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David Hepburn Paton
15/8/1864 - 12/3/1916
David was Calum's and Jamie's great great
grandfather.
David was born during the reign of Britain's Queen Victoria at 4.45pm on August 15th 1864,
in New Street, Blackford, Perthshire (GROS:1864/333/47), a year or so after the arrival there of his mother Janet,
father William and two elder brothers, James and William, all of whom had
relocated to the village from the Calton district of Glasgow so that William senior could take up work as a currier,
a preparer of leather.
In April 1866, as an innocent two year old,
and the youngest in the household, David was undoubtedly completely unaware of the immense trauma that his family
were going through in the wake of the brutal murder of his maternal grandmother Jessie Rogers (nee Henderson) at Mount Stewart Farm in the nearby village of Forgandenny, Perthshire. The murder, known both as the
Mount Stewart Farm Murder and the Bridge of Earn Murder, shocked Scottish society at the
time for its sheer brutality, and dominated the country's newspaper headlines for over a year, until the trial of the main
suspect, farm labourer Peter Crichton, in 1867. The fact that the case against Crichton was eventually found to be non-proven,
must have sickened the family to the core.
In approximately 1868 or 1869, David would have attended school. There were two primary schools in
Blackford at that point, Blackford Public School and Blackford Free Presbyterian Industrial School. The records for the public
school, including the school register, still survive in the A. K. Bell. There is no mention of David or any of his siblings
attending this school, and it must therefore be deduced that he attended the Free Church school.
By the time of the 1871 census, David was still attending school in Blackford,
whilst his father continued to work in the village as a currier. By this stage, David had been joined by three sisters, Jessie
(named after his deceased grandmother), Margaret and Catherine.
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| New Street, Blackford - August 2004 |
In November 1876, David's visually disabled
aunt, Annie Rogers, relocated to Blackford from Airntully in the parish of Kinclaven, Perthshire, after the death of her father, David's
grandfather, James Rogers. David's sister Margaret moved in with Annie at some point shortly after, most likely to be able
to help her incapacitated aunt around the house, and Margaret is therefore recorded here in the 1881 census as a 12 year
old scholar, rather than at the family home(GROS:1881/333/2/14). But David undoubtedly would also have paid regular
visits to Annie's cottage, to make sure that all her needs were being attended to, and he would most likely have run
on various errands for her.
In approximately 1879, David finished school, and in 1881,
he was now listed in the Blackford census as being an apprentice leather cutter, obviously following his father into the
leather trade, a major industry in Blackford at the time. And at some point between 1881 and 1886, David took up work
with Glasgow based company R. & J. Dick, perhaps arranged through contacts of his father, and it may even have been with
them that he had taken up an apprenticeship.
R. & J. Dick
was based in Greenhead, Clydeside, Glasgow, and was founded by the two brothers Robert and James Dick. The two
brothers had come to prominence after they had discovered a new gum in Borneo called guttapercha, from which they were able to make synthetic shoes and mechanical rubber belts. Initially
the brothers had a major disaster when their shoes made entirely from the gum were found to melt in extreme temperatures!
But when they decided to make leather uppers for their shoes and to reduce their costs in the shops, a hesitant public
suddenly flocked to buy them. The company soon became an international success and prided itself on its slogan "All our goods 5s a pair". Guttapercha shoes had
in fact been imported to Brussels from at least as early as 1853, as an advert in the Brussels Commercial Almanach for that
year records the wonders of the new "Semelles de Gutta-Percha, nouvellement importees en Belgique". Evidently they had taken
off so well in Brussels that the Dick brothers decided to open their own shoe shops in the Belgian
capital.
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| An 1892 advertisement for the two R. & J. Dicks shops managed by David Hepburn Paton |
On September 15th 1886, at
the age of 22, David made his way to Brussels in Belgium, where he
took up residence in the city at 37 Rue D' Or. He had obviously impressed
the two brothers enough in Glasgow to be given
the opportunity to manage their shoe shops in Brussels,
which were located at 106 Rue de Flandre and 76 Marche Aux Herbes, both of which were fairly close to each other. The shop
on Rue de Flandre was called "Chaussures Anglaises"
i.e. "English Shoes". One can
only imagine how David fared in a country with two first languages, French and Flemish, both of which at that time were
fairly uncommon in rural Perthshire, or Glasgow for that matter!!
On November 29th 1887, David was recorded as living on Marche Aux Herbes (the Grass Market) in the
city, and in the following year, 1888, he had moved to Rue Chair et Pain (Flesh and Bread Street), which directly faced the
shop on Marche Aux Herbes.
