Today,
8th August, marks the bicentenary of James Milne’s birth at
Woodside, Rothiemay to parents Alexander Milne and Janet Ingram. Alexander’s first marriage to Margaret Brown in
1802 had produced three children, but it seems that Margaret died prematurely, since an entry in the Rothiemay parochial register records Alexander’s subsequent
remarriage to Janet Ingram in 1810.
This union resulted in the birth of nine offspring: Ann (1811), John (1813-1819),
William (1814), Isobel (1817), James (1819), John (1821), Robert (1823), Jane
(1828 and Keturah (1832).
Two
of Alexander’s sons are noted in a register of missionaries published by the
London Missionary Society (LMS) which shows that both William and James
travelled to Jamaica to undertake missionary work. William had graduated in 1834 as Master of Arts from King’s College in Aberdeen and undertook further studies in England
before his appointment to Jamaica in 1839.
It is unclear whether James embarked on a university education prior to
his appointment to Jamaica in 1840. The
brief biographies in the register indicate that James devoted his entire life
to mission work in Jamaica, where he died in 1873. His elder brother William, however, returned
to the UK in 1849, having married in Jamaica and produced two sons.
A
search of the UK census for 1851 led to the discovery of an expanding Milne
family in the Hertfordshire village of Baldock, where William was described as
“Independent Minister, M.A.’ and his wife Harriet was a governess, born in
Salisbury, Wiltshire.[1] William’s birthplace is simply shown as
‘Scotland’, but there is no mistaking the fact that his elder sons, John Vine
Milne and Robert Milne, were born in Jamaica.
A third son, Alexander, had joined the family in Baldock just four
months before the census date.
By
1861 William was clearly moving up in the world. The family were now living in the London
suburb of Tottenham, where William was an ‘Inspector of Schools’.[2] This time his birthplace was precisely recorded
as Rothiemay. Three more children had
arrived since their days in Baldock, their birthplaces indicating brief stays
in St. Albans and Bushey.
According
to the LMS register, William died in 1874 and searches of English civil registers
revealed that Harriet survived her husband by only four years.
William's son John Vine Milne was easily traced in 1881: he was now
established as a schoolmaster at Henley House in affluent Hampstead.[3] By this time John and his wife Sarah were
parents of two very small children, David and Kenneth. The immediate household included John’s
brother Alexander, now a schoolmaster, as well as Sarah’s mother Sarah
Heginbotham, whose roots were in Derbyshire.
The full census listing gives the names of four domestic servants, as
well as a dozen or more scholars.
Moving on to 1891, the census schedule indicates that Henley House School occupied two houses,
where John was now employing two teaching staff.[4] Alan A. Milne, aged 9, is the newest member
of the family and a scholar, like his two elder brothers. With eight more scholars listed, they have
plenty of young company, as well as a cook, housemaid, parlourmaid and a
footman to attend to their needs.
By 1901 John had moved to Kent, where he had charge of a school at Streete Court, Westgate
on Sea.[5] His brother Alexander was also doing very well for himself,
as ‘Principal of Boy’s Private School’ at Hastings in Sussex.[6] The full schedule for University School in Holmesdale
Gardens extends to two census pages, including numerous teaching and domestic
staff, as well as a couple of dozen boarding pupils. Alexander is by now married to Georgiana and
their home is shared with their four small daughters, plus a nephew, Alan Milne aged 19 years, an
undergraduate at Cambridge.
A
search of the 1911 census found that John Vine Milne and his wife Sarah had settled into retirement in the Essex village
of Steeple Bumpstead.[7] A couple of domestic servants shared their
home, where Rosalie Polineni was visiting from France. The other member of the household was Alan
Alexander Milne, a journalist aged 29, who was working at home on his own
account, as well as for ‘Punch’. He was destined to make a name for himself as A. A. Milne, who created the ‘Winnie the Pooh’
stories for his son, Christopher Robin Milne.
The Hundred Acre Wood was the setting for many of the adventures
featuring Winnie the Pooh, together with his various friends and of course
their human companion Christopher Robin.
So if you have Milne ancestors from Woodside in Rothiemay, why not celebrate the literary connection by playing Pooh sticks next time you're in the area?
[1] GRO Census 1851, Piece 1707,
Folio 98, Page 15.
[2] GRO Census 1861, Piece 794,
Folio 21, Page 35.
[3] GRO Census 1881, Piece 172,
Folio 65, Page 32.
[6] GRO Census 1901, Piece 868,
Folio 31, Page 22.
[7] GRO Census 1911 RG14PN10495 RG78PN560 RD204 SD1 ED1
SN159.
