The Munros

From Bhreac­achaidh
to Glencraig

A Short History of the Munro Family

Contents

• The Sutherland Years
• 1745 and All That
• A Pittenweem Fisherman
• A Move to the Lang Toun
• A Pithead Labourer
• George and Elizabeth
• Building a Dynasty

'Old Kenny' Munro

A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's 3

THE SUTHERLAND
YEARS

Skerray Harbour, Tongue, Sutherland

As the Edwardian period sputtered into life and the British Empire
reached its zenith, the middle­aged son of a Sutherland crofter
moved with his family to the poverty of a West Fife mining community
and the village of Glencraig. Like others before and since he was pursuing
regular work in the coal mines that underpinned much of the progress of
that empire.
In making this move Kenny Munro unwittingly established a link between
this unlikely hub and a family that now counts itself in hundreds, if not
thousands, that has spread to every inhabited continent of the world.

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4 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's Parish of Tongue record of the Marriage of Alexander Munro to Helen McKay
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A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's 5

A spidery record from the Parish of Tongue captures the brief details that
on 12th December 1845 Alexander Munro from Achtoty1) married Helen
McKay from just down the road in Torrisdale.

The McKay's were local to the area with a long history proudly recorded in
the museum at Strathnaver. The Munro's, were not.

The traditional Munro lands were further South in Alness, Tain and Wester
Ross. Although the 1851 census notes that Alexander was born in the
parish of Tongue, his mother Mary (nee Campbell) was born in Rogart and
it is highly likely that both she and his father Andrew had been caught up
in the notorious highland clearances when the Duke of Sutherland
relocated the population of these inland areas to the North coast to make
way for much more progressive and compliant inhabitants, Cheviot sheep.

1) Achtoty is the modern spelling older maps show Achtotty. The register records it as
Auchtoty but all are corruptions of the Gaelic Achtoitidh.

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6 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's The Last of the Clan by Thomas Faed (1826­1900)

Lord and Lady Stafford were pleased humanely to
order the new arrangement of this country. That the
interior should be possessed by Cheviot shepherds,
and the people brought down to the coast and placed
in lots of less than three acres, sufficient for the
maintenance of an industrious family, pinched enough
to cause them to turn their attention to the fishing … A
most benevolent action, to put these barbarous
Highlanders into a position where they could better
associate together, apply themselves to industry,
educate their children, and advance in civilisation.

Patrick Sellar, Factor to the Duke of Sutherland

Patrick Sellars' observations come from a A number of historians have observed that
letter he wrote at Culmaily to Lord the key witnesses for the prosecution gave
Advocate Colquhoun on 24 May 1815. A their testimony in Gaelic with translation
full copy of this letter is contained in into English for the benefit of the
"Papers on Sutherland Estate anglophone Judge and that most if not all
Management", by R.J. Adams published in of the Jury consisted of local landowners
Edinburgh in 1972 by The Scottish History who broadly sympathised with Sellars'
Society. The context of the quotation is that objectives if not his methods.
Sellars' methods were under attack even at
the time; ultimately he would stand trial for A perhaps more impartial eye­witness was
culpable homicide arising from the death of the Rev. Donald Sage of Achness. His
an elderly woman whose house had been account was published posthumously in
burned down around her ears. 1889 under the title of "Memorabilia
Domestica; or, Parish Life in the North of
The letter was part of an attempt by Sellars Scotland".
to avoid charges being brought at all. In the
event, the public outcry was too hot for
that. He was arrested a few days later on
31st May 1815, released on bail 6th June
1815 but cleared at his trial in April of the
following year.

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A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's 7

“To my poor and defenseless flock the dark hour of
trial came in right earnest. It was in the month of
April, 1819 that they were all, men, women and
children, from the heights of Farr to the mouth of the
Naver, on one day to quit their tenements and go —
many of them knew not whither, for a few some
miserable patches of ground along the shore were
doled as lots without anything in the shape of the
poorest hut to shelter them. They were supposed to
cultivate the ground and occupy themselves as
fishermen. Many had never set foot in a boat.”

For details of how to access a full copy of Sage's book online
refer to the footnote below.2)

Of course there are modern revisionists who argue with some
justification that much of the history around the clearances has
been romanticised and, frankly, distorted. In the interests of
historical balance you could read Mike Haseler well­researched
paper, again see the footnote below for details.3)

Whatever the historical view of the merits and demerits of the
clearances there can be little doubt that the experience of the
people on the ground would have been horrendous.

The map on page 2 shows the crofts at Achtoty laid out like a
street of suburban houses with long gardens. These were not
gardens. This was the entire substance of the families living in
these homes. Everything that they would eat for the year and
everything that they could grow or rear for sale to earn a little
money for clothing and other essentials had to come from this
one plot. The quality of the land may be judged from the
modern photograph at the foot of page 3.

