James Ingram Russell

I had originally intended to include this man under my post on those who died of disease but his story is interesting (and a little complex).

James Ingram Russell is difficult to track on the Scotland’s People website – there is no obvious record of him in the births, censuses or deaths.  From documents we know for certain where James was on three specific dates.

The first date is 15^th June 1928 by which time he was 28 years old, suggesting he was born in either 1899 or 1900.  He was a marine engineer and gave his address as onboard the SS Woodarra, a cargo ship belonging to the British India Steam Navigation Company (link).  (By this time this had been taken over by Peninsular and Oriental (P&O) but was still trading as a separate company.)

He was getting married, the bride being Lilian Rose Lowe who was aged 24 and worked as a clerk.  She gave her address as Willowbank, Mill Road, Yoker but checking against the Valuation Roll this was the home of James’s parents from at least 1925 to 1935.

Lilian was born in Maidstone and in the 1911 Census lived at 7 Pacific Road, Tidal Basin, West Ham (in east London).  She was still there at the time of the 1921 Census, now aged 18 and working as a tin tester in the local sugar factory.  The Lowe's home is very near to the main London docks and I speculate Lilian and James met while his ship was there in the mid-1920s; she presumably made the massive decision to move from London leaving her family behind to marry and settle in Glasgow.

In most family trees on Ancestry it is stated Lilian's mother lived to 1941, but on the marriage record, it says she died before 1928:

Having checked Ancestry, I can find no record of her death between 1921 (when she is definitely alive in the Census) and 1928 (when the wedding record sates she is deceased).  Another small mystery!

James’s parents were John and Janet (nee Ingram); his father’s occupation was railway engine shed foreman.

The wedding ceremony took place at 225 Byres Road; it was quite rare for a wedding to take place in a church in those days with hotels or restaurants often being used.  In modern terms, 225 is on the left of this photo, currently occupied by assangini (but I suspect it has been an Italian-themed restaurant under different names for about the last 20 years).  I suspect in 1928 it was also a restaurant or a club of some type that hired space for wedding parties.

James and Lillian had a daughter, Marjory, born in 1930, probably at Willowbank.

On Ancestry, Diane Dawson posted photos of a Christmas Card James sent to his parents in 1930 from onboard the ship RMS Aronda, another British India Steam Navigation Company ship, this time a liner.

The card shows photos of all the engineering officers:

Inside there is a message in James's handwriting:

 

By the time of the 1940 Valuation Roll, James’s parents had moved to 23 Douglas Place, and he, Lillian and Marjory lived at 5 Stewart Place.  Tracking addresses at Bearsden Cross over time is a very difficult task: property numbers and street names have changed, possibly several times, and not all of it is available online.  However, 5 Stewart Place seems to be the first floor above what is Costa Coffee today on New Kirk Road. 

And I suspect that 23 Douglas Place looks over the car park on Roman Road, abutting the Post Office.

As locals will know, the two flats are about 100 yards apart.

The second date where we can specifically place James is at the start of the Second World War, on 3^rd March 1940.  He was Chief Engineer on a liner called the Domala which was sailing from Antwerp in Belgium to India.  Its passengers were mainly seamen from India who had been on ships in German harbours when war broke out and hence had been interned and were now returning home.

The ship was spotted near the Isle of Wight by a solitary German bomber and attacked.  Bombs set the ship on fire and newspaper accounts at the time say the German plane also flew low to machine gun the blazing ship.  Around 100 people died, but James survived and was quoted in the Daily Record:

Another newspaper account says he was admitted to hospital for several days with a strained back and shock.

James's injury was sustained when he was being transferred from the lifeboat to the rescue ship while at sea and the two came together, squashing him (info from Diane Dawson).  Here is the photo used of James at the time.

The third and final date we have for James is 8^th February 1945.  He was Chief Engineer on a brand-new ship, MV Chanda, built by Barclay and Curle.  One source says in their yard at Clydebank, but I had thought they only had a yard at Whiteinch? 

On this date the ship was close to Port Said on the Suez Canal (possibly in the port).  James went into acute heart failure and died aged 44 or 45.  

He is buried in the British Protestant Cemetery at Port Said (photo credit via Diane Dawson):

On Ancestry it is said his parents married in Singapore and James was born in the region around 1900 but no supporting documents are quoted.  I've no reason to doubt this, but also cannot verify it.