The birth and baptism of Aulay Steele, the last of five known children of John Steele and Margaret McAulay, were entered in the Cardross (Dunbartonshire) Parish Register:

Aulay, son of John Steele & Margaret McAulay was born at Renton the 27th of November & baptized 26 Decr 1824

Aulay and sister Catherine, both entered as 15, were residing with their elder brother, John Steel, in Bridge Street, Bonhill, at the time of the 1841 census. Both were entered as having been born in the county, i.e. Dunbartonshire, and Aulay was an apprentice engraver.

‘Aulay Steel Engraver’ was named as a beneficiary in the 1853 Deed and Settlement of his stepfather, Archibald Clark, and mother, Margaret McAulay. Originally he was intended to receive one eighth of the combined estate after the deduction of four legacies of £50 each, in favour of Archibald’s four children. The Codicil of 1866 changed and simplified this arrangement, so that the concluded position was that Aulay stood to receive a legacy of £500 instead.

Aulay acted as informant on the 1871 death certificate of his mother, Margaret Clark, previously Steele MS McAulay, in 1871.

It was presumably shortly thereafter that Aulay received his £500 legacy; it is likely that this windfall laid the foundations for his subsequent prosperity.

Aulay (who seems to have gone by the spelling ‘Auley’ throughout his adult life - the more conventional spelling is retained here) entered into an ante-nuptial contract of marriage, dated 29^th & 30^th November 1875, with a widow, Mary Cochrane or Ross. Aulay and Mary were married on 30^th November 1875 at 21, Granville Place, Glasgow, After Banns According the the Forms of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Aulay Steele, a traveller (bachelor), aged 48, was usually resident at 20, Windsor Street, Glasgow. The Register was signed by John McDermid, Minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and by witnesses Ann Craig and William Somerville.

In the following year, the Trustees appointed under the ante-nuptial contract entered into a substantial investment:

And Whereas at Whitsunday Eighteen hundred and seventy six the Trustees acting under the said Ante-Nuptial Contract of Marriage bought certain heritable subjects in Partick at the price of Eight thousand six hundred pounds whereof Two thousand three hundred pounds was paid in cash and the balance being Six thousand three hundred pounds is contained in various Bonds and Dispositions in Security affecting the subjects of which Bonds I the said Auley Steele am in right of Two thousand seven hundred pounds as Creditor therein; And Whereas, of the said sum of Two thousand three hundred pounds One thousand pounds was contributed by me the said Auley Steele in implement of an obligation to pay that amount contained in the said Ante-Nuptial Contract of Marriage, and the remaining One thousand three hundred pounds was contributed by me the said Mary Cochrane or Ross or Steele being estate belonging to me and carried by the said Ante-Nuptial Contract of Marriage, therefore we declare that the said heritable subjects and the price thereof when sold after making payment of the said Bonds and Dispositions in Security shall fall under the general conveyance before written and be held as part of our estates in the proportion of One thousand pounds to me the said Auley Steele and One thousand three hundred pounds to me the said Mary Cochrane or Ross or Steele; And we request and direct the Trustees under the said Marriage Contract to denude of said heritable subjects or of any investments which may be hereafter substituted therefor in favour of our said Trustees before named to be held and applied by them as estate belonging to us respectively (the said sum of Two thousand seven hundred pounds being also dealt with as part of the estate of me the said Auley Steele)

The Edinburgh Gazette, 1^st January 1878, contained an article headed Glasgow, 28^th December 1877:

The Subscriber, Auley Steele, residing at 20 Windsor Street, Glasgow, ceased to have any interest in the concern of M & A Clark, Biscuit Manufacturer, Elliot Street, Glasgow, on 24/9/1866.

At the time of the 1881 census, Aulay Steele was living at 2, Broomhill Avenue, Partick, which is now a district of Glasgow, in what were apparently tenement premises having six rooms with one or more windows. He was 56, house factor, born ‘Dumbartonshire Renton’. Living with him was his wife, Mary, 48, born Ayrshire, Dalry, and Nellie Scott, unmarried, 18, general servant, born Crossford, Lanarkshire.

