SELCRAIG, John ^{2 3}

   User ID: J407.

  General Notes:

"SELCRAIG
JOHN
THOMAS SELCRAIG/AGNES BURNS FR7285 (FR7285)
M
31/10/1832
685 / 3 270 / 85
Canongate"

from Births and Baptisms

The 1851 UK census for Edinburgh Greenside in Midlothian recorded Thomas Selcraig as head of a household living at 2 Simpson Court. With him lived his wife, Agnes and seven children of theirs. John Selcraig, the eldest child, had been born in Edinburgh and was recorded as 18 years old. He was a journeyman boot closer by occupation.

"SELCRAIG
JOHN
44
BURNS (mother's surname)
M
1876
685 / 3 / 792
Canongate"

from Index of Deaths

John Selcraig was recorded in the death certificate of his wife, Elizabeth, in 1918 as having been a 'Boot Merchant'. ^{2 3 5}

John married Elizabeth Robertson WINTON, daughter of Robert WINTON (DNA Link) and Helen WEBSTER, on 6 July 1863 in 26 London Street, Edinburgh, Scotland.¹ (Elizabeth Robertson WINTON was born on 16 February 1844 in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland ^{2 6}, baptised on 2 March 1844 in Saint Cuthbert's parish, Edinburgh, Scotland ⁶ and died on 17 December 1918 in 12 Viewforth Square, Edinburgh, Scotland ⁵.). The cause of her death was pulmonary embolism over one day.

  Marriage Notes:

"WINTON
ELIZABETH R
SELCRAIG
JOHN
1863
685 / 1 / 158
St George"

from Index of Marriages


The couple were married, after banns, according to the forms of the Church of Scotland. Andrew Milroy, Minister of the Free Tron Church, Edinburgh, conducted the service. The witnesses were John Kennedy, of 9 Jamaica Street, and Helen Crerar, of 25 Barony Street, Edinburgh.

John Selcraig was a bootmaker of 30 years of age. He lived at 12 Royal Exchange Square, Edinburgh, and was single. His father, Thomas Selcraig was a grocer and his mother was Agnes Burns.

Elizabeth Robertson Winton was a sewing machine worker. A single woman, she was 19 years old, and lived at 25 Barony Street, Edinburgh. Her father was deceased.

The marriage was registered at Edinburgh on 13 July 1863, Robert Dickie being the registrar.

Note:

In Jules Verne's novel Captain Antifer (1895) there is a character called Mr Tyrcomel who was based on the Reverend Mr Andrew Milroy who married this couple. The main action in Edinburgh concerns the attempt to obtain the last clue from the Reverend Tyrcomel. He is portrayed as a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, preaching at the Tron Kirk. However by 1895, there were two Tron kirks. Verne had seen the Tron Church, built in the 17th century, on his 1859 visit to Edinburgh so he was familiar with it. After the 1843 Disruption when the Free Church split from the Church of Scotland, new Free churches were built. At the time the novel is set, 1862, there was the Auld Tron Kirk, the one Verne had seen, belonging to the Established Church of Scotland, and a more modest New Tron Kirk belonging to the Free Church of Scotland, which Verne was possibly unaware of. To suit the plot, Verne used the old Church of Scotland Tron Kirk, but transposed a fundamentalist minister from the Free Tron Kirk. the Reverend Andrew Milroy. ^{1 7}