Uncle Arthur

Uncle Arthur, 96, died this morning at 6am. 

He was the youngest of my grandfather's 22 children from 2 marriages.  When Arthur - or 'Astie' as he was known by his siblings - was born, his oldest sibling was his half-sister Isobel, who was 54.

The family were originally from the north east of Scotland, living on a smallholding or croft in the Glack o' Drummuir, near Botriphnie in Dufftownshire.  When his father died 2 years later, the remaining family moved to Insch, where his mother died of a burst appendix when he was about 10.  For the next few years he lived with a half-sister, Tibby, until he joined the army.

He had 4 older brothers; my uncle Tom was the oldest and although married for many years, died childless.  My dad, Charles was the next oldest by about 7 years, and during the war he was a Japanese prisoner of war in Singapore and Burma, so he didn't manage to attend Arthur's wartime wedding to Maisie. 

Also unable to attend the wedding was Uncle Eddie, who went south to join the RAF, and was never heard of again despite strenuous efforts from his older brothers to trace him.  In the days before telephones and internet, it was easy to stay lost if that was what you desired. 

Amazingly, the son of one of my very many second cousins, Olive, was doing some family research a couple of years ago.  He discovered that Eddie had married an English lass, and had 2 sons; however for some strange reason he claimed to be an only child, and so they grew up quite unaware of the existence of their huge network of uncles, aunts, cousins and second cousins. 

Sadly, neither of these new cousins managed to make it up to Scotland to meet their uncle.

Arthur's nearest in age brother, Robbie, drowned in a horrible accident aged just 2.  That tragedy haunted my father all of his life, as the wee boy had followed his big brothers when they all went out to play.  They had no idea the wee lad was running after them, and soon he was lost and left far behind.  His loss was only discovered when Tom, Charles and Eddie returned home, and despite searching all through the night he was not found until the next day, face down in a ditch.

My lovely aunts were scattered far and wide across the country, going into domestic service, or nursing, one became a secretary in Edinburgh and married her boss, one became a farmer's wife and every boy she gave birth to was stillborn, but she had 4 healthy daughters.  One was given away as a small girl, as her mother - my Granny - simply couldn't afford to feed and clothe her.

After the war Arthur and Maisie settled near Brechin, where he became a gardener.  They had 2 sons and a daughter, all just a little older than me and my siblings.  Neither of his sons have children.

My father had 2 sons and 2 daughters;  one of my brothers had 2 daughters and the other has a son, who says he doesn't think he will have children.

So today, my lovely, beautiful, funny Uncle Arthur was the last of  the family to head back to join his mother, father and all those big brothers and sisters. 

Auntie Maisie, only a year younger, is on her own for the first time in 70 years.