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| 1890 advert for the two Brussels R & J Dicks shoe shops |
It is not
yet known how they met, but on August 15th 1889, David married Jessie MacFarlane, aged 22, daughter of Inverness based tailor
John Brownlee McFarlane and Anne MacGillivray. David would have frequently returned to Glasgow from Belgium, to the headquarters of R. & J. Dick,
and it was almost certainly in the city that he met Jessie. At the time of the wedding, David was listed as a
'manager in the boot trade', and was again living at Marche Aux Herbes, in
Brussels, most likely at the shop in which he worked. The wedding
was carried out according to the forms of the Free Church of Scotland, and the witnesses were Alexander Fraser and Annie MacFarlane.
The minister was John J. Black who lived at The Manse (GROS:1889/098/104).
After the wedding, it seems that David at first returned to Brussels on his
own, as in the 1890 census, on February 30th, he was recorded as living alone at Rue du Laeken, although he did
have a domestic servant working for him called Catherine Lories, born in Lembeecq,
Belgium in the 1830s.
In
1890 the two shops at Rue de Flandres and Marche Aux Herbes were still going strong, with a pair of 'bottines elastiques,
pour Hommes' going for 9fr 50, a pair of 'souliers, pour Dames' for 7fr 50. The two shops were still going in 1892, as evident
from a local advert in publication at the time.
In 1892, David was listed as living in Saint Gillies, which at the time was outside the limits in Brussels, although it is today a part of the city.
But by 1894, we know Jessie had joined her husband in Brussels, as on April 26th
she gave birth in the city to the couple's first child, their daughter Annie McGillivray
Paton. Annie's birth entry records that David and Jessie were living at 76 Marche Aux Herbes.
When Annie's birth was registered on the 28th, we learn of two witnesses who were friends of the couple and possibly
involved in David's business. The first was 37 year old Auguste Moreau, negociant,
meaning a sales representative or negotiator, whilst the second was David's 23 year old magasinier (the person who took care
of the shops stocks and supplies) Charles Depoorter, from Schaerbeek.
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| R.&J. Dicks on Rue de Flandres, early 1900s. The figure in the shop doorway is believed to be David. |
David's
father William Hay Paton tragically died back home in Glasgow, Scotland, on January 20th 1894, almost certainly a devastating time
for David and his family. It is not known whether he returned to Scotland to be with his mother, but if so, the chances
are he would have stayed at his parents' tenement home of 40 Springfield Road.
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| 76 Marche Aux Herbes - once David's shop, & birthplace of William & Annie - now Raphael's Restaurant |
Back in Brussels, on October 11th 1896, at 11.00am, Jessie gave birth to the couple's first son, William. In William's baptism certificate,
the family are still listed as living at 76 Rue Marche Aux Herbes, one of the R. & J. Dick shops, but they are also listed
as domiciled at 40 Springfield Street in Glasgow, the house in which David's father William had resided prior to his death
in 1894, and within which presumably his mother Janet was still dwelling. Williams birth was
registered in the presence of Roderick Fowler or Fawler, a 33 year old merchant tailor,
and 33 year old magasinier François Van Espen.
On October 29th 1898, the couple had a third child, John Brownlee Paton, and his birth was registered in the city on November 7th.
(It was not possible to obtain John's birth certificate in the Brussels archives in March
2004, as the records from that period are still sealed, but his birth date was mentioned in a later census entry.)
In the 1900 Brussels census, David is listed as being resident at
76 Marche Aux Charbons, with his official address being curiously listed as Blackford, his birthplace. In either August 1900
or 1901, Jessie seems to have temporarily returned to Inverness in Scotland, but it is not known
for how long.
In 1902, the second of
the brothers who had founded R. & J. Dick, James Dick, died in Glasgow. According
to the archives of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, preserved at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow:
Both brothers had always given their workers
an almost paternal care... He died a millionaire in 1902, typically leaving most of his fortune in philanthropic
bequests. Nor were his former employees forgotten. In addition to individual gifts to all of his workers, he left the company
itself to 14 of the principal employees.
David was obviously one of the employees to receive a gift from his former boss! From the book "One Hundred
Years of Guttapercha - R & J Dick Limited", we learn that for all the company's managers a bonus of £300 was paid,
in recognition by James Dick for their hard work.
On May 24th 1904, David and Jessie had their youngest son in Belgium,
Charles, who was to become Calum's
and Jamie's great grandfather. (Unfortunately the birth certificate is not yet available from Brussels archaic archive system,
but the birth date has been confirmed from his death certificate.)
