William Symington's wife was Elizabeth Benson, the twin daughter of William Benson and Elizabeth Duncanson. She was a native of Larbert, where she was baptised as Betty on 4 April 1773. [1] The parish of Larbert lies in Stirlingshire, on the river Carron, to the northwest of Falkirk. 

No record has been found of a marriage between William Symington and Elizabeth or Betty Benson, but it would be fair to assume that they were married in the parish of Larbert and that the marriage took place between 1792 and 1794. 

William Symington had been living in Wanlockhead until the birth of his illegitimate son James in 1788. [2] The mother was Ann Miller. By 1794 William was living on the Kinnaird estate which was within the parish of Larbert. The baptism of Elizabeth, the first child of William Symington and Elizabeth Benson was entered in the Larbert parish register on 23 November 1794, followed by John in 1796, Grizel in 1798 and Margaret on 16 June 1800. They were followed by William, born on 22 March 1802 and Andrew, who was born in 1803.

The marriage register for the Larbert parish which is held in the National Records of Scotland is blank from 1792 to 1799. Numerous marriages were recorded in the Larbert parish register in 1790 and 1791, with entries up to 6 April 1792.  Thereafter, apart from a single outlier, the marriage records from 1792 until 1799 have gone missing, although the baptism records for the same period have survived. [3] The one exception is the marriage entry on 18 October 1794 for a man of some status in the community, George Caie, [4] who was then the manager of the Carronhall estate of Lady Eleanor Dundas.

WHY IS THERE NO RECORD OF WILLIAM SYMINGTON'S MARRIAGE?

There is no record of William Symington's marriage in the parish records of the Church of Scotland and there is no mention of an irregular marriage in the minutes of the Larbert Church Sessions which date from 17 April 1794.  The absence of any official marriage record in the old parochial records for Larbert and the neighbouring parishes could raise the possibility that William Symington had an irregular marriage. Marriages by a non-kirk minister and marriages outside the parish Kirk and even simple written contracts of marriage were legal under Scots law, but were considered irregular and not recognised by the Church of Scotland. 

There is every likelihood that the marriage records for the period in question have simply been lost. However, the records from April 1792 to 1799 may have been removed.

In the early 1790's there was a considerable scandal involving an elder of the Larbert parish church which may have had some bearing on the missing parish records.

The Church had taken issue with a rogue elder named William Bowie, who was a resident of Kinnaird. Church session records from 1794 reveal that the Presbytery of Stirling had appointed a committee to investigate the behaviour of Bowie, who was charged with a number of misdemeanours including drunkenness, impiety and obscene language. [5]Above all, it was alleged that he had facilitated irregular practices. He had conducted "irregular worship" in private homes and had engaged "irregular persons" to conduct baptisms. Most of the witnesses who provided evidence were from the Kinnaird region. One witness, Janet Carlaw, "aged thirty and upwards" was Bowie's next-door neighbour. Her husband was Alexander Carlaw who was well known to William Symington. He had signed affidavit which was prepared to support William Symington's petition to Treasury. In this affidavit, dated 1824, Alexander Carlaw, formerly of Wanlockhead, stated that he had forged components for the Dalswinton steamboat experiment. Alexander Carlaw married Janet Dalzell and was farming at Powfoulis, to the north of Falkirk, when he signed his deposition. He had been employed by Carron Company and in 1820 he had leased land from Lord Dundas at Grangemouth. [6] He and his wife are buried in the Airth North churchyard. Their son, William Symington Carlaw, was a student of divinity and the schoolmaster at Airth.

On 12 July 1795 the Larbert church Session suspended William Bowie from his office as church elder.

Several cases of "unregular" marriage were recorded in the minutes of the Larbert church session for early 1795. The offending couples were suitably rebuked before the session. However, these minutes do not capture the period in which William would have been married.

I conclude that William Symington and Elizabeth Benson were probably married in the Larbert parish church between 1792 and 1794 and that the register containing the record of their marriage had been removed by a person unknown.

ELIZABETH BENSON 1773-1844

Elizabeth Benson was a twin daughter and one of the nine children of William Benson and Elizabeth Duncanson who were married in Falkirk on 30 July 1772. She was born at Larbert and named Betty in her baptismal record dated 4 April 1773; [7] her twin sister was Mary. Her other siblings included: Jean baptised 8 January 1775, Janet 8 November 1778, Alexander 20 October 1779, John 30 August 1783, Charles Gascoigne 22 July 1785, Margaret 31 January 1789, Helen 16 March 1792, William 10 July 1794 and Helen again 8 June 1798.

She worked as a "shewster" or seamstress when they were living at Kinnaird. [8]

As a widow in 1841, she was living with her son William at Wangye House, Chadwell Heath, Essex. He was then employed as an Inspector of Works with the Eastern Counties Railway. (See notes on Wangye House under the section on William Symington 1802-1867)

She died on 30th June 1844 at 23 Dean Street, the address of her son William, who was present at her death. [9]

She was buried at the Wycliffe Congregational Church, Stepney, on 3rd July 1844. [10]

Her father, William Benson, had commenced as a clerk with Carron Company and by 1773 he was the blast furnace manager. [11] [12] He is remembered for his clever response to Robert Burns who had complained at being turned away after he arrived on a Sunday morning in 1787 demanding a tour of the Carron ironworks:

If you came to see our Works,

You should have been more civil,

Than to give a fictitious name,

In hopes to cheat the Devil,

Six days a week to you and all, 

We think it very well;

The other if you go to church,

May keep you out of Hell.

[1] SRO Old Parish Registers Births 485/ 10 212 Larbert 

[2] From his death record; he died on 1 January 1862 aged 73

[3] Detailed List of the Old Parochial Registers of Scotland Printed for the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Edinburgh 1872

[4] SRO OPR 485/ 10 628

[5] Larbert Church Session Minutes, SRO CH2/1326/4

[6] Shaw, Patrick and Dunlop, Alexander, Cases Decided in the Court of Session November 1828-July 1829 Number 72, page 144 Edinburgh 1829

[7] SRO Old Parish Registers Births 485/ 10 212 Larbert 

[8] Falkirk Herald 3 February 1886 page 2

[9] Deaths in the District of St. Paul in the Parish of St. George, County of Middlesex

[10] Non-Conformist Registers, Tower Hamlets, London

[11] Watters, Brian, Where Iron Runs Like Water! A New History of Carron Iron Works 1759-1982 Edinburgh 1998

[12] Campbell, R. H., Carron Company 1961