The Wisharts and Wilsons are my Scottish ancestors. My maternal grandmother was Elsie Wishart, referenced in the first paragraph.
I've been recommended to get in
touch with you by Lisa, who has a similar family tree on the Wisharts to
yours, as she informs me you are related to Elsie Wishart (b. 1886).
I'm researching Jessie Wishart (b. 1881) as part of a project I've been
doing for a few years about famous swimmers of the 19th and early 20th
century. Both the Wishart and Wilson families were famed in swimming
circles in Scotland - I've made a brief note about them below:
William
L Wishart (b. 1852) was a a noted prize swimmer - his position as Baths
Superintendent etc. ran alongside his career as a cabinet maker, and
this is why it has the appearance of career changes; in fact by 1878 he
was Hon. Secretary of the West of Scotland Swimming Club, and organised
swimming galas as well as donating trophies for competition. It was
quite normal for a professional swimmer or swimming instructor to have
another career, as the baths were generally closed for the winter months
and income from swimming dwindled. A couple of leading English
professional swimmers were pianoforte tuners, and one world champion ran
his own painting and decorating business, for example. At various
times, therefore, they would list their profession as either the
swimming-related one, or the other one. But William was first and
foremost a swimmer, however good a cabinet maker he was!
The
whole family, indeed, appear to have been good at swimming - as one
might expect given their parents' prowess. Catherine McKinnon Wishart
was also a swimming teacher from the 1901 Census as you'll have noted.
Glasgow's School Board also gave decent swimming tuition to its pupils
during this period, which was not the case throughout Britain - some
towns taking the matter of teaching its young to swim more seriously
than others. So these things converged to make the Wishart children
well-placed to shine at swimming.
William Lindsay Wishart junior
(b. 1880) swam for Glasgow South Side S.C. and represented them in the
1898 Scottish Life-Saving Competition; he also swam for Glasgow Amateur
S.C. in the 1908 Scottish Team Championship, and played water polo. In
1904 he was Hon. Secretary of the Scottish branch of the Life-Saving
Society, so was also a prominent official. In 1900 he took part in the
Scottish Graceful Swimming Championship - I suspect he took part in
other Scottish championships I've yet to research - for he has not been
my main focus.
Janie Wishart (b. 1884), as she was known when
swimming, also swam for Glasgow's South-Side S.C., and in 1910 swam 3rd
in a handicap race in which her sister, Annie, took part. Elsie also
swam in such competitions - the handicaps in Glasgow were generally over
50yds (typically two lengths of the baths).
Ina Wishart
(Catherine b. 1888) was entered for the 1907 Scottish Ladies'
Championship - I'm not yet sure if she in fact swam in the event, but
she wasn't placed in the first three if she did so. I'll keep looking
for more info on this event.
Annie (b. 1893) swam second to her
sister, Janie, in a 1910 handicap; and in 1908 at Whitevale Baths,
Glasgow, she won a 50yds handicap race, receiving an 8sec start from the
reigning Scottish lady champion.
But the star swimmer in the
family was Jessie Wishart (b. 1881) - she was the Scottish champion (the
race was over 200yds) in 1901 and 1902, and 200yds Scottish record
holder in the latter year, and was one of the first great Scottish lady
swimmers.
The family's fame doesn't end there, however.
Catherine's brothers were also famous: Robert Wilson was Scotland's
half-mile champion 1876, 79, and '80 (when his brother, William
officiated as starter for the race), winning the trophy outright for his
third win, and simultaneously finishing the championship until it was
revived in the 1890s. He was in charge at Glasgow's Townhead Baths in
1878.
William Wilson, Scottish Graceful Swimming Champion, was in
charge of the Victoria Baths, Glasgow, in 1878, and clearly both the
Wilsons and Wisharts would have known each other well. His wife taught
the girls' of Glasgow to swim and was herself well-known. William is in
the International Swimming Hall of Fame as the man who originated water
polo, wrote seminal books on swimming, and invented the Life-Saving
Society drills which were practised around the world - by this he must
have saved thousands of lives - and has his own Wiki page!
I'll
keep trying to find out what happened to Jessie, and hopefully one day
get a photo of her for my project. I've researched hundreds of prominent
swimmers of the period, and contacted many families, so I probably have
as good an idea as anyone about the life and times of the Victorian and
Edwardian swimmer - if you have anything you feel you'd like to ask,
please feel free. I have quite a bit of info about the Wilson and
Wisharts swimming I can share but am out of space here.
I'm based in Epsom, Surrey, England...
Regards,
Kevin McCarthy"
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