John Morrison born in Paisley

[jane.eaton1947!]

I am journey to trace my father Scottish family on my fathers side. His name was John Morrison/John Murray Morrison and he was Born in Paisley between 1917-1920? Lived at 9 Johnston Street Paisley, near the old fire station. Believed to have trained as a hairdresser. Stationed in Essex with the Scots Guards where he met and married my darling mum Doreen Cynthia Shatford in December 1941 - believe on the 25th Christmas Day. My parents had three children, Keith, Jane and Paul and I am the daughter. I met my father just once as my parents marriage did not work out and my mum divorced him in the 1950s. I believe that late

46E1CADF-E362-45AC-A2B3-F3DF842C8523.jpeg

1950’s, my father travelled to Spain where he formed another relationship and had a further three children. This relationship did not last and he returned to the UK.

Regarding his army service during WW2 he was said to have absconded twice and lived as an Italian in the hills, selling contraband goods to Tito’s army. He was captured and returned to England where he was locked in the Tower of London.

The story is that he had a brother who had lost an eye in a fight. I think his name could have been Archie and he ran a hotel in the Lake District. I also know that there were two other relatives whose names were Nellie and Newal. This I gleaned from a letter sent to my mum by her mother-in-law whose name might have been Elsie.

I hope that somewhere within this information there is someone who reads this and recognises something and can make a connection - that would be wonderful. I have added some images but as I can’t view them I am not sure which ones were processed and out of three only two uploaded.

[jane.eaton1947!]

Following on from my previous post as I could only manage to add two images. The two images are of my Scottish grandmother and my parents set against a backdrop of Egypt.This third image is of my dad in his Scots Guards uniform.

Best wishes

Jane Eaton

[WilmaM]

Welcome to Jane.

You have lots of information to work on there. It is just on the fringes of easily accessible records but we'll see what we can do.

I firstly looked for a John Murray MORRISON born in the right time frame - only one and he died as a child, so your Father's birth wasn't registered using a middle name. Lots of John Morrisons born in Paisley , too many to weed out without further information.
No obvious Archibald Morrison popping up in Renfrewshire that would match a brother. [could be through they grew up in Paisley but were born elsewhere].

I wonder about the 'Murray' acquired? middle name: his mother's maiden name, a grandparent's surname - it could help confirm a possible connection further down the line.

I found the marriage Oct-Dec 1941 Doreen C Shatford m. Morrison in Epping volume 4 a page 934.
Ancestry only has the index, so no further details. Using the Volume & Page reference should enable you to purchase the certificate to get parents' names.

A Doreen C Shatford's birth index popped up too - Jan 1920, Mother's surname Hollis Epping 4 a 1245.
Is this your Maternal grandparents?

Herbert S Shatford Jan 1919 Jan-Feb-Mar Epping Essex Evelyn E Hollis

There is a Newall Berwick BROWN marrying a Helen MORRISON in 1931 in Paisley which could be an interesting link.
She may be the lady who dies in 2006 in Paisley who's mother's maiden name was Williamson.

Sorry nothing concrete at the moment - the 1921 census could help greatly, but we are still waiting for a release date [some more patiently than others!]

[ChipChip]

jane.eaton1947!
No solutions but a few observations that may be helpful -
(1) Agree with WilmaM that middle name Murray could be a problem.
(2) One of your brothers was born with the middle name 'M'. Does that have any relevance.
(3) There are no Morrison's registered on the Scottish Valuation Rolls (VR) as Tenants of any property on Johnston Street, Paisley over the period 1915-1940. However, if the property at number 9 was sub-let to a Morrison then that name would not necessarily appear on the VR.
(4) Using the clue provided by WilmaM as to the Williamson maiden name of Helen Morrison's mother I looked at all marriages of a Morrison to a Williamson. There are quite a few but one sticks out a mile as follows -
Thomas A Murray Morrison to a Rachel Williamson in 1905 Blythswood District, Glasgow. There is no guarantee but this couple could be the parents of your John Morrison. Perhaps the 'A' stands for Archibald. More work is required,

[WilmaM]

Morning Jane,

I've been mulling this over in my mind.
Could you perhaps tell us where you gleaned all the information you have?
Was it all from the letter to your Mother?
When was the letter written, and was Johnston Street the address on it? [sorry if that's intrusive]
Or was any of it from family lore or from documents that you have?
Was there any information on the rear of the photos?
Do you have his army records?

I'm intrigued by the Murray name - no middle initial was shown on the marriage indexes and it's not on Scottish birth records, so I'm wondering where that bit of information came from.

If you don't already have it, the first step really would be to get a copy of your parents' marriage certificate, then we will know for certain what his father's name [ at least] was and we can look for the family in the Paisley area.

Like Chipchip I'd gone over the Valuation Rolls for Johnston Street [as you say the street next to that wonderful old fire station, that has had its outside restored at last] but no sign of Morrisons there.

Sorry it's all questions at this stage.

[Helen Zalewski]

Hello Jane,

Just came across your post by chance yesterday. John Morrison is my Dad from his second marriage to my Mum Rosa.