Mary LOCHHEAD / LANG
Born 17 February 1863 in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland [28]
Daughter of Archibald LOCHHEAD and Janet MCDOUGALL; stepdaughter of Agnes Craig LANG [28]
Grew up in the villages of Johnstone and Crosslee in Renfrewshire, Scotland where her father was a Spirit Merchant [20] [28]
Married John LANG on 18 August 1885 at Crosslee, Renfrewshire, Scotland [28]
Witnesses to their marriage were James BARR and her sister Maggie LOCHHEAD [28]
Resided with her husband and children in Greenock and Kilmacolm in Renfrewshire, Scotland 1885-1914 [P1]
During the decline in the sugar industry they moved from Greenock to Kilmacolm, where they ran the Buchanan Arms Hotel [P12]
They later returned to Greenock where her husband was the Manager of the Cartsburn Sugar Refinery [P12]
Along with her husband and five younger children departed London, England on the steamship Otway on 10 April 1914 [P43]
Arrived on the Otway in Fremantle, Western Australia on 12 May 1914 [P43] and very shortly afterwards proceeded to Carnamah [P12]
Resided on Grianaig Farm near Prowaka Siding in Carnamah, Western Australia 1914-1935 [P12]
Their property was a Ready-Made Farm which her husband had purchased from the Midland Railway Company [34]
Helped cater for the supper at the evening dance of the Carnamah Races held on Easter Monday 9 April 1917 [9: 27-Apr-1917]
Won 1st prize for Butter at the Picnic Race Meeting & Agricultural Show in Carnamah on Thursday 22 September 1921 [9: 30-Sep-1921]
Attended the wedding of Robert A. CALDOW and May I. BYRNE in Three Springs on Wednesday 5 October 1921 [9: 21-Oct-1921]
Attended the Grand Plain & Fancy Dress Ball in Carnamah on 6 August 1925 in an evening dress of brown marocain [9: 21-Aug-1925]
Attended the wedding of Kathleen HÄUSSLER and Harry ZUEGG of Winchester in Carnamah on 7 February 1928 [4: 11-Feb-1928]
Wore a becoming gown of amethyst crepe de chine to her daughter Winifred's wedding in Carnamah on 27 March 1928 [4: 31-Mar-1928]
Her nephew Matthew BARR and his wife Jessie named their first home Carnamah after their relatives' home in Australia [P504]
The wooden house was one in a row of six on Mimosa Road in Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire, Scotland [P504]
Member of the Carnamah Presbyterian Ladies Guild - was Vice President in 1930 [105]
Won 2nd prize for a Collection of Jams at the Carnamah Show at Centenary Park, Carnamah on 18 September 1930 [4: 27-Sep-1930]
Their home was surrounded by floodwaters varying in depth from 18 inches to three feet during part of June 1933 [5: 16-Jun-1933]
Attended the funeral of Mrs Christina B. D. FORRESTER of Carnamah at the Winchester Cemetery on 31 August 1934 [4: 8-Sep-1934]
She and her husband celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary in Carnamah on Sunday 18 August 1935 [5: 23-Aug-1935]
Suffered a partial stroke on Tuesday morning 15 October 1935 and received medical attention from Dr Cecil P. ROSENTHAL [5]
Three days after the partial stroke she was reported to have been "making satisfactory improvement" [5: 18-Oct-1935]
Her daughter May passed away in her sleep at Grianaig Farm in Carnamah on Monday morning 25 November 1935 [5: 29-Nov-1935]
Following her husband's death in later 1935 his Grianaig Farm in Carnamah was leased and later sold [3]
Resided with her son John in a rented house on Caron Street in the Carnamah townsite 1936-1942 [P12]
While at the house in Caron Street she had atelephone for the first time - was telephone number Carnamah-35 [60]
Travelled to Scotland in 1937 with her son John, Mrs Effie FORRESTER and Miss Belle EASTON, all of Carnamah [0: image 02886]
The four of them travelled from Carnamah to Perth by train on Tuesday 4 May 1937 [5: 7-May-1937]
Her daughters Jenny and Winnie travelled to Perth to bid herself and their brother farewell before their departure [5: 21-May-1937]
Departed Fremantle, Western Australia on the steamship Largs Bay and arrived in Southampton, England on 20 June 1937 [204]
During their visit herself and her son John stayed with her daughter Jean at 12 Seyton Avenue, Giffnock in Glasgow, Scotland [204]
Departed Southampton, England on the steamship Jervis Bay and arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia on 3 December 1937 [63]
