Sir John Latta and Sir Andrew Latta

 By Joanne Ferguson

John Latta was born in Cumnock on May 9, 1867, the son of William and Margaret Allan Latta. William was a farmer at Darmalloch Farm. John was the fourth of nine children. 

 John received his early education in Cumnock and then moved on to the Ayr Academy. After completing his studies, John was hired by the Greenock firm of Craig and Scott. This company owned and managed a fleet of sailing ships. John then moved to London and became the chartering clerk with Trinder, Anderson and Company. Following that position, John took a clerk position with Little and Johnston. In 1892, John joined with Robert Lawther, the son of the famous Belfast ship owner, Samuel Lawther, to start a business called Lawther, Latta and Company. This business initially concentrated on deep sea chartering of sailing ships. John and Robert went on to build one of the most successful tramp fishing fleets.

In 1896, John married Ada May Short, the daughter of John Young Short and Mary Ada Smart of Ashbrooke Hall in Sunderland. The Short family was a family of shipbuilders building large cargo carriers.  

                                   

                                     Northern Echo Newspaper 18 Mar 1896 page 4, Newspapers.com

Ada May Short Latta

Picture from the National Portrait Gallery

John and Ada had four children: a girl who died in infancy in 1896; Sybil May, who was born in 1897; Ada Mary, who was born in 1899; and Cecil, who was born in 1903.

In 1904, John Latta was one of the British ship owners presented to King Edward VII in recognition of services to the United Kingdom.

John was knighted on February 9, 1920, for services to the country during the Boer War and World War I.

Sybil May married Philip Alexander Francis Spence, a major in the British Army Black Watch, in April of 1923. Philip was the son of John and Joanna Spence.

Sybil and Philip had one daughter, Frances R. Spencer.

Philip Alexander Francis Spence died December 30, 1960, in London. 

Sybil Latta Spence died May 22, 1968, in London.

John Latta’s second daughter, Ada Mary, married Maurice Paul Richard Fontaine de Cramayel.

                                            The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday, 22 July 1924 Page 13

                                                                        Newspapers.com

                                                        Ada Mary, Countess de Cramayel

The Count and Countess had one son, Guy Francois Philippe Fontaine De Cramayel, born in 1925 in Paris, France.  

On September 3, 1943, at “L’Elysee,” Ouchy-Lausanne, Switzerland, Maurice, Marquis de Cramayel, husband of Mary (daughter of John and Lady Latta), died at age 46.

In August of 1947, Ada Mary married Count Emmanuel Henri 

Urbain Chevreau D’Antraigues. They did not have any children.

Newspapers.com

Ada Mary died in 1988 at the age of 89.

The Daily Telegraph, Monday October 10, 1988

Newspapers.com

John’s fourth child, Cecil, worked for his father in the shipping business, traveling all over the world. Cecil never married and sadly died in Paris in 1937 at the age of 34. Because Cecil was John’s only son and had predeceaced John, the baronetcy became extinct upon John’s death.

                                                    Weekly Dispatch-London  2 Jan 1938

                                                                    Newspapers.com

Sir John Latta died on December 5, 1947. At the time of his death, Sir John was Chairman of Lawther, Latta and Company Shipowners and Merchants.

His wife, Dame Ada May Latta, died a few years later on December 22, 1951.

Newspapers.com

Andrew Gibson Latta was Sir John Latta’s younger brother. Andrew worked in the shipping industry and was knighted by the king in 1921.

Daily Telegraph, Newspapers.com

Sir Andrew Gibson Latta died in 1953 in Scotland. He never married and had no children.

From Cumnock to Cumnock

by Roberta McGee

 

The origin of the name 'Cumnock' has been debated over the years and several interpretations have been offered.

                                    Com-cnoc  (hollow of the hills)  

                                    Com-oich   (meeting of the waters)

                                    Cam-cnoc   (bent or crooked hill)    

Source: Cumnock History Group           

The name Cumnock seems to be compounded of the Gaelic words com, a bosom, and conoc, a hill; thus signifying the bosom of the hill.  

Source: Family Search                                                   

'The name itself bears witness to an early origin. It would seem to be of Gaelic derivation, although opinion varies whether Cumnock means the hollow in the hills, the sloping hill, the meeting of the waters - or something quite different.'                                                        

Source: The New History of Cumnock - John Strawhorn p11                                                                                                          

People have had different reasons for leaving Cumnock over the years. Usually it was in search of a better life. Whatever reason made them take this huge step some never forgot their roots and they took a little bit of Cumnock with them in their hearts. Some went further and created another Cumnock in their chosen country. 

