The Finlays
These are my maternal grandmother’s people.
Archibald and Finlay
William Finlay married Elisabeth Archibald in Dundee, Scotland on the 17th of August 1806. He was in the Stirlingshire Militia but was presumably from the Dundee area.
Record obtained from ScotlandsPeople website www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
A side note: Militia (Scotland) Act 1802
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Militia (Scotland) Act 1802, 26th of June.
The Militia (Scotland) Act 1802 (42 Geo. 3. c. 91) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom affecting the Militia, a locally raised force for home defence. It applied to Scotland while there were other acts of the same year applying to England and Wales, and to Ireland.
The Act
The Act broadly extended the same provisions as the Militia Act 1802 to Scotland, with some changes for local variations. That Act had brought together a number of the earlier pieces of militia legislation passed during the French Revolutionary Wars, standardising and reenacting them. It provided for an "Old Militia" with a total strength of 8,000 in Scotland and allowed for a "Supplementary Militia" of half as many again which could be raised with Parliamentary approval.
Each county's Lord Lieutenant would set the amount of militiamen to be raised from the various areas of their country, and parish constables would draw up lists of all eligible men between 18 and 45. Men were divided into five classes:
Under 30, no children
Over 30, no children
All men, no living children under 14
All men, one child under 14
All other men
Men were to be drawn from the classes in order - if a quota could be filled only from the first and second classes, the third, fourth and fifth were untouched. A class could be taken in its entirety if it was below the absolute quota, but if larger than the number required, a ballot was to be used. Any man who was taken into service through this process was known as a "principal” and was sworn in to serve as a private soldier for a term of five years, after which they were exempt until a fresh ballot was made or could volunteer for further service. Instead of serving themselves, they could arrange to provide a "personal substitute" who was willing to serve in their stead; this could be a volunteer already on the local ballot, or someone from elsewhere in the county (or a neighbouring county), and it was expected that they would receive a bounty of a few pounds to encourage them to volunteer. Parishes could also arrange to provide parochial substitutes in lieu of their quota of men and were allowed to levy a parish rate in order to pay bounties to these substitutes. Finally, any balloted man could pay a fine of £10 and avoid service, though he would be liable to be balloted again after five years. The fines were used to hire substitutes and any surplus would go to regimental funds.[2]
A wide range of men were exempt - most obviously, officers and men of the Army, Navy and Marines, but also peers, clergymen, teachers, university students, constables, sailors, apprentices, or men working in royal arsenals or dockyards. A poor man (defined as one with assets of less than £100) with more than one legitimate child was exempt, as was any poor man physically unfit for service, or any man at all less than 5'4" tall. A man worth more than £100 but unfit for service was still liable to pay his fine or provide a substitute. Quakers were not allowed to avoid service through paying a fine, but were required to find a substitute in lieu of service; if they did not do so, the county was empowered to hire one on his behalf and if necessary seize his property to pay for it.[2]
Any men who died or were discharged as unfit would produce a second ballot of the county (in practice, probably of his local parish) to find a replacement. Should the county fail to provide enough men, it would be fined £10 per head of the annual deficit; this money was to be raised locally and could be used to hire substitutes, but if this failed to achieve the desired result, it was paid to the Treasury.
Reorganisation of the Militia
The Act increased the Scottish militia quota from 6,000 to 8,000 men and restructured it from the ten regiments raised in 1797 to fifteen. These were, in order, with their colonels:
Aberdeen (Lord Aboyne)
Ayr (Lord Montgomerie)
Fife (Lord Crawford)
Lanark (Marquis of Douglass)
Perth (Duke of Athol)
Renfrew (Earl of Glasgow)
Argyll and Bute (John Campbell)
Berwick, Haddington, Linlithgow, and Peebles (Earl of Home)
Ross, Caithness, Sutherland, and Cromarty (Lord Seaforth)
Dumfries, Roxburgh, and Selkirk (Earl of Dalkeith)
Edinburgh and Lothian (Duke of Buccleuch)
Forfar and Kincardine (M. Douglass)
Inverness, Banff, Elgin, and Nairn (Sir F. Grant)
Kirkcudbright and Wigtown (Sir John Dalrymple-Hay)
Stirling, Dunbar, Clackmannan, and Kinross (Duke of Montrose)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia_(Scotland)_Act_1802
A comprehensive search of the ScotlandsPeople website from 1805 to 1855 found birth records for six children for William and Elisabeth, however each record had birth orders for each child, the last being the eighth. The missing records are for the third and sixth children, so they have been listed here as Unknown, with a span of possible birth years:
William 1807, Dundee, Scotland (record below).