Returned to Carnamah in December 1937 and resided in Carnamah there until her death from heart failure in 1942 [1] [0: image 02886]
She suffered a stroke in mid February 1942 and the following week her condition "caused her family grave concern" [5: 20-Feb-1942]
Mother of Archie, Jenny, John, Jean, May and Winnie [P12]
Died 21 February 1942 in Carnamah; buried at the Winchester Cemetery in Carnamah, Western Australia (Row A, Plot 14) [1]
Her funeral, which was undertaken by Henry Parkin & Son of Carnamah, cost £29/10/- including minister and cemetery fees [53]
She owned effects worth £170/9/- in England, with probate being granted to her son-in-law Angus A. N. MCGILP [378]
In 2019 her great niece-in-law Mrs Audrey BARR donated the two-volume LOCHHEAD family bibles to the Carnamah Museum [P1]
Within the first of two volumes are records of her parents' marriage, her birth and the births of her brothers and sisters [P1]
Letter written by Mrs Mary LANG on 28 June 1931 at Grianaig Farm, Carnamah to her brother Robert LOCHHEAD in Canada:
My dear Robert,
You seemed to be so much in my thoughts last night I made up my mind to write first chance. I hope you are all well, and that things are going well with you. I wrote before but as you took no notice I thought you did not want to be bothered. When Archie mentioned in his letter a few months ago having had a letter from you, I meant to write at once, but the best laid plans "aft gang agley".
We are all well here, working away trying to make the best of things. I see from the papers Canada is feeling the Depression badly too. Although Carnamah is a small place there have been quite a few who have had to walk off their farms with nothing, the others are being carried by the Banks. If there is not a decent price for wheat this year it will be dreadful.
Are your family all in farms? It runs in my mind the girls married farmers. It seems a shame we know so little about you all. Jenny is a farmer's wife, Winnie's husband is a Commission Agent (his father built them a house on the farm, being an only child they wanted him living near), and he goes to business every day in Carnamah. John junr. and May are still on the farm; May's intended is a farmer, but bad times have put off their marriage. Jean you know all about, and Archie I expect is in Scotland for a six months' holiday (his war wound was giving him some trouble, he had to have an operation performed before Christmas so the trip should set him up).
You will have heard of Bob Barr's illness, it seems terrible, he has got back his speech, and can move his legs a little, but his arms are still helpless, it takes a long time to get over a shock, if ever. Aunt Maggie has a hard battle to fight and not too much to do it on, but Jean says she keeps very bright. Matthew lives in B-o-Weir two miles from Houston, he cycles up every day to help. He has a nice little girl two years old.
You might answer my letter soon, and tell me how Aggie and the girls are getting on, and where the boys are. I find time passes very quickly now, I am 68 years old and you I think are ten years older than I am. John is 76 next month; had Jane been spared she would have been the same age, John's birthday is the 10th and hers was the 12th July, that is how I remember.
I was awfully pleased about Archie's marriage, he needed some home life and Elsie is making him a good wife.
While I am writing the rain is battering on the roof and windows, yesterday we had 56 pts, the crops were needing it, and the feed was very backward so this will send it on. We have 400 sheep and over a hundred lambs (the lambing is not finished yet). Two days ago there was ice on the troughs, it was bitterly cold, and we take badly with it, but now the rain has come it is much warmer.
May milks two cows, so we have plenty butter, and of course we keep fowls for home use. We have b'fast at half past six in the morning. May gets up first and gets started, I get up to make the toast, after that between milking, separating, and washing up the time passes very quickly. We have dinner at half-past six. Luncheon is carried out, by the time all the washing up is done we are ready for bed, but there is no doubt it is a fine healthy life.
