Help deciphering occupations

Post by **SarahND** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:49 am

Hi All,
Is Thomas Dunn's father an Animal Painter? And... I hesitate to ask you whether or not Thomas himself is a professional Newt (shades of Monty Python)

Okay, I agree it looks more like Mewt... but what is that?
All ideas accepted. I'm sure AndrewP will come up with something perfectly reasonable, but I don't see it yet

http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... ?pos=-1107

Thanks,
Sarah

Gallery URL added - AndrewP

Post by **AndrewP** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:16 am

Hi Sarah,

Thomas's occupation looks like Newt. Could this be shorthand for a Newsagent? Unlucky that the two records on this page were by different registrars so the comparing of handwriting is limited.

Joseph's occupation was Animal Painter deceased.

Robert Dundas Cay's occupation was Writer to the Signet - a member of the ancient society of solicitors in Scotland who formerly had the exclusive right to prepare all summonses and other writs pertaining to the supreme court of Justice, and still have the privelige of preparingcrown writs. (quote from Chambers Dictionary)

All the best,

AndrewP

nelmit · Post by **nelmit** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:10 am

Could Thomas be a Merchant?

Regards,
Annette M

Post by **AndrewP** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:58 am

Looks like Robert Dundas Cay was well connected.

ROBERT DUNDAS CAY (1807-1888)
Uncle and lawyer of James Clerk Maxwell. Registrar of the Supreme Court, Hong Kong. Portrait in pastels by his mother, Elizabeth Cay

from http://www.clerkmaxwellfoundation.org/h ... place.html

Elizabeth Cay (1840-1921)
It is reputed that Clerk Maxwell had been fond of his cousin Elizabeth (1840-1921), a beautiful and highly intelligent girl, but for reasons of consanguinity this attachment was not pursued. Elizabeth ('Lizzie') married Thomas William Dunn who graduated in 1864 with First Class honours in the Cambridge Classical Tripos and was elected as a Fellow of Peterhouse College. He was the Headmaster of Bath College from 1878 to 1897. The Cambridge tradition was kept up through Lizzie's daughter Mary who married Peter Giles, later Master of Emmanuel College, and through her son Charles, classical scholar of Trinity College.

http://www.victorianweb.org/science/max ... rfar2.html

Looks like his biography is for sale at:

http://www.plurabelle.org/product_info. ... 1e73f85750

So Thomas William Dunn was graduated (first class honours) in 1864, and seeing his later titles, his occupation in 1870 is likely to be academic of some sort.

All the best,

AndrewP

nelmit · Post by **nelmit** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:08 pm

Thanks to that info Andrew I can now see clearly he was an M A on his marriage entry.

Regards,
Annette M

Post by **AndrewP** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:12 pm

Hi Annette,

Now I can see a curly M A written there (not Newt

).

All the best,

Andrew

Post by **AndrewP** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:18 pm

Hi Sarah,

Thomas William Dunn's years are given as 1837-1930.

See http://libcat.dartmouth.edu:2082/search ... t&1%2C1%2C

All the best,

AndrewP

Post by **SarahND** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 3:38 pm

Thank you Andrew and Annette!

The advantage to being back in a U.S. timezone is that you figure all these things out while I sleep

You definitely have the family nailed down. I came at them, of course, from the marriage of the daughter with Peter B. Giles, whose life is an amazing story, although none of his biographers seem to have pinned down his origins correctly. He was the illegitimate son of a farm overseer and a farmer's daughter, born in Strichen, Aberdeen, and went on to become, as you saw, Master of Emmanuel College in Cambridge. His son was Lord Mayor of Birmingham 1945-6

His father, Peter Paton Giles, produced two very interesting and talented illegitimate children, but as far as I can see, his legitimate ones were nothing special

What is the moral of this story?

Anyway, I'm enjoying tracking down this family to see what they will do next-- full of surprises

Thanks again,
Sarah

Post by **SarahND** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 6:51 pm

Hi again,
If you google Robert Dundas Cay, one of the hits is from SP, in their testaments of "famous Scots" section. He is mentioned in the testament of James Clerk Maxwell

http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/conte ... ipt115.htm

Sarah

StewL · Post by **StewL** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 2:06 am

Sarah

Maybe those wains born on the wrong side of the sheets had a much better genetic line

You know what they say about toffs marrying toffs, maybe too close for a good stock to be produced