Gaynor wrote after the Heritage Trust's recently published book, 'Burntisland Voices', stirred a few memories. Here are some of her comments.
Mum has just been telling me a while ago about the three Masterton sisters who were related to Rigbys. (I think I was in school with Irene Rigby.) They apparently had three big dogs (Huskies she thinks) and were "always on the High Street with them". I fondly last met Inez Masterton, Mrs Harrower and Pearl Robson when I joined the Order of the Eastern Star in Burntisland when still in my teens. My older sister was in Isa Duncanson's dance class and I have a photo of her class from about 1943-44. I went to Alice Robson's dance class and have photos of her concerts...
My dad John (Jack Malone) was a school friend of Frank Clewes, Jimmy Angles, and friend of Geordie Curtis. Dad served his time at the yard as a plumber and was apparently one of the apprentices invited to take up welding when it was first introduced; therefore he became a pipe-fitter/welder and went on to many years working on oil refineries in the middle east (Aden/Kuwait then Jamaica), being away on contract for two years at a time with no trips home, working for Kellogs Construction of USA. During the war he was sent to London and lived through the Blitz there. After that war, he had several trips from London to the Argentine as a ships' plumber on the Highland Chieftain (Royal Mail line). Later in life he settled in Manchester and then emigrated to Australia...
I loved the comments in your book on Pin Robertson and, yes, I was in his class and like most was absolutely terrified of him. If I'm not mistaken it was he who drummed the 23rd Psalm into us and I never forgot a word of it.
One of the things I find so frustrating is that I spent about four years in total living in England. Although I have made several trips to, and around, Scotland, I am only now (in retirement in Australia, where I was born) discovering that I have passed through many of the places - including Burntisland - which were the homes of ancestors, without my having had any idea of the significance of these villages and towns to me and my family at that time.
I have traced my Burntisland Jack family back to Samuel Jack, born in the town in 1728. My great-grandfather, Andrew Jack, was the second son of Robert Jack and Jean Sharp who were married in Burntisland in 1820. Andrew was the fourth of five children: Robert (born 1822), Isabel (b 1826), Janet (b 1830), Andrew (b 1830) and David (b 1837).
Andrew married Margaret Dick in Edinburgh in 1852. They moved to Sunderland and opened a tobacconist shop. They had ten children, of which only five survived past childhood. One of them was my grandfather, John William Jack, born in 1872. He became a marine engineer, married Jane Millar, and they had two children - my father, Alexander Jack, in 1899, and Marion in 1901. They emigrated to Australia, arriving in January 1913.
Thank you for this opportunity to put these long-forgotten Burntisland citizens and descendants in print in their old home town. I'd love to hear from any distant cousins who still live in the Burntisland area.
Bert and Margaret Firth celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary recently. Margaret (née Roy) is a native of Burntisland, and she and Bert return to the town regularly. They met at Dunfermline Ice Rink in 1944. At that time Margaret worked with British Aluminium in Burntisland and stayed with her family in Rossend Gardens, and Bert was serving in the Fleet Air Arm at H.M.S. Merlin, Donibristle. They were married in Burntisland Parish Church on 23 November 1945. They eventually settled in Yorkshire, and have five sons, three daughters and 17 grandchildren.
Compiled by Iain Sommerville
of Burntisland Heritage Trust
(225 High Street, Burntisland; tel. 01592 874933; e-mail - iars@fife40.freeserve.co.uk; website - www.burntisland.net )