Jean (first of two with this name) 1810, Glasgow Barony, Scotland (record purchased from SoctlandsPeople).
Unknown, between 1810 and 1817.
Catharine 1817, Glasgow Barony, Scotland.
Janet 1819, Glasgow Barony, Scotland.
Unknown, between 1819 and 1823.
Jean (second of two with this name) 1823, Glasgow Barony, Scotland.
Archibald 1824, Glasgow Barony, Scotland (record purchased from ScotlandsPeople)..
Jean (1)’s record lists her as the second child, and notes that William (her father) is a weaver, which is also noted on the marriage record of William Finlay and Margaret Alcock.
Record obtained from ScotlandsPeople website www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
No death records have been found for William Finlay (eldest) or Elisabeth Archibald Finlay.
Alcock and Finlay
William Finlay (born 1807) married Margaret Alcock (also Allcock and Allcook in some records) on the 2nd of August 1837, in Stockport, Cheshire, England. William’s father’s occupation is listed as weaver, which ties in with records for his siblings as noted above.
Record obtained from Ancestry.com
William (1807) was a soldier, 97th Foot (Scottish regiment).
They had eight children:
William 1840, Dublin, Ireland. (See below).
Find My Past (findmypast.ie) search result.
John Robert 1840s, possibly Malta, (see above record, findmypast.ie) married Maria Cassion in 1869 (Registry number 3045 in 1869), he passed away in 1903 (Registry number 1436 in 1903).
Mary Ann 1847 born in Ireland and baptised in England in 1848, married John Benson in Perth, Western Australia in 1870 (Registry number 3213 in 1870, her surname recorded as Finley), she passed away in Perth in 1934 (Registry number 1295 in 1934).
Mary Ann Finlay’s baptism record from Ancestry
Article from the West Australian on John Robert Finlay’s passing, 19th February 1903
The family emigrated to Western Australia aboard the ship “Scindian” in 1850, William (1807) as a pensioner guard.
Detail from website http://wwwperthdps.com/convicts/con-wa0.html
After arriving and settling in the Swan River Colony, Western Australia, they had four more children:
Alexander 1850 Freshwater, Western Australia (Registry number 1614 in 1850), he passed away in 1866 at 15 years of age (Registry number 3177 in 1866). He was buried on the 11th of May 1866, in the East Perth Cemetery. Record available online:
https://www.eastperthcemeteries.com.au/explore/burial-search/burialsite/129324.html
Jane 1853 Claremont, Western Australia, married Henry Prior at St. Werburgh’s, Mount Barker, Western Australia in 1879 (Registry number 104593 in 1979). She passed away in Katanning in 1915 (Registry number 3500024 in 1915).
Flora Macdonald 1855 Perth, Western Australia, (birth record not found) she married George Burrow Chapman in Fremantle, in 1876. Her marriage certificate is witnessed by Margaret and Robert Simpson. She died in Norwood, South Australia on the 8th of May, 1910 (Ancestry).
Flora Macdonald Finlay’s marriage certificate from Ancestry
David 1857 Freshwater Bay, Western Australia (Registry number 3563 in 1857), he passed away in 1877 with his mother, stepfather and half-sister and half-brother on the shipwreck of the “Emily Smith”.
Anne (Ann in some records) 1859 Perth, Western Australia (Registry number 4715 in 1859). She passed away in 1860, no registry number in the Western Australian records, but there is a burial record from the East Perth Cemetery, also available online:
https://www.eastperthcemeteries.com.au/explore/burial-search/burialsite/129325.html
Side note: Anne’s record at the cemetery notes that “Father left Perth for Adelaide.”