Five
months later, David is recorded as having moved to the Koekelberg area of the city, on October 11th 1904.
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| 1904 advert for Balata Dick belts in Brussels |
Also
in 1904, an advert appeared in the Brussels Commercial Almanac, advertising "Balata
Dick belts" for sale in Brussels, at 83 Rue Van Arlevelde. These belts were huge industrial transmission belts for machinery
that were invented by the Dick brothers in 1885 from a new gum resin called 'balata' . Balata was a fantastic alternative
resource to leather, and the so called 'Dickbelts' made from this resin became famous worldwide. The resin was so versatile,
it also replaced guttapercha as a source for the shoe manufacturing arm of R & J Dick. With David being the company's
shoe shop manager in Brussels, there is a strong possibility that he was also in fact a company representative for the promotion
of the Dickbelts made by his company, although this is as yet just a supposition.
And in the Almanac of 1906, we learn that R. & J. Dick
had two shops at this point at 31 Chaussee d'Ixelles and
at 106/108 Rue de Flandre. It is not known if by now the shop at Marche Aux Herbes was still in operation, or whether it had
been closed and a new one opened in its place at Chaussee d' Ixelles.
Another significant event in 1906 was the final passing away of David's mother Janet
Rogers in Glasgow, at 40 Springfield Road. Again, it is not known whether David returned to Scotland to be with his
brothers and sisters for their period of mourning.
The
year 1907 marked a huge change, in that the majority of the family returned to Scotland for a significant period, initially
settling at the Inverness house of Jessie's father, 8 View Place, although David seems to have stayed on in Belgium,
initially with his son Charles.
On May 10th 1907, David sent a photographic
postcard of Charles, taken in Brussels, to his daughter Annie in Inverness. The front of the card, depicting Charles
in a Highland outfit, can be seen below at his biographical entry; the reverse of the card, with David's message is reproduced
here:
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| Postcard written by David to his daughter Annie in 1907 |
Cher Annie,
I only got the photos of Charlie today. I am longing to get a long
letter from you.
Love to all.
Papa
PS. sending C to mother.
Despite
its briefness, the postcard tells us many things. It tells us that Annie was with her mother's family in Inverness, at
8 View Place, and that French was a language that she spoke, with David using words like 'Cher' and 'Papa'. It also tells
us that young Charles was with his father in Belgium at this point, and was on the point of going over to Inverness to join
his sister and mother.
It
may be that David in fact brought Charles over to Scotland himself. The admissions register for Inverness High School (in
fact a primary school), shows that his son John joined class Std I on May 21st 1907, transferring to Std II on August
12th 1908. When John joined the school in May 1907, his parent or guardian was noted as being David H. Paton, resident
at 8 View Place. Interestingly, John was noted as having had previous schooling in Brussels, although the school
itself where this may have happened is not listed. Also of further interest is the fact that neither Annie nor William were
listed as pupils at Inverness High School, and yet we do know that Annie at least was in Inverness at this point.
Shortly after this, we know that David certainly did return to Brussels, as on July 31st 1907, he was again listed as
living alone in the Brussels census, having moved from Koekelberg to new premises on the Rue d' Artois - presumably to
a smaller property that would be less expensive for him to rent.
After
the death of the two Dick brothers, David continued to work for the company, which in 1908 became R. & J. Dick Ltd, having
by now taken on shareholders and diversified its interests to manufacturing mechanical
belts, known as "Dick belts", from a substance called balata, which was as durable as leather, and like guttapercha,
originated from a tree resin. On May 19th 1909, David was recorded as moving to a new property at Ixelles, where he was still
recorded as living alone.
Back
in Inverness, David's youngest son Charles also started his schooling at Inverness High School on April 21st 1909.
But on August 23rd 1910 the register tells us that Charles had left Inverness High School, having "gone to Glasgow".
Why the family uprooted at this point and moved south is unclear, but they presumably stayed with one of David's siblings
in the city, his parents by now being deceased. Hopefully the 1911 census will shed some light on this when it is released
in a few years time!
By
October 1911, Jessie and the family had once more relocated to Belgium. The Belgian authorities recorded on October 10th that
she and the children had moved to the St Gilles commune.
In the 5th annual general meeting of the company in Glasgow in 1912, the minutes
record the effects of the reorganisation of the company's boot department (Mitchell Library:TD 1376):
At home the chief event has been the complete reorganisation
of our Boot trade... we are devoting considerable attention to the Balata Boot and are sanguine of doing well with this article.
