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ROBERT BOUCHER Jnr. of FIFE (Schoolteacher and
Author)
(1873, Ladybank –
1953, Cupar)
Robert Boucher Jnr. was born in Ladybank, Collessie,
Fife on the 7th of May, 1873 to Robert Boucher Snr. (Inspector of Poor)
and Joanna Burns, who had married in Ladybank on the 28th of October,
1864. Robert Jnr., had seven brothers and one sister, he being fifth
eldest of the nine children born between 1865 and 1884. His father,
Robert Boucher Snr., had been born in Collessie on the 20th of January,
1844 to William Boucher and Isabella Wishart who had married in Cults on
the 6th of April, 1838. Robert’s mother, Joanna Burns, had been born in
Ceres in 1843 to David Burns and Elizabeth Elder who had married in
Kemback on the 25th of November, 1838.
By 1891, Robert Jnr. was
practising as a Pupil Teacher in Collessie, and thereafter had teaching
experience in various parts of the East Neuk. However, in Wormit, Forgan,
during this period, the 22 year old Robert first met, and then married,
in 1895 in Dundee, a 37 year old widow Mrs Helen Blake Halliday (Jones)
Horsburgh, born Monifieth in 1858. The 1901 Census shows that Robert
Jnr. had obtained an Assistant Teachership in Wemyss, and, by that time,
had a family comprising, Katherine (8 yrs.) [born in Wormit by Helen’s
previous marriage to Charles Horsburgh], Frederick (6 yrs.) born in
Dundee, and Roberta (2 mths.) born in Wemyss.
The publication of his 312 page
book in 1899, ‘The Kingdom of Fife, Its Ballads and Legends’, was
clearly, not only inspired by his love of his native ‘Kingdom’, but also
by the unfailing support of his wife Helen.
Not surprisingly, Helen
pre-deceased Robert. But they had enjoyed forty-nine years of happy
marriage before Helen died, aged 86, on the 21st of October, 1944 in
their house, ‘Lindisfarne’, 40 South Road, Cupar. Robert also lived to a
great age before he also died in Cupar, aged 79, on the 19th of March,
1953.
Contents
The Fringes of Fife
New and Enlarged edition by John Geddie (1921) (pdf)
The History, Ancient and
Modern, of the Sheriffdoms of Fife and Kinross
With a description of both, and of the Firths of Forth and Tay, and the
Islands in them; In which there is an Account of the Royal Seats and
Castles; and of the Royal Burghs and Ports; and of the Religious Houses
and Schools; and of the most Remarkable Houses of the Nobility and
Gentry, with an account of the natural products of the land and water by
Sir Robert Sibbald, M. D. (1803) (pdf)
Fife: Genesis of a Kingdom
By Adrian C. Grant (pdf) |
