Janet Shearer B 1798  Married  James Gunn a Mason of Brimms
their son Alex Gunn migrated & became an MP in Canada;

Donald Shearer b 1800;

George Shearer b 1804; 

William Shearer b1807 became shoemaker  & leather merchant in Thurso - 

married 28 Oct 1831   wife Barbara Campbell, born 1807 & Died  August 1880 at Janet Street

Margaret Shearer b 1 Nov 1814  remained unmarried

Janet Street Thurso

CENSUS 1851  16, Durness Street, Thurso, Caithness, Scotland 


William Shearer Head  43 1808 Shoemaker employing 10 men BornThurso

Barbara Shearer Wife   43 1808 - Wick, Caithness

George Shearer Son   14 1837 Apprentice druggist Thurso, Caithness, 

Francis Shearer Son   13 1838 Scholar Thurso, Caithness,  

Catharine Shearer Dau 11 1840 Scholar         Thurso,Caithness  

Janet Shearer  Dau  9 1842 Scholar         Thurso,Caithness, 

James Shearer  Son   7 1844 Scholar Thurso, Caithness, 

Margaret ShearerDau   4 1847 - Thurso, Caithness,  

Barbara  Shearer Dau   2 1849 -         Thurso,Caithness  

William Shearer  , shoemaker  & leather merchant  employing 10 menand his wife  Barbara Rose Campbell had 9 children;

 The Shearers were married Oct 1831  7 children

1806 Donald Campbell had child by his wife Margaret Campbell named Barbara Rose 21 November 1806

William Alexander Campbell. SHEARER Widowed 48 B 1832 in Thurso Scotland Professor of Philosophy and Mathmatics
William Alex SHEARER Son  17 Born 1863 in Soham, Cambridge, Scholar
Donald Francis. SHEARER Son 16   Born 1866 Bradford, York, Scholar
Ann BROWN Housekeeper W Female 52 Rochdale, Lancashire,  


 The 1881 census William living at 9 Wilbury Drive Manningham Bradford – and on the opposite side of the road was Bradford Children's Hospital Saint Mary's Road Bradford-  opened 1883 Closed 1988-

 Son William became a clergyman & 2nd son  became a surgeon
  Donald FRCS  in 1893 married Jane Grandage  from a family wealthy Yorkshire merchants .in Bradford . Daughter Alice Jean born 1894 Croydon Surrey in 1894  and educated at Roedean.   1912-14  Alice /who called herself Alixe studied at the Slade School of Art with Tonks and in Germany. 1921 she moved to Cornwall and began studies with Stanhope Forbes. 1927 she was founder member of the St Ives Society of Artists. In 1930 as Alixe Shearer Armstrong moved into 9, Porthmeor Studios in St Ives.


Below Shore Street Thurso  1910

1891. Barbara Rose Campbell my great great grandmother was daughter of  Donald and Margaret Campbell  Donald a wright ( carpenter ) in  Wick and his wife Margaret Campbell   Bb 21 Nov 1806. in WICK
She married William Shearer the shoemaker and leather merchant who evidently flourished, employing 10 people by 1851.

Baraba's Death certificate details  SEEN above gives her fathers occupation and her husband William Shearer leather merchant in Thurso

William & Barbara's 2nd son was my great grandfather
Dr George Campbell Shearer. MD. son of William Shearer and Barbara Campbell  born 27 April 1836 in Thurso.
He attended  Edinburgh University  where he graduated  with an MD as Doctor of Medicine in 1859 . He was gold medalist in anatomy, chemistry, surgery, and materia medica and silver medalist in midwifery.    

1857  George Shearer passed surgery  - Silver Medal in Midwifery in  1859  - 1st in Surgery Class 1859 He was a resident physician at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary before moving to Liverpool.

