Alison Pearson

also Alison Cuninghame, Alison Cunninghame

I think actually [Alison] has taken Laura under her wing. Laura never married I don't think. She'd be like a companion, more or less, wouldn't she, as well as a sister. To go and to do things.
1
She was friendly with Sir Robert McLean. I remember my dad [Robert Montgomery, the chauffeur] used to go there [Woodend House] a lot.
2
She [Alison Cuninghame] tripped over the guy rope and away went the hat and the wig. He [Robert Montgomery] dashed to help her and stuck it on the wrong way! He spoke about that often. He actually felt heart-sorry for her. She was on the point of tears.
3
And when they [Mrs Cuninghame and Ms Pearson] were going on holiday, if they were going anywhere, my mother [Minnie Montgomery] had to the packing. And the tissue paper, reams of that, everything had to be folded, and so-so, and so-so. My mother was a dressmaker, so she knew what she was doing.
4

Alec recalls a family story from when his two aunts were school children at Paisley Grammar School... The girls walked through Craigends Estate on their way to-and-from the (no longer existant) Houston train station . There was a strict understanding, however that no one should pass in sight of the Mansion House (this was strictly the domain of the gentry). Unfortunately for the girls this meant taking a long detour via Crosslee.

Guessing that the ladies were unlikely to be awake at the early hour they were leaving for school, at some point the two girls decided it safe to take the more direct path past the Mansion House in the morning. It is thought that the young girls happily kept this routine for some time.

One day, though, their mother (Alec's grandmother) was invited to the Mansion House for afternoon tea with Mrs Cuninghame. During conversation Mrs Cuninghame mentioned: "We don't see the wee Scotts in the afternoon." This short phrase said it all. Obviously the girls had not escaped the attention of Mrs Cuninghame and her sister in the mornings. A stern reprimand awaited the girls, from their mother!

5
Alec recalls "meeting" Alison Cuninghame on occasions when he was working on the estate. But, as he said, "meet isn't the word".
6
After WW2 Alec's father started renting the Craigends land north of the Gryfe. Not long in to his tenure, though, he upset Mrs Cuninghame by ploughing one of the fields to plant corn and potatoes. It appears lady preferred to look out on green fields, rather than brown ones! She claimed that - by ploughing this field - Mr Scott had broken the terms of his rent and threatened a lawsuit. Fortunately Mr Scott was able to find a document proving that the field had been ploughed a few months previous to WW2, therefore settling the dispute in his favour.
7
Alison's will was contested, but was eventually settled in favour of a William P Cuninghame. He was an Englishman, previously owning a pig farm in Buckinghamshire. At a guess he would have been born c. 1920. He came from relatively modest means.
8
My dad was a miner for over 30 years before he got the job at Craigends and I remember him saying that he had been talking to Madam about it and she told him that they were one of the first to bring Polish workers over here to work in the pits.
9
Dad often took them to visit Sir Robert McLean in Houston (he was chairman of Stoddart's Carpets in Glenpatrick Rd in Elderslie) and also to the Lord Lieutenent of Renfrewshire's house which I think was in Wemyss Bay. There was also Haggart Spiers at Houston house. Dad also went up to Glasgow's Central station to pick up guests but I don't know who they were.
10
She went to Harrogate quite a lot and she had an estate up North which sent venison in season and Dad picked the boxes up at Crosslee station.
11
I remember being sent round to Craigends as a child dressed in my kilt, for tea on a Sunday with Mrs Cunningham and Mrs (or was it Miss) Pearson. I walked there from Woodend down the long avenue with which I was very familiar. She (Cunningham) talked about sailing to Australia in an old-fashioned sailing ship the journey lasting six months. I am just left with the impression of the conversation rather than detail.
12
In 1901 he married his cousin once removed, Alison, daughter of the late Mr. Alexander L. Pearson, and grand-daughter of Commander Hugh Pearson, R.N., Kippenross Castle, Stirlingshire.
13
Correspondents (mainly congratulating [Leopold Amery] on his appointment as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Colonies) include: [...] Alison Cuninghame; [...] (Jan 1919-Jan 1920)
14
CS46/1936/1/77
Decree in petition of Captain Noel Christian Livingstone-Learmonth and Alison Pearson or Cuninghame (trustees of the deceased John Charles Cuninghame of Craigends) for directions
January 1936
15
05 January 1921
5th. Jan., 1921. Deed of Assumption and General Conveyance whereby John Mackintosh MacLeod (with the consent of Col. Louis Gairdner Pearson (of "The Linn", Johnstone [, Renfrewshire]), Capt. Noel Christian Livingstone-Learmouth (of Handford, Blandford, Dorset), Mrs. Alison Pearson alias Cuninghame (of Craigsend, Renfrewshire) and Sir Ralph William Anstruther, Bt. (of "Balcaskie", Pettenween, Fifeshire) as the trustees of John Charles Cuninghame, esq. of Craigends) assumed William Harry Mitchell (writer; of Johnstone and Glasgow) as a trustee.
16
Under the marriage-contract ... £2,000 per annum free of tax was [...] to be made to [Mrs Cuninghame] as an alimentary provision during all the days and years of her life.
17
05 January 1921
Deed of Assumption and General Conveyance whereby John Mackintosh MacLeod (with the consent of Col. Louis Gairdner Pearson (of "The Linn", Johnstone [, Renfrewshire]), Capt. Noel Christian Livingstone-Learmouth (of Handford, Blandford, Dorset), Mrs. Alison Pearson alias Cuninghame (of Craigsend, Renfrewshire) and Sir Ralph William Anstruther, Bt. (of "Balcaskie", Pettenween, Fifeshire) as the trustees of John Charles Cuninghame, esq. of Craigends) assumed William Harry Mitchell (writer; of Johnstone and Glasgow) as a trustee.
18
15 September 1930
I Extract of Deed of Assumption whereby Sir John Mackintosh MacLeod, Bt. and William Harry Mitchell (on behalf of Capt. Noel (Christian) Livingstone-Learmouth (now of 6, Grosvenor Cres., Belgrave Sq., London S.W.), Mrs. Alison Pearson and Sir Ralph William Anstruther, Bt.) assumed Joseph Patrick (of Glasgow, chartered accountant) as a trustee.
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Hello, I'm Michael Hopcroft.

I grew up in Craigends (1982-2001).

Please get in touch if you have any memories, stories or photos of Craigends that you'd be willing to share.

I look forward to hearing from you!