2) Memorabilia domestica; or, Parish life in the North of Scotland by Rev.
Donald Sage (1789­1869) can be accessed at
https://archive.org/details/memorabiliadomes00sageuoft
3) Mike Hasler's paper on the statistics around the Highland Clearances can
be accessed at http://scottishsceptic.co.uk/2014/01/16/the­truth­about­the­
highland­clearances/

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8 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's An Incident in the 1745 Rebellion

1745 AND ALL THAT

The origins of the Highland Clearances, although inextricably linked
with the thinking of the economist Adam Smith and the unfolding
Industrial Revolution, took undoubted root in the aftermath of the 1745
rebellion led by Charles Edward Stuart.
The Munro's position in this conflict is an interesting one. The Clan
adopted Protestantism early in the reformation expressing their faith by
participating as mercenaries during the 17th Century in the continental
Thirty Years' War where Robert Munro, 18th Baron of Foulis, and 700
members of the Clan Munro joined the army of Gustavus Adolphus in
defence of Protestantism in Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe.4) In the
subsequent civil upheavals of the 18th Century, the Clan remained
staunchly loyal to the protestant, royalist cause. In 1745 the Clan Chief,
Sir Robert Munro was killed at the Battle of Falkirk fighting against Prince
Charles; His heir, Sir Harry Munro, the 7th Baronet, fought for the King at
Culloden as a Captain in Louden's 64th Highlanders.

4) For more detail concerning the Munros' decisive contribution to the battle of
Breitenfeld see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Munro,_18th_Baron_of_Foulis

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A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's 9

For the aristocracy, siding with the “For the common clansman ... it
Hanoverian King proved an astute move. made little difference on which
Much wealth was obtained in reward for side he had swung his
loyalty rendered at that time; including that claymore.”
gained by the Gordon family which
subsequently became part of the Sutherland Alexander Munro's father Andrew appears
Estate through Elizabeth Sutherland in the 1841 Census, apparently his only
Leveson­Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, brush with the formal records of State or
the daughter of William Gordon, 18th Earl Church. He was already 75, twenty years
of Sutherland and his wife Mary. his wife's senior. Assuming he gave his age
correctly to the Census­recorder (no
For the common clansman, after the initial automatic assumption as we shall see), he
repercussion had past, it made little came into the world in 1766 into the teeth
difference on which side he had swung his of radical upheaval. Whether he met his
claymore. The defeat of Charles Edward wife Mary close to her home parish of
Stuart marked the beginning of the end of a Rogart or after the relocation of one or both
Highland way of life that had persisted for of them to the North coast currently
generations. Indeed, the Clan Chiefs to remains speculation. Parish records prior to
whom they had rendered their loyal service the start of the 19th Century in this part of
were either wiped out, disenfranchised or Scotland are largely in Gaelic and beyond
had become part of the landed aristocracy. my competence to interpret!
Either way, the new landlords by and large
shared common purpose in clearing the
way for the "new arrangement" of the
Highland hinterland.

Rent Day in the Wilderness by Sir Edwin Landseer 1802 ­ 1873
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10 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's View over Skerray towards the sea

Getting back to the thread of our story then, it was into this post­
cataclysmic world that Alexander was born, the eldest of three children ­
although the date of his birth remains somewhat opaque as there is no
Parish Record of his birth, perhaps indicative of the precarious nature of
family life at the time.
The Statistical Account of the Highlands5) published in the mid­19th
Century provides an interesting anecdote specifically relating to the Parish
of Tongue that gives a more prosaic reason for this lack:

“Parochial Register ­ There was no register kept, previous to
the year 1775. From that period till 1797 there was a record of
births and marriages regularly made up; but the person who

was session­clerk at that time became deranged, which was
never suspected till it was incontestably proved, by his being

found one morning busily employed in the churchyard
distributing papers on the grave­stones, with the sanguine hope
of raising an army from the dead. On examination, these papers

were discovered to be the parish register, so torn as to be
completely useless. From 1797 marriages and births were
registered, but not in a permanent form, and many of the loose
sheets have been lost through the carelessness of clerks.
However, since 1816, a correct register has been regularly

kept.”

5) The Statistical Accounts of Scotland Tongue, County of Sutherland. Account of 1834­
45, volume 15, page 164 can be accessed at http://stat­acc­scot.edina.ac.uk/link/1834­
45/Sutherland/Tongue/15/175/k

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A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's 11

Map of Borgie Region from Ordance Survey Six Inch to the Mile Map
Surveyed 1874

Clearly the system was working slightly better, or the parish clerks more
assiduous, when Alexander's sister Ann was born on 29th February 1820 in
Bhreac­achaidh (or, as it is spelled in the Parish Register, 'Breakachu'), a
desolate landscape close to the Borgie River, and his brother Kenneth at
the same location on 12th June 1823. We can only assume that Alexander
too was born in this location. Today this location is completely abandoned
accessible only via a forest track through land managed by the Forestry
Commission. Quite what was there when the family lived there is difficult
to say but the map above does indicate that there were sheepfolds
remaining on this 1874 Ordinance Survey map.

Alexander's age can only be approximated by dint of some detective work
­ he appears to have had a quite insouciant disregard for his age. Between
the 1861 and 1891 Censuses he gives ages that would make his birth year
anywhere from 1817 to 1821. Ann's age also flucuates quite wildly across
the various Censuses but in the years that she appears with Alexander she
is consistently younger. Given this and the fact that we know when she
was born it is probable that Alexander was born in 1818 or 1819.

