SIB FOLK NEWS - Orkney Family History Society

Issue No. 47 September 2008 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY 11
FWilliam Broadfoot Borwick (born 1808), named after
the first Secession Church Minister in Kirkwall, was just
14 years of age in November 1822 and this harrowing
incident turned his mind in the direction of the Christian
ministry. Having obtained his licence in the United
Secession Church he was called to the parish of Rousay,
then to City Road, Brechin, before finally accepting Overgate
in Dundee. Borwick retired to Newport-on-Tay, Fife,
where he died on 15 June 1870. He is buried in the Western
Cemetery, Perth Road, Dundee. His widowed mother returned
to Kirkwall where she lived in Victoria Street until
her death, age 75, in 1858.
From the time of his near miraculous deliverance William
Balfour Peace (born 1805), named after the laird, began
to take an even more active interest in the affairs of
the congregation and was ordained
an elder for the Shapinsay District
in 1839. He remained in office until
he was evicted from Shapinsay
for the honourable and courageous
stand he made in the acrimonious
“New Kirk” Elders Affair (1847).³
The family moved to Laing Street,
Kirkwall, where William set up
in business as a builder and joiner
and within five years he was
ordained an elder of the United
Presbyterian (formerly Secession)
Congregation. William Peace died
in 1878 following a long and painful
illness and was interred in the
grounds of St. Magnus Cathedral
where an impressive monument
marks the spot.
James Shearer (born 1799) was appointed one of the first
four elders of the United Secession Congregation of Shapinsay,
which was organised in 1831. Although he was still
in office during the afore-mentioned “New Kirk” Elders Affair
he escaped eviction from the island and subsequently
Mr & Mrs James Shearer Photograph provided by OFHS member Gloria Cant
emigrated to South Australia of his own volition with his
wife, Frances Liddle, and five children. They travelled on
board the Caucasian, which sailed from Plymouth, Devon,
The Barossa Valley as it is today
on 11 November 1851. James was the first Scots settler
at Black Springs, present-day Springton, in the fertile
Barossa Valley. He died 2 September 1883 and is buried
at South Rhine, Springton.
Thomas Shearer (born 1801), left Plymouth with wife
Janet Shearer (sister of James Shearer, above) and
three children just three days before his brother-in-law,
on the Adelaide, and settled near Truro, South Australia.
He died 28 March
1875 and is buried in
Truro Cemetery.
There is no doubt in
my mind that their
traumatic experience
that November afternoon
gave all four
survivors a greater
sense of purpose and
determination than
might otherwise
have been granted
Photo Credit Carolyn Ruth
them. L
Notes:
1. Rusland, or Russland, an old Orkney surname of local
origin from the parish of Harray, was anglicised to
‘Russell’ in Kirkwall and Shapinsay around the turn of
the 19th century.
2. Around 1830 Alexander Russell (born 1774) fell foul
of his fellow elders of the Secession Church in Kirkwall
and was dismissed from office – but that’s another tale
waiting to be told! He died 21 May 1854 and was laid
to rest in the grounds of St. Magnus Cathedral, where
the headstone erected to his memory and that of his first
wife, Margaret Work, can be seen today.
3. A full account of this lamentable incident can be found
in The Laird The Factor and The Elders: Change and
Stress in Shapinsay 1847 by Paul J. Sutherland, CSYS
History Dissertation, Kirkwall Grammar School, 1985.