Colin Rowntree was born on 9 August 1891 at 9
Queen Square, Strathbungo, the son of architect Fred Rowntree and
his wife Mary Anna Gray. At the age of 9 years old he moved with
the family to Fulham at 23 Palace Mansions. Br the time that he
was 20 years old the family had moved to 11 Hammersmith Terrace
and joined the Architectural Practice with his father and brother.
He practiced in partnership with his father and brother in
Hammersmith, London from 1912 as Fred Rowntree & Sons His
wife to be, Mary, was living with her Father Sam Begg and Mother
Ada at 23 Fairfax Road, Bedford Park Chiswick.
They were married on 30th Oct 1914 and at this
time Colin had already committed himself the Friends Ambulance
Unit and had started training in Medical work on 25th August 1914
about three weeks after the start of war.
Details of their early life together, such as it was.
The day they got married Colin went to
Dunkirk to work with Friends Ambulance, so Mary lived with her
parents throughout the war period although there is reference to
them buying a house during 1916, the one in which they lived after
the war on Strand on the Green, Chiswick. It should be noted that
Colin would have had no pay during his time with the Friend’s
Ambulance Unit and it can be surmised that the main reason for him
leaving the FAU to join the Royal Engineers, to work with the War
Graves, was his need for money, as his first son was born in
November 1915 and now he had a child dependant on him. From
their letters to one another we get some idea of their lives
during the war however significant insight of life behind the
lines in France and Belgium, came be obtained from Colin’s
diaries 1914-1916 and diaries
1916-1918.
There are a number of letters between Colin and
Mary but have virtually no detailed
information regarding the state of life for either during the war.
There are references to holidays that Mary had in Cornwall during
that time and one letter giving a beautiful of the countryside
round Perranporth.
There is other information that can be gleaned from them but many of them
seem to be of little consequence with not much more than missing
you comments and Colin telling Mary that she is a naughty girl for
not writing and Mary also grumbling that Colin’s letters are not
often enough.
Summary
notes and excerpts from letters
There is a short set of comments
about Letters 1914-1918 between Colin Rowntree and Mary
Rowntree nee Begg
From the letters from Mary it seems clear that
by early 1915 they had rented Picton House and Mary was busy
getting decoration done. Despite owning this house Mary continued
to live with her parents throughout the war and even considered
renting it out to friends or family.
Immediately after the war Colin went down with Flu and Bronchial
Pneumonia and was poorly for some months. See
diary note
Mary and Colin then settled at 45 Strand on the Green ( Picton House)
and Colin worked within his Father's Partnership. Their second son
Paul was born in 1920 and he and his brother enjoyed the next 5
years by the Thames until they moved to York to continue with the
Partnership work in the North.
According to a letter written by
Paul in 1988, Colin was grateful to be away from the
"head office".
During the post war years it seems that Colin and family joined
with Fred Rowntree and members of the extended family on holiday
near Tavyalich on the West Coast of Scotland and we have a couple
of letters from Colin about one such holiday and also photographs
of the family. These have helped in assembling a short article
about the meeting up of the Rowntree
Clan.
In about 1925 Colin and his family left London for the North
and settled at Aumitts in Bransby for a couple of years before
moving into Stonegate in the middle of York. Colin ran the
NOrthern office of Rowntree and Sons for many years until the
Partnership was dissolved. Fred Rowntree in 1927 and Mary Anne in
1933. Thoughout their lives Colin and Douglas kept in touch by
letter and after Fred's death had the responsibility of ensuring
that the estate made regular payments to Fred's mistress Mrs
Brown. There are still memories of Colin and Mary's life at
Stonegate where they stayed until after the WW2 finally moving to
120 The Mount which was later passed onto Paul and Gwen.
There is an indication that Samuel Begg moved North
Details of the work of Fred, Colin and Douglas
Rowntree can be obtained from the Dictionary of Scottish
Architects http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/
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