General News
6 January, 2025
Ken Arnold peels away his family history with a look at LADY MARMALADE
By KEN ARNOLD THE NEXT time you enjoy a thick wedge of orange marmalade on your toast, give thanks to a rogue Spanish ship captain and a resourceful woman named Janet Keiller. Keiller, Kelleher, Killer, Keler or Keeler - depending on where you were...
By KEN ARNOLD
THE NEXT time you enjoy a thick wedge of orange marmalade on your toast, give thanks to a rogue Spanish ship captain and a resourceful woman named Janet Keiller.
Keiller, Kelleher, Killer, Keler or Keeler - depending on where you were and when.
Folklore has it that the Keiller family originated in Ireland where they were known as Kelleher.
The original Kelleher was engaged to a wealthy young orphan girl, who had become the ward of a bishop, hence it must have been customary that the latter had the girl on the night prior to her marriage.
This must have enraged Kelleher, as it was not long before he killed the bishop, and the young couple fled across the North Channel to Scotland, settling close to Perth.
Kelleher must have been successful, as he built a castle on the main route from the highlands to the lowlands known as Rankeilour or Rankeillour, around 25km from the now famous St Andrews golf course and 31km from Dundee.
Kelleher had great trouble trying to defend his castle from warring clans, and it was burnt out with everyone killed except a nurse and a young Kelleher boy.
The nurse took George Kelleher to Dundee, around 1605. It appears that this is when the surname became Keiller. George in turn had a son, also named George, who had a son John, who married Elspeth Ferguson on October 18, 1669.
As a result, John junior was born in 1670. He married Katherine Ramsey, who gave birth to James on September 29, 1711, at Dundee.
James Keiller married Janet Robb on October 29, 1730, and they had four children including John, 1737(9)-1804, who was to marry Janet Mathewson in 1762. They had eight children including John and James.
The Keiller family had a small grocery and confectionery shop in Seagate, Dundee, where Janet made jams, biscuits, jellies, cakes and sweets.
Commercial marmalade
In 1797 a Spanish ship became stranded in a raging storm, finally docking at Port Broughty. As the bulk of the cargo was Seville oranges the captain feared they would soon spoil, so he thought he could con John Keiller and sold the consignment to him, much to the surprise of his wife.
Not being able to make jam from the oranges owing to their bitter taste, Janet began to peel off thin strips of rind before adding it to her mixture. Thus, Janet Keiller is credited with being the first to make commercial marmalade in Great Britain, the new business being named James Keiller.
James Keiller married Barbara Robertson (1789-1817) and they had seven children including James (1810-49). Keiller later married Margaret Spence (1800-50) and had another nine children including Alexander Riddoch (1821-77).
Janet Keiller (1737–1813) and her son James conducted the shop for some time, but it was not until 1828 that the business became known as James Keiller & Son, after James junior joined the business.
As James Keiller senior, had died, his widow Margaret and son Alexander continued to conduct the jam, boiled sweets and butterscotch business, moving to an area known as Albert Square in 1845.
Sugar tax
To avoid paying sugar tax, a factory was established at St Peter Port, Guernsey, in 1857, managed by Wedderspoon Keiller (1835-66), and around this time the business became known as Keiller & Sons.
When the was abolished in 1874 a new factory was opened at Tay Wharf in London. By this time Keiller & Sons marmalade was being marketed in Australia, China, New Zealand and South Africa. The Tay Wharf factory was destroyed by a fire in late 1899 but it was rebuilt, before being bombed and razed to the ground in 1940.
Meanwhile the Dundee factory too was destroyed by fire, after which a much larger factory was built and opened in 1870.
This multi-storied building was in turn gutted by fire on May 10, 1900, making 600 employees idle. A new factory was built on the site, which closed in 1947 before being demolished in 1972 so a new shopping centre could be built. It was called The Forum, but has been more recently renamed the Keiller centre.
In 1928 a new Dundee factory was rebuilt at Mains Loan, Maryfield. Alexander Keiller married Elizabeth Mitchell (1815–1907) and they had two children including John Mitchell (1851–99).