Australia

There is a small town called 'Cumnock' in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It was originally known as Burrawong Crossroads and renamed Cumnock in 1879. Some sources say the name was suggested by William Ross of Dilga Station who was born in Old Cumnock. However William Ross was born in Muirkirk and he emigrated to Australia in 1845. Another source says that it was named after John Strahorn who arrived in NSW in 1838. It also claims that he was born in Old Cumnock but records show that he was born in Mauchline. Read more about our Cumnock links in NSW, Australia and the Howat family in our blog here.

Canada

James Samson was born in Old Cumnock in 1824 most likely the son of John Samson and Agnes Young. In 1841 we find James living in Hillhouse Farm, Old Cumnock with his widowed mother and his siblings. By 1852 James was living in Nichol Township, Wellington County, Toronto, Canada. He purchased 7,367 acres of land there, and, in partnership with Argyll born John Muir, built The Red Lion Inn. He named the settlement Cumnock after the town of his birth. Cumnock is located north of Guelph and 5.8 miles from Fergus and was part of Nichol Township until 1999.

Later, James and John split and John Muir, in competition with James, opened his own hotel, naming it The British Lion. James Samson added a store to his growing list of businesses and opened the village's first Post Office. The village grew to include a blacksmith, a cheese factory, a shoemaker, a flax mill, a sawmill and a small number of houses but began to decline as the railroads came through the area and the traffic along the roads dwindled. 

"There's mauny a day I dream of the braes and the lochs of my auld land. Then I look to the waters, the trees and the stanes; and I keen I am hame in Fergus, in Upper Canada."  This was written by Thomas Young in 1836. I wonder if James felt the same about his adopted home?

James married Canadian born Emma Jackson and they had four daughters together. He died in 1853 in Cumnock and Emma died in 1919 in Fergus, Wellington County.

In Canada there is a mountain named after our town. Mount Cumnock is located in Jasper National Park in the De Smet region of Alberta's Rocky Mountains. It was named after Cumnock, Ayrshire by mountain surveyor Morrison Parsons Bridgland who would climb to the top of mountain peaks with his camera equipment and take detailed photographs of them. He was a lover of mountains and was a member of the American Alpine Club. He named many mountains and I cannot find an explanation why he chose Cumnock other than that it was named after Cumnock in Ayrshire. 

 

Mount Cumnock

USA

Further south in Lee County, North Carolina, USA we find another Cumnock. Like its namesake, Cumnock in North Carolina was a mining town. It was originally a 2,700 acre plantation owned by Peter Evans who purchased it in 1830. During the American Civil War (1861-1865) it was used by Confederate troops then captured by the Union Army. 

Evans's Plantation House surrounded by Union soldiers
Image - New Berne Historical

"The Cumnock Mine was part of the Deep River Coalfield which spanned about thirty miles from Moore County, North Carolina and followed the Deep River, Lee and Chatham County's mutual border. There were nine documents listed mines but the two largest and most profitable of the mines were Cumnock (Egypt) and the Carolina (Farmville or Coal Glen."

Source: deepriverhistory.com

Cumnock was originally named Egypt. There was a severe drought which affected most settlers in the area. Peter Evans, who owned the plantation, did not seem to have been affected as badly so the residents would make their way to the plantation to purchase corn from him as the Egyptians did from Joseph in the Bible.

Egypt Store - Image Larry Pickard

In 1870 the mine closed because it wasn't making a profit but eighteen years later it was re-opened by a new company and immediately went into profit. Miners from Pennsylvania and West Virginia moved south to work there. Half the miners working in the mine were black and about a quarter were foreigners, among them many Scots. The mine was prospering and the future looked good when disaster struck. In December 1895 an explosion ripped through the mine killing forty one men. The name was changed to Cumnock after the disaster to distance itself from the bad reputation that the Egypt mine had acquired. Different sources claim different reasons why the name Cumnock was chosen.  One theory is that it was named after an investor in the mine. Another theory is that it was named after early settlers whose hometown was Cumnock in Ayrshire.

Egypt Coal Mine

Even further south we find Cumnock in Louisiana. It is an unincorporated community in Washington Parish, seven miles from the north of Franklinton, Louisiana. I cannot find any information on where the name of this Cumnock originated. 

