James Thomas Greenshields
Born: 11 February
1863--Broughton, Peeblesshire, Scotland
Died: 16 June
1925—Fountainhall, Stow, Scotland
James Thomas is one of eight children born to Gavin
Greenshields (1821-1890) and Janet Smith Greenshields (1923-1879):
Catherine Greenshields (1850-1943)
Jane “Jeanie” Greenshields (1852-1932)
Helen Watson Greenshields (1854-1923)
Janet “Jessie” Greenshields (1856-1934)
Margaret Greenshields (1858-1902)
George Watson Greenshields (1860-1905)
John Christie Greenshields (1866-1892)
Gavin Greenshields, born in Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, on 27 October 1821,
was a blacksmith by trade. He married Janet Smith in Peebles on 23 July
1848. They resided in Newlands,
Peeblesshire, where his three oldest children--Catherine, Jeanie, and Helen--were born. By 1856, the family
had moved to Broughton, Peeblesshire, where Gavin began as a blacksmith. Due to his
health, he changed vocations and opened a village grocery shop in part of his home, called Thornbank. A grocer by trade, Gavin was also a horticulturalist and fisherman but, more importantly, a reader and writer.
James, too, loved horticulture and fishing, but, more importantly, he was influenced by his father's love of learning. The Reverend Andrew Baird, speaking at James' funeral at the Broughton Parish Church, observed that James "was keenly alive from early days to the beauty of the scenery, history, poetry, and romance. A true Scot, he loved all that had contributed to making of Scottish character. In his youth he determined to be a teacher, and all the elements of his varied experience went towards building up that educational skill which was so freely and generously given in enriching and training the minds of his pupils."
The 1881 census records, in fact, that age 18, living at home, James is a student-teacher at Broughton’s Central
School, where he had been educated. Teacher training during this period included teaching apprenticeships--teachers being instructed in the evenings and on Saturdays by teaching specialists. Teachers then competed for entrance into training colleges, or, for the more able and ambitious teachers, they studied at home and took the certificate examination. James Thomas Greenshields is listed as having matriculated at the University of London in June of 1889.
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| Broughton Primary School (formerly Central School |
In 1890, father Gavin Greenshields died at age 68. Sisters Jane "Jeanie" Greenshields (1852-1832) and Janet "Jessie" Greenshields (1856-1934) continued to operate their father's business in Broughton until their deaths.
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| 7 Gladstone Place, Peebles |
The 1891 census shows that James (age 28) was living in Peebles at the home of Mary Carlyle, 7
Gladstone Place, as a lodger with two other men, and that he was employed as an elementary school teacher. It isn't clear if he was teaching in Peebles at that time. We do know that he eventually became headmaster at Broughton Central Primary School.
James marries Janet Fowler of Wrae Farm, a settlement south of Broughton, in 1892. The farm has been in the Fowler family for several generations. In 1871, infant Janet lives there with her grandparents, parents, and older sibling. By the time of her marriage, her grandfather has died, and the farm is worked by her father, brother, and several farmhands listed on the 1891 census.
Daughter Margaret Moffatt Fowler Greenshields is born in 1893. Son Gavin James Greenshields is born 28 February 1895.
We are told in his obituary that due to ill health, James went to South Africa, "where, having acquired a thorough knowledge of Dutch language, he held several important scholastic appointments" over the course of two decades.
South Africa
It appears that James began his South African teaching career in 1894. He is listed as a second-class passenger on the steamship Majestic, headed first for New York and then on to Cape Town, on 30 May 1894 (after canceling a departure date on 16 May 1894). In the 1890s, South Africa was the most popular destination for Scottish emigration apart from America. In 1891, 1.8% of the white population in South Africa was Scottish. In 1904, that number had increased to 2.7%, and by 1911, Scots accounted for 14.3%: 37,138 total--24,397 men and 12,741 women of the total 1,276,242 white people in the country (John M. MacKenzie and Nigel R. Dalziel,
The Scots in South Africa, Manchester University Press, 2007: 66, 161).
According to MacKenzie and Dalziel, most Scots emigrating to South Africa were middle class and because of the racial divide, they became part of the white "aristocracy of labour" (271). They were able to rise socially, politically, and culturally in ways that they would not have in their native country.
James Thomas Greenshields was among Scottish teachers who were specifically recruited for service in South Africa. James left Peebleshire only two years into his marriage and one year following the birth of his first child, Margaret Moffatt Fowler Greenshields due to poor health. Scottish teachers were desirable because South African public schools were based upon the Scottish school system (private schools were modeled on the British system). Cape Town school superintendents found many capable candidates due to the glut of teachers in Scotland and the economic downturn during the late 19th century across Great Britain. They also had an "expectation that opportunities for promotion and for higher salaries would be better in South Africa" (MacKenzie and Dalziel 192). The 1890s saw an end to multicultural and multiracial schools in South Africa with separatism becoming the standard.
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| Cape Town in the early 1900s |
It seems as if James's teaching career in South Africa did afford him a middle class life, traveling first class frequently between Cape Town and Broughton over the course of twenty years, sometimes returning to Scotland twice a year.
James was scheduled to leave on what appears to be his first trip to o begin his South African teaching career on 18 May 1894, but his name is crossed out on the ship Teutonic's manifest. Two weeks later on 20 May 1894, his name appears again on a Liverpool to New York manifest on the ship Majestic going unaccompanied in a second class cabin.