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12 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's Skerray Harbour, Parish of Tongue, Sutherland

According to the 1841 Census, the Munro family was living in Lotts. It is
quite possible that the birthplace of Alexander and his siblings in Bhreac­
achaidh was actually their maternal grandparent's home, as his mother
Helen gave her address as Torrisdale on her wedding record. Borgie,
Torrisdale, Lotts and Achtoty are all within a few miles of one another in
any case so this was a very insular society by any measure.
By the time Kenny Munro was born in or around 1847, the family appears
to be settled in Achtoty. Like his father before him, neither his entry into
the world nor his baptism appear to have been recorded in the parish
annals.
Formal registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages by the State began in
Scotland in 1855 so any record prior to this would be in a parish register,
but all parish registers are available at the Scottish National Records
Office. No sign of a Kenneth Munro born to an Alexander and Helen
Munro appears in Sutherland during this period.

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A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's 13

The first official glimpse that we find of The censuses from 1861 onwards clarify
young Kenny Munro is in the 1851 census the nature of the accommodation in which
return for Achtoty. Listed as head of the the family were living at Achtoty. In 1861
household is Mary Munro, his paternal their house had one room with one or more
grandmother. windows. From 1871 until at least 1901
they made do with two. This for a house
“A farmer of Chillingly, given the that would accommodate up to ten
three acres” quotation from Patrick individuals if Kenny ever stayed at home
Sellar earlier, she is after the marriage of his brother William.

noted as a "farmer of Alexander's wife, Helen passed away at
some point between the 1871 and 1881
three acres" ­ the wonderful unconscious Censuses but not before bearing a further
three sons, William circa 1854/5, Andrew
irony of the bureaucrat! 1858/9 and Marriannas, a mentally
handicapped boy circa 1861/2. In the harsh
Certainly, the family appears to have been language of the period he is referred to as
insufficiently industrious to manage on an 'idiot' or an 'imbecile'.
three acres as Alexander is listed as a
"general labourer". Also sharing the house By the time of the 1901 census both 81
was Alexander's unmarried sister Ann, his year­old Ann (who is trying to pass herself
wife Helen and their two sons, George and off as only 78) and poor Marriannas are
Kenneth. identified as 'paupers'.

Kenneth's age is very indistinct but could In the circumstances it is perhaps no
possibly be 19 months which would give a surprise that Kenny disappears from the
birth year of 1849. If this is correct it would scene doubtless he had found life 'pinched
conflict with the age on Kenneth's marriage enough' to encourage him to try and make a
certificate in 1883 where he is noted as 36 living following the fishing fleet.
giving a year of birth of 1847. Subsequent
Censuses put his birth year in 1850 or
1851. Clearly fuzziness in the age
department ran in the family.

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14 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's
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A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's 15

Pittenweem, Fife

Perhaps due to spending much of his at sea during this period.
life at sea, Kenny manages to
disappear completely from the official It must have been a tough time to be a
records after 1871 until 1883, when he
pops up in Pittenweem in the East Neuk of widow with young mouths to feed. Even
Fife. His unavoidable brush with
officialdom took the form of his marriage so, a poor Gaelic­
to Isabella (nee Mentiplay). Intriguingly
both he and his new wife give their 'usual speaking fisherman “Isabella had
address' as Peterhead. In later censuses she from Sutherland previously married
gives her place of birth as Pittenweem so approaching Alexander McKenzie
one can only surmise that the connection middle­age could from Rosshire”
with Peterhead related to the fishing hardly have seemed
industry in some way.
like a knight in
While noting earlier concerns on ages,
Kenny is identified on his wedding shining armour. Who knows how this
certificate as 36 and still a bachelor when
he married Isabella. She was 10 years his pragmatic arrangement was contrived, but
junior but is noted as a widow.
it seems to have worked. Kenny, one might
Isabella had previously married an
Alexander McKenzie from Rosshire, surmise, was hardly in a position to be
possibly Attadale although the district is
indistinct on the 1881 Census. By the date choosy although it did mean that he
of their marriage at Pittenweem in 1876 he
gave his home address as Pittenweem. inherited at least two step­children to
They had three children: Elspeth, John and
Alexander. The latter of the these born in support in addition to his own soon­to­
1880. No certain record of Isabella's
husband's death survives but he is noted on arrive offspring.
his marriage certificate as a fisherman and
the marine records for Scotland have many The family was still living in Pittenweem
Alexander McKenzie's who lost their lives when their sons Alexander and George
were born, in 1884 and 1885 respectively.
On George's birth certificate their address
is listed as the picturesque School Wynd,
much loved by artistic types today. The
reality for a self­employed fisherman in
Victorian Scotland would have been a lot
different.

A daughter Helen arrived in 1888 and a
further two sons, William in 1889 and
Anderson in 1893, all noted in the 1901 and
1911 Censuses as having been born in
Pittenweem.

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16 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's Sailing Ship, Kirkcaldy Harbour
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A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's 17

