Mary Mackenzie (nee Young) (1881 – 1968)

Mrs. Mary Mackenzie donated the following painting to Glasgow on 25 June 1952.

Fig. 1 St. John the Baptist Revealing Christ to the Disciples, Salvator Rosa c. 1655   © CSG GIC Glasgow Museums/ArtUK. Accession Number 2969

The painting was presented in memory of John Young by his family. ¹ It was purchased by Mary’s grandfather, James ‘Paraffin’ Young, in 1877 and passed to her father John Young. ²

Mary Young was one of twelve children, and the second daughter, born to John Young ‘a landed proprietor’ and his wife Christina Maclellan who married at 17 Royal Crescent, Glasgow on 17 July 1877. ^{3, 4} The couple were given the estate of Durris in Kincardineshire by John’s father. John and his brother James managed the chemical works at Addiewell and Bathgate established by their father. ⁵
Mary was born on 13 July 1881 in Durris House. Which Mary’s grandfather James Young had bought together with the estate in 1871 from Alexander Mactier. The house was apparently later known locally as ‘Paraffin Ha’. ⁶ In the census of 1881, Durris House was in the possession of John Young who gave his occupation as ‘chemist’. ⁷ By 1885 the estate seems to have been shared between John Young and his younger brother Thomas Graham Young. ⁸ It was sold in 1890 ⁹
In 1891 Mary was a scholar aged nine living with her family at 22 Belhaven Terrace, Govan, Glasgow. ¹⁰ By 1901 Mary was still a scholar, but the family had moved to 2 Montague Terrace, Partick, Glasgow. As well as Mary and eleven siblings, there were six servants. ¹¹ On 6 June 1912 at Westbourne United Free Church, Glasgow, Mary married James Alexander Mackenzie a writer of 3 Queen’s Gardens, Glasgow. ^{12, 13} The couple moved to 11 Montgomerie Quadrant, Hillhead, Glasgow and by 1921 had three children, James Y., born 1914, Mona C., 1916 and Helen H., 1920. They also employed a table maid, cook and a nurse. ¹⁴ James Mackenzie died in 1960 aged 82. ¹⁵
Mary Mackenzie died on 10 October 1968 in a nursing home at 50 Cleveden Drive, Glasgow. She was 87 years old. ¹⁶ Her funeral was held at Glasgow Crematorium, Maryhill on 12 October. ¹⁷

References

1. Catalogue of Donations to Glasgow Museums, Glasgow Museums Resource Centre
2. VADS
3. Scotland’s People, Birth Certificate
4. Glasgow Herald, 18 July 1877
5. Leitch, Mary Muir Paraffin Young and Friends, A Biography of James Young, 1811-1883, the World’s First Professional Oilman, Alan Fyfe, 2012
6. durris.net
7. Scotland’s People, Census 1881
8. Scotland’s People, Valuation Roll 1885
9. durris.net
10. ancestry.co.uk, Scotland Census 1891
11. ancestry.co.uk, Scotland Census 1901
12. Scotland’s People, Marriage Certificate
13. Glasgow Herald 7 June 1912
14. Scotland’s People, Census 1921
15. Scotland’s People, Death Certificate
16. Ibid
17. Glasgow Herald 11 October 1968