Misc. Notes
Meg’s family is thought to have had some hebridean ancestry.
Andrew Dunn:
Childhood in Langlands Road, Govan. Married Alex and moved to Green Street, Clydebank, where Anna, Angus, George, and possibly Alastair, were born. Moved to Edismount, Parkhall Road, Dalmuir, where Andrew and Alan were born.
The house was badly damaged during the war. She moved to Edradour, Risk Street, Dalmuir, then back to Edismount when it was repaired. Later moved to 26 Stevenson Street, Dalmuir. After Alex’ death she lived with Anna in Kilmartin.
Louis Dunn:
Meg’s father, Sam, celebrated her birth rather too well on his way register it. Although Maragaret was the chosen name, he found Maggie easier to say and stuck to it despite the registratr’s protests.
Spouses
Birth Date16 Mar 1882
Birth PlaceVillage of Killearn
Death Date8 Mar 1966 Age: 83
Burial PlaceDalnottar Cemetery
OccupationBaker - 2 bakery shops in Clydebank
Misc. Notes
Helen Dunn has a recollection of Alastair (her father) mentioning that Alex people came from the Isle of Lewis, and that he spoke Gaelic as a boy. To which comment, Colin (Alexander Blair) Dunn responded . . .
“I had a look at the photocopied document (?) last night, and there's nothing about Lewis on it. On thinking about the Lewisian connection, I wonder if Alec's parents went there for a while to work. This is a parallel to Alec going to Edinburgh to start his life as a baker, but then, on disliking the other side of the country, moved to Glasgow. People move. But that doesn't answer the Lewis connection. Are there Bauchop's in Stornoway, I wonder?”
Andrew Dunn:
Alec’s family came from around Killearn, Balfion and Buchlyrie, and his grandfather lived at Boquhran, so Lewis connection seems unlikely.
Alec worked as a baker in Stranraer at one time. Had two bakeries - one in the Holy City district of Clydebank, opposite the Singer’s Sewing Machine factory, and the other in Govan. As Meg lived in Langlands Road, Govan, it is likely that he met her there.
One year, he set up production in Clydebank, and crossed to Govan to start there. He found that the bakers had been drinking the ‘barm’ and were too drunk to work (a yeast culture used in the days before compressed yeast was available. It was made by adding some of the previous barm to a medium of water, gelatinised starch and malt. The yeast multiplied and the liquid was used in fermentations. It tasted nice and had quite a high content of alcohol.). He told me that after that disappointment he decided to give up the Govan branch.
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Memories of Grandpa:
I don't remember him much. Just a vague recollection when he visited us at Aultbea when I was about 3.
Shortly before her death, I asked Alison why they had moved to Aultbea. Apparently, with a growing family, Alastair had asked his father for a wage rise and Alex had refused. Sounds quickly over, but I suspect there may have been some bitterness and friction, before Alastair and Alison looked for an alternative home and work. As it is, the move to Aultbea wasn't a success work-wise. They moved largely because the local shop had said they'd take all produce of the bakery, but then reneged on this once they had moved. This must have been a terrible shock, and made things pretty desperate. They must have looked at every avenue for a way to earn more money to feed themselves and six children.
For Alastair this simply meant more work of the same kind - long hours, hard work - baking, then delivering by van all over the West, often to customers (such as the National Trust for Scotland at Inverewe) who delayed payment for months. For Alison it must have meant worry and stress. It was at this time that she started doing decorated bought-in white pottery, and decorated ties as a way to earn a little more money. Finally they'd had enough - they were really struggling to make a living, and Alison hated the place and the very unfriendly people in Aultbea, who seem to have been distant at best, and downright cruel at worst (bullying of Helen and Fiona at school was particularly bad and vicious, especially by the MacLeans). They took a trip over to the east (don't know how or why, or how they afforded it) saw Cromarty, and that was that. Bakery and house were sold (I suspect at a a considerable loss), and the family moved to Cromarty South Sutor.
Alison and Alastair always said that we lived in the tin hut on the Sutor for a year while they looked for a suitable property in the town. This might have been partly true, but I also suspect that this time allowed them to re-group and sort out their finances - a chance to pause and look at the best way ahead. It was shortly after this that they tossed a coin to see who should return to college to reatrain for a better paid job. Alastair won, and webt to Grays School of Art in Aberdeen to train as an art teacher.
Marr Date28 Oct 1919
Marr PlaceBath Hotel, Glasgow