The Valuation Roll for the County of Lanark for the Year 1885-1886, pp. 233-34, indicates that Aulay Steel, of 40, West King Street, Helensburgh, was the proprietor of an impressive portfolio of tenanted premises in Cross Street (since renamed Fordyce Street) and Hyndland Street, both Govan Parish (Partick). He had eighteen houses at 6, Cross Street and one at number 4. There was also a shop at 27, Hyndland Street; six houses at number 29; a house and shop at number 31; a shop at number 33; fifteen houses at number 35; a house and shop at number 37; a house and shop at number 39 and a shop at number 41.

Aulay bought a house in Helensburgh in 1890:

And Whereas I the said Auley Steele at Whitsunday Eighteen hundred and ninety bought a property in Helensburgh at the price of Five hundred and seventy five pounds which was paid by me the said Auley Steele the title to said property being taken to us the said spouses and the survivor of us

In the Valuation Roll for the County of Lanark for the Year 1895-96 Parish of Govan, Burgh of Partick, ‘Aulay Steele, factor, 16 Granville street, Helensburgh’, was again recorded as the proprietor of the same properties in respect of which which he had been entered ten years previously.

In 1901, Aulay and Mary were living at 8, Granville Street, Helensburgh, in premises having eight rooms with one or more windows. He was 76, house factor, employer, born Cardross. Mary, now in the final months of her life, was entered as 69, born Dalry.

Aulay Steele, commercial traveller (retired), widower of Mary Cochrane, died on 29^th February 1908 at nine in the morning, at Dalblair, Helensburgh. He was 83 years of age. The causes of death were certified as influenzal bronchitis, from which he had been suffering for 14 days, and heart failure. The informant on the same day at Helensburgh was the deceased’s nephew, Archibald Clark Steele, of Glenburn, Alexandria.

Testamentary Writings

Mutual Trust Deed and Settlement, 1895

The passages narrating the two heritable property transactions detailed above are quoted from the Mutual Trust Deed and Settlement subscribed by Aulay and Mary at Helensburgh on 28^th March 1895, in which they are designated as ‘Auley Steele and Mary Cochrane or Ross or Steele, Spouses, residing at number sixteen Granville Street Helensburgh’. This deed, as subsequently amended by Codicil in 1897 and and again in 1906, provides a remarkably detailed insight into the structure and composition of both sides of their extended family. In all the testamentary writings, Aulay’s Christian name is consistently rendered as ‘Auley’.

Trustees

The Deed of 1895 began with the appointment of Trustees, namely ‘John King, Colliery Clerk, Hamilton, James Cochrane Junior, Grocer, Dalry, Ayrshire, and the Reverend James McRobert, Levenside Free Church, Renton’.

The remit of the Trustees was clarified:

And we nominate our said Trustees to be our sole Executors and also to be Tutors and Curators to such of the beneficiaries under this Settlement as may be in pupillarity and minority at and after our deaths

The Trustees were directed;

to allow the survivor of us the liferent of the whole residue of the estate of the predeceaser and to pay to said survivor the income derived from said estate at the usual half yearly terms which income shall be strictly alimentary and shall not be assignable by said survivor nor attachable by his or her creditors

The Deed then proceeded to specify the manner in which the estate was to be disposed of upon the death of the surviving spouse.

Beneficiaries

Specific legacies were provided, with regard to Aulay’s estate, in favour of certain designated categories of beneficiaries, all payable;

at the first term of Whitsunday or Martinmas occurring not less than six months after the death of the survivor of us unless the Trustees have been able sooner to realise said estates and are in a position to pay said Legacies before said term

Each of the three in the first category was to receive £300; these were ‘John Steele, Bombay, James Steele, Baker, Alexandria and Archibald Clark Steele, Engineer, there, sons of the late John Steele brother of me the said Auley Steele’, in each case subject to a ‘destination to issue and survivors’, viz.;

and in the event of any of them dying before the suvivor of us leaving issue, such issue shall be entitled equally among them to the sum before provided for their father, and in the event of any of them dying before the survivor of us without leaving issue, the sum before provided for such deceaser shall belong to the survivors or survivor jointly with the issue per stirpes of such of them as may have deceased leaving issue

All subsequent legacies but two, namely that in favour of Catherine Steele or Cunningham, in which much the same idea was otherwise expressed, and of the Kirk Session of Levenside Free Church, Renton, to which it was inapplicable, were expressly made subject to the same destination.

