IntroductionMargaret Gray and Thomas Reid / Lilias Stobie Reid and John Wallace

Lilias Wallace and Frederick Louis Veniard

Lilias (Lily) the youngest child of John Bryden Wallace and Lilias Stobie Reid was born in Walls, Shetland 16 January 1875. She was only four months old when her father died, and the rest of the family returned to her maternal grandparents' home in Calfsound, Eday. Lily spent her childhood in Calfsound, and in 1881 was a servant there at East Blett. She then went to Kirkwall into the service of Mr. Cowper, the town clerk. The Cowpers later moved to London and Lily moved with them. It was there that she met and married, probably about1905, Frederick Louis Veniard. (The Veniard family was from France.) They had three children:

• William Frederick Veniard, born 4 February 1907

• Ernest Veniard, born 13 January 1908. He eventually emigrated to Australia and was butler to the British ambassador there. He also wrote a book about his life as a butler and his childhood in Eday.

• Margaret Lily Veniard, born 26 February 1915

Frederick was killed in action in 1917. Lily moved back to Eday with her three children. During the 1920s Lily was working on a dairy, but she returned to Calfsound to look after her ailing mother. Lily died in Edinburgh in 1968 at age 94.