Dr George has his own page

Flower show 1923


A bursury for William 1848


How  Dr George met Georgiana Pomeroy the music teacher who lived in Liverpool  is unknown but possibly doing charitable work , the 1861 census shows he worked as a Medical Officer in a Liverpool workhouse at the Mount Pleasant Brownlow Hill . 
They married West Derby near Liverpool in 1868 -
Georgiana Augusta Pomeroy was  living with her family at Albert Dock House Liverpool  occupying her time as a music teacher              

They  went to China  almost immediately after their 1868 marriage  and my grandfather James and three of his siblings were born in Kiukiang in the British Concession Lower Yangtze Ports in CHINA.    Whilst there he observed the Chinese opium consumption and  later wrote it made a man a moral paralytic
The  family returned to England between 1873 and 1875 settling in Liverpool where they took up residence at 173 Upper Parliament Street Liverpool . Dr George took up a post as senior assistant physician at the Liverpool  Hospital for Consumption ( Tuberculosis )
Dr George was appointed  lecturer in botany to the Liverpool School of Medicine and lecturer on physiology and general biology at Liverpool.He also seems to have acted as the family Dr for his  own and his wife's Pomeroy family;  his signature can be found on several Pomeroy family death certificates.

As a Fellow of the Linnean Society  he would have know Charles Darwin & he presented a paper at Liverpool University in 1892 in which he disputed Darwins Theory of the Survival of the Fittest .

He died that year, 1892. His widow Georgiana Augusta Shearer nee Pomeroy retired to Chestnut Grove  Birkenhead. where in 1901 she was living with her sons James & George .  She died 1922.

The Pomeroy connection in Liverpool
1861 Census Albert Dock, Dukes Yards End, Liverpool, Lancashire
Augustine SJ Pomeroy Head age  46 1815 Commercial dock clerk born Poplar,
Sarah G Pomeroy Wife 43 1818 Colchester, Essex, England
Georgina A Pomeroy Dau UnM 21 1840 Teacher of music Stepney,  Augustus Pomeroy Son UnM 19 1842 Commercial clerk merchants office born Stepney,
 James R Pomeroy Son UnM  16 1845 Commercial clerk merchants office born Stepney, 

FAMILY LEGEND  has that as a boy Dr  George  knew  Robert Dick, the son of  the Thurso  Baker of Thurso who became a famous Victorian amateur Geologist & Botanist. THIS  legend is true Dr George &  his brother Professor William Shearer contributed to a biography on Robert Dick

1881 census 127 Upper Parliament Street Liverpool

George Campbell SHEARER   Head  age  43   Scotland   Physician  - died 1892

Georgina Augusta SHEARER   Wife  age 44   Stepney London, Middlesex, Eng      

Annie Barbara SHEARER   Daur   age 12   1869 China   Scholar   -  Annie Barbara  

James Augustus SHEARER   Son  age  10   1871 China   Scholar  - James Augustus 

Kate Pomeroy SHEARER   Daur   age   9   1872 China   Scholar       - Kate Pomery 

George Herbert SHEARER   Son age  8   1873 China   Scholar     - George Herbert 

Walter Campbell SHEARER   Son   age   3  1877  Liverpool, Walter Campbell 

  also in the household were 2 servants

Mary I. ROSSETER   Servant   age   20  born  Ireland       

Jane GERARD   Servant  age   19   Born Liverpool, Lancashire  


 James Augustus Shearer with his brother George Herbert from 1883 to 1887 went to grammar school at the fee paying Liverpool Institute High School  for Boys 
See below left The Liverpool Institute High School for Boys was an all-boys grammar school begun in 1825 & occupying different premises while the money was found to build a dedicated building on Mount Street. It closed in 1985.
In 1996 the doors re-opened as The Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts (LIPA) whose lead patron is Sir Paul McCartney who had attended the school.


