My paternal grandmother, Lydia Jane Roberton nee Whittaker

This was my father's mother, Lydia. From what my father said, she was a kindly, hard working, religious woman. Here's what he wrote about her.

My mother was born on 4th December 1885, the only child of Thomas and Jane Whittaker, in the parish of Bonhill in the county of Dunbartonshire.

 Her father was English and from stories she told me of visits to her relations in Bradford and Chorley, I know that she was very proud of her Englsh background. However, she seemed to drift apart from those aunts and cousins she talked about with affection and she never visited them to my knowledge after she was married.

Her mother was from Kircudbrightshire and was a widow when she married my grandfather.

The great love of my mother's life was her church, St  Mungo's Episcopal, Alexandria. This was known locally as the English church. When she was born, St Mungo's was not in existence and she was confirmed in St Augustine's, Dunbarton. She and her father were among the founder members of the church in Alexandria and she worked for it in almost every capacity. She was in the choir, she was a Sunday school teacher and I remember the armfuls of flowers that came from my father's garden when it was my mother's turn to "do the flowers". My father was brought up as a Presbyterian which is the established church of Scotland, but to please my mother he joined 'her' church and was confirmed into it.

My father was in regular employment and with the garden we were never short of fresh vegetables so there was always plenty of food in the Roberton household. This, added to the fact that my mother was a superb cook, meant that mealtimes were something to be looked forward to.