A Move to the Lang Toun

Continuing his long tradition of failure known as Linktown. The site is now
to trouble the officers of the Census, occupied by social housing and lockup
Kenny appears to have been out of the garages in a cul­de­sac known as Buchanan
Court, off Links Street. Then it was a hive
house when the next knock came to the of small businesses with the housing
backing on to a timber yard and potteries,
door in 1891. By this time the family was weavers and shoe­makers all in close
proximity.
living at 12 Steedman’s Square in
By 1901 the family was living at 11 High
Kirkcaldy, a town Street in Methil and Kenny was working as
a “Coal Pit Labourer”.
“Isabella ... bore ten whose strung out
children at least nine of character along Their daughter Christina was born in
whom survived infancy” the Fifeshire 1895/6 although the location of this birth is
coast earned it indecipherable by me. Their youngest,
Annie, came along in 1898/9 and her birth
the soubriquet of was registered at Kirklands, an area of
Methil.
the 'Lang Toun'.
There is no mention of their son Alexander
Isabella was in the 1901 Census. There is likewise no
mention of either of the McKenzie
caring for six children, two from her children. All could conceivably have left
home by this time.
previous marriage and the four born to
Isabella seems to have been remarkably
Kenny in Pittenweem. Of her son John fortunate on the whole, considering the
norms of the period and the conditions in
MacKenzie there is no mention. which they were living. She bore ten
children at least nine of whom survived
Quite what Kenny was working as at this infancy and while there may have been
time is unclear, he may well have been others, a look at the birth dates of the
continuing to work as a jobbing fisherman surviving children does not offer many
from the harbours at Kirkcaldy and Dysart, gaps between her second marriage in 1883
which were still a hive of activity. This and the birth of her youngest in 1898.
would certainly explain his absence from
the family home. On the other hand, he
would now be coming face to face with a
booming coal industry as Kirkcaldy
harbour was an significant port for coal
export to England and abroad and the town
itself had a number of pits within its
boundary.

Steedman's Square no longer exists but was
in an area at the West end of Kirkcaldy then

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18 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's

The bright, colour­saturated images of Pittenweem and the Fife coastal
towns of today probably does not accord very closely with the reality
experienced by a poor fisherman's family in the late 1900's. Even so we
can only surmise the privations that drove this soft­spoken Highlander to
leave the fishing and move to the harsh and shattered landscape of the
West Fife coalfields.
Kenny's employment status changes in 1901, he becomes a 'coal pit
labourer'. In later documents he is a 'pithead labourer'. An unskilled and
menial profession for a middle aged man to take up in the filth of a
colliery, a far cry from the fresh air of an East coast fishing boat or his
Sutherland crofting heritage.

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A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's 19

A COAL
PIT

Labourer

The realities of working class life in pre­ Like millions of others through the 19th
and early 20th Centuries, jobs that seem
industrial Scotland have acquired a impossibly harsh to us now ­ factory
workers in Blake's "dark Satanic mills",
romantic patina through the passage of time coal hewers working two miles
underground, lying horizontally in a space
Jobs that seem that is misleading. perhaps no more than 18 inches high ­
impossibly harsh While the Munros were although hugely dangerous, provided a
to us now probably unwilling security of income that subsistence farming
provided a security internal migrants from on a Highland croft or uncertain casual
of income that their ancestral lands to employment on fishing boats owned by
subsistence the North coast, the others did not.
imperative to move to

farming on a Methil from Pittenweem

Highland croft did and on to Glencraig is

not. much more likely to

have been economic.

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20 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's

George and Elizabeth

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A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's 21

Kenny's eldest son, George Munro married Elizabeth McGhie from Lochgelly (although born
in Bo'ness) at the Manse in Lochgelly on the last day of 1906 in accordance, as the record
puts it, "with the rites of the Established Church of Scotland". He was 21 and she only 18.
The reason for the apparent haste and almost clandestine nature of this union became
apparent just over four months later on the 3rd of May 1907 when their son Kenneth was
born. The poor mite over whom doubtless much angst was experienced survived for only a
few weeks and died on the 6th of June in the same place as he had been born, 1 Park Street,
Crosshill.

George's home address on his wedding certificate is given as 22 Milton, Ballingry, which
was where his Father Kenny had established his home. Park Street and Rosewell Rows are
addresses that crop up again and again on subsequent certificates, all fall within the
boundary of the Milton.

Today the Milton area lies within the footprint of the village of Crosshill and, in an
interesting twist, George's grandson my Father, Gordon Munro, would many years later build
a family home in the south­most part of the Milton area.

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22 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's

The
Establishment

Dynasotfya

The couple lost no time and a daughter, that they were house­guests coincidentally
Janet Ward Munro was born on 8th caught up in the census.
May 1908 at 1 Rosewell Rows. This
address probably refers to the same There is no family tradition of time spent in
dwelling as is noted as 1 Park Street on her Windygates and their stay there was a short
poor brother’s only official documents. one as by December 2012, George was
Janet was given her Grandmother's maiden active in a new church in Lochore. When
name of Ward as a middle name. Alexander was born in August 1911 his
address is given as 22 Rosewell Rows, but
No further children were born until April his father George is noted as being
1910, when on the 4th their son George “domiciled at Milton Road, Windygates”,
was born. At that time the family was still suggesting that the family may have been
living at Rosewell Rows. The next year, split up for the duration of Elizabeth’s
however, found them living at 32 Milton confinement.
Road, Windygates in Fife. The 1911
Census was taken on 2nd April 1911 and it Three further children followed in quick
is from this document that we learn that succession, during which time it appears
Elizabeth was born in "Linlithgowshire, that the family was reunited and living near
Bo'ness". their grandparents at 18 Rosewell Rows.
Isabella, named after her paternal
The full family is recorded at the Milton grandmother, was born in May 1913,
Road address and they were the only Thomas in December 1914 and my own
residents listed. George Snr is listed as the grandfather, Kenneth Anderson in
head of the house ruling out the possibility September 1917.