Margaret (also known as Marjory) Finlay remarried in 1861, to a saddler named Robert Simpson. She then had two more children:
Robert Isaac 1862, Perth, Western Australia (Registry number 6370 in 1862)
Alice Maria 1863, Perth, Western Australia (Registry number 7338 in 1863)
It is presumed that William (1807) was declared dead, allowing Margaret to remarry. The trip to South Australia was reputedly for a family visit. The Simpsons and David Finlay stayed with William (1840) in Albany, Western Australia before departing on the brig “Emily Smith.” The ship ran aground and was lost off Kangaroo Island in South Australia, and the family, including William (1807) and Margaret’s son David, were drowned.
Articles from Trove
The wreck of the “Emily Smith”
One further piece to this was recently discovered, a hospital admission record from South Australia in 1873 for a William Finlay, 66 years old, born in Dundee, who had been living in the area for 13 years - possibly the same William Finlay as age, birthplace, and time in South Australia all fit. Admitted for pneumonia, 4th of November 1873.
Record obtained through Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/62318/images/62318_b1110986-00018?pId=93393
William (1807) eventually ended up in a Perth poor house (Dalkeith Old Men’s Home) and died there on the 11th of June 1890.
Copy of death certificate obtained from Western Australian births, deaths, and marriages
Coppin and Finlay
William Finlay (1840) married Sarah Coppin in Busselton, Western Australia on the 6th of February 1861 (Registry number 1599 in 1861).
They had ten children:
Charlotte 1862 in Champion Bay, Western Australia (Registry number 6167 in 1862), married Charles Frederick Layton in Albany in 1882 (Registry number 5222 in 1882), she passed away in Perth, Western Australia in 1951 (Registry number 102590 in 1951).
William James 1863 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 7087 in 1863), married Rosalind Passmore in Albany in 1886 (Registry number 6154 in 1886), he passed away in Perth, Western Australia in 1947 (Registry number 101052 in 1947)
Alice Constance 1865 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 8892 in 1865), married John Underwood Green in Albany in 1889 (Registry number 269 in 1889), he passed away in Albany, Western Australia in 1945 (Registry number 5400065 in 1945).
Amelia Jane 1867 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 10335 in 1867), married William Proudfoot Milne in Albany in 1888 (Registry number 276 in 1888), she passed away in Drummoyne, NSW in 1939 (Registry number 15120/1939).
Alexander John 1870 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 12244 in 1870), see below for further records.
Henry Walter 1872 in York, Western Australia (Registry number 13925 in 1872), he passed away in Western Australia in 1900 (Registry number 1855 in 1900).
Adeline Sarah 1874 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 15998 in 1874) she passed away the same year in Albany (Registry number 8282 in 1874).
Albert Edward 1875 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 16875 in 1875). No further records in the Western Australian registries, records from Ancestry.com show that he passed away in Kensington Park, South Australia in 1939.
Ernest Collington 1878 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 18978 in 1878), he married Cecilia Adeline Baylis in Norwood, South Australia in 1903 (Australian Marriage Index p.1179 Vol.217), he passed away in South Australia in 1956.
Mabel Mary 1879 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 20441 in 1879), she married William Alexander Chapman in Adelaide, South Australia in 1900, she passed away in North Fitzroy, Victoria in 1963 (Registry number 18712/1963).
Sarah Coppin Finlay passed away on the 18th of September 1884 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 12750 in 1884)
William (1840) passed away after a brief illness two years later on the 16th of June 1886.
Article from Trove, Saturday 19th of June 1886 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232698873
Photograph by author, February 2022
Copy of death certificate obtained from Western Australian births, deaths, and marriages
Photograph from Albany Library historian, many thanks
Harris and Finlay
Alexander John Finlay married Amy Caroline Harris at St Werburgh's, Mount Barker, Western Australia in 1894 (Registry number 94 in 1894).
