Introduction / Families / Harcus / James Harcus and Marion Allan / John Harcus and Jane Drummond / William Hercus and Elizabeth Allan

Peter Hercus and Mary Garrioch

Peter Hercus was the sixth of the ten children of William Hercus and Elizabeth Allan. He was born on 12th December 1857 at Cott. His father died when he was about 12 and he was not with his mother and other siblings at Cott in 1871. However, in 1881 he had returned to Cott and was a fisherman. By 1888, he had moved to Kirkwall and married Mary Garrioch on 7th June of that year. Mary, daughter of David Garrioch and Marion Drever, was born 8th June 1864 on Eday. Peter and Mary had seven known children born in Caithness:

• Peter Harcus, b. 10th Aug 1889 who married Flossie Armitage of Oakwood, Ontario and lived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

• William Harcus, b. 11th Nov 1891 and lived in Scrabster. He was a mason and a member of the Scrabster Coast Lifesaving Corps.

• David Harcus, b. 4th July 1893, married Elsie Swait and lived in Fort William, Ontario where he taught carpentry.

• James Harcus, b. 18th Sep 1895 and d. 16th May 1906

• John Harcus, b. 29th Aug 1901. He went to Canada in 1924 where he married Dorothy Bowhey and had four children. He first worked with his brother Peter, and then in Agincourt, Canada.

• Marion Harcus, b. 26th Sep 1905 and married John Bingay. She lived in Central Argyle, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, Canada where she taught school.

• Elizabeth (Lily) Harcus, b. 23rd Apr 1910 and kept house for her brother William in Scrabster.

Peter and Mary lived at Scrabster, Caithness on the Scottish mainland. He was a fisherman, fish-curer and a skillful seaman. Dorothy Drever noted in her family history compilation, it was said that when George VI went to Scrabster to meet Churchill, he asked for the "man with the red beard" whom he had remembered from an earlier visit to Scrabster. Ms. Drever also quoted the following from the Thurso paper:

During the Great War he was in the service of the Admiralty at Scrabster, where at the same time he worked for the North of Scotland Steam Navigation Company. He not only was a fisher himself but for a time carried on a business as a fish merchant while he also engaged in the baiting of steam liners. He was a kindly, courteous and cheerful personality, hospitable to a degree, and deserving of the respect in which he was held not only by the people of his own community but also by all seamen and everyone connected with the fishing industry visiting Scrabster.