Charles Rennie Mackintosh Genealogy

I became interested in Charles Rennie Mackintosh when researching the architect John Keppie. (see John Keppie – Architect) Not in terms of his artistic prowess or architectural innovation but simply to find out what his family’s background was.

Where did Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s family originate from? Both his paternal and maternal lineages have proved difficult to fully establish however three of his four sets of great grandparents have, at least, been identified, but little else has been discovered about them. The information about his grandparents is also patchy with no direct evidence of his maternal or paternal grandparent’s marriages, both being indicated in census returns or deaths registrations only.

What is clear is that his forebears are a mixture of Irish and Scottish born individuals whose origins include County Cavan, Fife, and Ayrshire.

Paternal Lineage.

Generation 1. Parents: William McIntosh and Margaret Rennie.

William McIntosh was born in 1836 at Belturbet in Ireland.[i] His parents were Hugh McIntosh and Marjory (May) Morrice (Morris).[ii] In 1851 he was living with his parents at 94 Glebe Street in the Barony parish of Glasgow and was working as a store clerk.[iii] Seven years later on the 17^th March 1858 he became a clerk with the Glasgow Police. The records indicate he was age 22 and was 5ft. 11in. tall.[iv] He continued to live in the family home in Glebe Street until his marriage to Margaret Rennie on the 4^th August 1862 at 54 McIntosh Street, Dennistoun,[v] the home of his brother Thomas.[vi] In the registration document he is described as a mercantile clerk[vii] which is clearly an error as police records show he had unbroken service until his retirement.[viii]

Soon after joining the police he became an inspector, in charge of the Chief Constable’s office. He was promoted Lieutenant in 1864 and Superintendent in 1889, still within the Chief Constable’s office, his particular focus being the administration and organisation of the force. He had a keen interest in sport and was a founder member of the Glasgow Police Athletic and Rowing Club in 1882. He was a skilled rifle marksman and won trophies as a founder member of the 19^th Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers. He was also captain of the Tug-of-War team and led the team in competitions at the 1888 Glasgow Exhibition and in Paris in 1889.[ix]

In January 2016 five silver tug-of-war medals he won were sold by Easy Live Auctions[x] to the Glasgow Police Heritage Society and are now on display in the Police Museum in Bell Street. (see figure 2) The awards were for 2^nd or 3^rd place at the Govan Burgh, Partick Burgh or Aberdeen Sports held between 1894 and 1898.

Margaret Rennie was born circa 1836 in Ayr, the daughter of Charles Rennie and Martha Spence. At the time of her marriage she was working as a muslin darner and lived at 121 Great Hamilton Street, Glasgow.[xi]

William and Margaret had eleven children:

Martha, born at 54 McIntosh Street on the 22^nd March 1863[xii], died unmarried on the 16 August 1925.[xiii]

Isabella Marjory, born at 74 Parson Street on the 28^th November 1864[xiv], married Robert Dingwall (commercial traveller) in 1896[xv], thought to have died in Darlington, England in 1946, no substantive proof.

William Hugh, born at 70 Parson Street on the 21^st September 1866[xvi], died before 1908[xvii].

Charles Rennie Mackintosh 1868-1928

Margaret Rennie, born at 70 Parson Street on the 6^th April 1870[xviii], married Robert Williamson Cleland (coal merchant then thread manufacturer’s clerk) on the 20^th November 1906[xix], died on the 1^st February 1924[xx].

Agnes Mary, born at 70 Parson Street on the 23^rd November 1871[xxi], died in 1872[xxii]

Cecilia Bruce, born at 70 Parson Street on the 22^nd June 1873[xxiii], died in 1877[xxiv]

Ellen Eliza Robinson, born at 2 Firpark Terrace in 1875[xxv], died in 1878

Thomas David, born at 2 Firpark Terrace on the 17^th June 1878[xxvi], died in 1879[xxvii].

Ellen Eliza, born at 2 Firpark Terrace on the 4^th February 1881[xxviii], married William Lamb Gibb (confectioner) in 1926[xxix], died in Glasgow, (lived in Milngavie) in 1965[xxx].

Agnes, born at 2 Firpark Terrace on the 2^nd August 1883.[xxxi]

Margaret McIntosh died at 2 Firpark Terrace on the 9^th December 1885, cause of death was cardiac hypertrophy and cerebral haemorrhage.[xxxii] Charles Rennie Mackintosh was aged 17 years, already an apprentice architect. Two of his sisters were under the age of 5 years.