His wife and children appear to have lived with her parents at Brae Farm during his absences, though his wife may have accompanied him on at least a few trips to Cape Town. The 1901 census shows 31-year-old Janet Fowler Greenshields ("Jessie"), school master's wife, living with her two children, Margaret (age 8) and Gavin (age 6) with her mother, Margaret Fowler (age 57), her grandfather James Moffatt (age 80), her brother John Fowler (age 33) at Wrae Farm located near the village of Broughton. Jessie's aunt Janet Hope (age 53) is also a member of the household. Farm servant Alexander Hendry (age 50) and 14-year-old domestic servant Elsie Grant are also listed as household members. The document gives us a clear snapshot of Jessie's life in Scotland while her husband pursued his career in South Africa.
Jessie did travel with her husband on 30 Dec. 1899, traveling first class aboard the ship Lucania. On 16 October 1902, James Greenshields is booked in first class accommodations from Southamption to Algoa Bay on the ship Doune Castle unaccompanied. Jessie was with him again on 11 July 1903 traveling from Southamption to Cape Town on the Union Castle Mail Steamship, the Saxon, again in first class accommodations.
Two more records show James traveling alone. On 24 July 1909, he travels first class aboard the Kenilworth Castle from Southamption to Cape Town and again on 9 July 1910 on the Kinfaune Castle in second class.
The birth of their third child Janet "Jennie" Smith Fowler Greenshields in 1908 probably explains Jessie's decision to stay behind in Broughton at her family's farm.
James' first cousin,
Agnes Ormiston Graham, also went to what would become South Africa during this period. She emigrated from Edinburgh to Natal in 1904 as a milliner. Later ships' manifests list her vocation as "teacher." So, both she and her cousin James found futures, careers, and financial security in South Africa.
While the summer of 1911 brought Agnes' extended family together in Broughton at Burnside Cottage, the home of William Newbigging and Jeanie Greenshields Newbigging, neither James nor his family appear in any of the photos taken on that day (see the link above). If he had been home that summer, he would, no doubt, have attended.
James' career in South Africa was described by Reverend Andrew Baird: "Wherever he went he made friends. He had a genius for friendship. This was strikingly exemplified when, after some years as a schoolmaster here, he left for South Africa on account of his health. There, during his 22 years' sojourn, he left his mark for good. He acquired an excellent knowledge of the Dutch language, and held various appointments of great influence, training English and Dutch students for a higher education and the University. So greatly was he trusted and beloved that he was elected an office-bearer in the Dutch Church, and greatly helped in promoting a good understanding between the two races in the districts where he lived."
Return to Scotland
His health restored after years in South Africa, James returned to Scotland permanently perhaps around 1916. The Great War commenced in 1914, and South Africa was drawn into the fight in a number of ways. The Afrikaner Rebellion of 1914 created a good deal of conflict and instability throughout the area. After that outbreak was quelled, South African troops were sent to German South West Africa to subdue the Germans there and control the region. Military construction troops were sent to France from South Africa, and soldiers fought in East Africa, Durban, and Egypt. It may be that James found this time an opportune moment to return to Scotland, though travel from the Cape to Southampton was anything but safe. Eight of the ships from Union-Castle Line were sunk from mines or German U-boats during the war.
His obituary reports that James and his family lived in the burgh of Peebles before being appointed headmaster at Fountainhall in Stow. Reverend Baird stated that James was interested in horticulture and fishing, as his father was, and was engaged in civic and religious life: "In everything that promoted the welfare of the district, he never spared himself either in thought, time, or energy." He was an elder of the church and session clerk. At Stow "his energy and devotion found scope in promoting varied schemes for the public good, amongst them the Public Hall and conducting a Sunday School and Bible Class for young people which were largely attended."
Below is an entry to an autograph book, left to James' great granddaughter in a suitcase filled with photos and clippings. Dated 13 August 1918, James and his family seem to be settled into Fountainhall, as noted by his signature. James' affection for Scottish culture and poetry is reflected in his choice of lines from Scottish poet H. Johnstone.
"There is a land ayout the blue
That kens nocht o' this kittle weather
Where a' the quid, the leal and true
Tho' parted long may yet forgether."
(H. Johnstone)
Jas. T. Greenshields
Fountainhall
13/8/18
Photographs held by the Broughton village archives show that James was also involved in the construction of the Broughton village war memorial.
James Thomas Greenshields can be seen standing above the war memorial as it is being constructed.
Other photos from the Broughton village archives show James in the village with his sisters Jeanie and Jessie who continued to operate the grocery business begun by their father at Thornbank and with his brother-in-law William Newbigging.
Thornbank, built by Gavin Greenshields, was the location of the grocery business operated by Jessie and Jeanie Greenshields until the 1930s.
On the left are William Newbigging and James Thomas Greenshields. Jeanie Greenshields is near the door of Thornbank. Her sister Jessie can be seen in the street. This is a page from the village historical records.
From left to right: Gavin Greenshields, Jessie Greenshields, John Currie (boarder at Thornbank), and Jeanie Greenshields.
The annotation on this photo identified William Newbigging on the left with "our girls" (Jessie and Jeanie Greenshields) and James T. Greenshields on the right in the village of Broughton.
His obituary describes the sudden end of James' life. At Fountainhall, "he was doing much useful work when the end came very suddenly on Tuesday of last week [16 June 1925]. He had been at work as usual on that day, but in the evening was seized with haemorrhage, and died within a quarter of an hour." We are told that he was "buried in his native parish, beside his wife, who pre-deceased him less than two years ago. He leaves a son (married), and two unmarried daughters. The interment took place in the presence of a large concourse of mourners."
James Thomas Greenshields is buried at the Broughton churchyard.
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James T. Greenshields and wife Jessie Fowler
Photo by Janet Sears 2019 |
Here is the probate record of James Thomas Greenshields' estate following his death:
