Daughters of Lt General Andrew Gammell
















Lt. General ANDREW GAMMELL and MARTHA STEGELDOIR had four daughters, and although it is believed they were all born in London, we have no details of their birth dates. Details such as we know are as follows:

1. MARTHA GAMMELL 1792 - ? The eldest daughter was married on October 14th 1814 to Captain HARCOURT MORTON of the 49th Foot. (Gentlemans Magazine). From Army papers in the Public Records Office, it appears that there were no children of this marriage, and that Captain Morton retired on half pay in 1816. We have no record of the dates of death of either Martha or her husband. Martha inherited one seventh of her father's estate, when he died in 1815, and was left an annuity of £50 a year under the will of her grandfather James Gammell the banker in 1825.

2. JESSIE GAMMELL 1794 - ? The second daughter married a man called JOSEPH PEILE. Who he was, or what he did, we do not know, nor do we know the date of the marriage, other than it was before Jessie's father died in October 1815, as in his will she is excluded from inheritance, other than a small annuity 'for marrying a blackguard'. The will does not even mention the name of her husband, so for some reason or other, General Andrew must have thought his son-in-law a very undesirable person indeed. What happened to Jessie later on we do not know, except that she and her husband had a family.

Janet Peile b. Jan 1815
Joseph Piele b Sept 1817
Martha Gammell Piele b. Jul 1818
Laura Piele b Feb 1819
Alfred Piele b Jun 1820
William Piele b 19 Jul 1821
Maria Peile b 26 Sept 1822

In the will of Jessie's grandfather James Gammell the banker, she and her family were left £3000, plus an annuity of £100. It is also significant that the death certificate of her mother, Martha Stageldoir is signed, in 1840, by Maria Peile, we assume that this was a daughter of Jessie mentioned above. Maria married a William Frederick Wilding on 11 Jan 1846 at St Silas, Liverpool. (information on this and on Jessie's children from Jai Williams of Ardrossan, Alberta, Canada). Other than this, we know nothing of the children were born to Jessie or when and where Jessie and her husband died.

3. MARGARET GAMMELL 1798 - ? Of this third daughter we know absolutely nothing, other that that she was alive at the time of her father's death in 1815 as she, like his other children shared equally his estate. On the other hand she is not mentioned in the will of her grandfather, James Gammell the banker, ten years later as are two of her sisters, and therefore it is just possible she died young, but of this there is again no evidence.

4. MARY GAMMELL 1800 - 1872 We know more of this youngest daughter than we do of any of her sisters. She married on July lst 1824 The Rev. JOHN STEWART, son of Roger Stewart, a Greenock shipowner. Her husband had been ordained into the Presbyterian Church after graduating from Glasgow University. She inherited like the rest, one seventh of her father's estate in 1815, but is not mentioned in the will of her grandfather James Gammell, the banker in 1825.

Mary and her husband John had two sons, JAMES born 1825 and died 1853, and HARCOURT who was born in 1827, a master mariner, who was drowned in the China Sea in 1854. It is believed both these sons were unmarried. They also had a daughter, MARY GAMMELL STEWART who was born in 1830, and who on July 24th 1855 married the Rev. GEORGE SMYTTAN DAVIDSON. They had a large family as follows:

John Harcourt DAVIDSON 1856-1880  
James Stewart 1858- ? of Cairnlea, Bieldside, Aberdeen
(Rev) Harcourt Morton 1860- ? m. Primrose Hutchison
Mary Gammell 1861- ? m: Edward Pease
John Stewart 1863- ?  
William Smyttan 1867-1906  
(Rev) Roger Stewart 1869- ? m. Janet McLaren
Andrew Gammell 1872-1907  

The only information we have of these children is that The Rev. Harcourt Morton Davidson and his wife Primrose were close friends of Sydney James Gammell and his wife, and were frequent visitors to Drumtochty and Countesswells - they had no children. The only daughter of the family, Mary Gammell Davidson and her husband Edward Pease had two children, a son Michael Stewart Pease, and a daughter Mary Gammell Pease, the latter remaining a spinster but still alive in the 1930s. Michael Stewart Pease married the Hon Bowen Wedgwood, 1st daughter of the first Baron Wedgwood of Barlaston, in the county of Staffordshire. They had issue, including a second daughter Jocelyn Richenda Gammell Pease, who in 1947 married Andrew Fielding Huxley, later Sir Andrew Huxley 1962 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology) and had one son and five daughters. (Information from Shinjinee Sen and Burke's Peerage).

Reverting once again to Mary Gammell and her husband John Stewart; he eventually became rector of the Parish Church of Liberton on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Mary died at Liberton on March 23rd 1872, and her husband John Stewart also died there some seven years later.