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Hi Trev,

Thank you very much for your efforts in trying to rediscover Hugh for us. I really appreciate all your efforts towards our unanswered questions and the time you have dedicated in doing so.

Since I put up this post 7 years ago, I made some similar discoveries about Hugh but unfortunately I had no luck discovering anything further about the war medal he had and his connection to the war.

Yes, Hugh still has plenty of descendants living in Aus, myself being one.

I figured out from electoral and postal roles that Hugh was married to a woman named Isabella Calder in Scotland in 1888 as “Hugh A Liddell”. Hugh was 23yo and Isabella was 40yo. In 1898, Hugh and his wife Isabella Calder moved into “18 Brandon Terrace, Edinburgh” which was a unit on top of shop fronts with the front doors perfectly side by side. The shop front below their unit (#17) was a Tobacconist store that was run by Jessie Purves. Jessie was Elizabeth Purves’s (Malcolm’s mother) sister and so was Agnes Purves. These addresses and dates are all confirmed using the Scottish Post Directories. By assumption, Hugh met Elizabeth Purves while Elizabeth was helping her sister Jessie in her store downstairs. It is assumed that Hugh and Elizabeth were having an affair and decided to escape to Australia and become untraceable by changing their surnames to Macarthur which was Hugh’s Mother’s maiden surname but Hugh and Elizabeth never married. It is also assumed that Hugh did not get divorced from Isabella. Hugh and Elizabeth and Agnes Purves came to Aus in 1911 and they started a produce business at the Bexley address you found. I have an original photo attached of the store from back then.

Yes, his ashes as well as Elizabeth’s are at the Woronora Cemetery and he passed in 1944 aged 79. I have an original letter from their son Malcolm to the cemetery.

Yes, Malcolm Hugh Liddell Macarthur who died in 1992 was my grandfather and Hugh’s son. Yes, the website was a typo. Malcolm and his wife Edith ran an electronics store in Katoomba, NSW for many years.

I was unaware of the court case with the Dentist but I know that the store in Bexley was broken into in 1921 and a police report was given as well as suspects names.

Family in the past tried to solve this mystery many times but we seem to have got a lot closer to solving it thanks to modern technology of Ancestry.com, electronic records and Google Street these days.

Again, I truly appreciate the massive effort that you went to to find this information for my family. Thank you very much

Please find attached your photo.



I'm glad that you have been able to find so much information to fill in the gaps for your Great Grandfather and there is nothing like a good ol' family scandal to shake the tree.

It's funny, so when I went back and more clearly read your first post and you mentioned that, "he brought with him to Aus was a few trophies and medals", the penny dropped and then I realised that you're an Aussie as well.
 
So it seems that you might be nowhere closer with regards to any prior military service in the UK, as I also attempted to have a look within military records online here in Australia at the National Archives using a combination of names thinking that he might of tried to enlist in the WW1 but had no luck finding anyone that came close.

Thank you again for the update.

Trev

jen_471 wrote: We knew that he was a horseback trooper and have a few small trophies that say ""Sword v Sword 2nd Prize (No name)" and "Lothians & Berwickshire I.Y. Military Tournament Edingburgh 1903 (no name) but I can't find anything on these either.

The Military Tournament took place over the 28th, 29th and 30th of May, 1903. On the last day, Saturday the 30th, Sergeant Liddell, of the Lothians and Berwick Imperial Yeomanry, took 1st place in 'Tent-pegging'; 2nd place in 'Heads and Posts'; and 2nd place in 'Sword v. sword (mounted).'