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A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's 23

The previous year the family had Elizabeth would have been tending to the
experienced the heartache of losing little young Bettie Munro during her daughter's
Isabella, aged only 3 years old. Her death illness and already five­month’s pregnant
certificate records that she had suffered with twins at the time of Janet's death.
from gastric catarrh for nine days.
In April of 1923, less than a month after
The family relocated at some point between she was born, Helen, one of the twins also
September 1917 and May 2019 when died. This time the trouble was gastro­
James Munro made his entrance at 11 enteritis.
North Glencraig, where all remaining
children would be born: Elizabeth in April In June of 1924, Kenny's wife, Isabella
1921 and the twins John and Helen Munro passed away aged 70 of cardiac failure.
in March 1923. In all Elizabeth Munro had Somehow she contrived to die in
given birth to eleven living children. Of the Pittenweem, the town she was born in.
eleven, only seven would make it to Whether by accident or design I have been
adulthood, but from these seven would unable to find out.
spring the various branches of the
Glencraig Munro's. In 1929, the biggest disaster of all struck
the family. George Senior, the father of the
In saying this, I am deeply conscious that house and the main bread­winner,
there are other branches to Kenny and contracted Tuberculous Cervical
Isabella's family, many of whom also Lymphadenitis ('scrofula'). This is probably
stayed in the Glencraig area: Helen, who the same disease as had killed his daugher
was a witness at her brother George's seven years earlier. It is a horrendously
wedding; Alexander, who left his name disfiguring disease of the pre­antibiotic
carved in a rock in the fields behind the age. How long George suffered from this
Milton where I grew up and where we and the agony that his young family must
found it as boys in the mid 1970's; William, have gone through in seeing him can only
who was killed during WWI; Christina, of be imagined. His eldest, George was 19
whom I know little; and Annie, the when his father died and would have been
youngest and only member of this large an established working man by this time. It
family that was known to me personally. was normal for boys to leave compulsory
education at the age of 14 so it is probable
Over the years from 1922 to 1929, tragedy that some of George's brothers had also
was to strike the family time and again. In begun working. His son Kenneth would
November 1922 Janet died of “tuberculosis have been about 12 and it is perhaps
of the glandular system”, she was 14 and significant that his mother chose to
doubtless a key support to her mother. Such apprentice him initially as a joiner rather
a disease does not kill quickly and than put him down the pits as well.

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24 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's

The Family During Wartime

The First World War

The first half of the twentieth century the inhabitants of the family home at 11
has of course gone down in history as High Street, Wemyss as a fourteen year­old
one of the bloodiest of all time. The social schoolboy continuing the venerable family
upheavals that saw a young highlander tradition of vagueness about age.
leave his natal croft and head for the mines
of Fifeshire were repeated across the The only military record I have been able
European continent and beyond. The to locate records minimal detail. It confirms
industrial revolution that had begun 150 that William was born in Pittenweem and
years earlier fuelled an appetite for global states his normal place of residence as
expansion in developed countries that Dunfermline. He is noted as being “killed
began to manifest itself in tensions between in action” and his duty location is given as
the European superpowers ­ Russia, “France and Flanders” Other than his unit
Germany and Great Britain. In 1914 these (1st Battalion, Cameron Highlanders), rank
tensions erupted on an unprecedented scale (Private) and Service Number (7493) there
as mechanised warfare wreaked horrifying is nothing more to work with. But even
destruction in the fields and villages of these scant details provide some interesting
Northern France and Belgium in particular. colour.

Hardly a village or a family in Great
Britain was unaffected the monumental
casualty toll of this first great conflict of
the twentieth century, and the Munro
family was no exception. Among the
photographs left by my Aunt Betty is one
of a young man in the battledress of a
private soldier of the first world war. On
the reverse is written, “To Mum from Bill”.
William Munro was born on the 22nd of
March 1889 at Pittenweem, the fourth of
Kenny and Isabella’s family. In the 1901
census the twelve­year old is listed among

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A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's 25

According to one source6), William’s play Mackenzie by her first marriage was
service number was registered between one of nine men posted missing, presumed
March 1906 and January 1907 making him drowned when his ship, HM Drifter
around 17 years old when he signed up and “Morning Star” struck a mine in the
an experienced (although untested) soldier Adriatic sea off Brindisi. Alexander was an
by the outbreak of war in July 1914. At the engineman of the Royal Naval Reserve and
time, the 1st Battalion of the Queen's Own the HM Drifter was a requisitioned herring
Cameron Highlanders was based in drifter from Aberdeen (Registered
Edinburgh. It was one of the very first units Fraserburgh). The fate of an engineman
to sail for France with the British working in the bowels of the doomed ship
Expeditionary Force, landing at Le Havre is as terrifying as it is easy to imagine. His
on the 14th of August 1914. On the 5th of body was never recovered. Alexander was
September they joined 1st Brigade in 1st 34 years old at the time of his death.
Division and saw action at The Battle of
Mons, The Battle of the Marne, The Battle Losses from HM Drifter “Morning Star”
of the Aisne, the Actions on the Aisne
heights as well as the First Battle of Ypres. 8 January 1916
William would therefore have experienced BIRNIE, William, Deck Hand, RNR, DA 9483
the full opening horror of the major actions BUCHAN, Peter, Ty/Skipper, RNR
on the Western Front in 1914. His sister BUCHAN, Peter, Deck Boy, RNR, SBD 205
Annie recalled years later a letter he sent DUDLEY, William J, Able Seaman, 162952 (Ch)
home to his parents that describe how MCKENZIE, Alexander M, Deck Hand, RNR, DA 3977
"after Mons they were stepping over the SPALDING, John M, Engineman, RNR, ES 2047
dead on the way back." It wasn’t to last for STRACHAN, Alexander, Deck Hand, RNR, DA 3263
long. One of the earliest exchanges of the WARNER, Alfred J, 2nd Hand, RNR, SA 1188
first battle of Ypres is known as the Battle WILSON, Richard, Cook, RNR, TC 398
of Langemarck, which lasted from 21­24th
October 1914. Although we cannot know Source: http://www.naval­history.net/xDKCas1916­01Jan.html
for certain that this is where William died,
his unit was involved in this action and he Alexander had been recruited into the
was dead by the end of the final day of this Royal Naval Reserve (Trawler Section),
battle.7) being formally enlisted on 26th January
1915. The trawler section had been set up
William’s mother Isabella would have to in 1910/11 and paid a retainer to
face similar news less than 15 months later. experienced fishermen for the benefit of
On eighth January 2016 her son Alexander their services. Whether Alexander had
Menti previously been on the books or whether he
joined up after the start of the war is
unclear.

