Janet’s background
Jessie Apted Murray (“Janet”) was the fourth daughter of John Murray a meal and saw miller who lived variously in Ruthven, Huntly, Old Meldrum, Fraserburgh (where Janet was born on 19 November 1888) and (from around 1896) Mills of Hole, near Midmar.
Janet had six siblings:
- An older brother Alex (b. 1881, not pictured) who initially took over the Mill at Midmar from his father. He married Jean Fiddes in 1939, moved to Tarves and became a commercial traveller. They had a son Allen (b. 1940) who became an airline pilot.
- Carrie (b. 1884), who ran a shop at Midmar, was something of an eccentric, never married and died in 1978.
- Annie (b. 1886), who married Adam Taylor and had two children (Gladys, who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis all her life and Jack, who was a bit of a tearaway in his youth). Annie died in Kemnay in 1969.
- George (b. 1892 – a.k.a. “Eddie”), who became a headteacher, married Agness Adcock and retired to Dumfries. They had two girls, Nancy and Joanie. Eddie died in 1964.
- Maria (b. 1895), who became a hospital nurse, married Alex (“Pimple”) Gray, a teacher, and had one son, Sandy a doctor. She lived in Aberdeen and died in 1958.
- Chrissy (b. 1898), who went to University, became a headteacher, married farmer Donald Duff and had three children (Carol (later a GP), John (later a Policeman) and Peggy who was severely disabled). Chrissy and Donald retired to Torphins in 1965 and she died in 1983.
After leaving school, Janet became a nurse/governess.
How they met
The 1960 interview with the Aberdeen Evening Express reported Barrowsgate – James Hugh Smythe (“Jim”) – as having said that Janet had “sat with him in the same class at Echt School”. From 1896 onwards, Janet lived at Mills of Hole, Midmar and Jim lived at Echt, about 1½ miles away. Jim left Echt School in June 1898 when he was 15 and Janet was 9. Jim then spent the next couple of years at Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen, and it is clear that love had not blossomed during their school days. Indeed, Jim said in that interview “I understand the lady hated me during our school days”.
They must have got to know each other better between 1905 and 1909. As we know, Jim’s father ran the Balcarres Arms Hotel at Echt and Jim himself helped to operate the Aberdeen to Tarland express horse bus service which passed through Midmar so their paths could easily have crossed that way, or at the various local events such as concerts and clubs.
Separation
According to Jim’s nephew John Duff, the course of true love did not run smoothly, as Janet’s father had little time for a suitor whom he saw as little more than “a drifter on horseback”. In 1909 Janet, who had trained as a nurse, travelled to Argentina, where she became a private nurse to a family on a ranch near Buenos Aires. John’s mother Chrissie Murray (Janet’s younger sister) always maintained that this move was organised by her father to get her away from Jim. The family in question was also a Murray family, although they were no relation. Mrs and Mrs James Murray were wealthy Scottish ranch owners at Rosario, and they had at least three adult sons (Malcolm, Jack and Douglas). Mr James Murray was elderly, and Janet was probably principally employed to provide care for him.
Janet left Scotland via Newport, Monmouth, Wales in November 1909 with Messrs D A and A Murray & Mrs M A Murray, sharing the 1st Class accommodation with Messrs. Wm. Walker, H J Vincent and C R Wade bound for Buenos Aires. It is not known why Newport was chosen as the departure port. Janet stayed in Argentina for around two years.
A few months after Janet travelled to Argentina, Jim sailed for Canada.
At the outbreak of war, Janet returned to Britain and initially worked as a nurse to Lacey Andrews Vincent (1838 to 1915) in Watton, Norfolk. He was the elderly father of Sir Percy Vincent, who later became Lord Mayor of London. After his father’s death, Sir Percy wrote to Janet “My dear Nurse. I am just writing you a few lines to thank you for all your kindness and attention to my dear old Dad during his illness. You certainly gave him a lot of happiness during the last few months…”
After returning to Scotland, Janet worked in the hospitals, which were receiving casualties from the war. By this time, Janet was in her mid-twenties. There is a photo of Janet in what appears to be nursing uniform outside the Learney Arms Hotel in Torphins. There is no record of it having been used as a hospital but there were auxiliary military hospitals locally (Turriff VAD Hospital, Fyvie VAD Hospital, Kinbroon Auxiliary Hospital, Forgue VAD Hospital, Aboyne Castle and Huntly) and a general hospital north-west of Banchory.
Marriage
The war must have made Jim and Janet’s courtship extremely difficult. In a letter to the London Scottish Regimental Gazette, Jim said he had travelled home on leave in October 1916 but there does not seem to have been any earlier opportunity to do so. Then, in July 1917, Jim was allowed home from Pozières (the Somme) for two weeks to get married, and the ceremony was conducted at the Parish Church of Echt. This was the last home leave that Jim was allowed during the war. Jim was 34 and Janet was 28.
Towards the end of the war, after Jim was injured in April 1918, he was treated at Ontario Military Hospital, Orpington then Dartford Military Hospital in Kent. Around this time, Janet was resident at 57 Bostall Hill, Plumstead, South-East London. Dartford Military Hospital was situated on the south bank of the Thames adjacent to the mouth of the River Darent, around 7 miles from Bostall Hill. Janet may have been working locally (there was a Red Cross military hospital at “Shornells” on Bostall Heath) or was perhaps just visiting. Jim was at Dartford from 06 May 1918 until 15 May when he was allowed two weeks furlough before reporting to the Hurdcott Rehabilitation Camp near Salisbury on 30 May. It is likely that they would have had some time together during that period.
From Hurdcott, Jim travelled to Weymouth for further rehabilitation. There was no further leave of absence recorded in his military record so he may have remained there until late October, when he transferred to Devonport, prior to sailing for Australia on 06 November 1918 on the troop ship HMAT Marathon. However, it is possible that, as a married man, he was allowed to convalesce for a while in Scotland prior to departure. Janet was “repatriated” on HMAT Osterley on 21 May 1919 bound for Australia via South Africa. Jim, by that time, was living in Adelaide, where they would spend their next five years together.