McGONAGALL, William "Poet and Jute Carpet Weaver"

   Cause of his death was cerebral haemorrhage.⁴

   Other names for William were M GEONEGAL, William,⁵ McGONEGAL, William,⁶ McGONIGAL, William,^{3 7} McGONIGALL, William,⁴ McGONNIGAL, William ⁸ and McGUNAGALL, William.⁹

  General Notes:

William McGonigal was recorded as aged 15 years when he was recorded by the 1841 census for Saint Peter's Parish in Dundee living with his family at Hawkhill. He was the eldest of the seven children listed in the family entry, who were all recorded as Irish born but for the youngest, Margret, aged 9 months. The census entry also recorded that William was a handloom weaver and had been born in Ireland.

In 1851 the census found a William McGunagall and his wife Jean McGunagall living in Dundee at 44 West Port. William was a weaver by occupation and recorded as aged 26 years. His birthplace was recorded as Edinburgh. In the same household lived four lodgers:
Jean King, unmarried, aged 51 years, born in Ireland
William King, unmarried, aged 33 years, born in Stirling, occupation mill worker
William King, unmarried, aged 4 years, no birthplace recorded
Margaret King, unmarried, aged 17 months, no birthplace recorded

NOTE 1: William and Jean are indexed in the 1851 census as MCGUNNAGALL. there is a blot, but with the aid of a magnifying glass the name is certainly MCGUNAGALL.
NOTE 2:It is likely that the children William and Margaret King listed here are actually the first two children of William McGunagall and Jean King whom the enumerator has inadvertently named King.

The 1861 census for Liff Parish, Dundee, recorded William McGonagall, his wife Jean, their five children, and a lodger, Margaret King, an 18 year old, Dundee-born millworker, living at 24 Mid Wynd. William McGonagall was recorded as being 32 years old and by occupation a carpet weaver. His birthplace was recorded as Edinburgh.

In 1871 the census for Dundee recorded William McGonagall and his wife and seven children living at 41 Step Row. William's age was recorded as 44 years and his birthplace as Edinburgh. His occupation was that of carpet weaver.

The 1881 census is the first census entry for William McGonnigal where he identifies himself to the enumerator as 'Poet'. It is the first census entry in which he is listed that is taken after the death of his father and mother. So perhaps it was a coming of age for him, at the age of 55 years, as the GRO Index has it, or 53 years, as it seems from the unclear text. His birthplace is recorded as Edinburgh. He and the other eight family members were living at 19 Paton's Land, Dundee, in a dwelling that had but two rooms with one or more windows. As well as himself, his wife, and six of their children, William had a small grandson called Andrew living with him, the son of his daughter, Margaret.

By the time the 1891 census was taken, William McGonegal's household including himself was reduced to five. He was living at 41 Paton's Lane in Dundee, a smaller dwelling place that had just one room with one or more windows. With him lived his wife, whom the enumerator recorded as Jane McGonegal, two of his sons, James and John, and his grandson, Andrew. William's age was here recorded as 62 years and his birthplace as Edinburgh. His occupation seems to have raised the enumerator's eyebrows a little, for he notes it as - and the quotation marks are his - "Poet" & Jute Carpet Weaver.

The 1901 census for St Giles, Edinburgh, recorded William McGonagall, his wife and daughter, living at 25 Potts Union Buildings, in a dwelling that had one room with one or more windows. William's age was recorded as 78 years and his birthplace as Edinburgh. Living among people who were of varied occupations, glazier, shoemaker, rubber worker, engine driver, envelope folder and photograph canvasser, William was recorded as being a poet. The 1901 census had an extra column asking 'Employer, Worker or On Own Account'. One person on William's page answers the latter. None answers employer. William's answer, like most others is in the worker category, but his has a question mark beside it: 'worker?'. His reinvention of himself is complete: not a weaver born in Ireland; rather a poet born in Edinburgh.

When William McGonigall died in September 1902 his death certificate recorded him as a poet, married to Jane King. His recorded age at death was 62 years. Both of his parents, Charles McGonigall, a handloom weaver, and Margaret Maxwell were noted as deceased.

When Jane McGonnagal died in February 1911, her death certificate recorded her as widow of William McGonnagal Jute Weaver. ^{3 4 6 8 9 10 11 12 13}

  Research Notes:

THE IRISH

For a variety of reasons, political, social and economic, migrants poured in to England and Scotland from Ireland in the first half of the nineteenth century. The lure of employment and higher wages played a huge part. Irish men and women were evident in cotton towns, wool districts, jute mills, coalmines, and as navvies and labourers in building projects of all kinds.

In Scotland, as a percentage of total population, Dundee's Irish born residents exceeded even those of Glasgow at 18.9% to 18.2%. This large influx of Irish into industrialised cities was not welcomed by everyone. Some became alarmed at its effect on housing, sanitation, health and crime. In certain areas Irish people were rejected, scapegoated, and blamed for overcrowde slums and raging epidemics.

