Born March 1857 Southampton, Hampshire, England
Died 11th April 1936 Fallowfield, Hillside Rd, Pinner Hill, Middlesex, England
Her Parents
Dr Alexander McLaren and Marion Ann McLaren
Rev, Alexander McLaren
(Born, Glasgow, 11-2-1826 Died, Edinburgh, 5-5-1910)
Louisa’s father was the celebrated Baptist Minister Dr. Alexander McLaren. He was known as “the Prince of Expositors.” A dictionary definition of “expositor” reveals that an expositor is a person who explains complicated ideas or theories.
His father, David McLaren came to Glasgow from Perthshire as a young man. He married Mary Wingate in 1809, and they raised their family in Glasgow. Alexander was born in 1826.
In 1836 David McLaren, who by then was a company manager and elder of the Scottish Baptists, left his family in Scotland and travelled to South Australia to take up the position of Resident Manager of the South Australia Company. He was in that position from 1837-1841 and then returned to England.
His son Alexander, “At the age of 16, he enrolled in college to become a Baptist minister. His scholasticism in Hebrew and Greek earned him a bachelor’s degree at the age of only 20, and his ability to soundly preach verse-by-verse through Scripture brought an offer for the tall, shy, quiet twenty-year-old to fill the pulpit at Portland Chapel in Southampton for three months. Three months became twelve years, preaching five times a week.”
( https://wherelivingbegins.wordpress.com/2021/11/23/alexander-maclaren-1826-1910/)
| Both aged 30 – the original crayon drawing of Marion is still in the possession of the family of Louisa’s sister Florence McLaren |
Marion Ann McLaren
(Born Perth, Scotland 18-8-1828 Died Manchester, 21-12-1884).
Marion was born in 1828 in Perth, Scotland. Her father James, a tea merchant, was the brother of Alexander’s father, David, so Alexander and Marion were first cousins. Her family moved to Edinburgh via Perth and Falkirk in the 1830’s when the business expanded. Marion’s mother was Jean Paterson. Details of the family are documented in the book Family Notes written by Marion’s sister Elizabeth Trail McLaren and privately published in 1923.
Both Alexander and Marion came from large families. Alexander spent almost every Christmas holiday at his Uncle James’s house in Edinburgh and numerous letters were written between the many cousins during the periods in between.
Alexander McLaren wrote later in life in 1905, “James McLaren, was an Edinburgh citizen of high standing, a deacon for many years in Dr. Lindsay Alexander’s church, and a compeer of worthies like Adam Black, Charles Cowan, George Harvey, and other strongmen of their day. The atmosphere of his house was redolent of the best traditions of Scottish religion and culture, a home of plain living and high thinking. With all its large and happy group of children I was as a brother, and the childish bonds grew stronger and graver as the children grew to be men and women, and they are stronger than ever to-day between the few survivors and myself. “ (see APPENDIX 271, E.T. McLaren).
Alexander and Marion married in George Square, Edinburgh on the 27th of March 1855. In those days in Scotland, it was the tradition to be married in the family home and not in a church. Alexander was 30 and Marion was 27 years of age.
Elisabeth Trail McLaren was one of Alexanders biographers (as well as being his cousin and sister-in-law). She describes her sister in Dr. McLaren of Manchester A Sketch (Printed in 1911, pages 52-53).
“Marion McLaren, even in childhood, was lovely and lovable…As Marion grew up, her frank, unaffected manner and her entire want of self-consciousness added to her charm. Education then, between sixty and seventy years ago, was not what it is now. But most truly she was educated. At school she was almost always at the head of her class, was the leader, too, in the very “games” (as would now be thought) that were allowed. She had a bright, clear intellect, a good memory, and a refined taste as to literature. She had, too, a keen sense of humour. She was eminently social, and when in society seemed to think more of giving pleasure to others than in any way concentrating attention upon herself, and so gained the pleasure she did not consciously seek.”
These are just some of the many descriptions of Marion in Elisabeth’s biography of Alexander McLaren.
In an appendix to Dr. McLaren of Manchester A Sketch E.T. McLaren includes a letter from Dr. McLaren to Sir William Robertson Nicoll. In it he writes a moving tribute to his wife Marion that acknowledges her influence on both his life and his work.
