Topic: A Moment of Courage.

My Great Uncle George Johnston (1855 – 1885) was born in Launceston, Tasmania shortly after his immigrant parents arrived from Glasgow after a rough sea vayage in the stormiest seas in the world. Nothing is known of his formative years, or why he became a seaman, the first such in his extended family.

George sailed the seven seas for some years in what we now call Tall Ships. It is known from letters he wrote home that he had much affection for his family, and also regularly visited Glasgow relatives.

About 1884 George became Second Officer on the Cahors, a powerful new interstate coastal screw steamer plying Australian waters between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Perhaps he was one of the crew on her maiden voyage to Australia. His family must have been delighted, knowing he would be closer to home and less subject to the perils of the deep.
But tragedy struck. In June 1885 the Cahors struck a reef off the NSW coast. She had a large cargo and about 200 passengers. A newspaper report said:

The steamer Cahors, from Sydney to Brisbane, ran on Evans’ Reef, 13 miles south of Richmond Heads, at 6 pm on Wednesday, while going at a rate of 14 knots per hour (sic). After continuous signally, the steamer Burwah, also bound to Brisbane, came up at midnight. She immediately lowered boats, and commenced transhipping the passengers from the Cahors which was accomplished with difficulty. The gentlemen were lowered into the water by a rope and hauled out to the boats; the ladies were lowered in coal baskets into boats, when possible, but at times they had to be hauled by a line for some distance. The Burwah proceeded north at noon today. The steamer Tomki also stayed by the Cahors for some hours today, and succeeded in rescuing a horse which was swimming about. … there is little or no hope of the vessel being recovered, the water in the hold and engine-room being at tide level. Captain Walker and the officers and crew still stay by her.

The Government steamer Dione followed the Burwah and later ” .. returned with 30 of the crew, the second mate, and 130 mail bags. The captain and mate were left on board’. (George was the Second Officer. It is not clear whether he is referred to above, but in light of subsequent events it would appear so.. ” (Note the reference to the mail bags.)

The rest of the story is best told by another newspaper article which appeared some months later:

It will be remembered with regret by many of our readers that Mr. George Johnston, second mate of the Cahors, lost his life when returning to the qrieck of that vessel on the 12 of June last. The Cahors was on her way from Melbourne to Sydney and Brisbane when she was wrecked on the 10th of June, on Evans Reef, at the entrance to the Clarence River. Mr. Johnston and the crew worked all night, aiding the passengers, who were at last transhipped to the steamer Burwah and landed safely. He was lightly clad in his under-clothing, wet and exhausted from over-exertion, but he went ashore in charge of the mails, which he landed safely at Clarence Head, and remained there during the night. Next day the 12th of June, he was going back in a launch to the Captain and part of the crew who remained in charge of the wreck, when a heavy sea struck the launch and she nearly foundered. Mr Johnston was washed overboard, and as the launch could not be brought to or turned, he perished in sight of those who admired his gallantry and unselfish labours to save others, and who were most anxious to rescue him. The launch had in fact put out contrary to law, as the danger flag was flying at Clarence Head at the time. …. the National Relief Society of New South Wales having taken into consideration the gallant conduct of Mr George Johnston, awarded a gold medal ..

It was a great joy to me when I discovered the medal is now in the possession of the descendants of George’s brother Charles, who also hold many letters written by George during his seafaring days. From those I was able to piece together some of his travels, and to be confident that the Glasgow Johnston family which I researched was indeed our family.

Theme: What Wasn’t Written Down

This story follows directly from the previous week’s theme.

Actually “it” WAS written down but has never been found.

When the young Thomas Darchy was collected from his Guardian Dr. Sacc in Neuchatel in 1829 by Julius Charles Hare, ostensibly to be returned to his mother’s family in England, Hare was also handed a mysterious sealed package which was labelled “Not to be opened except upon the death of Mr. Broadfoot.” Broadfoot was the original Guardian of the child, present at his baptism and authorising his transfer to the care of Dr. Sacc.

If only that package had been retained! It almost certainly would have solved the mystery of Thomas’ birth. Who were his parents? Why all the mystery and subterfuge? Despite years of research by various persons including myself, no clear explanation has ever been found. It is not with the estate papers of Dr. Broadfoot, who died in 1837, nor with any of the voluminous papers of Julius Charles Hare.