1891 Parliament Street 

George Shearer Head 54 1837 Physician born Scotland

Georgina A Shearer Wife 50 1841 - London, Middlesex,  

James Augustus Shearer Son UnM 20 1871 Clerk China

Annie Barbara Shearer DauUnM 21 1870 - China 

Kate Pomeroy Shearer Dau UnM 19 1872 - China

George Herbert   Shearer Son UnM 18 1873 Clerk China

Walter Campbell Shearer Son UnM 12 1879 - Liverpool

Elizabeth Daly UnM housemaid 15 1876  servant Ireland

 

Dr George died on 14 March 1892 and was buried in St James Cemetery Liverpool


Georgiana  may have died in Wrexham in 1920 although the age recorded  & therefore the DOB is wrong for her, but it is the only one found.



Below is the registration record  of their children born in China


 British Concession on the  Lower Yangtze in China at JiuJiang /Kiu Kiang  kindly sent by Kate Chevallier great grandaughter of Annie Barbara Shearer

 Dr George Shearer & his wife Georgiana Pomeroy had 7 children

 Annie Barbara Shearer, was born 1869 in China,  She married Robert Wylie & in Birkenhead in 1900 had a son Norman Shearer Wylie

   James Augustus Shearer, my grandfather  2nd child of was born 10 Oct 1870 Kiukiang in the British Concession Lower Yangtze Ports CHINA. Married Lily Daisy Machin 1907  they had 4 children. He died Christmas 1950 at St Albans Hertfordshire 

   Katherine Pomeroy Shearer born 1872 China -  working Birkenhead District Hospital  a nurse in 1891 & in 1911;  age 40  she was living as housekeeper to her brother Walter in Oswestry where she died in 1921, after her long hair caught fire.

   George Herbert Shearer born 1873 China - in 1911 he was Book keeper sugar refiners  living in a boarding house then married the sister of the woman who ran it . He married ALICE Maddock  in 1912  in Birkenhead  had at least one child

  Walter Campbell Shearer born 1875 in Liverpool later in his life he married Frances Moxon. & lived at 41 Church Street Oswestry where he became a dental surgeon - He was a Lieutenant in Kings Shropshire Light Infantry in 1908 & after the war a Territorial  Army   Captain (commanding)   His mother came to live about 15 miles away .
She may have died in Wrexham in 1920 although the age  & therefore the DOB is wrong for her 
He died in Southsea Hants 1965 

2 other children were born to this couple   Ernest & Mabel both born in Liverpool and died in infancy.

November 2022 Kate Chevallier  the grandaughter of Annie Shearer Wylie's son Norman  Wylie made contact and sent  me these images  Annie in 1871 age about 18 months with her Chinese ayah
Note the bound feet of the ayah or nanny

Liverpool Institute High School for Boys

West Derby Workhouse 

some of the RECORDS 1841 Census   Thurso  Piece: SCT1841/41 Thurso-Caithness Enumeration District: 4  Civil Parish: Thurso   Folio: 0 Page: 14  Address: Cowgate  maybe in the Barrock St area of Thurso. )

SHEARER William head  30   Shoemaker  born Caithness

SHEARER Barbara wife   30                                  Caithness   

SHEARER William   son   8  born 1832 (William Alexander Campbell ) Caithness 

SHEARER Donald son 7 Born  1834  (Donald Francis  Campbell) Caithness  

SHEARER George son  5 born 1836   (George Campbell)              Caithness  

SHEARER Francis C.  son   3  died in infancy.                                 Caithness 

 SHEARER Catherine dau F  1    B 1840   Catherine Campbell       Caithness 

SHEARER Margaret visitor   F  60   1 Nov 1814    unmarried aunt , sister to William  

1861 Census

Piece: SCT1861/41 Place: Thurso -Caithness Enumeration District: 3  Civil Parish: Thurso Ecclesiastical Parish, - Folio: 0 Page: 16 Schedule: 107  Address: Mcleans Buildings

SHEARER     William              53     Merchant     born   Caithness - Thurso    

SHEARER     Barbara            53         -                              Caithness - Wick         

