Local Heroes (and Villains)
Banffshire/Aberdeenshire
FROM ROTHIEMAY TO THE SILVER SCREEN
The photograph shows Miss Laura Cowie, of Rothiemay.
The picture, in the Bassano collection in The Portrait National
Gallery, London, was one of several taken of her in 1912.
Laura, who was the daughter of Alexander Cowie and Anna Hutcheon, was
born in Rothiemay on 7th April 1892. Her father was from Auchterless,
Aberdeenshire where his father farmed several hundred acres and had a
number of properties. Anna’s parents were from Marnoch and Turriff,
where they farmed and had a grocery and spirit import business. The
couple married on 1st August 1889 and immediately moved to take up the
lease on Turtory; and they can be seen there in the 1891 census at
Turtory Farm, Rothiemay while other tenants of Alexander’s late father
moved, too, to take up residence at the various parts of the complex
at Turtory. A little boy was born to the couple on 26th January 1893,
also Alexander, and he was named, in part, for his paternal
grandmother Margaret Tarrel of Auchterless.
All seemed to be going well for the family and their staff when, quite
suddenly, Alexander died as a result of a heart problem in 1900
leaving Anna with two little children to look after and no means of
financial support other than that which Alexander had left her. So she
left the farm and took the children to Aberdeen where they lived in a
house at No 6 Gladstone Street, Rubislaw with Anna’s niece Mina Deane
and nephew Alexander Charles, who was a solicitor. As a supplementary
means of income Anna took in two boarders, who were students, Miss
Jeannie Fettes from Rhynie and Miss Elizabeth Laggan from Torphins.
The family were looked after by cook/housekeeper Jessie Center from
New Pitsligo and the housemaid, Agnes Mitchell, from the parish of
Grange, Banffshire. Both the children attended the nearby schools,
young Alexander going to Lord Byron’s old school – Aberdeen Grammar.
In 1902 Anna (now Annie) married Cambridge Divinity graduate Alexander
Reid Craib, the Minister of the parish of New Pitsligo. He was 61 and
near to retirement, although he did not retire until 1912 when he
moved to Edinburgh, where he died in 1916.
Laura was especially keen on dancing and attended lessons locally in
Aberdeen. In 1903, her step-father and mother decided that she had
aptitude and needed to train properly if she wanted to become a
professional dancer, so Annie, Laura and Alexander set off to London
where Laura had gained a place at the newly opened Academy of Dramatic
Arts (later RADA). This Academy was founded by Sir Herbert Beerbohm
Tree, the actor-manager who was famous for his Shakespearean
productions. Alongside him was Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson, who was
noted for his Hamlet and lauded for his diction and deportment
onstage.
While she was there studying dance and taking lessons in acting,
speech and drama structure, both gentlemen were agreed that Laura had
the right attitude and work ethic to make a better actor than a
dancer. And so her professional career began. Annie, who obviously
chaperoned her pretty daughter, took a flat in Hampstead and young
Alexander gained a job with the Lacre Motor Company as a draughtsman.
Annie, alongside her chaperone duties, set up and ran an agency for
maids and other domestic staff.
Meanwhile Alexander, her brother, had moved from being a draughtsman for Lacre, designing principally, commercial vehicles to becoming a salesman for them. This was an important step, both for Alexander and for the firm as his knowledge of how they were designed and made meant that the firm was instrumental in gaining a great many contracts in what we now call the public sector.
Laura, after her marriage to John, settled down to married life with
occasional film appearances for Rank Studios; and the couple bought
the delightful Georgian house - Blue Tiles Farm - near Fakenham,
Norfolk. Here John had peace to write plays, film scripts for Rank and
a number of novels, which are still available to purchase.
John died in 1956 at the farm, Laura in 1969.
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