McManus 168

Full name

William Keiller

Date of birth

14-09-1829^[1]

Place of birth

Dundee^[1]

Gender

Male

Marital status

Married^[2]

Name of spouse

(1). Mary Steel Macnee in 1859^[2] (died 1883). (2). Catherine Bell.^[3]

Children

Arnold William (1860),^[4] Edith M. (1861),^[5] William A. (1863),^[6] Edwin A. (1865), Ernest S. (c.1867)^[7] Maud E. (c.1869)^[7] and Ethel M. (c.1873)^[7] to Mary Steel Macnee. Gordon W. and Clifton M. (c.1888),^[3] Eric Bell (c.1890)^[3] and Leila Catherine (c.1892).^[8] to Catherine Bell.

Home address

21 Castle Street, Dundee.^[9]
30 Reform Street, Dundee.^[10][11]
7 Dock Street, Dundee.^[12]
1 South Tay Street, Dundee.^[13]
Prospect Place (Constitution Road), Dundee.^[14]
1 Euston Terrace, St Peter Port, Island of Guernsey.^[15]
Fernwood, Albert Road, Wandsworth.^[7]

Age at death:

69^[16]

Place of death:

Fernwood, Wimbledon Park, Surrey.^[17]

Date of death:

25-01-1899^[17]

Buried:

Unknown

Religious affiliation

Congregationalist

Political affiliation

Not known.

Clubs / societies

None found

Public offices

None found

Related subscribers

Subscriber no.118 – Alexander Keiller – William’s brother and head of the family business.

Subscriber no.147 –Methven & Norrie – William Norrie was the uncle of William Keiller’s second wife.

Occupation

Confectioner

Employment

Junior partner^[18]

Place of work

James Keiller & Son

Work address

1 Castle Street and New Inn Entry, Dundee.^[19]
2 Castle Street, Dundee.^[10]
1 Castle Street (shop) and Rankine's Court, Murraygate (works), Dundee.^[12]
2 Castle Street and Rankine's Court, Dundee.^[14]
Meadowside, Rankine's Court and 2 Castle Street, Dundee.^[20]
Meadowside (workshops and bakehouse), Rankine's Court (warehouse and offices), New Inn Entry (warehouse), Campbells Close (cellar floor and ground floor), Cross land at top of Grays Close, Dundee.^[21]

Career to date:

Born in 1829, William Keiller would have been brought in to the expanding family business at an early age but in a subordinate capacity. The death of his father, James, in 1839 left the business in the hands of his mother, Margaret Spence. In 1841, shortly after his father died, the 11 year-old William is living at home with his 40 year-old mother and his siblings: Ann (20), Alexander (15), Catherine (14), Margaret (12), Wedderburn (5) and Elizabeth (3), plus two female servants.^[22] As the 1840s progressed, however, William's elder brother, Alexander, took on an increasingly important role and, after Margaret's death in 1849, it was Alexander who took charge. In the 1851 census William is living at Reform Street with his older sister, Margaret, who is acting as housekeeper, his younger brother, Wedderburn, and their London-born cousin, Margaret Robertson, who is a shopkeeper. William is described as a master confectioner employing 10 men and 50 women. Wedderburn was an apprentice confectioner. The subordinate position of William and his younger brother, Wedderburn, was regularised in the contract of co-partnery drawn up in 1860 between the three brothers with Alex gaining a controlling interest in the firm.^[18] The year previously, William had married and was now living at one of the two properties in Prospect Place,^[23] off Constitution Road, acquired by Margaret in 1849 and transferred to Wedderburn on her death. Wedderburn had been sent by Alexander to manage their newly opened manufacturing establishment in St Peter Port, Guernsey. On Wedderburn's death in 1867, William was sent to Guernsey in his place together with his wife and young family. Although he regularly returned to Dundee for short visits, he made his home in St Peter Port until the works closed in 1879 at which time he moved to London.^[18]