6) http://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/queens­own­cameron­highlanders.html

7) For more information on the Battle of Langemarck see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Ypres

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26 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's

A stamp on his training record chillingly states “Mobilised Before Training Undergone” ­
such were the exigences of wartime. He was first posted to the hired drifter, Craignoon a steel
drifter similar to the Morning Star but registered in Kirkcaldy rather than Fraserburgh. It is
possible that the Craignoon was the boat he worked on prior to boat and crew being
requisitioned for the war effort. He was transferred in September 2015 to the Morning Star.
Had he remained aboard the Craignoon it is likely that he would have faced a similar fate a
year later when the Craignoon was sunk by Austrian Cruisers off Fano Island in the Adriatic
on 15 May 19172.
His enrolment record contains a number of touching details that bring us that bit closer to the
man. We learn, for example that he was 5’7” tall with blue eyes and a fair complexion. With a
chest size of only 36½” he wasn’t exactly a burly fisherman. He was married to Janet and his
home address is given as Bruces Wynd, Pittenweem. She was paid £8 War Gratuity in 1919 as
compensation for the loss of her husband and a further £34 “Naval Prize Money” in 1923 in
recognition of his service.
In this case, official notification of Alexander’s death seems to have come through quite
quickly. The Accountant General of the Navy had certainly been informed by the 19th of
January 1916 so one assumes that the family were also made aware around about this time.

HMS Sheen, typical WW1­era drifter,
lost in their hundreds in naval service

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A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's 27

World War II focus was given to passages such as the
words of the Lord Jesus, “My kingdom is
As we will consider in the next not of this world: if my kingdom were of
chapter, the rhythm of family life this world, then would my servants fight”
was fundamentally changed at some point (John 18 vs36) and the words of Paul, “our
in 1911/12 when most, if not all, of the citizenship is in heaven from whence also
family became Christians. George and we look for the Saviour”, (Phil. 3 vs20). A
Elizabeth’s sons grew up in a completely decisive stand was taken against militarism
different environment to that of their father that would have life­altering consequences
and mother. There were new influences and for these young men only a few years later.
a new thinking that was stronger even than
the drumbeat of patriotism that had taken These were very real issues. Men of Isaac
so many of their father’s generation to war. Ewan’s generation faced the prospect of
prison at best and a firing squad at worst
In particular, it was in 1931 during the for refusal to bear arms on behalf of their
interwar period that the little assembly in country. Although attitudes changed in the
Glencraig was formed. A key influence on aftermath of the first war as the appalled
the nascent company was the Perthshire population began to realise the apocalyptic
evangelist Isaac Y. Ewan who had served as scale of the losses it had suffered and it was
a non­combatant stretcher­bearer during the unlikely that the same inflexible attitude to
previous period of conflict. It appears that conscientious objection could ever be taken
he volunteered for this duty as there is no in a future conflict, no­one would have
record of him appearing before the Military been sure how it might play out. At the
Service Appeals Tribunal, all of whose outbreak of war in 1939 George and
records are now freely available through Elizabeth had 5 sons of fighting age:
the National Records of Scotland website. George (29), Alex (28), Tom (24), Kenneth
(21), and Jim (20). John was only 16 at the
As well as being a student of the Scriptures, outbreak of war but would be eligible for
IYE, as he normally styled himself, was service when he turned eighteen on 6
also a poet of some ability and he recorded March 1941.
his experiences in the trenches in a number
of his poems. Not one of the boys actually went to war.
The only story that has been handed down
The Christian’s approach to military service to me directly is that of my own
was no doubt a major topic of conversation Grandfather, Kenneth. In April 1939 the
and was something that was still being Military Training Act, which was a
vigorously discussed during Bible teaching response to Hitler's threat of aggression in
meetings in my youth in the 1970’s. Much Europe, required all British men aged 20

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28 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's

Tramp, Tramp, Tramp

I have heard it and adored it
In the morning of my days,
When the rousing martial music filled the glen,
When the old flag in its glory
Floated out before my gaze
‘Twas the tramp, tramp, tramp of warlike men.