£300 was payable to each of the two included in the second category, namely ‘the said John King and James Auley King, Clerk, Renton, sons of Agnes Steele or King late sister of me the said Auley Steele’.

A legacy of £300 was also provided for the third category, defined as ‘Catherine Steele or Cunningham, Strutsville (sic, this evidently refers to Streetsville), Ontario, Canada, sister of me the said Auley Steele, whom failing by her predecease of the survivor of us his children equally among them’.

The fourth category, of which each member was to receive the lesser sum of £150, was ‘each of Archibald Clark, Broomsgrove, England, Margaret Clark, Eliza Jane Jeffrey Clark and Bethie Clark, all residing in Blairmore children of the late Malcolm Clark Step (sic - Aulay and Malcolm were actually half-brothers) brother of me the said Auley Steele, the sum of One hundred and fifty pounds...’

The fifth category, of which each member was also to receive £150, was ‘Jane McMillan Clark, nine Bowmont Gardens, Kelvinside, Glasgow, Archibald McMillan Clark Johannesburg Africa, James Alfred Clark London, Rutherford Clark, Engineer, Nine Bowmont Gardens, Kelvinside, and Thomasina Clark also residing there, children of the late Archibald Clark Step (sic) brother of me the said Auley Steele, the sum of One hundred and fifty pounds...’

The sixth category, for whom the sum of £600 was provided, was defined as ‘Annie Clark or Ross, Market Street, Sligo, Stepsister (sic) of me the said Auley Steele whom failing by her predecease of the survivor of us to her children Margaret Ross, Charles Ross, Agnes Ross and Archibald Clark Ross equally among them the sum of Six hundred pounds...’

The residual beneficiary was the Kirk Session of the Levenside Free Church, Renton:

The said Trustees shall after payment of said Legacies pay the residue of the estate of me the said Auley Steele to the Kirk Session for the time being of the Levenside Free Church, whereof One hunded pounds shall be applied by said Kirk Session in or towards the purchase of an organ should this be desired by the said Church within six months after the death of the survivor of us, One hundred pounds, or in the event of an organ not being desired within said period, Two hundred pounds shall be invested by the said Kirk Session in any way they may think best and the income shall be expended by them for behoof of the poor of the Congregation and any balance of said residue shall be divided by the said Kirk Session among the Schemes of the Free Church of Scotland or such of them and in such proportions as the said Kirk Session may think proper

The witnesses to the original deed were John Bain, retired engineer, and James Niven, retired farmer, both residing in Helensburgh.

Codicil, 1897

The Codicil of 1897 dealt exclusively with alterations to the proposed distribution of Mary’s estate and was subscribed by both parties at Helensburgh on 18^th May 1897.

The witnesses were the same as previously although more detail was given on this occasion; ‘John Bain, retired Engineer, residing in Henry Bell Street, Helensburgh and James Niven, retired Farmer, residing at eighteen Granville Street, there.’

(James Niven is also known from the 1901 census, in which the entry for his household was the one immediately following the one for Aulay and Mary Steele. At this time, i.e. 1901, he was living at 10, Granville Street, Helensburgh, in premises having ten rooms with one or more windows. He was 89, a retired farmer. Living with him were his wife, Ann L., 8(1?), and unmarried children Jane S., 48, and son Thomas, 45, wholesale grocer, employer. All members of the family were entered as having been born in Dunbartonshire, Cardross. The final member of the household was Rose Loch, single, 17, a general domestic servant born in Glasgow.)

Codicil, 1906

The later Codicil was subscribed by Aulay alone at Glasgow on 11^th December 1906, following Mary’s death on 21^st June 1901.

The purposes of the 1906 Codicil were as follows. William Allan Cochrane and Archibald Clark Steele were appointed as Trustees, to act along with with John King, the only one remaining of the three original Trustees, and were substituted for James Cochrane Junior, who had died, and the Rev. James McRobert, formerly Minister of Levenside Free Church, who had since his appointment as Trustee in 1895 taken up residence in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and was not expected to return; the commentary appeared within the text of the registered Inventory that Mr McRobert had declined to accept office.

The provisions in favour of the Kirk Session of Levenside Free Church were revoked and a new residual beneficiary, the Central Fund of the United Free Church of Scotland, was substituted.

