Discover Darvel

Lace Queens · Photo archive

The faces
behind the
tradition.

33 photographs. Ten Queens. Hundreds of names, family connections and memories around them.

Browse by year
01

How to use the archive

Look closely.
Names matter.

Select any photograph to open the full image. The known members of each year’s party are listed alongside it.

Initials and spellings follow the surviving record. Where an image identification is uncertain, it is marked to be checked.

1934

Before the interruption

Elizabeth Morton

Darvel’s first Lace Queen was a granddaughter of Alexander Morton. Her dress used 18 yards of lace made by Alexander Morton & Company.

Attendants / ladies in waiting
Kathleen Gray, Mary Anderson, Nora Walker, Nan Edgar, Nan Dykes and Jean Lochore
Flower girls / train bearers
Mary Scott and Margaret Murray
Page boys
Not yet identified
1935

Before the interruption

Helen Gebbie

Helen made her own dress from ivory-coloured silk manufactured by John Aird & Co. Her father, Nicol Gebbie, made the crown later used in subsequent ceremonies.

Attendants / ladies in waiting
J Murray, Mary Bryce, Nan Edgar, Lizzie Lochore and F Ainslie
Flower girls / train bearers
Cissie Cochrane and Betty Muir
Page boys
John Reid and Jim Anderson
1936

Before the interruption

Mary Hopkins

Employed by Stirling Auld & Co

Attendants / ladies in waiting
M Auld, N McFarlane, B Richmond and M Dykes
Flower girls / train bearers
M Morton, M Frame, C Gilchrist and M Anderson
Page boys
J Clelland and S Cox
1937

Before the interruption

Margaret Dykes

Employed by Alexander Jamieson & Co

Attendants / ladies in waiting
J Ryburn, M Baird, M Morton, J Aird, N Roxburgh and M Kennedy
Flower girls / train bearers
M Bollan, L Waddell, H Greig, M Johnstone and M Durward
Page boys
D Wilson and S Gilliland
1938

Before the interruption

Mary Thomson

Employed by Smith & Archibald Ltd

Attendants / ladies in waiting
Eva Morton, Maisie Morton, Jenny Samson, Maisie Menzies, Annie Scott and Margaret Drummond
Flower girls / train bearers
Mary Aiton, Cathie Scade, Jean Reid and Annie Smith
Page boys
Tom Alston and Boswell Pollock
1939

Before the interruption

Eva Morton

Employed by Mathew S Mitchell & Co

Attendants / ladies in waiting
Jean McColl, Jessie McQueen, Mollie Auld and Mattie Frater
Flower girls / train bearers
M Meikle, Agnes Gallagher, H Reid, Betty Gemmell and Chrissie Gray
Page boys
Andrew Wilson and John Shields
1950

The tradition returns

Alice Auld

Employed by Alexander Morton & Co

The ceremony returned in 1950 after the long interruption caused by the Second World War.

Attendants / ladies in waiting
M Wilson, E Paton, M Cleland, D Hendry, M Murray and M Nicholson
Flower girls / train bearers
R Goldie, A Morton, M Scade, H Morton and F Morton
Page boys
Frank Donnelly and Donald Donnelly
Crown bearer
N Morton
1951

The tradition returns

Mary Wilson

Employed by James McInness & Co

Attendants / ladies in waiting
M Aird, S McKay, W Robertson, M Patrick, N Muir and N Auld
Flower girls / train bearers
D Watt, K Cox, M A Service, M Parker and S James
Page boys
Matt Craig and Jim Wylie
1952

The tradition returns

Hannah Patrick

Employed by Stirling Brothers Ltd

Attendants / ladies in waiting
S Borland, H McLoskie, S Hamilton and J Jamieson
Flower girls / train bearers
N Muir, M Young, N Scade, M McKay and J Morrison
Page boys
Not yet identified
1953

The tradition returns

Jean Murdoch

Employed by Stirling Auld & Co

Attendants / ladies in waiting
M Hamilton, J Young, M Nimmo, M Drummond, M Wylie and M Parker
Flower girls / train bearers
M Baird, M Roxburgh, A Ross, J Murdoch, A Black and M Munro
Page boys
George Anderson and Edgar Shields
02

Add to the record

Know a face?
Tell us.

Some people in these photographs are still unidentified. Others are known only by an initial. If you can add a full name, correct a caption or share a memory of the ceremony, your knowledge can make the archive better.

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