Mrs Agnes Graham

Mrs Agnes Graham was resident at No. 9 from 1841[1] until her death there on 7 October 1859.[2] She was the widow of Thomas Graham, Crown Chamberlain in Orkney, who died at Kirkwall on 25 April 1835.[3] She was born Agnes Spears on 24 June 1771, at Kirkcaldy,[4] daughter of the minister there, Rev. Alexander Spears (1733-1783) and his wife Catherine Berry.[5] She married Thomas Graham, a lawyer, at Glasgow on 14 June 1802.[6] He was Sheriff Substitute at Haddington before his appointment as Crown Chamberlain in Orkney.[7]

Agnes Spears and Thomas Graham had seven children, all adults when their mother was widowed. The censuses of 1841[8] and 1851[9] recorded two unmarried daughters living with their mother at No. 9. Catherine Berry Graham, the eldest daughter, was born in Glasgow on 26 March 1803[10] and died at No. 9 Malta Terrace on 08 May 1872, Edinburgh.[11] Agnes Graham, the second daughter, was born at Glasgow on 09 July 1804.[12] She lived at No. 9 from 1841 until her death there on 07 April 1892.[13]

The son and daughter of Alexander Spears Graham (1807-1850), second son of Thomas Graham and Agnes Spears, moved to live with their grandmother and aunts at No. 9 sometime after their father’s death, possibly when their mother remarried in 1852.[14] Marion Graham and Thomas Graham were both recorded at No. 9 in the 1861 census.[15]

Marion (or Mary Anne) Stirling Graham was born at Kirkwall on 24 July 1839, only daughter of Alexander Spears Graham and Eliza Stirling.[16] When she married James Lunn Shiell, a ship’s captain and widower, at Perth on 18 December 1879, her usual address was No. 9 Malta Terrace.[17] In 1881 she and her husband were lodging at 2 Queen Street, Great Crosby, Lincolnshire.[18] They were recorded at No. 9 Malta Terrace in the 1891 census,[19] taken in April, and James L. Shiell died there on 01 June 1891.[20] His widow, Marion, died there on 27 November 1912.[21]

Thomas Alexander Ferguson Graham was born at Kirkwall on 27 October 1840. He enrolled in the Trustees Academy School of Art in January 1855 and by 1859 was exhibiting at the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1863 he moved to London, sharing a house with other Scottish artists. He travelled to Paris (1860), Brittany (several times), Venice (1864) and Morocco (1885), but favoured Scottish fishing villages and the west coast of Scotland. He later focused on portraiture. In 1883 he was awarded honorary fellowship of the Royal Scottish Academy.[22] He was unmarried and died at No. 9 Malta Terrace on 24 December 1906, while visiting Edinburgh.

[1] Census records. Scotland. Edinburgh. 06 June 1841. GRAHAM, Agnes. 685/2 29B/ 10. Ancestry collection ‘1841 Scotland Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 22 September 2023.

[2] Death announcements. The Scotsman. 07 October 1859. SPEARS, Agnes. p. 4, col. 5. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 01 October 2023.

[3] Testaments index. Scotland. Kirkwall Sheriff Court. 23 July 1840. GRAHAM, Thomas. SC11/41/1. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 01 October 2023.

[4] Baptisms (OPR) Scotland. Kirkcaldy, Fife. 04 July 1771. SPEARS, Agnes. 442/ 30/ 193. Ancestry collection ‘Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 01 October 2023.

[5] Scott, Hew. (1925) Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, vol. 5, p. 103. https://archive.org/details/fastiecclesiaesc05scot: accessed 01 October 2023.

[6] Marriages index (OPR) Scotland. Glasgow. 14 June 1802. GRAHAM, Thomas and SPEARS, Agnes. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 01 October 2023.

[7] Testaments index. Scotland. Kirkwall Sheriff Court. 23 July 1840. GRAHAM, Thomas. SC11/41/1. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 01 October 2023.

[8] Census records. Scotland. Edinburgh. 06 June 1841. GRAHAM, Agnes. 685/2 6B/ 6. Ancestry collection ‘1841 Scotland Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 22 September 2023.

[9] Census records. Scotland. Edinburgh. 30 March 1851. GRAHAM, Agnes. 685/2 29B/ 10. Ancestry collection ‘1851 Scotland Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 22 September 2023.

[10] Baptisms index (OPR) Scotland. Glasgow. 26 March 1803. GRAHAM, Catherine Berry. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 22 September 2023.

[11] Deaths (SR) Scotland. St George, Edinburgh. GRAHAM, Catharine Berry. 685/1 585. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 22 September 2023.

[12] Baptisms index (OPR) Scotland. Glasgow. 09 July 1804. GRAHAM, Agnes. 644/1 200/ 217. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 01 October 2023.

[13] Death announcements. The Scotsman. 09 April 1892. GRAHAM, Agnes. p. 16, col. 8. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 01 October 2023.

[14] Marriages (OPR) Scotland. St Cuthbert’s, Edinburgh. 25 March 1852. MACKINTOSH, Donald and STIRLING or GRAHAM, Eliza. 685/2 470/ 441. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 23 September 2023.

[15] Census records. Scotland. St Bernard, Edinburgh. 07 April 1861. GRAHAM, Agnes. 685/1 85/ 9. Ancestry collection ‘1861 Scotland Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 23 September 2023.

[16] Baptisms (OPR) Scotland. Kirkwall, Orkney. 18 September 1839. GRAHAM, Mary Anne. 021/ 60/ 180. Ancestry collection ‘Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 01 October 2023.

[17] Marriages (SR) Scotland. Perth, Perthshire. 18 December 1879. GRAHAM, Mary Ann S. and SHIELL, James L. 387/ 204. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 01 October 2023.

[18] Census records. England. Great Crosby, Lincolnshire. 03 April 1881. SHIELL, Marion (Lodger). RG11/ 3695/ 22. Ancestry collection ‘1881 England Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 23 September 2023.

[19] Census records, Scotland. Edinburgh. 05 April 1891. SHEILL, J. L. 685/1 13/ 07. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 07 September 2024.

[20] Burials. Cemetery Registers. Scotland. Warriston, Edinburgh. 05 June 1891. SHIELL, James L. BR0008. City of Edinburgh Archives. Ancestry collection ‘Edinburgh, Scotland, Cemetery Registers, 1771-1935.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 01 October 2023.

[21] Death announcements. The Scotsman. 30 November 1912. SHIELL, Marion Stirling. p. 16, col. 8. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 23 September 2023.

[22] Caw, James Lewis. (1912) Graham, Thomas Alexander Ferguson. Dictionary of National Biography, Supplement. vol. 2. https://wikisource.org: accessed 23 September 2023.

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