Andrew Edward Wishart was born in Dysart on 14 August 1892. He was the only child of James, a wealthy, and well-regarded linen manufacturer, and his third wife, Agnes Latto. Between 1906 and 1910 Andrew was a pupil at the Sedbergh School – a boarding school in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, and a member of Evans House. It seems probable that he was also involved with the school OTC as shortly after war broke out in 1914, he was gazetted on 17 September as having taken up a commission in the 7th Durham Light Infantry.

No further details of Andrew’s war service are currently available, however at some point during the next two years he was attached to the 1/9th Battalion, with whom he was serving when he married on 29 August 1916. The Fife Free Press carried the following article giving an account of the wedding:

LIEUT A. E. WISHART – MISS BEATRICE MARY SCOTT TOFT

A military wedding took place at St. Ignatius’s Church, Hendon, on the afternoon of the 29th inst, when Lieut, A. E. Wishart, of the 1st Durham Light Infantry, youngest son of Mr James Wishart J.P., and Mrs. Wishart, of Strathearn, Kirkcaldy, Scotland, was married to Miss Beatrice Mary Scott Toft, tenth daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Toft, The Oaks, Sunderland.

The ceremony was performed in the presence of a large assembly by the Rev. J. B. Purvis, Army Chaplain, and rector of St.Paul’s, Hendon.  Wedding music was rendered on the organ by Mr. Carter.  The bride, who was given away by her father, wore a dress of white taffets covered with Georgette crepe, and a veil of Brussels net, a family heirloom, together with a wreath of orange blossom, and she carried a sheaf of lillies.  There were four bridesmaids – Miss Maud Toft and Miss Marie Toft (sisters of the bride), and Miss Marie Hopps of Glasgow, and Miss Rita Dryden, of Seaham Harbour (the bride’s little nieces).  The two former wore dresses of salmon-coloured taffeta and cape of cream silk net, with bouquets to match, and the bride’s nieces were attired in white silk frocks, and each carried posies.  The best man was Captain Isaac Spain, of the 30th Reserve Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers.

Following the ceremony a reception was held at the residence of the bride’s parents, 7, The Oaks, and later the bride and bridegroom, who were the recipients of many beautiful presents, left to spend the honeymoon in London and the South.  The bride’s travelling dress was a costume of grey velour cloth, with a white fox fur, the gift of the bridegroom, and a black hat with osprey.

Three children were born of the marriage, and after the war, the family lived in Croydon, where Andrew worked as an engineer. He was also a member of the Lodge of St. Mary Balham and by 1939 was living at 16 Fairfield Road in the east of the town. During World War Two, and perhaps to escape the Blitz, Andrew and Beatrice moved to the village of Cockington near Torquay, however on 28 May 1943, aged only 50; he died at Torbay Hospital.

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