The early existence of such a package is not in doubt. It is mentioned in a long legal document. The relevant part, as translated into English, reads:

“On his side the aforementioned Dr Sacc having perused the documents produced by the Bearer (ie Hare) and compared it with his correspondence and with the document in the same hand and recognised the writing and the signature of Mr Alexander Broadfoot as well as his seal …. And in no way doubting the reality of Mr. Charles Hare’s mission …. He sends back with him in all good faith the aforesaid Thomas Darchy to bear him to his destination according to the instructions he has received on this matter, and adds for him (ie Darchy) sincere good wishes for his happiness.

“Then … Mr Charles Hare acknowledges this action in the name of his client and in his own name. He guarantees the said Dr. Sacc from all other charges in the matter of the said child by giving to him this paper in full and entire discharge for and against any future claim (he having) besides received with the said child his original Baptismal Certificate as well as a packet with an unbroken seal which was given to him by Mr Broadfoot which bears the inscription ‘Not to be opened except upon the death of Mr Broadfoot’. In support of this action the parties have had the present document drawn up …. They renounce everything which might affect its validity, or obligation on their property now or in the future. “

Topic: A Document with Personality.

I have a mysterious GGGfather named Thomas Darchy, born in February 1820, who as a young boy was under the care of a guardian, a Dr. Sacc, in Neuchatel, Switzerland. Dr. Sacc in turn had been authorised by a Dr. Broadfoot, a Scottish Army doctor on half pay, apparently acting for the mother’s family. In 1828 when Thomas was approaching ten years of age Dr. Sacc was ordered to hand him over to another person sent from England to collect him. This person, Julius Charles Hare, had links to English nobility and was quite well-known in Ecclesiastical circles, being a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge between 1822-1832 and then Rector of Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex. He was known as a ‘most erudite English scholar’ who took in pupils to cram for university. He was also said to be of a romantic and helpful nature, and perhaps somewhat unworldly.

In other words the ideal tutor/companion to the young Thomas Darchy whose early language would have been Swiss-German possibly plus some French.

A legal document was drawn up in London on 12 September 1828 by a French clerc (notary) between Broadfoot and Hare. A passport was issued to Hare, acting on behalf of Broadfoot, by the Ambassador of His Majesty the King of the Low Countries – which was puzzling as Hare was a British subject and a respected member of the prestigious Trinity College. It was used as proof of Hare’s identity and is mentioned in another legal document. I have copies of all these documents except the passport.

The “document with personality” however is a letter which Hare wrote to Dr. Sacc on 7 Nov 1828. It is in French, in a curiously schoolboyish hand, and the translation is:

Monsieur,
I think that our friend Mr. Broadfoot has told you that I intend to go to Neuchatel during the summer. Unforeseen circumstances prevented me from carrying out this project, and I have been obliged to postpone my journey until (the) next spring. Then I hope to have the pleasure of your acquaintance and of receiving from your hands the child Thomas Darchy to place him where his mother has destined him. Until then I have the honour to be your obedient servant.
J.C. Hare.

Thomas Darchy was indeed collected by Hare, as attested by yet another document dated 17 Sept 1829. But after that date his whereabouts still remain unknown until he turned up on board a sailing ship in Australian waters, aged 20, a wealthy young Englishman with a mysterious past.

Theme: A Spot on the Map. (I have been unable to keep up with the weekly stories.)

Airth, Stirlingshire, Scotland. The name Airth comes from the Gaelic Aird meaning a height or a hill, where the original village stood.

Airth was once a Royal Burgh; it is 6 miles (10 km) north of Falkirk town on the banks of the River Forth. A Royal dockyard was created on the banks of the river in 1506 and was used to build and refit early Ships of War. The shipping fleet was destroyed in 1745 by Bonnie Prince Charlie, which curtailed Airth’s further development as a port.

The earliest part of Airth Castle dates from the late 15th century; it is now a hotel. There is also a ruined parish church dated to the 12th century. There are several interesting grave inscriptions inside the church and many grave markers in the extensive graveyard.These include three cast iron mortsafes dating from the body snatching days.

My GGGFather Dr. Thomas Lyle lived in Airth between about 1830 and 1853. He trained in Glasgow, studying anatomy, surgery, chemistry, medicine, midwifery and infectious diseases at Glasgow University. Quite possibly some of the anatomy lessons involved bodies obtained through the body snatchers! He practiced in Glasgow for a time, advertising as a surgeon in 1825.