In the preface to the first edition of his book on Charles Rennie Mackintosh Thomas Howarth states that he is “indebted to Miss Nancy Mackintosh, and Mrs Gibb, his sisters”, for conversations he had with them when writing his book. Later in the preface he describes Nancy as Mackintosh’s youngest sister. [xxxiii] I’m certain this is Agnes, Nancy being synonymous with, or a diminutive of, Agnes. It’s perhaps worth making the point that these two ladies, the only surviving siblings by 1946, would have no personal knowledge of Mackintosh’s childhood, therefore that period of his life could only be illustrated anecdotally by them. On the 5^th April 1947 Nancy (Agnes) opened the Mackintosh Room in the Glasgow School of Art.[xxxiv]

William married again on the 8^th June 1892 to 42 year old widow Christina Forrest (nee McVicar). [xxxv] At this time he was still living in Firpark Terrace with his five surviving daughters[xxxvi] which is where he continued to live with his new wife until late in 1892 when the family moved to 2 Regent Park Square.[xxxvii]

Circa 1894 they then moved to Holmwood Cottage in Langside Avenue which faced into the Queen’s Park.[xxxviii] (not to be confused with ‘Greek’ Thomson’s Holmwood House in Netherlee Road!). This cottage appears to have been built around 1884[xxxix], its owner being Alexander Morton, a messenger at arms and a private detective. It was from this gentleman that McIntosh rented the cottage.[xl] They lived there for just over two years, moving to 27 Regent Park Square in 1896 [xli] where William lived for the rest of his life.

He retired from the police on the 30^th September 1899 after forty one years’ and was presented with the silver tray in the photograph to commemorate his dedication and service to the Glasgow Police Force.[xlii] He died from heart disease on the 10^th February 1908[xliii], leaving an estate valued at £482 10s 7d, included in which was 50 shares in the Rangers Football Club Ltd., reference certificate 134, each share valued at 12s. His daughter Martha Mackintosh was his executor. His inventory indicates that that he was survived by five daughters and one son. They were CRM, Margaret Rennie, Martha, Isabella Marjory, Ellen Eliza (Mrs Gibb), and Agnes (Nancy)[xliv].

One final point; when did William McIntosh, (and his family) change their name to the anglified Mackintosh? In 1892 when he remarried; the last use of McIntosh was in the 1891 census. Having said that the original spelling was continued with in the Post Office directories until his retirement. In my view the reason for the change is not particularly clear, some sources think it was to move away from an ‘Irish’ spelling of the name, others because of an estrangement between CRM and his father. If CRM initiated the change maybe he just wanted to be different, adding to his ‘avant garde’ style and his growing reputation for artistic flair and innovation.

Paternal Lineage.

Generation 2. Grandparents: Hugh McIntosh and Marjory (May) Morrice (Morris).

Hugh McIntosh was born sometime between 1797 and 1801 in Paisley, Renfrewshire.[xlv] His parents were James McIntosh, a distiller, and Isabella Morrison.[xlvi] In the 1851 census Hugh is recorded as a distiller and is married to Marjory Morris. No registration of their marriage has been discovered.

They lived in the Barony parish of Glasgow along with three of their five sons and their daughter, all of whom were born in Ireland.[xlvii] They were as follows:

Robert, born circa 1828.[xlviii]

Hugh, born circa 1831[xlix], married Elizabeth Semple in 1858[l] and had several children[li], died in 1895, occupation given as engineer.[lii]

Thomas, born circa 1833, was a clerk in an iron foundry in 1851.[liii]

James, born circa 1834.[liv]

William McIntosh 1836-1908.

Marjory, born circa 1841.[lv]

The family lived in Belturbet until 1844 when they returned to Scotland and settled in Glebe Street.[lvi]

Why the family was in Ireland from circa 1828 to 1844 is not particularly clear however Belturbet was the location of the distillery of Messrs Dickson and Dunlop and Co. which was established in 1825 and expanded in 1830, producing 90,000 to 100,000 gallons of whiskey per annum.[lvii] It seems reasonable therefore to assume that Hugh with Marjory moved there sometime between 1825 and 1828 because he found work at the distillery.

On the family’s return to Scotland Hugh McIntosh did not remain a distiller, becoming a clerk in an iron works sometime before 1861,[lviii] working as such for the rest of his life in various industries and being described as a mercantile clerk.

Marjory (May) Morris was born on the 16^th December 1797 in Methil in the parish of Weymss, Fife. Her parents were Robert Morris (Morrice) and May (Marjory) Adamson.[lix] She died at 94 Glebe Street on the 18^th August 1855, cause of death dysentery, having lived in Glasgow for eleven years with her husband and children, confirming the family return from Ireland in 1844. Her son Hugh registered the death.[lx]

Hugh McIntosh died at 208 Garngad Hill, Glasgow on the 28^th June 1873, cause of death was recorded as “Age”.[lxi]

Paternal Lineage.

Generation 3. Great Grandparents:

James McIntosh and Isabella Morrison.

This research has not established any vital records for these names in Britain or in Ireland.

Robert Morris and May Adamson.

Robert Morris (Morrice) married May Adamson in Weymss parish on the 5^th January 1790. He was a sailor.[lxii] They had seven children, six daughters and one son, the fourth of whom was Marjory (May).[lxiii] No other information has been established.

Maternal Lineage.

Generation 2. Grandparents: Charles Rennie and Martha Spence.

Charles Rennie’s birth and death dates have not been established. Using various search criteria forty nine births are recorded in the Old Parish Records (OPR) between 1553 and 1854, none of which occurred in Ayr, (see Howarth) some possibles exist between 1780 and 1795 but are unlikely as they relate to individuals born in Aberdeenshire or in the East of Scotland.

