March 6th

Two days ago we had Auntie Annie's birthday.  Today it's Uncle Jack's.  Uncle Jack was my mum's brother.  Your great uncle.  His actual name is of course John Christie.  He was born on this day in 1905 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.  He was the third child of six for John Christie and Betsy West.  The first two children did not live into adulthood. One had already died by the time Uncle Jack was born.  The other died when he was two.  He, like all his siblings including my mother, grew up above the maltings of Newcastle Breweries at 7 Tower Street in Newcastle.  

Uncle Jack

Then on this day in 1911 Robert Stewart West died.  Robert is your 2nd great uncle.  His father, Alexander West, is your 2X great grandfather.  Robert grew up in Ferryden but moved west to Clydebank in his 20's.  The fishing industry was declining on the east coast but the shipbuilding industry on the River Clyde near Glasgow was booming.  Robert became a shipyard labourer and then an electric craneman.  He married Annie Mearns Coull.  Sadly he died young.  He was only 29 when he contracted and died from Enteric Fever (typhoid) on March 6th - two weeks before the birth of his second daughter.