Why move to Airth? As far as is known there were no relatives of Lyle or his wife in the area. The birth of his second stillborn son in Glasgow he attributed to his wife being exhausted from ministering to their eldest son Thomas, ill with an ‘intermittent fever’. Perhaps this prompted their move to the country north of Glasgow, a day’s coach ride away. Or more likely it was his desire to live in the country so he could more easily follow another of his interests, that of bryology. Also a quiet place where he could write poetry and study music. According to the British Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 34, 1893: “(Thomas Lyle) was the author of several lyrics, but is remembered solely for the beautiful song ‘Let us haste to Kelvin Grove, bonnie lassie, O’ first published anonymously in the ‘Harp of Renfrewshire’ in 1820. Lyle contributed to RA Smith’s ‘Irish Minstrel’, and edited ‘Ancient Ballads and Songs’, London 1827. The latter work contained several of his own songs, including a version of Kelvin Grove somewhat different from the original.”

The 1841 Census for Stirlingshire showed the family living in Airth Village. Thomas gave his age as 45 and his wife’s as 40; the children’s ages were given as 15, 14, 13, 7, 6 and 4. Not all agree with birth entries in the family bible, but were probably rounded up – Thomas was closer to 50 and his wife to 44.

By 1851 however the family was scattered. Thomas (“Surgeon in General Practice”) and Margaret were still in Airth, together with the eldest boy Thomas aged 27, “Assistant” presumably to his father. Dr. Thomas filled in the Census form himself and added the details of their two neighbours as well.

The other children were lodging in Glasgow and all were employed. Apparently doctoring in a village did not pay! More likely Thomas spent most of his time on his other interests. He maintained a voluminous correspondence with a noted expert on Bryology, and we know from the letters he received in return that he eventually returned to Glasgow for the sake of his wife’s health. She died a year later in 1854; Lyle died in 1859 from typhus which was endemic at the time.

Theme: Leisure Time

My father Warwick Johnston (1912 – 1988), an accountant, was an enthusiastic amateur ‘ham’ radio operator, a lifelong interest probably started by his father, who loved all things technical. He most likely built a crystal radio or two in his youth. Some time after his marriage he joined the Waverley (Sydney, Australia) Amateur Radio Club (Call sign VK2BV) and gradually accumulated a huge amount of radio bits and pieces – transistors, etc – which found a home in the back room our house, where the Club held their meetings for some years. (One of my first boyfriends was a member …).

In about 1958 the family moved across Sydney Harbour to a new address; all the radio equipment went too and filled a bench or two in the garage, where Warwick loved to potter around for ages, like his father Alex before him, although Alex’s passion was for painting.
Warwick did not however join another local club. Perhaps the amateur radio world was moving along a little too fast for him? By then CBs and Walkie-Talkies were all the rage.

Unfortunately when my parents later moved to a pleasant retirement flat (like a condo), my mother decreed that most of the “junk” had to go – there simply wasn’t room for it all. Warwick was heartbroken. His son in law tried to interest him in the new CB radios but by then he thought he was “too old” and lost interest.

I do wonder what he would have thought of our modern iPhones …..

Theme: A Record I Read Differently Now

Perhaps I should retitle this to “A record I read differently after obtaining further information.” (!)

My great great uncle Robert Wentworth Wade was the Mayor of Hokitika, NZ in 1892 to 1894, and a Councillor for several years on either side of those dates. I knew he had married an Irishwoman, Kate Behan, although it was some years before I found the actual record of their marriage. Having a reasonable amount of information about Robert, I decided to investigate Kate a little further.

I ‘knew’ when she arrived in Hokitika as I’d seen the shipping record – Miss Behan aged 19, in the saloon of the Otago from Melbourne, in 1868. Kate then disappeared from public records until 1893 when she reappeared on the suffragettes’ roll and also on the electoral roll as a property owner. What happened to her in between?

I checked the original passenger list and noticed there was another young Irish girl and a gentleman of about 35 in the saloon of the Otago, and they were the only other saloon passengers who disembarked at Hokitika. Why would two apparently wealthy, unaccompanied young women go to a wild rough frontier town? Having recently read a fictitious novel of life on the NZ west coast, it was easy to romanticise that Kate and her companion were probably high class young ladies brought over from Melbourne by the gentleman to run an exclusive saloon where the miners would soon be divested of their gold. Also that Kate must have managed to remain sufficiently respectable to marry the Mayor!

