Introduction / Families / Hourston / David Hourston and Christian Drever / Jean Hourston and George Leslie / Thomas Leslie and Barbara Kent

Elizabeth (Betsy) Leslie and Archibald Reid

Betsy Leslie (c. 19th June 1852) was the eldest of the seven children of Thomas Leslie and Barbara Kent.

She was brought up at Airy, Westray and married Archibald Reid (b. 23rd January 1831) on 3rd June 1870. Archibald was the son of David Reid and Margaret Rendall and formed a household at Bigging alongside Archibald’s older brother, David Reid in 1871.

Archibald’s mother formed part of the household.

1871
Bigging, Rackwick, Westray

	Relation	Status	Age	Occupation	Born
Archibald Reid	Head	Married	40 years	Shoemaker	Westray
Betsy Reid	Wife	Married	19 years		Westray
Margaret Reid	Mother	Widow	77 years	Knitting	Westray

Betsy and Archibald were to spend their lives at Bigging and their eight children were born there:

• David Reid, born 28th September 1871 who married Jean Thomson and Jane Mason Rendall

• Barbara Kent Reid, born 10th April 1873 who married William D Brown in South Leith in 1896. They had family. Barbara died in Leith on 11th March 1957.

• Margaret Reid, born 13th July 1876

• Betsy Reid, born 8th June 1879 who married James Scott Logie

• Thomas Leslie Reid, born 24th January 1883 who married Christina Rendall (b. 19th November 1885), the daughter of Thomas Rendall and Ann Seatter of Longhouse, in Westray in August 1904. Thomas was a railway shunter and living in Edinburgh.

• Jessie Reid, born 18th April 1885

• Archibald Reid, born 8th May 1887

• George Leslie Reid, born 9th July 1894 who married Williamina Sandison on 20th November 1923 in Kirkwall. He died in Kirkwall in 1975.

Archibald’s occupation is given as shoemaker in the census following their marriage and remained so in the 1901 census, when he was seventy. Betsy’s mother, Barbara Kent, was a widow of eighty and staying with them at that time.

Archibald died at Bigging on 10th November 1912. Betsy died there on 5th January 1927. She was seventy four.