Why W was George christened so late?
QMy ancestors Clement Leith (born c1813 in Latheron, Caithness) and a Helen Gunn never married but had two children: Thomas (my great great grandfather) born in 1831 in Loth, Sutherland; and George, born in October 1833 in Latheron, Caithness, but christened on 6 March 1852 in Latheron. As far as I know, Thomas was never christened, but why would George have been christened so late? I can find no n trace of George except this.
Joyce Playford
There could be any number of reasons as to why George was baptised so late in his life, possibly subject to his circumstances at the time. All you can do is to try to work from the sources available to see if they might shed some light on his situation. The absence of a baptism for George’s brother Thomas, and an earlier baptism for George himself, may suggest an absence from the parish when they were young, or alternatively adherence to another faith or
Adenomination. The Second Statistical Account for Latheron parish, available at stataccscot.edina. ac.uk/static/statacc/dist/home and dated to October 1840, notes that a small number of families in the parish were dissenters from the Kirk, who worshipped at the Secession Church in Wick. A search of the catalogue of the National Records of Scotland (NRS; nrscotland.gov.uk) suggests that the Wick secession records, dating back to 1813, are held under CH3/1444 but do not appear to include baptism records, although the session records may be worth searching for additional evidence of possible attendance.
The Latheron Church of Scotland session records are also worth searching to see if George’s request for a later baptism was discussed. The website ScotlandsPeople ( scotlandspeople.gov. uk) has some of the parish’s records but only up to 1843. However, records from 1844–1910 do exist. They have been catalogued under CH2/530/2, and have been digitised. NRS uses a cautious interpretation of copyright for the online hosting of more recent records, but they can be accessed on site in its Historical Search Room. Chris Paton