They had ten children:
Percy William 1894, Albany, Western Australia, (Registry number 884 in 1894), married Daisy Evelyn Isabel Campbell in Albany in 1924, (Registry number 5400019 in 19240, and he passed away in Perth, Western Australia in 1980 (Registry number 101535 in 1980).
Mabel May 1896, Albany, Western Australia, (Registry number 2146 in 1896), married Charles Hyman in Katanning, Western Australia in 1924 (Registry number 88 in 1924), and she passed away in Fremantle, Western Australia in 1963 (Registry number 204 in 1963).
Ernest John 1898 in Albany, Western Australia, (Registry number 4008 in 1898). Ernest wanted to enlist to fight in WWI, but was too young, so he took passage to Canada and enlisted in the Royal Canadian Infantry and died in France on the 11th of March 1917 – one month short of his 19th birthday.
Lillian Jane 1900 in Albany, Western Australia, (Registry number 4530 in 1900), married Stanley Wright in 1924 (Registry number 934 in 1924), and she passed away on the 14th of March 1956 (Registry number 690 in 1956).
Henry Charles 1902 in Albany, Western Australia, (Registry number 5241 in 1902), married Mary Louise Blair in Katanning in 1924 (Registry number 56 in 1924) and he passed away in Katanning in 1972 (Registry number 3500023 in 1972).
Amy Alexandra 1904 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 5966 in 1904) See earlier information.
William Alexander 1907 in Albany, Western Australia, (Registry number 5400093 in 1907), married Elizabeth Rooney in Albany, Western Australia in 1932 (Registry number 5400039 in 1932), later married Peggy Ida May Stevenson, and he passed away in Albany, Western Australia in 1970 (Registry number 211 in 1970).
Clement David 1910 in Albany, Western Australia, (Registry number 5400110 in 1910), married Rhona Daphne Joyce Jago in Cranbrook in Western Australia in 1937 (Registry number 5400072 in 1937), he passed away in Albany in 1985 (Registration number in Western Australia is 5400210 in 1985).
Marjorie 1912 in Albany, Western Australia, (Registry number 5400206), she passed away in Albany in 1913 (Registry number 5400070 in 1913, her name was spelled Margery Finlay), the record says she was 14 months old.
John Alexander 1914 in Albany, Western Australia, (Registry number 5400241 in 1914), married Joan Mitford Fowler in Perth in 1944 (Registry number 101939 in 1944), he passed away in Nedlands, Perth, Western Australia in 1987 (Registry number 103861 in 1987).
Amy Caroline Harris Finlay passed away in Albany, Western Australia in 1936
(Registry number 5400040 in 1936, middle name recorded as Coraline).
Alexander John Finlay passed away in Albany, Western Australia in 1949 (Registry number 21 in 1949).
The obituary below does not mention his daughter Marjorie.
Photo by author on the 24th of February 2022
Article origin unknown at this time
The Harrises
William Harris married Rebecca Hill on the 29th of December, 1857 in St George Hanover Square parish, Middlesex, England. They emigrated to Western Australia aboard the vessel “Indian Chief,” arriving on the 30th of May 1858 in Fremantle, Western Australia. The vessel was a private ship, and the records indicate there were only three immigrants aboard – two men and a woman.
They had eight children:
Margaret Jane 1859 in Perth, Western Australia (Registry number 737 in 1859), she married George Rennie Miller in Perth in 1879 (Registry number 4757 in 1879). He passed away two years later in Albany, Western Australia (registry number 11048 in 1881), and Margaret Jane moved east to find work. She remarried in Victoria, Australia to Griffith Richard Hughes (registry number 8792/1890) in 1890, her name misspelled as Mergeret Jane Rennie Miller, she passed away in Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada in 1936. She and Griffith are recorded as having emmigrated to California, USA (1900 USA census), eventually moving to British Columbia, Canada and settling there (1911 and 1921 Canadian census).
From Trove, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110470628
Charlotte Louisa 1861 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 5991 in 1861), she married James Tapley Simmons in Albany in 1881 (Registry number 5023 in 1881), she passed away in Perth, Western Australia in 1945 (Registry number 102289 in 1945).
