The village of John O’Groats, on the north-eastern tip of mainland Scotland, is 876 miles from Land’s End, on the western tip of Cornwall. Some of our ancestors lived at John O’Groats, some at Land’s End. Because they failed to bunch up for our convenience we will be obliged to drive from one end of the country to the other to take them all in.

One was Margaret Cudmore nee Budge (1845 – 1912), my great great grandmother, who was born on 22 October 1845 to Kenneth Budge (1813 – 1852) and Margaret Budge nee Gunn (1819 – 1863) in Wick, Caithness, 16 miles south of John O’Groats .

dcb59-wickherringgutters192011794

From a collection of 44 monochrome postcards showing fishing scenes around Scotland in the early 20th century. Monchrome photograph with the title ‘Herring Gutters at work, Wick’ showing three large trench style benchs full of herring with men and women on each side gutting herring. There are stacked fish barrels behind them with the masts of fishing vessels in the harbour in the background. Retrieved from Dornoch History Links image library http://www.historylinksarchive.org.uk/picture/number11794.asp

Margaret was baptized on 16 January 1846.

Margaret Budge baptism from ScotlandsPeople

16/01/1846 BUDGE, MARGARET (Old Parish Registers Births 043/ 40 493 Wick) Page 493 of 593 retrieved from ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk

Her father was a sailor, who died at sea of cholera in 1852, when Margaret was almost 7. In 1854 Margaret Budge nee Gunn remarried, to Ewan Rankin (born 1825).

Margaret was the fourth of five children. Her older sister Alexandrina died between 1845 and 1851. Her younger sister was also named Alexandrina.

Margaret, her two brothers Daniel and Kenneth and younger sister Alexandrina accompanied their mother and step-father to Adelaide, South Australia in 1854. Margaret was then 9 years old.

Margaret married James Francis Cudmore (1837 – 1912), a pastoralist. They had 13 children.

Cudmore Margaret nee Budge

Margaret Cudmore nee Budge. (I am not certain of the source of this photograph)

James Francis Cudmore was in business at various times with Margaret’s brothers Daniel and Kenneth and also James Mansfield Niall, the husband of Margaret’s younger sister Alexandrina.

Margaret, it appears, never returned to Wick. In honour of her home place however, Margaret named their house at Mount Barker “Caithness”. Mount Barker is 33 kilometers from Adelaide. Margaret’s youngest child, Robert Milo Cudmore, was born there in 1889.

Cudmore birth Caithness Mount Barker 1889

Family Notices (1889, February 15). The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide, SA : 1867 – 1922), p. 2 (Second Edition.). Retrieved April 9, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208524891

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