James Aulay King was similarly bypassed in favour of his four children:

I also revoke and recall the legacy of Three hundred pounds payable out of my own estate to James Auley King, within designed, and direct that the said sum of Three hundred pounds shall be paid to his children, Agnes, Margaret, James and William, or the survivors of them equally among them payable on the youngest of them attaining the age of twenty five years complete; And until such event happens I direct the said Trustees to invest the said sum of Three hundred pounds for behoof of the said Agnes King, Margaret King, James King and William King or the survivor of them and pay over the annual income or produce thereof to them or for their behoof

What James had done to occasion such offence was not stated.

Further bequests were provided in favour of certain parties, all of whom we now hear of for the first and only time:

And Further I bequeath to my cousin Mrs Margaret Cochrane residing at two hundred and one Kent Road, Glasgow, whom failing, to her daughter Agnes, One hundred and fifty pounds, to Jean Clark Callander, daughter of the late Malcolm Callander, Falkirk, residing with Miss Potts, thirty six George Street, Edinburgh, One hundred and fifty pounds, and to my housekeeper, Agnes Malcolm, One hundred pounds

The witnesses to the 1906 Codicil were William John Thom, clerk, and Douglas Hamilton Wilson, apprentice, both in the employ of Donaldson & Alexander, writers, Glasgow.

Inventory

The relevant entry in Confirmations & Inventories, 1908, reads as follows:

STEELE, Auley, Dalblair, Helensburgh, died 29 February 1908, at Helensburgh, testate. Confirmation granted at Dumbarton, 12 August, to John King, Colliery Clerk, Hamilton, William Cochrane, Dalry, Ayrshire, and Archibald Clark Steele, Engineer, Alexandria, Executors nominated in Will or Deed, dated 28 March 1895, and Codicils, dated 18 May 1897, and 11 December 1906, and recorded in Court Books of Commissiariot of Dumbarton, 3 August 1908. Value of Estate, £4718, 7s. 2d.

Bond and Disposition in Security by Thomas Brisbane Ewing, Wright in Partick in favor of Misses Mary, Margaret, Helen, Elizabeth and Eliza Adam dated 2nd & recorded (GR Bar & Reg of Glasgow) 3rd January 1874 over subjects Hyndland Street & Cross Street, Partick to which deceased acquired right by transmission

The second, to the value of £500:

Bond and Disposition in Security for £3100 by the said Thomas Brisbane Young2 in favor of the Trustees of the deceased John Brown, Manufacturer, Glasgow dated 2nd and recorded (G R Bar & Reg of Glasgow) 3rd January 1874 over said subjects to which deceased acquired right by transmission to the extent of £500

² A further error on the face of the document; the surname of the gentleman referred to in the first instance as Thomas Brisbane Ewing becomes Young in the second. People in general grow old but he has become Young. Thomas B. Ewing is also known as the proprietor of a number of tenanted properties at 10, Cross Street, Partick.

The IOU, to the value of £82:

Sum in IOU by Thomas Kidd, Teacher in Larkhall dated 2nd July 1900

When income to the date of death is added, in the form of interest on the various bank accounts, to the value of £20 9 10/-, we have a subtotal of £2967 10/8d.

II England

There were also various sums of money invested in various bank accounts in England, the deposit receipts for which are tabulated as follows:

Union Bank of Australia Ltd @ 4% per annum dated 4th August 1907 & repayable 14th August 1909	100  -  -
Bank of Africa Ltd @ 4% per annum dated 7th August 1906 & repayable 7th August 1908	100  -  -
Bank of Africa Ltd @ 4% per annum dated 2nd October 1906 & repayable 2nd October 1908	100 -  –
Bank of Africa Ltd @t 4% per annum dated 9th July 1907 & repayable 9th July 1909	100 -  –
Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd @ 4% pa dated 15 June 1903	300  -  -
Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd @ 3/3% D° 29 June 1905	140  -  -
Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd @4% 13 Feby 1907	100  -  -
Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corpn @ 4% dated 18th Feby 1903	200  -  -
Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corpn @ 4% dated 11th Septr 1903	200  -  -
Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corpn @ 4% dated 30th June 1904	200  -  -
Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corpn @ 4% dated 11th July 1904	200  -  -

The duty on heritage was £10 2/2d, yielding a total duty of £150 8/8d.