William Richard 1863 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 7239 in 1863), he passed away in Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada in 1942, apparently without marrying or issue.
Sarah Marian 1865 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 8817 in 1865), she married Thomas Henry Kneebone in Perth, Western Australia in 1899 (Registry number 1274 in 1899), she passed away in Perth in 1935 (Registry number 101158 in 1935).
Mary Hatley Rebecca 1868 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 10586 in 1868), there is a marriage record for Mary Hatley Rebecca Harris and Charles William Pratt in Victoria in 1898 (Registry number 5681/1898), she passed away in Woodville, South Australia in 1959 (Ancestry records).
Sophie Elizabeth 1870 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 12458 in 1870), no marriage records found yet, however Ancestry records suggest she married a Robert Clarke, she passed away in Rozelle, New South Wales in 1935 (Registry number 8560/1935, first name recorded as Sophia).
Cecilia Emma 1873 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 14680 in 1873), she passed away that same year in Albany (Registry number 6726 in 1873).
Amy Caroline 1874 in Albany, Western Australia (Registry number 15999 in 1874). See above for more details.
William Harris and Rebecca Hill’s marriage record obtained from Ancestry. Interestingly, it notes William and Rebecca as widower and widow, which seems unlikely given their ages at the time, Rebecca being only 19, and William reportedly around the same age.
William Harris is recorded on Findagrave.com as having passed away in 1879 and is reportedly buried in the Pioneer Park cemetery in Albany, however there is no official record of that. A copy of a death certificate for a William Harris who passed away in Williams, Western Australia in 1879 was obtained from the WABDM, it notes that the deceased was 50 years old and died of influenza, with no other details. It is unclear whether this is the correct William Harris. There is a discrepancy between this and the family story that he was killed while away droving.
Rebecca Hill Harris died on the 12th of November 1915, and is buried at the Pioneer Cemetery in Albany, Western Australia. (Registry number 5400080 in 1915).
Photograph of headstone by author on the 24th of February 2022
Death notice, Trove http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26964124 West Australian 27th of November 1915
The Hills
Satchell and Hill
Henry Hill was born to William Hill and Elizabeth Satchell (she the daughter of John Satchell and Jane Foster, baptised on the 24th of November 1717) and baptised on the 30th of October, 1736 in Weldon, Northamptonshire, England. He married Martha Belcher (she the daughter of Richard Belcher and Martha Slater, baptised on the 16th of September 1739 in Desborough, Northamptonshire, England) on the 15th of november 1762, in Weldon, Northamptonshire, England.
The had six children:
Richard 1763, baptised the 21st of August, in Weldon.
William 1768
Elizabeth 1770
Henry 1773
Martha 1777
Mary 1781
Henry Hill and Martha Belcher marriage record, bottom of page, record obtained from Ancestry
Richard Hill and Rebecca Rowse baptism records (same document) record obtained from Ancestry
No burial records found as yet for Martha Belcher Hill or Henry Hill.
Rowse and Hill
Richard Hill married Rebecca Rowse (she the daughter of James Rouse and Ann Sanders, baptised on the 6th of January, 1764 in Weldon) on the 19th of April, 1785 in Weldon.
They had seven children:
John 1785
Henry 1788
Ann 1791
Lucy 1795
Mary 1798
Jane 1801
Richard 1804, baptised the 15th of July, in Weldon.
Richard Hill and Rebecca Rowse marriage record from Ancestry
Richard Hill (the younger)’s baptism record from Ancestry
Richard Hill the elder died in 1833.
Rebecca Rowse Hill died in 1838.
Holt and Hill
Richard Hill (the younger) married Charlotte Holt (she the illegitemate daughter of Mary Holt, baptised the 2nd of February 1800) on the 25th of March, 1827 in Weldon.
The had six children:
Mary 1828
John 1829
James 1832
Jane 1836
Rebecca 1838, baptised the 27th of May in Weldon. See above for details.
