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My McKain connection is through my paternal Great Grandmother, Ellen Louise McKain, who married George Edwin Middleton in 1901. From Ellen, I've traced my McKAIN ancestry back to my 6 x Great Grandfather, Archibald McKain, who was born in 1717.
Archibald was a Tannery owner and Burgess of Elgin, Morayshire, Scotland and, according to Clifford Mackain in his "History and Genealogy of the Ancient House of Ardnamurchan", was the 15th Chief of the MacIains of Ardnamurchan.
In "The Clan Donald" by the Reverends A.Macdonald, published 1904, it was concluded, with regard to the MacIains of Ardnamurchan, that "Alexander (Chief c1609-1625) is the last head of the house of whom there is any authentic record and with him this ancient and powerful house passes out of historical and genealogical ken".
Clifford Arthur Mackain refused to let this be the last word on our illustrious family and, as a result of many years of research, produced his "History and Genealogy of the Ancient House of Ardnamurchan" - 1943, which built on the family's history, through a further three centuries in Scotland and England, and concluded with the defiant and proud declaration that "Although their territorial possessions had gone (1625), the Clan spirit still lived in their descendants, the MacKains of Elgin, and lives today in the present family representing them in direct succession. May this grand spirit ever burn brightly as of yore, and their glorious Clan traditions never be forgotten !".
In 1905 Undifferenced Arms were granted by the Lord Lyon King of Arms to William James (Archibald's 2 x Great Grandson), whose application included the statement that according to the (Elgin) family tradition the Petitioner's family....came originally from Ardnamurchan in Argyllshire.
IN HOPE I BYDE
Or, a lymphad, sails furled, oars in action Sable, flagged Gules, an eagle displayed of the Last, beaked and membered of the second and a buckle of the third, in the dexter and sinister fess points.
Although the right to bear undifferenced arms and Clan Chief-ship do not necessarily go hand in hand, in 1913 the Society of Clan Donald did not seem in any doubt and William James was recognised as Chief of Clan Iain of Ardnamurchan (Clifford Mackain's "History.." shows him as the 20th Chief). In 1959, when William James's son Clifford died, the Clan Donald Society recorded that "The Clan suffered the loss of two Chiefs in 1959: Sir Somerled Macdonald of Sleat and C. A. MacKain (MacIan of Ardnamurchan).
Archibald McKain married Elspet Leslie of Glen Rothes and they had 3 offspring, the eldest of whom was James (c1748-1828), my 5 x Great Grandfather. James left Elgin around 1776, married in London in 1779 and by 1780 was settled in Bungay, Suffolk with his wife Ann (nee Honeywood). The story of this branch of my McKain family thus moves to England with subsequent generations in Suffolk, Kent and London.
My McKains out of Scotland
My 5 x Great Grandfather James Mckain married Ann Honeywood at St. George's, Bloomsbury, London on 27th May 1779. By the following year, they were settled in Bungay, Suffolk, Ann's home town, where James took over the running of an established school, having previously been a school assistant at the Rev. Mr. Crawford's Academy in Chiswick, Middlesex. James and Ann had 8 children, including my 4 x Great Grandfather, Archibald William (c1789-1873).
James died on 2nd August 1828 at Woolwich Dockyard, Kent where his eldest son James (junior) was the Yard Officer. Both James(senior) and his wife Ann (who died in 1827) were buried in Grain churchyard, Kent. Their Monumental Inscription reads "Here repose the bodies of James McKain and Anne his wife of Bungay, Suffolk who departed this life, SHE the 26th August 1827 at Sheerness in her 79th year, HE the 2nd August 1828 at Woolwich in his 81st year".
Archibald William McKain, my 4 x Great Grandfather, was baptised on 10th April 1789 at Holy Trinity, Bungay. He married Phoebe Barnes Mills at St. Mary's, Bungay on 29th April 1816. Following his father's occupation, Archibald was a Schoolmaster in Suffolk at Heveningham, Beccles (where Phoebe was the Schoolmistress) and Stradbroke. Archibald and Phoebe had 11 children, including James Henry, my 3 x Great Grandfather. Archibald died in 1873 and was buried at St. Peter's, Ipswich, Suffolk. Phoebe died in 1883 in Chelsea, to where she may have moved in order to be closer to family (She is recorded residing with her daughter-in-law, Ann, in Chelsea at the 1881 Census).
