Annie's Story
Annie's Story
The Scottish roots of my family
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Annie's Story
Thurso in Caithness Scotland - Its about 800 miles north of London the furthest point north of the British mainland with cliffs rising 400 feet from the north sea surf. Fishing & coastal trades are the main occupations
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 .
Forss House
The marriage of William Shearer Overseer to Captain James Sinclair , Laird of Forsse.
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 son of William Shearer & his wife Janes Milne Bb 6 Oct 1796 in Thurso
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
1866 Northern Ensign-
Thurso Newspaper
CENSUS 1851 16, Durness Street, Thurso, Caithness, Scotland
William Shearer born 1807 , shoemaker & leather merchant employing 10 men
his wife Barbara Rose Campbell born 1806 were married Oct 1831
William Shearer Head 43 1808 Shoemaker employing 10 men BornThurso
Barbara Shearer Wife. 35 1806- Wick, Caithness
1841 Cowgate, Thurso, Caithness, Scotland
William Campbell Shearer born 1833 Thurso, Caithness
George. Shearer Son 1834 Thurso, Caithness, Bap 27 April 1834
Francis Shearer Son. 1838 Thurso, Caithness, Born 18 Feb 1838 Bp 18 March 1838
Catharine Shearer Dau 1840 Thurso,Caithness Bap 17 Jan 1840
Maiden Aunt Margaret Shearer 60 1781 born Caithness, Scotland
1851 Parents Wiliam & Barbara and 7 children
George. Shearer Son 14 1834 Apprentice druggist Thurso, Caithness, Bap 27 April 1834 later to become a gold & silver medal winning Dr
Francis Shearer Son. 13. 1838 Scholar Thurso, Caithness, Born 18 Feb 1838 Bp 18 March 1838
Catharine Shearer Dau 11 1840 Scholar Thurso,Caithness Bap 17 Jan 1840
Janet Shearer Dau 9 1842 Scholar Thurso,Caithness, Born 1841Bap 1842
James Shearer Son 7 1844 Scholar Thurso, Caithness, Born 1843 Bap 22 Jan 1844
Margaret Shearer Dau 4 1847 - Thurso, Caithness,
Barbara Shearer Dau 2 1849 - Thurso, Caithness
Janet Street Thurso
1806 Donald Campbell had child by his wife Margaret Campbell named Barbara Rose 21 November 1806
The sons of William Shearer the shoemaker & his wife Barbara Campbell
William Alexander Campbell Shearer born 14th July 1832 Professor of Philosophy & Mathamatics– The Saint Andrew’s Society of Bradford The first Chairman of the Society was Professor William Campbell Shearer. He was a scholarly gentleman who took up the position of the Chair of Classical Studies at Airedale College Bradford in 1863. During his career, he also taught philosophy and maths. In 1890, he was elected President of the Society.
He married Jane Martin in Islington in London in 1862- she died age 36 in 1866 at the birth of their 2nd child
Census 1881 Wilbury Drive Manningham, York, England (west Riding)
William Alex SHEARER Son17 B 1863 in Soham, Cambridge, Scholar
Donald Francis. SHEARER Son 16 B 1866 Bradford, York, Scholar
Ann BROWN Housekeeper Widow 52 Rochdale, Lancashire,
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
Donald born 17th April 1834 became a surgeon FRCS n 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.
The two brothers attended Oxford University at the same time.
Donald Campbell Shearer b 27 April 1834 became a merchant. He married Anne Matilda Campbell from Newcstle in 1868 and lived in Croydon for a while . In1901 he with his partner his brother in law went into bankruptcy and the 1901 cenus show him living in lodigings in Liverpool with his wife in a nursing home in Bornmouth where she died in 1905 age 44.
