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Helen Govan and the message in a kilt
The note that Dr Helen Paul was surprised to discover in the London Scottish kilt she owns was an appeal to the wearer of the kilt to get in touch:
‘I hope your kilt will fit you well, and in it you will look a swell. If married never mind if single drop a line. Wish you bags of luck and a speedy return back to Blighty from Helen Govan 49 Ardgowan St, Glasgow Scotland’
Helen Govan’s note, courtesy of University of Southampton
Helen’s appeal for help in identifying the writer of the note prompted staff at the National Records of Scotland to discover the key to Helen Govan’s identity by using records in ScotlandsPeople. The first step was to find out who was living at 49 Ardgowan Street during the First World War. A search of the Valuation Rolls for 1915 using the street name and the surname Govan luckily revealed a Thomas K Govan renting a tenement flat at no. 49. Was this Helen’s father?
The distinctive middle initial helped establish that Thomas Kinnon Govan was born in Monkton and Prestwick registration district in 1890, the son of William Govan, a joiner, and his wife Jane Kinnon. Thomas was therefore too young to be the father of a daughter of working age during the war, but he had a sister Helen. In 1901 they were living with their parents and siblings at no. 212 Scotland Street, Govan. Their father died in 1909, and in 1911 we find the mother, her son Thomas and four unmarried daughters living at 162 Watt Street across the Clyde in Anderston.
The youngest child was a twelve-year old called Nellie, the alternative form of Helen, which was her name in the 1901 census. This is a useful reminder to use alternative or shortened forms of forenames when searching censuses, as there was not the same degree of formality compared to the statutory registers.
So who was Helen? Helen Smith Govan was born in Kinning Park, Glasgow, 26 June 1898, the youngest of six daughters. Her three unmarried sisters were all working in the clothing trade in 1911. Mina (23) was a dressmaker’s machinist, Jeanie (18) a tailoress, Pollie (15) a cutter in a shirtmaking business. Her brother Thomas (21) was a clerk in the building industry. Their mother Jeanie (54) probably kept house, as she is listed without occupation.
•The Govan Family in 1911 census 1 (Ref: C1911 664/061/000/2/002Z)
•The Govan Family in 1911 census 2 (Ref: C1911 664/061/000/2/003Z)
By the time of the First World War the family were living in a tenement flat at 49 Ardgowan Street in Govan, rented by the brother, Thomas Kinnon Govan, a clerk. On leaving school, probably aged 14, it would have been natural for Helen to follow her sisters into the clothing trade, and by the time she wrote the note, to be working for Peter Wilson, kiltmakers of Bridge Street, Glasgow.
We know from marriage records that in 1917 Helen’s sister Mina (Williamina) was still working as a sewing machinist and living at the same Ardgowan Street address, and in 1918 so was Jane, also still in her job as a tailoress. Thomas was still living there when he married in 1927, and it was there that their mother Jeanie died in 1936.
Helen’s last employment before retirement was as a cleaner in a factory. She died unmarried in Prestwick, where her family originated, in 1965, at the age of 67.
Her eldest sister Elizabeth (b.1883) married John Vallance, a housepainter, in 1904, and had sons: William, who lived in the Paisley area, and John. In 1917 another sister Mina (Williamina, b. about 1888) married a clerk named Albert Vallance, a member of a separate but possibly related Vallance family. Like William Govan, these Vallances came from Prestwick, and in 1911 were living at no. 187 Watt Street, Glasgow, near the Govans at no. 162.
Helen’s brother and other sisters also married:
Agnes (1885-1949) married Robert McColl, coachsmith, in1910
Jane (b.1892) married James Thornton, iron turner, in1918
Thomas (1890-1955) married Una Frances Ramsay, in 1927
Mary (‘Pollie’, b.1895) married John Jenkins Ballantyne,machine toolmaker, in 1924
Can you help with more information about Helen or her family?
Please contact us at [email protected] if you can help us piece together Helen's story.
With thanks to Dr Helen Paul, University of Southampton. The original article about Helen Govan's kilt can be found on the University of Southampton website.
This story also appears on Scotlandspeople web site for anyone who would like to get involved.
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Kay, there was a thread on Military Chat thread about this some time ago. I will try to find it.
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