Story Board

Some of our ancestors lived in Shotts, Bridget Marley (1855-1934) for example was born in 39 Back Row, Shotts Ironworks. This house was most likely owned and rented out by: Shotts Iron Works, founded 1802.

Shotts Iron Co Ltd

Shotts Mine

Persons employed underground 443, above ground 73,

total 516

The employees reside in the following localities:-

In Mine owners' houses, situated at Shotts Iron Works and Dykehead

160 In rented houses, situated at Stane,

356 in Dykehead and West Benhar

Shotts grew up from the village of Shotts Iron Works or Calderside, with Stane village nearby in the East End, and Dykehead in the West End which later amalgamated under the name of Shotts which is considered the largest village in Scotland.

L to R Bridget Marley Jane Findlay Margaret McCauley baby Joseph Findlay McLaughlin

GrandFather; Horatio Torquemeda Marley (aka Herman Toothrot) was a famous Captain and adventurer, well regarded throughout the Caribbean. Killed by the evil pirate LeChuck during his search for the legendary treasure of Big Whoop.

Elaine Marley

The Marley family operated a bus service, Anglo Scots Motorways, the buses ran from Shotts to Glasgow as well as Glasgow to Liverpool.

Hugh Marley (1892) drove the bus William Marley (1894) repaired it and Mary Ann and Kate (Catherine) were conductors.
The service ran until circa 1934 when a driver who was drunk crashed the bus and basically put the family out of business.

Bridget (1904) was a conductress too, and Mary Ann’s (1902) husband James drove the bus until he fell out with his brothers in law and quit, going to work for what became SMT in Motherwell instead.

One service on route from Glasgow to Liverpool was stopped and the driver fined for speeding at the heady speed of 30 mph.

Hugh Marley 1892

William Marley 1894

Mary Ann Marley 1902

Catherine Marley 1905

Bridget Marley 1904

James Marley 1893

James Marley (1893) was a schoolmaster and a Labour politician who sat in the House of Commons between December 1923 and October 1924 and, again, between May 1929 and October 1931. He was the 7th and 9th M.P. for St Pancras (North). The constituency was created in 1885 and abolished in 1983, when it became part of the new constituency of Holborn and St Pancras.

List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1923

List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1929

James Marley 3rd from Left

James moved to London in 1917 to take up a teaching post at St Dominic's Boys' School in Hampstead (1917–19). During this time, he met and married his wife Alice Louise Pilgrim (1880–1945)

the daughter of William Pilgrim, (1845–1922) an Inspector for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and a former London Metropolitan policeman. The marriage between James Marley and Alice Louise Pilgrim took place in Shotts, Lanarkshire, Scotland on 16 May 1920. Marley died in Bromley, Kent in April 1954, aged 60.

In September 1931, Marley was amongst those who welcomed Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi at Folkestone when he visited the United Kingdom for the second Round Table conference.

James also has the unsavoury statement of the recommended use of tear gas to disperse Indian demonstrations as mentioned in ‘From Scottsboro to Munich: Race and Political Culture in 1930s Britain’ .

James also presided over the Public Meeting ‘To Support the Cause of Indian Freedom, a Public Meeting and the Central Hall, Westminster on Thursday 27th Nov 1930.
It was reported in a newspaper that James was attacked ‘by an Indian in the audience’ as he presided over the meeting and a t one time a ‘fight was in progress on the platform’.

The following link is to a PDF speech given by James Marley

Speech

This link is for reference

To Support the Cause of Indian Freedom