cant find a death!

[Montrose Budie]

Hi - just thought I might ask MB if you looked at the 1901 Census for Francis - where it says nightwatchman - beside it the entry seems to say "Navy" - I am not sure - it would be perfect if it does as Frank is listed on his children's marriage cert as Yacht master and Master Mariner - so a Navy record would confirm this - I am just not sure if it says Navy or I am "trying" to see it - I would appreciate your opinion on the writing.

thanks again for all your help

The 1901 census entry doesn't say 'nightwatchman', - it says 'Labourer' followed by a scored out word that is probably 'Navvy', - see http://www.thefreedictionary.com/navvy for the meaning. It looks like the word is scored out but it could be a clerk's tick mark when statistics were being compiled.

mb

[winger]

Hi, thanks for getting back to me - sorry - it has nightwatchman on his son's marriage cert - I had that on my mind when I put in the post - "Naavy" would make sense - but it is disappointing - it's seems a bit odd to write Labourer and then "Naavy" as well. I will go back and have another look - thanks for your help.

[Montrose Budie]

Hi Winger

Not necessarily odd, - enumerators often did odd things!

In this case the enumerator perhaps thought that he was being 'clever' by repeating what Francis put on the census form, or what he put on the form when he filled it in on behalf of Frances; the point being to distinguish between a general labourer and one involved in major civil engineering projects, originally canals, sometimes known as "navigations" - hence 'navvy', aka "eternal navigations", i.e. intended to last forever.

As far as I can recall, all the major canal construction in Scotland were complete well before 1901. In fact, the canals had been largely overtaken by the railways for a few decades.

mb