Lesley [Mairi] McLaren (1934 - 1957+) in Canada

[ChipChip]

I need to be very careful with this lady because she may still be living at the age of 85. I am trying to establish what happened to her following her emigration from Scotland to Canada in 1957. The ship was bound for Montreal but her destination is simply given as Canada.

Lesley was a nurse/midwife who was born in Sep 1934 at an unknown location. I suspect that she was born in China, possibly Hong Kong, where her English father, John Herbert McLaren (1901-1964), was a Mariner working for the China Navigation Co.. Her parents married in Hong Kong in 1929 and the family lived in China for a time returning occasionally to the UK to see her Scottish mother's relatives in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Lesley trained as a nurse in Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy whilst living care-of her Edinburgh relations. She is listed in the Nursing Register and seems to occasionally use the middle name 'Mairi' which was the forename of her mother Mairi McRury (1900-1964+). I do not know if she was actually born with it. Furthermore, she is in the Register up to 1968 which makes it look like she is still in Scotland at that time. I suspect that the Register is out of date because I have found similar situations with other candidates. It comes as a bit of a surprise to find her father John was living in Currie, Midlothian, Scotland when he died in an Edinburgh hospital in 1964.

[WilmaM]

Have you looked at her father's death certificate? who was the informant on that occasion?
have you found her Mother's death too?
Perhaps a newspaper announcement of John's death may have further information on the family.

[ChipChip]

WilmaM

Thanks for your response.
I do have a copy of her father's death record from Scotlandspeople but have failed to find any obituary for him or his wife Mairi.
The Informant to his death in 1964 was not his wife, who was apparently still living, but his sister-in-law who lived in Edinburgh and that is why I recorded the "death" of his wife as "1964+". She could possibly have died abroad sometime after that.

[Currie]

Chinese newspaper entries from September, 1936, to at least July, 1937, show J. H. McLaren as Master of the S.S. Shasi.
https://wikiswire.com/wiki/Shasi_II

No help otherwise.

Alan

[ChipChip]

Currie.
Thanks for your reply. I had a look at the WikiSwire link you kindly provided which relates to a ship he captained. The Swire part concerns John Swire & Sons who actually founded the China Navigation Co..
In 1948 John was on a trip from Southampton, England to China and gave his home address as "care of John Swire & Sons " when they had an office in London, England.
The search for daughter Lesley continues.