Handed Down; A Bundle of Paperwork and Photos

A few years back, after my husband's father died, he brought back home to us from Edinburgh, a stack of old paperwork and photos in which we found a lovely little slice of family history.

This beautifully preserved pair of National Registration Identity cards, for my husband's grandparents,  confirmed the family address, and his grandfather's Travel Identity card included a lovely passport sized photo of George Ferguson Grosset. We also found various photos of my husband's grandparents, George Ferguson Grosset and Margaret McArthur McRobbie.

National identity cards were issued during WWII, a tool to protect national security. Both George and Margaret's cards were issued in 1943, when the program started, and include two addresses at which they lived in '43. 

The Travel Identity card was a piece of identification required by British citizens to move freely between mainland UK and Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. George's Travel ID was dated 1948. It's not clear why he needed such a card. Perhaps Margaret also had one and they holidayed in Eire, or Northern Ireland at some point, or perhaps he had business in Eire, or Northern Ireland. 

George Ferguson Grosset was the eldest son, and first born child of George Ferguson Grosset at Wilhelmina Grosset, born in Musselburgh, Midlothian on the 29th May 1912. They had a total of 7 children altogether. Three boys, including George, John Bennett Grosset (1918 - 1995), and Blair (1926 - 2012), and four daughters; Agnes Bennett Grosset (1914 - 1971), Margaret Bald Grosset (1916 - 2023), John Bennett Grosset (1918 - 1995), Wilhelmina Bennett Grosset (1921 - 1993), and Helen Calder Grosset (1921 - 1921). George Ferguson Grosset (the father) was the railway signalman who I wrote about in a post in July; Trains; A Family of Railway Servants. 

George Ferguson Grosset, the son, was a lawyer, and most likely the first in his family to have studied at university, and to have earned a bachelors degree. George and Margaret married on 27th March 1939, at New Restalrig parish church, on Willowbrae Road, Edinburgh. At that time George was 26 years old and a practicing solicitor. Margaret was a 'clerkess'. 

The wedding of George Ferguson Grosset and Margaret McArthur McRobbie.

Margaret was born Margaret McArthur McRobbie, and was the eldest child to Thomas Andrew McRobbie and Agnes Grainger Ramsay. She was born in Edinburgh, on 16th October 1911. It was her younger brother Thomas Andrew McRobbie who was an airman who died in the early hours of D Day. I wrote about him, and his comrades earlier this year, on the anniversary of D Day and on Remembrance Day. I had previously thought that Agnes and Thomas only had two children, but have discovered that they actually had a second daughter, Joan Grainger McRobbie, who was  born in 1913, and was a named witness at their wedding. I believe, although cannot prove this theory, that the four bridesmaids in the wedding photo above are George's three surviving sisters, and Joan, Margaret's sister.

George did not serve during the second world war, due to him having contracted tuberculosis. According to an obituary found in my father in law's paperwork, it seems that during the war he worked as a leader of the Boys Brigade, and volunteered with the home guard instead. By early 1942 rolled round, their son, my father in law, was born.

I don't know for sure that this baby is my father in law, but it makes sense that this was in his paperwork.

George was treated at some point for his TB, although I'm not clear on when this treatment was offered. We have a picture somewhere, which frustratingly I can't find, of him in his outdoor room at the sanitoriam. The room was basically a roofed shelter with no walls, and curtains that could lend him some privacy. Again, I can't prove this, but I have a sense that this picture was taken at the same place where he was being treated, and he gentleman he is with is, we believe, his father, George Ferguson Grosset (senior). 

The two George Ferguson Grossets (senior and junior)

This final pic offers a lovely relaxed snap of the happy couple. I am finding it tricky to date, as her dress looks more 1920s in style, with the dropped waist. However, it seems likely that the pic was taken some time in the early to mid 1930s, which means it was taken at some point before they were married. The line of the horizon in the background suggests they were near Arthurs' Seat, the famous hill in the city of Edinburgh. Margaret's address, before they were married, was at her parents' home; 81 Restalrig Avenue. Google Maps has demonstrated that their back yard would have had a fine view of Arthur's Seat, which leaves me to believe that this pic was taken in their back garden. Perhaps it was a photo taken at their engagement.

George died at a fairly young age. Not as a result of TB, but from cancer. His death certificate states a primary cancer in his right kidney, and a secondary cancer of the lungs. He was just 54 at the time of his death, dying before both his parents, and leaving behind Margaret, aged 54, and their two children who were both in their early 20s still. 

So often, in genealogy groups on social media, other family history fans will post old pictures of their ancestors, asking for help with dating them, in an attempt to identify the people in the old snapshots. The wonderful thing about this bundle handed down at the passing of my husband's father, is that the Travel ID card confirmed what George Ferguson Grosset looked like, and the National ID cards confirmed their addresses. Using that information we were able to confirm who the other people in the images were, and where they were taken. Such a privilege!

#Grosset
#McRobbie