SHEARER     Donald             26     Merchant (Draper)  Caithness - Thurso    

SHEARER     Catherine         18         -                             Caithness - Thurso       

SHEARER     Jannet   Dau     17         -                            Caithness - Thurso         

SHEARER     James     son    15    Shop  lad (Draper) Caithness - Thurso    

SHEARER     Maragret         13     Scholar                     Caithness - Thurso    

SHEARER     Barbara           11     Scholar                     CaithnessThurso                      

Census 1871 Thurso. Caithness Street

SHEARER  William              Head   60  Leather Mercht.   born Thurso              

CAMPBELL     Barbara       Wife          60          Caithness - Wick              

SHEARER         Janet           Daur         27         -   Caithness - Thurso              

SHEARER         James        Son        26   Draper   Caithness - Thurso              

  

Census 1881          7      Janet Street, Thurso.             

    SHEARER William  widowed     73     head      Leather Merchant

    SHEARER James born 1847 unmarried    34     son      Draper

    MILLER Mary Ann     unmarried     35         servant


James Shearer & Lillian with their family in about 1930 -
with thanks to  cousin Elizabeth

My Grandfather James Augustus Shearer born Kiukiang, China in  1870  found in 1901 census he was living with his widowed mother  Georgiana and his brother George in Chestnut Grove  Birkenhead and working as a commercial clerk. 

A respectable occupation for a well educated middle class young man of the time. 1901 census James was working as a commercial a clerk  and living with his mother and younger brother George in Birkenhead on the Wirrell.
He was age 48 in 1918 which meant he was not conscripted into WWI

In 1907 James Augustus Shearer was 33 when he married 18 year old Lily Daisy Machin (Lillian) in Hackney. She was the daughter Bryan and Emma Machin . Her father was a manager of a boot making factory in Hackney and came from a Stoke family of leather workers - boot clicking was a highly skilled job cutting the uppers of boots from the leather .  After James & Lilly married they lived in the leafy suburbs of Boreham Wood Hertfordshire where he worked as a manager of an export metal merchants.  Later they lived in Clyde Road, in Croydon,  the house later taken on  by their daughter Mary and her husband Jan Berg. 

Clyde Road is very close to Upper Addiscombe Road in Croydon where Uncle Donald Shearer a wealthy merchant lived. Its possible that  James worked in  Donald’s company for a while,  I have no family information about this. I was told by his daughter Stella that he later became an importer of gold leaf used in gilding but his partner turned out to be a mistake and lost their money. The 1937 Registry entry show his as  an export clerk.
James spoke Portuguese and Esperanto and possibly Mandarin having in all probability had a Chinese nanny until  he was about 6.

Lily and James Shearer  had 4 children

Rev George Ernest Shearer,Bb 1908 who  married Mary Richardson M.A. and had four children. died Macclefield 1996

Marguerite Sylvia Shearer, Bb 1913 married in 1939 to  Clive Randall Cook  OBE a scientist  who received the OBE for his services to his country. They had three children. Died Dec 1982

Stella  Ruth Shearer  Bb 1916 married Captain Douglas Ash who had one child.  Stella died in 2017 age almost 101

Mary Helen Shearer, Bb 1924 who  married Jan Berg a gifted artist of  Russian Jewish origin and had three children


1921 Census   1 Clyde Road Croydon

James A Shearer Head born 1871 age  49 Born  China

Manager  Export Department -Sam Sadler South General & Export Merchants

Lily D Shearer Wife born 1886 age    35 London, London, England -George E Shearer Son   1908 12 Elstree, Hertfordshire,  -Marguerite S Shearer Dau     1913   8 Wallington, Surrey, England Stella R Shearer       Dau     1915           5 Wallington, Surrey, England

