In 1998, my second cousin, Jeanie McGregor aged 78, travelled from her home in Sydney, Australia, specifically to meet me and pass on her mothers story, without children of her own she didn't want her mothers story to be forgotten. She had two younger half sisters whom she hadn't seen since that fateful night of 17th November 1928. She wanted to make sure her mothers story lived on as a reminder of the suffering and hardship the women before us witnessed and experienced.
Jeanie handed me a photocopy of an old Govan, Glasgow, Newspaper dated 17th November 1928. Before I could read it she gripped my hand. "Please share it, make sure she isn't forgotten, make sure all the other women like her who suffered are not forgotten."
To travel across the world at the age of 78 for the specific purpose of asking a second cousin to share the story of her mother was huge thing to do. Ironically I had lived in Australia for ten years with my parents, and at one point we lived less than 10 minutes away from Jeanie and to find a living relative to give the newspaper clipping to.
"November 17th 1928 - Govan Newspaper
People were alerted by the screaming and crying of three young children in a top floor flat in Backburn Street, Govan. Police broke down the door to find the woman of the house Jean McGregor dead with her head lolling in the open oven. The woman had turned the gas on full and died of gas inhalation. Police noted she had taken great care to protect the children by sealing the door between the main room and bedroom to prevent gas filtering through, she had also opened the bedroom window to allow fresh air in."
I soon realised parts of the story of Jeanie's mother Jean Maxwell nee Campbell, had been far from unique. At the turn of the Century, thousands of women were working in factories doing backbreaking work for a pittance. There were few if any laws protecting women in Glasgow at the end of the 1800s and early 20th century. Countless women suffered and died because they couldn't afford medical treatment for illnesses and diseases. Hundreds died at the hands of back street abortionists, or at the hands of their husbands, and any man who took the notion, physical and mental abuse. was rife and no real laws in place to protect the poorest of the poor.
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Jean, McEwan, Maxwell, nee Campbell. Was the youngest of four daughters and two sons of John Campbell and his wife, Mary née Bone, I don't know a lot about the Campbell family, It was always a taboo subject between my father and his three brothers. My parental grandmother Helen Greene nee Campbell, was just two years older than her late sister Jean.
All six Campbell children were born and raised in Govan, Glasgow.
Their father John Campbell Sr was a steelworker in Govan Docks. Originally from Fortingall, Perthshire. He had been the last of a long line of Blacksmiths, sadly the advent of the motorcar saw a rapid decline in blacksmiths. Johns wife Mary nee Bone, was the youngest daughter of a prestigious landowning family from Daryldimple, Ayrshire.
Jean and all her siblings sisters, Maggie, Margaret, Helen and Barbara and brothers James and Duncan, were all born and raised in the flat above their mothers Confectionary Shop. Mary Campbell had bought the shop with the flat above as part of her wedding dowry from her parents.
Sadly, their youngest son Duncan had lied about his age, without telling his parents he answered Kitchener's call "Your Country NEEDS YOU!!" He died on the blood stained fields of Ypres on his first day of active service.
Jeanie explained that her two sisters were the daughters of Jean's second husband, James Patterson, while she was the daughter of Jeanie's first husband Robert Maxwell. When her mother died, Jean's sister Barbra and her husband, took her in they immigrated to Australia at the end of WW2. Jeanie never saw her sisters again. Never having a father, and being just 9-years-old when her mother died, must have been extremely traumatic. Fortunately Jeanie had a very happy life and a long marriage with a man who loved her as much as she did him.
Jeanie wasn't able to have children to pass the story down to, however her desperation to make sure her beloved mother was never forgotten brought that beautiful lady to me.
When we actually met face to face, the age gap was inconsequential, we clicked, we connected. She was the only member of my fathers family I had met apart from my darling uncles, my dad brothers It must have been genes recognising genes because we hit it off immediately.
Family... Its always been a big word important word. To know that I gave Jeanie some comfort my listening to the story of her mum. You could almost see the joy on her face to talk about her mum with a blood relative.
Jean vowed to come back in 2000 to celebrate with me, we made plans, we were like sisters in a sense. But, it wasn't to be. jean never made it to 2000. she died in her sleep in 1999. I really hope that after a lifetime of keeping that story in about her anguish and the loss of her mother inside...and finally sharing it. I pray my darling second cousin found them peace she needed and is resting up there somewhere with her darling mum.
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