The third part of our Weatherly Story profiles the life of Edward Weatherly, the son of John P. Weatherly and grandson of Thomas Weatherly who founded the family business in Earlston.
Edward
William Sprott Weatherly was born in 1892 to John Patterson Weatherly and Margaret Thomson Winter. Two sisters followed - Ellen Sarah Patterson Weatherly,
born in 1889 and Margaret Thomson Weatherly, born in 1891 - both are remembered still today by many local residents.
Edward did not follow in his parents’ footsteps into the family business, but became a baker and confectioner. He was active in the community life of the village as a church elder, President of the Bowling Club and a member of the Rifle Club. As with most men of his generation, the First World War proved a searing experience.
Wartime Service
Edward's Service Record showed that he joined up, ahead of conscription at the age of 22 on the 12th May 1915. His medical record noted his height as 5 feet 8 inches, and his address the Post Office, Earlston.
Edward was badly wounded and was awarded the
Military Medal - as revealed in this report
in “The Berwickshire News”: 2 November
1918:
“The 2 gallant youths who in last week’s “News” were reported to have been awarded Military Medal are well known Earlston ‘callants’.
(1) Corporal James
Burns……… [who will be remembered today by many older residents]
(2) The other distinguished soldier is Gnr. Edward W. S. Weatherly, Postmaster, Earlston, only son of Mr. J. P. Weatherly, Postmaster, Earlston and brother of Misses Weatherly of the Post Office, and Agent for the ‘Berwickshire News’. The gallant Earlstonian comes from of an old Berwick Family.
Gnr. Weatherly volunteered for Active service in Motor Machine Gun Corps, but was afterwards transferred to the Royal Tank Corps.
He has seen active service in France and had many hair-breadth escapes in the imminent deadly tank. As an example of the hardship he endured, he was nearly frozen to death when on sentry-go and after doing his allotted time at his post it was several hours before he could be thawed out of his refrigerated condition and his temperature raised to normal.
A few months ago the tank in which he was serving was struck by an explosive shell and many of its occupants killed. He himself received several severe wounds, the result of one being the loss of his left eye. He has no fewer than 14 wounds in his pelvis.
The doughty deeds of these gallant soldiers thrills everyone who hears it and their fellow townsmen offer them their heartiest congratulations on their display of such fearless bravery and contempt of danger in their defence of King and Country.”
Serving in the Royal Tank Corps - motto "Through mud and blood to the green fields beyond” - was by all accounts an appalling experience. Tanks, known initially as "land battleships" were first in action on the Somme in 1916. Men inside them had to contend with intense heat, noise and exhaust from the engine, violent movement as the tank crossed the ground and molten metal splash as bullets struck the plating. Men would often be violently sick or badly incapacitated. (https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/tank-corps-in-the-first-world-war/)
Edward’s name was recorded in the Roll of Honour printed in “The Berwickshire News: 7th January 1919.
Postwar Family Life
In 1924, Edward married Mary Webb at Holy Trinity Church, Melrose. Three children were born to the marriage - John Patterson Weatherly in 1923, named after his grandfather; Margaret Campbell Weatherly in 1926; and in 1928 Frederick Edward Weatherly.
Edward had worked initially for William Shaw, baker at Lauder, before opening his own business in Earlston in the late 1920s.
Near tragedy hit the family when their young son was involved in a road accident. "The Southern Reporter": 27th October 1927 noted:
“The four year old son of Mr Edward Weatherly, who has lately opened a cafe in the High Street Earlston, was playing about his father’s premises, when he darted between two heavy wagons attached to a heavy traction engine belonging to Mr James Cochrane, contractor, Earlston. The child was knocked down but extricated by a passer-by. After medical assistance had been procured, it was found that the child’s foot had been badly crushed. He was conveyed to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary."
Given that the little boy was not named in the press report, it is assumed this must have been Edward's elder son John, born in 1923. Edward's cafe and bakery on the High Street was next to the Post Office on the east side of Post Office Close.
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During
the 1930s several articles in the local press
showed that Edward Weatherly
of The Café, Earlston, gave demonstrations of Cake Icing at various venues around
the area; such a one at Earlston Women’s Rural Institute, as reported in "The
Southern Reporter”: 17th June 1937:
“A meeting of Earlston WRI was held in the Good Templars Hall – Miss Vera Davidson presiding over a large attendance. The demonstration was cake icing and decorating by Mr Edward Weatherly, the Café, Earlston who kindly presented two cakes.”
Edward died in the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh 23 April 1946, with an announcement in “The Scotsman” newspaper - “beloved husband of Mary Webb and son of the late John P. Weatherly, post-master, Earlston."
”The Berwickshire News” of 7th May 1946 printed an obituary giving us a picture of Edward’s life.
"EARLSTON MAN’S DEATH
The death took place at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after a brief illness, of Mr. Edward Weatherly, The Gables, Earlston, who was in the bakers and confectionery business.
Mr. Weatherly served his apprenticeship at Earlston Co-operative Society and thereafter went to Edinburgh. He returned to his mother’s business at the Earlston Post Office.
At the outbreak of the 1914-18 war, he joined the Tank Corps and was wounded. He was awarded the Military Medal.
He worked in Wm. Muir, Baker, Lauder and in 1927 he opened the business of The Café in Earlston.
Mr. Weatherly was an elder of Ercildoune Church, now the
United Parish Church, and was an ardent worker for his Church. Recently he was elected president of the
Earlston Bowling Club for the second year in succession. Mr. Weatherly was also
a member of the Earlston Rifle Club and a very grand marksman on either the
indoor or the outdoor ranges.
Mr.
Weatherly is survived by Mrs. Weatherly and two sons and a daughter. The funeral to Earlston was attended
by a large company of mourners."
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Postscript:
- Edward's widow, Mary survived him by more than forty yeas, until her death in Melrose in 1989, aged 97.Mrs Weatherly, third from the left, on a Guild trip.
- Edward's two sisters, Ellen and Margaret took over the running of Earlston Post Office, following their mother's death in 1914. They never married and are remembered today as two rather austere spinsters. Both died in 1970.
- Edward's elder son John Patterson Weatherly (1923-2006) became a well known figure in Earlston, taking over from his aunts Ellen and Margaret at the Post Office He qualified as a pilot during the Second World War and was heavily involved in many community organisations. He also served as Cornet in his birthplace of Lauder.
- Edward's daughter Margaret, born in 1926, did not marry and died in Earlston in 1993 aged 66.
Edward's son Frederick, known as Fred, was born in Earlston in 1928. He carried on his father's cafe and bakery business for several decades, with Weatherly's Scotch pies and morning rolls special favourites of the local community. Fred died in Melrose in 1994 aged 65.
- The two brothers took to the stage in this Earlston Dramatic Club performance.
Fred fourth from left - John third from right.Sources
Contributed by Susan Donaldson and Sheila McKay
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Very interesting article! Fantastic detail and lots of clues to life in Earlston at the time.
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