John Alastair Faed (1905 – 1981) – Glasgow Museums Art Donors Group

James was born into a family of prominent nineteenth-century artists and engravers who lived at Barley Mill in Gatehouse of Fleet, Galloway. He gifted two paintings to Glasgow 1) Interior With Figures by Thomas Faed (his father), and 2) The Artists Wife, Jane McDonald by John Faed (his uncle).

*Figure 1*. Faed, Thomas; Interior with Figures; Glasgow Museums; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/interior-with-figures-83913

*Figure 2.* Faed, John; The Artist’s Wife, Jane Macdonald (1820-1897); Glasgow Museums; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-artists-wife-jane-macdonald-18201897-83907

James Alastair was born on 19 November 1905 to James Faed junior, artist, and Eleanor Annie Herdman, (1) who came from a flour milling family from East Lothian and had moved to 38 Abbey Road, St John’s Wood, London prior to Jame’s birth. (2) James junior (1856 – 1920) was a landscape painter and much influenced by his father, sometimes referred to as James senior.

James senior’s brothers Thomas and John were also artists and Thomas is probably the best known, having moved to London, exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy and become a full member of The Royal Academy in London in 1864. Thomas’s best known work is Last of The Clan which has become an iconic symbol of Scottish emigration, and is currently exhibited at Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow. (3)

*Figure 3.* Faed, Thomas; The Last of the Clan; Glasgow Museums; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-last-of-the-clan-83914

James Faed junior’s uncles excelled in painting pictures of humble Scottish life and people, but James preferred to paint landscapes, especially in Galloway, capturing the colour and depth of the countryside. (4) In 1908 James junior illustrated the book Galloway by J M Sloan, which describes the landscapes and history of Galloway. Each chapter is illustrated with a relevant watercolour such as On The Fleet, Gatehouse. (5)

*Figure 4.* *On The Fleet, Gatehouse* James Faed jun, from *Galloway* by J M Sloan 1908

He married Eleanor Annie Herdman in 1897 and soon afterwards they moved to St John’s Wood in London where there was a thriving artists population. Their first son, James Ronald Herdman was born in May 1899. He entered the royal Navy as a midshipman at the outbreak of WW1 and tragically was killed when his ship Goliath was torpedoed in the Dardanelles in May 1915. He was awarded the Star Victory Medal.(6) By 1913 James junior and Eleanor had moved with the young James Alastair to The Bungalow, New Galloway. The valuation roll of 1915 notes Eleanor Annie Faed of 38 Abbey Road, London as proprietor, with James Faed Junior as tenant. (7) James junior did little painting after 1915 due to paralysis of his hands, although he subsequently did some painting using his mouth. He died on 17 February 1920 and is buried in Kells Churchyard, New Galloway. Eleanor returned to Edinburgh shortly thereafter. (8)

James Alastair emigrated to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) when he was in his twenties. He became a farmer and lived at Cairnsmore Ranch, possibly named after the hill Cairnsmore of Fleet, a short distance from Gatehouse of Fleet in Galloway, the home of his forebears.(9) The farm is near the village of Umvukwe in Mazoe district about thirty five miles north of the capital Salisbury, now Harare.

*Figure 5.* Cairnsmore Estate (top left of image)https://rhodesia.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Salisbury4_final_0021.jpg

His mother left Edinburgh and travelled from the UK with James on 18 May 1933 on the ship Llangibby Castle (built by Harland and Wolff, Govan in 1929) to Mozambique,(10) and later that year on 12 October James Alastair married Frances Elizabeth Herdman in Salisbury, Rhodesia. (11) Frances was born in Edinburgh in 1905 (12) to John Herbert Herdman, a flour miller and Edith Marian Paton who lived in Edinburgh and who had been married at St Giles Cathedral on 20th June 1900. (13) James Alastair and Frances had two children, Fiona Joan Faed and Simon James Faed. (13)

*Figure 6.* Llangibby Castle, https://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?ref=9139

James Alastair qualified as MRAC (Member of the Royal Agricultural College) (14) and arrived in Southern Rhodesia at a time when immigration was encouraged, especially from the UK, to establish and build on agricultural output. The Mazoe area was a wilderness up to the early twentieth century, the name being a corruption of the word manzou, meaning ‘place of the elephants’.

Gold mining was an important industry in the area, but as the fertile region developed, farming gained in importance. Orange growing developed in the Mazoe valley, helped by the building of The Mazoe Dam, completed in 1920 by The British South Africa Company which supplied irrigation water to maintain production on a large scale. (15)

Tobacco plantations were developed, with cattle ranches and, to a lesser extent, dairy farming becoming a feature of the area. The decline in mining in the early 1900’s led to The British South Africa Company encouraging settler farmers from abroad. Consequently, agricultural research, settlement schemes and farm training programmes were implemented. By attracting settler farmers with at least £500 capital, the fertile land was developed commercially and led to increased exports, compared to the more traditional subsistence farming of the indigenous population. (16)

The Rhodesiana magazine was published from 1956 by The Rhodesiana Society and promoted historical studies and research about Rhodesia. Occasionally a list of subscribers was included and James Alistair is listed as a member over a number of years.

*Figure 7.* Rhodesiana Magazinehttps://archive.org/details/Rhodesiana/volume23/mode/2up

James Alistair Faed died in Zimbabwe in 1981 and was interred in The Anglican Cathedral cemetery, Mazoe District, Zimbabwe. Frances returned to Edinburgh and died in 1996.