I ordered their marriage certificate, and when it finally arrived the picture changed a little. Kate or rather Catherine was styled a ‘Lady’ with a suspiciously great flourish – and her age was given as 36. If she was 19 in 1868 then she would have been about 45 in 1894 – did she exercise a Lady’s privilege to take a few years off?

But with the known marriage date it was easy to search the local West Coast News around September 17th 1894, and I soon discovered an account of the wedding and realised my romantic notions had led me astray. Miss Behan was the highly respectable niece of one of the town’s leading doctors, Dr. Rossetti. Ooops!

A fuller story was Published in The NZ Genealogist Jan/Feb 2007.

Theme: A Place That Mattters

The little township of Maude on the Murrumbidgee River, established in 1860 in the western Riverina area of Southwestern NSW, has featured more than once in the history of my Darchy family.

My GGGF Thomas Darchy (1820-1877) arrived in the Riverina area about 1844 with his bride Susan Byrne – said to have been the first white lady on the lower Murrumbidgee River. Thomas took up land near the junction of the Murrumbidgee with the Lachlan, which he named Gelam; later he took over another run which he named Oxley. Across the Lachlan River a few miles away was the small village of Maude, possibly named for Darchy’s mother Amey Maude, which had been established at a much-used river crossing in the early 1860s.

A hotel was erected at Maude by Frank Johns, a carpenter who operated a punt across the river. He applied to the Bench of Magistrates at Hay for a publicans license in 1862 but the application was opposed by local squatter and magistrate Thomas Darchy, because “there were no police in Maude”. Later a license was granted. A store was later erected and a post office was established at Maude in 1863. The first postmaster was Henry Prendergast, who in conjunction with his son John had established the store.

Henry Prendergast 1813-1867 and his wife Mary Costello, who married in Tuam, Galway in 1832, emigrated to Australia in 1854 with nine children, the youngest being Margaret aged ten at the time. Henry and his sons built several s stores in Maude including a wool store (wool from surrounding pastoral runs was loaded on to river steamers at Maude for transportation); his son John took over when Henry died. Another son Patrick was the first publican of a second hotel.

Margaret Prendergast married John Stoddart in 1866 and had two children, but her husband died in 1875 aged 37 from phthisis (TB).

Margaret then married Thomas Darchy’s son Francis (Frank) – my Great Grandparents – in 1879. The marriage was frowned upon by the wealthy Darchys – Margaret was older than Frank, had two children, and was of the wrong religion!

They went through many vicissitudes in life but the marriage endured. They had four children. The photo shows Margaret with one of her sons, his wife and child, and three cousins.

It all started in Maude!

Postscript: I have been to Maude – a tiny little town with empty streets, one general store and a large weir.The river was low at the time I visited.

Theme: A Name with Meaning.

My GGGrandmother Mary Learmonth/Lairmonth was born on 30 July 1790 in Glasgow, to Wright Peter Learmonth/Lamont and Agnes Thomson. She married Charles Johnston (1797-1848), a shoemaker, on 28 March 1815 in Glasgow. I will call her Mary I. Subsequent Mary Learmonths are labelled according to their birth date.

Charles and Mary had seven children, the first six being boys and the seventh a girl named Mary Learmonth Johnston (Mary II), 1833- 1909. This Mary married a Free Church minister, Daniel McKinlay Duncan, on 26 September 1865 in Glasgow. They too had a number of boys (three) before a daughter on 28 August 1873, predictably also named Mary Learmonth Duncan (Mary VII) who married John Mather. This couple had two children – William Learmonth Mather (1898-1957) who married Mary MckKell – they named their daughter Mary Wilson Learmonth Mather (Mary IX); and Mary Learmonth Johnston Mather 1900-1987 (Mary VIII). Meanwhile, a son of the original Mary I and Charles, George Johnston (1819-1900) married Elizabeth Jane Rae in 1840; their first daughter was named after Elizabeth’s mother and their second daughter was Mary Learmonth Johnston (Mary III), about 1845-1895.

Another son of the original Mary I, Peter Johnston married Agnes Todd in 1850. They had seven children, the first being named Mary Learmonth Johnston (Mary IV) 1853-1932. They also had a son Robert Alexander Johnston who married Joan Noble; they named their sole daughter Mary Learmonth Johnston – Mary VI (1906-?)

The youngest son of Mary I and Charles, John Johnston 1831-1909 married Benjamina “Jessie” Leckie in 1856. Jessie’s mother was a Margaret so their first daughter was also Margaret, but their second was predictably enough yet another Mary Learmonth Johnston! (Mary V, 1859—1936).

