James WALLACE
m Isabella GRANT 1855
James is a mystery. He seems almost deliberately to avoid being recorded. His marriage was not recorded in the statutory register, his birth and death records are unknown, and he has not been found in any census. The only confirmed records of his life are a newspaper report of his marriage in 1855, the registration of the births of his two children in 1856 and 1858 and electoral register entries for 1857 and 1858, all in Glasgow. He has not been found in any subsequent Glasgow register, nor any of his family in the 1861 census anywhere in the UK.
In the records, James was variously described as a writer, a law clerk, a clerk, and an advocate's clerk. Consequently some directory and newspaper records of James Wallace, writer, almost certainly refer to him. He first appears in 1847 as a writer of Port Glasgow, a witness with Duncan Turner, a writer of Glasgow. In 1848 he was a writer in the firm of Duncan Turners, then with Turner and Wallace, writers, and is listed as such in the Glasgow directories 1848 to 1850. Numerous newspaper notices for Turner & Wallace appear between Feb 1848 and Jan 1850. In 1850/1851 he is listed in the firm of Wallace and Murdoch, writers. All three firms were at 37 Virginia St, Glasgow, and James' home was at 6 Pollock St, Glasgow from 1848 to 1851. True to his style however, he was never listed in the street directory at 6 Pollock St and was not there in the 1851 census.
In March 1850 he went bankrupt, listed in the Edinburgh Gazatte of March 1850 as a writer, insurance agent and dealer in shares, a partner in the now dissolved firm of Turner and Wallace. No further records found until the Edinburgh Gazette of March 1854 announced a second bankruptcy of James Wallace, writer, insurance agent and dealer in shares, "sometime in Glasgow, thereafter in Aberdeen, and now in Glasgow", But the Edinburgh Gazette of March 1855 announced his discharge from bankruptcy and he resumed his career as a writer. The Edinburgh Gazette of Jun 1856 refers to James as a writer at 152 West George St, Glasgow, but again he was not listed there in the PO directory.. So it seems James lay low in Aberdeen after being made bankrupt and surely he must have met Isabella there, perhaps taking lodgings with her. He returned to Glasgow, was cleared of bankruptcy in March 1855 and married Isabella the following month in Glasgow. Why did she marry there and not in her own parish of Aberdeen?
James registered the birth of John at 12 Salisbury St Glasgow in 1856 and is listed in the electoral register of 1857 and 1858 as a tenant there, a clerk. This is the last known record of James. Isabella registered the birth of their second child at a different address, 10 Crawford St, but no register or directory lists them there. None of the family have been found in the 1861 UK census despite searching all conceivable variations. Where were they between 1858 and 1871? The absence of James from the Glasgow electoral register after 1858 suggests that he died or moved from the city. Eleven death certificates of a James Wallace in Glasgow at this time have been examined without finding the right one. But the failure to find any of the family in the 1861 census suggests they were still together and either avoided the census or had left mainland UK. There are no surviving records of emigration from the UK at this time or of travelling to Ireland. Ellis Island indexes show that they did not emigrate to New York. James Wallace is a common name in Ireland, and speculatively, perhaps James took the short journey from Glasgow to his native Ireland to show off his new family, who returned to Aberdeen only after he died
BIRTH
James was noted as a writer in 1848 amd married in 1855. So almost certainly born before 1830 and probably after 1800 The ealriest record shows him in Port Glasgow, a small town 20 miles west of Glasgow, but there is no record of his baptism there. He named his daughter Ann Smith, surely named after his mother or his mother-in-law. His mother-in-law however was Elizabeth Reid, so James' mother was probably Smith. There are not many Wallace/Smith marriages between 1800 and 1830 in the lowland region, but one of them is at Port Glasgow where James Wallace, a seman, married Jean Watt Smith 6Jan1827. But no son called James is known. Only two baptisms are recorded to these parents: Mary 1828, Marion Smith 1830 so this may be a dead end. Marion Smith Wallace married James Scott in Aberdeen 15 May 1855; so she was in Aberdeen at the same time as James Wallace prior to his marriage in April 1855, but james was not a witness to the mnarriage. Mary married Robert Hunter 21 Dec 1849 at Greenock and was there in later census; no extra info in parish register
MARRIAGE
the Aberdeen Press & Journal carried an announcement of the marriage on 16May1855
At Glasgow, on the 27th ult., by the Rev Dr Barr, of St
Enoch's,
James Wallace Esq., writer, Glasgow, to Isabella Grant, relict of the
late John Walker, grocer, Aberdeen.
The marriage has not been found in the index to the statutory register of marriages, nor was it found by the Scottish registrars who on request searched the original Glasgow registers. All the details in the newspaper announcement are correct and it seems likely that the marriage took place but was not registered as required by the law which came into effect only at the beginning of 1855. St Enoch's in the centre of Glasgow has been demolished and the registers do not seem to have survived. The marriage is not in the OPR index.
DESCENDANTS
certificates
1856 1.30am John WALLACE at 12
Salisbury St, Glasgow;
r 20Mar1856 at Tradeston Glasgow by James
WALLACE father
fa: James WALLACE law clerk; mo: Isabella WALLACE nee
GRANT
b 25Mar1858 2.30am Ann Smith WALLACE at 10 Crawford St Glasgow
r 22Apr1858 at Tradeston
Glasgow by Isabella WALLACE mother
fa: James WALLACE law clerk; mo: Isabella WALLACE ms GRANT
DEATH
the following death certificates of James WALLACE in Glasgow have been examined:
1858 Partick 646/2 172
1859 Tradeston 644/9 622
1859 Tradeston 644/9 782
1860 Tradeston 560/9 333
1860 Tradeston 644/9 501 (James Henry)
1860 Calton 644/4 400
1860 Hutcheson 644/10 1701
1860 Cathcart 560/37
1860 Milton 560/7 560
1861 Central 560/1 986
1861 High Church 560/2 711
GLASGOW PO DIRECTORIES
1848 James Wallace writer at Duncan Turners, house: 6 Pollock St
Duncan Turner, writer, 37 Virginia St, insurance agent
1848/49 James Wallace of Turner & Wallace, house 6 Pollock St
Turner & Wallace, writers, 37 Virginia St
1849/50 James Wallace of Turner & Wallace, house 6 Pollock St
Turner & Wallace, writers, 37 Virginia St
1850/51 James Wallace of Wallace
& Murdoch, house 6 Pollock St, Paisley Rd
Wallace & Murdoch, writers 37 Virginia St
1851/52 No listing found for James Wallace, writer
GLASGOW ELECTORAL REGISTER
record searched from 1857
1857 James Wallace 12 Salisbury St, clerk, tenant of house
1858 James Wallace 12 Salisbury St, clerk, tenant of house
1859-61 not found