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There are no letters from McDowall after 1871. The story has been pieced together from census records.

England 1856 - early 1900s

McDowall is the 7th child of James Charters Currie and Rosanna and is the wanderer of the family until finally settling down in England. In 1855, age 18, he travels to the Crimea with older brother Matthew. We know this because he has to take his leave of Rosanna (sister) before she dies in July of that year. In September 1858, age 21, he is ordered off to Calcutta for 4 years - recommended to the Telegraph Office, and in great spirits, according to father JCC. However the 4-year tenure must have been cut short because three years later in 1861, age 24, he would appear to be in Australia as James has heard from him - recovering from a lame foot - and paid him a visit. He is looking well and apparently very steady.

Letter to brother Alexander on the death of their father, 1871

In June 1871, age 34, he writes a condolence letter to Alexander on the death of their father, JCC. He has returned to England and is living in Dover with his Scottish wife Grace H D (don't know surname, from Banff) and asks for a lock of his father's hair for a mourning ring. Grace is listed in the 1871 census as a soldier's wife and by then they have 2 boys, 3 year old Harry C W and 1 year old Archibald M. Two more boys follow, Gordon S and Wallace A and then finally a girl, Gertrude G, all born in army bases - Dover, Chatham and Aldershot.

By the time of the 1881 census, they are living in Peckham, McDowall having moved on from the army to work in the Fire Office. Also staying with his young family of 5 is an 18 year old nephew on Grace's side of the family, Archibald Crowe, who is working as a clerk in a publisher's office, his family presumably still in India where he was born.

Ten years later, in 1891, McDowall has changed career yet again, now working as an insurance clerk and still living in Peckham. By now the boys are all in work (though Harry is not there) - Archibald, age 21 as a commercial traveller, Gordon, 18, as a ship-broker's clerk and Wallace, 15, a merchant's clerk. They are able to employ a young servant, Martha, and have a visitor staying with them - Robina J Duncan, a 23 year old hospital nurse, born in Scotland, a friend of the family.

Romance must have been in the air because by 1901 Archibald has married Robina and they have 2 boys, Harry A D Mc aged 7 and little Archibald Mc aged 2 and granny (Archibald's mother Grace) is staying with them in Lewisham.

Questions: Why did he not last out the India job? What was he doing in Australia? When did he meet and marry Grace? When did he enlist and with what regiment and when did he get his discharge? (The Royal Artillery were stationed at Dover in 1871). Who is Archibald Crowe? What was Robina doing at the Peckham house in 1891 and what relation was she to the family? What happened to Grace and McDowall?

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