Clementina Ireland, my great, great-grandmother.
When Clementina Johnston (born Ireland) was born on 9 November 1811 in Edinburgh, Midlothian, her father, Archibald, was 27, and her mother, Clementina, was 22. She married Oliver Johnston in 1845 in her hometown. They had four children in 16 years. She died on 24 July 1873 in Greenside, Midlothian, at the age of 61, and was buried in Edinburgh, Midlothian.
Clementina was baptised in Greyfriars’ Church by Rev. David Ritchie. I couldn’t find much information about the intervening years, but by the age of 30, she was living at No. 13 Canal Street with her partner, Oliver, and their daughters, Clementina and Jean. I say partner because records show they did not marry until four years later.
Canal Street no longer exists. In the early 19th century, it stood near the downramp into Waverley Station, which remains today. Clementina and Oliver had moved to Greenside some years earlier, but in 1847, the Edinburgh, Leith, and Newhaven Railway Company opened Canal Street Station. The street was named by James Craig, the architect who won the competition to design the New Town. In his proposal, Craig suggested a canal with promenades run through what is now Princes Street Gardens.
Clementina and Oliver remained living at Greenside, and she died there in 1873 at the age of 61. On her Death Certificate, the cause of death is “Accidental poisoning from drinking out of a cup containing phosphorus paste used for poisoning mice.”
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