APPENDIX pages 270 – 272 (see below)
Early Life of Louisa
Marion and Alexander’s first home was in Southampton where Alexander had been the minister for the previous ten years. They were there for just over two years.
Jane (Louisa) Maclaren was the first child (born on the 1st February 1857) in Southampton. Marion was 28 and Alexander was 31. A second daughter, Mary (Minnie) Wingate was born the following year on the 22nd February 1858.
In 1858, Dr. McLaren was asked to preach at the Union Chapel in Manchester and was then invited formally to come to the “smoky” city of Manchester. Alexander McLaren was not ambitious, and he shrank from public attention, yet his considerable talents did not go unrecognised by others, and he was encouraged to leave Southampton and enter a much bigger pond. The family subsequently and with some reluctance left their happy home in Southampton.
“Two daughters were born, and the house, with its pretty garden, to which he brought his wife, had with much regret to be left. “ (page 56 E.T. McLaren Dr. McLaren of Manchester A Sketch)
From left: Jane Louisa, Marion (seated) baby Marion (who died at 18) and Mary (Minnie) who married Arthur Birt West.
The Siblings and Manchester
Their first house in Manchester was in Acomb Street, off Ducie Street, quite close to what was then the Union Chapel. They remained in this house until 1869.
E.T. McLaren writes, Alexander,
“could be severe in letters as to the smoke and flatness of Manchester, mentioning that “if you got up on the kitchen table you could see twenty miles round in every direction, only the smoke prevents”.
But there was more fun than earnestness in his words, and no one could speak to him for any length of time without feeling that he was glad to be “a citizen of no mean city” and was eager to do his own part in its busy life. “ (page 80 E.T McLaren, Dr. McLaren of Manchester A Sketch)
“During these years two daughters and one son were born, which completed the number of the family.”
(page 79 E.T. McLaren, Dr. McLaren of Manchester A Sketch)
Marion Alice was born in 1860 (22nd February), Florence Elizabeth in 1865 (11th July) and Alexander David in April 1869. (It seems Alexander David was commonly known as Allister. There is a reference to “Allister” in an 1881 census). Jane Louisa was twelve years old in 1869.
“In 1861 a brother of Marion’s – his name, too, Alexander McLaren-joined the household. Though quite a young man, only twenty-three, he had become a partner in a Liverpool firm, but owing to its connection with Manchester living there was a possibility, and most gladly was he welcomed by his sister and brother-in-law…In 1877, …he died at the early age of 39” after a long illness. (E.T. McLaren)
Marion and Alexander and Family Life
Their next home was in Woodlea, Upper Charlton Road. The family’s life revolved around the busy schedule of their father’s duties as a Minister, his Sunday sermons, visits to members of his congregation and invitations to dinner or supper. Marion and Alexander attended the renowned Hallé Concerts. During the winter months there were readings in private homes, including of writers such as Robert Browning and Shakespeare in which Dr. McLaren always played the chief character.
And “When an evening quite clear of engagements came, letters cleared off, nothing more to be done in the study, then there was no hesitation as to how the evening was to be spent. Of reading to his family circle he never tired.” (page 88 E.T.McLaren).
From E.T.’s descriptions it seems that it was a stimulating family environment, which encouraged creativity and intellectual pursuits and that Alexander and Marion both played an important role in their children’s education.
“His intercourse with his children was entirely natural. When they were very young he seemed to try to compete with them – successfully too-in the creation of fairy stories, and when older they took for granted that he was equally interested in what were to them the important incidents of life. He was pleased when, voluntarily, notes of his sermons were taken which showed an intelligent grasp of the subject, but to their mother was very much left their direct religious teaching. “ (page 90 E.T. McLaren).
C.A. Lejeune in her autobiography Thank You For Having Me describes her mother Louisa’s education as “sketchy”. “She went to what was known then as “a dames school”, and was “finished” abroad in homes of French and German pastors selected and approved by Grandfather…She had the sort of lively mind which never stultifies, but seeks for and finds its own education. She grew with the changing times: was keenly aware of current concepts, although she did not always conform to them; could weigh an opinion as well as any man, and, what was more unusual, she could keep her counsel. She was the repository of many secrets. I can guess now at the gravity of some of them, but they remain secrets to this day” (page 10).
