By the Author

The Bowies, whose roots are in Clackmannanshire, are my paternal great grandmother’s family. Many members of later generations were still living in the county at the end of the 20th century, although several had moved to the Scottish cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Stirling. The Bowies were a working-class family and many individuals in the earlier generations found employment in the area’s main industries, particularly the textile mills and coal-mining. Others worked in domestic service and in a range of manual and unskilled jobs. Many of those in later generations became skilled tradesmen, several served in the armed forces, and a small number entered the professions. One notable exception to the Bowies’ socio-economic profile was the Lyle family, into which my great great aunt Mary Bowie married in 1887. Her husband, Robert Alexander Lyle, was a stockbroker; at his death in 1917, he left an estate valued at £22,585.1s.2d (equivalent to around £1.5 million in 2017). The Lyles are also worthy of special mention because of the tragedies that visited their lives. Mary and Robert Lyle had three children, the youngest of whom, Thomas Basil, was killed in action in World War I. The following year, Mary’s brother Thomas committed suicide by hanging. Agnes Emma Hall, the first wife of Basil’s elder brother, Robert, committed suicide in 1929, and Robert took his own life in 1941. Their details are recorded in this family history.

For more information about Prof. Sir George Bain and his family history, visit his website