Daoine Pharaig
Peter's People
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Family Group Sheet
Notes: Building and Drainage Contractor; Fatal Accident Inquiry at Perth Sheriff Court but papers have not survived. ‘Carse Contractor Dies Suddenly’, Courier and Advertiser, Dundee, 22 Apr 1952, p.3; ‘Contractor’s Injury Proved Fatal’, Perthshire Advertiser 26 Apr 1952, p.?; Death notices for Peter Symon in Dundee Courier & Advertiser, 21 Apr 1952, p.6 and Perthshire Advertiser, 23 Apr 1952, p.1.
Notes: Domestic servant before marriage
Updated 3 Nov 2008 and 10-11 Dec 2016. |
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By coincidence, both of Peter and Mary's children married someone whose ancestors had Macdougall in their name and who was descended from families in Strathnairn, Inverness-shire!
Peter's hobbies and interests
One of Peter Symon's interests was breeding pedigree springer and cocker spaniels, in which circles he became quite well-known in Scotland. In 1935 he was assistant to the manager of the Perth Dog Show, Mr D.W. Crombie. The show, which is reported to have attracted between 700 and 800 entries, about the same as the previous year's, of over 25 varieties of dog, was held under the auspices of the Perth and Perthshire District Canine Club, under the rules of the Kennel Club, in Perth City Halls, on Wednesday 11 September 1935 (Courier and Advertiser, Monday, 9 September 1935, 12A; Evening Telegraph, Monday 9 September 1935, 3A). He advertised cocker spaniel puppy dogs for sale, three black, one red, 9 weeks old, "off prize-winning parents" in the Courier and Advertiser, Tuesday, 25 August 1936, 14A.
Peter and Mary used to make family visits to the family of Bill Eardsman in Wamphrey quite often when Scot and Mary were children. Bill Eardsman had been a gamekeeper at Tullybelton, Perthshire before moving to the Borders, and shared an interest with Peter in breeding dogs. Willie Gorman, in Glencarse village, was another dog-breeding friend who Peter, and also his father, Scot senior, visited often. Gorman's house was a terraced cottage immediately opposite the (2019) Chestnut Tree tea room, situated on the north side of the former main Dundee to Perth road, and lying just to the west of the Episcopalian church.
Peter was also keen on rearing poultry. He kept hens on ground rented from Errol Estate, to the south of which was the allotments of North Gardens, rented out by Errol Estate. There was a high fence around the hen run. One Sunday when the family were out for a walk down Loan Brae, Peter spotted a cat coming out of the henhouse with a chicken in its mouth, prompting unusually colourful language that, more than 70 years later, his son Scot could still remember coming out of his father's mouth. The henhouse and the ground it was on was given up when the Estate wanted it back for houses, the land sold to Perthshire County Council for what would become Norlands, after the Estate had already sold off part of the ground for Maclennan's bus garage, a tin (corrugated iron) building that stood for several decades.
One of his main interests was homing pigeons. He was instrumental in reforming the Errol Racing Pigeon Club. After he died in 1952, Dad got one half of the pigeon loft and his cousin David Christie got the other half. After the second world war, to raise money for the pigeon racing club, he organised dances that were held in the circular loft above the stables at Errol Park, and where the Scottish dance band could not be seen from the far end of the hall.
Mary and Peter Symon with Scot in pram, Errol recreation park, circa 1937; Mary and Scot Symon, circa 1944; Scot Symon, 12 years old, 1948.
Dad remembers that an Errol institution of his childhood was the Errol bakehouse, which was just off the Cross, off the pend that led to the North Gardens. The bakery used to be open late at night and early in the morning, and boys would go there at midnight for a famous "Errol scone", which were large, round, flat doughy treats. One time he went there and got one but when he got home he found a cigarette end in the scone. There was only one of the bakers who smoked and everyone knew who he was. Scot's mother was furious and threatened angrily to go and complain to May Clark, the baker's wife. Peter instead counselled caution: "If you do that, she'll give him the sack. Leave it to me. I'll have a quiet word with him." He did so, and it never happened again.
Mary Symon or Matheson and family, 1970. Mary and John Matheson, Mains of Clunas farm, Cawdor estate, Nairn county, Scotland. With daughters (left to
right): Fiona, Susan, Ishbel.