Earlston Worthie - Rev. William Shillinglaw Crockett (1866-1945)

We are grateful to Jenny Cockburn of Redpath for contributing this article on the life of the Rev. William Shillinglaw Crockett - an Earlston Worthie

Introduction

On entering the old entrance to Earlston churchyard there stands a gravestone for a Reverend William Shillinglaw Crockett.  He lies buried with his parents and infant brothers with his wife close by.

For an ‘Old Worthie’,  his passing in 1945 is relatively recent. There will be those who will possibly recall his name from their childhood. However, for the rest of us he is relatively unknown.  Yet William Shillinglaw Crockett was Earlston’s very own home grown celebrity.  Google his name, and the results page is peppered with his works.  A search of newspaper archives including; national and local papers and periodicals provide us with a detailed record of his eventful life, lectures and writings.

In his time, he was described as “a distinguished litterateur and perhaps the most capable living writers on the Borders” His books were “eminently readable and adorned with all the literary power and grace”,  and to “Border themes he brought remarkable knowledge and charming style”. 

Needless to say, he was well respected for his expertise on the Borders, its lands, poetry, poets and folklore. One reports suggest that in addition to this remarkable intellect:

“ He was also genial, affable with a kindly disposition, though not without a modicum of gentle irony and dry humour”.  He liked to “hear a good story and could tell, any amusing anecdote himself, especially about some of the old worthies of Earlston in days gone by.  Although he had mixed with many great eminent persons he had no ‘side’ and was (as the old Scots saying aptly has it the same to a cadger as the king.”

Early LIfe
 Born on the 24^th June 1866 in Earlston, his father was William Crockett a Postmaster at Earlston whose family came from Galloway and his mother was Margaret Wood whose family belonged to Earlston. His grandparents Helen Shillinglaw and James Wood, having married in Redpath in 1817, appeared to have moved into Earlston sometime in the 1840s.

 In a speech celebrating the centenary of Redpath Village Hall, Crockett claimed his grandparents were among the founders who built the school there. He also reported that his great grandfather George Shillinglaw, a nurseryman from Redpath supplied Walter Scott with many saplings which he grew in Abbotsford, and that Joseph Shillinglaw (his great uncle) was a cabinet maker who was a constant visitor to his friend Walter Scott in Abbotsford.

Earlston was Crockett’s hometown. Sadly, in 1872 his father, died at the young age of 54, when William was 6 years old. Yet when describing his early years in Earlston, William Crockett always appeared upbeat, expressing the “love of visiting the scenes of [his] happy childhood and schooldays’.   His mother Margaret had a Grocers shop in the High Street. William Crockett was to be her only surviving son and she appeared keen to support his education. He attended the old Earlston Parish school where, his teacher was Daniel Aitkenhead. He was so fond of his teacher that they remained good friends throughout their lives until Daniel's death in 1922.  

After school,  Crockett became an apprentice to a local chemist. However, it is understood that “he did not take kindly to the pestle and mortar” (Berwickshire News)  and after qualifying,  he made the decision that being a chemist was not for him.  He therefore chose to ‘swap drugs with divinity’ and became a minister.  His mother supported him with this decision and he entered Edinburgh University to study. 

Fifteen months after he was ordained he was elected as Tweedsmuir minister for the Church of Scotland in 1894 where he remained for 50 years, celebrating his jubilee year just the year before his death.

An Author and Lecturer

In 1893 the young newly qualified Crocket wrote his first book “The Minstrelsy’s of the Merse”.  This book was a collection of verses from poets and lyricists  who were born or lived in the Berwickshire area. Crockett was able to use his expertise on their lives to provide the reader with biographies as well as their  works. The book was a hit, apparently favourably reviewed in over 50 newspapers including leading journals.

During this success in 1894 he married Mary Ross:

“What she was to her husband everyone was aware of. She was his eyes, his hands his feet, at occasions when some overstrain cast him into the depths.  She looked over his proof sheets advising or suggesting what her own wise virile perceptive mentality considered should be left out or at least refurbished.” (Scotsman Obituary,  1945)

Crockett continued to write titles including A Berwickshire Bard (1897) The Scott Country (1902,  The English and Scottish Border (1905), In the Border country (1906),  The Scott Originals (1912), In Praise of the Tweed (1899) and Lays from Leaderside (1928).  As well as this,  he was involved in writing articles for newspapers -  the Scotsman, Berwickshire News, and periodicals such as the Berwickshire Naturalist. 

In addition to his written work,  Crockett was a powerful speaker and he made a lecturing tours of the United States and Canada. During the First World War,  he preached and lectured to troops in France and in 1929 accompanied by his wife he made extensive tours of the Middle East and Europe. 

  Part of a lengthy report in the Berwickshire News on a talk 

the Rev. Crockett gave in Earlston on  9th April 1918. 

Newspaper cuttings towards the end of his years suggest that the Crocketts enjoyed many holidays and visits to Earlston and indeed it was reported that he bought a house in Thorn Street to retire to.  The couple appeared at many social events and William continued with his lectures and speeches around the Borders.

Later Life
In 1944 William  celebrated his Jubilee year as the Minister of Tweedsmuir. However in January of that year Mary his wife passed away. William died the next year, the day after his 79^th Birthday on the 25th June 1945 and was buried in Earlston alongside his wife, mother and father.

 Earlston Parish Church - Rev. William Crockett's burial place.

In the preface of Crockett's "Minstrelsy of the Merse", Blackie writes that:

“The name Burns occupies such a prominent position in Scottish song that persons are apt to speak of him as the creator of the lyrical art of his country………Nothing could be a greater mistake.  He was the biggest tree in the forest; but not the only tree he was not the forest and did not make the forest, the forest rather made him."

Crockett introduces us to the lyrical forest in 

Earlston, Berwickshire and the Borders.  

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Sources:
Information taken from The Berwickshire News, The  Southern Reporter and The Scotsman newspapers.

 

 In case you missed previous Auld Earlston blog posts on William Crockett:

• Memories of Earlston People and Places , by the Rev. William Crockett.
• More Memories of Earlston People and Places, by the Rev. William Crockett.
  
  

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