Ancestorium Family Tree Collaboration

N Peter Maclaren

Male 1918 - 1995  (77 years)


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  • Name N Peter Maclaren 
    Born 7 May 1918  Glasgow City, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Ancestry https://ancestorium.com/tng/fan.php?personID=I000012&tree=1&parentset=0&generations=7
    &
    https://ancestorium.com/tng/pedigree.php?personID=I000012&tree=1&parentset=0&display=standard&generations=5 
    Educ. Ampleforth, West of Scotland Agricultural College 1938. Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Info 1 Farm Manager & Farming Consultant. see notes Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Obituary see notes Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Died 11 Nov 1995  Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried Kirkpatrick Durham Cemetery, Kirkpatrick Durham, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I000012  Ancestorium
    Last Modified 17 Feb 2023 

    Father Norman Henry William Maclaren, Dr,   b. Jan 1880, Ardenshaw, St Andrew's Road, Pollockshields, Glasgow Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 22 Jun 1937, Cubrieshaw, West Kilbride, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 57 years) 
    Mother Mary Margaret Garnett,   b. 11 Jan 1893, 10 Southwood Road, Toxteth Park, Lancashire, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 12 Nov 1988, Braintree, Essex, England Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 95 years) 
    Married 1912 
    Family ID F00002  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Jean Charlotte Mary Theresa Farrell,   b. 15 Oct 1918, Dublin, Ireland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 28 Mar 2009, Barwhillanty, Parton, Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 90 years) 
    Married Feb 1941  Edinburgh, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. Private
    +2. Private
    +3. Private
    +4. Private
    +5. Private
    Family ID F00014  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • http://www.thepeerage.com/p616.htm#i6155

      Peter Maclaren 1918-1995
      Born 7 May 1918, Scotland
      Died 11 November 1995, Castle Douglas,Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland
      Son of Norman Maclaren 1880-1936 & Mary Margaret Garnet 1894-1989
      Husband of Jean Farrell. Father of David, Hugh, Anne, Shaun, & Charles

      See also the autobiographical book by Peter Maclaren
      "Grass Roots, 60 years of farming, fun and frustration."
      Published by the author in association with SLP, Silver Link Publishing Ltd., 1995
      ISBN 1 85794 065 2
      Silver Link Publishing Ltd., Unit 5,
      Home Farm Close, Church Street, Wadenhoe, Peterborough PE8 5TE

      Obituary in the
      Ampleforth Journal
      Norman Peter Maclaren
      born May 1918, left St Wilfrid's House 1936, died 11 November 1995

      Peter Maclaren came from a family of countrymen. His father had in the early 1900s traveled through Alaska with a team of husky dogs and a Chinese cook, making the first map of large areas of Alaska, breaking his arm in a crevasse and setting it himself: he was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Linnean Society, and a Professor at Glasgow University. The family lived in farmland near the Ayrshire coast: Peter remembered watching Clydesdale horses going down to the shore after a storm of high tide to collect carts of seaweed to fertilize the potato crops. Here, at an early age, he learnt to shoot and fish, and to be about in the countryside. After Ampleforth, he gained knowledge of farming by both studying and practical experience. In 1936 he went to the West of Scotland Agricultural college, in Glasgow, gaining in 1938 a National Diploma in Agriculture at Leeds. Over the years form 1936 to 1942, after his first job as a potato grower, he worked successively on farms near Castle Douglas, Fife, Shropshire and Wadhurst in Sussex: at Wadhurst, working with pigs and as a milkman, work began at 3 am.

      From 1942 to 1947 Peter Maclaren was at the Ampleforth farms. Although not looking for another job, he was invited by Fr Paul Nevill to become manager of a new farm being taken over by Ampleforth, Park House Farm: this was one of several farms being run then by Ampleforth. Later, in 1943, he became manager of all Ampleforth farms, both in the valley and three farms above Ampleforth on higher ground. Under wartime regulations he was allowed to slaughter on beast per week, and this had to be divided amongst over 800 ration cards and equally between each house, with house matrons bargaining for more. HE lived at Park House Farm, in the shadow of the south side of the valley, s house without electricity or telephone. It was in this period, in February 1942, that he married Jean.

      From 1947 to 1968 he worked with farms belonging to ICI: first in 1947 as farm manager of an ICI farm at Lea Head, Cheshire; then from 1952 to 1968 as manager of the Leaths, Castle Douglas in Kirkcudbrightshire. It was at Lea Hall that he became a friend of Dr Bob Hamilton of ICI: it was through him that Peter move to The Leaths. It was at the Leaths that great advances in grass management were put into practice, and that many walks and conferences were organised. He and Dr Hamilton established in the 1960s that the proper management of grass was the cheapest form for livestock, and it is for this that Peter will be particularly remembered in the farming world. It was here that great advances in grass management were put into practice. An obituary in The Galloway News (30 November 1995) said: "To walk round a farm or garden, or to go out shooting with Peter, was a stimulating journey, for with his gift as a raconteur he was able to out over his great knowledge of the various grasses, weeds plants and animals". The Obituary added "the prosperity of farming in the UK, particularly in grassland management, so important in this part of Scotland. Owes much to Peter Maclaren".

      From 1968, after leaving ICI, he ran a farm consultancy, advising farms from Caithness to Cornwall, and even in Iran and South Africa. Many farms benefited form the managers found for them by his advice. At his home at Brooklands near Dumfries, he and Jean developed what The Galloway News described as "one of the best gardens in Scotland", open to the public on charity days, on the last occasion in 1993 making 3,770 pounds in a day. In 1993 Peter and Jean moved about 25 miles west to a smaller, early 19th century house, The Brae in Castle Douglas- but the experience of moving exhausted him, and he spent time in hospital: after this his health declined. His friend Bill Atkinson (C31) journeyed from his Devonshire home via the Stonyhurst match at Ampleforth, but was unable to see him as he had returned to hospital, dying three days later.

      Peter Maclaren wrote an autobiography Grass Roots- 60 years of farming, fun and frustration, published in June 1995. The Field (December 1995) described it as "a gem of a book": its reviewer wrote of how "in a delightful way he challanges the industries armchair critics", and added that perhaps these critics "might care to try what he has done with such skill all his life". In the forward to his book, the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry writes that there can be few who have combined theoretical and practical farming with good land management in many parts of the country, and, as The Galloway News adds, "go on to enthral his readers". He has also written with others a book on field sports which is due for publication in 1996.

      He had five children: David, Hugh (C62), Annie, Shaun (B69) and Charlie (C74). His brother is Ian (W32).
      ++++++++++++++

      Norman Peter Maclaren
      https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/179620978/norman-peter-maclaren
      BIRTH
      7 May 1918 Glasgow City, Scotland
      DEATH 11 Nov 1995 (aged 77) Kirkpatrick Durham, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
      BURIAL Kirkpatrick Durham Cemetery, Kirkpatrick Durham, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
      MEMORIAL ID 179620978 ·

      Family Members
      Spouse

      Jean Charlotte M T Farrell Maclaren 1918–2009 (m. 1942)