They had 5 children
1. George W C Shearer son 11 1870 Scholar B Scotland
2. Anne Matilda C Shearer Dau 9 1872 Scholar Scotland
3. Barbara M Shearer 8 1873 Scotland
4. Helen F Shearer child 6 1875 B Anerley, Surrey, died age 25
5. Dorothy Shearer infant 1881 Croydon, Surrey, England
and a governes a cook, a housemaid and nurse & a nursemaid
George W C Shearer born 2 Sept Died 21st Sept 1895
Also found a William born 1905 died the same time as Anne Matilda
His daughters Anne & Helen were with him on 1911
Donald C SHEARER age 76 widowed RETIRED EXPORT merchant living at 13 Borthwick Rd Boscmbe Bornemouth with Eleanor Campbell Shearer a widow age 33 from Liverpool & daughter Marjory C S were with him. and son James
1921 age 87 he became an inmate of Morden College, alms houses for merchants who had lost their money when hi died in 1923
George Campbell Shearer see his own page here ( my great grandfather with a black beard below) born 2nd May 1836 apprenticed to a druggist age 15 and went to Edinburgh University Medical School where he was a gold & silver medallist - a Doctor, missionary & amateur botanist
Francis Campbell Shearer born 18 Feb 1838 Baptised 18 March 1838 died in 1895 age 54 in Cape Town, South Africa
Catherine Campbell Shearer born 16th Dec 1839 married the exceedingly wealthy corn merchant Joseph Wilson in Liverpool. Their son Frank Campbell Wilson became Lord Mayor of Liverpool in the 1920's
Barbara Campbell Shearer born 1841 married a clergyman & missionary the Reverend James Gourlay
Janet Campbell Shearer born 29th Dec 1841 Bp Feb 1842 Married James Gunn a Mason of Brimms their son Alex Gunn migrated to Canada where he became an MP.
Margaret Rose Campbell Shearer born 1843 married Donald Sutherland Veterinary Surgeon in Thurso
James Campbell Shearer 11th December 1843 bp Jan 1844 ; a draper in Thurso unmarried until after his father died . Married in 12 July 1872 in Edinburgh to Margaret Sinclair b 1853 dau of Charles Sinclair from Paisley a journeyman tailor of Old Assembly Close Edinburgh St Giles
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.
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 B SHEARER Daur age 12 1869 China Scholar Annie Barbara
James A SHEARER Son age 10 1871 China Scholar James Augustus
Kate P SHEARER Daur age 9 1872 China Scholar Kate Pomeroy
George H SHEARER Son age 8 1873 China Scholar George Herbert
Walter C 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
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
SCHOOL
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
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.
AjP notes that
Edgar Pomeroy also went to The Liverpool Acadamy in 1878 .
With his widowed mother Eliza & brother Campbell he migrated to Calforinian in 1888.
Link Here
he was nephew of Georgiana Shearer & son of her brother Augustus who died of TB in 1871
Below is the registration record of the SHEARER 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.A wartime heroine
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 A wartim
Walter Campbell Shearer born 1875 in Liverpool married later in his life to Frances Moxon. & lived at 41 Church Street Oswestry
He had been a Lieutenant in Kings Shropshire Light Infantry in 1908 & in 1814 -19 war was a captian in the Kings Own after the war a Territorial Army Captain (commanding) His mother came to live about 15 miles away
Dental Surgeons Directory 1925 Entry
Shearer Walter Cambell 41 Church Street Oswersty LDS RCS Ed 1899 Univesity & Dental Hospital at Liverpool Dental surgeon Ellesmre College
Georgiana 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
Upper Parliament Street in 1880s
with trams
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 ) born Caithness
SHEARER Donald son 7 Born 1834 (Donald Francis Campbell) born Caithness
SHEARER George son 5 born 1836 (George Campbell) born Caithness
SHEARER Francis C. son 3 died in infancy. Born Caithness
SHEARER Catherine dau 1 B1840 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
George, Marguerite, Stella & Mary
My Grand parents as I knew them
1921 Census 1 Clyde Road Croydon
James A Shearer born 1871 age 49 Born China Manager Export Department -Sam Sadler South General & Export Merchants
Lily DShearer Wife born 1886 age 35 London, London, England -George E Shearer Son 1908 age 12 Elstree, Hertfordshire, -Marguerite Syliva Dau 1913 Wallington, Surrey, Englan
Stella Ruth Shearer Dau 1915 Wallington, Surrey, England
Mary Helen Shearer was yet to be born- 1924
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 married Mary Richardson M.A. in 1942 in Crosby in Lancs .they had four children. Mary died age 55 in 1968. George died age 88 in 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 married in 1945 to Jan Berg a gifted artist of Russian Jewish origin and had three children , she died in 1992
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, Engl
James Augustus Shearer - (Born China) 1873 Export Clerk (Manager)
Lilly Daisy nee Machin Born 1886 wife
Rev George Shearer B 1908 Presbyterian minister married Mary Richardson 1942
Marguerite Sylvia B 1913 Bank Clerk - married Clive Randall Cook (scientist) 30 Sept 1939
Stella Ruth - B 1915 Bank Clerk married to Capt Douglas Ash - Intelligence Corp 1939
Mary Helen B 1924 age 15 at school. married Jan Berg in 1945
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
Walter 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
1921 Walter was a Dental surgeon in Oswestry
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