Excise staff
This collection of images of Excise staff date from the period 1904-9 and form a unique record of that service before it merged into the Customs and Excise in 1909. Such is the rarity of the material that the national museum that the former Excise Department falls under – the Border Force Museum in Liverpool – has no images of staff from that time. This important collection is a key feature of the Helen Kegie Collection.
The photos came to Helen Kegie from her uncle Stewart Child (1884-1974) who joined the Department in 1906. He spent periods based in Elgin and Cambeltown working with the whisky distilleries, before moving to Wiltshire in 1912 where he worked with the Inland Revenue until he retired. He appears in a number of the images, and his brother also appears in one; he had two brothers who worked with Excise at different times. The contacts through this work also led to the links between the Child family of Chepstow and the Barton family from the Isle of Wight. These connections in turn enabled Helen Kegie’s mother (sister to Stewart Child) to meet Alfred Barton, whose sister was married to Stewart Child.
Figure 1: This group of Excise staff was photographed by R Lynch & Co of Elgin. The central person in the back row with the watch chains is Stewart Child, Helen Kegie’s uncle. To his left – at the end of the back row is his brother Anthony Gower Child (Gower). He was in the Excise Department for many years but only spent two in Scotland, 1906 in Aberdeen and 1907 at Elgin and it therefore seems likely that this is a photo from 1907, when Stewart was also based at Elgin.
Figure 2: A group of Excise staff with Stewart child sitting third from the left
Figure 3: This is labelled as “a few of the faces, the 1904-5 crowd”
Figure 4: Labelled Elgin Assts 1906-7. Stewart Child stands highest in the centre of the back row with watch chain showing
Figure 5: Campbeltown Assts 1907-8. Stewart Child is in the centre of the front row
Figure 6: Postcard sent to Stewart Child from Rothes in May 1908, when he was staying at Bowmore, Island of Islay
Figure 7: Postcard sent to Stewart Child from Forres in May 1910
Figure 8: Labelled “Bowmore Islay, August 1908”
Figure 9: Campbeltown Assts 1908-9. Stewart Child stands at the left end of the row
Figure 10: Photograph taken in Manchester, with Stewart Child at the left
Figure 11: Campbeltown, Spring 1909
Figure 12: A group play with bicycles
Figure 13: A game of croquet on a postcard sent to Stewart Child in November 1907 from Ballindalloch, when he was in Crewe
Figure 14: A game of golf at Gartmain Gold Club House in June 1908
Figure 15: Elgin Assts football team, 1906-7
Figure 16: A photo of sailors at Campbeltown Loch in Spring 1909