We were the first to introduce this boot, as the material used for the soles is identical with the Dick belt. The demand for
the boot is encouraging, and I would suggest to every shareholder that this obvious interest is to increase that demand.
The
new boots took off spectacularly at first, as the minutes of the following year's AGM record ((Mitchell Library:TD
1376; Nov 13th 1913):
The reorganisation of the Boot Department has
been proceeding steadily and shows us that we are on the right line. The results of last year show considerable improvement
on those of previous years and we look to further advance in the current year. We propose in particular to give attention
to extending our retail trade by increasing the number of our shops, and we look to our shareholders to assist in advertising
the excellence of the Ballata boots of R. and J. Dick.
In 1914, the Brussels Commercial Almanach
recorded another shop at 30 Rue St Catherine, a new shop in addition to those already in existence, although this one was
simply named "R. Dicks". The premises, built in 1697, still exist today as a cafe called "Kapiteinje". But with
the advent of the First World War, it was certainly to be the last shop in Belgium that David
would be involved with
Calum's and Jamie's grandfather, Colin Paton (see
the Patons - Part Four page), was told as a child that his father's family had been repatriated to
Britain from
Belgium at the outbreak of the
First World War. After much research, the truth of the story has finally come to light.
On June 28th 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife
was assassinated in Serbia by Gavrilo
Princip, setting off series of events that led to the world madness of the so called 'Great War'. By August 4th, Germany had invaded
Belgium, despite being warned
against doing so by the British. The event signalled Britain's entry into the First World War, and Belgium was to become
one of the bloodiest battlefields of the entire four year long conflict.
David and his family were in the
city on August 20th when Brussels fell to
the Germans. From Memoirs & Diaries: August 1914,
by nurse Esmee Sartorius, comes the following description of the German arrival in the city:
At 3 p.m. next day the Germans marched
in; it was a soul-stirring sight, seeing these impassive and tired-looking troops marching in to what seemed like a deserted
town, every door and window shuttered and barred, and not a civilian to be seen, or a sound to be heard, save the steady tramping
of the German troops, regiment after regiment, guns, cavalry, Uhlans with their fluttering pennons on their lances.
One felt that thousands of Belgians were
waiting and watching behind their shuttered doors and windows, with bated breath and terrible anxiety lest anyone or anything
should cause a disturbance, and so bring down the punishment of the enemy.
However, nothing happened, owing to the
notices which had been posted up everywhere, and the wonderful influence of Burgomaster Max, who had implored everyone to
be careful and to give no cause or excuse for trouble. Brussels being an unfortified town, he had begged the people
to help in a peaceful occupation.
His words had the right effect and, after
a time, doors and windows were opened, and cafes put their chairs and tables outside again, and the town gradually resumed
its everyday life, but with a strong undercurrent of fear and consternation at the terrible feeling that the enemy was really
in occupation, and Brussels under German rule.
Panics were easily started these days,
and one sometimes met a crowd tearing down a street terror-stricken, crying that the French were outside the gates and a battle
beginning, and one had to turn and run with the crowd till the panic was over.
We heard there were a number of wounded
lying not far outside Brussels, and M. and I tried to get a car to take us out there to pick them up, but the Germans would
not allow a car outside the gates just then, so we took a tram as far as we could, then walked, but could find no trace of
them.
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| German soldiers on La Rue Royale, Brussels, First World War |
Over three days, fifty thousand German
troops poured into Brussels, completely unchallenged. The reason for the relative ease in the take over of Brussels was that
the Belgian authorities had realised at an early stage that the city could not in any way be defended. As such, the government
declared Brussels to be an "open city", and the Germans were allowed to simply walk in, whilst the Belgian king, the government
and the majority of foreign diplomats retreated to the fortified town of Antwerp. Only three foreign diplomats remained in
the capital, the ambassadors of China, Spain and the USA, who as well as looking after the interests of their own nationals,
took on the additional responsibility of interceding with the Germans on behalf of other foreigners.
In the immediate aftermath of the invasion, David and
his family almost certainly carried on living their lives as normal, so long as they did not
get up to any activity that was contrary to the German war effort. However, with war now underway, David's shops would
have only been able to sell what they already held in stock, with new stocks from Scotland now completely cut off. This
is confirmed by an entry into the minutes of the R & J Dick AGM on December
4th 1914 in Glasgow (Mitchell Library:TD 1376):
The results of the work
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