The McRitchies 1650-1902: the story of a North Queensferry family

By Michael McRitchie, who lives in Comber, County Down

The author at St James’s Chapel cemetery. The McRitchie family graves are directly behind him, James’s headstone being on the far wall, facing the gate.

When I began research on my family history I had no idea that the McRitchies had been among the families in a unique co-operative who together operated what was once Britain’s busiest crossing, the Queensferry Passage. The result is my attempt to describe their lives in past centuries and as a family memoir rather than a formal reference work. So any mistakes are mine alone, this being a rare instance of a McRitchie admitting he/she may be less than perfect.

This account has been prepared from the records of Scotland’s People, the best in the world; the National Archives in Edinburgh; and generous help from North Queensferry Historical Society and many other sources. Most of all, my heartfelt thanks to my dear wife Brenda not only for her patient and painstaking research and proofreading but also for putting up with this McRitchie for the past 40 years, a far from easy task. Just ask any Mrs. McRitchie down the last four centuries.

The writer and traveller David Loch, published in 1778.

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Chapter 1: From bustling port to quiet village: centuries of ferry tales.

Chapter 2: Life as a ferryman: the villagers who shared everything

Chapter 3: Daily life in North Ferrie: a self-contained community dominated by the Church

Chapter 4: Life and death on the Firth: disease and drowning their constant companions

Chapter 5: The emigrant girls: two daughters of Queensferry left this detailed account of their journey to the other side of the world.