Image - Wikipedia Commons

The Surname of Cumnock

Sometimes the name Cumnock doesn't originate from our town of Old Cumnock but is named after someone with the surname of Cumnock.

Cumnock Hall, which is part of the Harvard Business School, the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, was named after Alexander Goodlet Cumnock and one of his sons, Arthur James Cumnock. There are links to Old Cumnock with this family although the 'Cumnock' branch never lived in Old Cumnock. 

Alexander Goodlet Cumnock - Image Find a Grave

Alexander Goodlet Cumnock's grandfather, Alexander Goodlet, was born in Old Cumnock in 1783 to parents Thomas Goodlet and Janet Wilson. Alexander was a weaver and married Margaret Chatham in 1808 in Leigh, St. Mary's, Lancashire, England, his work as a weaver having taken him there. Lancashire was known as 'The Cotton Workshop of the World'. There first child Thomas was born in Lancashire in 1809. The family then moved up north to Paisley in Scotland where their daughter Margaret was born in 1815 and their son Alexander in 1820.

Paisley was a weaving and textile town famous for the production of Paisley shawls. The weavers were well-educated, well read and radical. Thomas was a weaver and a very successful singer and mimic. He was also a supporter of the temperance  movement and opened a coffee shop in Paisley High Street where many a lively discussion would take place. 

His sister Margaret married Robert McLean Cumnock in 1833 in Paisley and they went on to have six sons and one daughter born in Paisley. The Cumnock family then emigrated to the USA in 1849 and a further two sons and two daughters were born there. On arrival in the USA Robert and his sons found employment in the Lowell Cotton Mills in Massachusetts and the family went from strength to strength eventually building or operating cotton mills in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Their son, Alexander Goodlet Cumnock, was a well-known figure in New England fabric manufacturing and he founded the Lowell Textile School in Massachusetts. He acquired the Appleton Mill in Lowell with a group of family and friends and headed the company until his death when his son Arthur took over the management of the business. In the 1900 US Census Alexander's occupation is listed as 'capitalist'. His son Arthur James Cumnock was described in his obituary as a textile industry leader, President of the Catlin Parish Company and a Harvard American Football star.

Arthur James Cumnock - Image Find a Grave

Moving west to California The Cumnock School of Expression in Los Angeles was a private school for women established in the autumn of 1894 by Mrs Merrill Moore Gregg who was a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Oratory, Evanston, Illinois for many years and who was first assistant of its Director, Dr. Robert McLean Cumnock, for whom the school was named. Later a second department of the institution was established -  a preparatory school known as The Cumnock Academy.

The Cumnock School of Expression  - Image Calisphere.org

Dr Robert McLean Cumnock, son of Robert McLean Cumnock and Margaret Goodlet, paid his own way through a private secondary school because his family could not afford it. He left the school for fifteen months to fight in the American Civil War before returning to graduate in 1864. He began teaching Elocution at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois in 1868 and created a two year diploma programme when he formed The Cumnock School of Oratory. He was Dean of Northwestern's School of Communications from 1878-1913 and Northwestern University awarded him the degree of Doctor of Letters in 1919.

The Cumnock School of Oratory

                                                                                    

McLetchie to Australia

 By Keith Ferguson with Kay McMeekin

My great grandfather, John Robb McLetchie was born about 1833, in the parish of Old Cumnock to Robert McLetchie and Catherine Robb. No records exist for him or any of his siblings.  His father was a snuff box maker in the village in the 1841 census.  He was a ‘joiner’ according to the shipping passenger list that shows his arrival in Australia, during 1854.

He first sailed on the Tayleur which was shipwrecked.

Following text from Wikipedia

Tayleur left Liverpool on 19 January 1854, on her maiden voyage, for Melbourne, Australia, with a complement of 652 passengers and crew. She was mastered by 29-year-old Captain John Noble. During the inquiry, it was determined that her crew of 71 had only 37 trained seamen amongst them, of which 10 could not speak English. It was reported in newspaper accounts that many of the crew were seeking free passage to Australia. Most of the crew were able to survive.

Her compasses did not work properly because of the iron hull. The crew believed that they were sailing south through the Irish Sea, but were actually travelling west towards Ireland. On 21 January 1854, within 48 hours of sailing, Tayleur found herself in a fog and a storm, heading straight for the island of Lambay. The rudder was undersized for her tonnage, so that she was unable to tack around the island. The rigging was also faulty; the ropes had not been properly stretched, so that they became slack, making it nearly impossible to control the sails. Despite dropping both anchors as soon as rocks were sighted, she ran aground on the east coast of Lambay Island, about five miles from Dublin Bay.