Nine deaths are recorded in the OPR, none of which are in Ayr. Similarly between 1855 and 1862 there are no Ayr deaths of that name in the Statutory Records (SR).There was one possibility who died in Bo’ness in 1859 however he was a labourer, who was a widower. 1862 was chosen as according to Margaret Rennie and William McIntosh’s marriage registration document he was already dead by that time. He was described as having been a coach proprietor in that document.

Re his marriage to Martha Spence (as per the marriage registration mentioned above) no such marriage can be found in any of the OPR, anywhere in Scotland.

No record of the Rennie family in any of the 1841, 1851 and 1861 censuses has been found.

Martha Spence’s family background has also proved difficult to definitively establish. However there are strong clues to who her parents were and when she died.

A search of OPR births produced fourteen results, eleven of which can be discounted as being too early or too late. Of the three that are left one is from Ayr which is, I believe, correct. The others are from Dunfermline.

The Ayr one indicates that Martha Spence was born on the 21^st September 1812. Her parents were Peter Spence and Sarah Johnston.[lxiv]

A search of SR deaths for Martha Rennie between 1862 (she was alive at the time of her daughter’s marriage) and 1900 produced no acceptable results. However when a search was made for Martha Spence there was one only registration from Ayr (out of nineteen results). This document confirmed her parents as detailed above however it seems she had married (again?) as she was described as being the widow of William Godfrey, a cabinet maker. She died on the 19^th December 1885, ten days after her daughter Margaret’s death, at 36 Main Street, Newton Ayr, cause of death was a carcinoma.[lxv]

Re her apparent second marriage I could not establish any marriage either before 1855 or after, between a Godfrey and a Spence, regardless of forenames.

Maternal Lineage.

Generation 3. Great Grandparents:

Unknown

Peter Spence and Sarah Johnston

Peter Spence married Sarah Johnston on the 29^th December 1802 at Newton on Ayr.[lxvi] A search of the 1841 census naming Peter and Sarah produced one result for the whole of Scotland and that was in Ayr. He was described as a cotton hand loom weaver, age 66 years, born in Ireland. Sarah was age 56 years also born in Ireland.[lxvii] When his daughter Martha was born in 1812 he was described as a soldier in the Ayrshire Militia,[lxviii] when she died in 1885 he was recorded as being a Sergeant in the Militia.[lxix]

Acknowledgement: Many thanks to the volunteer staff of the excellent Glasgow Police Museum (http://www.policemuseum.org.uk) and in particular to the curator Alastair Dinsmor for his help with William McIntosh’s police career. The photographs are my own by kind permission of the museum.

[i] Registry. City of Glasgow Police Force. Mitchell Library, Glasgow. Reference: SR.55. 3, page 38.

[ii] Marriages (CR) Scotland. High Church, Glasgow. 4 August 1862. MCINTOSH, William and RENNIE, Margaret. 644/2 185. http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

[iii] Census. 1851 Scotland. Barony, Glasgow. 622/ 28/11. http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

[iv] Registry. City of Glasgow Police Force. Mitchell Library, Glasgow. Reference: SR.55. 3, page 38.

[v] Marriages (CR) Scotland. High Church, Glasgow. 4 August 1862. MCINTOSH, William and RENNIE, Margaret. 644/2 185. http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

[vi] Valuation Rolls (1865) Scotland. Glasgow. 54 McIntosh Street. MACINTOSH, Thomas. VR010200139-/282. http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

[vii] Marriages (CR) Scotland. High Church, Glasgow. 4 August 1862. MCINTOSH, William and RENNIE, Margaret. 644/2 185. http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

[viii] Registry. City of Glasgow Police Force. Mitchell Library, Glasgow. Reference: SR.55. 3, page 38.

[ix] Ibid and Glasgow Police Heritage Society. The McIntosh Connection. http://gphs1800.tripod.com/Personalities.

[x] Easy Live Auctions. Five Tug of War Medals, lot 569. https://www.easyliveauction.com

[xi] Marriages (CR) Scotland. High Church, Glasgow. 4 August 1862. MCINTOSH, William and RENNIE, Margaret. 644/2 185. http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

[xii] Births (CR) Scotland. High Church, Glasgow. 22 March 1863. MCINTOSH, Martha. 644/2 561. http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

[xiii] Deaths (CR) Scotland. Cathcart, Lanark. 16 August 1925. MACKINTOSH, Martha. 633/B 475 http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

[xiv] Births (CR) Scotland. Central District, Glasgow. 28 November 1864. MCINTOSH, Isabella Marjory. 644/1 2290. http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

[xv] Marriages (CR) Scotland. Blythswood, Glasgow. 21 April 1896. DINGWALL, Robert and MACKINTOSH, Isabella Marjory. 644/7 223 http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

[xvi] Births (CR) Scotland. Central District, Glasgow. 21 September 1866. MCINTOSH, William Hugh. 644/1 1952.

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