When Alexander R Keiller died in 1877 he was succeeded by his son John M.
Business expands rapidly
Although Dundee cake was introduced to the public around 1877, it took some 50 years to become a commercial success. Under the guidance of John M it was not long before Keiller & Sons had eight bakery shops, most in Dundee, with one in Perth.
When John M died the business employed a general manager and the Keiller family had little or no further involvement with the business, which merged with or was purchased by Crosse & Blackwell in 1919. The business was sold a number of times, at one stage being part of the Robertson & Son group.
Although the Keiller factory was the largest confectionery firm in Britain, as was often visited by royalty, the business name of Keiller & Sons ceased in 1992. The Mains Loan building lay idle and was targeted by vandals before being demolished in 2018.
The Keiller family
James Keiller was one of the founders of Dundee Orphan Society in 1815. Wedderspoon Keiller patented a process for preparing marmalade with a machine during 1864.
John Mitchell Keiller and his family often stayed at Morven Lodge, also known as the “Shooting Box”, close to Balmoral Castle, until he had Invercauld built at Ballater in 1891. Today it is known as Craigendarroch, a luxury hotel.
Alexander (1889–1955), son of John M, funded the 1913 establishment of Sizaire-Berwick (France) Limited, a car company. This 20hp four-cylinder vehicle had a radiator that looked like a Rolls-Royce.
Due to World War One, the company became bankrupt, however Alexander’s car can now be seen in a museum at Avebury in Wiltshire. Keiller also owned a Hispano-Suiza, nicknamed “The Tulipwood car”, an MG Midget, Bugatti racing cars and the strange looking Citreon Kegresse, a half-track car that was useful during excavations.
Alexander Keille junior joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve but was soon invalided out. As a result, he formed a friendship with O. G. S. Crawford to make aerial surveys in south-west England.
He was actively involved with Avebury Manor and the Morven Institute of Technology, but he will be best remembered for purchasing 950 acres of land including Windmill Hill, where a number of intact skeletons were found, in Avebury.
Here he cleared the land to locate and raise many standing stones, and for the excavation of West Kennett Avenue, which is around 6000 years old.
Although married four times Alexander had no children, so some of the land, museum and probably most of the village was sold off to form a trust which was finally gifted to the National Trust.
Today Avebury is a tourist town, complete with the thatched roof Red Lion Hotel, which stands at the crossroads, while the now famous Silbury Hill stands nearby.
Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles. One of the marvels of prehistoric Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in the world, about 340m in diameter, which is thought to be about 4500 years old. This circle once consisted of around 100 stones, but many were broken up while others were used in buildings.
Nobody knows the significance of Silbury Hill and the many other man-made hills that stand in the area.
George Keiller emigrates
John Keiller married Isabella Anderson, who gave birth to George (1804-1858), who in turn married Margaret Maxwell on November 13, 1827.
Although they had six children, only the two youngest Thomas (1842-1914) and Andrew (1846-1924) travelled with them when they emigrated to Australia. The Bloomer docked at Portland on November 22, 1854.
The couple were encouraged to come to Australia by their daughter Isabella, who had married George Ireland, and along with her married sister Jean Todd had emigrated on June 27, 1852, on board the Diadem.
George and Isabella Ireland settled at Forest Creek where Agnes Isabella was born on September 3, 1855.
Although George Ireland was a painter, he spent some time as an overseer with Messrs. Cornish & Bruce, who contracted to build the Melbourne to Sandhurst railway line. His wife made a little extra money as a dressmaker.
They both wrote poetry under the pen names of Tom Rattaray and Isa respectively, much of their verse being published in the Mount Alexander Mail newspaper. Keiller was also a baker at Aberdeen Hill, Forest Creek, trading as George Keiller & Sons.
Agnes Isabella Ireland married Thomas Scott on February 7, 1877, and they had 12 children including Isabella (Isa) Keiller (1879-1954), who married William Arnold (1877-1959). They had four children including Keith (1921-1990), who was my father.