Richard 1844
Charlotte Holt and Richard Hill marriage record from Ancestry
Rebecca Hill baptism record from Ancestry
Charlotte Holt Hill died in 1861.
Richard Hill the younger died in 1892.
The Coppins
James Coppin (son of James Coppen [1779 – 1832] and Elizabeth Whitnall [1781 – 1847]) married Charlotte Collington (daughter of John and Mary Collington, born 1811 - Mary died in childbirth,) on the 18th of April 1831 at St. John the Baptist Church, Croydon, Surrey, England. They had eight children, the first three born in England, and the remaining five in Western Australia:
Eliza 1834 in Addington, Croydon, Surrey, England, married William Dennis O’Brien in Busselton, Western Australia in 1851 (Registry number 341 in 1851), she passed away in Broken Hill, New South Wales in 1894 (Registry number 3378/1894).
Sarah 1836 in Selsdon, Croydon, Surrey, England (see above).
Christopher 1839 in Croydon, Surrey, England, married Eliza Bradley in Busselton in 1861 (Registry number 1644 in 1861), married Eleanor Rosetta Rose in Busselton in 1874 (Registry number 3693 in 1874), he passed away in South Guilford, Swan District, Western Australia in 1915 (Registry number 6100115 in 1915). [Eliza Bradley Coppin died in Blackwood District, Western Australia in 1870, aged 30 (Registry number 4747 in 1870) online records say she died in childbirth, the twin babies also not surviving].
Side note: The family of five emigrated to Western Australia aboard the ship “Diadem,” arriving in Leschenault, Western Australia on the 10th of April 1841. They settled in the Australind area and their first child born in Australia was born there. They did not remain in the area; however, the next child being born in the Augusta, Western Australia region, and the last 4 in the Busselton, Western Australia region.
Copy of ‘Diadem’ Passenger List
Passenger List ‘Diadem’- London to Leschenault 1841
The ‘Diadem’ was a barque of 398 tons. She departed Gravesend on December 18, 1841 and arrived Port Leschenault on April 10, 1842. The ‘Diadem’ was one of the four vessels that brought settlers to Australind under the Western Australian Company Scheme.
Source: Australind Family History Society Newsletter,
‘The Skeleton,’ August 2002
From https://www.harveyhistoryonline.com/?p=222
Photos of the monument to the ships landing at Australind, Western Australia, taken 6th October 2024
Henry 1842 in Australind, Western Australia (no registry record found), married Anne Feeney in Busselton, Western Australia in 1868 (Registry number 2690 in 1868), and he passed away in Mahogany Creek, Western Australia in 1893 (Registry number 38 in 1893).
James 1845 in Augusta, Western Australia, reportedly dying there that same year. No records found under James, however there is a birth record for a John Coppin in 1845 in Augusta, Western Australia in 1845 (Registry number 579 in 1845, listing the father as John Coppin, no mother recorded – poor record taking perhaps).
Walter John 1847 in Busselton, Western Australia, married Susan Adeline Beere in Toodyay Valley, Western Australia in 1870 (Registry number 3107 in 1870), he passed away in Perth, Western Australia in 1920 (Registry number 100467 in 1920).
Mary Charlotte 1850 in Busselton, Western Australia (Registry number 1548 in 1850) married Joseph Blythe in the Blackwood region in 1870 (Registry number 3140 in 1870), she passed away in Perth, Western Australia in 1894 (Registry number 971 in 1894, surname recorded as Blyth).
Alice Elizabeth 1854 in Vasse, Western Australia (Registry number 2476 in 1854), married George Rose in Busselton in 1873 (Registry number 3566 in 1873), she passed away in East Guilford, Swan District, Western Australia in 1927 (Registry number 6100055 in 1927).
Charlotte Collington Coppin passed away in Busselton in 1860, no record found yet.
James Coppin remarried to Sarah Rose in Busselton in 1869 (Registry number 2098 in 1869), no children from the marriage, and he passed away “Near Vasse” (Busselton) in 1883 (Registry number 11980 in 1883).