Marriage to Adam Eduard Lejeune
Jane Louisa Maclaren married Adam Eduard (Edward) Lejeune in July 1877 when she was 20 years old, and he was 32. E.T. writes … “at an early age, his eldest daughter married Edward (Adam Eduard) Lejeune, a merchant much respected in the city, and a highly esteemed member of the church at Union Chapel. Though the marriage had his full consent, he felt acutely the first break in the happy daily life of the family circle”(page 116 E.T. McLaren).
Edward, as he was called in England, had come to Manchester from Frankfurt on the Maine, Germany to learn the cotton business. Edward was of Huguenot ancestry and from a family of merchants. In the Huguenot community it was not unusual when a downturn in one industry occurred that their young men would be sent overseas to make the most of new opportunities.
Edward was naturalized on the 13th of December 1871 and is described in the naturalization certificate as 27, unmarried and a merchant’s clerk. His residence at this time was No 5 Ashburne Terrace, Cecil Street, Greenlays, Manchester. There is not, to date, a lot of information about Edward Lejeune, the individual. C.A. Lejeune was only two years old when he died so her biography has scant mention of him. We do know his German upbringing influenced the family culture and there was much communication with cousins in Germany and Switzerland. Edward’s brother Robert who was also his partner in the merchant business, was based in Zurich. Edward’s father was Johann Lejeune and his mother was Franziska de Neufville. There is a wealth of family tree information on the de Neufville branches.
Jane Louisa and Adam Eduard’s Family in Manchester
A year after Louisa and Edward were married in 1878, their first child Franziska Marion was born on the 22nd of April.
In that same year in June, Louisa’s 18-year-old sister Marion Alice died after a short illness. “…her death brought deep sorrow to both her parents.” (E.T. McLaren), and we can imagine deep sorrow to her siblings as well. Louisa was then twenty one.
Louisa and Edward had eight children in eighteen years. The first five were born in Manchester between 1878 and 1883.
1879 – Marion was born on the 2nd of September 1879.
1880 – Juliet was born on the 14th of September 1880 in Manchester.
1882 – Helene was born on the 12th of January 1882 in Manchester.
1883 – Gustav Alexander (known as Alick and was to later become a Reverend) was born on the 11th April 1883 in Manchester.
And in 1884 – Marion, Louisa’s mother died on the 21st December 1884 at the age of fifty six when Louisa was twenty seven. In the words of E.T. McLaren “Words fail, and no attempt will be made, to describe what her loss meant to her husband and children. Immediately after the funeral he went to a house near Ambleside lent him by a friend, and he and his family remained there for a fortnight.”
The Tail End of the Lejeune Family
The last three children were:
1886 – Edward (Russell), born on the 22nd of December 1886
1888 – Francis (Arnold), born on the 2nd of April 1888
1889 – Jane Louisa began her involvement with Withington Girls’ School. The first meeting to discuss the project of forming a ‘Higher Girls’ School’ for Withington and District was held in Miss Caroline Herford’s drawing room at Lady Barn House on 16th October 1889.
1897 – Caroline Alice was born on the 27th of March 1897. Franziska, the eldest was then nineteen and Arnold the previous child was nine years old. It seems the nineteen years between the first and last child made it near impossible to photograph all of the children in one sitting.
The Death of Edward and Mary West
1899 – Louisa’s husband Adam Eduard (Edward) passed away on the 28th of October 1899 in Zurich, Switzerland, at the age of fifty-four. They had been married for twenty-two years.
Her sister Mary (Minnie) Wingate also died in 1899 on the 29th of December in Knowle, Warwickshire, when Jane Louisa was forty-two years old.
References
Elisabeth Trail McLaren, Dr. McLaren of Manchester A Sketch (Printed in 1911).
Elisabeth Trail McLaren, Family Notes (Privately printed 1923)
C.A. Lejeune, Thank You For Having Me, Hutchinson 1964
| The Lejeune family and friend, Manchester, England circa 1894Back row: Marion, Adam (Edward) Lejeune, Helene, Isobel Hunt Centre: (below Marion) Alick Front Row: Francis (Arnold), Franziska, Jane Louisa, Edward (Russell) and Juliet |
.
The Marion Project - A Family History 