During the excitement of writing and producing the first edition of Swindon Heritage, co founder Mark Sutton provided a book he thought might be of interest. I remember it was quite a large book, the binding broken and the pages loose, but I now can’t remember the title. In it were short biographies of the great and the good of Wiltshire. Mark photographed those pages with a particular reference to Swindon and saved them on a CD ROM on which he wrote ‘Details from Wilts Book.’

Here is one of those biographies …

James Carson Rattray M.D., Granville Bath Road, Swindon; son of the late William Rattray of Edinburgh; born at Penicuik, Midlothian, May 1^st, 1864; educated at Edinburgh University; M.B., C.M., and M.D. Edin. Member of the British Medical Association; Hon. Surgeon to the Swindon Victoria Hospital. Recreation; motoring, orchid growing, and is noted for breeding Scotch deerhounds, for which he has taken many First Prizes, Medals, and Championships.

Granville House published courtesy of Historic England

James Carson Rattray can be found living and working as a General Medical Practitioner in Purton in 1888 aged 26. By 1901 he was living at Granville House, Bath Road where several members of the Rattray family had joined him – brother Sam, also a doctor; Pat, another brother, a dental student and sisters Bella who was his housekeeper and Mary.

James Carson Rattray died on November 19, 1906 while staying at 5 Albyn Place, Aberdeen. He was buried in North Merchiston Cemetery, Edinburgh.