Hon Robert Dunbar and Marjory Miller in Wick Part D

 

To keep up with the philandering lifestyle of Hon Captain Robert Dunbar of Latheronwheel we need to read the records of the kirk session of Wick as well as Latheron.

Wicked Wick

With the fishing industry established in Wick, by 1823 some 12,000 people found employment in the fishing season, many of these being Highlanders displaced by the land Clearances. The three main suburbs of Wick were - Wick (to the north of Wick Water), Louisburgh and Pultneytown.

The Herring Season Wick - George Washington Wilson

 

Not everyone was happy. In 1840 Rev Charles Thomson wrote “The herring fishing has increased wealth, but also wickedness. There is a great consumption of spirits, there being 22 public houses in Wick and 23 in Pultneytown. Seminaries of Satan and Belial”. It was not unusual for 500 gallons of whiskey to be consumed in one day.

https://www.caithness.org/atoz/wick/historyofwick/eveolutionofwick.htm

 

Louisburgh Street, Wick

 Wick 1826

On 24^th March 1826, the Wick session met and constituted. Marjory Miller in Louisburgh compeared (appeared) who lately brought forth a child in fornication and being exhorted to tell the truth gave up Mr Robert Dunbar at Latheronwheel Parish of Latheron as the father. The session appointed an extract of this minute to be sent to the session clerk at Latheron. The said Marjory Miller being a very hardened offender was sharply rebuked and exhorted to repentance.

Marjory gets rebuked, the baby not baptised, Dunbar gets off

There is no record in the Latheron kirk session of the minute being received by the session clerk at that time. As Robert Dunbar of Latheronwheel belonged to the parish of Latheron it would have been important to the kirk session at Wick that they did not have to take responsibly for the upkeep of this child. But at that time neither the Wick session nor the Latheron session agreed to baptise this baby. There is no record of Robert Dunbar being fined nor being exhorted to repentance or held to account in any way. Robert Dunbar certainly did not marry Marjory or any other of woman he took advantage of.

The Roundhouse is a category B listed building which overlooks Wick Harbour. It was built in 1807 for George Burn, a local contractor who constructed Wick Bridge, the inner harbour and houses in upper Pulteneytown.

The Hardened Offender

Why did the Wick session elders say Marjory Miller was a hardened offender? To find that out we need to go back a couple of years. On 18 April 1824 Marjory Miller appeared before the session and confessed herself to be with child to John Munro Soldier in the 72 Regiment of Foot. She was rebuked, exhorted and ordered to attend again when called.

Wick Nov 11^th 1840

In November 1840, fourteen years after the ‘1826 Dunbar baby’ was born there is a record in the kirk session of Wick stating “ Dunbar The Hon Robert at LatheronWheel had by Marjory Miller an illegitimate child born March 2 1826. Name of Robertina”. Although not recorded, the name would indicate it was a female child.

Robert Dunbar finally formally acknowledged himself as father to this Robertina, the daughter he had with Marjory Miller. 

 

So by the time the Wick session does baptise her Robertina must have been 14 years old. Without baptism Robertina would have been stigmatised and regarded in society as a bastard which would have been difficult for her and her mother. Even though still recorded as illegitimate actually taking her father’s name in the church records, especially a landed proprietor, would have been a significant milestone for them both.

By this time four of Robert Dunbar’s illegitimate children were in Wick or Latheron.

To be continued…

https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/virtual-volumes/volume-images/volume_data-CH2-821-5/GAZ01107?image_number=116

https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/virtual-volumes/volume-images/volume_data-CH2-821-5/GAZ01107?image_number=140

https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/record-results/11358404076502614cb8e17

Hon Robert Dunbar and Henny Sinclair Part C

 

Hon Robert Dunbar and Henny Sinclair Part C

Lybster Market 1835

In August 1836 Henrietta (aka Henny) Sinclair, an unmarried young woman from Dunbeath, appeared before the kirk session and confessed that on 22^nd July she had brought forth a female child. On being interrogated as to the father she gave Mr Dunbar of Latheronwheel. Henny further declared that the guilt was committed on Friday after the Lybster market last year. 

Walter Geiki

 

Market days were occasions when social interactions were a bit less restrictive than at other times. There were travellers on the road. Folk came to buy, sell and bargain for goods. Whisky was frequently for sale and trouble often brewed around the local inn. It was a time when a woman could easily be taken advantage of. Probably having walked to the Lybster market from Dunbeath, not surprisingly Henny remembered what else happened that particular Friday. I doubt Robert Dunbar walked to the market at Lybster. He is shown in the 1851 census as having his own  coachman.

A Scottish Roadside Scene. 1830. Walter Geiki

 

The Kirk Session Response

The kirk elders reacted to Henrietta as they usually did in such cases. She got a serious telling off and told to come back later. The Hon Robert Dunbar got a letter – which he ignored.

A year later in July 1837 Henny appeared before the session again as she really wanted her child to be baptised and that would not happen if she could not get the father of her baby to admit his responsibility. Again on being interrogated she confirmed what she had said previously that Robert Dunbar was the father.

The session decided that as Mr Dunbar had given no answer when formerly written to on this subject the clerk was to submit another copy of the minute to him hoping that Mr Dunbar would give a candid reply at his earliest convenience.

Their Daughter is Baptised at Last

There is no record of Dunbar’s letter but he must have eventually admitted his guilt as in February 1838 he was present when his daughter was baptised. The baptism record is not quite clear on the baby girl’s name which is given as Sinclair Dunbar. Robert Dunbar had dragged the chain for a year and a half before fronting up to his responsibilities.

Pregnant Again

A year later Henrietta was in trouble again and as before she is seen to carry all the guilt. On 3^rd June 1839 Henrietta Sinclair from Dunbeath confessed that she had brought forth a female child in fornication in December last. On being asked as to the father and seriously exhorted to make an ingenious confession gave up David Gunn, Merchant in Swiney, who had already intimated his confession to the session.

The elders considering that as this is the woman’s second child and there is no evidence whatsoever of reformation, the session resolved to delay admitting her to discipline at present. The discipline would have involved standing before the whole congregation in sackcloth and showing repentance, following which the child’s baptism could take place. There is no record of public shaming for the father of this baby, who was a married man and a spirits dealer. To his credit he did admit his fault without a showdown. There is a record showing that five years later, in1844, David Gunn and Henrietta Sinclair presented their daughter Catherine for baptism. 

Walter Geiki

 

In both of the pregnancies of Henrietta the fathers were men who had substantially more resources than she did, Dunbar being a landed proprietor, and Gunn being a grocer and spirits merchant. While she had to personally stand before the elders and listen to the rebukes, Dunbar had received two letters from the elders that they ‘hoped’ he would reply to, but he ignored for months, leaving Henny waiting for the baptism to happen. Gunn had ‘intimated’ his guilt before being called in and there is no record of him appearing. Henrietta was the one who had to be seen to reform. This time she had to wait for years to baptise her second daughter.

 

https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/virtual-volumes/  Latheron kirk session, Minutes (1734-1776, with gaps) Minutes (1819-1843) (CH2/530/3) pages 49 – 52 & pg 149