I will have to stop now as I seem to have run dry.
How many grandchildren have you? We have six, 3 Macs, 2 Sharps, and Minnie's little girl, Betty.
Now write soon, either you or Aggie. I have written the address as plain as I can, so that you will be able to make it out. Grianaig is Gaelic for Greenock.
Love to you all from all.
Your loving sister,
Mary Lang
From The North Midland Times newspaper, Friday 23 August 1935:
Golden Wedding - Mr. and Mrs. J. Lang - Celebrate 50th Anniversary
"LANG-LOCHHEAD - On August 18, 1885, at Linningford, Crosslee, Renfrewshire, Scotland, by the Rev. Alex McLaren, John Lang, Manager, Cartsburn Refinery, Greenock, to Mary, second daughter of Archibald Lochhead. On Sunday last, August 18, Mr. and Mrs. John Lang of Grianaig, Carnamah, celebrated the 50th anniversary of their wedding, when they entertained a number of relatives and friends at afternoon tea. In proposing the toast of Mr. and Mrs. Lang, Mr. John Bowman congratulated the couple on attaining the 50th anniversary of their wedding, and hoped that they would all be assembled together again on the occasion of their diamond wedding. He wished them long life and prosperity. Mr. John Lang, Jnr., made a suitable response on behalf of his parents. Those present included Miss M. Lang, Mr. John Lang, Jnr., Mr. and Mrs. C. Robertson and family, Mr. And Mrs. A. A. McGilp and family, Mr. and Mrs. John Bowman, Mrs. Forrester, Snr., and Mr. J. K. Forrester. Mr. and Mrs. Lang were the recipients of a number of congratulatory telegrams and cablegrams. Their golden wedding is incidentally the first to be celebrated in the Carnamah district."
From The North Midland Times newspaper, Friday 27 February 1942:
Obituary - Late Mrs. Mary Lang
"On Saturday evening last there passed away at Carnamah an old and highly respected resident in the person of the late Mrs. Mary Lang. The late Mrs. Lang, who was a few days over 79 years of age, was amongst the first pioneers of the Carnamah district. Together with her late husband and family she came to Carnamah from Scotland, in the early part of the present century, when the Midland Railway Company embarked on a scheme of settlement along their railway. In those days there was very little in the way of a settlement at Carnamah, and stores, etc., were obtained from Perth, while meat had to be brought from Moora. The trials and tribulations suffered by those early pioneers, who are fast disappearing, would bear recounting here, but they made light of their hardships. According to the old settlers, however, they were good days - those halycon days of yesteryears, when dances were held in the railway goods shed and everyone met on a common footing. In those days the Lang family were always to the fore in the social life of the district, and Mrs. Lang has been described as one of Carnamah's grand old ladies. In the days before the motor Car the Lang homestead, at Prowaka, was one of the common stopping places for travellers to and from Three Springs, and many a traveller has been loud in his praise of the hospitality metered out to him by the deceased lady. The late Mrs. Lang is survived by a family of three daughters - Mrs. McGilp (Waddy Forest), Mrs. Sharpe (Scotland), Mrs. Robertson (Carnamah) and two sons, Archie (New York, America) and John (Carnamah). The funeral took place on Sunday afternoon in the Protestant portion of the Winchester cemetery, the Rev. C. A. Walsh officiating at the graveside. The chief mourners were Mrs. A. A. McGilp (daughter), Messrs J. Lang (son) and A. A. McGilp and C. Robertson (sons-in-law). The pall-bearers were Messrs. J. Bowman, A. A. McGilp, J. Lang, W. Newman, J. K. Forrester, and C. W. Turner."
| Reference: Carnamah Historical Society & Museum and North Midlands Project, 'Mary Lochhead / Lang' in Biographical Dictionary of Coorow, Carnamah and Three Springs, retrieved 20 April 2024 from www.carnamah.com.au/bio/mary-lochhead [reference list] |
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