daughter Mary Ruth Shearer born 1924


Family of Lilly MACHIN who married James Shearer in 1907

1891 West Hackney Parish: St John Hackney: 8, Chalgrove Road, Hackney London

MACHIN, Bryan 43 b 1848 Foreman Boot Clicker born Stafford Staffordshire

MACHIN, Emma Wife 39 b 1852 Lambeth London

MACHIN, George Son 17 1874 Boot Clicker b Bethnal Green London

MACHIN, Maud Dau: 18 1873 Domestic Servant Bethnal Green London

MACHIN, Ernest Son 13 1878 Hackney London

MACHIN, Birtie Son 7 1884 Hackney London

MACHIN, Lilly Dau: 4 1881 Hackney London

MACHIN, Florence Dau 2 1889 Hackney London

1901 6, Weston Place, Hackney, London, a fairly comfortable area with poor households close by according to Boothes research

Bryan     Machin     Head     Married   54  1847   Boot Clicker     Staffordshire, England   

Emma     Machin     Wife     Married      50     1851     Wardrobe Dealer     Lambeth, Surrey, England   

Albert     Machin     Son   17   1884  Boot Clicker     Hackney, Middlesex, England   

Daisy (Lily)Machin     Daughter        14     1887     -    Hackney, Middlesex, England

James Shearer married Lily Daisy Machin  in 1906 in Hackney London

1911 Census 45 Lansdowne Road Hackney, St John At Hackney, London, a short distance from the previous address

Bryan     Machin     Head      Boot Clicker     64     1847     Stafford Staffordshire     manager of Boot factory

Emma     Machin     Wife    61     1850     London Lambeth


1939 Registry- 1 Clyde Road, Sutton, Beddington and Wallington M.B., Surrey, England

James Augustus Shearer - (Born China) 1873  Export Clerk (Manager)

Lilly Daisy nee Machin Born 1886 wife 

Rev George Shearer - Presbyterian minister of religion - married Mary Richardson  1942

Marguerite Sylvia Shearer - Clerk - married Clive Randall Cook (scientist)  30 Sept 1939

Stella  Ruth Ash - Bank Clerk married to Capt Douglas Ash - Intelligence Corp 1939

My Grand parents as I knew them

George,              Marguerite,                   Stella &          Mary 

Brother George Herbert SHEARER born China in 1872

1911 Census was at 19 Kinglake Road Egremont Wallasey, Liscard, Cheshire, England

Louisa Dawson Maddock UnM 35 b1876 Boarding house keeper Born Toxteth Park Lpool Lancs

Alice Mary Maddock Sister UnM 29  b 1882 Assistant house keeper Born Toxteth Park Lpool Lancs

Madeline C Armstrong  UnM 27 b 1884 Boarder / Telegraphist Born West Bromwich Staffs

George Herbert Shearer UnM   34 b 1877  Border / Book keeper sugar refiners  Born Kew Kiang China Resident

George Herbert Shearer married ALICE Maddock  in 1912  in Birkenhead 

Brother Walter Campbell Shearer

1901 Census 72 Willow St,  Oswestry, Shropshire, England

Walter Campbell Shearer  Head UnM age 33 B 1878 Dental surgeon born  Toxteth Park Liverpool

Kate Pomeroy Shearer Sister UnM 40 B 1871   born Kewkiang China

Margaret Elizabeth Edwards UnM    20 B1891 General servant domestic B Tong Garth Glyncierog Wales


Married Francis Moxham in 1946 in Oswerstry where he had his dental proctice

 Lieutenant in Kings Own Shropshires 1908 served in WWII 

By 1914  Walter  was a Captain

Medal card of Captain  Walter Campbell Shearer, of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry.

Reference: WO 372/18/25268  Description: Medal card of Shearer, Walter Campbell

Corps Regiment No Rank Captain King's Shropshire Light Infantry

Date: 1914-1920

Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record(s) Closure status: Open Document, Open Description


SHEARER  FAMILY TREE as researched by AJP 1999-2022

Pedigree Here