Ann Smith Findlay
(8 Jan 1864 – 5 Apr 1946)

[As recounted by J M (Findlay) Guerin]

Ann Smith Findlay b.8-1-1864 Glasgow m1.21-8-1885 Callander m2.18-3-1898 London d.5-4-1946 Sevenoaks 82y

Ann or Annie or Nancy as she was variously referred to, was named after her maternal great aunt, Ann Smith, who was a successful shop keeper, hosier and yarn merchant until well into her 70's.

When Ann Smith Findlay was just 8 years old her father died, she was attending school in Glasgow. Afterwards moving with her mother to Callander, by 1881 she was 17 and attending a boarding school in Edinburgh at 32 Chalmers St run by head teacher Mary Hill.

A few years later she married a 26 year old, Glaswegian, iron and coal merchant, George Stevenson on the 21-8-1885 in Callander. Their first son, George Macaulay Stevenson, was born in 1886 in Glasgow.

According to contemporary BMD newspaper notices their younger son, Daniel Macaulay Stevenson, was actually born at the English Grand Hotel, Port Orotava, Teneriffe on 5-3-1896. He died at the family home Rosslyn House, Kelvinside, Glasgow on 19-7-1896, just 4 months old.

This was soon followed by the death of Ann's husband George Stevenson in Glasgow on the 27-5-1897, after a long illness. Their stay the previous year in the Canary Isles, was for the sake of his health. His obituary records that he was a cultural man of intelligence, with a sense of humour.

With Ann's surviving siblings spread far and wide, she then appears to have made her way to London. Within a few months, she had married London lawyer, Henry Reece on the 19-3-1898, in Notting Hill. Her 12 year old son George Macaulay had adopted the surname Reece, becoming Stevenson-Reece. He was soon packed off to boarding school, at Charterhouse in Godalming, followed by legal studies.

George briefly served as a reserve officer in the 2nd Dragoons during WW1, while he was training with the Inn of Court OTC. He remained a barrister throughout his working life, living at 7 Fig Tree Court Temple until he retired and then moved back to Kent to live at Fig Tree Cottage in Otford.

By 1911 Henry and Ann had left Kensington and retired to Sevenoaks in Kent. Henry Reece died at his house Court Lodge, Sevenoaks on the 16-11-1934, while his wife Nancy (Ann) died there on 5-4-1946.