Introduction / Westray Grays / Archibald Gray / Louisa Gray and William Lennie / James Lennie and Isabella Sandison

William Lennie and Eliza Heddle

William Lennie was the son of James Lennie and Isabella Sandison, and was born in Westray on 23rd April 1840. He was recorded with his parents and sisters at Fancy (or Faney), Westray, in the 1851 census, when he was 10 years old.

William became a seaman, and married Eliza Heddle in Kirkwall on 29th January 1869. Eliza was the daughter of Robert Heddle and Eliza Irvine, and had been born in Kirkwall on 6th May 1847.

Seven children are known to have been born to the couple:

• Elizabella Lennie, born 16th June 1871. She married George Corsie (a labourer, born about 1866 in Rousay) in Kirkwall in 1890. At the time of the 1891 census, they were living in Leith, but it is not known what became of them after that.

• James Lennie, born 17th November 1873. He signed his mother's Death registration in 1902, at which time his address was 3 Montgomery St., Edinburgh. His occupation on his Death registration was "Sheriff Court Deputy (retired)" when he died in Kirkwall on 2nd May 1943. He had never married.

• William Lennie, born about 1876. He married Eliza Matches.

• Robert Heddle Lennie, born in 1879. It is not known what became of him, but the Ellis Island database indicates that a Robert H. Lennie, age 40, was the master of the ship Errol (or Erroll) when it arrived in New York on May 13, 1919. His "race" was given as "Scotch", and he (and most of the crew) had signed on in Sharpness, England (near Bristol). Perhaps this was the same person.

• Malcolm Heddle Lennie, born in 1883. He was a lawyer's apprentice, according to the 1901 census, and died in Kirkwall in 1908, age 24.

• Eleanor Heddle Lennie, born in 1887. Her name was given as "Eleann" in the 1901 census, when she was recorded with her mother in Kirkwall. It is not known what became of her after that.

• John Laughton Lennie, born in 1889. He was recorded with his mother in Kirkwall in the 1901 census, but it is not known what became of him after that.

The following shows the family in the 1891 census.

1891 - 11 Albert St, Kirkwall

	Relation	Status	Age	Occupation	Born
William Lennie	Head	Married	49 years	Sailor	Westray
Eliza Lennie	Wife	Married	43 years		Kirkwall
James Lennie	Son		17 years	General lawyer clerk	Kirkwall
William Lennie	Son		14 years	No occupation	Kirkwall
Robert Lennie	Son		11 years	Scholar	Kirkwall
Malcolm Lennie	Son		7 years	Scholar	Kirkwall
Eleoner Lennie	Dau		3 years		Kirkwall
John Lennie	Son		1 year		Kirkwall

William died in Kirkwall on 17th June 1901. Eliza died less than a year later, on 16th January 1902.