I have felt the sweep and power
Of the marshalled human tide;
Have been borne upon the volume of the flood;
I have known the strong pulsating
Of the patriotic pride
When the tramp, tramp, tramp was in my blood

I have heard it in the trenches
Mid the misery and mud
When the glamour and the glory were forgot;
Mid the acrid reek of power
And the smell of human blood
Where they tramp, tramp, tramped to lie and rot

I have heard it when ‘twas over,
When the iron silence fell
O’er the ruin where the warriors were slain;
When the morning spread its mantle
Like a curtain over hell,
And they tramp, tramp, tramped to start again.

I have heard it and abhorred it;
And I wish the day were come
When a King shall reign in righteousness and peace;
When the thunder of the battle,
And the rolling of the drum,
And the tramp, tramp, tramp of war shall cease.

The Caravanserai, A Collection of Poems by I.Y. Ewan published 1980 by
E.A. Ewan, Rockmount, Abernethy, Perth PH2 9LN

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A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's 29

and 21 who were fit and able to take six of this experience other than references to
months' military training. Kenneth and Jim his time as a “deep sea diver”.
would have fallen into this category
although a previous Act had made Without in any way minimising the horrors
provision for Reserved Occupations, of for those who chose to fight, his experience
which mining was one. It is therefore must have been difficult to say the least. As
unlikely that they were required to a major naval port, Portsmouth was an
undertake this training and there is no obvious target for German bombing raids.
family tradition of them having done so. According to the Portsmouth History
website, “Portsmouth officially suffered 67
Following a further act of parliament, men air raids between July 1940 and May 1944,
aged 20 to 23 were required to register on three of these categorised as major attacks.
21 October 1939 ­ the start of a long and The three major raids took place on August
drawn­out process of registration by age 24th 1940, January 10th 1941 and March
group. Reserved occupations continued 10th 1941.” As a diver, he would have been
under review although mining remained a in a particularly dangerous position
reserved occupation until the end of the working as he was in a very hazardous
war. Indeed under Ernest Bevin in 1943 the profession, even in peacetime. As a
numbers of miners were bolstered by the conscientious objector he had been placed
so­called Bevan Boys. in a heavily militarised environment where
many would be feeling the strain of war
Although my grandfather was employed by and the loss of comrades. It cannot have
the Coal Board he was in fact a joiner by been an easy time for him.
trade. Whether he was called up and
appealed on the grounds of conscientious
objection or whether under the terms of the
Reserved Occupations Act he was
transferred, he was put to work as a joiner
carving gun seats for heavy artillery based
at the Rosyth naval dockyard. He refused,
on the grounds that if he were unwilling to
take up arms to kill a man he could hardly
in good conscience create the components
of a weapon that another could use to the
same end. The outcome of this stand was
that he was transferred to the Royal Naval
dockyard at Portsmouth and trained as a
salvage diver. My grandfather rarely spoke

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30 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's

For anyone who knew the Munros of Glencraig THE
from the 1930’s onwards, there was one
distinguishing feature that marked them out as different
from most others in the area and that was their COMING
association with the little gospel hall that stood on the

main street running through the village. OF THE
The family was inextricably linked with a Christian

identity and in particular with the activities of the
gospel hall. Suspicions of other locals notwithstanding,

GOSPELthis association with the gospel was not infused into the
family with their mothers’ milk.

A glance back into the records shows that the Munros, like most others in Sutherland at the
time, associated themselves with the Church of Scotland. Children were christened and
registered there and marriages were consecrated “after Banns according to the forms of the
Established Church of Scotland”. When Kenny Munro drifted southward he did not change
this family practice and he and Isabella were duly joined together in holy matrimony by the

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A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's 31

Kirk. When his son George contrived to get Milton when the preachers came so it is to
his young lady in the family way, it was at be assumed that this visit dates to at least
the Manse in Lochgelly that they were later than August 1911, immediately prior
hastily wed on the last day of 1906. When to which the family briefly lived in
George’s sister Helen married Joseph Windygates, a town some 12 miles distant.
Davidson on the same day of the following
year (having given birth to young William In the Neil Dickson Collection held at the
Richardson Munro 17 months earlier) it John Ryland's Library of Manchester
was the Kirk in Ballingry who did the University is a record of the foundation of
honours. the assembly that formerly met in the
Bethany Hall, Lochore that includes an
Between January 1908 and September account of the conversion of George
1916, however, the official records Munro. Although unacredited it is believed
establish that something fundamental to have been written by his sister Annie.
shifted in the life of Kenny & Isabella’s Some of the fine details have been
family, for on the first of September 1916 questioned, but the substance of her record
their daughter Christina wed James Wright, is consistent with the verbal account passed
not in the Kirk, but in the gospel hall in down through the family:
Lochore. Two years later, her sister Annie
followed suit, then her brother Anderson in "About the year 1910 a group of Christians
1929. In fact, after Christina, there wasn't met in 'The Glory Shop' in the Fife mining
one of the family to have their nuptials village of Lochore. The building they met in
blessed by the Kirk. had a shop­type front but the title 'The
Glory Shop' was one the Christians readily
What happened in those critical years accepted for themselves. There was
between 1908 and 1916 has entered into something of a revival in the area at the
family legend. Kenny’s George married, as time and people were being saved
we have seen, on the last day of 1906. His regularly. The believers opened their homes
young bride was Elizabeth McGhie from up for kitchen meetings – simple, informal
Auchterderran. She was eighteen years old. gospel meetings held in the living area of
Over the ensuing few years the rigours of someone's house. George Munro's wife was
child­bearing and of caring for her coal­ a Christian and she arranged for one to be
mining husband in what were doubtless held ... in her house but George made it
very challenging circumstances did not plain that while the meeting was on he'd be
prevent her from taking an interest in the away up the Loan for a walk. He arrived
message brought by some itinerant back before the meeting was finished and
preachers to the rows of miner’s cottages. listened at the window. When the door was
We know that the family was living at the opened at the end of the meeting, George

