1912 Onwards, Braehead House, Selfish Hill (Cadgers Row) Hurlford

Andrew and Sarah Campbell moved from Kilmarnock to Hurlford. I knew that as a boy, Matthew (my grandfather) attended Hurlford School, which I also attended as a child.

What happened to Andrew and Sarah’s children?

After a bit of searching and help from my mum with names, I tracked down the marriage certificates for Agnes Burgess Campbell, Andrew and Sarah’s eldest child, William (Willie) Campbell and Maggie Campbell.

Agnes, 22, married William McNinch, 26, on the 31st December, 1912 in the Masonic Hall, John Finnie Street, Kilmarnock. Agnes was living at Braehead House, Hurlford and William McNinch lived at 8, Gilmour Street, Kilmarnock, where the Campbells had moved from the previous year.

Locally, the area where Braehouse stands is known as Selfish Hill or Cadgers Raw.  During the 18th Century it is recorded that Ayrshire was plagued by itinerant people mainly from Ireland who would “cadge” and steal anything they could get their hands on. It was a major problem in those days and it was likely that a number of them would have set encampment at Hurlford at a point known as Cadgers Row. 

William McNinch was a fellmonger, which means that he would remove sheep’s wool or the hair of other animals from hides in preparation for tanning. The process of fellmongering had to be done quickly after the animal was slaughtered to prevent the hides from decaying before tanning could begin.

Willie Campbell married Mary Paterson from Galston, Ayrshire in 1914. She lived at Gauchalland Rows, a mining community. 

Maggie Blair Campbell married for the first time on the 17th September, 1915. She was 22 and a domestic servant. Her parents wee living at Braehead in Hurlford at the time. She married Thomas Hay of 2, Maxwell Place, Bothwell, who was 25 years old and an enginefitter. His parents were both dead.

They were married at the Cooperative Hall, John Dickie Street, Kilmarnock. John Campbell, her brother, signed as a witness.

Maggie (Meg) married for the second of what were to be three marriages, according to my mum, to Robert Kerr McCarrell on the 1st of August, 1919 at 28, Gilmour Street, Kilmarnock, her parents’ home, while she lived at that time in Stewarton and worked as a housekeeper. She was 26 years old and the certificate records that she was a widow, Robert McCarrell was 30 and a coal miner. He lived at 32, Dean Street, Stewarton. Jeannie Kilpatrick Campbell, signed as a witness.