James Henry McKain, my 3 x Great Grandfather, was baptised on 27th January 1819 at Heveningham, Suffolk. James, a Tailor by trade at the time, married Ann Price Davies on 10th November 1839 at St. Mary's, Battersea, Surrey. At subsequent Censuses (1851-1871), James is recorded as a Stone Mason, a change in occupation possibly connected to his father-in-law, Philip Davies, who was also a Mason. James and Ann had 2 sons, James and Frederick (c1846-1922), my 2 x Great Grandfather.
My 2 x Great Grandfather, Frederick William McKain, married Mary Ann Bell/Eperage) (see Note below) on 9th September 1871 at Christ Church, Battersea, Surrey.
Note - There is certainly confusion about who Mary Ann's father was. Her mother, Love Cossens, was married to George Bell in 1834 at Kensington Holy Trinity but, in the 1841 Census, George was not present at the same address as Love and their 2 daughters, Charlotte and Jane. Mary Ann was born in 1846 but was registered by Love as the daughter of William Eperage. On Mary's birth certificate, Love is described as "Love Eperage, late Bell, formerly Cousins". Mary Ann, in subsequent Censuses was always shown with the surname "Bell" (as was Love herself) but married firstly in the name of Eperidge although her marriage certificate heightens the confusion. Her father's name is given as WILLIAM Bell not GEORGE. What happened to George Bell and William 'Eperage' remains a mystery as neither of them seems to have been a part of Love or Mary Ann's life after 1848, at least as far as the Censuses show.
Frederick and Mary McKain had 10 offspring (4 boys and 6 girls), the youngest girl being Ellen Louise (1883-1969), my Great Grandmother. According to birth records and censuses, 5 of Frederick and Mary's children were born before their marriage in 1871. Mary was previously married to Horatio Benwell, a seaman in the Royal Navy, in 1861. Was she deserted by Horatio ? There are no children registered to them and no record of his death discovered. Her first child with Frederick Mckain was born in September 1863. Did she have to allow a time lapse before re-marrying in 1871 ?
The family lived in Slaidburn Street, Chelsea for upwards of 40 years and were at no. 21 in 1899, when it was surveyed as part of Charles Booth's "Inquiry into Life and Labour in London". The notebook entry makes grim reading: Next, to Slaidburn St. : 3 st : a cul-de-sac, asphalt paved. One of the worst streets in Chelsea and I should say one of the worst in London. Not so very poor, mostly people earning regular wages but drunken, rowdy, continual trouble to police: many broken patched windows, open doors, drink sodden women at windows. Though no common lodging houses, this street reminds me of Campbell Road in Holloway or of Sultan Street in Camberwell. It should be l.b. (light blue) barred black rather than l.b. (light blue) of map.
Ellen Louise was 16 years old when this description of the street she lived in was penned (she continued living there until at least 1911) and I must say I found it difficult to reconcile this with my dim recollections of the prim, respectable lady in her 70/80s I visited in my younger days. The wise words of Thomas Hardy from "The Mayor of Casterbridge", in describing the morally vile Mixen Lane in the poorer part of town (Casterbridge/Dorchester), put things into perspective. "Yet amid so much that was bad, needy respectability also found a home. Under some of the roofs abide pure and virtuous souls whose presence there was due to the iron hand of necessity and to that alone."
Frederick worked for 40 years in the flooring industry variously as a painter, labourer, fitter and planner, possibly at Downing's Floor Cloth factory on the nearby Kings Road, Chelsea at least until its destruction by fire in 1873.
Mary Ann died in 1920 and Frederick in 1922, both in Chelsea.
Ellen Louise Mckain, my paternal Great Grandmother, a Jam Maker (in a factory), married George Edwin Middleton, a Painter, in 1901 in Chelsea, London. George and Ellen had 5 children including my paternal Grandmother, Henrietta Mary Middleton (1905-1985). The family lived at 48 Slaidburn Street (the same street as Ellen's parents) from 1901 to at least 1911.
In the 1939 Census, Ellen was recorded as living at 12e Wyfold Road, Fulham, London. Ellen died in 1969.