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32 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's

was standing outside. Those inside were This record book begins 7th December
surprised to see him. 2012. George’s name is the ninth to be
entered. By 14th June 1913 he was
“I don't know nothing about the Bible,” he seconding a motion at the quarterly
said, but there's my hand and I'm going to business meeting. George must have been
trust the Lord now.” George did not go saved therefore at some point between late
back on his word and he joined the 2011 and the end of 2012.
Christians in the Glory Shop and became
one of the most active individuals in it." In 1914 the congregation raised funds,
including a substantial (at the time) loan of
I have in my possession the early register £220, for the construction of a new hall.
and account books of the Bethany Hall. The Following considerable debate, it was
opening page of records bears the title, agreed that the new building should be
“Lochore and Glencraig Baptist Church” called ‘The Bethany Hall’. It is clear from
and among the list the earlies members are: surviving minutes of the oversight meetings
that both Alex and George Munro and later
George Munro, Milton Crosshill Anderson and William Munro played a
Mrs George Munro, Milton Crosshill leading role in the formation of this nascent
Mrs Kenneth Munro, Milton assembly. Alex appears to have taken the
Miss Tina Munro, Milton lead in organisational matters whereas
Miss Annie Munro, Milton George appears to have taken the role of
Alex Munro, 3 John Street Crosshill

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A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's 33

superintendent of the Sunday School and to George and Elizabeth remained part of the
have organised the summer tract assembly at Bethany Hall until at least
distribution. 1927. The last record of George’s name in
the records of the assembly meetings is at
The presence of “Mrs Kenneth Munro” on an undated quarterly business meeting that
the roll of original members came as a took place between October 1927 and May
surprise to me. Annie Thomson's record 1928, probably in December or January.
held in the Neil Dickson collection referred Although no documentary evidence exists
to earlier contains a touching account of her that I have been able to find, it is
father Kenny's conversion but not of her understood within the family that George
mothers. According to two surviving was in fellowship in the assembly that met
members of the Bethany Hall assembly, at Buller Street in Lochgelly at the time of
Kenny never came into fellowship and his death in 1929. His son George was
according to both (separately) retained a married in the Buller Street hall in 1932.
highlanders fondness for a dram. Annies' Certainly, the very detailed records of the
record of her father's conversion is worth Bethany Hall assembly do not mention his
quoting: death, which would be surprising if he were
still in fellowship there given that the
"Shortly after the news of [William's] death deaths of other members are recorded and
came through [1914], his father, who was formal expressions of sympathy sent. His
not saved, was sitting reading one of C H brothers Alex and Anderson remained in
Spurgeon's sermons in 'The Christian fellowship in Bethany Hall beyond the end
Herald' while the rest of the family were of the surviving records in 1936.
out at a meeting. The sermon was on the
text 'Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the There is very little in the way of
ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is photographic or documentary record of this
none else' (Is 45:22).8) When the others period. In the collection of my late Aunt
came in it was to be told he was no longer Betty (Geoge and Elizabeth’s youngest
trusting in good works, but in Christ. “I just daughter to survive infancy) there is a
put down Spurgeon's sermon,” he said, “ charming photograph of a young woman
and I went ben to the room and I knelt standing outside a tiny miner’s house with
down at Willie's kist and committed my two small children (see opposite). This is
heart to the Lord.” almost certainly the young Elizabeth

8) This was the text through which Spurgeon himself came to Christ
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34 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's

Munro with her eldest daughter Janet and none other than George Munro holding in
her son George. If this supposition is all likelihood his son George, who appears
correct then this could be the house, indeed to be around two years old, which would
the very door­step, where George Munro place this circa 1912 possibly shortly after
accepted Christ as his Saviour. his salvation and around the time of the
formation of the ‘Lochore and Glencraig
There is another photograph (page 30) that, Baptist Church’.
by common family consensus, was taken
by the loch­side at Kinross. It shows a There are, unfortunately, no photographs
mixed group of men, women and children that I have been able to find of the
at a fallen tree dressed in their Sunday best. assembly who met at Buller Street or
On the far left there is a man holding a indeed at Glencraig, but it is clear that
Bible and in the centre front an old church activity very quickly became the
gentleman with a spectacular beard and a bedrock of family life. George Munro (snr)
trumpet. Beside him is a young man died in 1929 so was never a part of the
wearing a bow tie and what appears to be a assembly that began to meet in Glencraig in
sombrero. One can only imagine the back­ 1931, but his wife and family would go on
story to that hat! The group is supposed to to form a significant proportion of the
be one of the so­called ‘glory bands’ of initial company gathered to break bread in
travelling preachers. Lurking in the back a former hairdresser's salon.
row at the far left is a mustachioed
gentleman holding a toddler in his arms,

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35 A Brief History of the Glencraig Munro's

Work in progress. Any information or photographs will be gratefully received.
Please contact:
Ken Munro
Glenfoot
Ballingry Farm Road
Lochgelly
Fife KY5 8LT
[email protected]

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