Initially, attempts were made to lower the ship's lifeboats, but when the first one was smashed on the rocks, launching further boats was deemed unsafe. Tayleur was so close to land that the crew were able to collapse a mast onto the shore, and some people aboard were able to jump onto land by clambering along the collapsed mast. Some who reached shore had carried ropes from the ship, allowing others to pull themselves to safety on the ropes. Captain Noble waited on board Tayleur until the last minute, then jumped towards shore, being rescued by one of the passengers.

With the storm and high seas continuing, the ship was then washed into deeper water. She sank to the bottom with only the tops of her masts showing.

A surviving passenger alerted the coastguard station on the island. This passenger and four coast guards launched the coastguard galley. When they reached the wreck they found the last survivor, William Vivers, who had climbed to the tops of the rigging, and had spent 14 hours there. He was rescued by the coastguards. On 2 March 1854, George Finlay, the chief boatman, was awarded an RNLI silver medal for this rescue.

Newspaper accounts blamed the crew for negligence, but the official Coroner's Inquest absolved Captain Noble and placed the blame on the ship's owners, accusing them of neglect for allowing the ship to depart without its compasses being properly adjusted. The Board of Trade, however, did fault the captain for not taking soundings, a standard practice when sailing in low visibility. 

Estimates of the number of lives lost vary, as do the numbers on board. The latter are between 528 and 680, while the dead are supposed to be at least 297, and up to 380, depending on source. Out of over 200 women on board, only three survived, possibly because of the difficulty with the clothing of that era. Of the more than 50 children on board, only 2 survived. The survivors were then faced with having to get up an almost sheer 80 foot (24m) cliff to get to shelter. When word of the disaster reached the Irish mainland, the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company sent the steamer Prince to look for survivors. Recent research by Dr Edward J Bourke names 662 on board.

He finally got to Australia on the Golden Era in May the same year.

By the time, he married Jemima Wealands in 1865, he was using the name John Robb Ferguson rather than McLatchie/McLetchie. 

In this photo John is standing near a timber paddle boat that he had made and patented. One of his daughters is shown seated upon the boat, which had once carried passengers along section of a river that passed through the inland city where John, along with his wife and their children, had then lived. John was a respected elder of the Presbyterian Church. Sadly, he did not make a journey back to Scotland. He was affected by the Australian economic depression of the 1890s, and John died in 1901.

He was about 5 feet 3 inches tall (we think) and, sadly, we appear to have no photos of him as a younger man. Additional information is that John had a first cousin – also named John (1828-1888) who had married in Scotland and this family had later migrated to USA, where he had died. This cousin John was a son of his Uncle William McLetchie who had also been a joiner; and a builder, Provost and Undertaker in Old Cumnock.

Obituary from Goulburn Evening Penny Post 31 December 1901 accessed via trove.nla.gov.au 

Death of an ex Goulburn Resident.

On Sunday evening a memorial service was held at St. John's Church, Paddington, in connection with the demise of the late Mr. John R Ferguson, which event occurred at the deceased's residence Arthur street, Paddington, on Christmas Day. The Rev. J. Fulton, who preached, said that while he was established at Goulburn a few years since, the deceased gentleman was an elder of the church there, and led an exemplary life. The late Mr. Ferguson,who was a native of Scotland, and was 68 years of age, was very well known in the Goulburn. district, where he lived for many years, following the occupation of a builder. He was a man possessed of considerable inventive ability, but was often hampered in his work through lack of means. Some years ago he gave an exhibition in Sydney Harbour of an aquatic bicycle, which, although cleverly designed, failed to attain sufficient speed to make it popular.

Later on he invented a butter-cooler, but neglect to patent it resulted in the idea being borrowed by others, and ultimately the cheap production of ice practically displaced it, excepting in the scattered districts where that commodity is not easily obtainable.

Other inventions of a more or less useful character included a gold-saving machine and a reversible church seat. During the last few years he suffered from paralysis, and he came to Sydney to reside in consequence.

The deceased leaves, a widow, two sons, and three daughters, some of whom are still residing at Goulburn.

Hoping this may lead to further information about these families. Any recollections and thoughts would be appreciated, as I try to piece together a more complete family history.

Keith A. Ferguson

Anna Bay, NSW, Australia