I am very interested in the life and career of Kate’s grandfather John Farquharson, an herbalist and bone setter! He was born 9 May 1784 in Ardoch, a barony on the River Clyde between Dumbarton and Cardross, Dunbartonshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland, just northwest of Glasgow. He was baptized 24 May 1784, in Cardross. His parents were Colin Farquharson and Jean Robertson.
John Farquharson and Jean Ferrier were married 31 May 1817 in Cardross. Jean Ferrier was born 17 September 1787 in Cardross to William Ferrier and Mary Fisher. John was 33 and Jean was 29 years old on their wedding day. They primarily raised their family in the Glasgow.
Children of John Farquharson and Jean Ferrier
John and Jean had 9 children that I know of:
- Mary Fisher Farquharson (b. 8 Nov 1818, Greenock East, Renfrewshire)
- Colin Farquharson, Kate Farquharson’s grandfather (b. 19 Aug 1821, Burnfoot of Cardross)
- Jean Robertson Farquharson (b. 4 Sep 1823 Greenock)
- Janet McAlpine Farquharson (b. 26 Mar 1825, Tradeston, Gorbals)
- Jean Farquharson (b. 1826)
- Margaret Gourlay Farquharson (b. 1 Mar 1827, Tradeston, Gorbals)
- William Farquharson (b. 14 Mar 1829, Laurieston, Gorbals)
- John Farquharson (b. 4 Mar 1831, Gorbals)
- Elizabeth Farquharson (b. 29 Apr 1833, Gorbals)
John Farquharson’s was 34 years old when his first child was born. Her birth record lists his occupation as “Spirit Dealer & Herbalist”. Jean Robertson Farquharson’s birth record 5 years later also lists John as an herbalist.
John appears in Post-Office annual Glasgow directories several times, at several business addresses:
- 1832-1833, page 111: “Farquharson, John, herbalist and bone setter, 34 Hospital Street”
- 1833-1834, page 71: “Farquharson, John, herbalist and bone setter, 34 Hospital Street”
- 1834-1835, page 77: “Farquharson, John, herbalist and bone setter, 34 Hospital Street” and page 279 misspelled: Under “Herb Dealers” – “Ferguson, J. 34 Hospital street”
- 1835-1836, page 299: Under “Herb Dealers” – “Farquharson, John, and bone setter, 41 Oxford street” [source]
- 1836-1837, page 274: Under “Herb Dealers” – “Farquharson, John, and bone setter, 41 Oxford Street” [source]
- 1837-1838, page 272: Under “Herb Dealers” – “Farquharson, John, and bone setter, 50 Eglinton Street” [source]
- 1838-1839, page 277: Under “Herb Dealers” – “Farquharson, John, and bone setter, 50 Eglinton Street”
- 1839-1840, page 290: Under “Herb Dealers” – “Farquharson, John, and bone setter, 50 Eglinton Street” [source]
- 1840-1841, page 298: Under “Herb Dealers” – “Farquharson, John, and bone setter, 50 Eglinton Street”
- 1841-1842, page 315: Under “Herb Dealers” – “Farquharson, John, and bone setter, 6 Stanley place” [source]
- 1842-1843, page 308: Under “Herb Dealers” – “Farquharson, John, and bone setter, 6 Stanley place” [source]
- 1843-1844, page 84: “Farquharson, John, herbalist, 4 Stanley Place” [source]
- 1845-1846, page 103: “Farquharson, John, herbalist, 155 Eglinton Street” [source]
- 1848-1849, page 108: “Farquharson, John, herb and bone doctor, 78 West Street, Tradeston” [source]
- 1849-1850, page 118: “Farquharson, John, herb and bone doctor, 5 Eglinton Place” [source]
John, age 57, appears on the 1841 Scotland Census residing at 6 Margaret Street, Gorbals, occupation herbalist. The household consisted of John and Jean and their children Colin, Jean, Janet, Margaret, William, John, and Elizabeth. Colin (our ancestor) was 20 years old at the time (but listed as 15) and working as an engineer’s apprentice; daughter Jean was 15, working as a straw hat maker.
Colin Farquharson’s marriage record to Maria Selby 20 March 1850 at the parish church of St. George in the East, Tower Hamlets, London, lists his father John Farquharson as a druggist.
The 1851 Scotland Census finds John, age 67, residing at 97 Centre Street, Gorbals, occupation herbalist. Wife Jean and their youngest daughter, Elizabeth (age 18) still lived at home.
John Farquharson Death
John Farquharson died sometime between 1851 and 1858, when Jean Farquharson was committed to the Barnhill Poorhouse Lunatic Asylum in Glasgow. The last record I have for him is the 1851 Scotland Census. There is a death record for a John Farquharson 22 September 1853 in Gorbals; cause of death “Phthisis” (Tuberculosis), however the age of death is 10 years off from what it should be (listed as 79 when he would have been 69).
Glasgow and the Gorbals
Glasgow was a vibrant and rapidly growing center for commerce during John Farquharson’s lifetime, growing from a population of around 77,000 in 1801 to over 275,000 in 1851. The Gorbals was a melting pot, working class microcosm of the industrial revolution, home to workers for the city’s burgeoning textile, ship building, engineering, and ironworking industries. Overcrowding and a highly mobile population made the city vulnerable to epidemics. Polluted water supplies, a smog-laden atmosphere and a lack of sunlight were ripe conditions for chronic illnesses as well as epidemics. German philosopher, political theorist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist Frederick Engels wrote in 1844 that he “did not believe, until I visited the wynds [side alleys] of Glasgow, that so large an amount of filth, crime, misery and disease existed in one spot in any civilised country”.
Thomas Fairbairn Scenes from the Gorbals 1848-1850
These drawings depict scenes in the Gorbals towards the end of John Farquharson’s lifetime.
Thomas Annan Photographs
Thomas Annan was a Scottish photographer who created the first photographic record of the housing conditions of the poor, with 31 photos shot in the 1860’s and published posthumously in 1900 as The Old Closes and Streets of Glasgow. View more of Annan’s work here.
