1851 Census - Deciphering Occupation .....

[Rockford]

Hi everyone,

Can anyone who hasn't been up half the night tell me what the occupation is of James Mitchell, of Millburn House, on the 1851 Census page below? (He's about halfway down) I've got "M.D [managing director?!] Edinburgh Practice *******"

http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... ?pos=-1253

I'd like to know as my 3 x great grandfather is the poor carter lugging Mr Mitchell's goods......

Brian

[JustJean]

Hi Brian

I had a peek at your image....and thought it said MD Edinburgh not in and then with practice written over the top of not in....MD meaning to me Medical Doctor.....so then I decided to see how ancestry might have mangled the interpretation of that and was pleasantly surprised!!

Name: James Mitchell
Age: 54
Estimated birth year: abt 1797
Relationship: Head
Spouse's name: Ann C
Gender: Male
Where born: Fenwick, Ayrshire
Parish Number: 638
Civil parish: Dalserf
County: Lanarkshire
Address: Millburn House
Occupation: M D Edinburgh Not In Practice
ED: 6
Page: 4 (click to see others on page)
Household schedule number: 11
Line: 11
Roll: CSSCT1851_151
Household Members: Name Age
Margaret Campbell 29
Archibald Gilchriest 21
Elizabeth Grey 25
Ann Mitchell 7
Ann C Mitchell 42
James Mitchell 54
James C Mitchell 2
Jane Mitchell 6
John Mitchell 9
Margaret Mitchell 11
James Rankin 45
John Roberton 12


Best wishes
Jean

[Kathy]

I had thought MD may have been Medical Doctor, but 1841 census lists James as a farmer.

1841 census

Name: James Mitchell
Age: 40
Estimated birth year: abt 1801
Gender: Male
Where born: Ayrshire, Scotland

Civil parish: Fenwick
County: Ayrshire
Address: Darwhilling
Occupation: Farmer
Parish Number: 592
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
Ann Hepburn 75
James Hepburn 30
Ann C Mitchell 30
James Mitchell 40
Margaret Mitchell 1
William Mitchell 3
Helen Ritchie 25
Janet Wright 25

[JustJean]

I guess he was attending school during those 10 years....

1861 Scotland Census
about James Mitchell
Name: James Mitchell
Age: 64
Estimated birth year: abt 1797
Relationship: Head
Spouse's name : Anne
Gender: Male
Where born: Fenwick, Ayrshire
Registration Number: 638/2
Registration district: Dalserf
Civil parish: Dalserf
County: Lanarkshire
Address: Millburn House
Occupation: Graduate Of Medicone Not Practicers
ED: 1
Page: 19 (click to see others on page)
Household schedule number: 94
Line: 1
Roll: CSSCT1861_95
Household Members: Name Age
Margaret Anderson 50
Anne Mitchell 52
James Mitchell 64
Margaret Mitchell 21
Janet Morton 17
James Rankin 49

Best wishes
Jean

[Anne H]

Hi Brian,

Although it does say “farmer” on the 1841 census, I would say it reads "M.D. (medical doctor) not in practice" on the 1851.

1861 Ancestry has him as "Graduate of Medicine not practicing" (actually it really says: “Graduate Of Medicone Not Practicers”. The family are still living at Millburn House.

1871…don't see them!

Regards,
Anne H

[AndrewP]

Hi Brian,

In my mind James Mitchell was a gentleman farmer, who qualified at Edinburgh University as a Medical Doctor. The Fenwick section of Pigot's 1837 Ayrshire Directory has James Mitchell esquire of Dalwhilling listed amongst the Gentry and Clergy.

http://www.ayr.org/history/1837Directory/fenwick.htm

Millburn House, just outside Dalserf is listed as one of the chief mansion houses in Dalserf Parish.

http://www.mining-villages.co.uk/292.html

On www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk he can be found amongst in the Wills and Testaments (Glasgow Sheriff Court) as having died at Dykehead House, Stonehouse on 11-Jan-1876. From there, his death certificate can be easily found. His wife's death certificate can be found in Logie, Stirlingshire (the parish for Bridge of Allan area) 11 years earlier.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Rockford]

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for your help, It definitely seems that Mr Mitchell had become a medical doctor by 1851.

What puzzles me is that my relation is Archibald Gilchrist, the Carter living with the Mitchell family. He is listed as 'servant', rather than 'boarder'. It might be a mistake, but why do you think that a non-practicing MD would employ a carter - or was Mitchell still farming on the side?

According to his son Alexander's 1855 birth certificate, Archibald was married in December 1851 in Carlops, Parish of Linton to Ann Gray (a millwright's daughter from Dunsyre), at which time he was a farm servant (and she would have been 2-3 months pregnant with their first child, John.) I haven't been able to find their marriage on SP - a search for a Gil* and Gr*y marriage in Linton between 1845 and 1854 gives no hits.

I had expected to find Archibald in Carlops at the 1851 Census, and when I found him in Dalserf I was surprised given that there was no sign of Ann and by 6 months later they was married with a child on the way! Mind you, I suppose a Carter had the 1851 equivalent of a bicycle , so I suppose that it makes sense really!

Thanks again,

Brian

[DavidWW]

Scottish universities used Latin, - some still do for their degrees, see http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711 for the consequent meaning of MD, as well as MB, ChB, ChM, and other variants in Scotland, with a Scottish MD = Medicinae Doctor, - yes, of course!, - this translates to Doctor of Medicine, but not "Medical Doctor".

If he never practised it would have been impossible for him to become a Licentiate or Fellow of one or other of the Edinburgh or Glasgow Colleges, since several, sometimes many, years of experience after graduation were required, plus passing a number of stringent examinations.

(It's still the case today in the UK that it's commonly the case that it takes several applications, along with the extensive, associated examination, to gain the qualifications FRCS, FRCP, and the equivalent in more specialised fields.)

Perhaps he was a younger son, so went for a profession, on the basis that it would be the eldest/elder son who would inherit the land, but the vagaries of early deaths meant that he did end up inheriting the land, so he decided to become a gentleman farmer, but was still proud of his graduation from Edinburgh to the extent that he still regarded himself as
an MD, albeit not (or never?) in practice.

David