Glenbuchat Heritage

144 Davidsons of Newseat and Ballochduie

Davidson Family (Cont)

I am grateful to Susie Mellot for the above photos and census forms relating to the Davidson Family of Newseat.

The pictures Show:

1. James Davidson and Elizabeth McKenzie
2. John James Davidson
3. John James Davidson and his younger brother William playing the violin
4, 5, 6. Census returns 1881, 1891, 1901

Susie sent the following reply in connection with and enquiry about the photo of a couple at Ballochduie
Click to see the photos. In the page click on ‘View large picture’

“I think the photo (at Ballochduie mentioned above) could well be of John Davidson, with his mother and sister, both called Helen. The Census information shows the Davidson's living at Ballachduie in 1891, then in Newseat in 1901and 1881 (In the census, the croft is called Ballachduie, I don't know how it is pronounced. Or is it Ballochduie?)
James senior, died in 1901, aged 96 yrs. in Newseat, where he had farmed his whole life and where John went on to set up his family with Jessie Weir.
John's brother William Reid Davidson, died at the age of 24, he had been training to be a teacher
like his elder brother James.
Click to see the more details about the Davidson sons at teacher training college in Glasgow.

Said James had along teaching career along with his wife, Elizabeth McKenzie from Knochbain. They had 8 children in all, all well-educated, three of the sons went to South Africa. James died in Edinburgh at the age of 80yrs. James's eldest son was John James, known as JJ, he was a banker and fiddle player / conductor and founding member of the 'Strathspey and Reel society of Strathspey’. He is in one of the attached photos playing the fiddle with his little brother William. JJ died in Edinburgh at the age of 83, he only had one son, Iain, my grandfather, also a banker in Edinburgh and an elder in his local Morningside church.”

Comment on Mr. Davidsons conducting.
From “Traditional Fiddling In Strathspey:
The Unschooled Scots Fiddler and His Style”
By Hugh Robert Nichol Macdonald

The role of the conductor was, very much that of a teacher at rehearsals, correcting melodic and rhythmic mistakes and (in slow airs especially) suggesting where to use elements of 'ex pression'. His most obvious function was, of course, to provide a 'beat', but the extent of his rhythmic discipline over a body of fiddlers of such differing styles cannot be speculated upon. Mr. Davidson, the Grantown conductor, was from all accounts a schooled fiddler who did not insist (and it is doubtful whether it would have been possible) on uniformity of bowing, but it is impossible to say whether 'discipline' (of the orchestral kind) might have been considered more or less important then than it is now in fiddle bands. Certainly, if one compares the rhythmic discipline of-the present Bancho-Strathspey and Reel Society (Where the conductor is a semi-schooled fiddler and 'orchestral' values such as playing exactly together are not stressed) and the Elgin Strathspey and Reel Society~ 3 (where the conductor is a violinist and an emphasis on corporate rhythmic discipline is clear), one might conclude that the style of a fiddle band as a whole is substantially dependent on the degree to which the conductor wishes, or is able, to regard his own role in 'orchestral' terms.



Davidson Family History

Alexander Davidson
1770–
Birth 1770 Longside, Aberdeenshire,
Death Unknown
Parents
Unknown father
Unknown mother
Spouse
Mary Glennie 1771–1841
Children
Mary Davidson 1801–1885
Jean Davidson 1803–
Peter Davidson 1805–
James Davidson 1805–1891

James Davidson
1805–1891
Birth 14 Apr 1805 Glenbucket, Aberdeenshire,
Death 19 Aug 1891
Parents
Alexander Davidson 1770–
Mary Glennie 1771–1841
Spouse
Helen Cordiner 1813–1892
Children
James Davidson 1842–1922
Alexander Davidson 1844–
Mary Davidson 1846–1935
William Reid Davidson 1848–
John Davidson 1850–1908
Hellen Davidson 1852–
Unnamed Davidson 1856–1856

James Davidson
1842–1922
Birth 10 Aug 1842 Glenbucket, Aberdeenshire,
Death 28 Nov 1922
parents
James Davidson 1805–1891
Helen Cordiner 1813–1892
Spouse
Elizabeth McKenzie 1849–1934
Children
John James Davidson 1874–1957
Alexander Cook Fullarton Davidson 1876–1952
James (Jim) McKenzie Davidson 1878–1953
Donald Davidson 1880–1930
Robert Kennedy Davidson 1882–1949
Helen (Nellie) Davidson 1885–1965
Catherine Elder Davidson 1886–1953
William Davidson 1888–1971


John James Davidson
1874–1957
Birth 2 Jul 1874 Longtown, Northumberland, England
Death 20 Dec 1957 Windsor Gardens, Musselburgh, Midlothian,
Parents
James Davidson 1842–1922
Elizabeth McKenzie 1849–1934
Siblings
Spouse and children
Maggie Ann Flett Inkster 1877–1938
Iain Craigie Davidson 1911–1989

William Davidson
1888–1971
Birth 13 Sep 1888 Contin, Ross-Shire
Death 1971 Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Family
Parents
James Davidson 1842–1922
Elizabeth McKenzie 1849–1934
Spouse
Olive Natalie Titchener 1898–
Children
Stephanie Jean Davidson 1928–2017
Private

Iain Craigie Davidson
1911–1989
Birth 19 Jun 1911 42 Crown Road, Morningside, Edinburgh
Death 6 Nov 1989 •43 Greenback Road
Parents
John James Davidson 1874–1957
Maggie Ann Flett Inkster 1877–1938
Spouse
Elizabeth Maxwell Clark 1918–2007
Children
John Maxwell Davidson 1943–2007
Private
Private
Private

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