There were several other Marys in the immediate family but none with the middle name Learmonth.

Incidentally the surname Learmonth enabled me to identify several distant relatives. Mary I’s grandson George Johnston (1855-1885), born in Tasmania to immigrant parents, was a seaman who sailed round the world many times and wrote many informative letters home. In more than one he mentioned visiting Bethia and John Muirhead in Bombay. As I discovered, they had married in Glasgow … and Bethia’s maiden surname was Learmonth … she was Mary Learmonth’s sister. I have identified several DNA marches as descendants of this couple. Surprisingly, none of Bethia’s descendants have the middle name Learmonth.

Theme: A Question the Records Can’t Answer

Where did GG GrandFather Thomas Darchy (1820-1877) spend the years 1829-1839? Many members of the extended Darchy family have tried to work this out over the years but even with modern-day access to multiple records, it remains a mystery.

First the facts: Thomas was born in Augsburg, Bavaria and baptised there with only a guardian present – a probably impoverished Scottish Army surgeon on half pay. Just before his birth, the guardianship was transferred to a Prussian Army doctor who lived in Neuchatel, Switzerland. Thomas lived there until September 1829 when he was collected by Englishman Julius Charles Hare, a well-known theologian with links to nobility, ostensibly to return the boy to his mother. There are several legal papers attesting to this. But it is also known that Hare was of a romantic, susceptible, helpful nature ..…

Thomas’ mother has never been identified, but it is known (via a precious letter) that she told the Neuchatel guardian that she feared for Thomas’ presence in England and also that he would never know his mother and her family, who would “forever ignore his existence”.

So Hare collected the boy and then …. Where did they go?

In 1839 Thomas turned up again – on the passenger list of the sailing ship India on her maiden voyage from Greenock in Scotland by way of Cork and Porto Prio, which arrived in Adelaide, South Australia on 23 February 1840. Thomas, one of the elite cabin passengers, a very wealthy young man and apparently unaccompanied, went on to Port Phillip (Melbourne) and then Port Jackson (Sydney). He was on the passenger list arriving in Sydney on May 19, 1840.

A year later he appeared on another shipping list, arriving in Sydney again on the Ariadne. It is not known what he did in the intervening year. Perhaps he made an overland journey from Sydney to Melbourne with one of the early Australian explorers. He is believed to have known the explorer Hamilton Hume and stayed with him on one of his properties, but again – no record.

So where did he spend those 10 years before arriving in Australia?? One reasonable assumption is that Hare took him back to Herstmonceaux Castle, Sussex where Hare occasionally took in pupils to cram for University admission. Thomas’ first language would have been German with possibly some French, so Hare would have been the ideal tutor/companion to prepare the young man for his life as a wealthy young Englishman. But Thomas’ name is not on any list of such pupils.

Another theory is that he soon returned to Neuchatel – especially as in later life he and later some of his children maintained a close relationship with the guardian’s family. But there are no records or stories within that family after the handing-over in 1829, and a current descendant, a historian who knew all abut the aunts who mainly looked after Thomas, had never heard of him. Thomas may well have visited them occasionally but he would also have been learning fluent English during that time.

Or he spent time with the first guardian at Gibraltar, by then a medical superintendent after a somewhat suspicious meteoric rise through the ranks. But there is no record of Thomas in the Census taken about that time, nor in any other Gibraltar records.

Or did he perhaps spend time on a country estate in England, Scotland or Ireland? He seemed to know about managing large estates and stock within a few years of his arrival in Australia.

Or did he attend one of the greater English public schools? A number have been contacted but none have any record of a Thomas Darchy.

It is a great pity the English and Scottish Censuses did not start until 1841!

Another mystery is the source of Thomas Darchy’s wealth. He was not mentioned in the wills of either Guardian. Maybe a Swiss bank would know – but never tell.

Theme: A Quiet Life.

My GGGF Dr. Thomas Lyle 1791-1859 may have sought a quiet life, but did not entirely succeed in this ambition.

Although described in the 1851 Census as “a Surgeon in general practice”, it appears certain from the numerous books and collections he left behind that he was far more interested in early Scottish music and songs, and in bryology (the study of mosses). Born in Paisley to a weaver family who may earlier have been farmers, his parents both died in their early 30s, leaving him with a elder brother John and younger sister Anne aged about five, three and one respectively. It is thought the children were brought up by relatives. John, initially a weaver, enlisted in the 91st Regiment of Foot and rose to the rank of Colour Sergeant, surviving Waterloo but defeated by yellow fever after a few months in Jamaica. Anne became a housekeeper to a wealthy Glasgow man. Thomas, who must have been the gifted one, was educated at Paisley Grammar School. He attended medical classes at Glasgow University. About 1815 he set up as a druggist in the High Street of Glasgow, and in 1817 he was licensed as a surgeon by the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.

