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Randolph Gordon Erskine Wemyss

Randolph Gordon Erskine Wemyss, or the Laird as he was most usually known, was born in Wemyss Castle on the 11th July 1858, the eldest son on James Hay Erskine Wemyss and Augusta Millicent Anne Mary Kennedy Erskine, youngest daughter of the Honourable John Kennedy Erskine of Dun in the County of Forfar.
 
The young Randolph was tutored privately at home by the Rev. John Thomson; minister of St. Adrian’s church in West Wemyss, until he entered Eton school in 1873. Here he exhibited a passion for poetry as well as a strong interest in history. Such was his interest in poetry that in 1895 he published, privately, a book of his poems entitled “The Maid of Norway and other poems by R. Erskine Wemyss”.
 
Randolph’s father became ill in November 1863 and died at the family’s London home at 6, Buckingham Gate, in March 1864 while on his way to the South of France. The Lairdship passing to the almost six-year old Randolph, with the actual running of the estate vested in his mother until he reached the age of twenty-one.
 
She had decided views on how the estate should be managed, centred principally on coal extraction which she averred should be developed and expanded. The work was centred on West Wemyss, with a new wet dock being opened in 1872 at a cost of £10,000 (£850,000 at today’s prices). The first vessel to enter the new dock was the “Millicent”, a yacht owned by the young Laird himself!
 
One of the Laird’s first enterprises on gaining his majority was the promotion of a scheme to extend the railway from Thornton to Buckhaven. Parliamentary approval had already been granted for the extension, thanks to work carried out by his mother. Construction began in 1879, taking two years to complete at a cost of £25,000 (£2.3 million at today’s prices). Oddly the new railway did not pass through West Wemyss – the station for the village being some one and half miles distant! During his speech at the opening of the railway he said …
 
“We are united together and are all workmen in one common cause, namely, the commercial and honourable advancement of the parish of Wemyss.”
 
Randolph married Lady Lillian Mary Paulet, daughter of John Paulet, 14th Marquis of Winchester and the Hon. Mary Montagu, on 18th July 1884. Two children resulted from the marriage, Mary Millicent Erskine-Wemyss, born 15th May 1885 and John Michael Erskine-Wemyss on the 8th March 1888 (died 1982). However, in 1898, the couple divorced, Randolph marrying Lady Eva Cecilia Margaret Wellesley, daughter of the 2nd Earl Cowley, on 23rd November 1899.
 
In January 1900 Randolph and his new wife embarked on the steam yacht “Vanadis” for a honeymoon cruise to Egypt and South Africa. The honeymoon, however, was interrupted by the outbreak of the Boer War1. Swept up in a an outbreak of patriotism, Mr. Wemyss donated the yacht to the war effort as a hospital ship and on the 4th September 1900 he travelled to Mafeking as part Lord Chesham’s force. Promoted to the rank of Captain, and, according to A.S. Cunningham2 “… in this responsible position he exhibited all the dash, the energy and force that were common to his nature.”   
 
Captain Wemyss - South Africa -1900
Captain Wemyss left South Africa in July 1901, receiving a magnificent welcome home from all public bodies at a reception held in the grounds of Wemyss castle.
 
In the months following his return he raised a troop of men from Wemyss to fight in South Africa as Imperial Yeomanry.   It was his intention to accompany them to South Africa but he met with a serious car accident in London and reluctantly had to forego the trip.
 
Returning to Wemyss, he spent the next seven years in his various business activities, driving forward the developments of the coalfields on his estates, the docks at Methil and the creation of a public tramway from Leven to Kirkcaldy (opened 1906). As a benevolent landlord, he provided improved housing for workers. He oversaw the developments at East and Coaltown of Wemyss, and a new village at Denbeath. He personally spent around £75,000 (approximately £6.5m at today’s prices) on housing in the parish.
 
In November 1907 a ventilation problem at the Lochhead and Victoria pits led to the presence of carbon monoxide (fire damp) in the underground workings, a fault which caused the death of a miner. Mr Wemyss, who had just recovered from pleurisy, was soon on the scene, going underground at the earliest opportunity to assist the rescue parties. He suffered badly from shock and exposure, and in early January 1908 his illness took a form which gave cause for alarm among his family and friends.
 
He was ordered abroad for three months rest and recuperation and set out with Lady Eva for Mentone in France which they reached on the 19th February 1908. The more genial sunny climes of the South of France brought about a slight improvement in his health. Their stay was extended but too little avail and he was moved to a sanatorium in Vienna for further treatment, alas, without success. The family decided to return to Wemyss and arrived at their London home, 9, Chesterfield Street, on Monday 13th July 1908. His condition was such that he was too weak to continue his journey and they opted to remain until his strength returned. Sadly, he grew weaker and died in the presence of his family on Friday 17th July 1908.
 
His funeral took place at Wemyss where he was buried in the Chapel Garden, situated in a semi-circular creek in Red Rocks Bay to the west of the burgh and barony of West Wemyss.
 
In his Appreciation of Randolph Wemyss, written after his death in 1908, A S Cunningham writes2:
 
 “…the Fife men best qualified to judge of the work of Randolph Gordon Erskine Wemyss unhesitatingly give him a place among the strongest business personalities of the County of Fife, indeed of Scotland.”
 
Mr James Falconer MP for Forfarshire speaking in the House of Commons on the 21st October 1909 on the mining royalties clause of the Finance Bill touched on the enterprises of the late Laird:-
 
Mr. Wemyss had taken all the risks in developing his property at a cost of £1,000,000 (£89 million today). He has provided employment for thousands of men, had provided them with travelling facilities and built dwelling houses which were a model to everyone. The rates paid in respect of the enterprise amounted to £8,000 to £9,000 a year (£70,000 to 80,000 today). I know no instance which is so much to be commended from the point of view of anyone interested in the development of the country. It is a real romance of enterprise, which has not been equalled in my time in Scotland.
 
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 Notes & Bibliography

1 The Anglo Boer War was fought by Britain and her Empire against the Boers.  The Boers were comprised of the combined forces of the South African Republic and the Republic of the Orange Free State.  The Boer Republics declared war on 11th October 1899 and the conflict ended on 31st May 1902, a duration of 2 years and 8 months.

2 "Randolph Gordon Erskine Wemyss.  An Appreciation",  And. S. Cunnigham, Purves & Cunnigham, Leven, James Orr, 74 George Street, Edinburgh, 1909