Nevertheless, many in Scotland considered the Irish, male and female, to be good workers and necessary for the Scottiah and English economies that were expanding and diversifying.


THE POOR LAW (SCOTLAND) ACT 1845

McGonigal, McGonagall, or even McGonagle, is not a common surname in modern Scotland. Indeed, McGonigal, in all its many variations, was not a surname to be found outside of Ireland - mainly the north of Ireland - at all, before 1840. The parish registers before the start of the nineteenth century just do not bear witness to a McGonigal presence there.

William McGonagall, and most of his family, in their 1841 Dundee census entry, were recorded as born in Ireland. They themselves would have provided that information. Yet by 1851, the census recorded William as having been born in Edinburgh, Scotlandm, though there is no record in the registers of his birth. Why the change?

It is probable that the 1845 Poor Law for Scotland brought about the change. This law altered the basis of the distribution of poor relief around the country. A claimant had to meet required conditions of settlement: namely, birth, residence, or husband's residence. If these were not met within the parish where the claim was made, a claim was sent to the previous parish where the claimant resided or where born. The pauper, the individual claiming relief, could be forcibly removed from the parish and transported back to parish of settlement at that parish's expense.

Now, the 1840s were a time of economic hardship for many. The 1841 census recorded William McGonigal as a handloom weaver, like his father, Charles. His sister was a flax spinner. They would have been affected by the economic hardship that was resulting from the increased use by manufacturers of steam driven machines to produce more profitably the goods that William, his father, and his sister Jannet, were trying to earn their living from. Economic disaster for this family, as for many like them, was a very real possibility.

In 1841 the only member of the McGonigal family recorded as born in Scotland was a nine month old child, Margret. This suggests that the family, or at least the mother and children, had arrived in Scotland within the previous eighteen months to two years. Without means of support, such people, after 1845, could well have felt terrified at being unable to fulfil the conditions of settlement, whether by birth or by residence, which would result in them being compelled to return to Ireland. By 1851, news of the toll taken by famine in Ireland in the previous years would undoubtedly have exacerbated that fear.

William McGonagall acted in a way that would enable his survival. He began to reinvent himself. Actor as he became, he would not have much difficulty exchanging his northern Irish persona for a Scots one; he was patriotic; he was probably Protestant. All he needed was to have been born in Scotland, and he chose Edinburgh as his birthplace.

WILLIAM'S AGE

These are the ages listed in each 10 year census for William:

1841 William McGonigal aged 15 years birth year 1825-1826
1851 William McGunagall aged 26 years birth year 1824-1825
1861 William McGonagall aged 32 years birth year 1828-1829
1871 William McGonagall aged 44 years birth year 1826-1827
1881 William McGonnigal aged 53 or 55 years 1825-1826 or 1827-1828
1891 William McGonegal aged 62 years birth year 1828-1829
1901 William McGonagall aged 78 years birth year 1822-1823
His death certificate of 1902: aged 62 years birth year 1828-1829

To an extent we must give more attention to the very first record in the list, for various reasons:
1 William was less old and there was less margin for error
2 The age was reported probably by a parent and not himself
3 His age was included in a sequence of other children's ages

There is still some room for error even so, but it is likely to be only a year or so.
So we may conclude that William McGonagall was probably born beteen 1824 and 1827.

WILLIAM'S PLACE OF BIRTH

Only the 1841 census recorded William as Irish Born. This researcher believes this to be the truth. probably none of the children of the family answered for himself or herself. The parents listed those born in Ireland -why wouldn't they? - and then the last child, born in Scotland, is recorded as just that.

After 1841 the circumstances were different. See The Poor Law article above. William had a Scots born wife. He himself could tell the enumerator what he wanted him to know. For all we know he may have told his wife that he was born in Edinburgh. He had practical serious reasons for changing his place of birth, and he had dreams and hopes too.

  Medical Notes:

The cause of death was certified by J. A. Shoolbread MB.

Jane McGonigall, widow, who was present where the death occurred, gave notice of her husband's death before the registrar, W. F. Mallon, at Edinburgh on 30 September 1902 and made her X mark. ⁴

William married Jean KING, daughter of John KING and Jean KING MS UNKNOWN, on 11 July 1846 in Dundee, Angus, Scotland.¹ (Jean KING was born about 1825 in Scotland but not Angus ¹⁴ and died 24 February 1911 at 11 pm in 80 Blackness Road, Dundee, Scotland ¹⁵.). The cause of her death was cerebral haemorrhage and hemiplegia.⁴

  Marriage Notes:

Old Parish Register
Dundee Parish Angus
Marriages

"June 1846
Contracted 15
Parties
William M geonegal weaver & Jean King Both this parish Married 11 July"
⁵