According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Lyle “… seems not to have enjoyed much success as a doctor. He was of a retiring disposition, happiest on botanical excursions, collecting old ballads, or writing verse for his own amusement… (He) was the author of several lyrics, but is remembered solely for the beautiful song ‘Let us haste to Kelvin Grove, bonnie lassie, O’ first published anonymously in the ‘Harp of Renfrewshire’ in 1820. Lyle contributed to RA Smith’s ‘Irish Minstrel’, and edited ‘Ancient Ballads and Songs’, London 1827. The latter work contained several of his own songs, including a version of Kelvin Grove somewhat different from the original..”

Dr. Thomas Lyle married Margaret Cochrane in Glasgow on 30 May 1821. They had four children in Glasgow then about 1830 the family moved to Airth in Stirlingshire – a Royal burgh and village on the River Forth, near Falkirk. (Incidentally, the Airth graveyard includes a number of cast iron ‘mortsafes’ – large coffin-shaped containers used to thwart the body snatchers of the early 19th century. Dr. Lyle would almost certainly have honed his surgical skills on such bodies in Glasgow some twenty years earlier). The origins of Airth go back to the 12th century and Airth Castle has been the site of many battles and skirmishes over the centuries.
At least three more children were born in Airth. A slightly earlier one died as a baby – he may have been the reason the family moved from Glasgow. The family stayed in Airth for many years. The Censuses show them still there in 1851 but by then all children had left home apart from the eldest boy who seems to have been his father’s assistant. Surprisingly, all the children had to earn a living – the two youngest girls were both cap makers in Glasgow before emigrating – separately – to Australia.

Why did they move to Airth? According to the current Airth Parish Community Council, the parish of Airth “… covers approximately 5500 acres of predominately good agricultural land with some woodland at Dunmore Park and around the famous Airth Castle. There is a working peat moss of around 500 acres to the west of Letham village. Part of this moss lies within the Parish boundary.” (Robert Smith). Thomas did practice in Airth, and seems to have taken part in village life as he signed the Census forms for a number of Villagers.The population in 1841 was 850. (In 2026 there is a single Medical Centre). But mosses seemed to have been his first love. He does not seem to have provided particularly well for his children.
Lyle maintained a voluminous correspondence with Mr. William Wilson of Manchester (1799-1871), a world authority on mosses. A hand-bound volume of the collected letters from Mr. Wilson covering the period 1849 and at least 1854 (the date on the last collected letter) are in my possession. Also a treasured book of watercolours of mosses, meticulously catalogued.

Dr. Thomas Lyle is listed in Desmond’s Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists (2nd Ed., 1994); and a collection of Lyle’s correspondence and some mosses are in the collection of Wilson correspondence at the Natural History Museum in London, and some plants at the Paisley Museum.

It would seem, if Lyle did indeed move to Airth for “a quiet life” involving roaming the countryside collecting mosses and perhaps doing a little doctoring, to some extent he succeeded. But – as poignantly indicated in a letter from Wilson dated 18 October 1853:

(after some bryological correspondence – a new paragraph, fresh pen)
If you must needs go to Glasgow, I sincerely hope that you will succeed in the attainment of your moderate wishes, and escape from the pestilence that you go to withstand – I shall rejoice if this revolutionary event of your life shall be productive of good to you and your wife – Whether we shall ever meet face to face, now that you are coming more within reach, is uncertain – I have still a load of toil before me and my health is quite precarious, not to mention my eyesight …

Then on 9 March 1854:
My dear Sir,
You have often been in my thoughts and I had fully intended to write to you on the day that I received yours informing me of your loss – it is a relief, I trust, both to yourself and to your departed wife (who must have suffered much under the protracted and hopeless illness) that she is gone to her rest. I trust also that you will have all the consolation which you need, in this your bereavement. The parting is a solemn event, and must have caused deep exercise of thought and feeling….

There was an epidemic of typhoid in Glasgow in the 1850s – possibly the pestilence referred to. It was indeed the cause of Lyle’s death in 1859.